People across the nation were so glad when January 1st fell on a weekend because we would all get the extra day, January 2nd, to regroup and relax after a busy season.  But on my walk this morning I stopped in a breakfast cafe to use the facilities and there was Kassia, a kindergarten teacher friend.  She had her computer propped up in front of her, the writing professional book Already Ready tagged and marked up with stickies, and a pile of picture books on the table.  She told me about Hero Cat by Eileen Spinelli that she planned to use this week to talk about how illustrators use colors to match the tone and mood of the story.

As I continued my fast walk, I thought about Katie (another K teacher) who would be driving back from Florida today with Joseph.  I can guarantee you that besides the kayak on the roof and the bikes on the back of the car, there is also a backpack filled with picture books and a few professional books. I thought Katie was crazy not driving back til the last day of vacation, but then I remembered that she is my tech-savvy, paperless friend. She carries everything she needs with her — iPhone, iPad, and computer. I know she’ll be planning lessons for hours while Joseph drives.

I thought maybe it was just kinder teachers, so I made a few phone calls.  Sure enough, I got the same story, no matter what grade they taught.  Teachers were using the extra day to plan, reflect, and organize.

“I have an idea for….”

“I want to try out a different arrangement for my guided reading schedule…”

“I’m thinking about how I will need to revisit a few routines and anchor charts so that….”

“I’m going through some writing samples I brought home to see where to head with my writing mini-lessons…”

And what about me? Well, with all the company from the week finally gone by six o’clock last night, my husband and I went out to a coffee shop for breakfast.  He read his newspaper and I read two chapters of a literacy professional book.  The rest of my day will include: going through my poetry stuff so I’ll be prepared to meet with a teacher who requested time to chat about a poetry unit she’s starting; emailing the teacher whose class I’m volunteering in this Thursday to make sure my lesson matches seamlessly with what she is working on; and thinking through a few lessons I did just before the holidays to see which ones might turn into blog posts that might help other elementary teachers.  Wait a minute!  I’m supposed to be semi-retired!  I guess, once a teacher always a teacher.

Don’t take my word for it.  Check it out yourself and contact a few friends today by phone, text, or email.  See if it’s true.  Teachers are busy working today.  Hats off to them!  And the interesting thing is that they are not complaining.  They may make a few jokes about “yuck, back to the real world tomorrow,” but there is excitement in their voices.  They are invigorated by the New Year – the chance to try a new idea, refine some old ones, organize or schedule in a different way, rethink how to support that group of strugglers, and so on. Some people may argue with me and say that it’s just the people I know who sound like “workaholics” or “type A personalities.”  But, if that’s the case, then all I can say is, “How lucky am I to have such a terrific group of friends who are whole-heartedly dedicated to the children they teach!”

Best of luck to all teachers as they start the New Year!

We’ve been working on story structures with the upper elementary students recently.  Of course, there are many helpful graphics to use on this topic.  We’ve been using one story structure graphic that begins with students identifying the rising action, moving to the climax/turning point, and then the falling action and solution.  We modeled a few and did some together as shared demonstrations. Before beginning this work, the classroom teacher and I thought that the hardest part would be identifying the climax.  But what we found was that the students had the most problems with the rising action.  They had a hard time picking out what would be the important information and what would be a detail.  So we planned a lesson on that concept.

I read aloud the Tomie DePaola story “The Mysterious Giant of Barletta.”  The students enjoyed the story of the giant statue that comes alive to cleverly save a town from destruction by an advancing army.  The students were able to discuss the problem and solution quite easily, but before they filled out the graphic we wanted to scaffold their thinking about the rising action.  We listed 15 statements on the Smartboard in random order:

Every night Zia Concetta looks out her window at the statue.

There is a mysterious statue in the middle of town that no one knows how it got there.

The old woman and the mysterious giant hatch a plan.

Sometimes the boys sit at the giant’s feet and watch girls go by.

The people of Barletta love their statue in the middle of town.

The statue came alive and got down off his pedestal.

The people heard that an army was destroying all the towns along the coast.

The town had no generals, captains, or soldiers.

The giant statue loved when all was peaceful and calm and birds came and sat on him.

Zia Concetta asked the Mysterious Giant for help.

The people of the town would ask for good luck from the statue as they made their way to market.

Screams and shouts echoed off the buildings.

The people were scared.

Everyone was getting ready to run from Barletta.

Zia Concetta told the townspeople to hide, bring a large onion, and don’t ask questions.

Together we discussed and starred the important ones and crossed out ones we agreed were small details.  We encouraged the students to combine some if they thought it appropriate and to rearrange the order of the statements to fit the rising action’s correct sequence.  (This was amazingly easy to do with the Smartboard as lines of text can be manipulated so quickly – every classroom needs one!)

When the students went off to fill in their graphic, they were able to use the discussion and the shared activity to support their thinking.  We’ll be looking for which students might need more “do it together” time in small group to further support their understanding of how to pick out important parts.

Have you ever reread a favorite book as an adult? And have you shared that idea with your students?  Recently a friend forwarded me an article by David Bowman from the NY Times, called “Read it Again, Sam.”  Bowman wrote about several famous authors and the books they choose to read over and over.  Stephen King has reread Lord of the Flies 8-9 times and All the Kings’ Men 3-4 times. The novelist and critic Dale Peck attempts to read The Waves annually because it gives him a spiritual feeling. He said. “I always feel like a better person after I put it down.” My husband, an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy books, says he rereads the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Dune series every five years. I, too, have reread my favorites on various occasions.  Often in my book group I’ll suggest a book in September that I’ve already read and the club puts it on the schedule for 6 months later.  I land up rereading (March, Life of Pi, Room, Hunger Games) because I want it fresh in my mind for the discussion.  With every second reading I not only enjoy the book even more but deepen my understandings as well.

“For many readers the habit started in childhood,” writes Bowman. It’s true that teachers always encourage K-2 students to put books in the bookboxes and reread them.  For the most part, we are hoping that by rereading books the students’ problem solving of words will become quicker, their fluency will increase, and the reading process system will strengthen.  The K-2 students often love when we read favorite pictures books during read aloud time.  They also enjoy several readings of favorite Big Books.

But I wonder if we are chatting enough about this idea with kids in our upper elementary classrooms, 3-6 grades. Think about the reasons why adults might reread a favorite book:

• To return to the beautiful writing
• Because we love the characters
• To get back some of the feelings we were left with after the first reading
• Because we enjoyed the storyline
• To deepen our understandings and reflect more on the ideas or issues
• Because we realize it will enrich the discussion with others.

Wouldn’t they be the same reasons for kids?

When The Giver first came out, I remember reading it several times as I facilitated discussions with various groups of students over a three year period. I still loved that book the fifth time through!  What if the students had read it two or three times?  Would our discussions have been even richer?

Have you talked to your students about the value of rereading?