Share the Love

It is a good indication of how busy these last few weeks have been, that I am only just posting this great news: my little bookandbliss project is getting off the ground, I love writing about these books, and the blog has been nominated for the Liebster Award :) Not once . . . not twice . . . but THREE times by fellow bloggers who I am happy to get to know! A huge thanks to Mrs. S at The Organized Plan Book, Mrs. Smith at Performing in Fifth, and Susan at Lopez Land Learners.

Basic info about the Liebster Award (aka The Rules):

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted for me by my nominator
4. Share 11 random facts about myself
5. Contact my nominees and let them know that I nominated them

The following 11 questions are a mix of the questions asked by Mrs. S, Mrs. Smith, and Susan (it’s an S fiesta!)

1. What is your favorite children's literature book to read aloud?

Only one? How can I possibly choose? There are so many that I adore. Currently I am reading the BFG (one of my all time favorites). I love to start out the year with either Matilda (instilling a love of books and knowledge, and a little mischief) or The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (because every year is a new journey).

2. How many students are in your class? What do you think would be the best class size to have?

I am very lucky to teach in a Dual Immersion Public School, which means that I teach language arts to 2 classes for a half day each (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). They spend the other half of the day with their Chinese teacher. I love getting to focus on writing and English, while still teaching some math review concepts. I have 20 in one class and 24 in the other (which is the lowest class size I’ve had—it’s great!) I think the best class size would be 18 or 20, because it is enough to have a strong class dynamic, but still be able to give individualized attention.

3. How do you de-stress from an exhausting day at the "office"?

Netflix. Yoga. Chocolate. Sleeping.

4. If you could teach any subject all day long, what would it be?

Language Arts! I am so lucky that I get to teach so much of it!

5. What is the one country you would like to visit?

I would LOVE to go back to Australia, to visit dear friends as well as enjoy the culture. It is one of my favorite places.

6. What is one supply in your class you just can't get enough of?

PENCILS. I think my students eat them whole. I have put hundreds of them into our pencil bin, and there are only 2 left!

7. How long have you been teaching? Do you imagine retiring as a teacher?

This is my 4^th year of teaching. I spent one year in 2^nd grade and the rest in 3^rd, which I love. If there is one thing I know about plans, it’s that they CHANGE, however, I plan to teach until my husband and I are blessed with kids and then I will be their teacher.

8. What is your favorite store or website to shop for school related items?

TpT has always been my go-to place for lesson plans, especially for math concepts that I don’t feel as strong in. It is nice that other teachers’ strengths can fill in the gaps for me!

9. What is your favorite part of your classroom?

The classroom library for sure! I love my books (over 1100 of them, and still colleting).

10. What is the best piece of advice you would offer to newbie teachers?

My best advice is to go home at the end of the day and leave work at work. That is HARD to do, but it makes life much more balanced. If you are healthy and happy, your students benefit from it.

11. If you could meet anyone for a day, who would it be?

I would love to hang out with Julie Andrews. So elegant!

11 Facts About Me

  1. I have a stash of chocolate and Starbursts in my desk drawer.

2. Mornings are hard.

3. I absolutely love the first few days of spring.

4. My favorite water bottle is the glass Voss bottles . . . 1.5 pints  . . . refilled with tap water J Gotta stay hydrated!

5. I still hate driving next to semi trucks on the highway.

6. My degree is in Elementary Education . . .

7. AND I also took enough English classes (favorite!) to get an English minor as well.

8. Calvin and Hobbes taught me how to read. And my mom. She should get credit too.

9. My car is sunshine yellow (I was living in the cold heart of winter when I chose it).

10. I am the oldest of 5 siblings.

11. Counting down the days until Downton Abbey Season 5 . . .

Questions for my nominees to answer:

1. What is your favorite children's literature book to read aloud?

2. How many students are in your class? What do you think would be the best class size to have?

3. How do you de-stress from an exhausting day at the "office"?

4. If you could teach any subject all day long, what would it be?

5. What is the one country you would like to visit?

6. What is one supply in your class you just can't get enough of?

7. How long have you been teaching? Do you imagine retiring as a teacher?

8. What is your favorite store or website to shop for school related items?

9. What is your favorite part of your classroom?
10. What is the best piece of advice you would offer to newbie teachers?

11. If you could meet anyone for a day, who would it be?

Drumroll please! My nominees are:

1. One Teacher's Adventures

Diane has lots of great ideas for teachers to try in their classrooms! Her posts are very visual and her ideas are fabulous.  After reading her blog, I want to try them all with my own students. :)

2. Teach2Love

Shannon is a 4^th grade teacher with a engaging writing style. You’ll love reading about her class!

3. The Third Grade Zoo

Jessicca is a 3rd grade teacher—just like me! Her post about growing plants in the classroom is a must-read.

4. Innovative to the Core

Sara is an experienced teacher with so many great classroom ideas. Her blog also has freebies section that I could spend hours in!

5. Teaching with a Touch of Honey

Natalie has a lot of experience teaching, and you’ll love her differentiation-based approach. Great blog!

Thanks and much love!

Carmen

 

Infographic: Why We Should All Be Learning Mandarin

Check out this interesting infographic I stumbled upon at redlinels.com.

Language is important :) These numbers deepen my admiration for the diverse nature of our planet. And I love teaching English :)

8 New Folktales and Fairytales

I'm no Einstein, but I DO know that stories like these help kids to make sense of the world, BECAUSE they are fictional.

 

I am LOVING each new book on the New York Public Library’s List of 100 Titles to Read and Share.

On to #24 through #31!

#24 Aesop in California by Dough Hansen

 

3 Cheers!

The best stories always come home with you, and Doug Hansen brought a handful of well-known fables to his home state of California. The details are rich and well-researched—it shows in the illustrations and the wording that reflects a very local interpretation of the age old classics. The introduction is also a must-read, and it gives you clues about hidden objects to look for in each illustration.

 

From the author:

“I especially chose fables that offered opportunities to illustrate the gloriously diverse animals and habitats of the Golden State.”

Each story takes only one page and will capture your imagination.

This was a welcome glimpse into the wildlife of my neighbor state.

#25 Can’t Scare Me! by Ashley Bryan

3 Cheers!

A lovely rhyming rhythm tells how a giant slowly tricks a boy and how the boy out wits the giants in return.

#26 Demeter and Persephone by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden

3 Cheers!

It is about time I read this story. Somehow I managed to make it through high school AND college without having it assigned. This story is written with younger readers in mind (about 6^th grade) but can be read out loud to 4^th and 5^th graders.

Get ready, because the illustrations are gorgeous.

The NYPL also suggests two other titles by the same author, in the same series:

Theseus and the Minotaur

Orpheus and Eurydice

#27 Grandma and the Great Gourd: A Bengali Folktale by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

3 Cheers!

I loved this classic story of a women who outwits the ravenous beasts in the forest. 
Full of beautiful colors and creatures.

#28 Grim, Grunt, and Grizzle-Tail : A Story from Chile by Fran Parnell

3 Cheers!

Whether your kids are like princesses or little monsters, this book is for them!

Students in 3^rd or 4^th grade should be able to read the text on their own, which makes this a great choice for learning about folktales.

#29 Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm, Illustrated by Sybille Schenker

3 Cheers!

Transparent pages, block cut pictures, a good dose of black and white contrast, and a fair amount of dread makes this a great rendition of the classic story Hansel and Gretel.

#30 Nasreddine by Odile Weulersse

3 Cheers!

Every page of this book is a picture I would put up on any wall in my home. Beautiful and engaging, Nasreddine paints the perspective of a young boy who listens to all the laughing voices instead of his own heart.

 

 

#31 Whiskers, Tails and Wings: Animal Folktales from Mexico by Judy Goldman

3 Cheers

This collection of folktales is best suited for older readers with a longer attention span.  There are 5 stories in this collection, each including the folktale itself, a historical/cultural guide, and a glossary of native terms found in the story. Great resource for a study of Mexico.

Next up is a list of new poetry books :) Stay tuned!

C.S. Lewis on Reading Fiction

This week I am tackling a stack of folktales & fairytales. I love reading fiction, particularly fairytales, because the story is good vs. evil, there are clear foes, and the brave heroes manage to win. Children need to read fiction if only to experience safely in a book the villains they will surely meet face-to-face in one form or another. Can't wait to share more books with you!

Teachers. We need to slow down.

My heart goes out to you, fellow teachers. If your school is anything like my school, the buzz of end-of-year testing is already reaching a fever pitch.

Let me tell you why that is a CRAZY idea. It might even be a bad idea. Because my state is launching a completely new computer-adaptive test. Which means my third graders have to TYPE a lot of their answers (whoooa, that will be a challenge for those little fingers). Totally new. And there is zero time to train the students because the staff was only trained on it last week. Phew.

Still . . . My inclination is to teach with depth, without transferring the frenzied stress to the kids.

REASONS WHY I AM SLOWING DOWN AS TESTING SPEEDS UP

1. The test may be new, but I know the core.

Many of my colleagues are frantic about this new testing system. I refuse to be frantic (and it has to be a conscious effort).  I have been teaching my students quality stuff all year, all core-aligned, meticulously planned . . . you know exactly what I mean because that is how you teach. You resisted the urge to spend 2 weeks on a cute butterfly craftivity, even though it would have been awesome, and taught the phases of the moon instead (AND still managed to do a cute moon-themed craft!).  ALL YEAR, we have been teaching well, hopefully taking measured risks, meeting needs, looking for strengths and weaknesses . . .  so why are we worried? You are a good teacher. Relax and keep teaching.

I don’t know about you, but I want my students to be good thinkers. Creators. Innovators. And that, my friend, takes time. Class time that isn’t being wrung dry by a big fatty state test. I know that testing has a place. It is a tool to show progress and identify needs. It is ONE tool among many.

How about thinking of some other tools? A friend shared an article with me, about what creative people do differently, and even though it wasn’t written about education, it is a portrait of what my ideal classroom would allow. 

Just reading it made me feel more relaxed and creative. 

Another speaker for education, Sir Ken Robinson, said that children do not grow into creativity, they grow out of it.

My aim is to help my kids to never grow out of their own inherent creative skills.

And then there is this beautiful piece by a veteran teacher about standardized testing.

I could go on.

3. I will NOT lose my sense of humor.

Stress is a killer. But this teacher/possible comedian gets it: read her brilliant solution to test administration woes. I will be trying these out. :)

4.  My students are not machines.

Like you, I have put sweat and tears into building a strong foundation of respect, kindness, and creativity in my classroom. I am not about to squander the last months of school on test-frenzy. There is so much potential for deep, real learning with this group of kids that are now working as a group, despite the bumps in the road. We will prepare and study with the same fun and energy that we have enjoyed all year. They will be ready for the test, yes, but MORE than that, they will still love learning.

There are many great minds better than mine who have explored this idea.  Ken Robinson is a fantastic speaker, who puts plainly the struggles and triumphs that I see every day in the classroom. Here is just one of his thoughts on creativity in the classroom:

How do you create conditions for your students to flourish?

How do you handle testing?

Totally Sweet Givaway

A big congratulations goes out to Tabitha over at Totally  Sweet Math Centers by Tabitha--her TpT store hit its one year anniversary :)

And to make the celebration totally sweet, she is having a giveaway! Many, many TpT sellers are contributing their awesome products to this giveaway . . . including me :)

Head on over to her fb page to enter the giveaway.

8 More Picture Books to Share

Over the past month, we’ve explored the picture books on the New York Public Library’s list of 100 Titles to Read and Share. While writing these book reviews I have definitely found some new favorites!

Two weeks ago we looked at 10 picture books from the list. My favorites were . . . actually it is too hard to choose! I loved them!

Here is the last set of picture book reviews (bittersweet moment . . . sad to leave the picture books, happy to move on to novels). I was glad to see a trend of multicultural books crop up in this part of the list.

And without further ado--

 

#16 Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale by Duncan Tonatiuh

 

4 Cheers!

This book was a conversation starter for my husband and me.

It is a beautiful story, told with complete simplicity. No drama, no politics, no pity, just a story revealing the true experiences of real people—EXCEPT there are no people in this book. All of the characters are animals. Rabbits, chickens, ducks, snakes, and a coyote. And what my husband pointed out is that having animals experience the terrible ordeal of crossing illegally from South to North makes the story approachable in a way that telling it outright wouldn’t be able to do.  Making the characters into rabbits wipes the slate clean. You don’t see race. You don’t see nationality. You see a father caring for his family and the dangers they face. Animals make us comfortable enough to approach the content feely, leaving behind all our human misconceptions. This book will appeal to adults and children for its warmth, its honesty, and the beautiful way the illustrations capture the characters’ thoughts.

 

 

#17 Picture a Tree by Barbara Reid

 

2 Cheers

Creative interpretation, good repetitiveness for young children, but I didn’t love it.

 

#18 The Silver Button by Bob Graham

4 Cheers!

Reading this book is an act of embracing the celebration of the ordinary details of everyday life. Every sentence is a hasty beginning and ending of a new story. Quite possibly a story you find yourself in the middle of a hundred times a day.

“Oh High Street, Bernard had his shoelace tied for the second time that morning . . . and a man bought some fresh bread from the baker.”

A summation of the hummm-drumm seconds that make up a minute, in any city, in any family.

  






 

#19 The Story of Fish and Snail by Deborah Freedman

 

3 Cheers!

A fresh romp through the pages of a book-within-a-book!

Lots of dialogue, and most of the info comes through the illustrations.

 

Dive in!

 

#20 Take Me Out to the Yakyu by Aaron Meshon

3 Cheers!

Baseball fans will cheer for this fun book that takes place in 2 countries: the US and Japan. One boy takes us through the cultural highlights of his favorite game.

 

 

#21 This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson

3 Cheers!

When you read this book, read the author’s note first and then dive into this family’s story of hope and change and progress.

 

#22 Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea

No joke, this book is pretty great!

Goat is happy with his friends on the playground, until Unicorn shows up with his magical tricks. Packed full of illustrations that will make you smile, and a lesson that every grumpy goat needs.

 Cameo appearances by:

A piece of toast

A waste-paper basket

A plunger

A smiling lake

3 Cheers!

(3 and ½ for the piece of toast)

 



 

#23 Water in the Park by Emily Jenkins & Stephanie Graegin

2 Cheers

Nothing about this book struck me. I didn’t spend any time lingering on the page or anticipating the next word.

 

Next week we will dive in with Folktales and Fairytales!

 

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