Monday, November 14, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 11/14/16


It's Monday! What are you reading? was started by Sheila at Book Journey and was adapted for children's books from picture books through YA by Jen of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee of Unleashing Readers. You can visit either site for a round up of blogs sharing their weekly readings and thoughts or search Twitter for #IMWAYR.



Last Week's Posts

  • Poetry Friday: peace. Sharing a Wendell Berry poem that our eighth grade teacher read and discussed with her students, following the election results.
  • Mock Caldecott, part 1. Sharing the first of two posts about my predictions for this year's Caldecott. Our school librarian and I are working to narrow down favorites for our school's own Mock Caldecott.

    Picture Books



    A Poem for Peter: the story of Ezra Jack Keats and the creation of The Snowy Day (2016) by Andrea Davis Pickney and illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson. This biography of Ezra Jack Keats is told in heartwarming poetry, focused around events in the authors life and how they led him to the creation of the character of Peter, who first appeared in the now-classic (and Caldecott-winning) The Snowy Day. At 60 pages, this makes for a lengthy picture book, even told in poetry, and I question whether it would work well as a read aloud for younger readers and their shorter attention spans. But for those willing to put in the time, it is an inspiring story about the need to speak up for others and ensure that all children can find themselves represented in the pages of books.


    The Promise by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Laura Carlin. I read this book aloud on Wednesday to my seventh graders. I liked the message about how small acts by individuals can turn hard, cold places (and hard, cold people) into warm, inviting, and caring spaces.

    Middle School



    Gracefully Grayson (2014) by Ami Polonsky. Grayson has always hidden his interests: bright colored pens, drawings of princesses, but a new friend and a supportive teacher help him to realize how to be true to himself and to share with his school and family the girl she truly feels herself to be. This book does a good job of highlighting the many challenges facing transgender children, both internal and external, as well as helpful and unhelpful ways to respond and support them. Definitely one I will be adding to the latest Diverse Books for Children: favorite LGBTQ books.


    Finally, as many of you may know, my students are also bloggers! This is my third year with student blogging (though my first with middle schoolers), and while my students' blogs are not public, I do sometimes share their words publicly on The Logonauts. (My #3rdfor3rd series is book reviews written by my third graders). I recently wrote a guest post for a colleague's blog entitled Blogging with Students  - maybe it will inspire you to get your own kiddos blogging!

    Happy Reading!

    10 comments:

    1. When I taught I loved blogging with the students. I believe it helped them improve their writing a lot! I have the two Pic Books you shared on my list, just haven't read them yet. I think Gracefully Grayson is lovely. Thanks, Katie.

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      1. Thanks, Linda. Can't wait to hear what you think about the picture books too.

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    2. When I was in high school we were just discovering "blogging", but none of us really had any idea what we were doing. I cringe when I think of the information I made public back in the day - we simply could not comprehend the reality of the internet and what it meant to be safe online. It's fantastic that your students are learning to explore the internet and express themselves in a safe, supportive environment!

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      1. Agreed. We are doing a penpal activity with a class in Montana, and it's interesting to me how their first reaction is to immediately self-edit and reinvent themselves.

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    3. Thank you for sharing your post on blogging. We will be sharing it wth teachers as they start blogs in their classroom.

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      1. Thanks! It has been a wonderful opportunity for my kids to write and get enthusiasm about it.

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    4. Love all of the links which I am off to explore. I always enjoy seeing which titles others choose for their Mock Caldecott - I think I have finalized my 12 titles and then I look at another list . . .

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      1. Have you posted your list yet? I'm waiting to hear back from our school librarian before we put together our finalists. We're being generous at 20.

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    5. I loved blogging with students when I was teaching. While it takes work to make it successful, I found that students appreciated reading other student's ideas and were more interested in writing their own. Thanks for the list of books. I've added A Poem for Peter to my list of must reads and have put a hold on The Promise from our local library. Gracefully Grayson is a lovely read.

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      1. Thanks, Cheriee. I think it makes the idea of audience so understandable and immediate. With my third graders last year they started really grasping the idea of which posts and topics got more attention and why.

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