Big Nate Fever

You know a book is getting some good press within a school when the hold queue is 32 students! Big Nate Fever has definitely hit ISB, and the word is spreading fast. It's similar in format to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is why it's making kids just nuts with excitement.

When I went online to find out more about Big Nate, I discovered that the website has the first 42 pages of the first book online for free. I was showing the site to a group of 4th graders the other day, and I read them the first few pages aloud from the computer. We were all laughing and having such a good time that I realized I didn't want to continue with my planned Destiny Quest lesson. Instead, we postponed that lesson until next week and spent our time reading the first few chapters at computers and then taking a few minutes at the end to play the games.

My biggest Big Nate lesson: taking the time to honor where kids are at the moment. There was such genuine excitement about the book that it felt very liberating for me as a teacher to honor that excitement and postpone my planned lesson.

Then I knew I had to get to the bookstore to pick up some extra copies of the book. 32 holds means that some kids won't ever get the book!

Letting Go

One year later, and I am still the hugest fan of the social networking options on Follett's Destiny Quest. For elementary students, the authentic nature of their book recommendations continually make me smile and make me proud because they are so into it and excited about writing about books--exactly what we hope for.

However, letting them use the recommending feature means I have to let go of a lot of teacher control. And I mean A LOT. Even the previous version of Destiny allowed for me to approve every single recommendation, and I could go in and edit out all those spelling and grammar mistakes if I so chose. It was kind of a pain, and how is that authentic if I add and delete or correct grammar from a child's work?

But no longer. It's just them out there, typing away about Geronimo Stilton or Leven Thumps or Candy Apple books.

There are some that will say the reviews are too loose, but I feel it allows the students to express what they truly feel about a book. Of course we talk about what is appropriate, and how we are writing for an audience, and how we should say more than the I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!! comment (this is huge in 3rd grade, but even a big part of me thinks that is fabulous because there are some books I've read where this is exactly what I want to say!). It's fascinating to see how there is a natural progression from 3rd to 4th to 5th grade, and how their recommendations contain an added depth as they get older and wiser and more well-read.

I spent most of last week teaching students how to create good, solid book recommendations, and they have so much to say. But it is only when I can let go, when I can provide that gradual release of responsibility, that they can truly interact on Destiny Quest.

Here's to letting go and enjoying the ride. Try it--It's TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Image Attribution: Destiny's Agent

5 Great New Books

A Sunday shopping trip to our local bookstore provided me with some great finds, and I can't wait to share these books with our lower elementary teachers and students.

When I read Little Owl Lost, I knew it would be perfect for Pre-K. A small owl falls out of his tree and is off to find his mother, but there are lots of misunderstandings when he describes her. We were all giggling and acting out parts, which was such fun. The illustrations are simply stunning and with all sorts of additions that you notice only after a few reads. I'm putting this book into the Pre-K classroom library after I read it to the other class--it's great for retelling.

Teachers are always on the lookout for good books to model similes, and I have a feeling that My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil will become my new go-to book for that. Great object art and deeper similes to describe teachers and classmates make this a great book to use at the start of the year to describe the class.

This songbook looks like it will be great for kinder and first grade classes with its monster theme and amazing illustrations, set to the tune of 'If You're Happy and You Know It." Lots of opportunity to act like monsters with this one.

Nico and Lola: Kindness Shared Between and Boy and a Dog is so special. Nico is asked if he would be "so kind" as to babysit his aunt's dog, and he agrees. Each page is a different activity that he does with Lola, and it ties into a sentence on the bottom that illustrates kindness. I love this book and can already hear the students clamoring to tell their own dog stories. Perfect for small moment writing.

Lastly, our ever-popular princess basket is always in need of new princess books. It seems that every girl under the age of nine wants to check out a princess book, and I can never keep enough around. I love that Princess Pigtoria and the Pea has a ton of alliteration, all with the letter P.

And the really cool part of buying these books? They are going to be part of our first teacher book club. The idea is that we'll invite our Kinder and 1st grade teachers to read all the texts, then we'll share some food and wine one night to discuss how the books will fit in the classroom and whether or not they are fabulous enough to add to our classroom libraries. I can't wait!

Balance in the Tech Zone

One of my biggest challenges in our Hub is the amount of time in the day that the tech zone is open for student use. We open at 6:30 a.m., so there is a 45 minute period of free tech time before school starts. After school, we are open for 90 minutes. In between, there are staggered recesses throughout the day, and so we are a revolving door for student use. Definitely not a bad thing, but the high interest of computer use coupled with the sheer volume of students has made it tricky for me for two years now.
Some questions I was asking myself: What should they be doing on computers during their free time? How can I manage the space best and still give kids a choice? How do I balance the volume of kids in the tech zone while I am teaching a class simultaneously?

After much trial and error (like when I thought it would be fun to let them do Poptropica--not my finest choice), I have created a wiki with choices that is the home page when students go to Firefox. It's a nice balance of fun and literacy that is weeding out the Poptropica-only patrons and allowing room for those who want to explore Destiny Quest or book blogs or National Geographic.

I'd be so curious to know what others are doing out there in the big, wide world. Feel free to share what your tech zone looks like during recess.

Image attribution from pshutterbug

Series Organization

Since our Kevin Hennah library design visit last August, we've been trying to pull together our space with common colors and design to make it look professional. One of the last pieces in our design was doing something with our series baskets at the entrance to the Hub. I love that kids can easily find the series they are looking for in baskets rather than hunting on the shelves, but ours were randomly colored and in poor condition. Our locally made bins arrived this week, and I am in organizational heaven. They are gorgeous, and I find myself looking at them the minute I enter the door. Exactly what we wanted!
And this was the picture I had to take this morning before school of the big group of students all huddled around the iPad playing Gravity HD. I love the collaborative nature of the iPad for kids.

Mystery Reader with a Twist of Tech

One of our fabulous kindergarten teachers asked if I would be the Mystery Reader for her class this week. The twist was that she wanted me to Skype from the Hub to her classroom. Last week, I read the book Monkey with a Tool Belt, which was a smashing success with kinders (all those nonsense words cracked them up). Today, I read the sequel to it, Monkey with a Tool Belt has a Noisy Problem.

It was fun seeing the kids from a different angle, so to speak. Since it was my first time reading on Skype, it was tricky to "read" the kids because I wasn't right in front of them seeing their reactions. But they still had fun and they love Chico Bon Bon, the character.

We're thinking this way of reading might be great fun for parents who travel a lot as a way for them to have the opportunity to connect with their child's classroom.

Lovin' the iPad!

Oh, the lovely iPad! It sits on my desk during the school day and kids come up and take it to use during recess time. I've even had kids meet me at the door in the morning just to be the first in line to use it. Sharing one iPad with 670 students will prove to be challenging, but I'm glad it's a huge success already.

Currently, the two most popular apps are I Spy Spooky House (the kids kick my behind in this one!) and Issac Newton's Gravity. At this point, no one has used it as a reader, but I think this is because they have such a limited amount of time.

What still amazes me is how intuitive the iPad is for kids. They just sit down and figure it out. I love watching that because it is truly so different than many of us adults. My daughter is a real pro at the iPad, and I feel like I'm watching the future when she uses it.

Here's a little demo of how simple it is: