Reading Bucket Lists!

All teachers (no matter the subject area) have dealt with the students who don't like to read. We hear all of the excuses, we (mostly) patiently wait on the students to go through the reasons they can't read, and so much more. As a teacher of those who struggle with reading, I used to hear this daily. Did you notice that "used to" in the sentence? This year has been a game changer for me with my kiddos and their reading and I attribute it all to The Reading Bucket List!


Hope King at Elementary Shenanigans and Adam Dovico (both of whom have taught and are currently teaching at The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, GA) started spreading the word about something they were doing that was inspired by the work of Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisper: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. I was immediately hooked! So when the day of teh periscope rolled around, I was glued to my phone!


You can read all about how the Reading Bucket List works on Hope's blog here, but basically the students are challenged to read 60 genres throughout the school year! I know some of you are thinking, "60? There aren't 60 genres!" Well, take a look at how Adam and Hope broke the box that we have been limiting ourselves into smithereens! It is amazing. I don't want to take their thunder away and they are both full of great ideas, so go check it out there!


I will show you a glance into my classroom with it, though. My students were hesitant at first because they were intimated by the number of genres. We are half way through the year and my students who didn't read a book (not a single one) last year have already read 20 or more genres! They love the challenge of finding something within the genre that matches the criteria, showing their friends what they are reading, and seeing what I am reading. I have my Bucket List posted outside my door and my students and all of the students in my school are able to look and see what I have been reading. I haven't been grading this, only promoting literacy. I may change that next year. Adam and Hope have done a great job of including in the resource pages for students to collect book titles and more, but since I had already started my year, I just maintained what we were already doing. (I already had a "Genre" column on my book list for my students and this is how they are keeping up with which ones they have read).


My kiddos have fallen in love with reading again because of this amazing resource! My librarian has even allowed me to post the genres in the Media Center for my students so that when they are in there they can double check what they need. Now we even have other students accepting the challenge because they have seen my kids reading such a variety! My faculty is going to be participating next year too! When our kiddos see that we are invested in it, they will take it and run. One of the things that is stressed in this by Hope and Adam and I point out to my students is that a variety of book formats can fit into each genre. They might not all be novels and that's okay!


Check out the Reading Bucket List and challenge your students! It is never too late. Start with it tomorrow and scale the number of genres back. You never know, they could get them all read!

Speed Fishin' Review Game

I have been blessed through reading Kim Bearden's amazing book Crash Course: The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me. Currently on my second read through in a few days, I am continuing to find

inspiration for my life and my classroom. There will be a post about it very soon... I am still processing!

One of the many ideas that I have gained from Kim's lessons was one that she used in her classroom- SPEED FISHING! She used it to reach one of her students who was reluctant to participate (read the book... I don't do the story justice!). As I read about this lesson, I thought- "I can totally do that with my Summer School kiddos!" Soooo... I did!

We are learning about the parts of a sentence- subject and predicate- so I adjusted what Kim did for what we were doing. Here's how it works:

Materials:

• Wooden Dowels (as many as you want teams)
• String or yarn
• Magnets (for your fishing poles)
• 100 Washers (or however many you want)
• Colored paper (for your fish... I would suggest cardstock)
• An "ocean" (you can use a plastic swimming pool or do like me and use a plastic table cloth)

Lesson Set Up:

1. Cut out enough fish for the number of sentences, problems, etc. you will have for your game.
             * I also laminated them so that I could reuse them.

2. Write, tape, glue or otherwise attach your sentences, problems, etc. to your fish. I taped my strips to the fish so that I could easily get them off for the next game!

3. Attach a washer to the back of each fish. Again, I laminated mine so if you want to do the same that will be your next step!

4. Tie string to the dowels and attach the magnet to the end of the string.
           * I tied it at first, but as the game went on... the magnets went flying! So I ended up temporarily taping the magnets on. I am going to go back and hot glue them later!

5. Put your answers on paper plates. You will need a set for each team that you have.

6. Set up your ocean in the middle of your classroom or a designated area. Place your paper plates on opposing ends of your classroom and if you have multiple teams you can set them up in opposite corners. (If you are lucky enough to have a big hallway or gym at your disposal, you can use that as well. If the weather is nice- GO OUTSIDE!!!)

Lesson Plan: I am going to use what I did for my review game... but change it up for your lesson!

1. When your students come into the classroom, have them break into the correct number of groups and disperse in your classroom.
          * My paper plates were labeled Simple Subject, Complete Subject, Compound Subject, Simple Predicate, Complete Predicate, and Compound Predicate

2. Explain the game to your students!

On each of the fish in our ocean are examples of Simple Subjects, Complete Subjects, Compound Subjects, Simple Predicates, Complete Predicates, and Compound Predicates. Your team can only sent one fisherman at a time out to the pond to catch a fish- otherwise all the fish will scare off and you won’t catch any. After your fisherman comes back with their fish, as a team you must decide on which plate it goes. Make sure you are careful because some can be tricky. If your fish has what looks like a complete predicate but just one word is highlighted, it will be a simple predicate. Same goes for the subjects. Look also to see how many subjects and predicates there are. After you place the fish on the correct plate, your next fisherman can go fishing. Remember…. You have to FISH, not drag! Each correct fish placement is worth one point. The team with the most points wins a prize! Any questions? When you hear our fishin’ music start, you may begin!

3. Play music and let the fun begin! Watch the teams and offer guidance at first, but allow them to work as a team to determine the correct answer. You may want to only allow a certain amount of time and add a timer. I didn’t with my first group at first, but when I added the stress of a timer after seeing that time was dwindling down, that created more intensity! So the next group got a timer and a few rounds so that we could review in between.



Here are some pictures of our fun!

Let me know how you would change it around and how you would use it in your classroom! I can't wait to hear your ideas!!

 

Among the Hidden (Shadow Children #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Paperback, 153 pages

Published June 1st 2006 by Aladdin Paperbacks

 SHADOW CHILDREN Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.

Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.

Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows -- does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford "not" to?

I have to admit that my student have been begging me to read this series for quite a while now, and I have no clue why I haven't. Set in a time when the government is in ultra control of everyone's life, this novel was almost scary to me because I could totally see something like that happening in some countries. Reading this with a group of students was great because I was able to discuss so much with them and how they would react if the government took such control. The main character Luke finds that he is not alone after thinking that he was the only one in hiding which totally changes his view on how his life is. When Jen shows Luke that his life could be different, he decides to take a chance. This is a great series and I cannot wait to read the rest of the series!!


Teaching Ideas:
This book would be a great to pair with articles, videos, and other resources about the population laws in China. Erin at I'm Lovin Lit has a great resource at Teachers Pay Teachers for just that! Check it out here! If you are a language arts teacher and haven't checked out her blog, you NEED to. She is amazing!!


Happy reading!

The Arrow Finds It's Mark: A Book of Found Poems

Hardcover, 48 pages

Published March 27th 2012 by Roaring Brook Press 

 

Twitter feeds, school notes, advertisements, street signs--find poetry in the unlikely places with thirty contemporary poets.

 

Imagine picking up a scrap of paper off the floor or reading a sign at a gas station or looking at graffiti on the subway and finding poetry in these words. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poems take existing text, reorder and refashion it, and present it as a poem. Youthful, urban, and ironic, this energetic and surprising poetic form demonstrates the beauty of everyday words and will inspire young poets to find their own poetry.

  

 I love it when my students and I create found poems. They are so much fun and can be hilarious, serious, heart breaking, and so much more. I collect student examples to use every year, but now I have another resource to show some great examples. This book is a wonderful collection of Found Poems that are quick, easy reads.

Teaching Ideas:

This is a great mentor text to use when teaching Found Poetry. Each poem has the original source documented so that teachers can find it or give students an idea as to where it came from and how they can create their own. 

Creativity is key with Found Poetry. Students can type or write their poems and find or create illustrations to go with them. Allow students to be creative with their poetry both in its format and what you are going to have them do with it.

What do you mean by Flipped Classroom?

By definition a Flipped Classroom is when your students complete the traditional lecture that would be done during class at home the night before for homework. They view a video lesson the teacher has created or found outside of the classroom prior to the day's lesson. The video is no longer than 15 minutes. Class time is then spent on inquiry-based learning which is what would typically be viewed as "homework." This is the application part. Which, if you think about it, is where we ensure that our students are demonstrating that they comprehend what was taught. 

If we teach it then have our students work on a generated worksheet, read a quick passage, complete few problems, or whatever else in the last 10-15 minutes of class, are we truly ensuring that they comprehend the lesson taught enough to complete extended practice at home when we can't help them?

Sometimes our students get it. But more often than not, they don't. When they bring their homework back the next day I will have some who have completed the work (usually only a handful), some who have given it a go and done fairly well, some who just wrote down answers thinking that I wouldn't really look, some that gave up after a few (maybe even one) problems in, and then the group who just didn't start it because they never understood it to begin with. This is where the Flipped Classroom can help.

I have used the flipped classroom and love it! Technology can be an issue because some students won't have access to a device to watch a video the night before. At my school, we have computer labs that are open in the morning prior to school so that students who don't have access can come and view the lesson. I have also used a modified version of this in my classroom where my students watch the video at the beginning of class and then complete the work after. 

Teachers, what are your thoughts? Have you used the Flipped method? 

Can't wait to hear from you!