Birdsong, by Julie Flett is a beautiful tale of multigenerational friendship and life changes told through the eyes of a child. The illustrations, also by Flett, enable the reader to feel the tenderness between the characters and to experience their journey of friendship and art, together, through the seasons. Julie Flett is a Cree Métis… Continue reading Birdsong
Month: November 2020
Power Songs
Instant Joy We all have those few songs that continue to power us up. You know, that one song that makes you feel like you are 17 years old all over again? Or, the song that always calms you within one stanza? How about the playlist you listen to when you exercise or when you… Continue reading Power Songs
Nuestra America: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States
Our Latinx children and youth need to see themselves in the pages of a book, read stories of other Latinos who have added and continue to add to the fabric of this country. That's what this book represents: a celebration of 30 Latinas/Latinos who have shaped the history of the USA. This beautiful compilation of… Continue reading Nuestra America: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States
A Read Aloud and a Furry Friend
Sophie and I are a Therapy Dog Team. In ordinary times we visit patients at the hospital bringing smiles to faces with each pet and wag. These days the closest Sophie and I can get with our friends is a Zoom camera. Our recent visit was with Ms. Uvanni's second grade class as we all… Continue reading A Read Aloud and a Furry Friend
When We Love Someone We Sing to Them: Cuando Amamos Cantamos
“When we love someone, Papi tells me, we sing to them, we send our love through song.” Ernesto Javier Martinez I have holes in my classroom library where beautiful stories are waiting to fill. I notice the holes each and every time I hear of a story just like the one I’m going to share… Continue reading When We Love Someone We Sing to Them: Cuando Amamos Cantamos
Using Silver Linings As Ideas for Stories
How many times in the last year have you heard people say, “Ugh! 2020!”? Many of us feel like 2020 has dealt us one tsunami after another and our personal shorelines are eroding rapidly. Though I am ready for 2020 to end as much as the next person, as a writing teacher, I recognize that… Continue reading Using Silver Linings As Ideas for Stories
Day 10: The Ups and Downs of Partner Reading in a Socially Distanced Classroom
When I envision partner reading in first grade, I see children sitting side by side holding a book across their laps, joyfully reading together. They point to the parts of the text they love, laugh together, and coach each other as they problem-solve. I know that vision doesn't work with COVID, but I was determined… Continue reading Day 10: The Ups and Downs of Partner Reading in a Socially Distanced Classroom
Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America
In our hybrid teaching world, the elementary school day kicks off with a twenty-minute community meeting. Half of the class sits in their plexi glass stations, and the other half arrives smiling via Google Meet. At first, it felt strange and overwhelming. How will we spend this time? What might we do to simultaneously engage… Continue reading Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America
Student Response and Class Discourse with Pear Deck
Remote Learning Distance Learning Hybrid Learning No matter how you say it, teaching has changed. Experienced teachers have had to reinvent themselves, finding new ways to teach concepts that were once second nature. More than once this year I have heard, “I feel like this is my first year teaching,” and “Today was not my… Continue reading Student Response and Class Discourse with Pear Deck
Books for Birthdays!
How do you build a reading life and celebrate a birthday during a pandemic? The answer is easier than you think - celebrate with books! Today my youngest turns 6 and the traditional birthday party has long since been thrown out the window, so we needed a creative way to celebrate. Enter books. This year… Continue reading Books for Birthdays!
Grandpa Grumps
Fans of Minh Le and Dan Santat's Drawn Together will love Katrina Moore's Grandpa Grumps. Daisy's grandpa, Yeh-Yeh, visits her from China for the first time. Every day of the week, Daisy tries to connect with Yeh-Yeh in a different way but he' so grumpy that nothing she does seems to work-or so she thinks.… Continue reading Grandpa Grumps
Day 4 – A Writing Workshop Tool that Builds Agency and Independence
It is day four of teaching first grade, and one tool enables the kids to be more independent writers - Seesaw. I can't describe how much I love this platform. Right before writing workshop ends, students log into Seesaw. First, they take a photo of what they wrote, and then they read their writing. Now… Continue reading Day 4 – A Writing Workshop Tool that Builds Agency and Independence
Julian at the Wedding by Jessica Love
In my second grade classroom this year, we are weaving together our literacy goals of understanding character traits with our social emotional learning goals of understanding our own identity. Picture book characters are such a great vehicle for both! By learning about characters’ identities, we learn the language to help us describe our own. And… Continue reading Julian at the Wedding by Jessica Love
From History to Today: Exploring Biographies with Text Sets
For as long as I can remember, I have been a huge fan of biographies. As a young reader, I appreciated how they exposed me to history, and how their subjects provided examples of lives lived with purpose. As a teacher, I find them to be versatile teaching tools. Whether my aim is to build… Continue reading From History to Today: Exploring Biographies with Text Sets
Bunheads, by Misty Copeland
At some point during quarantine last spring, my then second grade daughter asked if I could help her find pictures of Misty Copeland for her information chapter book she was working on. As I helped her Google images, I was simultaneously skimming captions to figure out “who is Misty Copeland?” I was admittedly clueless. The… Continue reading Bunheads, by Misty Copeland
The Unteachables by Gordon Korman
Is any child really "unteachable?" Or do they just need the right teacher to come along and figure out their talents and strengths, and help them overcome their challenges? For that matter, can the right group of students help a burned-out, counting the days until early retirement teacher remember why he got into teaching in… Continue reading The Unteachables by Gordon Korman
Narrative Mentors to Stretch our Writers
Always on the hunt for elementary writing mentors, this fall I was introduced to two texts, The Hike by Alison Farrell and The Camping Trip by Jennifer K. Mann. I've been thinking about small moments and narrative writing mentors even more since a colleagues said, we should move on from narrative, it's not like the… Continue reading Narrative Mentors to Stretch our Writers
Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
The younger group of students decided of the book to showcase this month,they chose Peekaboo morning. It’s the new favorite in our classroom. The illustrations are vibrants, the text is short so the children do not lose their focus. Peekaboo Morning offered us a great opportunity to talk about diversity. At the end of reading… Continue reading Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
Until Every Barrier Falls by LeDerick Horne
https://youtu.be/reANl6Qzg3Y I choose to use this platform today to elevate the profile of a different type of author. LeDerick Horne is a spoken word poet. His most recent poem, “Until Every Barrier Falls,” connects principles like equality, independence, and freedom to the disability rights movement. He describes himself in the poem as, “I am a… Continue reading Until Every Barrier Falls by LeDerick Horne
Vote For Our Future
I discovered the book Vote for Our Future by Margaret McNamara and Micah Player a few months ago. I was searching for a children’s book that I could read to my second and fourth-grade students that would be informative, yet steer us away from any contentious conversations. Given the age of my students and the… Continue reading Vote For Our Future
I am Bringing You with Me
Monday is my first official day as a first-grade teacher, and didn’t you hear? I am bringing you with me. You see, it has been quite a few years since I have had my own classroom, but I am less worried, and that’s all because of you. I am bringing: hundreds of elementary teachers… Continue reading I am Bringing You with Me
The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead
Sixth grade students use digital notebooks to track their thinking. When the school year started, I struggled with how to continue book clubs in our new, hybrid model of teaching. Paper was discouraged, we couldn't read notebooks unless they were "isolated" for 3 days, students were sitting six feet apart, in rows, with masks, facing… Continue reading The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead
Choice Still Matters
This year, my K-8 school district has two parallel tracks for learning. The first is fully in school five days a week, and the other track is fully remote. The cohorts for both are very small, each has its own teacher, and families were allowed to choose which track was best for their child/ren. To… Continue reading Choice Still Matters
My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero and Zeke Peña
You don’t have to imagine how Daisy feels when her Papi reaches home. You don’t have to try to hear the motorcycle revving in this story. You don’t have to visit Corona to experience what life was like just a short while ago. You don’t have to wonder at the team’s purpose in writing and… Continue reading My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero and Zeke Peña
Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar and illustrated by Nidhi Chanani
What a joy to discover Binny’s Diwali written by Thrity Umrigar and colorfully illustrated by Nidhi Chanani. Binny is excited but nervous the day of her class presentation on Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Her mother has set out a special Indian outfit for her to wear, and she even gets to eat warm jalebis… Continue reading Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar and illustrated by Nidhi Chanani