Let them read it over and over (and over...)

My husband asks me, "Why do you want to watch that movie again? You've seen it a hundred times!" My response: I like it. I can fast forward to all my favorite parts, I know what's going to happen, so nothing will surprise me. It's comforting to cry over the same parts that I've cried over before. Yes, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth will get together at the end of Pride and Prejudice, but it's the slow burn of the romance throughout the whole story that is the most satisfying to read/watch again and again.

Thanks A lot Jeff Kinney

As a teacher, there comes a point when I would get frustrated with some of my students who just wanted to read the same book over and over. One of my 3rd graders, let's call him Bryce, read the same book during independent reading, the entire year.

It wasn't from lack of trying that he read the same book,  I tried countless books with him, but he was only interested in reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roddrick Rules. It's taken many years for me to understand the need to reread and understand that telling kids to try other books is actually detrimental to their growth as a reader.

Changing Our Mindset
The difference between a Book Warden and a Teacher Recommending a Book is how we treat the student who is reading and how we react to the choice a student makes, whether it be to re-read a book they've read over and over or a book that we believe is not at their correct reading level. This is so lovingly depicted by Dav Pilkey (author of among others Captain Underpants and Dog Man) in the forward to From Striving to Thriving by Stephanie Harvey and Annie Ward (2017).

Instead of being annoyed with Jeff Kinney and Dav Pilkey for authoring books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dog Man, I should be thanking them over and over. They have created a new generation of readers--kids have books in their hands and they can't WAIT for the next book to come out! If that's not something to celebrate, than I don't know what is. It's all about changing the mindset of the teacher. Yes, we want our students to read and be exposed to a variety of genres and text levels. We want them to be able to decipher non-fiction text features in order to do well on the test, but really in the scheme of things, we want kids to love books and become lifelong readers and by giving them choice, and freedom to read what they want to read, we are doing just that!

The One and Only Ivan--Pass the Kleenex

Ivan: The Remarkable Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla

Reading Strategy: Compare/Contrast

Back of the Book:

Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate

Captured as a baby, Ivan was brought to a Tacoma, Washington, mall to attract shoppers. Gradually, public pressure built until a better way of life for Ivan was found at Zoo Atlanta. From the Congo to America, and from a local business attraction to a national symbol of animal welfare, Ivan the Shopping Mall Gorilla traveled an astonishing distance in miles and in impact.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.


Using it in the Classroom:

A truly compelling story of determination and animal rights activism. A great way is to read both books and then discuss the true implications of the story and the fantastical story elements. Discuss how the author has incorporated fact into the fictional story and how the illustrations of the true story help the story reach a wider audience.

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Will Sheep Sleep? Social Stories for the Very Young

What I love most about this board book series is that each one has a gentle social message about friendship--for example:

In Will Ladybug Hug, Ladybug loves to hug her friends, but sometimes there are friends that don't want to be touched in a physical embrace. This book explains that alternative greetings (high fives, handshakes, a wave) are great!

            


             

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Reluctant Readers REJOICE!

Over the years, I have seen so many students check out library books that are much too hard for them to read. They diligently and patiently sit by, turning pages and look around to see what their peers are doing, desperately wishing they could read a chapter book like them.

Enter: Andy Griffiths' "kid-pleasing, tongue-tripping verse" in The Big Fat Cow Goes Kapow and The Cat on the Mat is Flat. Each book contains short stories and fun illustrations a la Diary of a Wimpy Kid. With only a few words per page, your reluctant or beginning reader will feel accomplished turning the pages they can actually read and will look like their peers holding a medium-thick chapter book.


                                         

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The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon and Identifying your Emotions through Color

Emotions come in all shapes and sizes...even colors! Reading about and discussing emotions with children is such an important part of their growth and development.

Sharing books with your child(ren) that contain relatable characters and scenarios are an easy way to bridge this often challenging topic. Children have big emotions, and can not always verbalize what their feeling are, in the same way adults can. Using books that feature metaphors to represent feelings, helps the child(ren) to visualize the abstract concept with something they can understand (monsters or the use of color)

In their brand new book, author Matthew Burgess and illustrator Fiona Woodcock give a human character's emotions and feelings a personality and shape all of it's own. Eventually, the larger than life curmudgeon calms down back into their regular own (human) form.

Social Emotional Learning is a large part of the elementary school curriculum. Students are now taught about why they feel the way they do, how they can hone their big emotions and work through them in a productive manner.

Just like in the Pixar film Inside Out, we are not just one emotion, we are made up of many and some of these emotions, students (and adults) need help and practice knowing how to use. In her work with Social Emotional Learning, Leah Kuypers created the Zones of Regulation--a program designed to assign a color to four common emotional "zones" that any given person could be in. This has been a great help to the students in my class and has even  helped me understand my two year old's ever-changing mood;-)

Here are a few more books that I have used to help introduce The Zones of Regulation and talk about feelings and emotions:

Such a beautiful book of Dr. Seuss's words brought to life by Johnson and Fancher. I've used this book as a read aloud on the first day of school to help get kids to visualize their first day jitters. We follow this up with a little water color painting. It's a great way to get kids thinking and creating on the first day!

Such a great book to explain the stages of anger--the author/illustrator uses large brush strokes to depict movement and color to show the anger diffusing and Sophie returning to calmness. 

Another EXCELLENT choice for explaining the process of emotional response. Allie becomes a monster and her brother helps her move through the emotional process with breathing and calming exercises. Each time she succeeds with a phase she "sheds" a layer of monster.
So clever!