Stupid Fast Continued

As promised I have gone through the 8th grade common core standards and listed the ones I think Stupid Fast could be used with. Like I said I am not familiar with 8th grade standards but just by looking through them here are the ones I think this book touches on.

Standards

RL.8.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to characters, setting and plot.

- As I mentioned yesterday there are several themes in Stupid Fast.  You could use just one for the students to analyze or they could each pick their own. 

RL.8.3: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character or provoke a decision.

- There is a lot of dialogue is the book.  Felton even has a lot of inner dialogue that propels action forward.  It would be interesting to analyze his inner dialogue and how it impacts his actions.

You could also use these standards to meet the following writing standard:

W.8.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research
           a. Apply grade 8 Reading Standrads to literature.

There are a lot of tough topics presented in the book Stupid Fast (suicide, puberty, peer groups etc.)  any of these topics could be used to meet almost all of the Speaking and Listening standards through either a debate or a class discussion.  This could be a great way to incorporate the Global Read Aloud project and connect with another class to debate/discuss these issues.

Ideas

I lastly wanted to leave you with some ideas that you could implement in your classroom while reading aloud this book.  A lot of my suggestions came from the book Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension by Jeffery D. Wilhelm.  This book has great idea for introducing enactments into your classroom.  Through the enactments higher level learning will occur.  Here are a couple I think work well with Stupid Fast. 

Hotseat:  In this enactment a student assumes the role of a character in the book.  The student is given time to tell about him or herself and then answers questions or responds to situations that the rest of the class propose.  In the book Wilhelm suggests that you prepare students to be the "lifeline" of the person in the hot seat and as always he says it is OK to stop the enactment to reflect upon responses and if they are accurate or not.

Who Am I?:  Basically students pick a character from the story.  The begin by acting or miming like the  character then they will move on to speaking like the character.

Character Surveys:  After reading assign each student a character and have them complete a survey.  They have to justify their answers as a the assigned character would.  Here is an example from Wilhelm's book:

1. Love means never having to say you're sorry.
In role as Romeo.  I totally disagree with this statement  Love made me do a lot of things that made me really sorry.  I am dead and so is Juliet.

The explanation goes on but I think that you get the point.

How fun would these enactments be when using technology to connect with another class.

My last idea is for students to use technology to make a book trailer (just like a movie trailer but with a book).  Here is one that a librarian made for Stupid Fast. 

Hope this post helped a little!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Stupid Fast

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach is the suggested book for grades 8 and above for the Global Read Aloud project.  I do not know a lot about 8th grade and above content but I am going to do my best to summarize the book, suggest some Common Core standards that the book addresses and end with some activities that you could do with other classrooms either through twitter, blogs or Skype.  Today, I will start with the summary.

I would describe Stupid Fast as a coming of age novel.  The main character, Felton Reinstein is going through puberty and he has hit his growth spurt fast.  Before his growth spurt Felton was your average nobody in school.  He lived with his mom and younger brother (his dad had committed suicide when he was 5). Felton only had a couple of friends, was often made fun of and had nicknames like Squirrel Nuts and Rein Stone. Then he became fast, really fast, or as the author might say, stupid fast.  He went out for the track team and really enjoyed running until he got disqualified at regionals.  Then it was summer.  Over the course of the summer Felton grew even more, his best friend left for Venezuela and his mom started going crazy.  Through out the book Felton is learning how to deal with finding out who he is and what he is good at doing.  He is also struggling with his confidence and self-esteem (which any teenager can relate to).  He decides to try out for the football team, mostly so he can get out of the house away from his mom and brother and also meets a girl.

As Felton beings working out, making friends and getting faster Felton's mom is getting crazier and crazier.  She will not buy groceries, clean the house or even get out of bed.  Felton wants to hide this from everyone because he is finally making friends and becoming likable.  To cope with all the issues going on in his head he begins running, and this is where he truly comes to peace with himself and what is going on, until his mom tells him something that makes him hit rock bottom.  Lucky for Felton he has friends and family that love and support him during this hard time.

This is a great book to read aloud for 8th grade and above because it is written in first person and Felton has great voice.  You really catch onto his personality and his quirks because Herbach does such a great job developing him.  Also, the themes are abundant in this book.  Everything from you won't be happy until you find what makes you happy to themes around friends and family.  It would be interesting to see what 8th graders pick out as themes of this novel.  Be aware, there is some offensive language in this book so if that is a problem in your classroom you might want to steer away from this novel.

Mostly, because I didn't want the post to be too long I am going to stop with just the summary today.  Tomorrow, check out what standards can be taught using this book.

Have a great Friday and Happy Reading!
Laura

Throwback Thursday #4

Today I want to share with you a book that is over 30 years old as well as a favorite of my toddler.

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is fun for any toddler to listen to but especially toddlers that love animals and the zoo.  In the story the speaker has written to the zoo for a pet.  The zoo keeps sending animals that are just not right for a pet.  The elephant is too big and the snake to scary.  Finally the zoo gets it right and sends a puppy.

This is a lift the flap book so toddlers love to find what animal is hidden behind the box or in the crate.  I know that my son even loves to "read" this one by himself as he lifts the flaps he loves making the animal noise to go along with the picture.

If you are into digital books there is a Dear Zoo iPad app.  The app has several different features (read to me, read to self and picture pairs).  Not only can you tap the crates for the animals to appear but they will make a noise and move or swing around the screen.  The app is $4.99 in the app store.

What is your toddler's favorite classic book?

Happy Reading!
Laura

Dream Day

Fifty years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington.  What Martin Luther King Jr. said then still resonates with us now, 50 years later. We all have dreams of the world that we want to live in.

I wanted to share a book today that supports Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream.  I had several different options but decided to go with Somewhere Today A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas.

This book is simple enough to share with young children but also deep enough to share with older children.  It has a very rhythmic text and beautiful photographs which makes it perfect to read aloud. The book give different examples of kindness and peacemaking that can happen anywhere in our world.  Maybe somewhere today someone is planting a tree or maybe someone else is being a friend instead of fighting.  The simplicity in the actions is what makes the book so beautiful.

Peace isn't about grandiose actions, it is about the small things that we can do everyday.  Martin Luther King Jr.  had a dream for our nation.  My dream is simple, that everyone take the time to share a book with a child!  What is your dream?

Happy Reading!

Laura

You Were Loved Before You Were Born

Looking for a sweet book to read aloud to your kiddos?  Here is a good one for you.  It could also double as a great shower gift for a mom to be!

You Were Loved Before You Were Born by Eve Bunting tells the sweet story of a first time expectant mother.  The story is told as if she were speaking to her child, which is in part what makes it so sweet. The mother goes through their preparations from the moment "Daddy and I found out we were going to have you..."

The mother goes on to talk about what grandma, grandpa, aunt and cousin did to prepare for the coming of the new baby.  It is sweet to hear about grandpa giving mom a rocker and cousin giving away his baseball cards for the new baby.

Read this book to your new baby or your older school aged child.  I am sure it will spark conversation about what you did to prepare for them. What a great way to spend some one-on-one time with you child!

Happy Reading!

Laura

Reading Makes You Feel Good

Does reading make you feel good?  Do you want to convince children that reading will make them feel good?  Then you need to share Todd Parr's book Reading Makes You Feel Good with a child in your life.

If you continue to read and follow this blog you are going to see many more posts about Todd Parr because, in my opinion, his books are WONDERFUL!! Todd's books are always very simple with great pictures and include some repetition.  In this particular book the repeated line is "Reading makes you feel good because..." This line is then followed by a reason reading is so great like you can make a pizza or you can do it anywhere.

This book is so fun to share with young children because they begin to see that reading is more than just sitting and reading a book but it is reading maps, recipes, road signs and so much more.  I always liked taking some time after reading this book to have kids make their own book about how reading makes them feel good.  Keep the book in their independent reading box, I am sure it will be a favorite!

Todd always ends his books with a message.  In Reading Makes You Feel Good, he encourages everyone to "curl up with someone special and read a good book."

Can you fill in the blank?  "Reading makes you feel good because...."  I would love to hear what you have to say!

Happy Reading!
Laura

PS Here is a link to Todd Parr reading his book Reading Makes You Feel Good.  It is always fun to show kids the face behind the book!

Eric Carle

As promised I wanted to talk a little bit about an Eric Carle book study that could go along with the Global Read Aloud.

Last year I used Eric Carle for an author study in my first grade classroom.  I had two goals for this author study.  One was to share different books from an author already were so familiar with (who doesn't know The Very Hungry Caterpillar?).  The second goal was to use Eric Carle as an example of a writer and see what author crafts he used in his books.

During the author study we sometimes just read some of the author's books aloud for fun and other times we read aloud the author's books to chart what we noticed about his writing.  I do not have a picture of the actual chart but it looked something like this:

Under the side that says title we would of course write the title, but I would also include a picture of the book (I am a firm believer of using visuals for all learners but especially primary learners).  Under the side that says What we noticed, we would record what we saw Eric Carle do as a writer in that particular book.  In the first book that we shared I had to do a lot of modeling and thinking aloud, but eventually they got the hang of it and were able to come up with their own "notices."

Now, onto the books that we shared.  The good thing about Eric Carle is that he has written a TON of books and they are in EVERY library so they are accessible (click his name above for a link to his website.)

Some of my classes favorites from last year were the ones that followed a circular pattern.  I have listed them below:

Little Cloud: 

The Grouchy Ladybug:

The Very Lonely Firefly:

The great thing about an author study is that it can be done in whatever way works best for your class.  I can say that my class loved listen to his book and discussing them with one another.  How fun would it be to find another class participating in the Global Read Aloud and Skype with them while completing the anchor chart or even tweet them your "notices."  

I hope you find a way to incorporate an Eric Carle book study into your classroom and join in the Global Read Aloud.

Happy Reading!

Laura

Quotable Quote

Just wanted to keep it short today.  Here is a reading quote for you to think about over the weekend.

"You may have tangible wealth untold:

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold, 

Richer than I you can never be--

I had a mother who read to me."

- Strickland Gillian

"The Reading Mother"

Check back tomorrow for some ideas on an Eric Carle book study for Global Read Aloud. 

Happy Reading!

Laura

Throwback Thursday #3

As always on Thursdays I share with you an oldie but goodie.  These books have withstood the test of time and MUST be shared with all.

Today I want to remind you of what a GREAT poet Shel Silverstein is and discuss A Light in the Attic.

This is a picture of my original book.  Notice the tears in the covers.  What you cannot see is that pages of the book are falling out, I have my name written in crooked cursive from when I was in the second grade and all the children that this book has been shared with. 

Poetry is meant to be read aloud, that is why I wanted to include this book.  I have used this book in all the grades that I have taught (first, third, fourth and fifth).  I have read this book to my own child as an infant and now a toddler.  I also enjoyed this book as a child. 

What makes A Light in the Attic so great.  This book has everything from humor, to rhyme and rhythm as well as nonsense words.  Everything that is on the checklist for a great read aloud.  It is perfect for home or school because you can read one poem if time is tight or you can read pages of poems if time allows.  This is a must for ALL bookshelves!

My favorite poem in this Shel Silverstein collection is (and it is very hard to pick, right now as I am flipping through I am reminded of how many I do love!) Wavy Hair.  It goes like this...

Wavy Hair

I thought that I had wavy hair

Until I shaved.  Instead, 

I find that I have straight hair

And a very wavy head. 

Of course this is in honor of my very wavy hair!

What if your favorite Shel Silverstein poem? 

Happy Reading!

Laura

Something for the Little Ones

I have spent all of my time on this blog so far sharing books for school aged children.  Now I want to share with you two books that my 15 month old loves.  That's right my 15 month old already has favorite books.

I began reading to my child at birth.  I guess some could argue I read to him even before birth with all the reading aloud I did in my classroom.  There is a lot of research being done right now about the benefits of reading aloud to babies, not just children.

Two of my son's favorite books are Llama, Llama Nighty Night and Llama, Llama Zippity Zoom both by Anna Dewdney.

I am not quite sure why he loves these books so much.  Perhaps it is the rhyme and rhythm or the silly words.  Maybe he just likes llamas but these are two books that we read multiple times EVERYDAY!  He will even find the books himself, sit in his rocking chair and "read" the books to himself saying, "llama, llama."

Llama, Llama Nighty Night is your basic bedtime story.  Llama is going through his bedtime routine of bath, brushing teeth and reading a story.  Llama, Llama Zippity Zoom shows Llama having fun with his friend.  It uses silly words like Screech! Clunk!  Beep! and Bop! At the end Llama and is friend take a break for popsicles!

If you have a baby at home try out these two books and let me know what you think because they get 2 big thumbs up from us!

What books are your toddler's favorite?

Happy Reading!

Laura

Global Read Aloud

Today I am not going to share a particular book to read aloud but something else.  Have you heard of the Global Read Aloud project?  The Global Read Aloud project is a way to read aloud to your class and discuss the book with other students across the country and even world.

In today's classrooms we need to find more and more ways to use technology to connect our students to one another and the Global Read Aloud project is a great way to start if you are not already experimenting with technology.

It is really simple.  Go to www.globalreadaloud.com and sign up.  Then you need to start reading the book that over 58,000 people are going to share with their class or own children.  There are 4 different levels of books that you can choose from depending on your grade level.  The books are

Kindergarten and up: Eric Carle book study

First grade and up: Marty McGuire by Kate Messner

Fourth grade and up: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Eighth grade and up: Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

After you have decided what book to read aloud to your group of children wait until September 30 to being reading to your children.  Then it is up to you how you want to connect with other educators or parents participating in this event.  

You could simply have your class tweet a response to the read aloud using the hashtag #GRA13.  You could find another class to skype with and discuss the read aloud.  Whatever it is you want to do.  Get as involved as you want.  

I encourage you to use this as a way to make the read aloud time in your class even more exciting and interactive.  It may even hook a couple more kids into loving reading. 

I will be posting about the Global Read Aloud books over the next couple of weeks.  I know how busy people can get so if you don't have time to read the books and decide which is best check back for my synopsis of each of the books. 

Happy Reading!

Laura

One More for Back to School

I have one more back to school themed post for you all.  I know I said I was finished yesterday but then I found this great resource.

The library where I live has posted 9 books with a back to school theme.  There is a short synopsis of each book and you can click directly on a link to see if the book is available for check out. 

Going to School Books

I have not had a chance to check out too many of the books but look forward to reviewing some of them and hopefully sharing my opinions with you. 

Hope you find one that you enjoy!

Happy Reading!

Laura

The Worrier in Us All

This will be my last post about good back to school read alouds.  I am sure many of you have heard of the book I am going to share about today, Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes.

Kevin Henkes has a variety of book that young children can easily relate to.  They tell stories about problems many young children have and help them how to cope with those problems.  Wemberly is no different.  She is your typical worrier and she worries about EVERYTHING!  Her biggest new worry is the beginning of school.  Any child can see his or herself in Wemberly's worries.  She worries about everything from wondering if the teacher will be mean to not being able to find the bathroom.  Her parents constantly reassure her that everything will be fine.  Luckily for Wemberly is everything is fine, in fact she meets a friend, Jewel, who she has a lot in common with.  Children almost love the repetition found in the text almost as much as the story line.    

If you have a worrier at home check this book out at the local library, they many find comfort in Wemberly's story.  If you are a teacher, this book will connect to someone in your class because there is  a worrier in all of us!    

Enjoy the weekend and Happy Reading!

Laura

Throwback Thursday #2

This week's Throwback Thursday is celebrating a classic and a favorite of many young children.  David Goes to School by David Shannon is an absolute must for children ages 3-5.  If you are a teacher read it to your class.  If you are a parent read it to your preschooler before their first day.  I guarantee you they will love it!

This book is so simple to read aloud but sparks great conversations with all kids.  The pictures are great to discuss as well as all of David's mishaps.  When you pull this book off the shelf to read aloud be sure to get your best teacher voice ready and model how to change your voice depending on the text.  Read this book aloud and I am sure it will be one that the kids grab off the shelf to read on their own.  

After reading, take the time to make your own David Goes to School books, but replace David with your own child's name and see what kind of mischief they can get into on the first day of school. 

Happy Reading!

Laura

Pete the Cat

Still look for some back to school read alouds?  Don't worry!  I have a few more to share with you.

Pete the Cat is a must in any K-1 classroom for read alouds.  Pete is such a cool cat that the kids love to hear about his adventures.  There are many different Pete the Cat books but the best one for starting out the school year is Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes  by Eric Litwin.  

In this adventure Pete the Cat is off to school.  The rhythm and rhyme starts out immediately, "Here comes Pete, strolling down the street."  Rhythm and rhyme is the first reason it is a great read aloud.  Reason 2 you must read this book aloud to your class is that it is interactive.  Each page is a new clue to  where Pete is going.  Each answer is a place in the school building.  Children love using the clues to infer where Pete is off to next and shouting out the answer.  The third and final reason you MUST read aloud Pete the Cat is because he has so much fun, "singing in his school shoes, painting in his school shoes, adding in his school shoes and writing in his school shoes."

Introduce your class to Pete the Cat at the beginning and have fun using Eric Litwin's other Pete the Cat books throughout the year!

Which Pete the Cat book is your favorite?

Happy Reading!

Laura

PS Here is a fun song about Pete the Cat rocking his school shoes.  Be sure to check it out!

Throwback Thursday

On Thursdays I will take the time to explore books that I loved from my childhood or other classic read alouds, hence Throwback Thursdays!  Sticking with the back to school theme for this week I wanted to share with you all The Sideways Stories of Wayside School by Louis Sachar.  

This book is ridiculously silly.  It tells the story of a school that was built 30 rooms tall instead of 30 rooms across.  Each chapter is the story of a different person in the classroom on the 30th floor.  Children will enjoy hearing stories of the horribly mean Mrs. Gorf, Louis the recess monitor and all of the different and quirky students in the class.  Intermediate aged students will enjoy the humor in this book more than primary aged students.  It is perfect for a quick end the day read aloud because chapters are relatively short and tell the story of one person.  

Check it out and let me know what your class thought of the stories.  Can events that happen in your classroom top the stories from Wayside School? I bet not!

Happy Reading!

Laura

First Day Jitters

Summer seems to have flown by.  The start of school is just around the corner.  The first day of school is just as exciting and jittery for teachers as it is for students.  One great way to calm the first day nerves and start off on the right foot is through a read aloud!

One book that I love to share with my class on the first day is First Day Jitters.  This is the story of Sarah not wanting to start a new school.  Mr. Hartwell begs and pleads with Sarah to get out of bed and get to school.  I think we can all empathize with Sarah with not wanting to get out of bed to go to school.  Eventually Sarah gets up and Mr. Hartwell drives her to school where her principal takes her to  her classroom.  All through the book we are visualizing that Sarah is Mr. Hartwell's daughter, but on the very last page we learn that Sarah is actually Mrs. Hartwell, a teacher!

This book is so fun to share on the first day because students realize that teachers share in their anxiety.  After reading this book aloud take time to turn and talk about what they were jittery about this morning.  It could even turn into a vocabulary lesson by sharing synonyms for the word jitters.

No matter what you do I am sure your students will enjoy the story of Sarah's first day.

YouTube read aloud of First Day Jitters

What books do you like to read aloud at the start of the school year?  I will be posing more of my favorites so check back!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Reading Magic

I was partially inspired to start this blog by Mem Fox's book Reading Magic.  I have always loved reading as well as sharing my love of reading but Mem Fox has convinced me of the importance of reading aloud to children.  According to Mem the number one way to teach children to read is by reading aloud from day 1.  If we could only read aloud 3 books a day we could possibly wipe out illiteracy.  WHAT!? Reading aloud could end illiteracy?! It is a bold statement, but what if she is right? Something as simple as reading aloud could give all of our children the advantage they need to become readers.  I say it is worth a try.

Throughout this blog I will be sharing with you some of my favorite books to read aloud.  Some books will be my favorites for the classroom and some will be the favorites of my own child.  Please use this blog as a place to find your next read aloud book and cuddle up with your own child or gather your class on to the carpet.  Either way find time each day to read aloud to a child.

Check back later this week for some of my favorite read alouds for back to school!

As always, Keep Reading!