Book-A-Day 3: The Rain Stomper

The Rain Stomper

Written by: Addie Boswell

Illustrated by: Eric Velasquez

This story begins with an exuberant Jazmin jumping out of bed ready to engulf the fun of parade day.  She's got her baton and her new red suit and she is ready to lead the parade!  She also has one big problem...rain clouds.  A downpour of heavy rain on parade day does not make for a happy Jazmine. She was ready to roll!  But, what's a little rain to stop a parade girl like Jazmine?  She takes on the rain full force and stomps her way through puddle after puddle.  Shaking her fists, stomping her feet, skipping and shouting, "I am Jazmin, the Rain Stomper!" 

Her persistence pays off and a crowd of kids join in on the fun cheering Jazmin as she parades herself through the rain.  Together they all begin to stomp, splash, skip and shout creating their own rainy day parade.  

With so many fun words scattered throughout the story, this book would serve as a wonderful read aloud when discussing sound, weather, or teaching about onomatopoeia.  Using words such as "Boom walla boom, walla walla, boom" to depict thunder and "tap, tippity tap tap" and "clack clickity clack" to depict rain makes the storm feel like it's right there beside you as you read.  This type of language is also great when getting students to think like writers and the many ways you can describe the action in your story.  You could also have some fun by extending the story to brainstorm all the various ways to mimic nature with sound combinations.  What would a snowy day sound like?  What about a day at the beach? Or a walk in the woods?  Lots of fun could be had using the language of this story and fun rhythm of the words.  

Eric Valasquez is a wonderfully artistic African-American illustrator and won me over once again with his illustrations of Jazmin and her adventures in the rainy fun of parade day.  Some of the other books he has illustrated include, Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson, Our Children Can Soar by Michelle Cook, and Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by James Haskins.  To learn more about Eric Valasquez, read his bio and check out the long list of books he has illustrated on his website.  His illustrations paired with the words of Addie Boswell make for a great story worth sharing with kids over and over again.  

Book-A-Day 2: Ain't Nothin But the Man

Ain't Nothing But A Man

My Quest to Find the Real John Henry

by: Scott Reynolds Nelson

I am a self-confessed history buff.  I love all things historical and digging into the past feels a bit like stepping back in time learning secrets that have long been buried.  There is something fascinating about looking at the faces of people in historical photographs and wondering what their life story entailed.  This book was a true winner. 

The Civil War was just over, and all across the South, African-American men were building railroads.  The songs they sang tell their stories, if you know how to listen.

In Ain't Nothing But A Man, historian and author Scott Reynolds Nelson leads the reader through his journey trying to uncover if the American Folktale hero John Henry (the man in the song who was so strong he beat a steam drill in a contest but then laid down his hammer and died) actually existed as a real man.  This nonfiction text reads as a narrative detailing Mr. Nelson's experience from beginning to end and the twists and turns his journey as a historian took him while also providing lots of great information about the role of African-Americans in the development of the southern railroads.  

40,000 men, the largest railroad workforce in the South, were hardly mentioned in the history books.  Why? 

The intrigue of the 40,000 missing men is what originally led Mr. Nelson down the path to uncover the existence of the real John Henry.  He wanted to find out more about the life of African American railroad workers in the post Civil War South.  In the end what he discovered was the original John Henry song was more of a sad warning than a song of celebration and victory.  He leads the reader down what he came to understand about the real John Henry, the treatment of railroad workers during this time period, and why the song was created as a warning to other African Americans at the time.  

I was fascinated by what Mr. Nelson uncovered about the roots of this traditional American folk song and its origins to a real John Henry.   At the end of the book, he explains to readers how they too can be historians and provides advice on where to look for additional information if they'd like to learn more about this bit of history.  

Celebrating Black History - Book-A-Day - Day 1

Each February we celebrate Black History Month and often try to incorporate stories of people past and present that have helped shape this rich history that is part of our own.  This year, I wanted to do more than simply recommend books.  I wanted to showcase books written by African American authors or that feature African American characters that could be incorporated into the learning experience throughout the year not just for one month.  I wanted to feature books that students could see themselves in and that feature contemporary African American characters and not just those famous African American icons we have come to know so well.   Each day, I will highlight a new title and share a suggestion for how it could be incorporated into the curriculum.  All of these titles would be wonderful choices to share during the month of February and beyond.  While I will only be shining the spotlight on 28 books, please know there are many more that could have been incorporated.  You can find all the titles that will be shared and more in our school library collection. 

Lottie Paris Lives Here by Angela Johnson

Angela Johnson is one of my favorite childrens' authors with books like The Sweet Smell of Roses and Lilly Brown's Paintings.  She is also a three time Coretta Scott King book award recipient.   My new favorite title written by her is Lottie Paris Lives Here.  With the spunk and sass of any young girl who is sure of herself, you can't help but adore Lottie. The only characters in this story are Lottie and her Papa Pete, with the real emphasis being on Lottie and the things she likes to do.  Lottie likes to play dress up, play at the park across the street from her house, and eat cookies instead of vegetables.  

Lottie may be one of my new favorite characters and definitely my new favorite girl character.  The story has a  rhythm to it that would make for a good read aloud.  One of my favorite lines from the story is next to the spread in which Lottie is decked out in her special hat complete with pearls, various kinds of flowers strewn atop along with a green frog.  "Do you like Lottie's hat?  Uh-huh, me too.  Lottie sure can wear a hat.  Not everyone can wear a hat like that."  Now that is the kind of book character I wish I could get to know in real life -- the kind who automatically makes your world more interesting just by knowing them. 

This story will be a fast favorite among many and even my two year old son now loves Lottie as he runs through the house singing "Lottie Paris....Lottie Paris....Lottie Paris!"  

This would be a wonderful book to use as part of an All About Me unit in which kids discuss where they live, what they like to do, etc.  Readers get to learn all these things about Lottie which could encourage students to share their own connections.  This book could also be used to help teach character traits in writing.  Angela Johnson does a nice job of giving the reader a strong description of Lottie without explicitly using adjectives to describe her.  Readers could practice inferring in order to create a character map.  I'd love to hear more creative ways you may decide to use Lottie Paris in your classroom or what your students think of her and if they love her as much as I do. 

Library In A Box....I Think Not!

I'm a little biased but I think I have one of the best jobs in all of Northside.  I get to work with all the staff and all the students as we navigate new technologies, create new meaning with things we learn, and place great books by amazing authors into the hands of our students.  Our library is like a giant bookstore at this point in time - everything is new, shiny and filled with books just begging to be picked off the shelf.  

It was quite fun developing the Northside library collection.  Many people have asked me since we opened if I was able to hand pick each book in our library and the answer is a resounding "yes!"  It is true that library book vendors offer Opening Day Collections that are basically "libraries in a box" that take very little thought or effort to order but that also means that you may get some things that aren't relevant to either your students or your standards and miss out on some really fantastic titles.  While they try really hard, at the end of the day they are still book sellers not librarians putting together those generic collections.  Librarians know the books, they know the kids, they know what flies off the shelf and what teachers will want and need to support their instruction.   I was able to hand pick each title that would be a part of our opening day collection and IT WAS FUN (hard work……but fun!)  

I used the following guidelines as I created my order lists: 

• I wanted books that students could see themselves in as they read.  I wanted stories that reflected the diversity of our student body.  I purchased books with story lines that had relevant characters that students could relate to as they read.  It's so important for readers to be able to connect to the characters, events, and places they read.  I think many of our titles will allow our students to feel that connection.  I also wanted to ensure that students could learn about one another and cultures different from their own through the lens of story.  

• I wanted award winning books (and not just the big ones).  Yes, it's true the first books I added to the booklist were the Newbery and Caldecott winners but I also made sure to add all the Coretta Scott King and Pura Belpre award winning titles.  These are awards given to noteworthy books with African American and Hispanic characters or storylines.  I also looked to the Sibert award, Theodor Seuss Giesel award, and National Book Award winners.  Starred reviews from leading library publications such as School Library Journal also were added to the booklist.  

• I wanted high-Interest and popular series fiction.  Having worked as an elementary school librarian the past 6 years, I have a pretty good handle on what students like to read.    I worked hard to get the entire collection of any series rather than just one or two.  There is nothing worse than reading your way through a series only to be stopped dead in your reading tracks because your library doesn't have the next title.  Ugh!  This meant, of course, getting Diary of A Wimpy Kid, The Dork Diaries, Captain Underpants, Junie B. Jones and many more that some folks cringe at because "it's not quality literature".  I say - if it gets kids to pick up a book and read, read, read then it's quality literature in my mind.  Besides, who wouldn't want to read about the fantastic adventures of a superhero who flies around in his underpants to fight the bad guys?  Exactly!

• I wanted books with connections to instructional standards.   It's so important that we have a collection that supports the work students and teachers are doing daily throughout the school.  It was critical that we have books that students can use to build the inquiry process while developing understanding as they think, learn and grow.  When it came to the nonfiction section we filled all the curriculum standards first and then moved on to all other areas.  We wanted to be sure we had the resources needed to support instruction both in digital and print formats.  Children's nonfiction has come a long way in the last ten years and so much of it is high-interest.  Take for example, the book we have in which you can learn all about the human body while also learning about zombies entitled, "The Zombies Guide to the Human Body"!  Too cool!   

• I wanted books with a bibliotherapy focus.  Books are a great bridge to help with social and emotional needs that exist with students.  We were very deliberate in ordering titles that could support students or their teachers and caregivers on a variety of topics including the loss of a loved one to overcoming anxiety.  These topics are often hard for kids to talk about and these titles help facilitate an honest conversation with the adults in their lives.  To view our bibliotherapy booklist click here.  

• I wanted books that could be used for multiple purposes in multiple formats.  I wanted to have a strong opening print collection while also providing a core collection of ebooks and other digital resources that could be used to support instruction.      

And while I feel we have an amazing Opening Collection with lots of things students want to read I still find myself saying, "Ooh, I should have ordered that!"  As students ask for things we don't have I continuously add it to a "future purchases" list.  We encourage those suggestions to keep on coming!  I look forward to adding more wonderful titles to our collection throughout the years to come as we work to grow our readers at Northside. 

Students like to ask, "Mrs. Cole, have you read every book in this library?" and while I would LOVE to be able to shout "Why, yes…..yes, I have!" I still have a looooong way to go to make that a reality.  I do however have some favorite fall picks.  These are just a few of my favorites from our Northside Library Collection and more will soon make this list. 

 

A Day With Author Jarrett Krosoczka

Saturday, October 5, 2013 was an awesome day!  When I found out the author of the ever popular graphic novel series Lunch Lady was coming to UNC I knew I had to be there and I had to share the news with our school community.  The flier went up right away on the door to our library, the entryway to our school and blurbs were sent to classroom teachers.  I just knew this would be exciting news to more than just me!  After all, his books fly off our shelves and when a copy does manage to make it back to the shelf it's not there for long before it's swiped up by a student who feels an extreme sense of satisfaction they snagged it before the next kid.

After sharing my excitement for this upcoming author visit, I quickly learned that one of our third grade classes had this very author listed on their classroom "Inspiration Wall".  After receiving a Donor's Choose grant to purchase a classroom collection of Graphic Novels, Mrs. Symons' third grade class began to explore Jarrett a little more in-depth by listening to his NPR interview and were inspired by his life story.  

Knowing he was going to be making a visit to UNC, we reached out to him via Twitter and email to see if he would be willing to visit our school should he be arriving early to Chapel Hill.   Excitement filled Mrs. Symons room when he tweeted back to the Scholars of Room 330.   Unfortunately, his flight wasn't leaving until Friday night but he was very flattered that he had such adoring admirers from Northside Elementary School.   And so…even though it meant getting up early on a Saturday morning we had such a great turnout from our Northside community to meet and greet with an author we love so much.  And a big thanks to Mrs. Symons and Mrs. Leonard for providing shuttle service for several students on the day of the big event. 

We learned so much about Jarrett during his author talk as he described his journey to becoming an author.  And what resonated the most with me was his resiliency.  He had numerous rejections before ever being picked up by a publisher and he never gave up!  He always knew the work he wanted to do and kept trying again and again.  And it paid off because he has since gone on to be honored as a National Book Award winner!  What a positive message to share with kids about the importance of hard work, determination and persistence!  He also shared with the audience that his Lunch Lady series was inspired by his own lunch lady growing up during elementary school.

And we learned the importance of always keeping a sketch book nearby because you never know when an idea will come to you.  Although these days Jarrett's sketchbook is in the form of an iPad because he can quickly send ideas back and forth with his editor.  Jarrett also described how intensive the writing process is when creating his graphic novels.  There are multiple edits and revisions before he ever even begins to design the drawings that accompany the story.  He stressed the importance of this writing process because "...there are going to be mistakes.  We want to find mistakes so we can fix them before the final version."  Talk about the growth mindset at work!

After sharing his story, Jarrett called all the students down to the front for an up-close and personal experience as he sketched out some of his most popular characters including the Lunch Lady herself (which he signed and gave us to hang in our library)!  Afterwards he took questions from the audience and acknowledged our very own Room 330 Scholars!  Before the day ended he autographed books for the kids and even took the time to take a picture with our Northside crew! Later that day he even gave us a special shout-out on our Twitter feeds!

 And this is why we love Jarrett Krosoczka.  Not only is he a pretty cool author who writes things that kids like to read that are "laugh out loud" funny, but he's just a super nice guy.  Thanks for creating a lasting memory in the minds of so many.  Keep writing...keep creating....keep inspiring kids to read!

To find out more about Jarrett and his creative works visit his website at http://www.studiojjk.com

Making Our Mark - A Celebration of Dot Day!

International Dot Day comes around once a year on or around September 15.  Inspired by the book The Dot  by Peter Reynolds, students are encouraged to be creative and make their mark on the world. At Northside, we decided this would be a great opening to the school year as we work to build community and learn about one another.  This also served as a great lead-in to our first Project Based Learning unit entitled,  "Making Our Mark From Past to Present - A Northside History Project" in which all students will begin exploring the history of our school and how people in the past have made their mark at Northside long before our new building constructed.  Click on the video below to check out all the fun that was had on Dot Day 2013!



 

Thanks to a grant from The Public School Foundation we were able to purchase a copy of The Dot for each teacher at Northside to share with their students the first week of school.  We decorated our doors and hallways with all the ways we were going to make our mark as both students and staff.  

 

We put our iPads to work as we got super creative using an augmented reality app to bring our creative dots to life in 3D.  We had so much fun being creative with this new technology and the students were really generating some great shots that captured their 3D creations.  

 

 

 In the library we also created a celebri-dot display that highlighted various authors who got in on the fun and created their own creative dots in support of Dot Day!  We paired each author's dot with a picture of the author and a book we had from our collection.  Many students were inspired to read a celebri-dot book or two as they made their way in and out of the library.  We also had loads of fun adding our own creative marks to our giant dot display and learning about the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama better known as the Princess of Polka Dots.  Check out the clip below to see a bit more about her work. 

And finally, we couldn't resist adding to the fun by decking ourselves out in dots to celebrating making our mark! What a great staff we have at NES!  We look forward to celebrating Dot Day next year with more students as we continue to MAKE - OUR - MARK!

Summer Reading 2013

 Ahhh.....the lazy days of summer are almost upon us.  That means lots of time to soak up some really great reads. With so many amazing books written for children it's hard to know where to dive in first.  Picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, informational books, biographies, the list goes on. Summer allows children an opportunity to engage in reading for pleasure as they explore various genres and navigate their way towards the books and stories that bring them the most pleasure.  

Beyond the sheer joy, there are also many benefits to summer reading that support student learning and prevent a loss in reading abilities while away from school.  Access to reading materials (think public library) and time spent engaging with text are the most critical components to ensure children don't suffer reading loss over the summer months.  Click here to read an article on how to make summer reading effective for your child.  You can also get some useful parent tips about summer reading here.

Below you will find resources for families to take advantage of this summer to support the summer reading habit with your child.  From national book challenges to local programs at the public library there is something for everyone.  You will also find book lists, read-alikes and more that will be helpful as you navigate the world of children's literature with your child.

Summer Reading Programs: 

 Chapel Hill Public Library Reading Program 

How can you resist staying away from the newly renovated Chapel Hill Public Library and the enchanted forest that was created for children and youth?  This summer's reading theme is "Dig Into Reading" and kicks off on June 1. To find out more about all the fun  happening at the library this summer from performances to reading clubs click here.  And for even more fun - check out this song written by Randy Sauer to go along with the 2013 reading theme. 

Scholastic Reading Challenge

Participate in the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge and Read for the World Record!  The Scholastic Summer Challenge is a free reading program dedicated to stopping the “Summer Slide” and encouraging kids to read every day this summer. Now in its seventh year, the Summer Challenge invites kids to log the minutes they spend reading as they Read for the World Record. The top school with the most minutes read/logged will win a school visit from Dav Pilkey, the bestselling author of the Captain Underpants series. The top 20 schools with the most minutes logged will receive recognition in the 2014 Scholastic Book of World Records. The top 20 schools (along with the top school in every state) will also receive a “Reading Plaque” to display at school and a badge for their websites.  How awesome would it be for Northside to be one of the top reading schools?!!  Click here to sign up and begin logging those minutes. 


Barnes and Noble Summer Reading: Imagination's Destination

Each summer Barnes and Noble holds a special summer reading promotion in which children can earn free books.  With two locations nearby at New Hope Commons and Southpoint Mall, it's a quick and easy way to support the summer reading habit while also getting more books in your child's hand.  The New Hope Commons location will host a Summer Reading Kick-off Party on Friday, June 14 at 7pm.  Author Edward Kemp will be discussing his new book about a boy wizard called Woodard's Crest!  To learn more about this program click here.

And.....mark your calendars - Northside Elementary School will be holding an in-store bookfair and "Think Fun" game day at the New Hope Commons Barnes and Noble on Saturday, July 20.  NES will receive a portion of the money raised from sales to spend on our school and classroom libraries.  More information will be provided at a later date.  

We Give Books: Read For My Summer

We give books is committed to combing the joy of reading while helping others.  By simply signing up for a free online account, users have access to hundreds of free digital books.  Many popular titles are included and the best part about the program is every time a user logs on and reads a book, a print book is donated to someone in need around the world.  Currently, they are sponsoring a "Read for My Summer" campaign.  This campaign highlights a special book for parents and children to read online from the We Give Books library every week, along with fun activities and reading tips to make each book come to life, including custom activities from Read Write Think. This free 10-week program helps parents, schools and libraries offer children an exciting online reading experience, while helping to share books with public libraries in the US.  To learn more visit www.wegivebooks.org


BookLists and More: 

  

The CHCCS librarians have compiled suggested reading lists by grade level if you are looking for book titles that kids are sure to love.  To access these lists click on the grade range below that your child will be entering this fall.

K-1     2-3      3-5     Middle School

You may also want to check out the "Just Right" booklists I created for students.  These lists were created to give students suggestions based on their "just right" book level.  Click here to access these lists. 

Scholastic has published recommended reading lists by age range.  Each lists designates titles based on the following: read aloud, recommended for reluctant reader, nonfiction, available in Spanish, available as an e-book, series book, award winning, and Common Core Standards ready.  To view these book lists click here. 

Finally, check out the library's Pinterest page and follow us if you are a "pinner" to find more great information about summer reading and book recommendations.  Information will be continuously added throughout summer and school year.

With lots to keep you busy this summer I hope you find time each day to read, relax and laugh a little.  Have an enjoyable and fun summer and we look forward to seeing you in August! Happy Reading!