Reading Any Way You Choose

Pick one of the ways of reading listed below and RAWYC! Have someone take a picture or take a selfie, post it on your blog and you get 20 minutes of Read at Home credit plus you can log the minutes you read. You can do 5 of these a week, make your blog great, and get an A on your Read at Home all at the same time.

You can blog from a browser on your phone or tablet using Chrome, Firefox, or Edge. You can also post using the Edublog app with Android or Wordpress.org app using an IPhone or IPad.

√	Reading…	√	and	√	More Reading
	Read a picture book		Listen to a parent or guardian read		Read closed-captioning on the TV
	Read a chapter book		Read to a parent or guardian		Read with a pointer or finger puppet
	Read and solve math word problems		Read in bed, past your bedtime
			Read a story or book you wrote		Read a recipe aloud, step-by-step, while you help someone cook
	Read a book about something you know nothing about		Read with a book club you created or joined
					Read while eating
	Read a book you love AGAIN		Read with your friends or neighbors		Listen to audio books
	Read a book that became a movie				Collect words in a jar, diary, or app
	Read a biography about a person you admire or don’t know		Read to the family pet or stuffed animal		Take turns reading a page at a time
					Read at the local library, bookstore, restaurant, or coffee shop
	Read a book that will teach you a new skill, trade, or technology		Read with a grandparent
	Read about a state or country		Read with a brother or sister		Read in the bathtub (no water)
	Read a book from your favorite author		Read to babies and toddlers		Read and sing song lyrics with the artist or choir
			Read to family or friends with Skype or Facetime
	Read a comic book or joke book				Organize your  bookshelves
	Follow a recipe from a cook book		Volunteer to read at a retirement home, nursing home, or hospital		Create a puppet show
	Read a craft book				Read at the park or playground
	Read about caring for animals		Compile and share the shopping list		Read while riding on the bus or when riding in a plane, train, or automobile
	Read about a place you’d like to visit		Read a blog and respond with a positive comment
	Read about fitness and exercise		Make or update a memories scrapbook with captions and/or titles		Read at the beach or poolside
	Read a book that takes place in the past or future				Read at the laundromat or do the laundry while a parent reads to you
	Read about your favorite sport or team		Keep a shared journal with someone Take turns writing back and forth		Read out loud with animated voices that go along with each character
	Read a magazine or newspaper				Play reading games like Scrabble, Boggle, crossword puzzles
	Read a folktale, fairy tale, or myth		Donate books to charity or check out books from the local library
	Read a play, musical, or poetry				Read with a flashlight
	Read a spooky book or mystery		Create a video of you reading and share it on your blog		Rewrite the ending of a book you found boring or confusing
	Read a book that received an award or honor
			Design, record, and share commercials about books		Read while you wait at a restaurant, dentist, doctor’s office, or airport
	Read about holidays, traditions, or cultures from around the world
			Do a book talk or book trailer that tells all about your favorite book		Read cereal boxes, catalogs, flyers, billboard signs, or street signs
	Read on an eBook or iBook

Pictures While Reading

Zoom Reads to Kinsey

Students in Reading Workshop were challenged to post pictures from their life as they Read Any Way You Choose. Some of the pictures so far have been awesome with students reading to pets, reading to siblings, reading a TV scrollbar, reading while dribbling a basketball, and reading in the bathtub.

Here are a couple of pictures from my weekend with my grandson, Carter aka Zoom and my granddaughter, Kinsey.

Zoom and I Reading on Our IPads

Paulsen--Read Aloud, Reminiscing, and Rethinking

I read aloud the first chapter of Woodsong today. Gary Paulsen describes a scene running a team of sled dogs. He talks about the beauty of a sparkling sunny, but cold day. His dog team was working in tandem and everything was wonderful. Then a doe busts over his lead dog, and onto a mostly frozen lake as she was being chased by a pack of coyotes. The scene turns from one of unbelievable beauty to unbelievable horror. And this led to Paulson questioning his thoughts and ideas about nature.

Later, as I thought about how students responded to this story, it caused me to reminisce about meeting Gary Paulsen. Much in the same manner as the first chapter of Woodsong, he comes across first as this kindly, little old man. Then as he begins to tell his stories, you realize that maybe you don't quite know him.

As each story unfolds, you begin to realize that the more you listen, the less you understand. Obviously the tales from his childhood that forced a premature self-reliance also impacted him in other ways. His love of nature, at first as an escape, and later for the wonderment, always shows through.

Talking to him though, quickly forces a reevaluation of all of the preconceived notions based on reading blurbs and enjoying his books. This is a rough, tough, crude, man's man. This is someone who can stand tall in any crowd, but doesn't care. He has lived his life based on his decisions.

He doesn't write of the horror he witnessed that day by the lake to amaze his audience. He does so to share his feelings and help the reader understand his journeys. I am sure his goal is to write in a way that will cause the reader to think and reevaluate what he thinks he knows. And hopefully the students today did just that.

Several students said they didn't like this book as a read aloud. They wanted me to switch to a happier book. But I am going to read some more. At least then, maybe they will understand how a master writer shocked them, to make them think and make them learn.

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Dear Parents

Thank you for the opportunity to spend the year with your child in Reading Workshop. We had a great first day. I saw a lot of smiling faces and good attitudes. Students seemed glad to be back. 

Today's schedule was different than it will be the rest of the year. We started with a whole school assembly and had a walk through to discuss expectations throughout the building. We also spent a lot of time discussing routines and procedures. A major portion of the day was spent preparing students to have a successful year while explaining things like the assignment book and student handbook.

Tomorrow we will begin our regular schedule in Reading Workshop. We will start some of our regular classroom activities. Different pieces of the class will be explained and students will start to work on some of the things they will do all year.

For tomorrow, students must get a parent signature on the Blog Permission form. Soon we will be setting up an individual blog for each student. This will allow them to write essays for teachers, parents, and fellow students to read. This is an exciting learning activity that is extremely beneficial in building students' writing ability.

As the year progresses, I look forward to getting to know your child. My hope is that each sixth grader can have the best year possible. If I can help you in any way, or you have questions or comments, please let me know. Once again, thanks for sharing your child with me and all the staff at Salt Creek. 

Teamwork

An article, Benefits of Teamwork in Sports says:

No sports team is successful without working together to reach a common goal. Teamwork is essential to a good performance from any sports team, professional or not, and is a great way to teach children certain life lessons, such as cooperating well with others and taking responsibility for actions. Such lessons are applicable to life outside of sports and can be applied to work or school, such as focusing without interruption on the school paper that needs to be written or working with a less-than-pleasant colleague on a project.

You can read he rest of the article HERE.

An article from Time Management Guide says:

A team building success is when your team can accomplish something much bigger and work more effectively than a group of the same individuals working on their own. You have a strong synergy of individual contributions. But there are two critical factors in building a high performance team.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Sled Dog Teamwork is discussed at the Wilderness Classroom:

Every sled dog has a different personality. They are kind of like people. Some of the dogs are outgoing. Some dogs are shy. Some of the dogs are hard workers and some are lazy. The musher of a dog team needs to find the best position for every dog on their team. When the dogs are all working together as a team, they can travel far and pull a lot of weight. Teamwork is a very important part of dog sledding. Do you use teamwork at school? I bet you do!

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Another resource with several articles can be found at The Happy Manager.

Scary Story

Today we will be writing a scary story. When I told students this last week, they thought I had lost my mind. "It's not Halloween," they said. "Why would we do it in May?" they asked.

Well, funny you should ask that. The things we will cover include:

1. The plot and developing problems;

2. Descriptive writing and adding supporting details;

3. Punctuating dialogue;

4. Character development;

5. Building a narrative to a climax;

6. Cooperation and writing with a partner;

7. Edditing-git that speling write;

8. Writing with an introduction, body, and conclusion.

The assignment is to write a scary/horror story. BUT, shooting or guns, and stabbing or knives, or killing in any way is NOT allowed! All injuries must be incidental or accidental. The focus is on scaring the reading in only the most imaginative ways!

I can't wait to read them.

Facing Problems, the Solla Sollew Solution

Students are good at solving problems, you see,
And usually they do it without help from me.
They face their troubles with a smirk at fear,
To become workshop stars by the end of year.

Today's read aloud was I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew. Students had been reading rambunctiously to an excerpt from the book, so today I read aloud the book and modeled rambunctious reading.

As a follow-up assignment, in students' online journal, they wrote a response to the prompt--Tell the "So What?" What is the Point of the Story?

Here are examples of their responses.

Sarah said:

I think that in the book Solla Sollew the point is you will get trouble in life and you will not like it, but you can't run from it. You have to face it. Even if you don't think it could get any worse it will get better soon or later. In the book the little guy learns that you will have trouble, you will think that the grass is greener somewhere else,but you can't run all your life. One day you have to stick up in life and grab a bat!! Your life will get better soon. So he went back to Valley of Vong with a bat to stop all his trouble (have fun with that)!

Makayla said:

The book I Had Trouble getting to Solla Sollew is a really good. I think that the meaning of this book is if you have troubles don't let it mess with you, just do something about. Like what the main character did. At the end of the book, he went back to the Vally Of Vung That's why I think that the meaning of the book is it don't let any thing bother you. You should do something about it. then you can be left alone and nobody would bother you.

Another meaning of the book might be don't do something so big and then go back to that same thing. Like what the guy in the book did. He went on this big trip to the city where there are no troubles. Then he went right back to the Vally Of Vung. This time though he was prepared. So don't try running away from the troubles, just fight back and be prepared for what ever happens. Then nothing or nobody can mess with you and ruin your day. I enjoyed the book and I'm sure I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it.

Amber said

This story was written by Dr. Seuss. The So What of the story is also the main point of the story. (I think!) So the main point of this story is to not try and hide from trouble, just deal with it.the more you try to hide from it, the more you get!

Corbit said

I think the So What of the story I Had Trouble In Solla Sollew is that you will always have trouble where you go and you should not run away from your problems.

Student thought in responses these surely show,

And facing trouble is something that they know.

The road to stardom, they're on their way.

Getting good grades should be child's play!

You might say that I had rhyming and Dr. Seuss on the brain as I posted today.
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You Need to Start Acting Like a First Grader

I just happened to be walking down the first grade hallway when I overheard one of the first grade teachers talking to a little boy. Although the teacher said it in a nice way, the implications were clear. It was time to straighten up. This little boy had better correct his actions or bad time were ahead (see the title).

This caused me to start to think about expectations in Reading Workshop. I had to be out one day last week. The students had an assignment to write a comment to a blog post. Although I usually don't assign commenting to a post, I decided this would be a great opportunity for a writing assignment.

When I started to read the comments, they were horrible. There were mistakes everywhere. Words were misspelled. Capitals were missing on proper nouns and to start sentences. The grammar was like something from a language arts horror film.

Needless to say, when I got back the next day, I was irked. Although I am usually a poster child for happiness and joy, I put on the ugly face. I screamed and shouted, grunted and groaned, and made all kind of mean remarks. I showed examples and made examples of poor work.

Amazingly, that day, I got the best work I have had all year. Words were spelled correctly, Sentences had correct punctuation and capitalization. Students' writing made sense and made the reader think and wonder. The overall quality was excellent.

What does this tell me? Students will work to the level of expectations. If I expect the impossible, and won't accept any less, they will raise the quality of their work all the way to the stars. Get ready kiddos--you proved to me that I need to expect the impossible, and you will come through!

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C'mon Bored Boy, Reading Should be Fun

He was looking at the ceiling.  He was looking at the girl beside him.  His head rolled around and then settled on his pencil.  He poked his paper.  The girl beside him asked him to stop, so then he bugged her.  He glanced at his book, turned the page, and then looked around the room.  He turned another page, and then looked around the room.  And this was just in the first five minutes of SSR (Sustained Silent Reading).

After watching this for the last 4 days, I couldn't take it any more.  I took him out in the book room so we could talk.

Me:  Are you getting your book?

Student:  Uhhhhh, not really.

Me:  Let me guess.  You never really get the book you are reading, so you hate to read because it is so boring.

Student:  Well, yeah.

Me:  And this has been going on ever since you learned to read?

Student:  Yes

Here's the message to all students in Reading Workshop

Reading should be fun.  Reading should be exciting.  Reading should be a story in your mind where you can't wait to see what happens next.  If it is not this way, here is what you should do:

1.  Get a different book

2.  Try an easier book

3.  Try a different author

4.  Try a different genre

5.  Ask a friend for a recommendation

6.  Ask me for a good book

7.  Pay attention to when you stop getting a picture

8.  Reread, a page, a chapter, or the whole book until you get a picture.

Reading should be fun.  Reading should be exciting.  If you hate it, then talk to me about what is going on with your reading.  You will be reading a lot this year.  Find a good book that makes you smile, excited, happy, sad, mad, scared . . .  There are a lot of great books.  Find one!

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/27117655@N07/4448376213/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Writing a Conclusion

When writing a closing paragraph, you summarize what you have written about in your essay. The first step is to think about the main point that you want to get across to your reader. You can use your introduction as a guide saying something similar with different wording. Restate the topic sentence/main idea. End in a way that lets the reader know it is the end by "wrapping up" the essay.

You may also want to look at what each paragraph says. Use this information and restate key points from the essay. You can end with a question, thought, quote or opinion that gives your reader something to think about or consider.

Good conclusions usually do one or more of these:

• Restate the thesis or main point 
• Offer a suggestion 
• Share an opinion 
• Make a recommendation 
• End with a question 

Here is an example from Kylie:

I think readers will really enjoy this book; it is split up into short, easy–to-read chapters and often the chapters end on a 'dangerous' note. I also believe it might make the kids who read it think twice about the consequences before they break any rules and to think before they do! Micheal Northrop also made all kinds of different books in case you guys want to check them out. I really like this book and I highly recommend you guys to try it out!.

Here is an example from an essay about character in a book.

I would definitely recommend this book to others because I think a lot of girls could really relate to the main character, especially most of my friends. Also, I would recommend this book to boys, because even though it's a girl's book, it's not about being girly, and all about girls. Some boys may be able to relate to the three boys in the story! The book Spells & Sleeping Bags is one out of my two favorite books. I think Sara Mlynowski is very talented because I can really get inside the character's mind, and really get into the book as if I were the main character. 

Study Island Student Assistance

The problem was he was a clicker. He could answer more questions on Study Island than any other student in the school. He figured out, the easiest way to do a session was to just keep clicking on that Enter button And because the questions were multiple choice, he could always get about 25%. Unfortunately for him, his teacher soon caught on to the fact that he was blowing away lessons like a windstorm blowing leaves in an oak woods. He could complete ten questions in about a minute.

Study Island is based on state standards. It is an excellent online learning program that features lessons, and remidiation by bumping students down to lower grade levels if they are unable to pass the tests. Each session features four answer multiple choice questions on a chosen topic. The test is an excellent predicter in the likelihood of students passing the Ohio Achievement Test.

A third grade teacher, Mrs. Kable approached me with this problem. She had a student who was rushing through lessons on Study Island. I picked three Reading Workshop students, Trindi, Dylan, and Jacob to take turns helping this student with his sessions. One goes each day for 20 minutes, rotating so none miss too much class.

After the first day, this was my conversation with Trindi:

Me: How did it go?

Trindi: OK

Me: Did you help him?

Trindi: Yes

Me: How?

Trindi: He wasn't even reading the questions. He just clicked on an answer.

Me: What did you do?

Trindi: I told him to stop clicking, and read the questions.

Me: Then what happened?

Trindi: He got the rest right.

Here you go. A fool-proof method for improving Study Island scores. Thanks to these students, working as teachers, to help a third grade student be successful.

Image from http://flickr.com/photos/96dpi/501424691/

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Swear to Howdy Poems

In Reading Workshop I recently finished the read aloud of Wendelin Van Draanen's book, Swear to Howdy. Students had to write a poem based on something from the book. Here are a few examples.

   

From Karlie
              It really happened
Me and Joey
We really killed her
We killed Amanda Jane
We didn’t mean to
We just wanted to make “the lost ghost”

              At First we were all ok
Sissy cried all the time
Longing for her best friend
And I longed for mine too
No One was the same any more
Especially Joey
We just weren’t the same anymore
Our friendship was breaking apart

then one night I heard the secret knock …

From Blayton
        Tank
Tank the fat, dark green, frog
Sat on the huge, muddy, muggy bank
Spewed and gushed out
Bright green, slimy, soaked tomaters

From Tayla
       A Promise
Joey and Rusty go together
like PB & Jelly
they are such good friends
making promises
having the best times
like playing in the river
on hot summer days
never forgetting
the day that Joey got bit
but no one will know because
they made a promise

From Jersey
        A True Friend

A true friend will have your back until the end
A true friend will not listen and do what you say
But will go out of their way to do the best for you
You may hate what they do but still love them
And when you lose them you always regret it.

You know you’re a true friend when you accept them
You know you’re a true friend when you are not to judge them 
or talk behind their backs meanly
Not to judge them for what their family acts like
Or what your friend doesn’t have that you have

You know you’re a true friend when that does not matter.
You can’t be a true friend if you hold grudges more than memories
you can’t be a true friend if you look back instead of forward
And you can not stay mad at them for more than a minute
It is in the name friend end is the last part
so they will be with you until the end and will never leave you