I’ve mentioned before that I have wonderful memories of being read to as a child.  Some of the best times at my job are when I’m reading to a group of kids , and all of them are draped over my lap or leaning against my shoulders.  I read to kids all day long, and I always hold out hope that I’m creating memories that will continue to draw them to books and reading.  The books that my students love are the ones that tap into their view of the world, that recapture what it really feels like to be a kid.  They love books that make them laugh, and books with detailed illustrations to get lost in.  Sometimes, those books win awards, and sometimes they don’t.

In my library school courses in children’s literature, we read our way through the books that have won the American Library Association’s most prestigious honors (namely the Caldecott and Newbery).  My classmates and I energetically discussed these books, wrote about them, admired their illustrations and deconstructed their texts.  And they’re beautiful books.  Most of us have wonderful memories of sitting on someone’s lap and reading Make Way For Ducklings or Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.

The problem is that those awards are chosen by grown-up librarians and academics who study children’s literature.  Often, I excitedly choose an award-winning book for its stunning illustrations, and find that kids just are not having any of it.  There are too many words, or not enough, or the book is too long, or it seems to have been written for adults rather than young children.  I’ve put together my list here of books that my students have loved, and the ones that only occupied them for a minute or two.  I’ll keep adding to this list, and would love to hear any suggestions.

Yes

Marina, Ludwing Bemelmans

Monkey with a Toolbelt,Chris Monroe

The Owl and The Pussycat, Edward Lear

Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss

Snow Music, Lynn Rae Perkins

Big Pumpkin, Erica Silverman (both the kids and I have memorized this one).

Abiyoyo, Pete Seeger

When Sophie Gets Angry, Molly Bang

Peter’s Chair, Ezra Jack Keats

No

All the World, Liz Garton Scanlon: I LOVE this book, and I’m still hoping I can win them over with it.

The Hello Goodbye Window, Norton Juster (too many words!)

A Chair for My Mother (ditto)

Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans

I’m the Best Artist in the Ocean, Kevin Sherry

 

Fire safety

It was difficult to find material for this that wasn’t hopelessly cheesy.  A few of these things are printables from online, but the rest I made myself.

Theme Box Inventory:

Resource folder containing coloring pages, activities, songs and finger-plays

Felt board fire truck and song lyrics for “Wheels on the Truck”

Fire hat matching game

12 theme-related vocabulary words for writing center

Upper/lowercase matching cards

Word wall words for A Chair for My Mother and The Firefighters’ Thanksgiving

Fireman Safety Review Rhyme

House outline and red marker for writing center

“Ladybug, ladybug” nursery rhyme

Felt board story set for “Master of All Masters”

Additional Literacy Props

 

Books:

Horowitz, Jordan.  Working Hard with the Busy Firetruck.

Other Ideas:

Have children map a fire escape route at home with their parents

Visit a fire station

Practice calling 911 on a play phone

Draw flames onto the house outline, and then “put out” the fire.

Related Books Available at the Hennepin County Library:

Boelts.  The Firefighters’ Thanksgiving.

Hassett.  Cat Up A Tree.

Raatma.  Crawl Low Under Smoke.

Spinelli, Eileen.  Hero Cat.

Williams, Vera.  A Chair For My Mother.

 

Really amazing

Giles:  Guess what, Hannah?  It’s REALLY AMAZING at my house right now!

Hannah: Oh, why is that?

Giles: Because I have THREE NEW SWEATERS!

 

Five knifes

Student: (beckons me over):  muttering: something something ‘nightmare’ something something ‘closet.’

Hannah: what?

Student: the knifes were in my closet.

Hannah:  The knives?  Why did you have knives in your closet?

Student: Five knifes were in my closet.  And there was an old lady.

Hannah: Was the old lady nice?

Student: Yeah.  And my mommy killed me.

Hannah: Your mommy killed you?

Student: She went like this (mimes cutting head off).

Hannah: Were you scared?

Student: Yeah, I went like this (breathes rapidly).  Like Alvin and the chipmunks.

Hannah: And then what happened?

Student: The old lady hugged me like this (hugs self).

Five minutes later:

Student: There was a pirate ship too.

Five minutes later (while in large group): Hannah, Hannah, I have a dream.

 

Family theme box=done

Part of my job is to be a resource for the classroom teachers, providing support for any literacy activities that are happening.  My coworker and I have been assembling a number of theme boxes for teachers.  The idea is that each box contains items for all the stations in the classrooms (reading, writing, dramatic play), and cover all of the skills we work on (phonological awareness, oral language, alphabetic knowledge/visual discrimination, and pre-writing).  We always include reading, writing, and talking, so those are also covered.  My first theme box is as complete as it’s going to get, so I’m including the information that goes along with it.

Theme:  Family

Theme Box Inventory:

20 Vocabulary cards

14 photo cards

14 word wall vocabulary cards for No Mirrors in My Nana’s House, Love You Forever, and Peter’s Chair

3 Activity cards for writing center (pets, places, and people)

Flannel Board family (8 pcs.)

House/apartment pictures

Resource Folder

Billy Goats Gruff flannel board story

Conversation sticks

Families matching/memory game

Family tree file folder game

Additional Literacy Props

Books

No Mirrors at My Nana’s House, by Ysaye Barnwell

Peter’s Chair, by Ezra Jack Keats

Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch

Over in the Meadow, by Michael Evans

More, More, More, Said the Baby, by Vera Williams

A Chair for My Mother, Vera Williams

Other Ideas:

Make a class photo album with pictures of students’ families

Ask family members to visit class and share their family traditions.

Make paper bag puppets to represent members of students’ families.

Draw family portraits

With the students, think of an interview question that they can talk to their families about, and have them report back in large group.

In large group, talk about which students live in house, and which live in apartments.  Have students place their name under the appropriate picture (included).

Use flannel board family to discuss who is in each student’s family

Related Books available at the Hennepin County Library:

Adoff, Arnold.  Black is brown is tan.

New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002

Benjamin, Floella.  My two grannies.

London: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2008.

Cisneros, Sandra.  Pelitos. New York: Knopf, 1994.

Eastman, P.D. Are you My Mother? New York: Beginner

Books, c1960

Guarino, Deborah.  Is your mama a llama? New York:

Scholastic, 1989.

Johnson, Angela.  One of three. New York: Orchard

Books, 1991.

Juster, Norton.  The Hello, goodbye window. New York: Hyperion

Books for Children, 2005.

Look, Lenore.  Henry’s first-moon birthday.

New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2001

 

Minnesota Reading Corps.

In an effort to write more, I’m going to try to blog my year (maybe two) of service for Minnesota Reading Corps.  My first post, though is part explanation of what I do, and part attempt to fulfill my obligations by recruiting new members.

What do I do?

Americorps is a program that places volunteers in service projects all over the country.  All of the programs, in one way or another, are designed to fight poverty.  Minnesota Reading Corps. is a state Americorps program that helps to get kids on track with reading by third grade.

My official title is Pre-K Community Corps Classroom Member.  I work in a YWCA preschool, teaching pre-literacy skills to three and four year olds.  I make literacy props for the classrooms, lead small group literacy classes, work with teachers to create literacy rich classrooms,and perform assessments on the kids.  Things I do that are not in my job description include recruiting and managing volunteers, mediating between kids, reading to kids and playing with them all day long, being a living playground, and wiping noses.

The MRC blurb:

About 675 AmeriCorps members will be placed around Minnesota, who will help ensure that over 20,000 children are on track to read by the end of third grade. Please help spread the word by passing this email on to anyone who might like to be involved. Learn more at www.MinnesotaReadingCorps.org.

What is MRC? One in every five third-graders in Minnesota does not read at grade level, and we are doing something about it. Members like me serve in elementary schools and preschool settings to ensure that kids, who might otherwise remain behind, are on track to read before the end of 3rd grade. MRC members introduce research-based methods to children, and engage with parents and the community.

Why join? If you join MRC, your work will be invaluable to children, teachers, families, communities, and yourself.

You’ll not only be doing your part to end illiteracy in Minnesota, but for one year you will build essential career skills and network with education professionals. Full-time members receive free health care coverage, a semimonthly stipend and an Education Award of $4,725. Part-time positions are also available.

The online application opens December 15. Positions begin in August, ending June 30, 2011.  Learn more at www.MinnesotaReadingCorps.org and read the blog at www.mnReadingCorps.blogspot.com.

If anyone wants to know more, feel free to ask me.

I look forward to sharing stories and projects here throughout the second half of my first year of service.

 

Lost in translation

The other day, a group of African American students walked into the media center, and started scanning our rack of  digital audiobooks.  On looking more closely, one of them started laughing.  “Why do they got a book called BLACK BEAUTY?” he said, at which his friends all started laughing too.  It took a moment to realize the mistake they had made, but then the light-bulb went off in my head: even if they knew what the book really was about, why would a group of young, African American men from the North End of St. Paul want to read about some rich person’s talking horses?

In library school, the guiding principle of reader’s advisory was drilled into our minds again and again: the right book for the right child, at the right time.  There was always the possibility of the heady thrill that comes when you find that right book, the one that turns a kid into a lifelong reader.  It’s only now, when I’m suggesting reading materials for young people, that this has really come to life.  When I was thirteen, I lived in relative safety and security in a quiet neighborhood with both of my parents.  This meant I could enjoy books like Little House on the Prairie, Hitty: The First Hundred Years, and Miracles on Maple Hill.  My students, though,  are African, African American, Hmong, Lao, Karen,  Native American, Hispanic.  Many of them were born in refugee camps in Thailand, or in the rougher neighborhoods of St. Paul.  Those classics that I grew up with don’t mean anything to them, because they don’t see themselves reflected there.  It’s a challenge to divert them from books about gangs, to more positive books about people of color, from authors like Sharon Flake and Walter Dean Myers.  It’s challenging but necessary: for a youth librarian, books are our tools for change.  If we can help young people to see reflections of themselves in literature, we can ignite that spark that will keep them reading and learning for the rest of their lives.

 

Are you crafty?

I have a confession to make. Despite my desire to work with kids and my training as a Youth Services librarian, I am not crafty. My attempts at crochet have so far all ended up as lumpy, unfinished afghans and scarves. Thanks in part to learning disabilities, I’m not gifted at visual arts and I can’t draw. Those of you with experience in libraries will be able to see the problem here. Most of the youth librarians I know are artists of various kinds: knitters, card-makers and painters who use their skills to plan educational programs for children and teens. Recently, I led my first teen program at Minneapolis’ Roosevelt Public Library, where I volunteer on a weekly basis. Having regained my confidence somewhat, I worked with the librarian at Roosevelt to come up with a list of programs for spring 2009. Because other people’s online resources were vital to me in this project, I thought I would post my list here.

Sensory tables: http://www.childfun.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=147.  Most preschools have sensory tables that allow young children to touch, smell, hear and taste objects while they learn to count, pour, measure, etc.  The Roosevelt librarian and I were talking about sensory tables, and how we could adapt them for a very small branch library with no dedicated programming space.  The challenge is coming up with items that aren’t prohibitively messy.  My research revealed that sensory tables can use almost any kind of item, and Lisa is incorporating them into toddler storytimes now.

Lanterns for Chinese New Year: (January) http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/chinesenewyear/.  I’m doing this one as part of a themed storytime in January.
Pinwheels/kites (March): I have no specific plans for this yet, but I’m hoping it will be pretty easy when the logistics are figured out

Origami (March): This is a teen event, aimed at using up the extra paper from the mini-journal workshop.
Altered book collages: http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/artscrafts/altered.books.html (April): Also a teen event.  I’m hoping it will be a creative way to turn weeded/discarded books into a craft project.

 

One month at Washington

I’ve been a teaching assistant in the Media Center of Washington Technology Magnet Middle School for just over a month, and I’m developing a new level of sensitivity to the problems that face the poor.  When I was a teenager, I volunteered at a preschool for kids with developmentally delays whose families were struggling with abuse, neglect, poverty, and substance abuse.  They were stressed, and they acted out in inappropriate ways because they couldn’t express their feelings.  It was easy to calm them down by holding them, or rocking in the rocking chair.  My students, seventh and eighth graders at a St. Paul junior high, are bigger than I am, and they’re still struggling to express their emotions about abuse, addiction, extreme poverty.  School is one of the only constants in their lives, here they can get away from problems at home, and they don’t have to worry about where their lunch and breakfast will come from.  A student was arrested in the library’s computer lab the day before Thanksgiving vacation.  The holidays are hard on poor kids, and the tension level has been rising every day as winter break approaches.
Despite this, they’re still kids.  The less defiant ones still melt into adorable piles of goo when anyone smiles at them.  My eighth grade school service helpers, specially selected to spend their electives working in the library, are bright and funny and responsible.  Sometimes I struggle to find the line between being their manager and being their friend.  Bubbles wants to talk to me about her friends, and
This is a wonderful school.  The staff is dedicated to their well-being, and the teachers keep their expectations high.  At the rural high school where I mentored History Day students, my bright but underachieving protégées were all but ignored.  Here, everyone is expected to read like crazy, and are required to stay after school if they get behind in their homework.
I’m getting better at reader’s advisory.  I expect that by the end of the year, I’ll be able to recommend a book to someone based on almost any criteria.  Recently, a student asked me for a book “like Into Thin Air” that would be somewhat easier, so I found him another book about an Everest expedition.  He seemed indifferent, so I asked if he likes real life adventure stories or fantasy.  He mentioned fantasy, so I suggested Golden Compass, which he said was too hard.  I ended up recommending Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl. Only in a junior high school library could it be logical to go from Mount Everest to a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind in less than five minutes.

 

Ireland

A year or so ago, I ran into a undergraduate friend who had recently spent a summer studying at Trinity College in Dublin.

“I cried the whole way home,” she said, and then told me that she had decided she was moving back permanently. The terrifying part is that I understood exactly what she meant. After I finished a semester abroad in Cork, in the southwest of Ireland, I felt lonely and homesick. I couldn’t really explain my feelings to friends, who saw my four months abroad as an anomaly, or at most an incredible vacation. I exchanged emails and instant messages with my American study abroad friends about our homesickness for the hilly, colorful city that had been home for a few months. I I savored what I could, with Irish American pubs, Irish music, endless reruns of Father Ted. It was a kind of Jerusalem syndrome, but instead of religious mania, I missed the green fields and dark city lanes of Ireland. My heart hurt.

I’ve ever been alone in this. Ireland is full of Americans who, like me, are looking for themselves in the country that their ancestors left behind. As Ireland returns to its pre-famine population, it is a country in flux. Immigrants are creating new identities as Irish-Poles and Filipino-Irish. Yet, everywhere, tourist shops sell family coats of arms, Irish trinkets, and refrigerator magnets with Irish family names printed on them. Ireland is a country that is profiting from its past at the same time that it debates its future.

Despite my cynicism about being an American in Ireland, I made the journey back in June. I will admit that I felt euphorically gleeful when I got on my Aer Lingus flight and was surrounded by Irish accents, and again when I went shopping for brown bread and Cadbury’s chocolate upon my arrival. I’ll always feel a magnetic pull toward this place, where I was an adult for the first time. It was good to be back.