2012 has already started with a bang!  It's hard to believe that it's here already.  I still feel like it's the beginning of the year, but it's not and there is a lot to do before it ends!
Now that the new year is here, it's time to look at what we've accomplished, celebrate our successes, and plan for new goals.  My goal is to make more time for reading for myself and to enjoy running.  I devour books because I love that reading takes me on a new journey, bring to life new characters, or informs about topics that are of interest to me.  Running is something I do because I have to stay in shape.  To be honest, it's not something I really enjoy.  But I think with a new pair of shoes and a new outlook, I can start to enjoy running for what it is---free time for myself.  I think by setting these simple goals I am doing something that I can be successful at as well as something that will expand my knowledge and keep me healthy!

This year we have about 30 kids who are participating in the Go! St. Louis Read, Right, Run Marathon.  This is a six month event where students read 26 books, do 26 good deeds and run 26 miles.  We had so much doing this last year that I look forward to seeing this group accomplish their goals too!  Students who are in this program should be a third of the way to their 26 books, deeds and miles.  This winter weather has been mild and therefore, I will be coordinating some runs in February and March.  Coach Davis is going to be offering running club again this spring, which is another opportunity for students to get their weekly mile done. 

What are some of the books you have read so far and enjoyed?  Share your books, good deeds and successful runs in the comments section.  I look forward to being inspired by you all as I am every day!

It's that time of year where, as a literacy specialist or teacher, we are assessing our children.  This can be overwhelming for two reasons: a) it's a lot of work during a busy, hectic time, b) you are able to see if a child has made progress or not. If not, the feeling of defeat as a teacher smacks you.  As a reading specialist, this is how I have been feeling this week.  Luckily, I received my weekly newsletter from Choice Literacy.  Choice Literacy is a great professional development site that I subscribe to.  They send out weekly newsletters on different literacy topics.  One of  articles that was spotlighted today could not have come at a better time! I needed these words of wisdom to calm me and remind me that progress can come in many different forms.  Many of the kiddos we see in reading are struggling in so many areas, that it's hard to remember that they are making progress....in something.   This article titled, "Praising the Baby Steps" gave me things to think about and praise my students on. I hope you find it helpful too:) http://catchingreaders.com/2011/10/27/praising-the-baby-steps/  

Another great article offers an activity  to get kids thinking about books they have read, together or independently, this year.  I often forget to have kids reflect on what they have read so far this year and talk to their peers.  Talking about reading is such a critcial component to getting kids to reaWhile it's not the end of the year, it's a project that you could revisit later on.  It's also meaningful and fun, especially if you want to do something right before break!   http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/929.cfm  

Check out Choice Literacy at  http://www.choiceliteracy.com/

During my summer seminar class, a colleague of mine did a presentation on using video clips in her class to help introduce reading strategies. I was a bit intrigued because I have seen many used to help students make inferences.  However, what I hadn't anticipated seeing was the the chart of video resources she had put together that correlated with the different skills.   

Videos can be quite powerful for children in the classroom.  I find myself often making connections to movies while teaching reading strategies.  For example, when I am encouraging students to reread for clarity and fluency, I ask them if they have movies they have seen more than once.  I haven't had a child say 'no' yet.  We talk about how watching a movie for the second or third time can help them understand the story better, "get" a joke or punchline, or hear things they missed the first time.  We can also use video to help establish background knowledge for students who don't experiences to connect with content area subjects or a particular theme of a text.  What this presentation reminded me of is the power of video in the classroom, used in moderation and appropriately, of course!

Here is list of video clips and the skills for which they correlate.  If you use a video for a particular skill, please add it to the comments below.  Enjoy!

Videos & Reading Strategies

We all know that good readers have one thing in common:  they read.  Not all good readers read a lot, but when they do read, they are able to apply reading strategies to understand and, hopefully, enjoy the book.

As the year begins, it's important to get kids reading every day.  By creating time during our day for students to read, just 20 minutes, gives them an opportunity to practice good reading.  In addition to reading in the class, we often ask students to read at home each night.  Trust me, as a teacher, I have heard the moans and groans from both students and parents.  There is even a lot of resistance to this because people, both teachers and parents, feel that "requiring" students to read each night and filling out a reading log diminishes the reading experience.  I see both sides.  However, I came across this site that explains how 20 minutes of reading each night can reap benefits for children.  Mathematically, you can't argue the facts.

As a teacher and a parent, I whole-heartedly understand why parents get flustered with the dreaded reading log.  As a teacher, I always explained to parents that I just want the kids to sit and read, anything, for 20 minutes.  Reading should be fun!  Finding great books should be an adventure. Sharing the great books can be a bonding experience as well.  Quite frankly, it's our peaceful routine for each evening. I encourage you to check out the site below explaining the benefits of reading each night.  Try to set aside time for everyone to read together.  It can really be as simple as reading a chapter or two of a book each night together.  Reading to your child counts too!  It's simply all about the experience.

• Why Read for 20 Minutes Each Day? 
• Make Reading a Habit at Home - Parent Tips
• Helping Your Child Choose "Just Right" Books
• Check out my Resources page for Audio book links too. Listening to stories is just as fun!
  

With great anticipation and excitement, my kids signed up for the library summer reading program.  My 3 1/2 year old doesn't really understand it yet, but getting him into the groove is the most important thing I can do to grow him as a reader.  My to-be-1st grade daughter was very enthusiastic.  We visited the library and perused the shelves of the early readers books. I am overwhelmed by the choices myself, so I can only imagine how my 2 darlings were feeling. Trying to guide my daughter to make better book choices is still going to be a challenge.  I found myself even choosing pink, pretty, princess books. 

So the double-edged sword for me is that I want my kids to love reading.  I also want them to expand their reading choices.  My daughter has a great interest in nature and learning aside from the normal princess books she wants to read.  We found great National Geographic books on butterflies, sharks, whales and dinosaurs.  My "aha" moment?  Girls can read and enjoy non-fiction too.  I know as an educator that choice is the most important factor in getting kids to read and be excited about books.  I just want my darlings to read from a wide variety of texts and by finding out what they love, we are finding great books to support those interests and support reading as well.

My point to this post is that it's hard, even as an educator and reading teacher, to help kids in their journey to becoming a reader.  It's not easy, not always fun, but always a challenge.  All of their thoughts, questions, connections and conversations about the books we read excite me.  As a parent, if you have kids who aren't excited about reading, your best resource is the library.  The library is welcoming, cool in the summer, and offers books for any age and interest.  Ask your librarian for help.  Check out what other kids are saying about books and you'll be amazed what's out there. 

Whew!  I was beginning to think we were going to be in school forever!  Snow days are great, but only in moderation.  All complaints aside, it was a great end to the year.  The kids outdid themselves by reading over 15.000 minutes in the last month of school!  You should have seen their proud faces when they reached personal and group goals.  It was fun to see them get excited about reading.  To continue the excitement, we set students up for success by sending home books and planning for a summer reading routine.  We will be in contact with them throughout the summer to encourage them to keep on reading.
 

So we've reached that part of the year when teachers have to dig into the bag of tricks to keep kids motivated until the end of the year.  As a reading specialists, this proves to be even trickier.  Kids have to come to see me while often times they are doing fun things in class.  The goal for our meetings right now are to keep up the momentum of reading, as they have done throughout the year, and plan and prepare for what they will read over the summer.

While reading the April issue of The Reading Teacher, I came across an article by Tim Rasinski and Nancy Padak titled "Who Wants to be a (Reading) Millionaire?".  The article discusses how schools are getting kids to read at home by logging their minutes, with the ultimate goal being the whole school reads for one million minutes. What a great idea!  But, for us it was too late to get started on that goal.  So, my friend and fellow reading specialist and I came up with an end-of-the year challenge for our kids called Minutes to Win It!  We did some math and challenged the kids to read 25 minutes a day, including the weekend, to see if we could reach 10,000 minutes in 3 weeks.   We tally their minutes, which have to be signed and followed up with an adequate summary of what they read.  Students who reached the personal goal of 250 minutes get to participate in our Minute to Win It challenge in May.  Based on the tv game show, we will have minute challenges for the kids to participate in.  While they are excited about the end of the challenge Minute to Win It party, I haven't really heard them discuss this much.  Many of them are focused on reading and accumulating minutes.  The pride in their eyes when they see how many minutes have accumulated so quickly has been worth it.  Sure, there are those few who aren't participating, but they are starting to catch on. 

We have a bulletin board with pictures of kids participating.  As they accumulate more minutes, they move along the board.  We reached 10,000 minutes well before our target date.  We upped the auntie and are very close to reaching 15,000 minutes. The kids love hearing their names during announcements and have a renewed desire to read.  I love to see the kids challenge themselves with "I am going to read 45 mintues tonight," or "I want to finish this book!"  It's hard to get kids who don't want to read to do so, but we've had fun picking out great books and mee

Professional organizations are fabulous resources of information.  I have the great opportunity to attend International Reading Association conferences, read The Reading Teacher, and attend other professional development workshops and seminars.  All of these opportunities keep me up-to-date, invigorate my teaching, shed light on best practice and keep me motivated to learn new and try new things.  The hard part for me is that I don't officially belong to any one professional organization. This bothers me a lot, but the flip side to that is that money is tight.  I can't pay to belong to these organizations on my own. Therefore, I am always on the hunt to find great professional resources for free!  Since teaching is all about sharing, I want to share my favorites.  If you have favorites that you would like to share, please post to the comments!

• International Reading Association Radio - listen to monthly broadcasts related to key issues in reading
• IRA Insights on Teaching Reading - podcasts you can subscribe to and learn about the latest and greatest in teaching reading.  Available through iTunes.
• Choice Literacy- This is one of my absolute favorites!  Sign up for the Big Fresh weekly email to get ideas, read articles and get freebies from their site. You can also purchase a membership.  I love the weekly email and feel this is one of the best sites out there in relation to reading.
• Learner.org - This website offers a wealth of online training videos that also contain blackline masters for you to use.  This site covers all content areas.  The Literature/Language Arts offers tons of great professional development that you can view at your leisure.  These are done by professionals in the field and you can even teachers at work in the classroom!

There are so many great resources out there, but I've only included a few of my favorites that I really view on a regular basis.

Who knew there were so many great resources out there for teachers, librarians, and reading specialists?  Well, I knew there was a lot of stuff out there, but this is a wonderful list of blogs about reading. My site has been listed as well, and it's quite an honor.  I'm grateful to be listed and know that there are many wonderful sties out there that support the teaching of reading.  Thanks to Accredited Online Colleges for the listing!

Want to check out the sites?  Go to 50 Best Blogs for Reading Teachers and be amazed by what's out there!

Reading Week at our school has come and gone.  There were so many activities and excitement centered around reading.  Our author visit by Judy Young was a great experience as well. 

Reading Week activities were designed to get kids reading and writing.  One of my favorites was a Book Buffet.  This idea came from Education World's Celebrate Children's Book Week website.  The idea is simple and an easy way to get kids thinking about other books to read.  Don't we all have a difficult time getting kids to choose books once they are finished reading one?  I do, let alone getting kids to think ahead about their reading.  The Book Buffet allows students to view several books in a short amount of time.  Here's a quick breakdown of the Book Buffet:

• Have several books from different genres on hand from the library.
• Give students 3-5 minutes with a book. During that time, they look through the book and read what they can.
• When time is up, students choose another book to read. 
  
• This continues for as long as you wish.

To help kids remember books they wanted to read or check out later, I made a simple form in Word.  They wrote the title of the book, the genre and whether or not they wanted to read it later.  This was a list they can refer to later on when they have nothing to read or don't know what to read.  Working in a fifth grade classroom doing this activity, we discussed that this could even be done once a week, every other week, or monthly with students' just-right reading books.  Follow the same procedures above only students will be sharing books they are currently reading. 

This is a great way to expose students to different types of books and get them thinking about what they can read next.  There was so much excitement in the air in the fifth grade class.  They moaned almost every time we told them time was up!  If you try it or have other ideas, please post them!