Tag: Reading

Slice 18 of 31: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Catherine Flynn7 Comments

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Over the past week I’ve had some family events that have kept me busy, as well as trying to keep up with all the incredible writing being done for the Slice of Life Challenge going on over at Two Writing Teachers. Needless to say, I really haven’t had time to read many books.

I did start Patricia Reilly Giff’s latest, Gingersnap (Wendy Lamb Books, 2013). I’m a big fan of Giff’s historical fiction, and when I found out this book was set in Brooklyn during World War II, I had to get it. I’ve been working on a project that takes place in Brooklyn during the same period, and I wanted to see how she handled the dialogue. So far I haven’t been disappointed.

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Patricia Reilly Giff has written many other books for kids. Here are a few of her historical fiction titles that I’ve enjoyed.

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Newbery Honor book Lily’s Crossing (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1997)

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Nory Ryan’s Song (Delacorte Press, 2000)

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Water Street (Wendy Lamb Books, 2006)

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A House of Tailors (2006)

You can watch an interview with Giff here:

Random House has an extensive list of Giff’s books and other resources for using her books in the classroom. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been updated recently.

Check out what others are reading today by visiting Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts. Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 17 of 31: Common Core Connections and Teaching Science

Catherine Flynn3 Comments

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Last weekend, at the TCRWP Saturday Reunion, I attended Elizabeth Moore’s session titled “Reading, Writing, Content Area, and Common Core Connections: Using Our Best Methods to Teach Science.”  One of her main points was that we can use shared demonstrations and experiences to support non-fiction reading and writing. She emphasized that by giving students concrete experiences to write from, we can develop language arts skills through our science curriculum. Incorporating science topics into read aloud selections is another important element in supporting science instruction. While primary teachers have been doing this kind of experiential writing for decades, there is a new urgency to our instruction since by the end of second grade, students are expected to “Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.” (W.2.2)

Moore suggested using shared and interactive writing to write about the procedures of science activities. Break the writing down into manageable chunks and do a little each day.  Here is one possible routine:

Day 1–do experiment

Day 2–write procedures

Day 3–write findings & conclusions

Day 4–hypothesis–this could be done on day 2

Another point that Moore emphasized was that kids don’t necessarily ask good questions, so we have to teach them through modeling and practice. She shared these video clips to demonstrate asking and answering questions:

Sesame Street: Cookie Monster Questions Prairie Dawn

The Adventures of Asking Elmo

When I taught third grade, we taught a unit on the life cycle of plants. We sprouted beans, peas, and corn, then grew bean plants. As someone who came of age in the 70s, I thought sprouting an avocado would be a good addition to this unit. The kids loved checking the pit each day for signs that it would sprout, although many had doubts that anything green was going to ever come out of the very dead looking pit.

We kept track of how long it took the pit to sprout, then measured the growth of the seedling, which we eventually planted in soil. We created graphs galore to go along with this unit, but I don’t remember ever writing about it. What a missed opportunity!

During this unit there were a number of informational texts that I read aloud to the class, but I haven’t taught this unit in eight years, and I’m sure many new and wonderful books have been published in the meantime. One of my favorites was From Seed to Plant  by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 1991). A favorite of mine was Gardens from Garbage. This book inspired us to branch out and try to sprout other plants:

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Gardens From Garbage, by Judith Handlesman (Millbrook Press 1994). Unfortunately, this is out of print.

Coincidentally, my son made guacamole last week, so I asked him to save the avocado pit. After letting it dry out for a few days, I peeled the outer skin, poked three toothpicks into the side, and suspended it in a jar of water. This kind of shared experience involves a longer time frame than Moore’s demonstration, but still accomplishes her goal of giving students a concrete experience to write about.

Unpeeled avocado pit
Unpeeled avocado pit
Will it sprout?

Thank you to Elizabeth Moore for her inspiring session, and thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 16 of 31: An Afternoon at the Opera

Catherine Flynn5 Comments

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Today I went to the local movie theater to see an HD simulcast of this afternoon’s performance of Riccardo Zandonai’s opera Francesca da Rimini by the Metropolitan Opera. The tragic story of Francesca and her lover, Paolo, which was immortalized by Dante in The Inferno (and which I wrote about briefly here), has inspired numerous plays, operas, and paintings over the centuries.This production, which was last performed in 1984, is stunning. Francesca and her attendants wear gorgeous gowns in rich, deep colors covered with sumptuous embroidery. The sets transport you to 13th century Italy, and the music is filled with the passion of these desperate lovers.

T.S. Eliot wrote that “Immature poets imitate, mature poets steal.” The numerous versions of this story speak to the unending influence of its original source, which in turn contains countless references and allusions to other works of literature. In his brief telling of Paolo and Francesca’s story, Dante includes lines about Lancelot and Guinevere. While a reader or viewer of the opera doesn’t have to have knowledge of these works to understand what’s going on, having that knowledge deepens their appreciation of the story.

Last weekend, in her closing remarks at the TCRWP Saturday Reunion, Lucy Calkins urged teachers to build our knowledge base about the CCSS. She urged us to be wary of the Publishers’ Criteria, written by David Coleman and Susan Pimentel, which directly contradict the standards and intentions laid out in the original document. Anchor standard nine of the CCSS expects that students will be able to “analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics.” Eighth grade readers are specifically asked to:

Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new. (RL.8.9)

Yet in the Publishers’ Criteria, Coleman and Pimentel demand that readers “focus on what lies within the four corners of the text.” How will students successfully meet standard nine if they can’t leave the confines of the text in front of them? Why would we make them try?

I’m glad I didn’t have to stay within the four corners of Zondanai’s opera this afternoon. I had a much richer experience.

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 2013 15 of 31: A Big Sister Poem for Poetry Friday

Catherine Flynn10 Comments

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Earlier in the week I wrote about using Miss Rumphius to address Common Core standard 3.3, which deals with characters, their traits, motivations, feelings, and how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. While there are many picture books and chapter books that can and should be used to address this standard, I wanted to include poetry in the unit we’re developing.

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Kristine O’Connell George’s Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems (Clarion Books, 2011; illustrated by Nancy Carpenter) is ideally suited for this unit. These short poems are told from the point of view of Emma’s older sister, Jessica. Each poem deals with the daily life of a typical fourth-grader and her feelings about Emma. Taken together, the poems form a loose narrative chronicling Jessica’s evolving feelings toward Emma. An older sister myself, I especially appreciated this poem:

“Role Model”

Emma copies

everything I do

and sometimes

I don’t do

something

I might do

or really

want to do

because

I know

she is

always

watching

every single thing I do.

You can watch the trailer here:


Sylvia Vardell has collected much more information about Kristen O’Connell George, Emma Dilemma, and using this book in the classroom on her blog, Poetry for Children.

By the way, my sister hasn’t copied anything I’ve done for at least 40 years. And now we’re best friends.

Poetry Friday is at Check It Out today. Thanks for hosting!

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 2013 12 of 31: Revisiting a Classic: Miss Rumphius

Catherine Flynn4 Comments

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This afternoon I spent some time developing a unit of study on characterization for 3rd grade. Common Core Standard 3.3 states that students will “Describe characters in a story (e.g. their traits, motivations, feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.” We currently use William Steig’s Brave Irene to introduce the idea that readers learn about characters by noticing their actions, their thoughts, and what they say. For now, we’re not going to change this. The CC standard goes deeper, though. Examining a character’s motivations isn’t something we’ve taught before. Thinking about how a character’s actions contribute to the sequence of events sounds like cause and effect, but this can be challenging for third graders. I know we’re going to have to model this more than once, and provide lots of opportunities for students to practice this deeper thinking.  With this in mind, I went through a shelf of picture books looking for another appropriate text and found Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney’s gorgeous story of a woman who wanted to make the world a more beautiful place. This book is one of my all-time favorites. I lived in Camden, Maine for two summers during college, and I have vivid memories of driving down Rt. 1 for the first time and seeing all the lupines growing wild. Needless to say, I think this book is an ideal choice to share with students to address this or any other standard.

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I did check the Lexile level (although I have many misgivings about this metric; more about these in another post) and Miss Rumphius, with a Lexile level of 680, is within the 2-3 grade level band. I also used the “Qualitative Measures Rubric” for literary text to evaluate the story in terms of its meaning, text structure, language features, and knowledge demands. As is often the case with rubrics, it was difficult to pinpoint where this narrative falls. Miss Rumphius is a frame story, which increases its complexity. Yet the story within the frame is told chronologically. There is some archaic vocabulary. Students are probably unfamiliar with words such as “stoop,” “figurehead,” and “prow.” Allusions to the cultures of the far-off lands Miss Rumphius visits also increase the complexity level of this story. After going through this process, I felt my instinct to use Miss Rumphius was validated. It may seem that this was a waste of time, but, as Lucy Calkins pointed out in her closing remarks at Saturday’s TCRWP Reunion, teachers have to build their knowledge base about the CCSS. Being familiar with this qualitative rubric is critical if we are to keep appropriate books in the hands of our students. Relying on Lexiles alone would be dangerous and unacceptable.

Will subjecting this beloved story to lessons based on the CCSS ruin it? Only if we let it. Again, if we know what the standards say, and design lessons that incorporate best practices to meet them, our students should be able to gain deep insight into a character who is generous and warm-hearted, motivated by her desire to have adventures, and to fulfill her grandfather’s directive to “make the world more beautiful.”

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 2013 11 of 31: It’s Monday! What are You Reading?

Catherine Flynn12 Comments

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Over the past few days, I’ve been exploring picture books related to anti-bullying for teachers to use as we continue to promote the theme of kindness.

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One Green Apple (Clarion Books, 2006), by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Ted Lewin is the story of Farah, a girl who’s recently emigrated to the United States. She doesn’t speak English and has just started school, where some students have been less than welcoming.

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In Derek Munson’s Enemy Pie (Chronicle Books, 2000), illustrated by Tara Calahan King, Jeremy Ross is the new boy, and the boy next door has decided he’s the enemy. Dad has just the solution to get rid of enemies. Over the course of the story, the boy learns not to make up his mind about people before getting to know them.

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In Those Shoes (Candlewick, 2009), by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones, Jeremy wants the same cool shoes as all his friends, but his grandma tells him they only have room for need, not want. Jeremy is determined to find a way to get his shoes, but he finds out something about himself instead.

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Molly Lou Melon is the star of Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, by Patty Lovell and illustrated by David  Catrow (Putnam, 2001). She isn’t like the other children, but that doesn’t stop her from enjoying herself every minute of the day.

ImageMolly Idle’s Flora and the Flamingo (Chronicle Books, 2013) deserves all the praise it’s received since its publication. This wordless picture book is a joyful pas de deux between two unlikely friends.

If you’re looking for similar books, an extensive list can be found at Storytime Standouts and at the Massachusetts Reading Association. Check out what others are reading today by visiting Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts.

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 2013 10 of 31: Priorities

Catherine Flynn7 Comments

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I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all that I want to accomplish today. My solution to this? Read, of course! In this case, this morning’s slices and other interesting blogs and articles from my Twitter feed.

Without question, the best thing about participating in SOLSC is meeting new people. I feel so fortunate to be part of this smart, creative community. So I shouldn’t be surprised that the way forward could be found by reading their blogs. Bonnie, at blkdrama, confirmed that I wasn’t alone in having lots to do, but really wanting to just sit and read. Reading Angela’s post about her notebook and all its contents brought on the light bulb moment, though. Of course I make lists all the time. They’re pages long, filled with tasks and chores that would take months to finish. So today I’m categorizing and prioritizing this list, choosing the most pressing item in each category (work, home, cleaning) and trying to finish those.

Work: I’m currently developing 4 units of study with colleagues. This process is challenging during the school year, as we all have students to teach, meetings to attend, and daily plans to write. The first step in our planning is to meet and discuss the unit’s broad goals and objectives. We also look at what we’ve been teaching in the past, what materials we’ve used, as well as what materials we have that could be incorporated into the new unit. Then I create the documents that spell all this out, and we meet again to revise, clarify, etc. Today, I must get the 2nd grade character unit outline finished.

Home: This category includes things like paying bills, writing birthday cards and notes, getting packages ready to mail, and making appointments. The woman who prepares our taxes is coming on Tuesday, so all those documents have to be organized. Before Tuesday.

Cleaning: I don’t include laundry or daily dishes in this category. Those jobs just have to be done. These are chores like dusting and vacuuming, which I really don’t hate. They just take too much time. I do have a couple of tricks that help me get them accomplished. Listening to an audio book is a must while cleaning. I also find that if I work for about half an hour, and then take a short reading break, I’m much more productive. Prioritizing by asking “what would I be most mortified about if someone dropped in?” is a huge motivator.

I’m really not this organized, but writing this, like reading the blogs above, has helped me formulate a plan. My family isn’t listed here. They just always come first. Notice that writing isn’t included either. Trust me, I’ll be writing more today. I’ll also be reading. That’s just a given.

Thanks to all of you, for all your inspiration (and for reading these rambling thoughts). Hooray for us all for getting to day 10!

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 2013 9 of 31: My Day at Teachers College Saturday Reunion

Catherine Flynn10 Comments

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This morning, I left my house at 5:30 and drove to Teachers College at Columbia University for their spring Reading and Writing Project Saturday Reunion. I spent the day with thousands of dedicated teachers soaking up the wisdom of the amazing presenters. Because I am now quite tired, here is my day in pictures.

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The sky was just beginning to lighten when I pulled out of my driveway.
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The Nave of Riverside Church when we arrived.
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People choosing which sessions to attend as the Nave fills up.
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Katherine Patterson begins her keynote address, “The Richness of Creation”
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“In this bleak time, what our children need is beauty.” Katherine Patterson
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Chris Lehman urging us to use our literature instruction to build social emotional skills.
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Elizabeth Moore modeling how to use demonstrations and experiments as the basis for shared or interactive writing.
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Brooke Geller explaining how to immerse students in articles to prepare them for a research-based argument essay unit.
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I was so excited to meet fellow slicer Melanie Meehan at Brooke’s session. She was sitting right behind me!
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Amanda Hartman reading Seymour Simon’s Super Storms during her session on deeping students’ comprehension of informational text.
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During her closing remarks, Lucy Calkins urged us to treat each other with kindness as we weather “the perfect storm” that is about to hit education.
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Last stop, Bank Street Bookstore!

As you can see, Saturday Reunions are an incredible experience. I learned so much today! You can also explore what others learned by checking out the #TCRWP hashtag on Twitter.  Thank you to Lucy Calkins and everyone at Teachers College for a fabulous day!

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

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Slice 2013 7 of 31: World Read Aloud Day

Catherine Flynn1 Comment

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Yesterday was World Read Aloud Day, and books were being read aloud throughout our building. All revolved around kindness as part of our month-long Read Across America celebration. (More about last week’s kick-off here.)

I started the day in Kindergarten, where I read Philip D. Stead’s utterly charming A Home for Bird.  If you have not seen this tale of friendship, kindness, and determination, read it as soon as possible.  The kids loved the book (they clapped when I finished reading), and had many insightful observations about Vernon’s kindness.

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You can read Horn Book’s starred review here and learn more about Stead’s creative process at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

After lunch, I headed to first grade with Ame Dyckman’s Boy + Bot, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. The kids were mesmerized by this story, another gently humorous tale of friendship, kindness, and determination. Everyone thought having a robot for a friend would be a very good thing.

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Anita Silvey recently shared her thoughts about Boy + Bot on Children’s Book-A-Day Almanac and Kirkus said “Dyckman’s debut offers pitch-perfect pacing…”

Finally, I went downstairs, where teachers in grade 4-8 were reading Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, to their students.

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It was a wonderful day of reading at our school. Sharing these books offered lots of opportunities to talk about kindness. Hopefully, our reading and discussions throughout the month will help our students remember to always

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Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 2013 4 of 31: It’s Monday! What Am I Doing?

Catherine Flynn10 Comments

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I’ve made it to day 4! But that was mostly over the weekend. Today the real challenge begins. Will I be able to keep up daily blogging during the week? I came up with a tentative plan to help me accomplish this. Monday shouldn’t be too difficult, since I’m always reading at least one book that I can share for It’s Monday! What are You Reading? (And it can be written over the weekend!) The same is true for Poetry Friday. It’s the middle of the week that worries me. There’s plenty going on at school and really that’s point of all this, isn’t it? Turning the stuff of daily life into   something worth sharing. The trouble is, it usually takes me a couple of hours to write a post. I’m not sure I can find that kind of time during the  week. Fortunately, like many of you, I have stacks of notebooks filled with musings from the past 30 years. Hopefully, some of these can be spruced up and shared.

So what happened today? It’s now 8:30 and we’ve just finished dinner. I did start today’s post last night, but it wasn’t coming together. My straight-forward description of the book I was reading yesterday led me down another path; into a thicket, really. I soon realized I had at least 3 different ideas tangled up together. It was also clear that I needed to do a little research to support some of the points I wanted to make. At 11:30, I decided to go to bed, hoping that I’d be able to prune the mess I’d made into something sensible in the morning.

No such luck. As Robert Burns said, “the best laid schemes of mice and men…” Over the next few days, I’ll sort out the different posts in last night’s draft, do the research needed, and polish them so they make sense to me and anyone who happens to read them. In the meantime, thank you again to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for providing this forum. I really am having fun!