It's Monday! What Are You Reading! : My Weekly Accountability Check In

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Have you ever found yourself in so deep you had to go deeper to keep yourself afloat?  Well, I have, and that's exactly why I am here today!  I am reaching to the It's Monday! What Are You Reading?community to keep me buoyant in my #Mustreadin2017 challenge.  

I am back for my second week to share my reading! Thank you all for your open arms welcoming! I knew I'd find a great tribe here! 

First up this week is Craft Moves by Stacey Shubitz.  This is a book I have read before as part of a book talk organized by our fabulous literacy coach, Tonya Buelow.  As we read the book I knew I would be revisiting the message and lesson ideas Stacey shares.  And I was right, now I am reading it with my first-grade team and my class of first graders!  As a teaching team, we've been working to build comprehension in reading.  As we work we have noticed a weakness in recalling specific details.  This is particularly concerning as kids will need to support their thinking with evidence from the book as they grow as readers.  As we discussed lessons to support our readers I thought about the lessons in Craft Moves teaching kids to add precise details to their writing.  This was a light bulb moment and I knew the lines of our reading and writing workshops were about to blur. 

I shared my reading and thinking openly with my class.  I know it's important for the students to know why we need to learn about details in reading and writing in order for the students to take ownership of their learning.  I also wanted them to know I was working purposefully to support learning.  With Craft Moves lying open beside me showing my annotations and highlighted text I began reading a class mentor text,  In My New Yellow Shirt by Eileen Spinelli.  As we read we stopped to consider the specific details and how the story would change without these details. "It's not fun, it's so boring."  The students were eager to locate precise details and share how much the details changed the sound and feel of the story.  After a few lessons, the students are beginning to share precise details they are finding in their reading. 

I am so impressed with these readers! @sshubitz @HCSDElemLit @DarbyCreekElem pic.twitter.com/1xgV8UF2ol

— First Grade! (@Frazier1st) January 20, 2017

In writing, we are blurring the lines of the workshops as we study how the author added these precise details and why.  Working together in shared writing lessons the students are eager to rewrite sentences and add precise details! I am hoping to see this pop up in their independent writing soon!

Who could overlook the irony the last week's bookends of Martin Luther King on Monday and then the inauguration of the 45th president of Friday?  So I packed in a little individual reading, Preaching to the Chickens the story of young John Lewis by Jabari Asim and illustrated by  E.B. Lewis.  Preaching to the Chickens refreshed my belief in be called to do for others. John Lewis became his life as a "doer." as he preached to the chickens on his farm.  In caring for these chickens, young John Lewis discovered his calling to speak up for those who can't speak for themselves.  Reading the words of those who have fought so hard before reminds me it's our job now.

I am also Just beginning to listening to The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.  This one is going to require a bit of sketch noting as I listen. The topic is heavy and following such difficult story lines is going to require full concentration.