World of Books

A resource for young adult and children's literature

Reading Day 

March 22, 2023 / / 0 Comments

On the very last week of school we have a few fun days. We have a talent show, awards, classroom parties, but the most fun, and the one that can last all day, is READING DAY! Here is how we celebrate “Reading Day” at our school.

Plan-A full day of reading activities for elementary school students 

Promotion-Posters around the school 2 weeks before Reading Day, Social media posts, school newsletter, classroom newsletters 

Preparation-Decisions need to be made as to when “Reading Day” will take place. Who will oversee the activities? Will you need parent volunteers? Will your “Reading Day” be all day or half a day?  

Procedures-Here are some activities that can take place during “Reading Day.” 

  • Public Library visit-have a children’s librarian come in for a visit or do a virtual tour of the public library with the children’s librarians.  
  • Share a YouTube video about why kids like to read. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3krHQmOsR44 
  • Book Character Parade-Students can dress up as their favorite book character and parade through the halls of school 
  • Bookmark making in the library. Provide blank bookmarks for kids to color. 
  • Principal reads a book to the whole school. Combine some classes and meet in the library for the principal to share his/her love of reading.  
  • School Wide Book Swap-students bring in books they do not want anymore to be traded in for one that someone else brought.  
  • Reading BINGO. Here are some ideas for a reading BINGO:  
  • Read outside in the shade 
  • Read under a table 
  • Read with a flashlight 
  • Listen to your teacher read 
  • Listen to a YouTube story 
  • Make a bookmark in the library 
  • Visit Public Library virtually 
  • Have a reading snack  
  • Draw a picture of one of your favorite book characters 
  • Read a biography 
  • Read a poetry book for 15 minutes 
  • Read with a buddy 
  • Read with a buddy from another class 
  • Read with your shoes off 
  • Read a nonfiction book for 15 minutes 
  • Hear a story from the principal 
  • Book Tasting in the Library 
  • Reading Buddies-pair a younger grade with an older. EX. Pre-K gets paired with 4th grade and they read with partners, aka, reading buddies. 
  • Read-A-Thon-After reading for a designated amount of time either individually or as a whole class, write the time on a sticky note. At the end of the day, add up all the times from all classes and individuals. See if you meet your goal.  
  • Book give aways. Give away a couple of books an hour to randomly drawn students.  
  • Read a poem on the hour.  
  • Reading Buffet-be sure to keep your readers fed with a tasty reading buffet. Individually packaged snacks and small bottles of water are perfect for a small snack to keep up reading stamina.  

Payoff-Everyone is involved in “Reading Day” – parent volunteers, community members, administration, and all classrooms. Students can spend a lot of time with books so they can try new things they might not normally read. This activity is perfect for the end of the year when teachers have taught all content and students are still in school. You still want them to be learning and what better way to learn than to spend all day reading books.  

I Spy  

March 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Plan-Let children experience the I Spy books by JeanMarollo and Walter Wick. These books promote visual discrimination and helps build a working memory that young children need as they are learning about letters and numbers.  

Promotion-Have an “I Spy Day” in the library. As they enter the library have a magnifying glass up to your face and keep saying, “Can you find it?” Let them know that they will be detectives for the day.  

Preparation-Pull any I Spy books that you may have in the library and display them in a prominent place. Purchase one of the large I Spy puzzles. Create an I Spy box using a paper box top and fill it with small items; such as, army men, small plastic animals, small cars, erasers, paper clips, etc. These “I Spy Box Tops” can be themed if you wish or can be miscellaneous items. Have a few printable I Spy games from PaperTrailDesign available. Please see her copyright policy on her website.  

Procedures-Introduce younger children to the I Spy books. They will need some guidance as to how to read and use these books. Teach them to scan in a pattern so that they cover the page in a consistent manner. After working with students on how to “read” the book, let them practice by going to different stations. These are the possibilities:  

  • I Spy book station-students can work with a partner to identify objects in the books. 
  • Put together an I Spy puzzle-work with a team to build an I Spy puzzle and then find objects with friends.  
  • Printable I Spy pages from PaperTrailDesigns. This station can be an individual station for those who do not wish to work with a partner today.  
  • I Spy in the Box-students work with friends to identify the objects in the box. The objects can be taken out once they are found.  

Payoff-Students will be discriminating visually the objects that they need to find. They will also be verbalizing what needs to be found and increasing their vocabulary. They will be strengthening their working memory as they are searching for one object and then either I spy and object for a friend or get asked to find an object that they have in their memory. Great for ESL students working on vocabulary.  

I’ve included a link to Bright Hub Education in which they use the I Spy books for many activities. Check it out if you want more information about how to use I Spy books in the classroom.  

Fun Indoor Activities for Kids Using I Spy Books. (2009, September 19). BrightHub Education. https://www.brighthubeducation.com/elementary-school-activities/49405-i-spy-book-activities-for-grades-two-through-four/?utm_content=expand_article 

Teaching Students How-to: 

March 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Book Talk using FLIP 

Destin Middle School has a great idea when it comes to students sharing books. They host a “Books and Bagels” book talk at the local Panera Bread. Literacy coach, Kay Armstrong says that it has encouraged kids to read because it was an event. Students sit around in small groups at tables and discuss books. (Houghton, 2011). Book talking is a wonderful activity for kids. This multiple-day lesson takes it to the next level by mixing technology with book talking.  

Plan-Teach students about book talking and how to share their book talks via Flip.  

Promotion-Fliers in the library as well as school/library website and personal invitations to students who already like to share books. Giving personal invitations ensures that you will have students who consider themselves readers and you know who is more likely to share. It is important at this first session you have students who like to share.  

Preparation-Have a book that you would like to share. Make sure students who are readers and consider themselves readers come to the first session to share. For the following sessions students will need to bring a device or one needs to be provided by the library. 

Procedures-For the teacher/librarian-Read Batchelor & Cassidy’s article “The Lost Art of the Book Talk: What Students Want.” They offer wonderful criterion for delivering good book talks in person and how to get them on video. They include in the article a book talk essential checklist for students that serves as a rubric.  

  • First session-a lesson on what a book talks is and how to give a good book talk 
  • Second session-lesson on how to use Flip 
  • Third session-students record their book talks 
  • Fourth session-critique of book talks and how to make them better 

Payoff-Book talks are an amazing way to introduce students to genres that they may have not been aware of or have never tried before. (Malock Zapata, Roser, 2012). It also allows for students to see good role models for reading behaviors. (Capalongo-Bernadowski, 2007).  Many standards must be met in school classrooms. (Gruenthal, 2008). Book talks are a fun and creative way to meet the standards while encouraging higher order thinking skills. (Fischbaugh, 2004). One of the best reasons for doing book talks with students is that for the teacher it requires almost no preparation or materials. (Pruzinsky, 2014).  

“Enjoying reading equals more reading and more reading equals better reading, especially when they are able to talk about what they have read.” (Houghton, 2011). 

References 

Batchelor, K. E., & Cassidy, R. (2019). The Lost Art of the Book Talk: What Students Want. Reading Teacher, 73(2), 230–234. https://doi-org.ezproxy.shsu.edu/10.1002/trtr.1817  

Capalongo-Bernadowski, C. (2007). Book clubs at work. Library Media Connection, 26(3), 32–33.  

Fischbaugh, R. (2004). Using book talks to promote high-level questioning skills. The Reading Teacher, 58(3), 296–299. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.58.3.7 

Gruenthal, H. (2008). 21st century booktalks! CSLA Journal, 31(2), 23–24. 

Houghton, K. (2011, November 11). Books and Bagels: DMS students talk literature over breakfast. Destin Log, The (FL). 

Maloch, B., Zapata, A., & Roser, N. (2012). Book talk in teacher education classes. Journal of Children’s Literature, 38(2), 82–89.  

Pruzinsky, T. (2014). Read books. Every day. Mostly for pleasure. English Journal, 103(4), 25–30. 

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

November 26, 2022 / / 6 Comments

For some of us who went to school in the dark ages we might have gotten an assignment that sounded something like this one given to Ralphie’s class.  

I Want You to Write…A Theme 

Every student had the same assignment, handwritten on the same paper, and turned into the teacher to be read and then marked with the same red pencil. Not much Universal Design for Learning going on in this classroom.  

What is Universal Design for Learning?  

In a nutshell, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is having choices and options for learning and demonstration of that learning. Students are not all engaged in learning in the same way, nor do they internalize things in the same way. They should be given multiple choices and options for how they learn and able to choose how they show what they have learned to others.  

In this video from the National Center on UDL, director David Rose talks about principles and practices that educators are faced with in today’s classrooms. His explanations are clear and concise.  

UDL: Principles and Practice 

The 3 main principles of UDL are:  

  • Engagement-this is the “why” of what we are learning. Learning must be important to the learner.  
  • Representation-the “what” of learning. What will the student use to foster learning-a graphic organizer, a video, models. There are many ways to represent learning.  
  • Action & Representation-the “how” of learning. What have you learned and how are you going to show me that you learned this content?  

Comparing something that I know with something that I am learning is how I can make things stick in my brain. I did a search on UDL compared to traditional learning and I found just what I was looking for. I was able to see what a typical assignment might look like several years back and compare it to the same lesson taught using UDL. This gave me several examples and helped me see the difference between the two as well as understanding that UDL is much more beneficial to the learner and the learning process. This site will let you see UDL as compared to traditional education.  

My final thought about UDL was where can I find a lesson plan template that would help assure that my lessons are following the principles of UDL? Rosedale Curriculum has such a template and more. They have charts for each of the principles of UDL that help you in removing barriers for each. You can find these helpful guidelines under Teacher Resources and then scroll down to UDL.  

Using UDL in our classrooms makes learning so much more enjoyable and meaningful for our students. I am currently collaborating with a middle school history teacher to work on projects for National History Day. Students can choose their own topic as long as it fits under the NHD theme as well as being able to demonstrate what they have learned by choosing from one of 5 distinct categories: exhibit, documentary, website, paper, or performance. This is UDL at its best.  

References

bladeronner. (2009, December 10). I Want You to Write. . .A Theme [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNKaKVTB2FI 

National Center on Universal Design for Learning. (2010, March 17). UDL: Principles and Practice [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGLTJw0GSxk 

UDL. (n.d.). ROSEDALE CURRICULUM. https://www.rosedalecurriculum.com/udl.html 

Understood Team. (2021, November 20). The difference between Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and traditional education. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/the-difference-between-universal-design-for-learning-udl-and-traditional-education 

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