Listen. Connect. Empower.

This lesson was about making a visual representation of our reading selves.  We drew, we laughed, we learned about each other as readers, and started building a reading community.  We did this on a remote day.  *This was developed in conjunction with my brilliant colleagues.* Standards:  AASL: Inquire/Share I.C.1 . Interacting with content presented by others. I decided we needed a theme to tie a disjointed year together and settled on the question:  I spent much of my summer thinking about "identity" but needed a concrete landing place for those big, abstract thoughts.  I wondered what would happen if we thought about "identity" through a reading lens. We read Reading Makes You Feel Good We practiced looking at two options and showing our choice for where we like to read by holding up that number of fingers. Next, we moved on to our directed draw. When we were done drawing, we had a big reveal.  Students were tasked with looking for someone with ...

 This year I have been investigating the question, "Who am I as a reader?" with my students in grades 1-5.  In this 1st grade lesson we do a little wondering and investigating to dig deeper into our wonders.  I partnered a picture book and Unite for Literacy . Standards AASL: Inquire/Think I.A.1  Formulating questions about a personal interest or a curricular topic We began with this read aloud I asked students to write/draw about this question. Student wonders (animals were a common theme). We shared these with each other. At the end of the class we shared what we listened to. My takeaways I can not speak highly enough about Unite for Literacy. I love how easy it is to browse.   I love how students can listen! I love that you can read/listen in languages other than English. A picture book and some book browsing feels so good to me!  I miss the physical browsing, but Unite for Literacy makes it feel *almost* like we are doing that.  Students were...

World Read Aloud Day has a long history in our school.  We typically spend the week Skyping with students from around the country (and sometimes outside the country).  It is a week of great books and connections.  And then came 2021: pandemic, snow, power outages. Introducing: Virtual World Read Aloud Day/Week! One page of our virtual document Our staff members decided that a classroom celebration would be in order this year (not a library activity).  I created a set of virtual bookshelves with staff reading books.  Staff members read a book which included an introductory video.  This is a great way for students to "visit" with a former teacher or "meet" a future teacher.  Students are accessing it this week, at their teacher's discretion.   My takeaways:  Things look different this year, but that is not going to stop us from celebrating!  I hear it through the grapevine that teachers are very appreciative of this resource and whene...