I don’t know about you, but I need closure, a chance to say goodbye to move on. I’ve been blogging for TBR since it started in 2019, and for all I know, this will be the blog’s last post. So, what can I learn from myself about looking back through four years of blog posts?… Continue reading Farewell TBR: A Look at Four Years of Blogging by the Numbers
Author: Katherine Palaces Narita
The Yellow Áo Dài
Kindness. The world needs more kindness. It's a simple statement but a complex idea. How do we grow kindness? One way to start is by reading The Yellow Áo Dài by Hanh Bui. The mother's kindness in the book overwhelmed me. Listen to my in depth conversation with Hanh about why she chose to portray… Continue reading The Yellow Áo Dài
Whale Fall
Earth Day is tomorrow and undoubtedly many teachers will read books with students that spark interest in environmental stewardship. Some of my favorites are Heather Lang's The Leaf Detective, Jen Swanson's Footprints, and Planet Ocean by Patricia Newman and Annie Crawley. But before April break instead of reading a book about environmental stewardship, I introduced… Continue reading Whale Fall
Odd Bods: The World’s Unusual Animals
I don't know what March means for you, but for me it means a mad dash to prepare my students for our state standardized testing... the MCAS. We read text selection after text selection and write open response after open response. To try and make it fun, I tell my students each response needs to… Continue reading Odd Bods: The World’s Unusual Animals
Hope Wins: A Collection of Inspiring Stories for Young Readers
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! For our class read aloud, my class opted for Gordon Korman's Restart. It's a title I had never read before, but the other fourth grade teachers in my school raved about it. When my class voted for it over the other four titles, I smiled. Not only was I excited to… Continue reading Hope Wins: A Collection of Inspiring Stories for Young Readers
Octopuses Have Zero Bones: A Counting Book About Our Amazing World
About a year ago, I was sitting on my couch, when I realized with a shock that I had an implicit bias against nonfiction, and that this bias had not only unknowingly affected my impressions of my loved ones but of my students as well. If you're interested in taking a deep dive into how… Continue reading Octopuses Have Zero Bones: A Counting Book About Our Amazing World
Because Claudette
Because Claudette by Tracey Baptiste is a must-have book for upper elementary classrooms. There are many ways I could have used this book in my classroom this morning including, but not limited to: Examining cause and effect text structure Discussing Civil Rights Discussing Ageism Discussing Perseverance Discussing Collaboration Discussing Nonviolent Protest But today, I chose… Continue reading Because Claudette
Cece Rios and the Desert Of Souls by Kaela Rivera
Once a year, I pick five novels and read the flap copy to the students. Then, the class votes on which book they want for our class read aloud. From looking at covers, everyone said they were going to vote for Inkling by Kenneth Oppal. But as soon as I read the flap copy for… Continue reading Cece Rios and the Desert Of Souls by Kaela Rivera
Out of the Blue
One of the best parts of the end of the school year is witnessing and celebrating the culmination of a year's worth of teaching. Out of the Blue and it's fabulous author, Elizabeth Shreeve, afforded our classroom that opportunity. But before I get to the end, let me go back to the beginning. Last year… Continue reading Out of the Blue
How War Changed Rondo
One day during a class meeting a student told the class she was interested in social justice issues. Another student added she wanted to learn about Ukraine. The funny thing is I don't even remember what we were talking about, but I heard them. Later on, I was reading NCTE's CLA blog and read about… Continue reading How War Changed Rondo
Bling Blaine: Throw Glitter Not Shade
This year our district's professional development focus is social emotional learning (SEL). I'm on my school's SEL committee which consists of myself, three other teachers, an instructional aide, our assistant principal and our principal. Last year we received training from an outside organization and this year we're tasked with passing on what we learned to… Continue reading Bling Blaine: Throw Glitter Not Shade
Meena’s Mindful Moment
For most of my life, I've had a restless energy inside of me, and I haven't known what to call it. In fact, this energy has been so present at times that when I was in my twenties earning my Masters in Education, my cohort members jokingly gifted me a bell made out of an… Continue reading Meena’s Mindful Moment
Watercress
The ALA Youth Media Awards are a week away so I could write this post about why I think Watercress by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Jason Chin will be an award winner. Instead, I am going to write about how Watercress can be used in the classroom to support social emotional learning. We have… Continue reading Watercress
Between Us and Abuela
When I hear the word “tone,” music bars swell inside my mind. But of course tone doesn’t just apply to music, books have tones, too. However, I don’t think we discuss the tone of books very often, even as adults. While I’m sure I talked about a book’s tone during my Masters of Fine Arts… Continue reading Between Us and Abuela
Ten Beautiful Things
Recently on Twitter, Tara Lazar asked people to give a shout out to picture books published during the pandemic that they thought hadn't received enough attention. I read through the chat and stumbled upon this book. The beautiful cover and the title caught my attention. When I read the reviews and learned it was about… Continue reading Ten Beautiful Things
Be a Tree!
Humans are imperfect. The good news about imperfection is that there's always room for growth. In Maria Gianferrari's Be a Tree!, she highlights how trees support one another through the wood wide web and encourages humans to be as supportive and community-oriented as trees. Earlier this month, our school transitioned from having classes separated from… Continue reading Be a Tree!
The Roots of Rap
One of the best aspects of a new school year is it's a chance to start fresh, to try instructional moves that I haven't tried before. I'm going to share "new-to-me" techniques that I'm hoping will help my students discover books that otherwise might stay hidden in book baskets, help students access their multiple intelligences… Continue reading The Roots of Rap
You Are a Reader!/You Are a Writer!
By April Jones Prince Two Books In One! Welcome back, everyone! I have to say this has been the best reading and writing summer of my life and I thought that was what I’d blog about this month. Wrong! When I opened up April Jones Prince’s You Are a Reader!/You Are a Writer!: Two Books… Continue reading You Are a Reader!/You Are a Writer!
My Summer Reading Stack
Normally, I like to create top-ten lists, but for this post I'm including twelve books. I already was one past the ten limit when I attended my critique group last night. Everyone began raving about a title and I couldn't leave it off the list. Here we go! This book released in May this year.… Continue reading My Summer Reading Stack
A Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
A must have book for upper elementary classrooms On April fifth, I found myself in a strange situation of having to create a classroom community out of two separate cohorts for the remaining ten weeks of the school year. A few of the questions running through my mind were: How do I do that when… Continue reading A Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
Kindness Is a Kite String: The Uplifting Power of Empathy
Kindness is a Kite String by Michelle Schaub is a must have for National Poetry Month. Read on to find out why. Figurative language is a powerful writing tool and Kindnes Is a Kite String flows with similes and metaphors. Sure, you could hand out a boring worksheet that drills the differences between similes and… Continue reading Kindness Is a Kite String: The Uplifting Power of Empathy
Let’s Dance
National Poetry Month is only two weeks away. Make sure you have a copy of Let's Dance by Valerie Bolling on your shelves to share with your students. Let's Dance is a rhyming text that celebrates different dances from all over the world. In addition to portraying children from various cultures, Let's Dance includes children… Continue reading Let’s Dance
Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School
Many teachers and students are missing that familiar sense of normalcy. Well, thankfully, the time-honored tradition of the 100th day of school is just around the corner. Jamie Harper's, Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School is a must-have title for this special day. In addition to featuring the various combinations of 100 such… Continue reading Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Every human being should read All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat. You may be thinking, ‘Wait! What? Did she just write, “Every human being should read All Thirteen?” ‘ Yes, that is what I wrote, and I stand behind my words. All Thirteen is a narrative nonfiction text that shows when we are willing to collaborate… Continue reading All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, legs and Beaks by Jolene Gutierrez
Bionic Beasts by Jolene Gutiérrez is a must-have book for the upper elementary classroom. Jolene's book uses five chapters to highlight five specific animals: a Kemp's ridley sea turtle named Lolaa German shephard named Cassidya greylag goose named Vitóriaa Berkshire-tamworth pig named Piratean Asian elephant named Mosha The organizational structure of each chapter will entice… Continue reading Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, legs and Beaks by Jolene Gutierrez
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
The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story
In the classroom, often times student struggle when trying to differentiate fiction from nonfiction. Sometimes, I will give students a group of books that they have to sort into two groups: fiction or nonfiction. A similar activity can also be done with informational fiction titles. "Informational fiction presents facts and information within a fictional story."… Continue reading The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story
A Perfect Day by Sarah Brannen
It's my first day of school today, and I definitely have the first day jitters. You know what I'm talking about... sleepless nights, the nightmares about students coming to school and being completely unprepared and of course the hope that I'm going to form a fabulous connection with each of my students. One of the… Continue reading A Perfect Day by Sarah Brannen
Project LIT: A Nationwide Movement Started by Jarred Amato
Looking for something fun and exciting to do this school year? Whether you’re teaching in person, remotely or in a hybrid model, start a Project LIT Book Club. Project LIT Book Club is a national movement to eradicate book deserts. Book deserts are communities that lack books. So high school teacher, Jarred Amato, and his… Continue reading Project LIT: A Nationwide Movement Started by Jarred Amato
MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM by Rajani LaRocca
Mayhem, pandemonium, madness are all words that at times described our remote learning process this spring. Our last week, I wanted to end with something fun, something that might supersede the memory of the dreaded daily color grid. So, for our last small group Google Meet, each student had to prepare a book basket. In… Continue reading MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM by Rajani LaRocca
Ick!: Delightfully Disgusting Animal Dinners, Dwellings and Defenses by Melissa Stewart
Ick! Might be a word some educators might use when asked to describe parts of the remote learning experience. But one thing is for sure, remote learning has given us the opportunity to get to know our students in new and exciting ways. I've learned that one of my students is a diehard nonfiction fan.… Continue reading Ick!: Delightfully Disgusting Animal Dinners, Dwellings and Defenses by Melissa Stewart