Expressing ourselves in Writer’s Workshop

Co-authoring a book to give to a child who had a birthday in our room. The crowns were made first!

My young writers continue to amaze me! We make books daily in our 45 minutes to an hour Writer’s Workshop and many children protest when it’s time to stop. But what about those friends who only last 5 minutes or so? You know them…you hand them their writing folder and before you’ve finished passing out the rest of the pile you hear it…”I’m done!” When I taught first, second and third grade we learned on the first day (a la Lucy Calkins), “when you’re done, you’ve just begun!” Children knew that writers were  never “done”. They knew to add to the words or pictures, read their book to a friend for more ideas or start a new book.

But I think it’s different in kindergarten (and I would  now argue in first grade as well…and even second grade…). Developmentally, 4, 5 and 6 year olds may not be ready to stick with making a book for such a long period of time. A lot of them are – but there are kids in every classroom who just aren’t there yet. The last thing I want to do is to force them to sit quietly and make books. All that’s going to do is make them hate writing.

When children proclaim they are “done”, I first ask them to read their book to me. Of course, at this point in kindergarten it’s usually reading the pictures. Then I ask them what they need to do next as a writer. I make sure my talk during this time continues to refer to them as writers, and helps them see different possibilities for what “writing” might look like. Perhaps they need to go find a stack of Mo Willems books to look at to get an idea for their next book. Maybe they need to get the toy dinosaurs out and create a scene to get an idea for their next book. Maybe they need to pull out the storytelling kit that goes with a favorite read aloud and make up a new story. I honor what the needs are at that moment, and make sure I’m not forcing the writing piece. I play the role of a gentle encourager, helping my young writers see possibilities for sharing themselves with their classmates and the world.

As I writer, I know that some days I just don’t feel like writing. I want to express myself in another way. I know that I will get back to writing tomorrow, but for now I need something else. I think our young writers feel this way too. Sometimes what my writers are doing during Writer’s Workshop isn’t making books. Maybe today as writers they are making crowns or invitations for the afternoon Explore time when the princess party will resume. As I chat with these writers, I may suggest that a “how to make a crown” book might be just the thing for the future princess party attendees. Maybe painting a picture similar to an artist we are studying is what a writer is doing. They are using a piece of art as a mentor text instead of a book. Another child may be talking to an iPad or computer as he makes a book in one of the many creative apps we have on our iPads or computers. Maybe a group of children are composing a dance to share the butterfly life cycle. They are drawing the cycle and deciding ways to act it out. Maybe another group of children are Tweeting or blogging and talking to children all around the world. The point is, writer’s workshop can (and does) look different for all children, depending on what they need at that moment as a writer.

Playing with animals in Writer’s Workshop

While all of this is going on, many children are bent over their books and writing folders in what looks like a more traditional writer’s workshop – writing, drawing, creating. But others are moving, playing, talking, painting, creating like children do. And that’s OK. It’s the energy of children “making stuff”, as Katie Wood Ray talks about. And all of that “stuff” is and will become texts in many different modalities for children to share and express themselves through.

And that’s what really matters to me – that is the purpose of our Writer’s Workshop.

We make books!

Friday was the 9th day of school – and the 9th day of Writer’s Workshop in our kindergarten classroom. We make books every day after lunch, a routine that was established on the very first day of school. Our Writer’s Workshop begins by reading or revisiting a book and talking about the author. I introduced David Shannon as the first author we studied. We read No, David! and I shared the author’s note on the inside cover where David talks about how he got the idea for this book. I sent my 4 and 5 year olds off with 5 pages of stapled, blank pieces of paper to “make books, just like David Shannon!” Every single one of my kindergarteners then proceeded to make a book – and many complained when I called them back to the rug after 30 minutes of writing time. I had to reassure them that we would have time tomorrow and every day to write. We shared our books then – princess books, dinosaur books, truck books, kitten books, cowboy books – all of the children had chosen a different topic and made a book about the topic that was important to them. If I didn’t know better, I would say it was magic.

But it’s not magic – it’s carefully planned teaching and honoring children’s imagination, development and ability. I call my students “authors” from Day 1. I set up that first day of Writer’s Workshop as a time that is so special, so wonderful, so extraordinary that we will do it every single day! I want them to see themselves as authors and live into that identity. I want them to understand what a writer is and what a writer does. I carefully choose books and authors to study that can help build this identity. We talk about how authors write about what they know. Joy Cowley wrote Chameleon, Chameleon because she knows a lot about chameleons. So if one of my kindergarteners knows a lot about dinosaurs, then it only makes sense that she makes a book about that. I don’t need to dole out topics – children come to us full of things they know about and things that are important to them. I help them see how anything can be made into a book and how they can start living like writers. A story that is shared during morning meeting, read alouds throughout the day, something that happens in the classroom or dramatic play scenarios all get my response of, “wow, you could make a book about that!” I help the young writers in my classroom see themselves as writers through a great deal of talk, a lot of book and author sharing and modeling my own writing. As Katie Wood Ray says, “Children need to understand that everyday, ordinary people make books by doing everyday, ordinary things – writing words and drawing pictures – and that they can make them too.” (Already Ready, Ray & Glover, 2008)

How is your Writer’s Workshop going?

What ways do you help your students create an identity as a writer?

 

 

Take Them From Where They Are

The first week of kindergarten just ended. It was exhausting, magical and fabulous all at once. I love my new students already. I enjoyed reading lots of books like Pete the Cat, The Kissing Hand, Me…Jane, No, David!, David Goes to School, The Magic Hat and Let’s Count Goats – to name a few. We made books during Writer’s Workshop, started our Explore stations and practiced routines to make our class run smoothly. We played outside, we counted objects, we wrote on our morning message on the SMARTboard. And we got to know each other and begin to build our community. We learned names, favorite colors, things we liked and what we were excited and worried about. We bravely explored our school, ate lunch in the cafeteria and lasted until 3:20 every day – without a nap. It was a success.

One thing that stands out for me, as it does every year, is how different all of  my students are. Some of my kiddos can read already, others aren’t quite sure what a letter is. Some can write their names, others can make squiggly lines on the sign in sheet. Some can count to 100, others can put the counting collections in lines. Some can share the crayons, others want the blue crayon “right this minute” – never mind that it’s in someone’s hand. Some can help a friend find the blank writing books, others wander throughout the classroom and lay on the rug. I love it. How boring would it be if all the kids were the same?

But I have a challenge – again, just like every year. I have an important job to take each child from right where they are to as far as they can go this year. A one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t do. So how does this look when you have 20-30 children who are very, very different –  in many ways? Here are a few things I consider as I plan my instruction to make sure my kids are getting what they need.

1-A workshop approach with lots of small group instruction. I do a lot of instruction in small groups or one-on-one. It just doesn’t make sense to do a lot of things whole group when I may be boring one child to death while I’m talking way over the head of another child. Of course, some things are done whole group – our morning meeting, morning message, read alouds with rich discussions, focus lessons to begin our mathematician’s, reader’s and writer’s workshops – to name a few. Our whole group time is essential to building a community of learners as well. But I try to limit that whole group time and really get to the heart of my teaching in small groups. That way I can plan my lessons to make sure I’m teaching children within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as much as possible. Is this more work and planning? Yep. But it’s my job and it’s what the kids need. It makes no sense to do something like “Letter of the Day” when several of your kids know the letter of the day just fine and several others don’t even know what a “letter” is yet. Either way, we are wasting children’s time and our children are only with us for 180 days – we need to make every minute count.

2-Teach children to be independent. So how can I meet with small groups and one-on-one? By teaching kids from Day 1 how to be independent. You need the tape? There it is. You need to use the bathroom? Make sure no one is in there and go. You need a drink? Get one. You need help finding a book? Ask a friend. I spend a lot of time the first weeks of school empowering children into believing that this is their classroom and they are “can-do” kids. I want them to be able to function without me. We model how to do things and declare “experts” as people to go to when you need your shoe tied or when you can’t find a book or when you need to know how to draw a guinea pig. This is part of creating our community together and it’s essential. But it also allows children to learn from each other and allows me to do a lot of uninterrupted teaching. I firmly believe in not doing anything for a child that they can do themselves. We want independent problem solvers, not robots that need to be told what to do constantly. I work hard at this from day one and throughout the year.

3. Model. Model. Role-play. Model. Repeat… The social curriculum is every bit as important as the academic curriculum. With community at the heart of our classroom, it’s a priority to teach children how to live, work and play together peacefully. I watch them like a hawk – celebrating when I see a friend help another friend and intervening immediately when I hear unkind words. We talk and act out  how to be friends and what we want our classroom to look like, sound like and feel like. There is a tremendous amount of teaching that goes on within the social curriculum. Having many opportunities available for play and free choice throughout the day gives me multiple opportunities to teach children how to get along in the world. This is every bit as important as teaching children how to read, write and do math.

Finally, I accept every child where they are. I do not spend a moment blaming their home life, their preschool teacher, their environment, etc…. There is no sense in blaming or wishing they were any different.  That just wastes time that I could be using to think about how I will teach them. All we can do is teach them. Right where they are. P. David Pearson says this beautifully:

 “…a teacher’s job is always to bridge from the known to the new.  Because there really is no other choice.  Kids are who they are.  They know what they know.  They bring what they bring.  Our job is not to wish that students knew more or knew differently.  Our job is to turn each student’s knowledge, along with the diversity of knowledge we will encounter in a classroom of learners, into a curricular strength rather than an instructional inconvenience.”

P.  David Pearson, 1997

So how do you differentiate your instruction – the academic and the social? 

We Teach Children

I just finished a week of preservice days – our children arrive on Tuesday. The week was a busy whirlwind of meetings, setting up the classroom, thinking through the first days and reconnecting with colleagues after summer vacation. As I left school on Friday I was reflecting on the week when I realized how inspired, energized and excited I am about the upcoming year. Our administration planned a wonderful week of meetings and activities that focused on creating community. We did not discuss test scores, school improvement plans or data. We spent time connecting with each other, exploring our strengths individually and as a team, and creating a shared vision for what the school year will bring and for the community we will all live in for at least 8 hours every day. There is plenty of time later to get into the scores, data and plans for the year – this week was all about creating that foundation that will allow us to work together as a team. It’s similar to that first week or so with our students. We have to spend time creating community, getting to know each other and making our classroom a safe space to learn. We need to go slow at first so that we can go faster later. I can’t express how much I appreciated my first week back being like that. And, yes, I do know how lucky I am. I wish everyone could experience a preservice week like that.

One of the things that I keep thinking about was something that was said during a math planning meeting. We have two new math specialists at our school so it was our first time meeting with them as a team. As we were discussing how we will go about planning instruction for our students, one of the math specialists said, “We teach children – not the standards, curriculum or tests. The children come first in our thinking and planning.” YES! This is so true. We DO teach children. We have to look at who they are as a learner, what they know, what they almost know, what they are struggling with and consider how they learn. Only after we have looked carefully at that can we consider the state standards, the textbook, the curriculum map or the information needed for the state tests. We have to put the children first.

So this year, when I am thinking, “what do I teach this week?” – my immediate answer will be “my children”. Only after I have thought about each of my learners will I look at the standards, curriculum, etc. and then decide the best way to make sure I am reaching the minds – and hearts – of the children entrusted to me every day.

Enjoy teaching children this year.

One Word

Lately I’ve been running a lot of miles on trails in the mountains. I’m training for a 100 mile trail race in October – what will be a huge challenge for me. I’ve come up with a mantra of sorts, a special word that keeps me going when I feel like cutting the run short or staying in bed instead of doing an early run. My word, grindstone, is not only the name of the race, but it also means “to work hard and perseveringly”. Saying this word motivates me, encourages me and keeps me on track to completing my goal. It reminds me of my commitment and helps me stay focused.

I like to do the same thing as I begin a new school year. Each year I choose a word to be my overarching reminder of what I envision for the upcoming school year. I put it on the cover of my notebooks, on my teaching table, in my planning notebook and around my room where I will see it. In years past I have used the words, balance, joy, energy, peace and breathe as my one word for the year. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this upcoming school year and figuring out what my word is. I’ve arrived at the word listen. I want to make sure I am truly listening to my students, my colleagues and my families this year. I love this Cuban proverb,

“Listening looks easy, but it’s not simple. Every head is a world.”

Listening will help me be more present with my students as they play, learn, share, are challenged and enjoy kindergarten. I hope being a better listener will enhance our community and allow my students to ask more questions, to wonder more and to learn to love school. Listening to families will help me understand where each family is coming from and what their concerns, wishes and thoughts are for their child. I hope it will encourage families to become a strong part of our school community, to feel like they are truly partners in their child’s education and to be comfortable in our school. Listening to colleagues will help me become a better teammate and collaborator and allow everyone’s strengths to shine and voices be heard. I hope it will help people feel more valued and respected.
It’s funny how reading Peter Johnston’s Choice Words and Opening Minds this summer have caused me to think deeply about the language and talk I use in the classroom. And how my final take away was that I need to be a better listener.

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.”

— Karl Menninger
What is your One Word for the upcoming school year?

August 10 for 10 – Picture Book Extravaganza!

It’s that time of the year again…the August 10 for 10 Picture Book Event! This is the third year that Cathy Mere and Mandy Robek have hosted this compilation of blog and Twitter posts (#PB10for10) about the 10 picture books you just can’t live without. I am excited to share the 10 books that I will most definitely enjoy again this year in my kindergarten classroom – a few of these suggested in posts from last year’s 10 for 10. Enjoy!

Red Rubber Boot Day

1. Red Rubber Boot Day  by Mary Lyn Ray – A wonderful celebration of a rainy day, stomping through puddles and enjoying the rain. This was  a writing mentor text we returned to often. Her book Mud is equally fabulous and pairs well with this one.

Big Frog Can’t Fit In

2. Big Frog Can’t Fit In by Mo Willems – Another fun book by Mo Willems, this complex pop-up, pop-out, flap book is the story of poor Big Frog who is too big for the book. With a little help from his friends he finds a solution to the problem.

Stars

3. Stars by Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee – The illustrations and story in this book are just lovely. From stars in the sky to stars on a magic wand, short lines of text explore stars and the many different ways stars can be seen and found in the world. Beautiful language and exquisite illustrations made this a book that many children “stood on the shoulders” of as they wrote their own books about stars.

Help!

4. Help! A Story of Friendship by Holly Keller – The animals manage to convince Mouse that Snake wants to eat him instead of be his friend. Mouse listens to the gossip and becomes scared of Snake – until he gets into a situation where only Snake can help. This book launched some great conversations when we had  issues with children talking about others in unkind ways and helped the class come to the conclusion that problems are best solved when you go straight to the source, and making up stories about other people isn’t a good way to make friends. A pretty big concept for kindergarteners, and an important life lesson as well.

Me…Jane

5. Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell – This true story of Jane Goodall makes me tear up just thinking about it. A fabulous, simple text, yet deep story of following your dreams. I ended our last day of school with this read aloud (and many tears). I hope my kids remember the message it left us with that you can be anything you want to be – follow your passions and don’t let anything stop you.

If Rocks Could Sing

6. If Rocks Could Sing: A Discovered Alphabet by Leslie McGuirk – A wonderful addition to your alphabet books, this author found rocks that were in the shape of all the letters of the alphabet. She compiled the photos in this book along with short text to accompany and explain each of the rock shapes. It is great and the kids just loved seeing the alphabet in rocks. It inspired many of them to look for letters in rocks and outdoors as well.

Chickens to the Rescue

7. Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman – This was one of our all time favorites! It’s a laugh-out-loud, “read it again!” book that the kids love. A fun, crazy story about a family living on a farm who has many misadventures but never needs to worry because the chickens come to the rescue! Or maybe they DO need to worry… We had some great conversations about whether the chickens really were helping or just making more of a mess. This is the first in a series and each book ends with clues about the next book. Just go ahead and get the whole series (Pigs to the Rescue and Cows to the Rescue) – your kids will be begging to see what happens next!

Grumpy Bird

8. Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard – We all have bad days and Grumpy Bird is the best cure for a grumpy class (or teacher). Ha! A good story of friends helping out and turning a bad day around.

The Doghouse

9. The Doghouse by Jan Thomas – I discovered Jan Thomas this year and she immediately became a favorite author in our classroom. We used her books for mentor texts in writing and as “laugh out loud” favorite read alouds to revisit again and again. The Doghouse was a favorite.

Bob the Dog

10. Bob the Dog by Rodrigo Folgueira – Pat gave this book to our class as a gift and it immediately went to the “Our Favorites” box. The illustrations are hilarious and tell much of the story. The kids fall in love with Bob, the dog who accidentally swallows a canary. Bob is distraught over this situation and tries many ways to get the canary out. It’s only Jeremy the Canary’s mom who can finally get him to come out. We loved learning why Jeremy went down Bob’s throat (because he didn’t want to clean his room), and what his punishment is (cleaning Bob’s room). We liked this book so much we made a VoiceThread of our comments and thoughts about the book.

What are some of your favorite books? Are any of my favorites ones you use in your classroom?

Be the Character

One thing I do during an interactive read aloud is have kids “be the character”.  I stop at a point in the text where the character is feeling an emotion or anticipating an upcoming event. I ask the kids to “pull out their masks” (I model pulling out an imaginary mask from my sock.) and put on their mask to be the character. I look to see them show what the character is feeling on their faces. Then I invite children who want to “be the character” to say what they are thinking or feeling (as the character). After we’ve shared briefly, I tell them to put their masks away (they put them back in their sock as a signal to come back to focus on the book) and we continue reading the book.

I’ve always thought this was a great way for me to teach inferring, engage children with the characters and events in the book, to predict and to show how readers read beyond the text. After reading Peter Johnston’s, Opening Minds (Chapter 6), I now see that having children imagine that they are experiencing another’s feelings or emotions is much bigger than all of that. It is also a key component in building social imagination.

Much of what happens in texts, personal interactions, academics and the “real world” happens inside our heads. Teaching children to imagine what is going on “behind the scenes”, in essence, is a highly important task. And how can we neglect this? As Johnston says, “social imagination is the foundation of civil society.” Children (and adults) need to be able to understand what others are feeling, to read people’s faces and expressions,  to imagine different perspectives, to make sense of abstract ideas, and to reason through this. While social imagination may not show up in a list of state standards, it’s a critical piece of education that we cannot leave out.

I’m looking forward to exploring this more in the upcoming school year. I see possibility in using this as we role-play problems that may arise in the classroom, as we read a variety of texts and as we interact with each other in the classroom. Kindergarten isn’t too early to start teaching children to look at multiple perspectives, to imagine alternate possibilities and to develop empathy. If we start there and continue building on throughout the school years imagine what kind of future we might have.

How do you build social imagination & social reasoning in your classroom?

Opening Minds: Summer Cyber PD

I’m excited to be reading Peter Johnston’s Opening Minds and joining the #cyberPD conversation hosted by Cathy Mere, Jill Fisch and Laura Komos. If this wonderful book is on your summer reading list, please join us! Check out Cathy’s blog for more information or follow the #cyberPD hashtag on Twitter. And if this book isn’t on your summer reading list…I strongly suggest adding it! Here are my reflections on Chapters 1-3.

When I read Choice Words (Peter Johnston’s first book) eight years ago, it changed who I am as a teacher. I remember reading it. Then reading it again. And again. It was a little book that was jam packed with “a-ha moments”. I felt as if I got something new from it every time I read it. (I still do, which I why I reread it every summer.) I started a teachers as readers group at my school to talk about the book and kept referring back to it. I wanted to internalize all of his wonderful words and wisdom. I was extremely lucky to be invited to a small group lunch with Peter Johnston at NCTE in 2005. I remember what he shared with the table – he told us to feel free to make “cheat sheets” – to write down the phrases, language and responses from the book that we wanted to internalize. He told us to use the cheat sheets until the language became a natural part of our teaching. I recently found those cheat sheets in a file and was amazed at how much of that language is just a part of who I am in the classroom. I really did internalize and now own a new way of thinking, talking and teaching. I am so excited about Peter’s new book and I am starting my new “cheat sheets” for next year after reading the first three chapters of Opening Minds.

At the top of my “cheat sheet” is the word, “yet“. What a powerful word it is!  Imagine what happens when a child says, “I’m not good at this.” vs. “I’m not good at this, yet.” I just love the sense of possibility that the word “yet” generates. It opens up so many opportunities, rather than shutting down the learning. Working with kindergarteners gives me a huge opportunity to help them create themselves as learners. Johnston talks about how “for us to have agency we have to believe that things are changeable, because if they can’t be changed, taking action is futile.” (p.27) I want my students to see themselves as “can-do kids” – kids who can make a difference in their learning, their lives and the world. Choice Words talked a lot about agency and Opening Minds layers bold new thinking on this idea.

Next on my list is, “thanks for teaching us that“. (p.32) I often ask my students “how did you do that?” or “how did you figure that out?” and then I ask them to explain and share with the class. But I love how ending that conversation with “thank you for teaching us that”, rather than with praise, empowers children and positions them as another teacher in the classroom.

My third word on my cheat sheet is one I want to eliminate, the word “smart“. After reading Choice Words, I immediately stopped using the term “good” – as in “good readers/writers/mathematicians” because by saying someone or some action/behavior was good, I felt that it was implying that someone or some actions must be bad. Johnston illustrates, and shares research on why  using the word smart, and telling children “you must be so smart”, really do the same thing. (p.9-10) It implies that you are either smart or dumb, which is a fixed characteristic that doesn’t leave a lot of room for learning, growth or facing challenges. I grew up thinking and saying (often) that I was dumb in math. Recently, I’ve changed that fixed theory and embraced learning and teaching math. Thanks to many great mentors, professional texts and workshops, I have come to see math as a fun challenge to teach and to continue learning more about. I even started my summer with a 2 day math workshop! I realized that my fixed idea about being dumb in math wasn’t serving me or my students. I don’t want my students to stay in a fixed mindset about anything in school, or beyond. Johnston says, “when children holding fixed theories encounter difficulties, mistakes become crippling.” (p.11) I want our classroom community to be one where people take risks, attempt challenges, make mistakes and learn from all of these things. I want them to see that “when you run into difficulty it just means things are becoming more interesting. Challenging activities present no threat, only the promise of learning something new.” (p.12). Imagine how exciting, interesting and fulfilling learning and teaching would be if that was our thinking!

I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book, probably multiple times, and reflecting on my language as a learner and a teacher. Please join in our discussion in the comments section here, on any of the host blogs mentioned at the beginning of the post, or on Twitter. Check back in the next two weeks for posts on the rest of the book.

If you are interested in reading Opening Minds or Choice Words, both books are available at Stenhouse for 20% off during their Blogstitute Event, along with free shipping. Just use the code BLOG when you order online. Peter Johnston is a featured author for the Blogstitute, so look for his posts on the Stenhouse blog site.

Enjoy!

Summer Reading

One of my very favorite things about summer is the time I have to read. I have vivid memories of riding my bike to the public library during summer vacations when I was in elementary school. I would check out 12 books (the most they would allow), balance them precariously in the basket of my bike, ride home and devour them on the screened in back porch and then ride back to the library to get 12 more. Summer days spent reading were the best. I still feel that way now.

I started my summer by reading several “just for fun” books. Elin Hilderbrand is one of my favorite “beach book” authors, as well as Chris Bohjalian. Now that I’ve decompressed a bit and am in full-on summer mode, I’m diving into my professional reading stack. Of course, I’ll make sure to mix up the professional reading with plenty of pleasure reading too.

Here’s what’s on my professional reading list:

Teaching in the Digital Age: Smart Tools for Age 3 to Grade 3 by Brian Puerling

Talk About Understanding: Rethinking Classroom Talk to Enhance Comprehension by Ellin Oliver Keene

What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Meaning Making by Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicki Vinton

Choice Words (I always reread this one in the summer) and Opening Minds by Peter Johnston

Blocks and Beyond: Strengthening Early Math and Science Skills Through Spatial Learning by Mary Jo Pollman

The Play’s the Thing: Teachers’ Roles in Children’s Play by Elizabeth Jones and Gretchen Reynolds

Magic Capes, Amazing Powers: Transforming Superhero Play in the Classroom by Eric Hoffman

Already Ready: Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten (rereading & discussing with my Kindergarten team) by Katie Wood Ray and Matt Glover

Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Number Sense, Addition and Subtraction by Cathy Twomey Fosnot and Maarten Dolk

In Pictures and In Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study (another reread but I want to do more with this next year) by Katie Wood Ray

Happy summer reading, friends! Enjoy.

What’s on your summer reading list?

Do you have favorite books you read and reread as a summer ritual?