Category: Reading

Reading, reflection

How To Start a Reading Revolution, Perhaps

Pernille Ripp
My students have always been readers, not all the kind that steal any time they can to bury their nose in a book, not all the kind that begged for more reading time, but still, they have almost always been readers.  Of course, I have my old reading log partly to blame for that, the constant counting of pages and minutes, and the very structured and meticulous note-taking I did whenever I checked in with a child.  Reading was not always born out of love in my room but more out of necessity and have to.

Not this year.  I grew out of reading logs several years ago and have never looked back, but the love of reading did not abound in my room by any means.  Sure, there were those few kids that just had to tell you about their latest book, but they were by no means the majority.  And yet I had no intention of changing the reading attitude in my room, after all, I am no miracle worker and why fix it if it isn’t broken?  But something changed this year, I am not sure what, but reading has become our passion.

Our room of students no longer groan when it is time to find their books and their spot, instead they groan when I ask them to come to a good stopping place.  Must do not thumb reluctantly through my many strange books or constantly reread the same book over and over,  hoping I wont notice.  Many old reading habits have died and been replaced by a new one; a love and passion to spend our time reading fantastical books.

This transformation started with an evaluation of my classroom library and realizing that I had quantity, sure, but no quality.  I had ordered whatever looked enticing but never taken the time to read much of it.  I had faith that students would just discover great books on their own and share them with friends, not knowing what my own reading responsibility was.

This year, I read as much as I can, trying to turn off my computer every night by 8 PM and getting an hour of reading in before I fall asleep.  My home library has spilled into my classroom and I thrust new books into the hands of students knowing that they will probably like it.  I constantly know what my students are reading because we are constantly discussing it.  I am encouraging students to give up books that they are trudging through; reminding them that it is ok to not finish every book.  I am showing book trailers and getting honest feedback.  We are readers and not just at reading time but at any time throughout the day.  Books are the most important things to us and those kids that I used to interrupt at all times so I could teach them  one more strategy  those kids whose reading time was diminished so we could intervene, scaffold  and model, those kids who didn’t get to pick a book because we knew better; those kids are reading.  And they are reading silently, not because I wander the room with my eagle eye, but because their book is that good.

Today, was one of those days where I couldn’t quite believe how far we have come in two months.  One student asked me what to read next since he had just finished “Liar & Spy,” I was astounded since I had given him that book yesterday.  Another student did his first book talk and didn’t hate it, this is the kid that promised me he had nothing to talk about.  Another kid, who said his goal was 1 book for the whole month of January has read 3 and is excitedly reading “Origami Yoda” at the moment, not even realizing that it is a book meant for kids at a higher level than he is.  Or the girl who is counting down the days until the sequel to “The False Prince” comes out, well, actually there is 4 of us counting down.   We are readers.  Not because Mrs. Ripp threatens us.  Not because a reading log tells us so.  Not because there is a reward at the end of it all. We are readers because we love books and we cannot wait to share them.

image from icanread

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Reading, students, summer

Summer Reading Programs for Students

Pernille Ripp
As many of the students continue to cherish their books this summer, I thought I would highlight a few summer reading programs which can give them free books or other incentives since they are already reading.

  • The public library always has a great summer reading program. We do get to have a presentation next week on what they have to offer, but otherwise check out their website for more information.  Often students can earn books or participate in book events throughout summer.
  • Barnes & Noble are offering up their summer reading program as well.  This program runs  between May 24th and September 6th and any child can sign up.  With a kick off event here in Madison on June 2nd, students can pick up their logs and then earn books throughout the summer.
  • Half Price books also offers a program from June 1st to July 31st.  This program called Feed Your Brain Summer Reading Program offers students a $5 gift card to use at Half Price Books if they read 300 pages.
  • Scholastic has a program they call the Summer Challenge.  Either educators or parents can register kids and then they can log their minutes of reading.  They can then enter to win prizes or do challenges on the Scholastic website.
  • Amazon runs a 4-for-3 program where you can purchase 4 books and get the lowest one for free.  While this isn’t an incentive program it is nice way to get more books.
  • The blog, My Frugal Adventures,  also has a list of a variety of other reading incentive programs being offered if you are interested.

I hope this is helpful for this summer; happy reading!

Literacy, Martin Luther King, Reading, writing

A Study in MLK Jr. Day

Pernille Ripp

We discuss Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the year, however, in order for the students to understand why they get Monday off, I decided to do a little mini lesson today during literacy to remind them.  I am a huge Patty Griffin fan and knew that her song “Up to the Mountain (the MLK Song) would be an incredible piece to study on our Music and Poetry Tuesday’s.

I started out by asking the students why we get Monday off, thankfully most of them knew why and they also knew a little bit about his life.  I minored in history so I took the kids back to pre-Civil War times and told them a little bit about Jim Crow Laws.  (I don’t want to go into too much detail because we explore it in social studies later this year).  Once the background had been set, we talked about the time of MLK and what they knew about him and the Civil Rights Movement.  This was at most 10 minutes of my class.

After that I knew I needed to recapture their attention because I had done a lot of talking.  So I played them a clip from MLK’s Last Speech also known as his “Up to the Mountaintop” speech.  The students were amazed that they were able to watch him speak. 

We discussed how he was a preacher so he used biblical text to express his desire for his followers.  The kids completely got the duality in his speech once we had mentioned this.  I then played them a video of  Patty Griffin’s song while they got a print out of the lyrics to follow along with.  Having the lyrics was helpful for them since she can be hard to fully understand.  Finally, I played the speech clip again without saying anything.  Quiet.

I asked them, “What did Patty Griffin use in her song from the speech?”  Multiple hands shot up with different answers.  They all saw the similarities.  And what is more, they understood more how powerful MLK was because they had seen him speak “live.”  I ended our viewing with this short video montage from the “I Have a Dream” speech, which never ceases to amaze kids.

We finished the lesson with the students journaling on the topic:  Has MLK’s dream come true that we only get judged by our character and not by how we look?

Reading

An Author is Studied

Pernille Ripp

In my quest to continue book explorations, I wanted to make sure that students became experts on at least one author.  While I like the aspect of a book report in how it opens up new author and genre opportunities for the kids, I am not a fan of the way I have used book reports in the past.  So I wanted my students to do an author study instead.

I opened this up for discussion today so that the students could share their input and they came up with the following requirements for how to become an expert on a particular author:

  • Pick a good author, can be someone yo have read before.
  • You should figure out the type of author and their particular writing style.
  • You should read and remember a biography of the author.
  • We should skip Rick Riordan, since so many students wanted to do him.
  • If you choose an author of picture books, you must read 7-10 picture books.
  • If you choose an author of chapter books, you must read 2-3 books or more.
  • You may work by yourself or with a partner.
  • If you work with a partner, you should both read the same books and discuss them.
  • We will have 6 weeks to do this project.

 We also discussed how the students would prove that they had indeed become an expert on.  The student ideas were:

  • Do a report
  • Some type of poster
  • 2-3 glogs
  • A book
  • ABC book
  • Film an interview
  • Create a documentary about the author
  • Skype in pretending to be the author
  • Skit/sketch about important part of the author’s life
  • Timeline with books and biography
  • Dress up and pretend you are the author

I now have a master list of who the students are researching, we have gotten books from the library and the students are giving me a thumbs up as for the excitement about the project.  Time in class will be given to read and research but students must manage their time appropriately for our deadline of February 21st. 

I will be creating a biography sheet for those students that need it, and the rest have been instructed to use their reading notebooks to gather all of their information.  I cannot wait to share more resources and their projects!

Here is a student’s take on what it means to do an author study.

Reading

A Lesson from the Two Sisters

Pernille Ripp

This was written by The 2 Sisters in their weekly email, which I receive, and it struck a chord with me because I have certainly done this to my students.  What a wonderful opportunity for me to reflect on my own reading program.

Are Our Tasks Related to Reading Worthy of the Treasure Tub?

All three of our girls were home for a few days during the holidays.  What a special time we had reconnecting, playing games, cooking, eating and even cleaning out their old bedroom closets.  Old clothes were tossed, traded and made fun of.   Books and music were sorted through.  Then each girl pulled out their large plastic treasure tub filled with sacred mementos from grades K-12. 

Our oldest daughter fished out a stack of worksheets that caught my eye.  When she passed them over I discovered they were supplementary ditto’s to be used in conjunction with reading The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  It was an impressive little tome of comprehension questions, word searches, vocabulary to be defined, crossword puzzles, etc….and a note on top in her teacher’s neat handwriting that said, “I hope your work on this packet will encourage you to read more Boxcar Books.” 

So I had to ask, “Did you read more of that series?”  Her immediate reply was an enhanced grimace, “Never read another one!”  The worksheets were tossed in the recycle bin…and the work, which she didn’t value then or now, had the exact opposite effect of the one her teacher had intended. 

My friend’s children read every book in the series and had many adventures with neighbors in the backyard playing Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny.  They endeavored to solve mystery after mystery, whether in text or in play. Of course, they were never asked to do a “packet”.  

My poor girl had to look up furious, handkerchief, and clothespin and use them all in a sentence. She had to unscramble words like railroad, merchant and clues.  No wonder she never read another one. 

If we want the next generation to love reading for gaining knowledge and providing entertainment, we have to be careful about the tasks we demand they do around books.  Do we have well intentioned supplementary materials that are robbing our students of the joy of books?

What will your students…and ours….find in their treasure tubs 20 years from now?