Awesome Student Writing!!

The Westgate students chose one writing piece they wrote during the 2011-2012 school year and now YOU can read their writing in Westgate ES's first Digital Literary Magazine!

http://www.fcps.edu/WestgateES/students.html

Just pick a grade, click on the "bookmark" tab on the left to see the Table of Contents, pick a writing genre, and then start reading!!

Are you getting ready to teach a certain writing genre?
Check here to find a student writing piece to act as a Mentor Text.

If you want to read the folktale I wrote while helping the 3rd grade team teach the genre of folktale in writing workshop, go to the 3rd grade literary magazine, click on the bookmark tab to the left, and then pick folktale. My story is in this section!

New favorite author - Kathryn Erskine

Here are books to suggest to upper elementary students:

    

I read and LOVED Mockingbird. I plan to read The Absolute Value of Mike when it comes out in the fall and Quaking is on my summer reading list.

I learned so much more about this author from her website: http://www.kathyerskine.com/Kathryn_Erskine/Home.html

Be sure to check it out. This woman really knows how to write for young adult readers!!

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)

The world lost a great children's writer and illustrator this month. Lucky for us, his books live on...

Take time to enjoy his most-loved book, Where the Wild Things Are and his latest published book, Bumble-Ardy. Also, be on the lookout for his posthumous picture book, “My Brother’s Book” — a poem written and illustrated by Mr. Sendak and inspired by his love for his late brother, Jack. It is scheduled to be published next February.

Read and share with your students this kid-friendly obituary from the Washington Post KidsPost:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/children-see-themselves-in-late-author-maurice-sendaks-wild-things-characters/2012/05/08/gIQAt9u1AU_story.html

Also, read Lucy Calkins' commentary on using real books, like Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, in classrooms, as opposed to a basal series.     http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news.htm?ArticleID=8536

Poetry video

I so enjoyed watching this 16 minute TED talk video of Billy Collins reading five of his poems that were put to animation!! I think you will enjoy it, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddw1_3ZVjTE

A Poem Inspired by Reading with My Daughters!

I am helping the 6th grade students at my school understand what a ballad is - a songlike, narrative, poem that has rhyme, rhythm, and a refrain. In the process, I wrote this poem, inspired by Bridgit and Anne!! It is a little bit like a ballad and I love that it has recorded for me the best part of being a mom, getting to read-aloud so many stories filled with so many great characters to my two favorite readers.

My daughters, at 4 and 1

Licked their cone of ice cream

Listening to me read The Tweedle Beedle Battle

And the adventures of Spot, Sally, Sam with Helen and Steve

While taking turns to open the flaps.

The clock chimed eight and

I said good night,

sleep tight,

and turned out the light.

Once they turn 6 and 3

They spooned their jello

As I read everything by Donald Crews

We rode the train, plane, boat, bike, and carousel.

Then listened to the troubles of Arthur and DW.

The clock chimed eight and

I said good night,

sleep tight,

and turned out the light.

Soon both could read at 8 and 5

Yet, they still listened, munching on popcorn

As I read of Elmer on Wild Island

And we met Samantha, Molly, and Josephina

Living in another time.

The clock chimed eight and

I said good night,

sleep tight,

and turned out the light.

By the ages of 10 and 7

We met Ms. Jewels, Louis

and the 28 students in that tall, tall school.

Also Anastasia and her funny brother, Sam.

The clock chimed eight and

I said good night,

sleep tight,

and turned out the light.

Time flew by, and suddenly they were 12 and 9.

They made the cookies we all munched on

As I read-aloud the adventures of their newest friends:

Harry, Ron, and Herminone.

The clock chimed eight and

I said good night,

sleep tight,

and turned out the light.

Now, they are 23 and 20.

 The clock chimes 2:00am.

I’ve been asleep for hours

Closing my eyes after finishing a chapter of my newest read.

Bridgit tweets the latest Obama for America news of the day.

Anne posts a video to her facebook wall and grabs a play to read.

Then lights out….

Good night, great readers, sleep tight.

By Mrs. Donnelly, April 2012      

April is National Poetry Month!

This weekend's KidsPost published the winners of their kid's poetry writing contest. And I agree, THEY ARE WINNERS! These poems are great mentor text poems to share with your writers. Click the link and then be sure to read my favorites.

The first poem listed is part poem, part recipe, How to Write A Poem - very clever! Gravity gave me lots to think about. I guess it is a good thing we have it! I loved the point of view that is expressed in Button. Pained is sad but touching. And I was constantly changing the visual picture in my mind as I read Runaway Dog! And all these poems were written by kids!! So inspiring!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/kidspost-poetry-contest-winners/2012/04/19/gIQAPTh1VT_story.html

The Washington Post also had an article written by critic, Michael Dirda, about WHY we need to read poetry. I agree with him when he says we need to read poems...

"Not because they’re good for you — which they are — but because they will make you feel good. Poetry also will make you smile, or weep, or remember. You don’t need to analyze symbols or spend hours explicating every line. Just pick up a book of poems". To read his whole article with suggested poems to read, click on the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/osip-mandelstam-stolen-air-selected-poems/2012/04/18/gIQAry5qRT_story.html

I plan to feel good this month by taking time to read poetry! I hope you do, too!!

ES Teachers NEED to Do MORE to Push the Thinking of the Darryl's in our Classrooms!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-went-to-one-of-dcs-best-high-schools-i-was-still-unprepared-for-college/2012/04/13/gIQAqQQAFT_story.html?tid=sm_btn_fb

Click on this Washington Post link. It will take you to an article from Sunday's Outlook page written by a Georgetown University freshman who honestly says that he is in college but not prepared to do the expected critical thinking that college is demanding. He wishes his elementary school teachers would have pushed him to think more. He wished they would have expected more of him.

I emailed Darryl yesterday and thanked him for his honest story and told him that as an elementary school teacher, I will think of him and daily push myself to push my students to think deeper and higher. I hope you will do the same. The "Darryl's" at our school deserve this!

New Favorite Author

Sarah Weeks speaking on March 24, 2012 at Riverside Church at the TCRWP Saturday Reunion.



 Sarah Weeks has such a way with words. Enjoy this excerpt which she shared as part of her Keynote given to a church filled with educators. For me, it celebrates why we read!
From So B. It when the main character, Heidi, is describing her agoraphobic neighbor, Bernadette, who homeschools her:
      "Every night as far back as I can remember, Bernadette read out loud to me before I went to sleep. The two of us would tuck Mama in together, and then Bernie would come in and sit on my bed and read to me until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.
      "She read me Charlotte's Web and The Little Prince, parts of the Bible, and Zen philosophy. She translated Romeo and Juliet into English, well, my kind of English, and we both cried at the ending. She read me Greek myths and Nancy Drew mysteries, the biography of Mahatma Ghandhi, and all the Little House books twice through. Bernadette and I couldn't go outside together, but every night we rode bareback across the praire in calico bonnets or belly crept into dark caves or followed clues up steep winding staircases into the tops of mysterious clock towers.
    Bernie taught me everything I knew, and she was a very good teacher. When she explained things, they shot into my brain like arrows and stuck. She could describe an Arctic blizzard or cross-pollination, and suddenly I'd be leaning into the bite of a freezing wind or riding a bublebee's back right into the middle of a snapdragon. Nobody ran in Bernadette's world - they 'skittered' or 'high-tailed it.' They didn't whine, they 'pulled and moaned.' (pg. 8-10)

After hearing this excerpt, I thought, as a teacher, I have a new role model. I want to BE Bernadette with my students - reading and using strong vocabulary to enrich their lives!

Sarah also shared this excerpt from Oggie Gooder, which I will remember to share while I am launching Writing Workshop in the beginning of a school year:

   "Creative writing was Oggie's worst subject...But the bigger problem was that Oggie could never seem to think of anything he wanted to write about.
   "Ideas are like seed," Mr. Snolinovsky had explained to the class one day. "Plant a seed and you'll grow a story."
   Oggie stayed after school that day to ask Mr. Snolinovsky a question.
   "Where do those story seeds you were talking about come from?"
   Mr. Snolinovsky tapped the side of his head. "In here," he said. "And here, too." He tapped the left side of his chest, over his heart. "We're all full of seeds, Oggie."
   "You mean like all watermelons are full of seeds?" Oggie asked.
   Mr. Snolinovsky smiled and said, "Yes. Exactly."
   "That's wnat I was afraid of," sighed Oggie.
   "What do you mean?" Mr. Snolinovsky asked.
   "My Aunt Hettie has a garden and she grows watermelons that look like regular watermelons from the outside, but when you cut them open they don't have any seeds in them at all."
   Mr. Snolinovsky scratched his head.  
   "I think I know what you're trying to say," he told Oggie, "but believe me when I tell you that you're a very interesting person, Oggie Cooder. And unlike your aunt's watermelons, interesting people always have seeds in them."

Moving Video

I viewed this video at the TCRWP today. It shows how students CAN change their world!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI_suOg7Awc

10 Tips to Help Get Reading Workshop Up and Running

Brianna Friedman-Parlitsis shared the following tips at TCRWP today:

1. Reading Spots - make a visible chart so students know where to read independently and where to partner share. She suggested to have students sit back to back during independent reading and then turn and face each other during partner share. Here are two charts showing kids WHERE to go during Reading Workshop:

2. Set up room BEFORE Reading Workshop begins. Have kids get out their book bags and logs. Have it all out and ready to go. Here's a photo of a READING MAT that keeps readers reading!



3. Reading Logs: Students fill it in EVERYDAY, at school and at home. NON-NEGOTIABLE!

Lower grades like to just make tally marks. They LOVE the slash so they will be motivated to read the 5th  and 10th book!

4. Book Shopping: it is done weekly, by table, all on one day, by variety of levels. Shopping is a skill that will need to be taught - how to find a book, how to return a book, how to be sure it is JR.

5. Timers are needed and graphs to chart number of minutes read.

6. Set a goal. Make it visible:

7. Baggies: be sure to have enough books at a level so a student can fill bag, on average at the lower levels = 8-10 books / bag. 8. The bags can hold tools, too.

9. Keep libraries organized and fluid. They should change as youur units of study change to match the kind of reading you are doing.

10. HAVE FUN!  Reading Workshop is designed to give kids books they want to read. Get them excited so they are sad for Reading Workshop to end.