The first SUMMER VACATION IS FOR READING postcard arrives

Keeping students reading over the summer is challenging. There is so much to do. So much outside time. But we know how important it is.

At the end of the year I gave each student a postcard like this:

(There is also a camping version.) I made the postcards based on a Twitter conversation with other teachers about how to keep students reading, and how to stay in touch with our students over the summer so as not to lose the reading community that was built during the year.

Our summer break only started at the end of June, so we aren’t too far in. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious to see if any would appear in my mailbox.

And yesterday, the first SUMMER VACATION IS FOR READING postcard arrived.

In honor of Maddie, I am including the IndieBound description of the books she recommends.

While I won’t be able to do this for every card I receive, firsts are special.

Enjoy–and check back for future postcard reveals. (And the end-of-summer ReadingPic video. “What’s that?” you’re asking. Email me a picture of you reading in a fun location. I will make a video of the pictures I receive. Email address: SummerReadingPic@gmail.com.)

Selected by Indie Booksellers for the Autumn 2009 Kids’ Indie Next List
“Heather Hepler takes a standard teen-issue theme — divorcing parents, moving somewhere new, mean girls — and turns it into a warm and wonderful novel. Penny’s adjustment to life in Hog’s Hollow — away from her father and her friends in Manhattan — is told with great understanding.”
— Karen Keyte, Books Etc., Falmouth, ME

Description
When Penny moves to Hog’s Hollow from New York City, her life changes drastically. Penny’s mom now runs a cupcake bakery, and Penny is stuck helping out. But that isn’t the worst of it. Not only did she leave her friends back home, but her dad stayed behind too. And then there’s Charity, resident mean girl who’s out to get Penny. With all this, Penny still finds some things to like: Tally and Blake, and Marcus the cute, quiet boy who runs on the beach every night. But just when Penny begins to accept her new life, she’s forced to make a choice that will change everything.

Description
Magical realism and a modern Cinderella story makes for a fun and relatable read.

Sixth grade is not going well for Calliope Meadow Anderson. Callie’s hair is frizzy, her best friend, Ellen, is acting weird, and to top things off, she has to get glasses. And her new specs aren’t even cute, trendy glasses—more like hideously large and geeky. But Callie soon discovers that her glasses have a special, magical perk: When she wears them, she can read people’s thoughts. Crazy glasses aside, Callie has more drama to face when she’s cast as the lead in the school play—and instead opts to be an understudy, giving the role of Cinderella to Ellen. Can Callie’s magic glasses help her see her way to leading lady, or is she destined to stay in the background forever?

 

Description

For anyone who’s ever felt that boys were a different species….

Wildly creative seventh grader Kara McAllister just had her best idea yet. She’s going to take notes on all of the boys in her grade (and a few elsewhere) in order to answer a seemingly simple question: How can she get a boyfriend?

But Kara’s project turns out to be a lot more complicated than she imagined. Soon there are secrets, lies, and an embarrassing incident in the boy’s bathroom. Plus, Kara has to deal with mean girls, her slightly spacey BFF, and some surprising uses for duct tape. Still, if Kara’s research leads her to the right boy, everything may just be worth it. . . .

Full of charts and graphs, heart and humor, this hilarious debut will resonate with tweens everywhere.

INDEPENDENCE–in making summer book lists

Happy July 4th. In this post, I celebrate students’ INDEPENDENCE… in making their summer reading lists.

For years we have compiled a summer book list for students. Who better to suggest books for summer reading than their experienced, well-read, knowledgeable teachers?

Or maybe not.

A list is simply that: a list. When handed to a student or a family, it has no personality, no connections, no excitement. And while the books that we took the time to put on that list were good and worthwhile, they were just words on a page.

After this year of great reading and book discovery, I was determined to give the students some INDEPENDENCE in making their summer book lists.

At the upper right of this blog you can find a page link: Find your next best book (TBR pile). This is the resource I put together so students could make their own summer reading list that had some personal and emotional investment.

I won’t go back.

The Case for Reading Partnerships and Clubs

This is a dual post–also posted on the PolkaDotOwlBlog.  Mrs. P, (@polkadotowlblog), my partner in the #rdgPartners chats, asked me some time ago if I would guest post on her blog when she reached 100 followers. She has been dutifully keeping me apprised of her numbers. Now she is at 105 followers and the time has come. 

I’m always impressed with Mrs. P’s thoughtful posts, and I’m sure you will enjoy them as well. Click the picture to the left and give her a visit. I’m looking forward to working with Mrs. P and her classes in the future.

Forming reading partnerships and book clubs with young students is challenging. How do I partner the students—By interest? Reading level? Friend requests? And once they are in these groups, how do I help them to set reasonable goals? How can I keep their conversations moving forward? What do I do about the student who doesn’t do his reading.

Surely, there are many questions. But I’m persevering in my book clubs plan because this I believe: Some of the most powerful reading we do is partner reading.

(These pictures are the students reading on the first day after they choose their books. After this first day, reading and preparation is done independently.)

I read for myself all the time. Oftentimes my reading is to find that next great book I can recommend to a student at just the right time. (And with the NerdyBookClub, there are so many options.) But the books that are most memorable to me are the books I’ve had the opportunity to discuss.

My colleague, Brent Peterson, and I read Dead End in Norvelt in patnership. We kept a simple goal of about 100 pages a week (we were doing other reading, of course) and got together during a free period to discuss. These were awesome discussions.  [You can follow these links to see our conversations… if you’re really interested. Talk 1. Talk 2. Talk 3.] We came prepared with some Post-it notes and lists of things we wanted to talk about and off we went. The half hour was barely enough time. It was great how we each brought different ideas and insights to the conversation. Brent saw things that I never would have on my own. Discussing a book brought it to life and made it more interesting than it would have been had either of us read it independently. (Who else would have laughed with me about paraffin wax hands and deterring deer with bodily functions?)  I think these conversations are why, though the public response to Norvelt has been lukewarm, Brent and I liked it so much. You can get more of a summary of our conversation on our Nerdy Book Club Blog post.

Brent and I also read and discussed Wonder a lot. And then we started passing it along to others to read. My mom read it. Then my dad. Then my sister. Then her book club. Then other reading teachers at my school. Students and their parents. And we read it aloud to our students. (And finally my wife is reading it.) And it was like Wonder became part of the social fabric of my life. It was something I could talk about with anyone around me. Family dinners were filled with conversation of Auggie and Daisy and Via. Being able to then talk with the Maker of these characters and this WONDERworld was awesome.

And this—THIS—is why I want to persist in pushing my students into partnerships and clubs. As I’ve told them, book clubs are social opportunities wrapped around a book. (Hmmm… good pearl analogy there.) I want my students to experience the joy of a book coming to life. Of understanding a book better together because they talked about and cleared up confusions and saw things from different points of view. I want my students to know the richness of literature.

So I’m willing to spend an afternoon with the book partnership/club letters they’ve written to me (Name; why I would be a good partner to someone else; my approximate
reading level [GRL]; five classmates who would be good partners for me and why) spread out all over the living room floor or dining room table. (“Dad, what are you doing?”)  I’m willing to deal with a slacker reader/partner who doesn’t come prepared with the reading complete or Post-it notes ready to discuss. Because I see so many other students benefitting from rich conversations and thought building that they wouldn’t have if they only read independently.

I’m looking forward to next year and getting these partnerships and clubs underway earlier in the year. We are already discussing how to scaffold them—giving students smaller texts with which to practice before diving into a novel. I can’t wait to see my students blossom in their book discussions.

We have a great year of book conversations behind us, a better one ahead—and the state of Book Clubs is Strong.

Your turn:  Have you experienced reading as part of a partnership or club? How did it add to your reading experience?

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Planning bookmark for clubs:

Evaluation form: