The Bloggers are Back

Christmas break is over and students are getting back in the groove.  Students spent some time today working on their blogs publishing drafts and working on new posts.  Although we were all a little fuzzy-brained yesterday, the brain cells have awoken and quality work is coming out.

Molly posted over the break recommending a few of her peers' blogs.  You can find links to blogs she thinks are great on her blog, Molly's Mystery Journal, or links to all of the students' blogs on the sidebar on the right.

Reading During Christmas Break

Are you going to have a little spare time over the holidays?  Want to do something enjoyable and earn some extra credit?  All you have to do is READ!

If you complete two or more books over break, and comment on them, you will earn extra credit!  

The best part is the more you read, the more extra credit you earn.  And it will count as minutes on the next Read at Home assignment, too.  A couple of years ago, one student read over 1,400 minutes during Christmas break.  How many books will you read?

The Feeling of Christmas at My House

As the holiday season approaches, family is what matters.  At my house, the Christmas breakfast is where all of the greatness of Christmas comes together.

The Christmas Breakfast

As the season approaches

sentiments turning to family

and the Christmas breakfast

eating together.

Steaming mugs of coffee

amid piles of torn wrapping paper.

Thankfulness for all we have

and the joy of the day.

We come to the table

with warmth in the house

and in our hearts

and celebrate our lives.

The assignment for students is to pick one part of their lives that best reflects their family and the holiday season, and write a gift of poetry.

Some Student Poetry

Here are a few samples of students' poems.  To see more, just click on the links on the sidebar.

From A Daily Bailey
I Think I'm Going to Puke

I’m not really feeling well
It’s something that I ate
I think I’m about to puke
It tasted like fish bait

Uh oh!
I’m gonna spew
I’m really, really sorry
If I get some on you

It’s all over the carpet
It kind of looks like plums
Hey! What’s that thing there?
It looks like lots of thumbs

I shouldn’t have eaten that food
It looked like an old baseball mitt
I’ll never eat it again
Not even a little bit

It’s all over the room
Even on the couch
I’m sorry it got everywhere
No need to be a grouch

I went and cleaned up                                                                       
Now it’s all gone
Next time I’ll go puke
Outside on the lawn

From Gabrielle's Gabby Page

Divorce, Divorce

Where do I start

It’s a course.

Divorce, Divorce

Why do our parents do that?

It makes me sad.

Divorce, Divorce

My sister and I

Had to cry

My Sister by Keifer

Inspired by Sara Holbrook

My sister is
a splinter
deep down in my skin


My sister is
a baseball game
one I can not win


My sister  is
a rat
with her little mice

Keifer's sister is the sweet looking one on the left.  Hhhhhmmm!

My sister is
a cucumber
one I want to dice


My sister is
a bug
one I want to crush


My sister is
an apple
that has turned to mush


My sister is
a bumble bee
always stinging me


My sister is
just mean
come on can’t you see

Are You Bored with School?

Reading Workshop students, what do you think of school?  Are you excited each morning to come to school?  And, if not, if you think school is boring, whose fault is it? 

Do you live every day to get the most out of it?  Do you walk around thinking positive and ready to have fun?

Do you have a smile on your face?  Do people look forward to seeing you?  Do you look forward to seeing people at school?

Who is in control of you anyway?



Image from http://missrosemary.net/2010/06/

So Many Ways to Say it in Poetry

How else can you say it?  As we looked at one student's opening line of his poem, so many ideas for sharing were discovered.  We started with Poetry is not me


And came up with this list:

1. Poetry is unreasonable
2. Poetry is not what I write
3. Poetry is not my thing
4. Poetry has something I don't
5. Poetry is not bad
6. Poetry is not understandable to me
7. We can't connect
1. We play phone tag
2. The call is never answered
3. The meal doesn't fill me up
4. The hot sauce is mild
5. Poetry doesn't add up
6. We can't be together
7. Poetry and I aren't alike
8. Poetry doesn't have Internet
9. Poetry is like a game with no Xbox
10. Poetry is like eggs without bacon
11. We are two peas from different pods
12. Poetry is like pancakes without syrup
8. Poetry never answers my phone calls
9. I don't go with poetry
10. Poetry doesn't pick me up
11. Poetry and I don't mix
1. Poetry won't get in the blender with me
2. Poetry isn't the ice cream for my milkshake
3. We just don't mesh
4. Poetry is the book with no words
5. Poetry is the gun with no powder
6. Poetry is like the butt with no gas
7. Poetry is like bird doodoo on your windshield
8. Poetry is a clock with no hands
9. Poetry is a clock out of time
10. Poetry is an IPod with no music
11. Poetry is a battery with no charge
12. Poetry is a sentence with bad grammar
12. When I ring the door bell, poetry never answers
13. Poetry and me don't fit
14. Poetry is like a shirt that is just too tight
15. Poetry and I don't see eye to eye
1. Reading poetry is a fistfight
2. Poetry is like an annoying little brother
3. Poetry is like Lane on a bad day at school
4. Poetry is like black and white TV
5. Poetry bullies me
6. Poetry is a charging bull (and I am a red cape)
7. Poetry punches me in the mouth
8. Poetry is a hole in the shoe of a snowy day
16. Poetry is like reading with foggy glasses
17. Poetry is the seed that just rots in my garden
18. Poetry pizza has no pepperoni when I get my order
19. We were never meant for each other
20. Poetry and I are breaking up
21. Poetry loves me but I don't like poetry
22. Poetry is like a crap sandwich for lunch
23. Poetry and I don't get along
24. Poetry is a pie with no crust
25. Poetry is a puzzle with missing pieces
26. Poetry tortures me with its bits and bangles
27. Poetry is the math that just doesn't add up
28. Poetry was never my type
1. I'm smile and poetry cries
2. Poetry isn't the girl for me
3. Poetry is not my sweetheart
4. Poetry is sweet to my sour
5. Poetry is the wrong kind of tissue for my cold
6. Poetry is night to my daytime
29. Poetry was never my thing.
30. Poetry just ain't my bag, baby
31. Poetry is a baloney sandwich
32. Poetry is like last year's fashion
33. Poetry is to reading like the Bengals are to football
34. Poetry is like my wife's shopping problem
35. Reading poetry is like kissing your sister
36. I don't exactly like poetry
37. Poetry is like shopping for groceries with mom
38. Poetry is like slipping on oil
39. Reading poetry is like having your mom pick out your clothes
40. Reading poetry is like shopping without money
41. Poetry is like playing with your sister
42. Poetry is like life without video games
43. Poetry is colder that my ex-girlfriend
1. Poetry freezes my heart
2. Poetry freezes my sun
3. Poetry freezes my turkey on Thanksgiving
4. Poetry is the dark side of the moon
5. Poetry and Pluto are twins
6. Reading poetry chills my eyeballs
7. Reading poetry is like being burried alive
8. 
   
44. Poetry is the cold water shock of breaking through ice
45. Poetry is like looking in the mirror before makeup
46. Poetry is a poor sport
47. Poetry is like a car that won't start
48. Poetry is a rainy day
49. Poetry is like lunch in the loo
50. Poetry is reading quicksand
51. Poetry is a green vegetable
52. Poetry is like a broken heart
53. Poetry is like a sauerkraut sundae
54. Poetry is more of a pain than my little sister
55. Writing poetry is worse than cleaning your room.

It's amazing how students that don't like poetry can come up with so many poetic ideas.

Want to Put a Little Ryhme in Your Life?

We are working with poetry in Reading Workshop.  We have focused on free verse poems, and a few concrete poems, but sometimes it is fun to write a rhyming poem.  A great tool for this is at Rhymezone.

Pick a topic and see what you can do.  Write something that makes the reader laugh, or cry, or both.

I knew from the first day,

these students were weird.

But partway through the year,
It's worse than I feared

I tried to help them,

they definitely needed steered

But partway through the year,

It was worse than it appeared.

I wasn't sure what to do,

Their brains had been cleared.

And partway through the year,

No senses had reappeared.

I gave them good advise,

because I knew they needed steered.

But partway through the year,

their brains were still smeared.

It could be the teacher,

at first I feared.

But partway through the year,

His efforts should be cheered!

Have a nice day students!   You don't like my poem?  Well show me what you can do!

Hey Students, Don't Hide

Even though you think you are hidden, I see you.  Don't be like this gecko, feeling like he can't be seen.  When we have class discussions, you may not raise your hand.  You may not look up.  You may stare at the floor, hoping not to be noticed.  But everyone knows you are here.

Maybe you are afraid your answer will be wrong.  Maybe you are afraid someone will laugh at your opinion or think you are dumb.  Maybe you are just quiet by nature. 

Please do me a favor.  Take a chance.  Speak out.  Raise your hand.  Share your thoughts and opinions.  Everyone will benefit by your participation.    Classmates will learn from hearing your ideas. And you will learn more, too.

 Image from Lorenzo Menendez/Nature/National Geographic Photo Contest

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a great Thanksgiving break.  Some of the Reading Workshop students and maybe even a teacher may be a little bit ready for a long weekend, but at least we can enjoy a few days off.




Come back Monday ready to work.  :)

Vocabulary Practice and Help the World

FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Programme. They offer an easy way to learn vocabulary, math skills, geography and more.

According to FreeRice

FreeRice has two goals: 

1.  Provide education to everyone for free.

2.  Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on this site. Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your education can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide.

Want to learn in a fun and exciting way?  Check out FreeRice.

The Best Thing About Computers

Hey Reading Workshop students, share your opinion!




You can see the results HERE.

Poetry--I Ain't No Poet

Staring at blank faces,
students whispering,
bored and uninterested
as we start a new project.

Trying to spark a fire
that energizes and makes believers,
hoping Love That Dog
will bring out a Jack.

The unbelieving boy, Jack
who couldn't write
and didn't believe
he had a message inside.

With several Jacks
looking so miserable
as thoughts swirl around
filled with dread.

But there's a writer inside
waiting to overcome
a mind screaming
I ain't no poet.

Veteran's Day

Thank you to Austin for this Veteran's Day post.  I couldn't have said it better, so I just used the post from his Reading Workshop student blog.

Many people may already know this but Veteran's Day is on Friday, 11/11/11. At my school we are going to have an assembly to honor them for their service to our country. I know a lot of people who were in the armed forces.  More than I can name and count have been in the air force on my grandma’s side in the Lallier family. 

My grandpa is going to be at the assembly.  He was in the army in Vietnam. I think it was 5 or more people on my grandma’s side who were in the armed forces. Veteran's Day is a day to honor people who have died or served or still serve in the armed forces. So don’t forget to honor them and their service to our country.

Yes, Commas do Matter

Take a breath, and then another, and another.  How do you know when to pause when you are reading? 

           PUNCTUATION!

Or, as the picture says, save a life by using a comma.  Besides, Grandma is probably old and tough anyway.  No one would want to eat her.

Another example of the need for a comma is a song we are singing as part of building fluency in Reading Workshop.  The song Crazy Girl by the Eli Young Band uses a comma that changes the meaning of the phrase crazy girl or crazy, girl throughout the song.

Crazy girl, don’t you know that I love you?
And I wouldn’t dream of goin’ nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl

So, Reading Workshop students, when there is a pause in a sentence, but not a complete new thought, be sure to put in a comma.

Hey Mean Boy, Get a Clue

As part of our reading class, we are singing Mean by Taylor Swift which asks the question, "why you gotta be so mean?"  The current read aloud is The Revealers and students commented about bullying on a recent Reading Workshop post about bullies.  Every day for the last week the class has discussed bullying and not being mean to other students.

 So tell me, what is up with this one boy?  Why does he still think he can say mean things to other students? This class has so many kind and caring students.  No one else acts like him. 

He struts around like he is so cool, but then sneaks around and says mean comments that he knows will tear kids up.  He is good at pretending to help when the teacher is watching, but watch out when he thinks no one can see him.

I hope as we continue to discuss meanness a light will click on and he will stop.  I don't know if he realizes how many people see his sneaky ways of hurting others.  Maybe once he catches on to that, he will try out kindness and compassion.  I guess right now he is the only one in the whole class that doesn't get that everyone else gets that he is mean. 

Reading Strategies, Making Connections

Can you connect with the book you are reading?  Can you imagine yourself in it?  Does it remind you of things from your life?  If not, maybe it's just not the book for you.


The process of reading is when a person reads text and their inner voice makes connections between the words, and their life and prior knowledge. The more closely the reader connects to the text, the higher the level of comprehension.

At times connecting is simple. At others, especially when the text is not in an area that the reader has background knowledge, comprehension is difficult. To be a better reader, think about how the story relates to your life.

Readers should concentrate on their inner voice and connections.

1. Visualize. Picture yourself in the story and think about how the setting and characters look.

2. Focus on the characters. Compare them to yourself and people you know.

3. Put yourself in the story and think about how would react, and how you reacted when you were in a similar situation.

4. Look at problems. How do they compare to problems you have faced?

5. Ask yourself questions as you read. Think about how the story relates to your life, and things that you know.

6. When reading nonfiction, think about ways the information relates to what you already know.

7. If you are reading a book, and don't connect with it, ditch it and find one where you can make connections.

Here are the start to connections.

Text-to-self:
This is similar to my life . . .
This is different from my life . . .
Something like this happened to me when . . .
This reminds me of . . .
This relates to me . . .
When I read this I felt . . .

Text-to-text:
This reminds me of another book I’ve read . . .
This is similar to another thing I read . . .
This different from another book I read . . .
This character is similar/different to  another character  . . .
This setting is similar/different to an other setting . . .
This problem is similar/different to the problem in  . . .

Text-to-world:
This reminds me of the real world . . .
This book is similar to things that happen in the real world  . . .
This book is different from things that happen in the real world . . .

Students, as you read today, what connections did you have?

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfala/3368846439/sizes/s/

If Russell was a Student Here . . .

Well, the easiest thing to say is Russell would be the same everywhere.  But do you act the same at school as you do at home?  Would you act the same at a new school?

But, you are who you are, right?  No one really changes too much, do they?

As we continue the read aloud of The Revealers, share your opinion about Russell at Laurelville on the wall.

Get Your Grammar Right!

Do you know which word to use?  Let's see, is it to or too?  There, their, or they're?  Your or you're?  Does is really matter?  IT BETTER!

When you write online, your thoughts, ideas, and opinions can be viewed by everyone.  That makes it paramount that you write correctly.  The reader will only respect your writing if it is clean and error free.  Part of your editing responsibility is to use the correct homophone.

A special thanks to Gineriella for allowing the editing of this video to use with sixth grade students in The Reading Workshop.

Bullying Revealed

Every school has a Richie.  He is bigger than most of the kids, and way meaner.  Normal kids like Russell just stay away from him.  Unfortunately, an attempt to be funny puts Russell straight in Richie's sites.

The latest read aloud in Reading Workshop is The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm.  The book opens with Russell, the main character being harassed by Richie Tucker.  Russell is already having a tough time with the start of middle school.  Somehow, he found himself without a group.  He was alone even though people were all around him.

This brings us to the question, if you were in the same position as Russell, what would you do?  What can you do about a bully? 

What, I Can Really Listen to Music in Class?

You can see the shock on this student's face.

Students were amazed when I told them they could start listening to music as they read or worked. They had never heard of anything like this. First it was singing in the class. Now, I was telling them they could bring their IPod to class.  This just had to be too good to be true.

Each students has his/her own computer, so each has a CD ROM at their desk.  Or, if they choose, they can bring in an MP3 player.  When I surveyed each class, the majority of students listen to music each night as they read and/or do their homework.  Why not allow it in school?  When I have done this before, it seemed to help a lot of students avoid distraction.


There are a few rules:

1. You put a CD in the computer at the start of class, and leave it for the entire class.
2. You cannot play it loud, or bother peers.
3. Once you hit play, you must work.
4. You cannot use class time to switch from track to track.

There are several benefits when students play background music while they study, read, or write:

1. increase attention levels
2. improve retention and memory
3. extend focused learning time
4. expand thinking skills
In the brain there is a band of white fibers connecting the right and left halves of the cerebrum called the corpus callosum. Very recently researchers have discovered that the corpus callosum increases in size when humans are exposed to music. This increases communication between the two halves of the brain which increases learning efficiency.

Yiftach Levy of the Department of Educational Technology at San Diego State University studied the use of background music in the classroom. This is part of his finding.

Davidson and Powell (1986) took up this exact subject in their study of American fifth-grade science students. They reported the observations of on-task-performance (OTP) of children in the classroom over 42 class sessions, with data recorded every three minutes (10 times) per session. Treatment, in the form of easy-listening music, was delivered in between two control observations (i.e., 15 sessions without background music, 15 with, and 12 without, in that order). They determined a significant increase in OTP for the males in the classroom, and for the class as a whole. 

Image from http://dresslikenick.com/.