Daffodils - A Child's Garden of Poetry

Daffodils - A Child's Garden of Poetry: Poem by William Wordsworth. Read by Dave Matthews.

Dave Matthews recites this poem!!!  I absolutely love this.  Daffodils....I'm obsessed with you. :)

Reading Logs: Part 2

I wish I had a simple answer, that I just nixed reading logs and that is that.  It wasn't that simple for me.  My second graders DO have a Reading Log where they record the title of book they read that day/night.  There is also a place for them to Reflect on their reading from the week.  My reasoning for keeping the log is that I still want to ensure they are adding to their reading volume for the day, by reading at home.  They return the log to me on Fridays, and I respond to their reflections.  It's not a back and forth, daily reading log, which became such a burden in years past for me as a teacher, and last year as a parent.  No one in my house was thrilled with reading log "homework" last year. Addison's teacher this year  (a colleague and friend of mine!) is using the same reading log that I came up with, and so far, I have a daughter who WANTS to read each night, and it doesn't feel like a huge chore.  Whew!  Maybe it's the spin we put on it?  Maybe it's because it's not turned in daily, the nightly pressure isn't there?   But we're still encouraging "home reading?" I don't know what it is, but I'm hoping this low-pressure system (ha! sounds like a weather front!) continues to grow my little readers.

Side note:  I want to be clear that growing readers is not just about reading logs, there are gobs of other pieces in place that go into cheering our little readers along.  For example, TONS of read aloud, choice over what to read, a tricked-out classroom library that is inviting and stocked with engaging, books.  Maybe I should write a post on ways to engage our tiny readers?  :)

Reading Logs: Part One - Time to Revise

Nightly reading logs.  Those buggers have been on my mind for months now.  Do they encourage and instill life long reading habits, or do they turn off kids from reading for pleasure since it's usually "assigned homework" and not self-instigated reading?  I witnessed the negative effects of reading logs first hand this past school year with my first grade daughter, Addison.  And to add fuel to the fire, I was the teacher who assigned the nightly reading!  This added an entirely different dimension to the situation, to say the least.  Yes, it was an interesting year being my daughter's first grade teacher!  I'm moving to second grade this coming school year, and NO, she won't be looping with me. :)

The reading bug hasn't bitten Addison yet.  I'm still waiting to find her curled up with a book in a corner of our house, or under her bed.  She LOVES books, and absolutely loves to be read to, but she's not reading for pleasure on her own.....yet.  As the school year progressed, I noticed that reading was becoming a chore for her.  It was as if I was forcing her to finish the broccoli on her plate.  This was NOT the effect I was going for as her teacher and most importantly, avid reader MOM!  How many other families were experiencing this with their new readers? 

 

Apparently other educators are having the same misgivings about reading logs, check out this blog post by Matt Renwick, a principal/blogger in Wisconsin.

  

The hard part about this dilemma is we know so much about the importance of reading volume, and how closely reading volume is tied with so many aspects of success later in life.  How can we encourage kids to read for pleasure outside of school?  The amount of reading (and kinds of reading) that happens in many classrooms is not enough.  Especially with current curriculum demands that many schools and districts are entrenched in, which focuses on whole group and small group instruction, with little time for independent, self-selected reading.  In this Common Core crazed world, we need to create classroom communities where reading for the pure joy of reading is the norm, and it oozes out the doors of our classrooms, down the street and into the homes of our students.  Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer) has some cool suggestions in her book Reading in the Wild, which I'm engrossed in currently.  Long story short:  I plan to revise my reading log practices.  What will this look like?  I'll let you know when I figure it out. But it won't involve forcing broccoli on anyone.

Green Grass and Dandelions

April is Poetry month.  Here is a poem that makes me happy. :)  Spring is here!

 

Dreaming

If you could build an elementary school, without constraints or demands from the powers that be, what would it look like?  What would be the foundation?  Lately I've been thinking of my "dream school" and what it would consist of. 

Let's dream a bit.....

Image Credit: Peter Reynolds

1. Kid-Centered   - You're probably thinking duh, but I honestly think that often times we forget that we are educating little people, ages 5-11.  They are not adults and often times the decisions made don't have what is best for kids (age appropriateness, developmental appropriateness) in mind.  My dream school would always think about what is best for KIDS, remembering that they are little humans.
2. Multi-Age - I had the opportunity to teach a K-1 multi-age for 2 years.  Oh my goodness, so cool.  The benefits of "kids learning from kids" is incredible.  The "youngers" rise to the occasion and push themselves (in a healthy way of course) to learn, and the "olders" become leaders and role models, while of course learning and growing at the same time! 
3. Inquiry-Based - What does this truly mean?  We hear inquiry-based often, and sometimes it's tossed around when describing curricula by publishers, but what would this look like in a school, where the entire foundation is built upon inquiry?  To me, it means that the wonderings/curiosities/interests of each child are valued, and used as a tool to learn and grow.  Time is set aside to investigate and explore these wonderings.  It can be set up in various ways, but the overarching idea is that kids drive their own learning.  They are highly motivated and engaged as a result of choice.
4. The Arts - This dream school will include opportunities for children to express themselves artistically in a multitude of ways.  The arts will be woven into the curriculum, not as an after thought, but as in integral piece.
5. Natural World - Kids need to see, touch, smell, hear (and even taste!) the incredible natural world that surrounds them.  They need to dig in dirt, splash in water and get DIRTY!  Not all children are able to do this at home.  Today, kids are in front of screens, and not spending time outside like previous generations.  A dream school would bring the natural world to children, in AND outside the classroom.  Exploration areas would be set up in classrooms for kids to explore and get their hands on nature, but field trips and excursions would be built-in to the school year to explore the natural world as well.  This dream school would also include a child-created and maintained garden, greenhouse and composting. :)
6. Play - Kids need time to be kids!  Even 11 year olds want to build, construct, create, dramatize, etc.  My dream school will include time for this, with thoughtful, intentional "invitations" to play set-up.  For example, a block area with natural or recycled items to incorporate in their creations.  (tubing, wires, paper towel tubes, etc)  A drawing/watercolor center, with a piece of fruit sliced in half to invite kids to draw/paint a still life. :) 
7. Family Partnerships - I love the idea of utilizing and learning from the "talents of all" in the community.  We often don't know the amazing treasures that are right under our noses!  I had a parent not long ago that was an opera singer!  How cool is that?  Inviting parents and family members into the school to share their talents and knowledge is such a powerful thing.

Now, of course a literacy rich environment is a given, where reading, writing, speaking, listening and above all THINKING in authentic ways is a cornerstone.  And don't forget math....a well-balanced approach that helps kids develop conceptual understanding, in real-life ENGAGING ways.

Ok, I'm sure I'm forgetting something huge, but this is a working document! :)  And dreams can be revised, right?

J is for Jake

There is nothing sweeter than a first grader with no front teeth.  I melt each time I see one of their toothless smiles.  It's a sign of pure innocence.  I wish we could freeze this smile for longer than it actually lasts, before those "grown up teeth" make their way in.
Addison is wiggling away at her front teeth, and they will surely fall out in the coming months. :)

Why am I writing a blog post about missing teeth?

It's because I'm saddened by how our children are being hurried along.  It's been bothering me ever since I returned from Reggio Emilia last fall.  Why are we trying to grow them up so fast?  There's plenty of time to be old and do the things that old people do.

Like writing your letters "walking forward."  Yes, we all learn to write our letters correctly at some point in time, usually by the end of 2nd grade, things are looking pretty legible.  That's the point, right?  Legibility.  Kids in K, 1st, 2nd grades notoriously flip their letters and numbers backwards.  Especially b's and d's, 6 and 9, etc.  No matter how many times a teacher might remind children who flip their letters to make them "walk forward," they will still flip them.  When you point it out, they notice, but when they are in the midst of writing, they'll still flip.  There is some sort of switch that goes off in their brains, and suddenly everything walks forward.  It's like magic.  It's not because I've told them to flip their letters.  It's because they were ready to do it, on their own time line.

So this brings me to sweet Jake.  Jake is a first grader in my class this year.  He's an August birthday boy, and as precious as they come.  Full of energy, loves life, and cutest smile you've ever seen.  Jake writes his name (often) with a flipped J.  I could hover over him, reminding him each time he writes his name that his J needs to be walking forward.  I could send home handwriting practice, and stress that his J needs to be flipped.  Or.....I could  just let him be.  In the grand scheme of things, is this something to stress him out about?  Nope.

I take that back, there is something cuter than a first grader with no front teeth.  A first grader with no teeth and a backwards J.

He'll fix it eventually.  But for now, I'm going to let him be 6.

A Place For Wonder

My first grade teammate turned me onto a book by Georgia Heard that I didn't know about called A Place for Wonder.  Thanks, Karen! :)  Oh my. I've only read the first two chapters, and of course I'm already completely inspired and want to transform my room into a Reggio wonderland.  As if being in Reggio Emilia wasn't enough! 

This book and the dreams of my trip to Reggio Emilia couldn't come at a better time.  The pressures being put on teachers to assess our sweet babies is starting to spiral out of control.  If I followed the district curriculum as is, without making teacher judgment calls, I could feasibly test my first graders on SOMETHING every day of the week.  There are weekly tests for our new literacy adoption (which I don't give) plus daily "checks" for our math program (which I don't give) so technically a teacher could test her kids multiple times per day.  Um, no thank you. 6 and 7 year olds should NOT be filling in bubbles.  I saw this great sign on Facebook recently: I couldn't have said it better myself!

 

 

Stay tuned for more thoughts about A Place For Wonder, my new obsession.  I'm hosting a book club in my district on this book later this fall.  More to come...for now, we're heading outside to blow some bubbles. ;)