2013 Picture Book 10 for 10

I'm joining up with Cathy Mere, Mandy Robek, and lots of other people today to participate 4th annual Picture Book 10 for 10 (#pb10for10).  Here's the thing:  I sat down to make a list of my 10 favorite books and very quickly made a list of four or five favorites.  Then I got stuck.  The problem wasn't that I didn't have five more favorites to fill the list.  The problem was that I had about 35 more favorites to fill the list.  After chatting with a colleague (thank you, @KristiCharette!), I decided to go with more of a theme.  So here are, in no particular order, my 10 favorite* first grade picture book characters.

*Disclaimer: If you ask me to make a list tomorrow of my 10 favorites, I cannot guarantee that you will get the same results.

1. Bear (I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen) Apparently, there's some sort of debate around this book as to whether or not the bear is actually the protagonist.  I do not understand this.  The bear loses his hat, looks for his hat, and, um, *cough* gets his hat back.  Perhaps it is in an unconventional way (for a picture book anyway), but you can't prove anything.  #Teambear all the way, people.

2. Pete the Cat (series by Eric Litwin) I want to be Pete when I grow up.  Nothing fazes this cat.  Whether he's stepping in really big piles of fruit, rocking out at school, or dealing with wardrobe malfunctions, he somehow manages to keep his cool.  (In his newest book, Pete moonlights as a school bus driver and still maintains his very peaceful disposition.  Seriously.) Pete is the perfect model of how to just "keep walking along and singing your song, because it's all good."

3. Scaredy Squirrel (series by Melanie Watt) Scaredy Squirrel could probably use a visit from Pete.  He's a little, well, worked up.  This is a squirrel with a backup plan for his backup plan.  And yet, even though his plan never goes quite the way he imagined, it always works out in the end.

4. Gracie (The Great Gracie Chase by Cynthia Rylant) Gracie is such a good little dog, enjoying her quiet afternoons in her quiet house, hanging out with the big dog and listening to the fish go "ploop, ploop."  When her routine and her peace are rudely interrupted, this poor little dog is driven to desperation.  I love her facial expressions throughout the book (thank you, Mark Teague!).

5. Boy and Bot (Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman) I'm cheating.  This is two characters.  These two friends step up when to help when the other is in need.  While each is not too sure about what help would be appropriate for his friend, their hearts are in the right place.  Is this a great book to check out? Affirmative!

6. Mouse & friends (The Doghouse, A Birthday For Cow, & others by Jan Thomas) Yes, I'm cheating again.  Plus "friend" might be a strong word to describe Mouse who happily volunteers Cow, Duck, and Pig to go after the lost ball in [insert scary music here] The DOGHOUSE.  I love reading this one aloud.

7. Mercy Watson (series by Kate DiCamillo) Everyone's favorite porcine wonder has some pretty funny adventures.  While Eugenia may not be a fan, how can you not love a heroine who's always in search of hot buttered toast?

8. Wombat (Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French) Anyone who has ever had a pet, especially one who likes things done a certain way, will appreciate Wombat's efforts to "train" her new human neighbors.  The fact that this story is based on the antics of an actual wombat named Mothball makes it even better.

9. Katie (Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman) Katie wants so very badly to be quiet and gentle and still so the kittens will not be afraid of her but she just. can't. do. it.  She's a well-meaning, loving bundle of energy who is trying so very hard to keep herself in check.  Sound like anyone you know, K-2 teachers?

10. Elephant and Piggie (series by Mo Willems) With apologies to the Pigeon, who is probably indignant about being left off this list, Elephant and Piggie are my favorite Mo Willems characters.  Their dialogue sharp and funny for children and adults, and their comical adventures keep everyone coming back for more.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? 8/5/13

I'm linking up today with Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.  Check them out for more great IMWAYR posts!

Just a quick post today to share a few of the books I enjoyed this week.

What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Meaning Making by Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicki Vinton was a great professional read.  It really made me think about the way that I teach comprehension and understanding, even at the first grade level.  This was not an easy read, but I'm really glad I read it.

I loved Pssst! by Adam Rex.  This is a really funny book about zoo animals with lots of interesting requests for one of their visitors.  I think my students will really get a kick out of it, especially since they love anything with speech bubbles!I'll probably pair it with A Sick Day for Amos McGee.

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers was recommended as a good beginning of the year read aloud in a recent Twitter conversation, so I grabbed it from the library to check it out.  If you haven't read this one yet, add it to your list.  Both the illustrations and the writing are very funny, and it's certainly not your typical "I love books" book.  I'm excited to share this one with my kiddos.

 Another book that was recommended on Twitter was Oliver and His Alligator by Paul Schmid.  This one is definitely making my first day read aloud list.  If you are looking for another lovely by schmaltzy first day book to address first day nerves like The Kissing Hand, this is definitely not it.  Oliver takes a very different (more proactive?) approach to dealing with his first day nerves.  He does, however, learn a valuable lesson about school in the end.  If you are a fan of Jon Klassen's hat books and anything by Mo Willems, check this one out.

This week, I'm hoping to finish Teaching Reading in Small Groups by Jennifer Serravallo, as well as some of the other books in my stack.  I'm starting to get a little concerned that my remaining stack is bigger than my remaining vacation.  Have a great week of reading!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? 7/29/13

I'm linking up with Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers today to share some great books!  I hope everyone had a great week of reading.  It's hard to believe that we are turning the calendar to August this week.  Technically, we don't start school until September, but August is always a mix of the panic of vacation slipping away and the excitement of a new year starting. 

Here are some favorites from this week's reading:

 Julie Fogliano and Erin Stead are an incredible author/illustrator team.  They both have a gentle way of telling a story that makes me want to take my class outside under a tree and whisper it to them.  I loved their first book, And Then It's Spring, and this one is terrific as well.  Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast had an amazing interview with Erin Stead about how she created the illustrations for this one.  I am amazed at the process.

 It seems like everyone else in the world has already read Balloons Over Broadway, so I'm a little late to the party on this one.  However, if you are one of the last remaining folks who hasn't, put it on your list.  Melissa Sweet is a master of the picture book biography.  This book is such a cool story, I even made my husband read it.  I commented on Twitter after I finished this that I probably could teach with this book every day for 6 months and do something different each day.  I loved the mixed media illustrations; there is just so much to look at on every page.

Chicken Big  by Keith Graves is a very funny take on Chicken Little.  Three chickens are not too sure what to think when a gigantic chick hatches.  They are a bit confused about the identity of this chicken, but guess who saves the day when the sky starts to fall?  This is a laugh out loud story that I'm excited to share with my students.

Rump by Liesl Shurtliff is another take on a classic story.  Rump is looking for the rest of his name and his destiny.  He discovers an old spinning wheel and an interesting talent: spinning straw into gold.  I love the characters and the setting that Liesl Shurtliff has created in this one. (The gnomes and trolls cracked me up.)  I can't wait for the two companion books to be published!

Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian is a recently published YA novel.  I don't usually read a lot of YA, but this one is set in Maine.  The fictional town of Enniston is based on the city of Lewiston, which has had a recent influx of Somali immigrants.  The story is told from the perspective of Tom Bouchard, captain of the soccer team and resident Big Man on Campus.  Through the soccer team, Tom befriends Saeed, an amazing soccer star and recent Somali immigrant.  Maria Padian has done an incredible job showing Tom's growth as events in the book unfold.  This is a really powerful story, and I think an important one for anyone in high school to read.  (Or anyone in Maine, though the truth in the fiction might make you cringe a bit for our state.  That part about the mayor is unfortunately based on real events.)

I'm currently reading Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicki Vinton's What Readers Really Do. Even as a first grade teacher, it's making me rethink the way I frame my reading instruction.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? 7/22/13

I'm linking up with Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers today.  Check them out for great books!

I think I'm on track with my summer #bookaday.  It was a good week of reading.  Here are some favorites.

These two were excellent, if you haven't seen them.  They are great for the beginning of the year.  I generally do not like counting books (I find them boring), but I laughed out loud in the bookstore when I read Count the Monkeys.  Mac Barnett is awesome.

Crankee Doodle also cracked me up.  I think it would go over the heads of my first graders, but I bet older kids would really get a kick out of it.  It has great voice, and I think it would be really fun to read aloud. 

 Another book with great voice that I LOVED is The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt.  I will definitely be using this one early in the year as well.  I think it would be great with older kids, but not too old for my first graders.  It's a great book for getting kids to think about different perspectives.  I can't say enough good things about this one.

I really enjoyed Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle.  I think it's a story that easily could have been overdone, but as much as a story about a boy who wants to be a Broadway star can be understated, it is.  It made me want to visit NYC, but I settled for my showtunes Pandora station. (My copy did not have the book jacket--just realized that Jesse Tyler Ferguson of Modern Family wrote a blurb on the cover.  See?  Great book. And you don't have to take my word for it.  [nodding to LeVar Burton])

I really liked these ones too.  Bee and Melody are both very special characters whose inner strength helps them overcome outward physical issues.

For professional reading this week, I read From Reading to Math by Maggie Siena.  It's a great book that looks at teaching math through the framework of literacy.  You can read more of my thoughts about this one here.

Up next this week will be What Readers Really Do by Barnhouse and Vinton, and Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian.  I've also got a stack of picture books to investigate, including If You See a Whale by Julie Fogliano and Erin Stead.  Happy reading!

From Reading to Math

I would probably describe myself as a literacy-first teacher, and my professional reading reflects that.  As a student, I was strong in both reading and math, but math was harder for me.  My beloved fourth-grade teacher, as she was taking some extra time to work with me one-on-one, declared that I was not "fraction-friendly".  It was in an undergraduate internship in a fourth grade classroom where I learned that I actually love to teach math too.  While I loved the literacy-focused positions I held, one of the things I looked forward to when I returned to the classroom was teaching math.  This book has been on my TBR pile for some time, and I was happy to finally get a chance to read it.

From Reading to Math: How Best Practices in Literacy Can Make You a Better Math Teacher by Maggie Siena (Math Solutions, 2009) is the perfect book for literacy-minded teachers who also teach math.  Whether you enjoy teaching math or you are maybe a little bit wary of it, this is the book for you.  Siena takes what we know about good literacy teaching and looks at how that applies to math.  Good teaching is good teaching, no matter which part of the day it occurs.  Here are some of my take-aways from the book:

• Attitude is everything.  Siena writes about how we relish our read aloud time with students because we love books.  Our enthusiasm and passion for reading is demonstrated every day.  How are we demonstrating the same enthusiasm for math?  Do we get excited about opportunities in math?  Siena talks about the myth of the "missing math gene" that is perpetuated by parents and unfortunately, teachers, who may have struggled as students in math.  We need to approach math with a growth mindset for our students and for ourselves.
• Decoding is important in math too.  In her section about decoding, she explained how letters and numbers are both symbols that have different meanings in different contexts.  (A g can sound like gem or girl, and a 5 can mean 5 o'clock, 5 apples, or 5 tens in 58.)  We teach children to decode letters by creating a print-rich classroom and giving them multiple opportunities across the day to see letters and words in different contexts.  We should be doing the same with numbers.  This is leading me to rethink how I am dedicating wall space.  I took a lot of my math stuff down when I moved my calendar routine onto the Promethean Board, but I will be returning some of those things in the fall.  Number lines, hundreds charts, and math word walls need to be where kids can see them all day.
• We expect higher-order thinking about books; we need to expect the same level of thinking in math too.  Our end goal in reading is to make meaning.  Math, too, is all about comprehension.  It's not about getting the correct answer, but about knowing why the answer makes sense.  Fluency in math as well as reading is about doing it accurately and making meaning from what you've done.  Siena writes about the kinds of open-ended questions to build understanding, encourage reflection, and anchor math learning to meaning rather than algorithms. 

Siena's sections on the workshop model, comprehension strategies, assessment, and conferring with students are very helpful and worth revisiting.  Even though I do these things in my classroom on a daily basis, framing them from a literacy perspective made things a little clearer for me.  I know that some of the things I read will be echoing in my head as I'm working with my new students in the fall.  My favorite line in the whole book was on page 2 (note: that's when you know you're in for a good read): 

"In my quest to do everything, I've returned to the saving grace:  I'm a learner too."

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? 7/8/13

After a very long, hot week, it finally feels like there's some air here in Maine!  I can't imagine living somewhere where the temperatures stay in the high 80s and 90s all summer.  I think I would melt.  I'm linking up with Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers.  Check out either link to find lots of great books!

I'm trying to participate in the #bookaday challenge this summer, which is looking a little more like #bookaday-ish.  I did manage to catch up this week with a stack of picture books, so I think I'm back on track now.  Here are a few favorites from this week's reading:

 

Chu's Day is a very cute book about a little panda with a sneezing problem.  I think my first graders will really enjoy this one because it is not as predictable as it first appears.  Adam Rex's illustrations are great, as always, and the text is simple and accessible to earlier readers.

I love anything that Steve Jenkins does, especially his book Actual Size, so when I heard about this one, I had to find a copy.  It doesn't disappoint.  The book looks at a lot of animals that I had never heard of, so I think kids will really enjoy it.  I thought it was really interesting, and I'm glad that there are no longer 6 ft. millipedes!

I found this book as I was perusing the shelves at my local library.  I picked it up because it is written by Patricia MacLachlan and her daughter, Emily, who also teamed up for two of my favorite poetry books, Once I Ate a Pie and I Didn't Do It.  (If you haven't read either of those titles, I suggest you add them to your list!  They are class favorites year after year.)  This is not a poetry book, but it is a very cute story that I know kids will enjoy.  Bittle is about a dog and a cat who are not really sure what to think when a new baby arrives at their house.  The  book follows the antics of the dog and cat as they get used to the baby and come to love her as one of their own.  I think I'll pair this book with Denise Fleming's Buster or Kevin Henkes' Julius: The Baby of the World. 

I loved Okay for Now.  The book had amazing voice, characters, and themes.  I'm sure there are more than a few middle grade students who can relate to Doug and will appreciate finding themselves as the protagonist in a novel.  Reading this book has made me reflect on the Dougs I've taught over the years and whether I could have done more for them.  It's a novel that will stick with me for a long time, I know.

Assessment in Perspective by Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan is a title that has gotten a lot of buzz on Twitter and blogs this spring.  I was excited to finally get a chance to read it.  It's a quick read and definitely worth your time.  I wish that something like this had existed when I was taking my undergrad assessment courses, since it explains all of the different types of assessments in a very clear way.  The last two chapters of the book, "Assessing Authentically, Every Day" and "The Student's Role in Assessment" really made me think about my assessment practices.  I got several new ideas that I'll be testing out in the fall.  I highly recommend this one for professional reading.

I'm hoping to get back to the library for some new books today or tomorrow.  I'm excited to read Beholding Bee by Kimberly Newton Fusco, which is waiting on hold for me, and I'm hoping to find some other books on my list as well. 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? 7/24/13

Having survived the mountain of paperwork and other endless end-of-the-year tasks, I am very happy to be on summer vacation with some time to actually READ!  I'm linking up with Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts today.  Check them out if you need some new titles for your TBR pile.

I loved this book.  It's a short chapter book with five stories that can stand alone.  The story is told by Down Girl, a dog with a large brain and an interesting canine perspective on what is important.  I was laughing as I read it, and I know my students will do the same when I read it to them next year.  I'm going to look for the other books in this series.

My daughter and I really liked this new picture book from Eve Bunting.  It had a fun, rhyming story, and Sergio Ruzzier's illustrations were great.  It was a fun book to share.  I love just about everything Eve Bunting was done.  (Sidenote:  I met her once when she presented at the University of Maine. She's a wonderful little white-haired lady with an Irish accent and I was a little bit in awe of her.  She asked me to pass out some papers for her and I'm sure I had the exact look on my face that my first graders do when I give them a Very Important Job.)

Hold Fast is a book that has been on my TBR list for quite a while.  I know it got a lot of buzz on Twitter, so I was excited to read it.   I really liked this book.  I think that the perspective it gives on homelessness and shelters is important for a lot of kids, to show some kids a reflection of themselves in a book and to help others be more accepting of classmates who may be going through similar issues.  Balliett creates such a strong character in Early.  It's interesting that there are two highly regarded 2013 books with main characters named Early, with this one and the title character in Clare Vanderpool's Navigating Early. My only issue with this book, which I highly recommend, was that the ending wrapped up a little too neatly for me (again, a similarity to Navigating Early). 

I started A Girl Called Problem yesterday morning and couldn't go to bed last night until I had finished it.  Katie Quirk has written a fantastic debut novel about Shida, a Tanzanian girl whose name means "problem".  The story follows Shida and her extended family as they move from their village of Litongo to Nija Panda, a nearby village.  Shida and her cousins are the first girls to go to school in the new village as well.  Quirk spent some time teaching in Tanzania and her depth of knowledge of the people and village life is obvious in her writing.  This one is a must-read. 

I'm currently working my way through the bag of books I picked up at the library last week after I finished cleaning my classroom.  I'm thinking that Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner might be next.  I'm also excited to read the picture book biography Annie and Helen by Deborah Hopkinson.