Tag: books

What I’m Up To

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Hello there again!

You’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to this summer.

I know what I haven’t been doing and that’s obsessing over school. Usually I’d spend most the summer getting my room ready, over preparing for the year ahead, and stressing myself out before the year even started.

This year, I’ve decided to go with a different approach. One where I actually recuperate during the summer and I must say, I’m loving it.

This summer, I’ve picked back up on a writing project I started awhile ago. I’m about 30,000 words into my first novel. It’s a new adult mystery. It’s also has some romance, with some witty humor here and there. So far, I’ve received good feedback from those reading it as I finish chapters.

Writing is something that comes easy for me, but it’s also super hard. Especially when trying to write a novel. If you ever meet an author, give them a pat on the back because they deserve it. Writing a book is hard and courageous. Authors deserve more praise than they receive.

I also have a few children’s books I’m working on.

I’m hopeful I will get one of my projects published one day.

I was born to be a writer and it feels good to finally be writing again.

-Lauren

 

Book Talk Tuesday: Kid Picks

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Over the past school year, I read aloud a lot of books. I did my best to read a book to my class every single day if possible.

On the flip side, I allowed my students a lot of independent reading time to make connections with books of their choosing. The last week of school I had students vote on their favorite book I read to them. Throughout the year, I personally observed what book was a common favorite among all of my students to read on their own.

Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond

I am a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. You can find me every Saturday morning watching the newest episode of her show, shopping through her dish collection at Walmart, and obsessing over her recipes. So investing in her children’s books was an easy choice for me.

My students collectively voted that Charlie the Ranch Dog was their favorite book I read aloud to them throughout the year. They found Charlie to be quirky, humorous, and just plain cute. The illustrations by Diane DeGroat fit the book so well. They are realistic and cozy photos that make the storyline pop.

Another reason my kids decided this was one of their favorite books was due to my “Charlie voice.” Being from Texas, I naturally have a bit of a southern accent. Everyone mentions it when they notice it. Now, I felt when I read aloud this book, Charlie definitely needed one. I think I out “southerned” and “countryfied” myself when I turned into Charlie for the sake of engaging my readers. The kids would beg me to read it again and again, and I’d even hear them imitating my voice throughout the day. I love this book, I am VERY enthusiastic about my love for it, and I’m glad that enthusiasm translated over to my students in which they fell in love with the character Charlie as well. I think they ended up checking out and reading (I also was asked to read aloud) every Charlie book our school library had. It pays off to make a book exciting for kids!

 

Dog Man by Dav Pilkey

This is the book that I personally observed as the book the majority of my student chose to independently read on their own. Dog Man comes from the mind of Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants. When I was in elementary school, I read through all of the Captain Underpants books and any other Dav Pilkey book I could find. Dav Pilkey seems to have a way to be popular with such a variety of readers with all his books, and Dog Man is no different.

I knew when I heard about this book I had to add it to my classroom library because I was a fan of Dav’s. I knew my students liked to read Captain Underpants and I felt they would take to this book well. WOW! I was shocked. The day I introduced the book to my class and let them know it would now be in my classroom library, they went wild. Students were taking turns reading and finishing this book immediately. They would even go back and reread it.

I have not seen a book that a vast variety of readers with so many differences have in common like this book.

Dog Man is written in a comic book fashion. It contains colorful and bold photos that are popular with the kids. The storyline is perfect and draws a reader in with a ton of humor. Kids were laughing their way through this book and coming back for more.

I didn’t add this book to my library until the last part of the school year, but by the end of the year about half of my students from both classes I taught had completed it.

Dog Man has found a permanent place in the heart of many readers, and my classroom library to which the rest of his books will be making an appearance soon.

Happy Reading!

-Miss Layfield

Classroom library? Nah, library classroom.

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First of all, I LOVE to read. I always have and I’m 99.9% sure I always will. This past half school year, I taught all subjects. However, this year we are departmentalizing our second grade. I will only be teaching reading, English, writing, and phonics. That news made me feel like a kid in a candy store. All my favorite subjects!

Being a new teacher, I did not have a lot of books in my classroom when I started. Since then, I have done a DonorsChoose project, had people donate books to me, and bought a lot on my own. Seriously, if you are someone who has donated to me in any way, you have a special place in my heart forever.

I read somewhere that a classroom library should have close to 1,000 books. I believe it too! I don’t have nearly that many, but I’m working towards it.

Why would I want that many books?

I think it’s very important to expose kids to as many books as possible within the classroom. I love our school library, but I also wanted to build my own as large as I can get it. I know it will help with activities in the Daily 5 and during Guided Reading. It helps expose kids to books they may have previously not gotten to read and having books surround them in a loving environment creates a positive connection to books for them.

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I know a lot of people level their entire library. I honestly just don’t believe in that. I have one row  of book bins in the above photo that are leveled by Guided Reading levels. These books are also not Reading Counts test books. I did that on purpose. I wanted the leveled books to be used specifically for tracking what level a child is on and also so that students learn to read books other than the ones they can take a test on. Their Reading Counts goals are important, but I feel exposing them to books that don’t have tests attached to them helps them to develop a love of reading instead of just thinking they need to pass a test to get points. They should be developing  a love of reading and I aim to help them do that.

All of my other bins are organized based on book series, characters, and similar topics. They are numbered bins with corresponding numbers I will put on stickers on the front of the book so that my kids can easily put them back where they got them.

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In second grade, a lot of kids aren’t reading a lot of chapter books. However, when I had a few last year that definitely could read them and did read the ones I had in the classroom. I know when I was in second grade, I was reading chapter books and would have panicked if my teacher didn’t allow it. So, I went out of my way to make sure I also have enough chapter books in addition to picture books to challenge students and provide those high readers with what they need.

Knowing what reading level my students are on is important to me and helping them progress while developing their love of books is my goal. I never want students to feel like books are punishment or reading is boring. I never want to be a teacher that tells a child they have to read now because they didn’t at another time. To me that is completely detrimental when helping students develop their motivation to read. I never want to tell a child they have to read from a specific bin of books or that they can’t choose something slightly above their level because challenging themselves is a good thing. I only want books associated with positive things in my class. If a kid thinks reading is boring, I think they haven’t found the right book yet and hopefully I’ll help them find that right book.

The title of this post says library classroom instead of classroom library. That’s basically what I went for when designing my room. I didn’t want a specific area for books in my classroom. I have them literally everywhere. I did that because I wanted the kids in my class to associate books with positive things. I aim to make reading fun for them and to me, a variety of choices when it comes to books helps with that. I want to see kids when I ask them to get a book walking around the whole room searching for the perfect one just as if they were in a library.

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I do hope my future students develop a love of books and reading. I hope they remember that Miss Layfield made reading challenging and fun. I hope struggling readers in my class make that breakthrough and find a book that sparks their want to read. I hope all of my future second graders succeed in reaching their reading goals because reading is essential to the rest of their lives.

-Miss Layfield