Reading

He's so cute when he reads to me.

Summer Reading Week 2

I've really been enjoying reading with Peirce yesterday and today. He has a goal to read all the Harry Potter books this summer and is just finishing the first book.

This past week I met a wonderful woman (again). I met her before at the International Reading Association meeting that I went to. She is a huge fan of picture books and really stirred up in me a new desire to find lots of great picture books to use whenever I'm teaching. Luckily, while I was marking PATs this week, I got a chance to read a number of picture books. People kept bringing picture books to put on the tables in the foyer. Now and then I'd take a break and go read one or two. It was great. So this week I read quite a few:

• The Three Little Pigs, an Architectural Story
• Hey! Wake Up!
• Little Black Book of Colors
• The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish
• Snoring Beauty
• Great Estimations
• Greater Estimations
• My Grandmother's Clock
• Reading With Dad
• City Dog, Country Frog

I also finished Sunwing. Another great read! You can read all about those great books on my book blog.

Along with some more great picture books, here is my list of what I hope to read this week:

 

Hana's Suitcase

I was going to write about this in my book blog, but I haven't actually read it, so I decided to blog about it here.

In school, Peirce started reading Hannah's Suitcase, a holocaust story. He has talked about it endlessly. He was really taken by the whole story.  He didn't get to finish the story in school because of the floods. He had actually borrowed a video from the public library for his class to watch. They only watched the first few minutes if it, so today he and I watched the video together. Wow. I can see why he was so taken by it. It is an amazing story.

The story was uncovered by a Japanese woman who worked in a museum. They wanted to teach Japanese children about the holocaust and so they asked some holocaust museums if they could have some artifacts they sent a suitcase that had belonged to young girl who was killed in the gas chambers in Auschwitz. Through a series of events this woman was able to uncover the story of Hana, the owner of the suitcase. This story made me feel very emotional. I'm continually amazed and saddened by what humans will do to each other. We can be so good, and so terrible. We really must never forget.

Hanging With My Boy

I don't do this often enough with Peirce. Tonight we sat and read together for an hour. It was clear that it was a great thing for him. He was all snuggly, and very animated and talkative. Just like when he was little, now and then he has to stand up and act out something from the story. And just like when he was little, he's really into repetition. We read The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl, which we have probably read 3 or 4 times. He has also listened to it on CD a number of times. Since he's listened to it so much he can't help but read it with an English accent. It's really quite funny. He has parts that he loves to read himself, especially the songs. So funny!


We read while sitting under his loft bed (I'm a little afraid I'll crash his loft bed!). I am always amazed at the weird stuff in his room. This is a big bag of elastics, and a suitcase full of cardboard circles (from the flyers for the food drive, paper clips, and big metal clips (binder clips??). Where does he get this stuff??!

Zombiekins (Kevin Bolger)

One thing about having a boy is that I have to do a little more work to find books that interest hm. It was easy to share the books I loved growing up with Jill. Peirce isn't always quite as thrilled with my suggestions.

The other day Jill and I went to Coles and I ran into "Sir Fartsalot slays the Booger". I knew it would be a winner. However, I also have a personal book policy which means I have to check the library first (and besides, do I really want Sir Fartsalot on my bookshelf for the long term?)

Well, the library doesn't have that book. But they did have another one by that author called Zombiekins, so I figure we would give it a try.

Well, big hit, to say the least!

We started it tonight. After each chapter where I attempted to put the book down I would hear, "Just one more chapter, please!"

Can't really argue with that!

The best part was listening to Peirce laugh. It was the bust a gut, from the bottom of your belly, kind of laughing. It was great!! I would end up laughing just because he was laughing so hard.

The bit about the author says he is from Ontario and taught school for ten years before he wrote the Sir Fartsalot. A lot of the descriptive paragraphs about leaving the classroom with a bathroom pass and the trip there, or about the mean teacher (Mr. Baldengrumpy) just made me chuckle. I think this guy really does have kids figured out!

.....I might just go spend the $12 to get Sir Fartsalot after we finish Zombiekins. We read half of it (103 pages!) tonight!

Vera Goodman on Reluctant Readers

It's kind of crazy that I am teaching at a school that appears to have such a bottom up approach to reading. My school teaches all the parts of language to teach kids to read. I think it works well. My real love as far as teaching reading though is more rooted in a top-down approach: Whole Language. Whole Language really gets a lot of flack (mostly from people who don't understand it) but I really really believe the approach has a place (and includes all the bottom up stuff!)

...and now for my nerdy confession: One of the authors we read a lot in University was Vera Goodman. I grew to love Vera Goodman. I thought she was absolutely brilliant.

....and guess what? She is my friend on facebook!!! (I really had to show some self-control to refrain from putting that all in caps!)

She posted a great article recently on reluctant readers....here are some of her tips that I nodded to as I read:

• Reading is solitary and children want to be groupies. To read we need to be in a quiet place to have a silent conversation with a story and we need to love it enough to choose to be there.

• The secret of hooking kids on books is to find a series that, like Harry Potter, pulls them into a compelling story – one they can’t put down. This involves time on a parent’s part to choose books from the library and then to read the first chapters to them aloud. When they find one that excites them to find out ‘What’s Next?’ you have the right book.

• When I taught Junior High I had some reluctant readers. So I looked for a series that would interest them and that they were capable of reading on their own. I took time to introduce them to the series by reading the first chapter of the first book aloud and discussing it. When I found a book that grabbed them they would finish the series and look for another. My work was over!

• You might choose to read at least this first book yourself so you can share the excitement and discuss the story and the issues with your reluctant reader. As adults we like to join book clubs to share a good book. Your child will enjoy doing this with you too, and it will engender a lifelong love of books.

It's Decided!

All through Christmas break school has been on my mind. I'm so excited to start as a Grade 2 teacher on Jan 4! One of the big questions I have had is what book we will read aloud first! This class is a totally different group than the Grade 4 class I was teaching. I thought about starting off with The Breadwinner again. While I think they'd love that book, I don't know if I'm really up for reading it out loud again. After all, since I'm picking the book I should be able to pick something I'll really enjoy as well, right?!

The other day Allen announced that he found out they're making a movie of The Invention of Hugo Cabaret. I was happy to hear that! We have all read that book a few times in our house. Well, sort of happy. I kind of don't like it when there's a great book turned into a movie because so many people skip the book and just watch the movie, and usually the movie isn't as good as the book, so we hear lots of 'it was okay' comments. The great news is it is going to be in 3D! YEA!

I think this one is a great book! So I decided I will help the kids in my class not miss how great it is, and that is what we will read aloud first. So looking forward to it!!

Geronimo Stilton to the Rescue!

Peirce likes to read.

Well, not really. He prefers to be read to. He'll spend time in books, usually non-fiction books - but really doesn't get absorbed in novels.

Every now and then I think he's about to take off and really start getting into books. I feel like my work as a mother as far as reading goes gets wrapped up when they learn to really love reading: - when they'll sit for hours and bask in the enjoyment of a book. For Jill that happened in about Grade Three with Roald Dahl. She decided she was going to try to read every Roald Dahl book - and I think she did! After that she always had to have a book on the go. We've often had a heated discussion after swimming practise when I want to go home and she insists that we MUST go to the library because she is in crisis mode and doesn't have a single book she can read that night. I pretty much always relent. Who can turn down a desperate need for a book!

Well, I've never really been able to find anything to do that for Peirce. We bought a book at the church bookstore in Cardston a while ago and I thought that one might do it - but he was into it for a while and then it slowed down. I've tried Frank Zipzer books. I've tried Roald Dahl. I've tried The Magic Treehouse. I've tried Harry Potter. He loves them all - but he wants me to read them to him. I'm happy to do that - but I really want to find something that will get him on fire with reading.

On Saturday we went out for dinner with some friend's. Their kids are close to our kid's age, and their son had borrowed some Geronimo Stilton books that day from a friend. I think he had borrowed three books, and when we arrived at their house he had just finished the second one for the day, and wanted to get into the third one. He played with Peirce while we were at their house - but when we went out for dinner he brought his book along and during dinner he did some reading. After that Peirce wanted to read Geronimo Stilton too. The next day they brought a couple books to church for Peirce to borrow. Last night we started reading one of them while we were waiting for Peirce's turn for swim practise, and then some more at dinner - and when he went to bed he wanted to read some more. This morning he got up and came into our bed and wanted to continue reading. He had almost finished the book!! YEA!!! I think we've got it! He asked me if we could go buy him a bunch of Gerinomi Stilton books. I think we just might! Have to feed the hunger while his stomach is growing!

Good Books!

We are reading the greatest books these days!! It's funny how reading goes through phases. We sometimes travel through these dry deserts where there's nothing great to read anywhere..and then we suddenly find we're in a feast of great books! We're feasting right now. :0)

A friend introduced us to the Hank Zipzer books. They're hilarious! Peirce and I are reading Niagra Falls, Or Does It? They're by Henry Winkler...and if that isn't cool enough by itself I don't know what is! The books are laugh out loud funny. We get a good chuckle going every chapter, it seems!




Jill and I are reading Number the Stars again. We picked that book for the school book club. Can't wait to discuss it with them! I love reading books with Jill.

School Book Club

I've wanted to do this for so long...and finally have the chance!



I'm paired up with a teacher and we're doing an extra curricular club....grade 4-6 book club. It's so fun!



Today we discussed The Invention of Hugo Cabaret. It's so fun to discuss books with kids! For an activity we played, "I'm reading Hugo Cabaret and I've read about....."


A=Automaton
B=Booth (as in toy booth)
C=clocks
D=drawings
E=Etienne
F=France
G=gar (as in train station?)
H=Hugo
I=

....and so on and so on!

It was fun!

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Peirce and I are reading Witches, again.

I'm quite amazed at time with Roald Dahl. He's famous. People loves his books. Movies are made out of his books! (the ultimate money-making author situation)...but sometimes I find his books just so odd.

Witches is the perfect example:

• It's scary - but kids seem to love it. At least Peirce seems to go at it similar to how people pass a car accident and rubber-neck. He seems to love to dabble in these seemingly scary stories


• It's bizarre - a cigar smoking grandma? Come on! Kids should never bath more than once a month? Eeesh.


• There are chapters that just seem thrown in there and don't need to be there at all...like the chapter called The Heart of a Mouse. It has nothing really significant to do with the story. Why is it there?

I don't know how he gets away with it. Somehow it works though. I think this was the third time we've read this book together. I tried to get Peirce to do more reading out loud to me - but he really balked that. He loves to just sit and listen to the store. He soaks it all in...and then he's scared and has to come get in our bed in the night. But when I threaten to stop reading it because my bed is crowded....he cries and begs me to continue.

What is up with that??!

Peirce Reading

I tried to sneak in an take a video of Peirce reading to himself. He always reads out loud, and I think it's so cute. You can tell he knew I was listening because right away he asks me about a word.....and it's most unfortunate that you can't see the video...but you can hear how well he's doing with reading. I love listening to him read! Peirce LOVES the Fly Guy books.

September Reading

Peirce and I are reading Hugo Cabaret right now. In the spirit of my dilemma on whether or not to head off to Conference next weekend to be able to attend a mission reunion at the home of one of my district leaders (oh what a dilemma!) Jill found some interesting reading - one of my mission notebooks! I had a notebook that I'd get people to write things in (kind of like a year book....only they'd write long paragraphs). Now that has been interesting reading for both of us! I don't think I've looked at that book for 20 years!

Yesterday we had parent-teacher interviews. The best part is that Jill's teacher is a mom who understands the homework issues! Such a relief. She said that there won't be a folder with worksheets to come home and work on every day. No homework on weekends either. YAHOO! This month Jill's homework is to read. I can live with that! That's for sure! They're doing a read-a-thon. We're not doing the gather money bit for it....just the reading.

It's a beautiful thing.

Big Love....nah!! Big stuff....and love

Peirce found a great book in the library that we've been reading lately. It shows how big things are in comparison to other things. Really cool!

There are spiders in there as big as plates, and it shows how big a tsunami is in comparison to Tokyo. Really big!! Oh, and the biggest squid ever found....it was as long as a house!

Inspired by our trip to Shakespeare In the Park, Jill picked up a book called Romeo's Ex.

Here's the summary from the library website: Shakespeare's classic retold from another perspective Rosaline won't let anyone or anything get in the way of her future as a healer. That is, until she meets Benvolio. Where Romeo's words had been hollow and unfounded, Benvolio's are filled with sincerity and true love. Now Rosaline finds herself caught between her feelings, her ambition, and her family's long-standing feud with the Montagues. When Romeo turns his affections toward Ros's cousin, Juliet, their relationship brings the feud of the two houses to a new level. Rosaline and Benvolio hatch a plan to bring peace to the two families. But will they succeed?

What My Children Are Reading

Jill is re-reading The Invention of Hugo Cabaret. Such a great book! There are some great things about this book. It's built around a great true story, and best of all, the book is really thick...probably four inches thick! More than half the pages, though, are pictures - so it's a really quick read (very satisfying for a child who has watched her parents read fat fat books for days on end). I really should buy this book for Jill. She's taken it out of the library numerous times!



Tonight I could hear Peirce downstairs talking talking talking....kind of like a robot. After about 15 minutes he came upstairs and triumphantly told me that he has read 3 pages of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!


I love that! A while ago Peirce told me his goal this summer was going to be "to learn to read as good as Jane" (a girl in his class). I guess he's serious about that!

What My Children Are Reading

Peirce has really been into The Encyclopedia of Immaturity. Luckily he still prefers me to read to him, and so I can skip key pages like how to make farting sounds with your hand in your arm pit, and other wonderful pages in this book. That being said, I'm sorry to say that this book can cause a parent to find their seven year old hold up quiet in his room reading by a little light. Not sure if that's good or not. It has all sorts of wonderful things like: How to Skip a Stone, How to Do a Wheelie, How to Hang a Spoon from Your Nose, and How to Really Annoy Your Older Sibling. Right up a seven year old's alley!

This week Jill has been reading the fourth book of 39 Clues: Beyond the Grave. The website says it is by award-winning author Jude Watson. I had to google Jude Watson to figure out who she is. Turns out she writes under a different name and has a prolific list of Star Wars books. Ya. That's why I've never heard of her. Not really into Star Wars! That seems to be her only books, besides this 39 Clues book.

It seemed like a good idea to buy the book. We tried to go buy it on our way out of town last week after visiting grandparents, but couldn't find it. Then the next day was Sunday so we couldn't go buy it that day - and so Monday we just had to go get it. I'm not sure this one is getting the same star reviews that the previous 39 Clues books have received from Jill. She's enjoying being on the cutting edge of new books though. However, I noticed that tonight she had a new book she had borrowed from a friend at school. Oh oh....looks like Beyond the Grave isn't holding her interest.

What My Children Are Reading

It's hard to say when a child is really a reader. I think there are steps all along the way that can be called reading...but I sure love it when they get to the step where they'll read to you with expression and when they seem to love it!

I don't often tell Peirce it's bedtime. At 7:30 it's story time....and then at 8:00 he goes to sleep. I find it all goes better if we just don't say the word 'bedtime'. Storytime is met with smiles much more often!

Last night we were late for storytime and sometimes when that happens we don't make time for stories. Last night I was tempted, but so glad I didn't just make Peirce go to sleep. When it came time for storytime he said he wanted to read storie to me. He read The Foot Book (Dr Seuss) and the Barnyard Dance (Sandra Boynton) and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle) and I was so thrilled!! Every morning we read the Book of Mormon together and I knew he was getting better at reading - but I was really surprised when he read me those books out loud. In the middle of one of them he said, "I think I finally get why Jill likes reading so much."

YEA!!!

I really love the topic of reading. I often read a blog called The Well Read Child. She posted an idea of blogging each week about what her kids are reading, and I thought I'd do the same!

Peirce and I have been reading All About Sam. We read a chapter here and there but we're having a hard time getting to the end. He likes to choose picture books often and so All About Sam gets pushed aside for a while. One day we'll get to the end!

Jill just finished Alice in Wonderland. She picked up a beautiful big version of the story from the library and spent last weekend reading it. I'm surprised at the number of times she's referred to it this week. I really should read it again. Right now she is reading Tuck Everlasting.

I talked with the vice-principal the other day about the idea of doing a parent-child book club. She seemed to like the idea and so I've got to put a proposal together and see if they'll go for it. I figure the Parent Council can really be the sponsors of it, but the administration has to approve it. She mentioned doing it at lunch time, but I'd rather do it in the evening. We'll see how that goes!! I probably shouldn't take another thing on right now, but I love the idea of being involved in this, so I'm going to do it. I hope it works out well!