Favorite Fiction in our Third Grade plus a Bonus Video

 So, it is June and the last month of school.  And for me, the last month of third grade, because next year I will be teaching fifth grade.  Before I go I wanted to share some favorite and popular third grade books.  Many fiction books are labeled "grade 3-5 interest level" or "recommended for ages 8-12".  Many books seemed to be lumped into that middle grade category which is very broad and often too difficult for my third graders to read independently.  Finding books that capture my 8 year olds attention while also meeting their independent reading needs is a challenge.  Third graders love funny books and books with animals, especially dogs!  They like reading books with adventure and suspense. They usually don't like long books.  They like realistic books with characters that have school problems and love getting to know a character in a series.  And they really love graphic novels.  Here is a list of some popular fiction books in my class this year.  I will write about favorite graphic novels in another post.

Nikki and Deja series

Marty McGuire series

Dragon Master series

Eleanor series

Andy Shane series

Stick Dog Series

Anna Banana series

Shelter Pet Squad

Puppy Pirates series

The Buddy Files series

Poppy series

Dory series

Chicken Squad series

Ellray Jakes series

Bonus: I have written many posts about my class library.  Here is a video of what things look like at the end of the year!

What can you do about fake reading?

WHAT TO DO ABOUT FAKE READING

A colleague recently complained to me about a group of fake readers in her class.  You know what I'm talking about! Those students that hold the book and try to look like they are reading.  They turn the pages and when they think you are watching they place their eyes on the book.  But we know they are often looking around or just staring at the pages.  Often they might read the words, but they aren't making any meaning.  They just can't seem to stay on task reading!

I see this problem every year, mostly in the beginning when many of my students unfortunately, have not had a lot of experience reading independently. And sometimes it sneaks back in and I have to do a few reminder lessons. Here’s a list of possible lessons.  I know it might sound like a lot, but it’s worth the time.

(If you have a couple fake readers, your other students are probably fake reading at some point also)

• Do a mini-unit to build stamina during independent reading.  I spend the first couple of weeks of school doing this, but you can do it any time. (I have also needed to do a repeat with a small group of readers mid-year in second grade, and last year I pulled a couple of fake readers mid-year to “practice” our stamina.

• Define stamina.  Tell students directly that the class will be building reading stamina.  I start with 3-5 minutes the first day of school. As soon as I see one student become unfocused I call time.  I tell them how many minutes we have done and set a goal for the next day. Some teachers even graph the stamina. (Always connect why these habits are important to them - i.e. they become better readers, this is what good readers do.) 

• Model independent reading time. The good and the bad!  Make an anchor chart with the class, and review it every day until it becomes habit. Go back to it when these habits breakdown later in the year.

• Model fake vs. real reading. (Here's some ideas from Pinterest)  I find naming the problem and telling them why it isn’t good for them helpful.  Students are often relieved to find out that they aren't the only ones that have a difficult time staying focused during independent reading.

• Teach students Fix-Up Strategies. In my third grade class we create a chart that displays problems we have during reading. Once a couple of students share their difficulties other students begin sharing too. Then we can begin talking about what to do to fix those problems. I refer to this chart all year long and even add to it as we become more advanced readers. Once students can name their problem it's easier to focus on solving it!

• Teach them how to select good fit books.  I have found lack of stamina and choosing the wrong book to be the key reasons students fake read. Sometimes choosing an easier book (or one we think is easier) can help students develop better stamina and feel successful. I also think it’s important to confer with readers to check accuracy and comprehension on their independent book, especially if they fake read.

• Third reason students fake read… comprehension strategies or lack of… lessons on what good readers do (think) while they read are essential for all, but especially these fake readers.  Fake readers often have never experienced what it feels like to read and enjoy a book. This is constantly a topic of my small group instruction.  Pull those fake readers together for a group (level doesn’t matter) and give them a strategy to practice.

Independent Reading needs to be taught and modeled. Simply putting a book in their hands is not enough. We need to send the message that Independent Reading time is important. If you use this time to lesson plan, organize your desk, check in with colleagues or grade papers what message are you sending to your students? Instead, pull up a chair next to a reader. Take a few minutes to talk with them about their book. This will go a long way in teaching your Fake Readers the value of independent reading. They will long for you to talk with them!

Other than fake reading, what do these types of readers have in common? My experience has been they are my lowest readers. Not surprised, are you? But I also find they are my students that are performing "on grade level", but at the lower level of that group. I call them my "low average" students.

I hope one of these ideas helps! While Fake Readers are so annoying, I don’t believe most are doing it on purpose. I think there is some kind of “breakdown” in their reading that we have to address.

Here's some books that I have found helpful in teaching independent reading routines and comprehension strategies.

Mercy Watson to the rescue! How one student becomes a reader.

http://www.mercywatson.com/http://www.mercywatson.com/

This is the story of a student in my class, we will call him Nathan. Nathan reads below grade level and receives academic support services for both reading and math.  In September Nathan struggled to complete the reading survey that I gave to my third grade class.  Even when I read many of the questions to him he was confused-he didn't know himself as a reader.  He worked hard to answer questions, but the survey was handed in incomplete.   He readily admitted he didn't like to read, or "sort of" liked to read.  But this is not why I am writing this post.

Early in September Nathan found the Mercy Watson series of books in our class library.  I would like to say that I introduced this wonderful basket of books to him, but most likely I did not, because Mercy Watson books are considered too difficult for him according to his benchmark reading level. Having said that, I rarely, if ever, tell a student No, they can't put a book in their reading box.  I do however help them navigate the book selection process - some students need more guidance than others. Choice is the key element to my reading workshop.  Students chose the books that go into their book baskets, but they must be a good fit book, one they can read independently. (Students are free to read any book during our Free Choice reading time.)   This is where the story really begins - during "shopping time", when students in my class select good-fit books from our class library to put in their personal book baskets for independent reading.   Nathan asked to put a Mercy Watson book in his basket and I said yes.  I prepared myself mentally to have some other book choices ready for him when we met later to read Mercy Watson.  I felt fairly confident that Nathan would struggle and decide to choose a different book.  But Nathan proved me wrong.

As I conferred with Nathan he stumbled over word after word, often reading nonsense words and he lacked fluency.  I dutifully continued with our conference and taught him a decoding strategy that he readily applied.  Of course he was struggling and this book definitely wasn't a good fit, but I knew he wasn't ready to let go of this book.  I asked, "Do you think this book is a good-fit, just-right book for you?"  He replied, "I think so."  I realized he had probably never experienced reading a book that was on his independent reading level!  No matter how many lessons I had done on choosing a just-right book he couldn't relate...yet.  So the book stayed in his basket.  I made sure there were other books that were a better fit, just in case.  I made a note to meet with him again soon.

Every time I met with Nathan I thought, "this will be the day" he figures out Mercy Watson is too hard for him.  But each day we met he kept rereading that Mercy Watson book and practicing the strategies that I showed him.  He had even began collecting the tricky word on post it notes so that he could practice and show me them later. Before long he was discussing the content of the book with me.  It was clear his comprehension was sound and he really liked the story!  Then a few more amazing things happened.

During shopping time and free read time I observed Nathan chatting up Mercy Watson with fellow classmates and even taking them to where the basket of books was located.  Other students started to check out Mercy Watson books.  Nathan even told the AIS Math teacher who pushes into our room about Mercy Watson!  One day he showed me a page in the book that had a picture of all the books in the series and said he was looking for two that were missing.  After asking classmates it was clear that 2 of the books had gone missing. (Yeah, this happens sometimes...a book finds a new home.)  He wrote the titles down on a post it note and asked if I could get them for the library.

So what can we learn from this story?  Choice matters.  Time to practice reading matters. Students are individuals, not levels.  All the data we collect on them should be used to help us help them!  And most of all, we are teaching children to read and write so that they can read for enjoyment, connect with other humans, and learn about the world - we are NOT teaching them to to read and write so they pass a test.  I know this.  I believe this.  I try to remember this ever day in my class.

It's October and Nathan is still a below grade reader.  That's okay.  He's a reader now.  And he knows what he likes to read, and he can't wait to tell you.

By the way...those missing Mercy Watson books...I ordered a new set and they came in the mail today.  I can't wait to hand them to Nathan on Monday morning.

Bookstore Love

I love visiting a bookstore with a well stocked children's section.  And if I find a salesperson that is knowledgeable about children's books I can stay in the store forever.  My husband and I took a trip out to the east end of Long Island this summer for a day full of wine tasting, hiking and fun.  When we stopped in Mattituck for a bite to eat I noticed a bookstore on the corner, so of course we had to stop in and check out the place.  BookHampton is smaller place, but the children's section is well stocked and the salesperson was eager to talk about the books with me.  I left with a bag full of books including Tad Hills' Rocket Writes a Story and Mo Willems' Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs.  I know I will definitely stop at BookHampton whenever I am in the area.

There is also a discount bookstore nearby called Best Bargain books.  This store is hit or miss when it comes to finding exactly what is on my reading list, but I always leave with a bag full of books that I didn't know I was looking for.  One time I was able to find 15 different Gail Gibbons book at a very good price.

My best bookstore memory has to be when my children were very young.  I think they were in early elementary grades.  We were at a local discount book store, (which has since gone out of business) and my son, who was carrying a stack of books, looked up at me and asked, "Mommy, is this a place that we check out the books or buy the books?"

A couple of times a year I drive to the Book Revue in Huntington.  It's about 45-60 minutes away, depending on the traffic.  I always go once during the summer and once during a winter vacation day.  Today is the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday so after bringing the dog to the vet I drove to the Book Revue. (The vet bill was higher than expected, so I had concerns about my book budget.)  I have a list of books that I keep on my Goodreads app, but I also just love looking through the shelves to see what I can find.  I have to be honest, over the last several years the Book Revue's children's department seems to have dwindled, and many shelves have been replaced with toys.  I really wanted to find a copy of Fifty Cents and a Dream, but no such luck.  Here's what I purchased;

New titles that I haven't read - hope they might be good additions to our class library.

Always looking for duplicate copies of popular books.

Books from my "To Read" list.

All of these bookstores give a teacher a nice discount, which is greatly appreciated since I purchase most of the books for my classroom library and class read alouds.  If you ever visit Long Island be sure to shop at these bookstores! Do you have a favorite bookstore?  What books have you purchased recently?

Launching Read to Self

Meeting area and new bean bag chairs (compliments of my mom).

Book Baskets all organized and ready to go!

So, I got through the first week of school!  Exciting, exhausting, humid and hot!

As I said in a previous post I am dedicated to fully implementing the Daily 5 this year and incorporating CAFE strategies as well.  So, on Tuesday, the first day of school we launched Read to Self and created our first anchor chart!  It felt all official and I was a bit nervous about doing it "right", which is so silly because I have always used independent, self-selected reading as the center of my previous reading workshop.  It's not all that different.  It went pretty well I think.  Most of the students were so excited to get their book boxes and settle into Read to Self.  Only one minor problem occurred during my "reading is so fabulous - I love to read - books are wonderful - aren't we so excited to become better readers" speech! One student kept mumbling his commentary on reading - things like, "I hate to read." or "No! Books aren't cool."  I ignored it for awhile, but I could see his goal was to disrupt the lesson and gain everyones attention.  So, I said it was okay if he didn't like books and reading, but I did.  And his comments were hurting my feelings and making me sad. He stopped with the comments.  More on this student later.  (Hmm...think he might be the barometer student?)

I used Mo Willems' Piggie and Elephant: There Is A Bird On Your Head to model 2 ways to read the first day. (read the pictures and read the words) Then on Day 2 I taught them 2 more ways to read the book.  You heard me might.  Two more ways - retell the story and reread the story.  I teach 4 ways to read a book.  Second graders come to me with the idea that fast is better - and getting done with lots of books fast is even better! I value rereading for so many reasons and I want my students to value it also.  Rereading seems to also help them see what they missed, slow down and think while they are reading.  Coming from first grade they often think reading is just reading the words.  (When I explained I was going to show them 2 ways to read a book I asked, "Does anyone know one way I could read this book?" Insert the sound of crickets here.  Finally, one teacher-pleasing little hand went up and said, "You sound it out?")

My Barometer Student Students

On the first day, my barometer student was a sweet, but easily distracted boy that after 1 minute was more interested in telling other children what to do than focusing on his own reading.  On day 2, I modeled inappropriate behavior myself - doing exactly what he did the previous day.  I asked for a volunteer to model appropriate behavior - and my little friend volunteered.  Awesome!  He did much better the rest of the week, but is definitely a key student to watch.  Now, back to my friend I mentioned above - the interrupter.  He did fine the first 2 days, but by day 3 he had decided he was going to either just sit and suck on his water bottle or build towers with his school supplies and water bottle.  So, another model of appropriate behavior was necessary by the start of Day 4.  I asked for volunteers, and yes, he volunteered.  Awesome!  He got lots of compliments and did fine that day.  I squeezed in another Read to Self practice at the end of the day Friday and he did well then.  It was my little distracted friend that acted as my barometer then.

We reached only 5 minutes of Read to Self.  Gotta work on that stamina!

I will write about how I introduced CAFE strategies on another post.

Next week I will teach them how to select good-fit, or just-right books.  I also hope to introduce Work on Writing too.

How do you I think I did?  Be honest!

How are you doing with the Daily 5?

So Many Books! So Little Money! How far can $250 go?

I am a Reading Workshop teacher, which means my classroom library is the center of my literacy instruction.   Like many teachers out there I spend a great deal of my own money to purchase books for my classroom library.  I am very resourceful and have even found great deals on ebay.  I accept donations from librarian friends and past students too.  My bonus points from Scholastic book clubs are also helpful.  I even got a donorschoose project funded for math books.  And don't tell anyone, but I sometimes use the guided reading books to supplement my class library collection.  My school has invested money in creating a book room with a collection of books for guided reading.  They have also recently purchased a basal reading series.  But support for building classroom libraries has been less than adequate.  So, I am very excited that my principal has given each teacher $250 to purchase books.  Of course, I have decided to use the money to add to my classroom library.

I have been going through my wish list of books over and over.  I have asked my twitter friends for recommendations.  The problem isn't coming up with a list of books.  The problem is whittling down my list to under $250!  I teach second grade, which means my students' independent reading levels span a wide range - from Piggie and Elephant books to chapter books like Magic Tree House.   After some thought, I have decided to purchase more series books.  During the summer I purchased more books for my lower level readers since I felt my library was lacking in that area.  After looking at my collections I decided I needed more books in the Nate the Great or Pinky and Rex level.  It seems that there is a big jump from beginning chapter books with picture support to longer chapter books with little picture support.  And many of my students have problems with endurance when reading Horrible Harry or Cam Jansen books.  And I am also hoping I can add some books for my higher readers.  So here's my list.  I would really love your opinion.  Most I have read, but there are some books that I will need to go to my public library to read before making the final selections.  I know my list goes over the $250, but some of these books I can get with my Scholastic bonus points too.

Frankie Pickle: I've only read one of the books, but I think second graders will love Frankie, especially my boys.

Down Girl and Sit Series: These are shorter chapter books. Second graders love dogs and these are funny!

Keena Ford books: There are 3 books so far in this series that I haven't read yet, but they look like great reads for second graders.

Andy Shane books:  I have read one so far and I liked it.

Toon Books by Candlewick Press: I absolutely love these graphic novels!  I checked several out of my local public library last summer and have had them on my wishlist.  The only graphic novel I have in my library is Baby Mouse.  The books are very popular with my higher readers.  I love Baby Mouse!  I would also like to add Squish and Sticky Burr to my collection of graphic novels.

I always have a student that enjoys the one Geronimo Stilton book I have, so I thought I would get some more.  Has anyone read the Franny K. Stein books?  Do your students enjoy them?

Ivy and Bean:  Great series, especially for girls.  Longer chapter book - right now this books is for my higher readers, but by the end of the year many others will be able to read it.

I also like Marty McGuire and Bink and Gollie.  My students already love Mercy Watson books.

Here's some series that I have not read yet.  Please tell me if your students enjoy reading them.  Tell me what you think!

The Buddy Files
Andrew Lost Series
Owen Foote
Roscoe Riley Rules
The Fairy Chronicles

What do you think of my list?  Is there any book that you think is missing?  What are your students reading?