Listen. Connect. Empower.

Reading Aloud Once again this year I signed my students up to connect with others around the country in celebration of World Read Aloud Day.  I enjoy connecting with friends old and new as we share books with one another.  I especially enjoy when we have a few minutes at the end of a visit to share favorite books.   Try as I might, I could not find a class to connect with a 3rd grade group of mine, so I turned to my high school colleague, Alice Johnson for help.  She in turn connected with the High School National Honor Society advisor and recruited a lovely, young lady to come join us for our celebration.  We had anticipated a group of students, but 3 snow days hampered our grand plans.  Still, we had a fabulous visit with our High School Librarian, Alice Johnson and a member of the High School Honor Society. I chose three selections from You Read To Me, I'll Read To You by Mary Ann Hoberman.  I divided the class into three group...

Hello world, we are ready for World Read Aloud Day!  This week I prepared classes to interact with students across the country.  We talked about how fortunate we are to have technology which enables us to connect with others.  We talked about expectations and expected behaviors for a Skype visit. This is one of my favorite weeks of the year, dedicated to the sole purpose of sharing reading with others.  The week will include connections with other schools and an opportunity to read aloud in class to ourselves and our friends, stuffed and human. A 1st grade class described our school's students.  We are respectful smart good kind  good friends helpful able to share willing to stick together We are ready to welcome you to our school.  Happy World Read Aloud Day!   

My favorite picture from my last "Reading Without Walls" post was this which spoke volumes to the power of suggestion and possibility: Display area wiped clean of books  We (myself and a parent volunteer) suggested books and they (the students) went with it.  Students read books they normally wouldn't read.  Lonely books traveled off the shelves. I even extended this challenge to the staff and asked teachers to take the challenge.  Staff members chose a challenge and had their picture taken to be hung on the bulletin board.  I wanted to build a community of readers and show our students that we do this too. What did "Reading Without Walls" do for us?  I asked. When we read without walls we learn new things and facts think other things find new favorite books might really hate the book get nervous get excited I will check in with students periodically to see how they are challenging themselves as readers.  In future...

We spent two weeks breaking down walls in our reading, but I wasn't feeling done quite yet.  I decided to spend one more class challenging ourselves in one more way. I have a wonderful volunteer with a background in marketing that loves to create displays in the library.  She does a beautiful job and I question why sometimes her displays are not touched. This winter I had several questions along the lines of, "Mrs. Garland, can I take one of those books?"  which led me to realize that students aren't aware they can take these.  Of course they can - they are there for just that purpose (but they didn't realize it).  I realized I need to give them permission to go shopping in our display areas or better yet, create an activity that will send them in. This part of our "Reading Without Walls" challenge was about our display books.  I numbered several thematic displays and students were instructed to visit each section, handle the books there and ...