Popping For Poetry!

 Come on in...welcome to my blog post about Poetry Pop-In week.

March has been a great month to become... 

Wild about Reading and Poetry!

POETRY POP-IN WEEK WITH OUR SCHOOL MEDIA SPECIALIST, KRIS HUGHES, AND MARY KAVANAUGH, SCHOOL LIBRARIAN.

April is the official poetry month, yet in my opinion, poetry should be read everyday! Don't you agree? Poetry is a powerful tool when helping students learn to read and write. The natural flow of the rhyme and rhythms build a love for reading and language. In fact, research tells us that:

• Poetry awakens our senses, helps us make connections to others, and leads us to think in synthesizing ways, as required by the use of metaphor.
  
• Paying attention to the language and rhythms of poetry helps build oral language skills.
  
• Children with well-developed oral language skills are more likely to have higher achievement in reading and writing.
  
• Creative applications of new media that build on the literacies students have already developed outside of school can help teachers tap into the literacy-enhancing power of poetry. {Hughes, 2007} 

In first grade I expose my students to a new poem every week. The poems usually relate to a science or social studies topic, however it could be a silly poem just for fun.  For example, our poem this week is called, Bugs, and it relates to our science unit on insects. After reading the poem all week, on Friday the students place the poem in their poetry notebook to illustrate. At the end of the year, each student has a collection of poetry to take home to share with family and friends. What a keepsake for moms and dads! Take a look at the pages from a student's poetry notebook in my class. I love her illustrations! 

In an effort to expose and get our students excited about reading and writing poetry, our School Media Specialist, along with our School Librarian "popped" into our classrooms to share some light-hearted, and funny poetry with our students. As you can see, they dressed up the for occasion as they dawned on mop heads to read the poem, Spaghetti, written by Jack Prelutsky. 

Students listen to the poem Spaghetti by Jack Prelutsky.

Spaghetti! Spaghetti!

          You’re wonderful stuff,          

          I love you, spaghetti,          

I can’t get enough.

You’re covered with sauce

And you’re sprinkled with cheese,

Spaghetti!  Spaghetti!

Oh, give me some more please.

Spaghetti!  Spaghetti!

Piled high in a mound,

You wiggle, you wriggle,

You squiggle around.

There’s slurpy spaghetti

All over my plate,

Spaghetti!  Spaghetti!

 I think you're great! 
     

Spaghetti!  Spaghetti!

I love you a lot,

You’re slishy, you’re sloshy,

Delicious and hot,

                           I gobble you down,                           

Oh, I can’t get enough.

Spaghetti!  Spaghetti!

You’re wonderful stuff.

                                                             

What do you think inspired Jack Prelutsky to write this poem? You guessed it, his LOVE for spaghetti! In fact, this well-known and beloved American writer of children's poetry, has written over 40 children's books based on things he loves and doesn't love (so much), and in 2006, the Poetry Foundation awarded him the inaugural winner of the Children's Poet Laureate. This month, I read poems to my students from Jack Prelutsky's book, I'm Glad I'm Me! The poems were entertaining and funny, but most of all, my student were able to relate to the subject of the poems....KIDS!

I read the following poem to my class, and I wish you could have heard the laughter!

 

Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face

By Jack Prelutsky

 

Be glad your nose is on your face,

not pasted on some other place,

for if it were where it is not,

you might dislike your nose a lot.

Imagine if your precious nose

were sandwiched in between your toes,

that clearly would not be a treat,

for you’d be forced to smell your feet.

Your nose would be a source of dread

were it attached atop your head,

it soon would drive you to despair,

forever tickled by your hair.

Within your ear, your nose would be

an absolute catastrophe,

for when you were obliged to sneeze,

your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,

remains between your eyes and chin,

not pasted on some other place—

be glad your nose is on your face!

Find out more about Jack Prelutsky while reading some his poems when you visit the Poetry Foundation, and also watch this interview with Jack Prelutsky to find out what inspires his creative writing. Oh, and by the way, be sure to visit his zany website to find out how you can download his new App based on his book, The New Kid on the Block.


Writing poetry is good way to express your feelings. I challenge you to write a poem about something you like or don't like during the month of April. After all, it is National Poetry Month. 

Blogging is a ton of fun

But I must get out to run

Before I meet the sun!

Well, between now and next time...Ya'll come back you hear!

The poetry research used in this post can be found here.

AR Table

Come on in...and welcome to my AR table post!

This week I had fun learning about HTML {HyperText Markup Language}!  I've read about html before, and dabbled in it in some of my other LIS courses, but I never coded in html until this week.   So, after listening to my professor's lecture on html, watching a graduate assistant code in html, and visiting W3 Schools online, I was able to gain enough information to create my very first table using html coding. Using html coding, was the coolest thing ever! I was so amazed at how the computer read the code, then created a beautiful table with color...Simply Amazing!

Before I unveil the html table, let's go back a few weeks, where you may remember that I created an AR data visualization pie chart that revealed the percentages of AR points per class in first grade {that's the grade I teach}.

The results were surprising! 

So, today I wanted break down the actual number of AR points per first grade class using a table.

      HERE ARE THE POINTS EARNED
                       PER CLASS! 

Teacher	Points Earned
Mrs. Reeder	570.5
Mrs. Keller	498
Mrs. Leger	442.5
Mrs. Miner	331.6
Mrs. Lopez	307.6
Mrs. Berardo	302.7
Overall Number of Points	2452.9

They say that the truth isn't always pretty, and according to this table, you can see that my class has the lowest number of AR points to date. However, as I stated in an earlier post, I will use this data to press on and have my students read twice as much in the 4th quarter. By the way, Read the Most from Coast to Coast, a nationwide effort to get students excited about reading and taking reading practice quizzes, is coming up soon. Hopefully my class will read lots of books, then quiz to earn plenty of AR points. I look forward to blogging about this next time. So, ya'll some back you hear!

Mystery Readers

Come on in...and welcome to my blog post about Mystery Readers!

We all know that children love surprises, and when you combine that with reading, you get a great combination! Inviting Mystery Readers into your classroom can build suspense while fostering a love for reading and books in children. In fact, year after year, I never get tired of watching the joy and excitement that a Mystery Reader brings to my students.

So, how does it work? At the beginning of each quarter, I begin scheduling a weekly Mystery Reader who can visit our classroom to read and share books with my students. I let the suspense build all week long, then on Friday afternoon, the Mystery Reader appears. A Mystery Reader could be a parent, grandparent, principal, librarian, family member, former student, or an older sibling, just to name a few. 

This year, I found an easy and simple way to schedule my Mystery Readers...SignUp Genius! SignUpGenius is a wonderful online tool used for creating and managing group sign up lists. I create the dates/times that I need a Mystery Reader, and then send the link out to parents and co-workers. They sign up for the day that is most convenient for them, then an email reminder goes out reminding them of their special day. I also use SignUpGenius when scheduling parent/teacher conferences, and classroom parties. This is a great online resource, and if you haven't tried it yet, check it out here. 

  

 Below is a screen shot of the Mystery Reader SignUpGenius that I created for my classroom.

SignUpGenius..An online tool for creating and managing group sign ups.

Over the years, I have met parents who are so thrilled about being a Mystery Reader, that I honestly don't know who gets more excited; the parents or the students.


Recently one of my parents read the book Goblin Shark to my class...

and as you can imagine, my first graders flipped when this parent walked into the classroom wearing scuba gear! Not only do kids love the idea of sharks, but when this dad combined a shark book with scuba gear, along with his own personal encounters with sharks and diving; it was a match made in heaven.  What a fun way to end the week, while fostering a love for reading.  


Since we're on the topic of sharks, I created a little game using the online gaming program, called Scratch. We all know that kids are fascinated with both sharks (in a scary sort of way) and games, so I thought combining the two would make a great combo, just like surprises and reading. 
To play this game, use your arrows keys to safely hide Ollie the Octopus behind the rocks.   Go Ahead...click the green flag to start, BUT watch out for the shark!!

                                                 
                                                                  MYSTERY READER
                                                                 NANCY GERUNTINO

In February, we were blessed when one of my students' family members was visiting from Ohio, and she decided to become our next Mystery Reader. Her name is Nancy Geruntino, and she isn't your ordinary Mystery Reader, she has authored a children's book along with her friend Susie Cutler called, My Hair! The students were mesmerized as she used an English accent to tell about 2 zany queens who do outrageous things while getting into silly predicaments. The characters from the castle try to help solve the problems: some succeed and others fail. However, we found out that with failure, we learn.

Author Nancy Geruntino with my sweet first graders!

Nancy Geruntino, and her friend Susie, have also created a website where children can color characters from the book, find a recipe for baking crowns, and learn new vocabulary words. Teachers can access this website to find Reading Common Core Standards that go along with the book, My Hair! Teachers, parents, and students can learn and have fun at Queensplaytime.com, check it out today.

Today, I leave you with a few photos of Author Nancy Geruntino reading to my class, and one more thing...it's no Mystery, that sharing books with children help them to become Wild About Reading, so become a Mystery Reader today!

Well, between now and next time...ya'll come back you hear!

Author Nancy Geruntino reads her book My Hair! to my first grade class.

Author Nancy Geruntino uses an English Accent while reading her book, My Hair! 

Accelerated Reader and Data Visualizations

Come On In...and welcome to my post about Accelerated Reader and Data Visualizations.

I've blogged about Accelerated Reader before, and how it motivates children to read, but today I want to use the data provided by the Accelerated Reader program to create some revealing informative data visualizations. One of the the most important aspects of the Accelerated Reader program is that it provides numerous amounts of data. In fact, it provides data on students, classes, grade levels, and school-wide information.  As a teacher, I benefit from this data when conferencing with parents, and it also allows me to keep track of student AR progress. For this post, I have created three examples of AR data visualizations which are based upon the research that I discovered within the AR software. These visualizations are helpful not only to teachers, but to the elementary school media specialist, and school administrator as well.
  

Let's take a look...

They say that a picture is worth a 1000 words!

The pie chart below proves that!

I created a pie chart to compare the percentages of 

AR points per class/to date in first grade. 

Here lies the body of evidence!

Mrs. Reeder's Class is in the lead with 23%

Mrs. Keller 20%

Mrs. Leger 18%

Mrs. Miner 14%

Mrs. Lopez 13%

Mrs. Berardo 12% (Yikes,that's my class!) 

Hmmm...I must admit that these results embarrass and disappoint me, because I know that my students have been diligently taking AR reading practice quizzes this year. Seeing the percentages on a pie chart reveals the ugly truth! The five other first grade classes have achieved higher AR percentages than my class. However, I will not concede, I will use this visualization to motivate my students to read twice as much during the 4th quarter.

Now, let's take a look at a bar graph!

I created a bar graph to represent the total number of AR points per grade level. As you can see, Kindergarten has accumulated a total of 43.5 points to date. You are probably wondering why they have such a low number of points, right? Well, it's because the Kindergarten teachers only use the AR program to challenge their higher-level readers, therefore AR is not a requirement during Kindergarten. Next, you will notice that the first graders have accumulated 2452.9 points. In first grade, teachers use the AR program to motivate students to read. However, in grades 2-5, there is a significant increase in the total number of points. The reason for the dramatic rise in AR points, stems from the fact that AR becomes a requirement during these school years, and grades are taken to reflect student participation. Then, in grades 6-8, the total number of AR points decline. AR is not a requirement during middle school, nor are grades taken. Middle school teachers offer AR to students who would like to continue the program beyond their elementary years. As you can see, this type of data visualization can be very beneficial to Elementary School Media Specialists and School Administrators who often inquire about student practice and usage of the AR program.

At last...Some good news!

Are you ready?

    

The above bar graph compares STAR Reading gains 

in my class since the beginning of the school year.

First of all, let me explain that the STAR Reading test is a computerized reading assessment used to establish a student's reading level. The STAR test is given approximately 3-4 times per year in order to determine reading growth in students.  The above graph was created using a Scaled Score from the STAR Reading assessment. A Scaled Score is based upon the difficulty of questions and the correct number of responses. It is useful for comparing student performance overtime, and Scaled Scores  range from 0-1400. In August of 2013, my new first grade students took the STAR Reading test for the very first time. According to the Pretest bar, my student's Scaled Score was 110. Since then, my students have taken the STAR Reading test 2 more times, and showed reading gains of +92 (see Posttest bar of 202). I am very happy with the results thus far, and look forward to even greater gains as I administer the STAR Reading Test one more time before the school year ends.

This concludes my post on data visualizations, and by the way, I'm a visual learner, therefore I honestly appreciate and understand the importance of good data visuals.
What about you?  What type of learner are you.... visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or do you require all three? Maybe I'll blog about different learner styles and how it effects children in reading! Sounds like a good topic to me!

Well, between now and next time...ya'll come back you hear! 

   

Author Visit-Part 2

Come On In..and welcome to my second blog post about Crystal Bowman, the well-known children's author.

As I promised you in an earlier post, I mentioned that I would share the details about Crystal Bowman's visit to our school, and I'm happy to announce that her visit was a huge success! Throughout the day she held assemblies for students from PreK-5th grade. The assemblies were broken down into different times for various grade levels. First, she spoke to the 3rd-5th graders, next 1st-2nd, then PreK-K, and lastly she held a special writing workshop for students in the fourth grade. 
I attended the assembly with my very excited first grade class! My students were mesmerized as they listened to Mrs. Bowman read poetry from her book, Cracks in the Sidewalk. She told us that she wrote this book to tell about the adventures of growing up and the joy of being a child.

Then we watched as 12 students were selected to use props to act out her book, The House In the Middle of Town. This picture book shares the story of a community joining together to assist a neighbor in need.  

   

 

Author Crystal Bowman reads her book, The House in the Middle of Town, while first and second grade students use props to act out the story.

Mrs. Bowman shared that she became an author at the age of 40, and that most of her story and poetry ideas come from real life experiences. Interestingly, she shared that the ideas for her first chapter book, Ivan and the Dynamos, came from her son's hockey team experiences. However, she rewrote it 10 times, and that it took 3 years before it was  published. Wow, now that's perseverance!  At the end of the assembly, Crystal Bowman took time to answer a few questions. One question that came from a bright-eyed first grader was, "How many books have you written?" and Mrs. Bowman responded by saying, "I have written 80 books!"  

Author Crystal Bowman takes time to answer a few questions
from some very excited students!

Later in the day, we attended the Crystal Bowman book signing in the Elementary Library Media Center, where we took pictures and purchased a book for our class from the I Can Read! Series. What a meaningful experience not only for my students, but for myself as well. I must say that author visits not only motivate students to read, but to also write. I can still hear Crystal Bowman reminding our students that,"Writing is all about practice, the more you practice, the better you get!"  
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and I'll leave you with a picture from the book signing. So, between now and next time....Ya'll come back you hear!

 At the book signing with Author Crystal Bowman
and a few of my happy first grade students!