C'mon Bored Boy, Reading Should be Fun

He was looking at the ceiling.  He was looking at the girl beside him.  His head rolled around and then settled on his pencil.  He poked his paper.  The girl beside him asked him to stop, so then he bugged her.  He glanced at his book, turned the page, and then looked around the room.  He turned another page, and then looked around the room.  And this was just in the first five minutes of SSR (Sustained Silent Reading).

After watching this for the last 4 days, I couldn't take it any more.  I took him out in the book room so we could talk.

Me:  Are you getting your book?

Student:  Uhhhhh, not really.

Me:  Let me guess.  You never really get the book you are reading, so you hate to read because it is so boring.

Student:  Well, yeah.

Me:  And this has been going on ever since you learned to read?

Student:  Yes

Here's the message to all students in Reading Workshop

Reading should be fun.  Reading should be exciting.  Reading should be a story in your mind where you can't wait to see what happens next.  If it is not this way, here is what you should do:

1.  Get a different book

2.  Try an easier book

3.  Try a different author

4.  Try a different genre

5.  Ask a friend for a recommendation

6.  Ask me for a good book

7.  Pay attention to when you stop getting a picture

8.  Reread, a page, a chapter, or the whole book until you get a picture.

Reading should be fun.  Reading should be exciting.  If you hate it, then talk to me about what is going on with your reading.  You will be reading a lot this year.  Find a good book that makes you smile, excited, happy, sad, mad, scared . . .  There are a lot of great books.  Find one!

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/27117655@N07/4448376213/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Reading Strategies, Connect with Your Book

Good readers constantly make connections. As they read each paragraph, each page, each chapter, they relate it to their life.

Making connections to things the reader already knows helps understand what they are reading and relate to the characters and events more deeply. The purpose of connecting with text is to help use what the reader already knows to understand new information.

Here are the start to connections.

Text-to-self:
This is similar to my life . . .
This is different from my life . . .
Something like this happened to me when . . .
This reminds me of . . .
This relates to me . . .
When I read this I felt . . .

Text-to-text:
This reminds me of another book I’ve read . . .
This is similar to another thing I read . . .
This different from another book I read . . .
This character is similar/different to  another character  . . .
This setting is similar/different to an other setting . . .
This problem is similar/different to the problem in  . . .

Text-to-world:
This reminds me of the real world . . .
This book is similar to things that happen in the real world  . . .
This book is different from things that happen in the real world . . .

Students, as you read today, what connections did you have?

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfala/3368846439/sizes/s/

A Dandi Presentation

Author Dandi Daley Mackall visited Laurelville Elementary on March 18-19. She has written over 400 published books in a variety of genres, including one of her latest, an adolescent realistic fiction, Larger-Than-Life Lara. Dandi spoke to the entire student body at an all-school assembly to kick off her visit. Over the rest of the two day period, she met with classes to discuss writing techniques and her experiences.

Dandi did a writing workshop session with the classes. She went through the process of creating a story. Her advise was to always begin with a character. According to Dandi, "If the reader identifies with and/or cares about the main character, they will care about the story and want to read it." She says you need to know the character so you know how he/she will act in story.

She also told students to be sure to begin their stories with action. Here is an example of a story starter done both the wrong way, and then the right way.

Wrong

Dasia is a sixth grade girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is 5' tall. She likes to read and chat with her friends on the computer. Her best friend's name is . . .

Right

The minute Dasia got out of bed this morning, she dreaded going to school.

About the writing process, Dandi said, "I write and I write, and I rewrite and I write, and I rewrite probably at least 12 times."

Amber C., a sixth grade student said, "she tells interesting stories." This makes it easy to see where she gets her ideas for books.

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Get the Picture? Freak the Mighty Does

When you are reading, do you get the picture? If not, why are you reading, or as Chris Tovani says, fake reading? A conversation with a student yesterday in Reading Workshop caused me to think about the point of reading.

Then, as I watched Kevin tutor Max while reading King Arthur in Freak the Mighty a connection shouted out.

As Kevin says, "every word is part of a picture. Every sentence is a picture. All you do is let your imagination connect them together." These interconnected pictures then become the movie that plays in your mind as you read a book. This is the basis of comprehension.

The student I talked to yesterday has spent her whole life fake reading. She chooses books she can't read, or that are so difficult for her that there are no pictures when she reads.

Why? She can read any book she wants. All last year she could choose her own SSR book. Yet she continues to choose books that she doesn't "get." Hopefully someday she will realize that she has a movie ticket, and just needs to turn on the show.

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Twilight, For Only the Right Audience

With all of the buzz surrounding Twilight, I decided to see what the vampires did for me. Students were going crazy for the books about the cold ones, and now that the movie is out, they are obsessed.

This series of books, written by Stephanie Meyer tells the story of Bella Swan, the main character, who moved to Forks, Washington. She did not want to be here. She's not fond of her father and missed her mother. She was miserable.

Magically, her life was saved by Edward. She found out he is a vampire and immediately they're in love. And it all happens in the first few chapters. Meyer then spends the next 400 pages telling how handsome Edward is and how much Bella is in love. Finally in the last 100 pages, there is some excitement and action.

With each book (I almost made it through the first three) in the four book series there seems to be an abundance of fluff with too much repetitiveness.

However, I must admit, even though this series wasn't a good choice for me, the affect it has had on occasional readers is amazing. Students that couldn't hardly fake read themselves through a 100 page book, are spending countless hours engrossed in this series of books. If nothing else, Meyer's ability to reach her audience is note-worthy.

If you are a graying, male teacher with an appreciation for complex stories, this may not be a good choice. BUT, if you are a teenage girl, looking for a great romance book, dive in to Twilight and enjoy!

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What a 6th Grader Reads During Break

Collin came up to me and said he needed a book to read over break. I started to recommend a book, but then I caught myself. Collin reads a book every day to two. Hhhhhmmmm, what's a teacher to do?

I have been reading Gordan Korman's Chasing the Falconers from the On the Run series aloud to his class. I am almost finished with the first book. I started grabbing books off of the shelf. He left the room carrying all six books in the series.

I looked up and Christian was watching us. He came up and said, "Mr. McGuire, can you recommend a book for the break?" In just a second, Christian headed back to his seat with the On the Run series in tow. He already had a Tucket book by Paulsen, but he is almost finished with that series.

While all this was going on, Rachael headed out to the book room. As she packed up to leave class, I checked out the stack of books she had picked up. She was all set with books from Joan Lowery Nixon.

Kyndrah, Bree, Peyton, Kara, and a couple of others are into the latest vampire craze and are reading the Twilight series.

Kayla and Jolene are the latest checking out the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I have Book 3, The Last Straw ordered and will get it when it is released on January 13.

All of these are great choices! BUT, the most important thing--just read! What are you going to read over the holiday break?

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Special thanks to Mrs. Bower for the reminder to load up on books before break!

Journaling Online

I found a combination that is better than peanut butter and chocolate. We took our class wikipage and combined it with journals students write about fictional books. Then we added a table to log daily reading. When you put it together you have online book journals.

Each student has their own page. Each day after Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), they have a few minutes to write in their journal. On some days, they have an assigned topic. This usually relates to the topic of the day and will also be discussed during writing assignments, read aloud, and Study Island.

Recently we focused on making predictions. The assignment for students was to write about what they thought might happen in the future in their SSR book. Here are some examples of their work.

Sarah said

11/7/08 Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
I predict that Harry will have to fight a Chinese fireball dragon for his first task in the torment because a lot of bad things have been happening to Harry. Like a reporter came to the school and said bad things about Harry in a really BIG newspaper. I think Ron and Harry will start talking to each other again because Hermione has tried to persuade them to try to talk to each other. I hope so. The book is really weird without Ron in the book. It's like he's not even there.

Desire' said

11/7/08 - Warriors
I predict that Rusty will get into many fights with the other Clans. I also think that Rusty will not have the Warrior blood to become a warrior in the Thunder Clan. But I am only on page 30. Rusty is just a kittypet who has lived in a Twoleg place his whole life and has never stepped foot off of his garden post. That is why I don't think Rusty would make a very good Warrior.

Makayla said

11/7/08-Something Upstairs is really a good book. What I read today is that Kenny is going to help Caleb find his murderer. Then he told Caleb that he is not real sure if he's going to help. I predict that he is going to help. Then they both can prevent Caleb's death from happening. I think that Kenny should help Caleb. Then I'm not real sure he should go back in time again. I think he should probably stick with the library. I don't think he will though. I would help Caleb just because he was a slave and if he helps he could prevent it all from happening. He could change Caleb's history. I also predict that Kenny won't move for a couple of years. He's probably going to live there for three or four years.

This online journal keeps a running record of what books students read, how long they read, how many pages they read, and their thoughts about books. It is also a great way for me to assess their comprehension of their book, read about their thoughts, ideas and opinions, and comment on them. Although we have just started this process, I am already seeing significant benefits.

Word Substitution in Fiction

We showered outside when it rained. What a great substitution for we played in the rain. This excerpt from the book, Mountain Magic, written by Alice Boggs Lentz showed how word substitution is used in fiction. I discovered this during Mrs. Wolfe's read aloud in a fourth grade-six grade co-writing project.

Have a good fictional word substitution? Please share it.

Gary Paulsen Interviewed

For all of you Paulsen fans (of which I am one), have a listen to a great interview. My favorite quote from Paulsen is, "kids should read like wolves eat." Enjoy!

Know Any Good Books?

We want to know all about great fictional books! Write a comment about your favorite book. Tell us why you like the book. Or what you think of the book. Make sure to include the title and author of your book.

You can also tell who you would recommend the book to and why you would recommend that book. What happens in your book? Why does it happen? Who is your favorite character?

But, don't give away the ending!

Today's post was written by a guest writer, Lily W. Thanks for the good idea.

Scary Story

Today we will be writing a scary story. When I told students this last week, they thought I had lost my mind. "It's not Halloween," they said. "Why would we do it in May?" they asked.

Well, funny you should ask that. The things we will cover include:

1. The plot and developing problems;

2. Descriptive writing and adding supporting details;

3. Punctuating dialogue;

4. Character development;

5. Building a narrative to a climax;

6. Cooperation and writing with a partner;

7. Edditing-git that speling write;

8. Writing with an introduction, body, and conclusion.

The assignment is to write a scary/horror story. BUT, shooting or guns, and stabbing or knives, or killing in any way is NOT allowed! All injuries must be incidental or accidental. The focus is on scaring the reading in only the most imaginative ways!

I can't wait to read them.