I love lists. I make them, use them, and generally live by them.
It’s fitting then that I enjoyed reading a recent article by S. Rebecca Leigh on Choice Literacy about a poster liked called “Unlucky Arithmetic” which lists “13 Ways to Raise a Nonreader”. Using this poster as inspiration, Rebecca wrote her own list called “Unlucky Arithmetic: 13 Ways to Raise a Nonwriter”. As I was getting ready to print these out to display in my office, my friend Janet Pohl sent me a note about another list on NCTE. “A Spellers Bill of Rights” is detailed in an article by Sandra Wilde which lists 9 “rights” students have with regard to spelling:
These lists offer a another starting place for discussions with teachers, parents and even students about the rights and responsibilities of learners.
This list was compiled by votes from readers of the School Library Journal’s Blog: Fuse #8 Production. A few comments indicate that some were surprised by the rankings and in a few cases omissions (Cat in the Hat?). However the list has given me a summer reading goal with my own daughter who is wise enough to know picture books are quality literature. While we work our way through this list at our local library this summer, we might even make our own. Wouldn’t that be a summer reading goal worth accomplishing?!?
#1: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963) #2: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (1947) #3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1979) #4: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (1962) #5: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (2003) #6: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1941) #7: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955) #8: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (1939) #9: Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928) #10: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (2004) #11: The Story of Ferdinand by Monroe Leaf, ill. Robert Lawson (1936) #12: Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (1994) #13: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (1948) #14: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, ill. Lane Smith(1989) #15: Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (1996) #16: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (1987) #17: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947) #18: In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (1970) #19: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982) #20: George and Martha by James Marshall (1972) #21: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (1999) #22: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone, ill. by Mike Smollin (1971) #23: Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (1964) #24: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, ill. Lois Ehlert (1989) #25: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (1942) #26: Corduroy by Donald Freeman (1976) #27: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902) #28: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, ill. Ray Cruz(1972) #29: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (1969) #30: Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr., ill. Eric Carle (1967) #31: No, David by David Shannon (1998) #32: Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, ill. by Betsy Lewin (2000) #33: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett (1978) #34: Olivia by Ian Falconer (2000) #35: Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, ill. Blair Lent (1968) #36: Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka, ill. Lane Smith (1992) #37: Eloise by Kay Thompson, ill. Hilary Knight (1955) #38: Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, ill. by Margaret Bloy Graham (1956) #39: The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood (1984) #40: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (1939) #41: The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, ill. Stephen Gammell (1985) #42: Curious George by H.A. Rey (1941) #43: Tuesday by David Wiesner (1991) #44: Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola (1975) #45: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (1985) #46: Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (2006) #47: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff (1985) #48: The Big Orange Splot, by Daniel Pinkwater (1977) #49: King Bidgood is in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood, ill. Don Wood (1985) #50: Black and White by David Macaulay (1990) #51: Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (1981) #52: Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard, ill. James Marshall (1977) #53: The Snowman by Raymond Briggs (1978) #54: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (2001) #55: The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, ill. George & Doris Hauman (1961) #56: Frederick by Leo Lionni (1967) #57: Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, ill. Harry Bliss (2003) #58: Flotsam by David Wiesner (2006) #59: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (1975) by Verna Aardema, ill.Leo and Diane Dillon (1975) #60: Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak (1962) #61: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (2005) #62: The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack (1933) #63: Traction Man is Here!, by Mini Grey (2005) #64: “I Can’t,” Said the Ant: A Second Book of Nonsense by Polly Cameron (1961) #65: Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner (2003) #66: Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann (1995) #67: Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni (1959) #68: The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2006) #69: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, ill. Helen Oxenbury (1989) #70: Miss Fanshawe and the Great Dragon Adventure by Sue Scullard (1986) #71: The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, ill by Michael Martchenko (1980) #72: The Little Brute Family by Russell Hoban, ill. Lilian Hoban (1966) #73: The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant (1933) by Jean de Brunhoff #74: Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown (1942) #75: Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss (1940) #76: Zoom at Sea by Tim Wynne-Jones, ill. Eric Beddows (1983) #77: The Library by Sarah Stewart, ill. David Small (1995) #78: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss #79: Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, by Alice and Martin Provensen (1974) #80: The Jolly Postman: or, Other People’s Letters by Janet Ahlberg (1986) #81: Possum Magic by Mem Fox, ill. Julie Vivas (1983) #82: Who Needs Donuts? by Mark Alan Stamaty (1973) #83: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (1971) #84: Chester’s Way by Kevin Henkes (1988) #85: Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats (1964) #86: Yoko by Rosemary Wells (1998) #87: Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (2004) #88: Stellaluna by Janell Cannon (1993) #89: A Hole is to Dig: A First Book of First Definitions by Ruth Krauss, ill. Maurice Sendak (1952) #90: Not a Box by Antoinette Portis (2006) #91: Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures With the Family Lazardo by William Joyce (1988) #92: Swimmy by Leo Lionni (1963) #93: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (1964) #94: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood (1984) #95: The Gardener by Sarah Stewart, ill. David Small (1997) #96: The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle (1990) #97: Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, ill. Judy Horacek (2004) #98: Anatole by Eve Titus (1956) #99: Little Pea by Amy Krause Rosenthal, ill. by Jen Corace (2005) #100: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley (1992) #101: More, More, More Said the Baby: Three Love Stories by Vera B. Williams
Over the past 6 months I’ve been working with representatives from grades 3-5 on an implementation plan for the Lucy Calkin’s Units of Study in Writing. We met weekly to:
Recently, we presented our work to the rest of the teachers. ACS WW 3-5 Implementation Presentation
Also, our work resulted in drafts of the following documents:
*Next year, we will follow these plans while being ready to change and modify them as we become more proficient at both the UOS and writer’s workshop in general. As the start up book in the series states, these units are to eventually be outgrown, with schools and grades writing and implementing their own units. For now however, our plan is to use the framework of the units (along with the transcript provided in each lesson as a support) to help us align our teaching and build a learning spiral for our students.
News and more…
Lit Coach Notes May 09
(It will open in Scribd- then you can either read the notes online or download them from there.)
“In many ways, May and June echo the winter holiday season for families with school-aged children. There are gifts to buy, goodies to bake, relatives to include and entertain, and rehearsals and ceremonies to attend. All of this happens on top of our regular, already over-busy lives. If we are feeling stretched, it’s because we are!”- From Celebrating June: How to Enjoy Your Child’s End of Year Events
A few weeks ago I read several posts about the end of the year and summer learning ideas. The post above was from a parent’s perspective and reminded me that as an educator I need to remember my work is a partnership with parents.
Maybe there is a way for me to schedule end-of-the-year activities differently? Maybe there is a way for my school to make the end of the year celebratory, but not overwhelming? Maybe this parent is right- and offering the feelings of many?
Over the past few months, a group of teacher representatives from grades K-3 and I have been working on organizing, modifying and capturing our use of the DRA2 as a school-wide assessment tool. The work started after a visit from Lenore Levy from Pearson, who offered suggestions to help us better use the data from the DRA2 to impact our teaching and to track student learning.
Lenore’s ideas, coupled with the fact that we were using the wrong version of the Blackline Masters and the Teacher’s Guides* forced us to pause and reorganize our use of the DRA2.
Beginning next week, we will now have a K-3 DRA2 testing window on the calendar with a follow up day for analyzing the data. (We have access to a trial of the DRA2 Online Management System- but haven’t decided to purchase it it yet.) This simple structure will allow us time to reflect on our students’ scores and the instructional strategies we could use to help them as readers.
Because we are working through all of this info and learned from other schools and their documents, I’ve uploaded our DRA2 Guidelines, DRA/PM Cycle and the Worksheet we used to with the staff when we presented all of this in April. Below is the Powerpoint presentation. If you use these documents or have a comment/suggestion which could help us impact our teaching and learning in this area- please let me know.
DRA Staff Training April
*Warning: Our school purchased the new DRA2 kits over a year ago. At somepoint between getting the new kits and the time I began working here- a CD was sent out by the company with “updated” pages for the Blackline Masters and the Teacher’s Guide. Because the extent of the update wasn’t clearly communicated, the CD was put into kits and ignored. When we finally looked at the CD and compared it to the guides- there were over 300 pages which needed to be changed. Without the funds (or the time) to print a new copy of everything for everyone- we’ve scrambled and are now sharing resources. However, I’m disappointed that Pearson failed to indicate on their CD how extensive the changes were. (And failed to send us all new printed and bound guides. We paid for these kits, the mistake was on their end and was of such an extent, it almost rendered the original kit unusable.) If you are using the DRA2 and haven’t looked at the updated CD, my recommendation: do it now.
