An Adult Read....

I admit it.  I'm not a fiction reader, but Loving Frank is an exception.  It's a narrative based on Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney's love affair and is beautifully written.  A tragic story that is touching, realistic, and often heartbreaking.  Of course, the mention of Chautauqua gives it Colorado ties.  But there's something about the craft of the story that made me forget about the ultimately sad story I was reading.  The book places Wright in a light we don't often think about and the complexity of Mamah's character is so intriguing.
     This is one of the books my wife put on my nightstand and said, "You have to read this one... it's amazing writing, sad, but amazing!"  It's provocative.  It's riveting.  It's challenging.  As you read, you get such a clear portrait of the time period... and then there's the ending! 

     The craft.  I loved the writing.  Nancy Horan should be very proud of her first novel!  And though it took her many years to research and writer, it was well worth the wait!

     I focus so much on professional reads and children's literature.  But I need to remember that if I'm going to ask my readers to create sensory images, determine importance, draw inferences, synthesize, etc. I need to read more for myself and utilize the strategies I'm asking them to use in their reading.  This book caused me to slow down, think about my thinking, and to really comprehend... giving myself to take a more metacognitive stance gave me a chance to focus on the complexities of this text.  
Check out the interesting interview with the author as well as a walking tour of Oak Park: http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/lovingfrank/

Foot Tracings...

One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II by Lita Judge tells a story based on the author's own family history.  After WWII, her grandparents living the Midwest, organized a way to help those in Europe left in the aftermath of the war.  The story focuses on the relief effort that the author's own family coordinated (based on a box of artifacts the author/illustrator found in her grandparent's attic).  The artwork-watercolor and collage-is beautiful, but it's the story that grabs the reader (written across time in chronological order).  
     The story of a girl and her mother sending shoes (and other needed items) to Europe, based on foot tracings they received is amazing.  Starting with a letter (But just before Christmas, a letter arrived that changed everything...) we hear the story of a little girl and her family helping others (Families we didn't even know, yet we grew to love them).  The storyline and the illustrations made this a wonderful addition to my collection.
     I used this book during a study of synthesis with my third graders... we looked closely at how our thinking changed over time.  Because the book focuses on helping others, it was a great text to take in slowly and carefully and move through during several crafting sessions during reader's workshop (nearing the end of our synthesis study).  
     I'm so glad Lita Judge found the box in the attic with thousands of "foot tracings" in it and even happier that she decided to investigate and write this lovely book.  Hope, compassion, kindness, giving... all words that come to mind when I think about the importance of helping others.

Remember Your Radio Flyer?

You've seen Zachary Pullen's illustrations in Sports Illustrated and The Wall Street Journal.  When I was in Wyoming earlier this week, my friend Dana had this book on display in her classroom and it caught my eye.  Little did I know that he hailed from Wyoming.

     He illustrated The Toughest Cowboy: Or How the West Was Tamed (which is hilarious) and Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Prize, but Friday My Radio Flyer Flew is his first picture book.  The bright red Radio Flyer on the front caught my eye, it reminded me of my own childhood wagon.  I had to pick it up! 

     In the book a boy discovers his father's old Radio Flyer in the attic and his goal is to get it to fly.  He builds wings for the wagon, but they break off.  His father pulls him in the wagon and the boy dreams of making it fly.  It's a wonderful story of a father and son using their imaginations, working together to make it fly.  The final page is a tug-at-your-heartstrings portrait of a father and son moment that lives in their imagination.

     

I'm glad I happened upon this book, even though I had to drive all the way to Casper to see it!  This is the illustrator's website.  He has illustrated a new alphabet book, S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet. Check out more of his amazing illustrations: http://www.zacharypullen.com or read his wonderful blog http://giftofwork.blogspot.com/

Synthesis Thinkers

I was looking through some of last year's charts from reader's workshop and I happened upon our thinking from a five week study of synthesizing as learners.  I love grappling with synthesis thinking with third graders...  How does a wise learner use synthesis?  I love when readers see a strategy helping them communicate their thinking, encouraging problem solving as they read, and nudging them to collaborate with other readers.  When readers can combine new information with existing knowledge or experience to create new ideas or unique interpretations, they are learning to be synthesis thinkers.
     In my new book, I included a quote from Mackenzie, one of my former students:  "I need to synthesize when I’m reading!  I think synthesis is like cooking.  You throw all the ingredients together, mix them together, and the end result is FOOD.  In reading, you have all these thoughts and you combine them all together and you get one big new overall learning or thought."  The perfect definition.
     Last year, I borrowed the following idea from my friend Cheryl.  To begin our study, I gave each student an 8 inch square piece of tag and six, two-inch strips of paper (each a different color).  Every student started with the same thing.  After showing them some pictures of mosaics, I simply asked them to create a mosaic using the paper I gave them and to write a sentence or two about their thinking.  We all started with the same thing, but the results were much different...24 unique interpretations.  We talked about how synthesis was just that, taking a piece of text and walking away with our own personal interpretation.

     Here are two examples of their work and their thinking:

      Our discussion led us to the idea that even though we all start with the same thing (e.g. a piece of text), what we do with it can look vastly different, across one text or across multiple texts.  Our mosaics were the metaphor we latched onto as we continued our study of becoming wise synthesis thinkers throughout our study of this thinking strategy.

Making MIracles

In Susan Morgenstern's (not related to Rhoda) wonderful book, the narrator is asked what he wants to be when he grows up and this wonderful book takes us through his journey.  The illustrations reminded me a little of Maurice Sendak and are a perfect fit to the text (translated by the way)!  The story starts with the question "What will you do when you grow up?"  The last page of this book takes your breath away!  There's a twist at the end... don't want to ruin the surprise, but you MUST add this one to your collection.

An Observation

I spent Monday and Tuesday facilitating a group of visitors that were here from Casper, Wyoming.  I've been doing a five year project with the staff at Paradise Valley Elementary (it's an excellent little school... the leadership and staff are amazing)!  We've set up visitation classrooms and facilitators for teachers from around the Casper area... amazing teachers!  They were here to talk hosting and facilitating...

     We were in a colleague's second grade classroom, watching her reader's and writer's workshops (and some specific word work as well).  The beauty of observing a classroom is the depth of talk among children when their teacher is conferring with another student across the room...  One little girl said, "Hey, while Mrs. B. is busy, let's pretend this is school."  Problem solving at it's finest.  The thing is, when Mrs. B. is with her students there is no pretending--everything is real, honest, authentic, sincere...

     There's a beauty in watching a teacher like Mrs. B. work with children... after our first day together, during our debrief, we synthesized our observations into four categories:

• Evidence of Language - it's grounded in conversation, each word is explicit and metacognitive (student to student and teacher to student), the language is challenging and scholarly
  
• Evidence of Trust/Community - there's a rhythm, a specific cadence to every interaction, trust is at the heart of learning
• Evidence of Choice/Independence - the learners see themselves in control, they use questions to deepen their understanding, their self-image is well-defined and contagious
  
• Evidence of Thinking - thinking forms the crux of each interaction, each conference nudges the thinking to greater depth, the room itself permeates respect for each learner and his/her individual needs
  

     The rituals and routines of the workshop are guiding individuals to independence through a subtle undercurrent of trust... every child's thinking is acknowledged, not necessarily confirmed, but acknowledged... "Hmm... you should think more about... That's grand, have you thought about..."  There's no doubt that Mrs. B. loves her students (in the most professional sense of the word).  And with rigor, intimacy, and inquiry alive and well, students don't have to pretend... they are in school and in school the way it should be!
     I wish every child had a teacher like Mrs. B.  One whose interactions with children are not contrived and controlled by mindless activities and fill-in-the-blank thinking, but are instead honest and heartfelt and most of all, authentic.   It was a grand two days!

Welcome Fall...

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I was visiting my colleague Karen's classroom earlier this week and at the beginning of writer's workshop she said to her children, "You know boy and girls, I was walking my dog this morning and I noticed all the beautiful colors of fall, all the leaves on the ground, the crisp air... and my heart said that today we just needed to spend some time writing about fall (she proceeded to have a masterful conversation about writing about a specific topic with her students).  
     So, we're going to put our writing projects aside for today's workshop and just spend some time writing about fall... you can get out your journals and write what you're thinking about, what's on your heart or mind... you know there are a lot of wonderful books written about this time of year, I've pulled a few here that you might like to read..."  And then she shared a snippet of a few of her favorites and then her second graders settled in to 40 minutes of quiet writing time... independently.  And as Karen meandered around the room, conferring as needed, nudging as needed, and writing as needed I thought to myself... "Now that is what real writers do!"
     Here are my favorite books about autumn (many of which Karen made available to her students), what are your favorites... 

Hello, Harvest Moon by R. Fletcher 

When Autumn Falls by K. Nidey

In November by C. Rylant

Pumpkins by K. Robbins

Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by G. Levenson 

Pumpkin, Pumpkin by J. Titherington

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by E. Wallace

Autumn Leaves by K. Robbins

Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by S. Schnur

When Autumn Comes by R. Maass

Autumn Across America by S. Simon

It's Fall by L. Glaser

Autumnblings by D. Florian