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!

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.

Teaching Students What Real Readers Do - Making Our Thinking Visible

I recently wrote a post recommending the book, What Readers Really Do?  One of the ideas in the book that I really connected with related to the strategies we traditionally teach students to use - predicting, connecting, inferring and visualizing.  We often teach the strategies in isolation.  This keeps students engaged but often keeps their understanding at a surface level.  Authors Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicki Vinton suggest that we need to show students how a real reader uses these strategies in an ongoing fashion.  This past week I have been experimenting with some of the lesson ideas in the book. I am not an expert and don't even know if I am doing it correctly!  All I know is I am always looking for ways to help my students improve their comprehension and enjoy reading more.

When January arrives in second grade I feel it's time to "amp it up" a notch.  I want my students to start digging deeper in their independent reading.  Many are beginning longer chapter books.  They often struggle to stay focused for the entire book and their comprehension often breaks down.  Most have no problem identifying setting, characters problem and solution.  Some can even describe the main characters in simple terms.  But I want them to go deeper.

The first thing I thought about was my book selection.  The authors recommend books that are character driven.  At first I was ready to look for a shiny new book that might meet my needs.  I do this sometimes.  I make more work for myself or re-invent the wheel.  So, I looked at some of my chapter book read alouds that I often use in my classroom.  I thought about why I use them.  I thought about my goals for my students.  What did I want to focus on?  I decided I wanted to focus on 2 things.  First, I wanted to show, or make visible for my young students what "thinking about their reading" looked like - I hoped this would help them keep track of their understanding across a longer book as well as make them aware of their own thinking. Hopefully this would help them notice important details and stay connected to the book.  Second, I wanted them to begin inferring about the characters in their books.  So, with that in mind I jumped right in!

I decided to use Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins.  I think the story is definitely character driven, although the characters are toys.  I also thought this was a good choice because the author does such a good job of "showing, not telling"  which would give my students an opportunity for inferring.  The beginning of the story starts inside a backpack with the characters trying to figure out where they are going.  However, it is very confusing because the author doesn't tell us these characters are toys.

I began the read aloud by reminding my class about our previous discussion about "thinking while we read" and "thinking about our thinking" the day before.  I gave no background for the book and didn't do a preview.  I even took the book jacket off since it had pictures on that might give away important details.  I created the T-chart with the headings and told the class we would be charting the thinking we did as we read.  And then I began to read.  I paused after 1 or 2 sentences to ask the students what we had learned so far, or what we knew so far.  I used turn and talk to make sure all students were engaged.  I found it interesting that instead of sharing a detail from the story, they jumped right to a prediction or inference.  I responded by saying either, "Why do you think that?"  or "How do you know that?"  I found it helpful to restate what they had said in the form of a "I wonder" statement.  I also noticed that students began to start retelling every detail of the story, instead of telling important information they had learned about the story so far.  So, I needed to remind them on the second day that readers notice what they think are important parts of the story.

 As we continued with the story, I paused to review some of our past wonders to see if we knew any answers yet.  You can see that I used a different color marker to show where certain details had answered our questions.  A few students thought there were 4 different characters in the backpack because one character was referred to as both Lumphy and a buffalo.  This confusion was eventually cleared up and it was nice to see those students figure that out.  I only used the t-chart technique for about half of the chapter.

What I liked about this method was that normally students that are confused either remain silent or ask for me for clarification as we read.  While I usually let other students respond to misunderstandings I like that this method allowed everyone to see our thinking.  I felt more students were engaged and figuring out for themselves what was happening in the story.  I didn't ask the comprehension questions or model my own thinking during this lesson.  I wanted the students to take the lead and I wanted to use their ideas.

As we began the second chapter I wanted students to try using the t-chart themselves.  I would read a passage or paragraph and then pause for them to fill in the chart.  Sometimes we would do a turn and talk first, sometimes I would ask students to share their thinking.  Below are a few of my student's t-charts.  This was challenging for some students who aren't able to write quickly.

The 3 main toys in this book take on the personalities of children.  This of course, is not clear to my second graders...yet.  I love that they wonder if Stingray is "dumb"?  Stingray often appears to be a know-it-all while exaggerating and providing a lot of misinformation to the other toys.  As an adult I know Stingray behaves a lot like a 4 year old, but to my second graders she appears dumb.  A few students are wondering if Stingray "is bragging".  Most of my students have figured out that Lumphy is a stuffed buffalo and Stingray is a stuffed toy that looks like a stingray. The third character is named Plastic, and none of my students have wondered about what Plastic is yet.  As the authors of What Readers Really Do? say, the authors like Emily Jenkins of Toys Go Out will provide more clues as we continue to read the book, and students will have more opportunities figure things out.  I look forward to seeing how my students use the clues in the book to describe each toy character's personality.  I wonder if they will be able to revise their thinking as we continue - many students get stuck on one idea and miss opportunities to revise their thinking.  I wonder if they will begin to see patterns emerge across the book.  My goal is to get them to see these things themselves, instead of me pointing them out.

One more quick note I want to mention.  I was excited to notice several of my students using this technique during independent reading!  They were using post-it notes.

I look forward to experimenting with this method next week.  I definitely think a small guided reading group to help with this method might be a great idea too.

I recommend you read the book!

My Class Library for the beginning of the year - and why I don't level my books

I have been in my classroom rearranging and reorganizing my class library for the upcoming school year.  My class library is the center of my teaching and our life in second grade.  How I arrange and present the books is crucial to a successful reading workshop.  So, each August (and at various times of the year)  I tweak it a bit.  My collection of books continues to grow, which is a good thing, but also presents the challenge of storage and book shelf space!  My fiction section is primarily sorted by series.  I have found this the best way to hook my young readers.  The familiarity with characters and setting helps them build stamina and fluency.

In the past each series had it's own basket, with a label and collection of books.  Since I am running out of room on my shelves I decided to combine several series in one basket.  I tried very hard to choose series that would "go together" - they were a similar reading level and similar interest.  For instance, I put the Biscuit  and Tiny the Dog series in the same basket.  Andy Shane and Little Bill books are displayed together as well.

My Thoughts on Leveling Books

There seems to be a lot of opinions out there on leveling books - so I thought I would add my 2 cents.  Here's what I think.  It disturbs me to see public librarians and school librarians being asked to put together lists of books according to reading levels such as Fountas and Pinnell or Lexile.  And now it seems publishers are getting in on the leveling craze and using it as a marketing tool.  What adult would go to a book store or library and select books based on a reading level?  And children are no different.  If we want our children to become readers we need to help them find books they will enjoy reading.  I'm afraid this leveling craze is due to parents requesting a list of books that are on their child's reading level.  So, how did they get so wrapped up in their child's guided reading level?  Us.  Their child's teachers.  So many of my colleagues report the reading level to parents at conferences, and some school districts require that it be on the report card.  I think this is a big mistake.  Guided reading levels are meant to be used as a teaching tool - one piece of the assessment puzzle we use in teaching reading.

Please don't get me wrong - I use Fountas and Pinnell guided reading levels as part of my assessment.  And book levels can be helpful when selecting books for my class library and helping students select books to read.  But I don't label books with levels and I certainly don't label students with a level!   I have also found that my students' reading levels are not hard and true - depending on their interest and background knowledge I have found individual students often fall into a range of reading levels.   And more than once a student has proven me wrong and was able to read a book that I thought was too challenging, but the student wanted to read it bad enough they did!  But what is more important for us as teachers, is understanding the characteristics of the different levels of books and knowing what readers will have to know how to do to successful read and understand a particular level of book. Once a teacher understands this, you can look at most books and know if it is a good fit for your reader.  What is most important for young readers is that we teach them how to find books they can read independently and will enjoy.  And that is part of the art of teaching reading!

Be sure to read Pernille Ripp's  and Professor Nana's posts regarding the recent craze on leveling books!


Favorite Series for Second Grade

 I also have collections of reading series such as Scholastic Readers, Hello Readers and I Can Read Series.  My students often have a hard time re-shelving these books and they end up in the wrong basket.  So this year I decided to color code the collections.  For example, the Scholastic Reader books will get a red sticker so students will know which basket to return the book.







Here's what my class library looks like in the beginning of the year.  I have mostly transitional, early fiction series out.  Longer chapter books will be available later as my students get better at selecting books.  I have a few baskets of non-fiction out as well, including animal books, plant books and some easy biography.  I curtain off parts of the library because my second graders get overwhelmed if I put out too much too soon.  The red, blue, green and yellow baskets are my students' "book baskets"- where they keep all of their independent reading materials and reading folder.  I also like to put out familiar books from first grade - like song books, ABC books, Eric Carle and Mo Willems.  This year I also put out my Peter Brown books since he visited our school last year.

Under the curtain

Non-Fiction Shelves

What does your class library look like?  Do you level your books?

Reading Workshop: Conferring Challenges

As I have moved away from using only guided reading groups to conferring one to one with my second graders, I have realized how much work I had to do on my conferring technique. Being able to keep accurate records and notes has been a challenge. I have used all sorts of systems and rarely stuck with them for the whole year, and found myself forgetting to record and relying on my memory to remember what I had taught at our last conference! Over the last 3 years or so, I have used a 1 inch binder that had a section for each student. I have modified forms that I found in The CAFE Book by Joan Moser and Gail Boushey and Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop by Patrick Allen.  I am currently using experimenting with the Confer app on my ipad. I have also briefly tried Evernote. But I think I have been focusing on the wrong thing - keeping these records as helped me see my true weakness - the actual conference!

Here's what I think are my main problems;

Time management.  I often spend way too much time with one student. If I want to meet with students on a regular basis I need to be more efficient with my time. But this often leads to my second problem! As soon as I sit next to a student I start thinking, "Oh, I can't waste time, so lets get going!"  And this nagging rush, rush, rush feeling is always lurking and sometimes prevents me from really connecting with my young readers.

Figuring out what to teach. I'm often not sure what to teach, so I talk too much or I teach too much. I sometimes walk away from the conference not knowing what I actually taught and realize the student probably felt the same!

I know I am really great at modeling or explaining how to use reading strategies or skills in my whole group lessons. I have been thinking about how I can transfer this quality to my conferences. When I look back at conferences that I felt good about I realized it was because I immediately knew what the student was doing well and what I could teach them. I didn't get to to the stressed out stage of worrying about time or what to teach.

I am currently reading Conferring With Readers by Jennifer Serravallo (@JSerravallo) and Gravity Goldberg (@drgravityg). One thing that I have been thinking about and doing more of when I confer is the "research" phase of my conference. I am trying to observe my reader for a few moments and really think about what I see them doing. Are they staying focused, using their finger, using post its? I am also trying to make sure I open up our conference with a question that will allow me to continue my research. Here's some questions I have used recently that have helped me in my research phase. Would you like to share your post it notes? How are post it notes helping you understand your non-fiction? What are you thinking?  The last one often flusters many students and they immediately begin retelling the story.  So, sometimes I add, "what do you think of that?" referring to their retelling. It's just over the last couple of weeks that I have been paying close attention to the questions I ask - which has helped me reflect on my conferring technique.  I really think I might keep a list of opening questions or comments to help me out. Once I get the conversation going I usually can see what strategies they are trying pretty quick.

The other idea that Jennifer and Gravity suggest is creating a list of goals or strategies and skills you want students to learn during a unit of study. While I do this in my head I really think this could help me to focus more during my conferences when it's time to identify a skill to teach. After spring break I plan on doing this for the remainder of our non-fiction unit.

I am only on Chapter 7, but I'm finding it so helpful as I work to improve my conferring. The authors do a great job of identifying the parts of a conference and even the different types of conferences. As I read it I realize I am doing many of these things, but I think naming them is so important if I want to keep doing them!

What challenges and successes have you had with your reading conferences?
Do you have a system for recording and keeping track of your conferences?

Classroom Library - Sorting the Non-Fiction

This week I am diving into a big non-fiction unit in Reading workshop. Although I do have a section of the library dedicated to non-fiction I usually add more by taking out several plastic tubs of non-fiction books I have stored in my closet. I also check out tons of non-fiction from our school library to help round out my collection. (Shhhhh....I also take books from our book room and put them in the class library. But you won't tell anyone will you?)  My goal is to have books that second graders can read independently. Most of the books are not leveled. I just have not had the time to level them all, and many probably don't have a Fountas & Pinnell level anyway. It 's on my to-do list! So, we rely on our lessons about choosing a good fit book, and the fact that I regularly confer with students and know them well as readers. I also know the books in my library pretty well which helps me match them to a reader. But, I admit that I need to read more non-fiction!

I like to have my students sort the books into categories and label the book baskets themselves. I do this for several reason. First, it allows students to preview what will be in the library and know where they can find a particular book if they are involved in sorting and labeling the baskets themselves.  Sorting the books together also gives me a chance to assess their knowledge of non-fiction topics. For example, this week I found out that the majority of the class had an understanding of what mammals were, but didn't have a lot of background knowledge about earth science, geography or history.

By the time we began the sorting activity students had noticed that several of the library shelves had been cleared and a a giant cart of books had appeared in the classroom.  So there was already excitement generated. I began the activity by explaining our purpose for sorting. We want to be able to find the books that we are interested in reading. I remind them how our fiction section is organized, but explain that with non-fiction we might want to do it differently. I use our basket of books labeled "non-fiction animals", and ask if we can sort the books into separate categories. Hands go up immediately and students share their ideas. I give each table a pile of books to sort and they get busy. I walk around and talk to the groups about their thinking, mostly asking questions and nudging their discussions or decisions in the right direction.

Once groups have sorted their books, we sit down on the rug and I ask someone to share a category. "We have a lot of books about reptiles." Immediately, there are hands up from other groups that also have reptile books. I give them a basket, a sentence strip, sharpie and a post it with the correct spelling. Off they go to fill our first basket. And I continue this way. I have to admit it gets a bit crazy, but in a good way. There are piles of books everywhere and students eagerly waiting to create a category. Once we get going the tape dispenser and sharpie markers are very popular. And sometimes we end up with duplicate labels.  It took us 2 work sessions to get most of the books sorted.  Exhausting, but important.

So, now we are ready to review our lessons on selecting good fit books with an eye for non-fiction books.  And next week we will begin learning about non-fiction text features and reading strategies.

How do you organize you classroom library for non-fiction?
Do you use a leveled library?

Cart full of books from the library.