Listen. Connect. Empower.

When I found this book, I KNEW it would get students' attention.  Any and all things "gross," "weird" or potentially "inappropriate" scream out READ ME! I took this opportunity to purchase it, read it aloud and create a fun activity that would (hopefully) get students' attention (grades 2-5). I chose four animals to feature. Each animal's "behind" had a moment to shine (or block, stink, paralyze, etc). We read and "ewww-ed." Four rear ends that paralyze, communicate, frighten, and block. Then we rated the rump. The book had a 5 emoji rating system, but I modified it so we could have a "four corner" system. I created signs and put them at the corners of our rug. Emojis used to "rate the rumps" Students walked to the emoji rating that best fit their opinion of this rear. Once we took in how the voting landed, we returned to our reading spots and repeated this process for the next rump. Read, rate, repeat! ...

I like for my students to set our expectations for the year.  Every year I look for a book that will give this a new feel.  In the past I have used Rulers of the Playground by Joseph Kuefler The Snurtch   by Sean Ferrell Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham Alpha Oops by Alethea Kontis This year's selection was We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins. I was hooked on Ryan T. Higgins books when I met his Mother Bruce books.  He has a sense of humor that can be appreciated by children and adults alike.  This book is no exception. We began class with a partner share about a time something unexpected happened in class.  I then read to the class.  We were only 4 pages in when the first jaw hit the floor and the first eyes bugged out of their heads.  I expected laughter but often got pin-drop silence.  "Could the book possibly have said THAT?"  Yep.  It did.  They were instantly ...

This week with my 3rd-5th grade classes we established our “hopes and dreams” for library this year.  As a responsive classroom school, this is an important part of the structure of our class.  The last two weeks established expectations and routines and now I was ready to move us forward.   After sharing our personal reading, I read Dan Yaccarino’s I am a Story and shared that my hope and dream is that I will help students find books that will “stay with them” this year in library.  I wish to help students find books that they can connect with.  Our two activities were created to help me do this.   First, I had students work independently or with a small group to brainstorm books that they felt we needed in our library.   According to this student, all we need are Raina Telgemeier books! I like to gather this information from the students in the fall so I have time (and money) to do just that.  While I like to think that I a...

Our school is a responsive classroom school.  Last week we decided what our school expectations looked like in the library (being respectful, responsible and safe).  We have a new school behavior plan and this week I decided to take a closer look at our routines and how our behavior plan looks in the library.  The goal of this week's lesson with 3rd-5th graders was to review routines to reduce transition time and utilize more instructional time. New this week was the arrival of a beautiful rug with individual squares for clearly identifiable squares for seating.   Upon entering I handed a colored Lego to each child for later groupwork and directed students to choose a square to sit on during our group activity time.  We began class by reading our objective " We will review expectations for library behavior and routines so we can spend more time learning ."  I used an activator to start our conversation, "What would you do if you had more time?"  ...

This week we begin identifying what our school rules of being "Respectful, Responsible, and Safe" look like in the library. We began by discussing why people sometimes make bad choices. Answers included They are having a bad day They are mad or sad about something that happened They are hungry They got up on the wrong side of the bed Someone did something that made them upset Next we read The Snurtch by Sean Ferrell . Students loved the final spread and we talked about our "snurtches." Interesting things we decided: A "snurtch" is your "bad side" A "snurtch" is when something overtakes you Sometimes your "snurtch" is in control, sometimes it is not A "snurtch" can make the difference between a good choice and a bad choice "My dad has a really big "snurtch"" (A personal favorite of mine) Next, groups were formed to think about what being Respectful Responsible Safe...