Day 10: Changing Things Up

Like I noted yesterday, I had to try some new things today. With Mrs. Crooks's kindergarten class, I decided to read No Matter What instead of If Kids Ran the World. No Matter What was my second choice on my lesson plans, and now I know it should have been my first! This story is about a large fox and a small fox; Small is feeling grumpy and wants to know if Large will still love him/her. Of course, Large says, "No matter what!" I had a lot of fun asking the kids to make grumpy faces or silly faces or otherwise show their reactions to the story. In addition, the book progresses through the day, going to dinner time, bath time, and, finally, bed time. Having the students predict the order of the story was sometimes a leap for their understanding. I felt like this was an appropriate lesson for them to experience and stretch their knowledge of plot.

On the page where the characters were looking out at the starry night, one of the students asked if we could count the stars! "Absolutely!" I exclaimed, so excited that the students actually wanted to do more with the text! (This is a far cry from my 10th graders!) We counted them together (I stopped counting after "3" to see if they could do it), and reached 14 stars! And today was Valentine's Day! Perfect! I asked about today's date and then how many stars and suggested maybe the illustrator did that on purpose, to remind us that though the 14th of February is a day for love, "no matter what" we can love each other. I never would have thought I would say something as "cheesy" as this; however, these children are still learning about love and how to treat one another, so they were actually excited and interested in knowing this tidbit!

Today's 1st grade class did so much better with If Kids Ran the World. I decided to try it one more time because this teacher has a more strict teaching style. I thought that maybe the book did not succeed yesterday more because of behavior than because of content. I was partially right... These students were interested in the story and had excellent contributions to the message and moral of the story. They connected details from the pictures and followed my prompts and overall seemed to enjoy the book instead of rolling around on the floor. In the end and with some reflection, I think If Kids Ran the World is a story that is actually more for adults than children! I also think that this story may be more appropriate at a family story time where the parents and siblings can really talk about the message of the story: generosity, kindness, and caring.

Day 9: My Monday as the Librarian!

Today was a bit crazy! (Though I imagine most Mondays are!) Two classes come in very first thing in the morning, but hordes of books also come through the door right away! This is logical and great for the classroom teachers: the students have had the book all weekend/last week and are going to return it as part of the Monday routine. As a librarian, I am so glad Cindy has an aid! Toni was absent today (to try and help me feel what an only-two-member-staff would feel like), and we could barely keep up with the influx of books and needs of the patrons! To manage this rapid arrival of at least 100 books, Toni is in the habit of putting newly checked-in books on the main tables in the center of the library. Students know to look at those books first, especially if they wanted to read something a friend had turned in. The benefit to this method is that students immediately have access to books checked into the system and the popular books remain in circulation without the effort of correctly shelving them. For sure, the pressure of the moment is the drawback. With two twenty-something student classes coming to checkout books and the four to six classes' worth of books being returned all within the same hour: phew! I did have a headache before the first story time even entered the library! Without changing the schedule majorly, I am not sure how I would improve this Monday morning time. Toni and Cindy must have established a rhythm for this time in order to still be successful with it this far into the school year.

My own lessons didn't go as well as planned. I had chosen to read If Kids Ran the World, by Leo and Diane Dillon, because it showed how kindness and love could abound in the world through different acts of graciousness and care. The pictures are also rich, detailed, and respectful depictions of varied world cultures. I knew the text was a higher level than kindergartners, but thought that walking through the story together would still lead to a good read and moral lesson for the week of Valentine's.

NOPE. The kindergarten class I had first was not engaged in the message of the story, but instead focused on all the goings-on of the pictures. The students were excited about story time, but could not contain their outbursts about each page. Even the questions I would ask like, "Have you donated food to someone who needed it?" ended in strings of stories that they all wanted to share and have listened to. PHEW. I knew that something would need to change with tomorrow's kindergartners, but still wanted to try the book with 1st grade so that I could judge if this was merely an inappropriate level to read If Kids Ran the World with, or if the book itself should be binned from the "Story Time Together" pile.

This first grade class responded better on the understanding level of the book, but were difficult to keep focused during the reading time and lesson itself. Several of the students were trying to roll on the floor, or get up towards the bookshelves, or otherwise wander with their bodies and minds. About half of the students responded well to the questions and engagement of the book; the other half could not settle down and focus. Even when I tried to bargain with them about showing a video clip from the Book Fair, the rowdier students only stopped to think for a moment before resuming their activities. When the class was preparing to leave, both Cindy and the homeroom teacher fussed at the children for their behavior. I felt like I didn't get a good measure on If Kids Ran the World with those students, so I may try this book again tomorrow with a different first grade class.

Lessons from today or goals for tomorrow (in no particular order):

• less complex stories are really okay for kindergarten
• at the end of the day, it's one story time and can mean a lot, but the repetition and diversity of readers and reading material is more important
• try If Kids Ran the World with Mrs. Guill's more strict-led class
• choose a secondary book as the choice for kindergarten
• ask or observe more discipline strategies for young children

Day 8: Prepping for the Week(end) Ahead

Today, in addition to teaching more of the kindergarten classes, I also finished planning for the week ahead. I laughed when I realized that my initial plan (from Day 4) was definitely more like a classroom plan rather than a story time in the library. I was still thinking in terms of a "unit" rather than an individual "visit." So, I had to rethink my game plan! 

New goals: (1) engaging pages and story for the students to interact with; (2) brief stories with less words on the pages; (3) less "serious" subject matter that would need more "unpacking."

As Valentine's is next week, I tried to choose books on themes of love, different ways to show love, acceptance of others, and friendship. At first, I wanted to avoid this topic, as I figured the classes themselves would be talking about this holiday and I'm not a huge proponent of "romantic" love between elementary schoolers. However, I saw that especially the younger students that come for reading time still experience this holiday as a new, novel experience. Of course! They are only four to six years old! So the books I decided to choose were based on love as a concept or love between non-amorous relationships.

Additionally, the following week is the Book Fair! As this is the last time we will see the students before the Book Fair, I will also be using material provided by Scholastic that uses the authors themselves to advertise a few books available for purchase. The particular titles were chosen based on apparent appeal and creativity of presentation to value thirty-second to two minute clips rather than traditional booktalks.  

Here is the list I ended up with today:
* indicates first priority book, then listed in order of alternate titles for more time.

   K4 (30m without checkout)
       Bookfair​ ​Booktalk WATCH Pig the Pug
       *Love is a Handful of Honey by Giles Andreas
       *No Matter What by Debi Gliori
       I Love You Always And Forever by Jonathan Emmett
       The I Love You Book by Todd Parr
       I Love You, Mister Bear by Sylvie Wickstrom

   K (30m with single table checkout: 1 book)
       Bookfair​ ​Booktalk WATCH Kwame Alexander in Surf’s Up
       Bookfair​ ​Booktalk Pink is for Blobfish--in lib
       *If Kids Ran the World by Leo and Diane Dillon
       No Matter What by Debi Gliori
       In Daddy’s Arms, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe
       Love is a Handful of Honey by Giles Andreae

   1st (15m with checkout: 2 books)
       Bookfair​ ​Booktalk WATCH Hats Off to You!
       Bookfair​ ​Booktalk WATCH Press Start!: Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy!
       *If Kids Ran the World by Leo and Diane Dillon
       *Two Friends by Dean Robbins
       Froggy’s First Kiss by Jonathan London

   EBD (30m with checkout: 1 or 2 books, dependent on student)
       *If Kids Ran the World by Leo and Diane Dillon (AR 3.2, P 0.5)
       *Love is a Handful of Honey by Giles Andreae
       No Matter What by Debi Gliori  

After school, Cindy and I traveled to Blue Ridge Elementary, where the Battle of the Books is to be held tomorrow. I will blog more about what the program is, but it was a great experience to see another elementary library within the same school district. This school was built in 2009 and has an expansive space. I would live there, it is so spacious and beautiful! The Blue Ridge library has sections for "popular" series in the high traffic areas like Ravenel, but also has begun "Maker Spaces" with art supplies, large tables, and diverse work configurations. The whole school has also adopted the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as a sort of theme and infrastructure for their discipline and character program. The library has set collections of books focusing on each habit to carry and support that school-wide initiative. It was definitely a cool opportunity to see some of the same programs or library organization implemented in different ways or with different tools to achieve the same goals. I'm looking forward to the program tomorrow! 

Day 4: Pulling Lesson Books and Stepping Up!

Today, my first goal was to observe the Cindy's lessons so that I could replicate them later with the repeat grade-levels. The kindergarten class read Dear Bunny, one of the books I was looking at teaching (!!! Yay! I'm on the right track!), and Cindy focused largely on plot and the elements on each page. A little later, the first grade class came through, and, again, Cindy was reading another book I was planning, Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink! (This is super encouraging!) When Cindy sat down with the book, a visitor came to the library that needed Cindy, so Toni began to walk toward the reading center. Instead, Cindy called ME up to read! Even though I hadn't read the entirety of this book, I knew that I should use voices, point out key plot/thematic ideas, and perhaps any images or details on the pages themselves. The kids were seemingly unaffected at changing teachers to someone they didn't know, and, thankfully, stories have pages that you read until you reach the next one. I thought, if nothing else, you just read the next page and discuss at the end! But, the students' reactions and engagement (or lack thereof) made it clear what we should talk about as we read or what we could continue past. This group of students was a bit unsettled and eager to share personal stories (I think in part due to a sub for the day and from Cindy's assessment that the homeroom is typically less structured), but stayed on topic and on theme with comments and questions. I think the two goals I have for the next lesson I teach are: (1) practice and execute proper timing; and (2) to maintain more awareness of student behavior while leading the lesson. The lesson was comfortable, if spontaneous!

The second goal for today was to pull books for leading my own lessons for the remainder of this week and for next week. I wanted to focus on the two major celebrations in February before the Book Fair comes next Thursday: Black History Month and Valentine's Day. I was looking for stories that show love in diverse ways and how diverse ethnic groups (specifically African-Americans) show those elements of love (acceptance, friendship, supporting one another). I first found a great resource through Scholastic that recommends books based on age level and topics. This is where I found both of the books that Cindy read with the classes today. The lists for Black History Month on Scholastic were excellent for understanding slavery and Civil Rights in America, but lacked the connection I hoped to make with Valentine's being more than just for romantic love.

I had seen an NCTE article pop up on my Facebook feed last night for an initiative/program from NCTE called the National African American Read-In. This seems to be a program that you can really build to a school-wide, month-long initiative within school communities to create a focus and culture of learning about Black History Month. While my own time at Ravenel is not suited for this sort of event, especially as any more sensitive, political, or otherwise specialized topic would need a thorough understanding of unwritten rules and cultural negotiations of a community, the AARI seems like an initiative backed with thorough resources, research, and councils to suggest reasonable and acceptable plans of action. That being said, I did look to the resources to find a booklist of committee favorites and young children's recommendations to add to my list of potential books.

From both topics, I have narrowed down my choices to the following books. I did not include some of the great books on this list because I am only teaching K4, K, and 1st grades. There seem to be many books of more depth and message, but are above the understanding level of the younger children. This is my working list (in no order) to potentially teach this/next week, with citations at the end.

Black History Month

Two Friends--Dean Robbins

Henry’s Freedom Box--Kadir Nelson (3.6)

Of Thee I Sing--Barack Obama

Martin’s Big Words--Doreen Rappaport (3.4)

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom--Carole Boston Weatherford (4.0)

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down--Andrea Davis Pinkney (5.2)

More Than Anything Else--Marie Bradby (3.3)

Something Beautiful--Sharon Dennis Wyeth

Momma, Where Are You From?--Marie Bradby

Both/Sorta

In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall--Folami Abiade, Dinah Johnson, et. al.

Just the Two of Us--Will Smith (2.0)

Valentine’s Day

Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink --Diane De Groat

The Biggest Valentine Ever--Steven Kroll

Dear Bunny--Michaela Morgan
What is Love? --Etan Boritzer

Black Caucus Members. (N.D.) National African American Read-In: Supplemental List for Young Children (18th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Involved/Action/AARI/Young_Children.pdf

Book Lists & Recommendations for Ages 6-7. (2017). Scholastic Parents: Raising readers & learners. Retrieved from www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/ages-6-7

National African American Read-In [PDF]. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Involved/Action/AARI/FrequentlyReadBooks2013.pdf