Reading + Pinning + Doing (14)

Reading

Personal

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: This is a slow read, and I'm still working on it. I've made it to about page 400 out of 550 pages. I'm still enjoying it, but wish ot was a quicker read.

With the Family

Well-Loved Books/Authors:

My Friend Bear, by Jez Alborough: This series is one of my daughter's favs. She asks for it every time we read together. I try to avoid reading it (without success), not because it's not an excellent book for toddlers (it is), it's just not also targeted to my demographic. It's a little quirky, but has a good rythm scheme.

Hit the Ball Duck, by Jez Alborough: A group of animal friends is playing baseball when the ball gets stuck in the tree. They have to work together to get the ball out of the tree. This is an enjoyable book with a good cadence.

Snowballs, by Lois Elhert: Elhert is a well-loved author and this book gets good reviews on Amazon. I am not a fan of this book. This book is missing a little depth and background. It seems more like an informational how-to book, when I was expecting a narrative.

Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag: The refrain in this book is great (Hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats, Millions and billions and trillions of cats), probably the reason why it is so well-loved.  But the cats fight over who's the prettiest, start clawing at each other, and they end up eating each other.

All in all- these picks are all slightly odd, but my daughter seems to like them...and they are well-loved for some reason or other.

When Stella Was Very, Very Small, by Marie-Louise Gay: My daughter is taking a lot of big girl steps this month, including potty training. She has started to say that she is not little, but big- a kid. This book is about Stella who is little, at first. This book is sweet and shows how Stella grows up through how she plays (When Stella was very, very, small, she explores the great tropical jungle behind her house). In the end, she becomes a big sister to Sam, and teaches him how she used to play when she way very, very small. This would especially be a great gift to a big sibling of a little sibling. Or a great book to a mom expecting a 2nd child. Or a great book for my little girl, who now see herself as a big kid!

Grandma's Pear Tree, by Suzanne Santillan: A sweet bilingual (English/Spanish) book. The plot is identical to the duck book, where a ball gets stuck in the tree and everyone works together to get it down. A great plot device, indeed.

A Hippo's Tale, by Lena Landstrom: This book is a fine bedtime story, but I won't be checking it out from the library again. The main character lives in a Hippo community. A Hippo gets thrown when her daily routine is disrupted. She learns to be a little flexible, but doesn't learn to live/work with others in the community.

Louella Mae, She's Run Away!, by Karen Beamont Alarcon: This is a fun-spirited ryhming book. Louella Mae is a pig that's run away.

In the Garden: Who's Been Here, by Lindsay Barrett George: I love this book. We just planted veggies out in the garden. In this book, two kids go out to the garden to pick veggies for dinner, and they discover that other animals have been in the garden too.  I love that it can start a dialogue between my daughter and me about the life in the garden.

Pinning

I pinned this a couple of days ago....an awesome reading site the Teach 21 Strategy Bank from the West Virginia Department of Education. It has a lot if useful teaching resources.

The Teach 21 Strategy Bank is designed to be a dynamic resource for educators. It contains a multitude of research-based strategies teachers can use to make their classroom instruction more effective, and to address the needs of their diverse students. These strategies have been collected from a variety of sources, including the standards-based units available on Teach 21.

Doing

I have 3 weeks left of school, which means it's assessment time! I have to do a bunch of end-of-year assessments on my students starting next week.

So, I am planning on not returning to my position next year. I love being a reading specialist, but the demands of a charter school schedule have taken away from the QT I get with my 2 1/2 year old.

I've taken a part-time position (60%) at a faith-based non-profit that I used to work at, Harbor House. I'll be the Director of Education. I'm excited for this transition. It means that I'll get to learn new management skills and I'll get to work with all ages- which I look forward to.

I've also enrolled my daughter in a co-op preschool. So, I'll get to help out there one morning per week.

I know I've been MIA this last month. I've been terribbly busy. I look forward to summer, and not having to start work until Septermber!

I'm linking up to these fab blogs---

Learning All The Time!!

Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

Reading + Pinning + Doing (13)

Hope your spring is going well! It's lovely weather out here in Oakland, CA-- with the sun shining and the flowers blooming!

Reading

 

Personal

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: I'm reading this before I go to bed each night- I love it. I'm not that in to reading YA for personal reading (I love reading them with students, though), but this, for me, is a winner. The book is set in Germany during Hilter's rise to power. Its told from the perspective of death. I'm hoping it's not too tragic in the end! I need an uplifting read. If you haven't read this, you should. And I would recommend it for mature middle-schoolers on up (ages 11+). If you know of a teen/tween that's read this, I'd love to hear how they liked it.

With the Family

A Good Day, by Kevin Henkes: This is a short and simple book (great for kids ages 1-3), that shows how someone's misfortune can lead to an other's fortune. The animals all experience something that give them a bad feeling about the day (squirrel drops a but, and dog gets tangled up in the fence), but in the end, they all end up having a good day (squirrel finds a bigger nut, and dog gets untangled). This is a keeper!

Me Baby, You Baby, by Ashley Wolff: The is a lovely book about a couple of moms taking their tots to the zoo for the day. My daughter asks for this book every night. The book has rhyme throughout. I like that you see momma and baby animals when the kids visit the zoo together. I also like that the animals in this book are not the common zoo animals (sea lions, sloth, etc...). Here's a text sample: Me baby, you baby, visit the zoo, baby.//Tall baby, small baby, comes when she's called baby.//Warm baby, cold baby, tucked in a fold baby.// Me baby, you baby, look how you grew baby!// The illustrations give a lot for child and parent to talk about together. I also like that this a a book set in San Francisco, since we're nearby in Oakland.

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox (a favorite author!!) and Judy Horacek: Every good book has a question leading the reader through a book. And throughout this book the reader is on the search for the green sheep. This book introduces tots to a lot of colors (red, yellow, green...), opposites (rainy + sunny, far + near, up + down, thin + wide), and other toddler friendly vocabulary (bath, slide, bed, car, train). Here a text sample: Here is the wind sheep/And here is the wave sheep./Here is the scared sheep, and here is the brave sheep/But where is the green sheep? This is a perfect book to read with your toddler, or to gift to a toddler. Another keeper!

Duck, Duck, Goose! (A Coyote's on the Loose!), by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey: The title harkens to the tone and text in this silly book. Check this out if you have a little one who likes a good chuckle. This book also is chock-full with rhyme.

Creature, by Andrew Zimmerman: WOW! I had seen this book around pre-baby. But reading it with my toddler is just lovely- she loves it. The photography is brilliant. This book is meant for young kids, but kids (and adults) of all ages will enjoy perusing through the pictures. Lovely.

Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies: If you have a school-aged child, you must check out this book. It is over my 2-yr-olds head (she's not quite sure what to make of the bats), but I read it to my 1st-4th graders, and they all loved it. The bats invade the library secretly at night to soak in the goodness of the books. The illustrations are capturing, and the text is playful and sophisticated. The vocabulary is rich, so I gave quick synonyms for my younger listeners, and that was enough for them to be able to enjoy it. Here's a sample: And if we listen, we will hear/some distant voices drawing near-/louder, louder, louder still,/ they coax us in, until...//everyone--old bat or pup--/ has been completely swallowed up/ and lives inside a book instead/of simply hearing something read.// I love this one!

 

Pinning

I love this recent pin, a blog post about RtI from Hello Literacy. It seems like she has the whole school psyched about and involved in the RtI process- no small feat! I love this blog- check it out!

 

Doing

In school, we're starting the 3rd and final RtI cycle for the year. The state test is in 3 weeks- which means that the kiddos will get their reading intervention interrupted for a week or more (boo!).

I'm on the board of a local non-profit, Harbor House, and I've been designing a 4oth anniversary book for an upcoming dinner event. I've been spending free hours working in it (hence, the lack of blogging). I'm excited for its progress, but there's still a lot to do for that this coming week!

We revisited Oakland's Fairyland while my mother-in-law was in town. Check out these book-themed benches (I love 'em!):

Cousins had a fun Easter egg hunt at Grandma's:

The weather here is wonderful! We've been trying to get outside as much as possible. Here's a picture from a walk in the redwoods this morning (a short 10 minute drive away).

Hope you have a great week...I'm off to weed the front yard (the price to pay for a beautiful spring!)

I'm linking up to these fab blogs---

Learning All The Time!!

Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

Reading + Pinning + Doing (12)

I've been absent from bloglandia for a couple of weeks- I was sick, piled with school work, and then spring break began- and we went off to DC to visit family.  We had a great trip, with some of the highlights mentioned below.

Reading

Personal

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes: I finished reading this book a couple of weeks ago, and I really liked learning more about the science of fat and the history of dieting. I'm glad I read this book, and I hope my indoctrination into Taubes' thinking will help me to lay off of the carbs.

Snowdrops by A.D. Miller: I finished this on the plane last night. It's set in Russia, Moscow mostly. I wanted to read this book because I'm already afraid of (and intritrigued by!) Russia because of the rash of known poisonings in the last decade. This book definitely gave me more to be intrigued about. You'll like this if you like crime fiction. They call it a psychological thriller, but I wasn't thrilled psychologically.   It's a quick read and I liked it. The plot was simplistic, but it was great to get an insider's perspective into Russia. Miller has expereince living in Russia, but he does seem to present a rather grim (and one-dimentional??) portrayal of post-communist Russia. Miller is an excellent writer, so while the plot was somewhat flat, I enjoyed the read.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: My friend lent me this YA book eons ago, but I hadn't got around to reading it. I've heard great things about it. It's narrated by death, and set during the Holocast. I'll let you know if I like it.

        

With My Family

Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser: I've heard of this series, but I hadn't read any Fancy Nancy books. My 2 YO daughter asks for this book every night now. My hubby and I like the Nancy is fancy because she's imaginative and has a a fancy vocabulary. We also love her parents (they are not fancy, according to Nancy). In this book Nancy shows she is responsible enough to take care of a pet on her own. We all really like this book.

Pinning

I found writeshop.com via Pinterest, and love a lot of their posts, especially their post about writing across the curriculum. From Kim's (of Write Shop) bio- Hi, I'm Kim--curriculum author, speaker, retired homeschooler, and grandma to seven. Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere, where you'll find writing and poetry activities, grammar tips, hope for reluctant writers, and so much more.

Doing

In DC:

• Visited with grandparents, in-laws, and cousins- it was such a blast!
• Went to the Blossom Kite Festival on the Mall. 
• Went out for Korean BBQ at Honey Pig
• Strolled through the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of Natural History
• Went to the National Zoo and boy, do they have some amazing lions!
• Went to the Playzeum in Bethesda. What an awesome place for kiddos (see pics below)! Of course, as a big literacy advocate, I loved that each themed play room has a themed book shelf filled with used books for purchase (and browsing!).

Plane time

Story time with mama's cousins

Blossom Kite Festival

Blossom Kite Festival

Honey Pig, Korean BBQ

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Picasso was at the National Gallery of Art

Zoo with Grandpa and Grandpa

Cousins

 Playzeum fun:

Trying out Southwest's cockpit on the way home!

We have a 5 more days left of spring break, and we have a big to-do list. I'm hoping we can get it all done! Have a great week!

I'm linking up to these fab blogs---

Learning All The Time!!

Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

Spring Break Has Officially Begun

Relaxing and playing out on the front sidewalk...a great start to spring break!

Teaching Tipster: Clarifying Unknown Words

When I use this Predicting, Clarifying, Questioning, and Summarizing form with my students, for each book we read in small group. First, they choose the vocabulary words that are challenging for them. After they choose the words that "are tricky for them," I work with them to clarify the words.

Here's what we do:

1. We write down the words on chart paper. I check the words that are repeats. This helps me to see the words that are tricky for all of the students.
2. Then I choose words that are essential to the comprehension of the text or words that are Tier 2 words that they will encounter often. See this article from Colorin Colorado for more help on choosing vocabulary for ELLs. We talk about 5-10 of the words.
3. Next, the students read the word in context and make inferences about the meaning.
4. I draw a picture of the word, and we discuss the word togther- giving examples and non-examples.
 

I took some quick pictures of the work we did with clarifying  this week:

On the bottom are Tier 2 words (clogged, harder), up top are Tier 3 words (geysers, craters, cinder cones, shield volcanoes).

This process could always be improved on. But, I think it's esecially essential to discuss the tricky words with my students, and giving them an illustration is especially important- it helps to anchor the word for them.

How do you teach vocabulary to the kids you teach?