Word Study Routine and Tips~Words their Way

Words Their Way, check out the foundational text by the same name. To see an example of the developmental spelling inventory, check out this tutorial from Pearsontraining.

In the past few years, I have tried different things, but worked to simplify the process of having too many groups, word lists, and activities for students to complete. I have also worked to find routine activities that remind students of the purpose of word study~that the spelling learning should transfer into our actual writing! I have found that students' spelling deteriorates when word study is dropped from the classroom (maybe students think you don't think spelling is important at that point?) and that if I can get my routines together, students actually have a lot of fun during word study.

Keep in mind that the routines and ideas I describe below are from the upper elementary perspective. Of course, modifications and scaffolding may be necessary for lower grades and weaker spellers.

Tip # 1: Stop planning Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri routines and think of your word study activities as a cycle. Students cycle through all activities for each word list. This shift in thinking helped me tons--our schedule gets interrupted, so teaching students "This is what we do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday," was really always an issue. Now, I have a seven day cycle of activities for students, including a few whole group days where we work together. How do I keep up with where we are? I have a chart showing each groups' assignment for the day. We move a sticky note that says "We are Here!" each day. This also gives us the freedom to have "off" days where we do something else with our word study time.

Although we might take a week and a half to cycle through the activities for one word list, we value word study more because we know ALL of the routines are going to happen for that word list. When we are almost at the end of a quarter or a long break, I start staggering groups out of word study.

Here's my current word study cycle of activities (and it feels "successful" most of the time):

Day 1} Complete "Blind" Word Search and try to deduce current word sort rule or pattern. If you are familiar with Words Their Way, then you know that a "blind sort" is an activity where students sort the words into categories (and write them down) as they hear them called out. It's called BLIND because they are not looking at the words. By doing this "blind searching" through a word search, students have a fun way of figuring out their word pattern focus for the word study cycle. The word search WORD searching is an engaging, fun way for students to discover some of their words and sharpen their ability to recognize words that are spelled correctly (a major key to spelling improvement). Students also demonstrate their understanding of sorting by sound and/or look when they record the words they have found into categories. (Students have the word searches glued into their notebooks and MUST record the words as they find them by SORTING the words into categories)

Tip # 2: Once you assess students and decide which lists they will start with, make copies of the word searches they will need for the quarter and spend a session helping students glue the word searches into their notebooks. I save 2-3 pages between each word search for word work and for "Meet with the Teacher." Remind students to keep the word searches in order as they glue them!

Tip # 3: You can work with your lower group before they do Word Search day. This gives them exposure to the word patterns they will be working with and hopefully a boost of confidence as they search for their words. If you have younger students and want them to have a copy of the words, just give them the word list from the Word Study books, but I strongly encourage you to consider giving them a few words to get them started and then have them search for the patterns, rather than spoon-feeding them the whole list.

Day 2} Meet with the Teacher (includes sorting words, discussing word patterns/rules and word meanings, etc.)With average/higher groups, I ask what words they found in their word search and we sort them into categories on a white board. Sometimes I will provide them with other words they should have found, but hearing what their group members found gives them clues about what else to look for.


Tip # 4: The lower groups just need practice, practice, practice, and immediate feedback. When these kiddos meet with the teacher, I give them a white board, marker, and eraser and fire off words at them from the list they are on and from previous lists. We often have to focus on short sounds vs long sounds, words with double vowel patterns, and making sure we have represented all of the sounds found in the words.

Tip # 5: For your struggling spellers, try using compound words that still fit the patterns they are studying. This allows them to practice DOUBLE the words and will allow them to feel like they are working on words just as large as other groups in the class.

Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences and FREEBIE

Since we just wrapped up our quarter, we also had report card conferences. Have you ever implemented Student Led Conferences? I have done a number of conferences where I ask that students are present where we also set 1-2 goals. I'm a big fan of making sure that all involved parties (student, parent, and teacher) are on the same page, having the same conversations when appropriate, but this year I had a totally crazy idea!

What if students and parents led the conference? {I have to admit, part of this idea was PURE selfishness. Conferences take up a ridiculous amount of time, including many late evenings. This idea quickly started to evolve into a way that I could have multiple conferences happening at the same time and potentially finish them in less days and less long afternoons.} I had other great reasons too, including the positive experiences I have had with leading goal setting sessions with students and parents and having students attend their report card conferences.

How did I go about setting this up?
1) I chose 4 evenings that I would block off (over the course of 3 weeks) from 3-6 for parents/students to sign up. (I ended up doing this in only 3 evenings because I was sick one of the days and had to cancel all of those conferences.) I then sent an email to parents explaining how I wanted to do conferences this year.

Click the image to Go to the GoogleDoc version that you can copy and modify for yourself

2) Students completed a reflection on all subject areas during class prior to the start of conferences. (**I want to share this with you, but my best version is on my school computer. I will upload it later.)
3) I prepared a list of guiding questions for parents. (This matches the same order as the student reflection)
4) I decided what materials students would need in order to successfully discuss their learning. These items included:
* Readers Workshop Notebook
* Math Workshop Stations Folder and Math Notebook
* Writing Draft Folder
* Social Studies Assignments, including a nonfiction reading assignment

On the day of each round of conferences, I pulled the scheduled students together and asked them to sticky note two places in their reading journal that showed their best thinking. (One had to be a write about reading entry, but the other could be from minilesson and read aloud). Then students pulled all of the materials they would need and placed them in a basket.

Benefits:
* Students are in charge. Students are responsible for sharing what they have learned this year, including classroom routines and procedures.
* College and Career Readiness {baby}: Don't we all have to undergo annual reviews where we explain the work we have done so far this year, explain what we are working on, goals we have achieved, and things we would like to do better? This is such a great, real-world, career-related experience for students!
* I felt that parents received MORE infromation about what goes on in our classroom. Rather than presenting a report card and explaining 2's, 3's, and 4's in each area, they really could get a sense of what their child is accomplishing this year.

Wow! I didn't realize how rewarding this would truly be. First, just taking a look at students' reflections and seeing (in their own words, without any influence from me) how much they were loving 5th grade, how they were capable of recognizing the improvements they have already made, and how they were able to come up with ways to improve themselves was huge.

Second, it was AMAYahzing to hear students tell their parents what we were learning in class. I could not believe how everyone was able to spout off lessons I had taught...HELLoooo! They are listening!

What did I learn?
1) 3 sets of parents/students in the room at the same time is probably ideal. At one point, I had 4 in the room and I was concerned that parents might not have felt they were getting enough attention from me (although I don't think they felt this way, I was a little anxious for criticism of this new way of doing things).
2) Having a set of parents/student scheduled for a time slot ALONE was not ideal. It changed the feel of the conference. Since they were the only ones in the room, I was all to available for them and probably did too much leading of their conversation. These conferences also tended to go on for an hour because there was no pressure to finish or understanding that other groups of parents/students were moving along faster.
3) Some students were able to "blow smoke" when talking to their parents. I allowed the child to explain things from his/her perspective, but I was hoping the parents would probe more. When they didn't, I may have asked a probing question or let it go. In the end, the report card demonstrates a more accurate picture.

All in all, I think this was a great success and will do it again next year. For 2nd and 3rd quarters, I plan to have students complete the same type of reflection and invite parents in to do a check-in on what their child has accomplished with his/her goals that they set during 1st quarter conferences. I will probably offer two evening sessions for this and let it be solely parent/student led.

I've uploaded an editable version of the student reflection and conference questions to TPT. Of course, you will want to modify the questions and directions to fit your needs. If you use these materials or ideas, I would love to hear how it goes!

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Peek at My Week~Back to School Tomorrow!!

It's finally time! 

Here's a peek at my upcoming week! 

 

Farley’s Currently for the Classroom for JULY (I plan to use Currently every month this year! These will be great assignments to post in the hallway and I think Kiddos will love to see what was happening for them month to month.

  

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have fallen in love with morning meeting. Last year, I tried to squeeze it in from 8-8:15, but this year, I want to give it more time on the schedule, so I have blocked off 8-8:25. I have also begun working on a "Year's Worth of Morning Meeting Themes and Ideas" so that teachers can have a morning meeting resource ready for the whole year. This is going to take a little while to complete, but what you see above are the themes I am introducing this week. Basically, I want to have a quote, key words w/ definitions, read alouds, and videos/modern songs to match each morning meeting theme. In the future, we will focus on one theme for a week, however, I plan to introduce 5 important "beginning of the year" themes this week and spiral back to them in following weeks. I hope to get to belonging, kindness, perseverance, and legacy during this week's morning meetings.

Here's a peak at my morning meeting bulletin/display boards. I love the clothespins because I can just take down an old theme and put a new one up. (I also plan to have a display board in the room of past themes so that they stay on our minds). By the end of the week, we will definitely have identified a few classroom goals.

In addition to focusing on a theme per week, students will also have "Morning Meeting" journals this year. This will hold their reflections on the quotes we talk about and reflections on their personal goal setting. Who knows what else will end up in these notebooks--I'm sure we will have some classroom issues that need to be solved, so our brainstorms will also go in these notebooks. Basically, morning meeting is a therapeutic time to focus on being better human beings. I CAN'T WAIT to start our mornings like this! This week I will introduce each theme with a read aloud:

Launching Reader's Workshop Plans:

The goals for reader's workshop are simple this week. We won't have a ton of time to launch the full workshop with independent reading, but we will:

-learn about ourselves as readers (and share that with the teacher)

-discuss how to have our best reading life ever

-learn how to use our classroom library by understanding how it is organized

-set up our book bins with books that we are interested in reading

-set up our reader's workshop journals

-identify a book that is an "old favorite" and a book that we abandoned or struggled to read last year (won't this assignment give you sooo much info about your readers?) These books will be important in two future lessons I plan to do

-leave school with a "just right" book

-learn to set ambitious goals for our daily reading lives

Monday: Quick review of what it means for a book to be "just right;" explore classroom library and discuss how it is organized (maybe split class in half to work with two small groups and then come together to discuss these topics)

Tuesday: Read Alouds Aunt Chip; "I read Because sheet"; discuss ideal reading space and encourage students to create this space at home tonight

Wednesday: Aunt Chip; T-Chart: Reading is the best for me when/I don't enjoy reading when

Thursday: That Book Woman- How to Choose a Just Right book, finding books we love

Friday: Richard Wright and the Library Card (reading is a gift; people in the past have had to fight hard to receive this gift)

After lunch, we have a 20 minute block before we go to specials. I plan to do the following "fun" read alouds during this time.

When the kids return from specials, we are going to spend a lot of time on our first chapter book read aloud: Wonder by RJ Palacio. And, then we are going to organize all of our notebooks and materials.

Math and Writing will be my two subject areas that take a little while to get started. At some point, we will cover/decorate our writers notebooks and do at least a few journals/lists of writing ideas/etc. In math, I will definitely do some multiplication facts games to see who needs to study more and perhaps we will do something with our Common Core Math Mathematical practices, which we call norms.

It is a BUSY week for sure!! Are you exhausted yet? If you are still on break, lucky ducks! Although, I am pretty excited to get back into the swing of things and to enjoy this first week of school excitement!

"Penciling in" a ^Worthwhile Writing Life

Back to School with students on MONDAY!!! :) I recently created a set of journal prompts and quotation posters for my "Building a Reading Life" minilessons. As I was getting ready for our upcoming year this week, I decided that I also wanted the same type of journal prompts and quotations for writer's workshop to help me get to know my students as writers. So, here it is!

***As I was making " 'Penciling in' a Worthwhile Writing Life," I decided that "chart parts" or anchor chart labels would be really useful, so this set includes four different designs of chart parts and I am going back today to revise my reading set to also include chart parts.***

From the teacher's note in "Penciling in" a ^Worthwhile Writing Life: "You might be wondering how you can inspire your students to believe they are writers this year, and in turn, help them become invested in improving their writing abilities. First, I want to remind you that for some of us, writing can be difficult depending on what our worries are. (Who's going to read this? What will they think about it? Am I spelling this right? Does it sound good? What will someone think of me if I actually write this down? Does this only make sense to me?--any of these questions might make a young writer freeze up before getting out their wonderful ideas.)

We can help students by teaching them that writing is a gift. Writing has something to offer me in my own life. Just like running (where I receive a positive way to deal with my stress, create more work-life balance, and reap health benefits), WORTHWHILE writing provides positive benefits. Not to mention, looking back on something we have written is a gift to our future selves. (This is the LOVE of writing perspective that we can express to our students). As a safe love of writing grows, other aspects will surely grow too--grammar, spelling, neatness, etc.—”

  

Chart Parts/Anchor Chart Title Pages/Bulletin Board:

14 Journal Prompts:

15 Quotation Posters about Being a Writer:

Putting together this set of quotes was so rewarding to me. It made me start thinking about the idea of "what writing gives us" because lets face it, I am a writer. I love to write to share things on my blog and I also do some pretty creative writing sometimes when I am putting together parent letters. I have to write emails, sometimes I have to revise and consider how to reword things to get the results that I want, and I also grab my writer's notebook often to write with my students. I can think of many positive benefits that being able to write with enjoyment gives me.

So, I aim to help my students see that writing is a gift to them too--like being able to talk, taste food, have a heart do the beating for us, lungs that breathe in fresh air, to hear the sounds of music or laughter, to feel the warmth of a handshake, writing is one of our human abilities that we are lucky to have!

My Building a Reading Life set has already received great feedback! 

I am so excited about these two new creations because it relieves the stress of my minilessons for the first few weeks of school. As I get to know my students, I can pick and choose which journal prompts and quotations would be most beneficial for them to reflect on and discuss. I can't wait to get to know my readers and writers this week and inspire them to BUILD and PENCIL IN worthwhile "life love literacy" lives. :) I think the reasoning behind my blog name has finally come to fruition...haha, 2 years later! 

 

For more from my back to school series, click the image above.

You can now get my "Building a Reading Life" and "Penciling in a Writing Life" sets in a bundle! 

Need more ideas for Back to School Writer's Workshop? 

The Writer's Notebook

Launching Personal Narratives

Happy Weekend! 

Top 10 (or more!) Back to School Read Alouds: Love of Reading

For more on building a reading life, visit my past posts, including "Building a Reading Life~Tip Time."

What read alouds are your MUST READS during the first few weeks of school? In the next few weeks, I am going to share groups of read alouds that I use for various purposes at the beginning of the year.

One of the main focuses of my read alouds for the first few weeks of school is a "love of reading." Here are some of my favorite read alouds to use to provide students with a variety of perspectives on having a great reading life and developing (or continuing) an appreciation for and love of reading:

•Aunt Chip and the Triple Creek Dam Affair, Patricia Polacco
(All time favorite for Reading Life!) What happens to a town when a tv tower comes along? Books become furniture, props, pot-hole fillers. Can Aunt Chip, the town's old librarian bring Triple Creek back to life with a love of story, books, and the printed word? 

•Thank You, Mr. Falker, Patricia Polacco
I'm sure you are familiar with this one, but Patricia Polacco was a struggling reader herself. Mr. Faulker was a teacher who made a difference in her reading life.

•The Bee Tree, Patricia Polacco
When Mary-Ellen gets tired of reading, grandfather shows her how to follow the bees to a tree with honey. "Just like we ran after the bees to find their tree, so you must also chase these things adventure, knowledge, and wisdom through the pages of a book!"

•More than Anything Else, Marie Bradby
During Emancipation, Booker T Washington pursues learning to read. This reminds me of one of my favorite reading quotes, "Once you learn to read, you will forever be free!" (Frederick Douglass)

•That Book Woman, Heather Henson
That Book Woman makes her rounds throughout Appalachia and turns the most uninterested child into a reader.

•The Wretched Stone, Chris Van Allsburg
The Wretched Stone entrances everyone when it is found. The men on this ship turn into monkeys and have a hard time thinking and remembering anything after watching the wretched stone for hours. (This is great for making inferences and discussing figurative vs literal--the wretched stone is a figurative television. Re-read the book after figuring this out to show students all the things Chris Van Allsburg says about the "wretched" television.)

•Richard Wright and the Library Card, William Miller
What if you didn't have the right to get a library card? What if a love of reading was something you had to pursue with perseverance and at the risk of being caught? Our students don't know how blessed they are to have parents and teachers who try to instill in them a love of reading and who help them pursue reading, no matter their struggles. (set in the 1920's segregated south, Richard eventually learns to read and becomes a writer.)

•The Librarian of Basra, Jeanette Winter  and Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq, Mark Alan Stamaty
When Alia, a librarian and lover of books, is caught in the war zone of Iraq, her love of reading transcends her fear of danger. She saves 30,000 books from being destroyed. These two books tell the same story, but Alia's Mission is more of a graphic novel.

•The Wednesday Surprise, Eve Bunting
This book has a twist. The granddaughter and grandmother read together every week. Throughout the book, you may be thinking the granddaughter is learning to read, but at the end you find out she has been teaching the grandmother how to read. Great for discussing illiteracy.

•Amber on the Mountain, Tony Johnston
Another story set in Appalachia. Anna comes along and teaches Amber how to read.

•The Library, Sarah Stewart
Elizabeth is a true bibliophile, so much so that her house is overflowing with books. Eventually, she has to figure out what to do with all of her books. This is a quick read in poetic form. Easy to squeeze in at some point during my back to school week!

• Please Bury Me in the Library, J Patrick Lewis (poetry)
Mix up your love of reading discussions and read alouds with a little poetry. Some of my favorites from this book are "Are You a Book Person?" and  "Please Bury Me in the Library."

This past week, I worked on polishing a "Reading Life" packet to help me with my first few weeks back to school. I created 15 reflection templates (in 1/2 page form) and 16 quotations about reading (these are in poster form and in a form that you can print for students to put into a reader response). This set of journal sheets and quotations are meant to initiate discussions and minilessons about a love of reading and to lead your students in carving out time for the best reading life they have ever had. I also like to participate in this reflection and share my own "reading life" goals with students (like trying to read more for myself, trying to read a book that one of them has recommended to me, etc.) IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED THIS PRODUCT, IT RECEIVED A BEAUTIFUL REVISION 6/26/2016, so please go re-download in your tpt account!

I made sheets of the quotations so that I can copy them and give them to students to analyze, to help us have discussions, and most importantly, to help me learn more about their reading lives so that I will have some ideas about how to help them have the best reading life ever!

I created 15 1/2 sheets to go into the "reading life" section of their journals. I will not use all of these at the beginning of the year, but I thought that the ones I do not use early in the year would be great for "boosters" when we need to revisit our reading life conversation (for example, when we return from our first break or as "New Year's" reflections for reading.

Last year, I called my Reading Life unit "Coaching Your Own Reading Life." I decided to divide students' reader response notebooks into four sections (these are included in my reading life product):

What is the purpose of each section?

My Reading Life holds beginning of the year “Reading Life” journal prompts, responses to quotes, and can contain responses to the end of classroom read alouds. We use an “I remember” structure to celebrate and respond to a book when we finish it.

Coach’s Huddle: a place to put handouts from the teacher, record notes from mini-lessons,etc.

Practice Time!: In this section, students respond to the classroom read aloud; it is used as a space for active engagement during mini-lessons and for students to practice a concept with teacher support.

Game Time: When students respond to their own reading (or book club books,) it’s GAME TIME. This is when students take what they have learned about reading and apply it with their own responses.

Students started to run out of pages in their marble notebooks this year. Some students glued another marble notebook to their first, so this year, I am just going to have everyone glue two together from the beginning of the year. How exciting! (Maybe I will tell you more about how much I LOOOOOOVED reader response this year~we instituted a 10 minute write right after minilesson and it did WONDERS!)

I hope you LOVE LOVE LOVE reading as much as I do. And, I especially love to turn my struggling, apathetic readers into READERS for life. I hope I am ready for whatever challenges my students have in store for me this year...only 7 more days until the first day of school! :)

New MATH Task Cards for Back to School!!

 

I currently have 6-1/2 days until I go back to work :( Next Monday, we begin our whirlwind of teacher workdays to get ready for the new year that begins on July 15th! I know it's an early start to the year, but I will be looking forward to my 3 week break in September :) (as well as starting a new year with a great group of new kiddos and enjoying every minute of being a 9th---WHOOOAA!--year teacher.)

One of my goals this year is to create more math task cards for the concepts that I have not yet made task cards for. I started making task cards mid-year last year, so now I'm getting my task card ideas for the beginning of year together. One of my convictions with my math task cards is to make them more special than just a bunch of practice problems. I have already made task cards through different themes, but I also try my best to find ways to make them more engaging, authentic, and when I am lucky, I find those real-world connections that hopefully teach students more than just the math skills.

I am soooo getting ready for the first month or so of school, as I have just completed three sets of math task cards. Here's what's new (and ready for "Back to School!")

1. My first accomplishment is my "Summer Slide" set. I created 56 questions related to summer vacation to review 4th grade common core concepts. I was able to make questions to review Number and Operations in Base 10, Number and Operation-Fractions, and Measurement. I am excited to use these problems the first two weeks to get a really good understanding of what my students remember from 4th grade BUT OHHHHHHH SO GLAD not to be giving a traditional paper based assessment to get to know them better as math students. (These would also be good to give to an advanced 4th grade class at the beginning of the year or as a pre-assessment for 4th grade concepts).

If your students didn't have amazing summer vacations, they can look forward to experiencing some of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, a day the beach, the coastlines of the United States, and summer cookouts with these problems. (I didn't go anywhere too amazing this summer either, just the beach, but I loved researching Disney World and random summer facts to make this set of questions, so I know your students will LOVE them too! And, for those who have never visited some of the places mentioned, they can gain some of the background knowledge that other students have.)

 

The summer slide download also includes concept analysis sheets for you to analyze student strengths and weaknesses. This set of cards is meant to serve as a pre-assessment that helps you get to know your kiddos as math students. These charts will be valuable when you begin individual units during the year as you will know which students need extra support.

2. My newest idea hit me when I was working on the "Summer Slide." How about learning about the 50 States and doing math at the same time? How about using REAL-WORLD data to learn some of the (silly) objectives in Number and Operations in Base 10 required by the common core? Let's compare digits, round numbers, use exponents, expanded form, word form, and more using state populations, by comparing distances from the state Capitols to the largest cities, looking at the longest rivers in the United States, and more! These products have required a lot of research to get the numbers, but it has been so worthwhile. After I get all of my "Around the USA" sets finished, I want to find a way for students to take the information to the next level with some kind of 50 states project that incorporates math but also helps us meet the requirements of our social studies curriculum.

 

 I'm so excited about these task cards and hope you love them too! I have lots more ideas for the "Around the USA" theme that I hope to get started on this week. I also may have some task cards sets with "Around the USA" theme for lower-grades classes, so please go follow my TPT store.
Happy 4th of July Week!

Finally Inspired! Back to School :)

So, this week is flying by and next week will be my LAST WEEK of summer break :( Today, I finally got inspired to start working on some products and now my mind is spinning with lots of ideas and that "OH MY GAHHHH, I HAVE SO LITTLE TIME" panic. But, that's usually when I do my best work, so here's hoping I can stayed fueled and going today and tomorrow to get a lot done before the weekend begins.

One quick thing I did today was update my Back to School logo for the 2013-2014 year. If you click on the logo above, you will find all of my posts that I have labeled as "Beginning of Year." Check it out to see if I have written about any new ideas you can incorporate this year.

In addition, I have a pinterest board for back to school called "Get Ready!". Come follow me there as I will be pinning important ideas and products that are worthy of beginning of the year time or year-long usage. I will also pin all of my future "Back to School" posts there.

Hope you are having a FANTASTIC summer! I know I am :)

Favorite Classroom Read Alouds

 

1. Wonder by RJ Palacio: Wonder is so "hot of the presses" new. It's the first summer read that I finished (in just a few days and I am a SLOW reader). I am so excited to share this book with students as my first read aloud this year. Auggie was born with a craniofacial disorder. He was born with droopy eyes, a cleft pallet, and missing part of his jaw. He is used to people looking at him and quickly changing their gaze or looking down. His parents chose to homeschool him until 5th grade. The book chronicles his 5th grade year in a middle school setting. As you would predict, he experiences bullies, fake friendships, and hurt feelings, but he also experiences true friendship, triumph, and finally--acceptance. I had to fight off the urge to sob the entire time I was reading this book. I truly think it's a wonderful way to start the year, bring together a group of students, and teach compassion. I also feel that this book challenges every reader (young and old) to see through how superficially we live our lives and to challenge how critical we are of our own looks. I can't say enough amazing things about this book (but I can promise you will hear more about it as I use it with my students!) Other key highlights:

* The inspiration for the name of the book, Natalie Merchant's "Wonder" is icing on the cake and will provide opportunities for text-text connections. ("I must be one of the wonders, God's own creation!")
* The story is told by a number of characters, mostly chronological, but sometimes overlapping the previous teller's section (opportunity for multiple-perspectives)
* A number of mantras are shared throughout the book through Auggie's English teacher
* RJ Palacio quotes a song at the beginning of each characters' section
* Many references to pop culture--Elephant Man, Star Wars, the Ugly Duckling, Beauty and the Beast (just to name a few)

2-3. Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne AND Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli: I must confess that these two were not read alouds this year, but book club books. However, through my minilessons on themes, symbolism, re-reading to catch things you might have missed originally, etc. I pulled excerpts of each of these books into my lessons. And, students were so into discussing their books and making connections during minilessons that I felt like every student got a good sense of the books no matter what they were reading individually. This year was the first time I read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Milkweed myself, and after sharing the experience with my 5th graders, and knowing that we referred to and repeated lines from these books ALL the YEAR LONG, these books top my FAVORITE books of ALL time list. The symbolism of angels throughout Milkweed is so strong that I now believe in "everyday" angels. The Holocaust is a sensitive topic for 5th graders, but we got so much out of the unit last year that we plan to do this unit again. I created a parent letter to inform them of our plans to learn about the Holocaust. (You can download it for free and change to fit your needs.) For more about my Holocaust lessons...

 

4. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli: Stargirl almost always makes itself into my year as a book club, but this year,  I used it as a read aloud to target the theme of "conformity."  I hope you are already familiar with Stargirl, but basically Mica Area High School is the "hotbed of conformity." Everyone, even the unpopular kids, seems to follow along with Hilary Kimball and Wayne Parr. Until, Stargirl, a homeschooled, unique, march-to-the-beat-of-her-own-drum, girl comes along. Leo, the narrator, eventually falls in love with Stargirl, but soon realizes that he is being ostracized because of his friendship with her. The critical conflict in the book is the choice Leo feels he must make between being accepted by his peers and continuing a friendship with Stargirl. Regret, "being caught between a rock and a hard place," and accepting others for their uniqueness (rather than expecting them to conform) are huge themes in Stargirl.

5. Firegirl by Tony Abbott: I have used Firegirl as a read aloud once and in a book club this year. If you want a read aloud that gets at some of the same themes as Stargirl and Wonder but that is a shorter, less complex read, Firegirl is the one for you. Jessica comes to Tom's school mid year because she is receiving burn treatments at a local hospital. Jessica was badly burned when a gas tank exploded while her mom was pumping gas. As you can imagine, the environment in the classroom totally changes when Jessica joins the class. Although she is not able to come to class all of the time because of her medical treatments, when she does, no one speaks to her or wants to touch her. Mid-book, Tom begins a friendship with Jessica when his teacher asks him to drop off some of her school work at her house. When Jessica returns to her regular home, Tom has major regrets about not reaching out to Jessica and befriending her sooner. This book again gives you the opportunity to teach compassion and regrets, but also lends itself to discussing with students how to be a leader rather than a bystander.

5. The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo: The Tiger Rising is CAPTIVATING for students, but I love it because it has so much to teach us about dealing with our demons. The amazon.com description does not do this book justice, "Walking through the misty Florida woods one morning, twelve-year-old Rob Horton is stunned to encounter a tiger—a real-life, very large tiger—pacing back and forth in a cage. What’s more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine Bailey, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other, and ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things—like memories, and heartache, and tigers—can’t be locked up forever." During my reading aloud of this novel, I taught students to walk in the characters' shoes, have compassion, and deal with their own "suitcase" of emotions. I seriously felt like I was teaching guidance lessons at the same time that I was teaching reading skills. To me, the tiger is the LEAST of importance in this book, but it keeps the kids wanting more and is a symbol of Rob and Sistine's own imprisonment by their emotions. Sistine's father is out of the picture and Rob's mother has recently died. Rob's father moved them to another town to get away from the pain, never talks about his mother, and has a hard time showing love towards Rob. Rob stuffs his feelings inside a metaphorical suitcase. On the otherhand, Sistine is always ready to let her feelings explode and often lets them out by beating on the bullies at the school. If you have not read this book, you MUST put it on your "to read" list. It took me all of an hour to finish and I did not want to put it down!!!!

From the looks of this list, it's safe to say that I like to choose read alouds that help teach my students how to treat one another with tolerance and compassion, how to face life, and how to become better people. I think each of these read alouds stick with students forever.

Hop on over to Mr. Hughes blog, Created by Mr. Hughes to check out this growing list of suggested read alouds. Although I suggested read alouds for 5th grade, the linky list ranges from 3rd through 8th and is divided by grade level. If you are a blogger, you can link up too!

Happy reading!

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