I'm back for my second WONDER blog post. I wasn't sure what I was going to blog about today until late this afternoon. It was when I took a photograph that the idea for this week's WONDER post came to me.
Today we celebrated the 100th day of school. It is hard to believe that many days have come and gone since the start of the 2012-2013 school year. My team came up with the idea of hosting a "Winter Fun Day" for our fourth grade students. We sent out the invite to all of our students to bring their winter gear, their skates, their sleds, and their excitement for an afternoon of fun.
Many of the students chose to ice skate. We provided skates for those students that didn't have any of their own skates. As I went around and took pictures of my students in action, a particular sight caught my eye. One of my students had never skated before. She put on a borrowed set of skates and headed to the ice with a huge smile on her face. It was what happened next, that brought a sense of absolute WONDER to my heart.
As she struggled on the ice on her own, another girl from my class went over and told her to put her arm around her. They began to skate together. Soon after this, two more of my girls went over and formed a line around the girl who was learning how to skate. I took a picture of the four of them with huge smiles on their faces. It was as they skated by me, that I took the picture that I included here. It was such a heart-warming sight. Four girls working together for the success of one person. These are the moments that make teaching worth it. It brought joy, happiness, and WONDER to my heart.
Look for the WONDERS in your life each and every day...
How ABCT Came About: This idea first came about this past November. I thought it would be wonderful to have a book club full of teachers, librarians, educators, and people who just LOVE to read. Our first book was Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach. Our second book was Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. Both were excellent adult books and I know were enjoyed by many of the Twitter readers.
The Invite Sent Out: It is my hope that with each #ABCT we get more and more readers involved in this book club. I invite all Twitter readers to join us for this third book club selection. It has been a slow start, but I know we can grow this seed of a book club and take it further than I can even imagine. So please, spread the word about this and let's get as many readers as we can reading these incredible and powerful adult novels. When I say adult novels, I'm talking about "grown-up" novels!
Third Book Chosen: So far I have not read any of the books before I pick them for the #ABCT. I think it is fun to start them when the other readers are beginning them. I of course do some research to make sure the book will be well received by a wide range of readers. I think our third selection is going to knock it out of the park. I'm so excited to get started with this book because I have read wonderful things about it. Our third #ABCT selection is Schroder by Amity Gaige. I have seen it on Amazon at a pretty low price; so if you are an electronic reader, check it out soon. Of course, I know many of us are still traditional readers and like to hold the book in your hands.
When is the Book Club: At this point I'm thinking we will have our online Twitter discussion on Thursday, March 14th at 7:00 PM CT. I looked on Twitter to see if the author is a member, but I couldn't find her. I will try to contact her and see if she would like to join our book club discussion. If you know of another Twitter online "chat" on this particular night, please let me know and we can change the date.
*Hopefully all the information you need is presented here, but if I'm missing something, please feel free to Tweet me. I want this book club to work for all involved! Grab a copy of this book and HAPPY READING!
Each Monday I share a song with my class. That is our writing focus during our writer's notebook time.
For more details, please see last Monday's blog entry (2/4/13).
Today we listened to the original version of Pure Imagination from the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I shared the lyrics with my writers and we watched the video clip from the movie. They then spent time writing about the song, their reactions to it, and what it meant to them.
I also shared a different version of the song. It came from the television show Glee. The cast performed the song several years ago. We discussed the two versions and chatted about which version we enjoyed more and why. It was so interesting to hear their responses.
I've included both videos below the list of our Music Monday selections...
Our Music Monday List for 2012-2013...
Music Monday #1 (What I Am by Will I Am)
Music Monday #2 (Proud by Heather Small)
Music Monday #3 (Good Time by Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen)
Music Monday #4 (Dreamer by Chris Brown)
Music Monday #5 (Home by Phillip Phillips)
Music Monday #6 (Count on Me by Bruno Mars)
Music Monday #7 (Louder by Charice)
Music Monday #8 (Thriller by Michael Jackson)
Music Monday #9 (Firework by Katy Perry)
Music Monday #10 (Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo ole)
Music Monday #11 (Hall of Fame by The Script with Will I Am)
Music Monday #12 (Shooting Star by Owl City)
Music Monday #13 (Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson)
Music Monday #14 (Do They Know Its Christmas by Band Aid)
Music Monday #14 (Do They Know Its Christmas from Glee)
Music Monday #15 (Take a Look at Me Now by Greyson Chance)
Music Monday #16 (My Wish by Rascal Flatts)
Music Monday #17 (Dream Big by Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand)
Music Monday #18 (The World's Greatest by R. Kelly)
Music Monday #19 (Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and Glee)
As I try to expand my blog, I came up with the idea of posting some WONDERINGS each Wednesday. Hence; WONDERWednesday. This blog was named in honor of Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I am passionate about reading. I am passionate about the book Wonder. When you put them together, you get the blog called "ReadWonder." It has become one of the best things I've done professional and personally...
It occurred to me to keep the WONDER theme going each week with WONDER Wednesday. This might be some WONDER I want to blog about or maybe something I'm wondering about. I'm going to start with something that I'm wondering about that came up today at a staff meeting.
We were talking about reading assessments and what to do with the date you receive from these assessments. The topic of free choice reading came up. I stated that this might be the most important aspect of my reading workshop. Many of the teachers were shocked by this. As we went deeper into the conversation, I learned that many of the fifth and sixth grade teachers stated they don't give their students this free choice reading. I asked why that was and they all replied with "We don't have time in the reading workshop."
They shared they are working on skills, strategies, writing, group novels, activities to go with these novels, whole class instruction, and assessments. Now, I'm not saying these elements are not important, but I was shocked that they haven't built in free choice reading time. I'm wondering why they wouldn't view this as a top priority and something that should be done every day. It just didn't sit well with me and has been something that I've been thinking about and wondering about ever since this morning.
As I think about this it makes me sad for all of those fifth and sixth graders. I'm especially sad for my former fourth graders because I know how much that reading time meant to them. It is disheartening to know they aren't getting that time on a daily basis. I hope I instilled in them the love and passion of reading and that they find time during other parts of their day to spend with a great book.
Overall, I'm WONDERING what I can do to change this in my building or even if I can? Everything I know professional and personally reinforces the fact that children (and adults) need time every day to read. They also need to read from books they are interested in and want to read. This piece of the reading workshop is paramount.
I WONDER why this isn't evident to all teachers???
Welcome to my new weekly blog feature. I call it Music Monday and it comes from something I do with my fourth graders each Monday.
Each Monday, I present a song to my class during our Writer's Notebook time. I also give them a "song sheet" which contains the lyrics to the song. We listen to the song as a class. The writers either listen to the music or follow along with the lyrics page.
I then share with the students what I have written about this particular Monday song. I share where I heard the song, what I like about the song, what it might remind me of, or memories it has for me. They love seeing what I have written and it gives them a glimpse into my life. As we all know, we have to take risks as writers.
We listen to the song a second time and while they open their ears to some "meaningful" music, they write an entry in their writer's notebook. Again, it can be about what they enjoy in the song, what they don't enjoy about the song, things it reminds them of, or any other connections they can make to the song.
My writers LOVE our Music Mondays and they can't wait to see what song will be featured each Monday. As of today, we have listened to 18 different songs. I've included our list below this blog entry.
I try to pick music/songs that have a particular meaning or message I want to convey to my students. Some weeks the songs are of a serious nature and other weeks it just ties into a time of the year or something we are currently doing in our class. I also post a "video" of the song to our class Moodle site so the writers can see a visual representation of the song.
If you want any further information about "MUSIC MONDAY", please feel free to connect with me. I would be happy to share. Each Monday, I will also post here what song we listened to at school.
Happy Reading and Happy Listening! Here is the video to the song...
Happy Reading and Happy Listening...
Our Music Monday List for 2012-2013...
Music Monday #1 (What I Am by Will I Am)
Music Monday #2 (Proud by Heather Small)
Music Monday #3 (Good Time by Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen)
Music Monday #4 (Dreamer by Chris Brown)
Music Monday #5 (Home by Phillip Phillips)
Music Monday #6 (Count on Me by Bruno Mars)
Music Monday #7 (Louder by Charice)
Music Monday #8 (Thriller by Michael Jackson)
Music Monday #9 (Firework by Katy Perry)
Music Monday #10 (Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo ole)
Music Monday #11 (Hall of Fame by The Script with Will I Am)
Music Monday #12 (Shooting Star by Owl City)
Music Monday #13 (Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson)
Music Monday #14 (Do They Know Its Christmas by Band Aid)
Music Monday #14 (Do They Know Its Christmas from Glee)
Music Monday #15 (Take a Look at Me Now by Greyson Chance)
Music Monday #16 (My Wish by Rascal Flatts)
Music Monday #17 (Dream Big by Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand)
Music Monday #18 (The World's Greatest by R. Kelly)
