Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

In the summer of 2009 I was plowing through my state award nominees to ensure I’d read every title before school started. I picked up Rebecca Stead’s First Light, not having any idea what the book was about. The two storylines were so interesting, I knew they’d likely come together but wasn’t sure how. Mesmerized by the detail, the characters, their worlds, I fell in love with Stead’s writing.

A few months later I picked up her next book, When You Reach Me. Turning the pages I was drawn to Miranda and her world. Why was Sal angry with her? Would her mom win the game show? And who was leaving her those notes? I still remember thinking there were some odd things happening in the book and then I reached a page somewhere in the 160s and gasped. I vividly recall goose bumps rising up on my arms, the hairs standing at attention. I had to finish, breathlessly, and then immediately reread the book.

And then I began my eager wait for her next novel. A few weeks ago, the wait was over. 

Liar & Spy was finally out in the world. I had longed for an ARC, wished and prayed, but in the end, I’m grateful just to have read it. What a beautiful book.

This book follows the story of Georges. Named after the artist Georges Seurat, Georges has to deal with many irritations, including the mispronunciation of his name. (The “S” is silent) When we begin the book, Georges and his family are moving to an apartment. Finances are tough, his dad has lost his job and is starting a small business, and his mom is working double shifts at the hospital.

Life at school isn’t much easier. Georges isn’t fitting in with his old friends and some others are just downright mean. Luckily he meets a new kid, Safer, when he moves into the apartment building. He becomes part of Safer’s Spy Club and immediately is set to work.

There were many reasons I enjoyed this book. I completely identified with Georges and how he often lived in his head. I loved the relationship between he and his parents. Safer’s family was so different from George’s, I thought it was a great contrast. But mostly, I just fell in love with Stead’s writing all over again. The details are amazing, the story compelling, and the characters are memorable. Highly recommend this book, it will be my second read aloud to my fifth graders this year. 

Slice of Life - Being Comfortable in Our Own Skin

 Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers.

Together things happen that can never happen alone, which is a very important thing for an introverted and socially anxious person like me to realize. I guess these days this is a politically charged statement, but it seems to me manifestly true. You make nothing alone. Human beings are not mere competitors, and human life is not merely competition. We are collaborators. To be human is to catch the falling person.

~ John Green, author

I saw this quote from John Green the other day and it stopped me in my tracks. First, I love the quote. I think if more people in this world realized we need to collaborate, that we are better off together, if they caught the falling person, we’d be in a better place. This is what I want to teach my children and my students.

The other part I identify with is John himself. He’s been very open about the fact that he’s an introvert and suffers from anxiety, and I share this struggle. It’s funny, last year a student interviewed me for a writing assignment. Later the teacher interviews hung in the hall. A colleague was reading them and trying to guess who each teacher was. (They weren’t labeled until later.) I passed and she asked me which one was mine. Glancing them over I pointed at one on the top and she laughed and said I must be mistaken, that one listed that the teacher was shy and I am obviously not. She couldn’t be more wrong.

Shyness has always been part of my life. I’d much prefer staying home, reading a book, to going out. I prefer my home to traveling, friends to strangers, keeping quiet to volunteering. Growing up, I rarely spoke up in class to the point that many teachers didn’t connect with me. Anxiety didn’t really kick in until I was older, but it is ever present.

So how is it that a colleague didn’t recognize me and chuckled when I claimed the page that listed shy? It’s something I have worked hard on. When I’m comfortable, I now speak up. I try hard and do things that make me nervous, require to me step outside of my comfort zone. In front of friends and family, I am myself and completely comfortable in my skin. In front of students, I am in my element.

And for the anxiety, I try and not let it hold me back. I get on the plane even though it makes me feel like I’m having a heart attack. I speak in front of groups of teachers though I know my face will be bright red, my heart will race, and my voice will crack. I will write and put my writing “out there” even though it feels like jumping off a cliff. Sometimes it seems easier, sometimes it seems like the hardest thing in the world, but the motto I live by is that in our family we do hard things (See this blog post for more). And I need to be that role model to my boys who, I fear, will take after me.

This is why I thank John Green, for being so forthcoming on the things he struggles with. I am as well, especially with my students. It amazes me how many of my students struggle with anxiety. I share my story, teach them some deep breathing, and we connect. I want them to learn what I am still learning, the amazing feeling of being comfortable in our own skin. 

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 I’m joining Jen & Kellee (and many other bloggers) in discussing what we are reading this week. Join us! Go to their site and link up your own blog.

Big reading week this week – passed my goal of 300 books read for the entire year and my 105^th book read of the summer. (Should have made my yearly goal a bit higher.)

So, for #bookaday this summer I have 6 days to go. Today (Monday) is the 80^th day and with 105 books read, I will have surpassed my goal even if I don’t read this week. (Not going to happen)

Here are my books read this week:

Favorites would be a tie between Liar & Spy by Stead and The Secret of the Fortune Wookie by Angleberger. A new favorite series is Nanny Piggins.

Also, thanks for all of the prayers and positive thoughts for my dog, Bally. As of Sunday night, she's shown some improvement so we're hopeful that trend will continue. Thanks so much! 

Happy Reading!
Katherine

This is Just to Say...

Bally

This is just to say

I’ve adored you for twelve years.

that you taught me to parent

before truly becoming one.

that two little boys watch you.

play with you.

sleep next to you.

Forgive me

we are not ready to say good-bye

please heal and recover soon.

We love you.

This isn’t really a “teaching” blog post except that I was trying some ideas out in my writing notebook today. I adore William Carlos Williams poems, especially This is Just to Say. With that thought, and my dog Bally’s injury, this poem spilled forth. If you feel inclined to say a prayer for Bally, we welcome them. She’s twelve and has somehow hurt her leg. Surgery is expensive so we’re hoping rest and pain medication will help. Thanks. 

Classroom Library Organization

Once August rolls around I begin working on my classroom to prepare for a new year. I always start with the actual set up of the room. Once the furniture is in place my attention turns to my classroom library.

I was excited to make new baskets for books by
Tom Angleberger and Kate Messner. Whenever
I have a lot of books by one author they get a basket.

I’ve long believed in the importance of the classroom library (and the school library WITH a librarian – but that’s another post). When I switched from being self-contained to semi-departmentalized, my classroom library slowly took over my entire room. I believe Dr. Allington has recommended somewhere from 750-1500 books for a classroom library. According to Booksource I now have just over 2000 books in my classroom library. In all honesty, sometimes I feel I have too many – that maybe it is a bit overwhelming to students. But after weeding it out greatly over the last few years, there aren’t many I feel I can get rid of.

When you have a great number of books in a classroom, I think organization is the key. For the last two days that has been my goal in working in my classroom – ensure the library is organized. A friend volunteered her time and we began with wiping out each basket, making sure the books were in the correct basket, and that they were all facing front.

Hot reads on the tall shelf, authors on the low shelves.

As you walk in my room the wall to your left has book organized by author in alphabetical order by their last name. There is also a tall shelf at the start that contains “Hot books” – ones that I have book talked, or students have. I still have it stocked with last year’s hot books but it will be changing over to the new groups recommendations soon.

Genre, Newbery, Caldecott, Picture Books.

The wall opposite the door has books grouped in baskets by series and genre. At the end of those shelves are baskets that contain Caldecott, Newberry, and my collection of picture books.

Graphic Novels

Opposite of it there is a freestanding shelf behind the couch. It contains graphic novels or what I call graphic novel “hybrids”. This is probably my most rotated section in the room.

Part of my non-fiction. State award nominees are on top.

Finally I have two different shelves housing my non-fiction books. After a lot of deliberation I sorted these by the Dewey Decimal system. My reason being if someone was reading a poetry book from my classroom and they wanted to go to our school library and find more poetry books, the sticker on the book will tell them to look at 811. Some non-fiction books are in baskets; many are standing on their side.

All books have labels that say the basket the book belongs in, whether it is classified as fiction or nonfiction, and SOKOLOWSKI (my last name). I also write my name across the pages at the top of the book incase the sticker on the front falls off.

Finally, this year I will be using Booksource Classroom Organizer for library check out. My students took time at the end of the year to scan all of my books into the website. My reading camp students used it this summer to check out books. We had a few issues but overall it was wonderful. So I am hoping that this year will be the year I keep track of more books!

A classroom library is an investment for certain. But I firmly believe that one of the reason my students read so much is that they are surrounded by books. The other reason being I can turn to any shelf and recommend a variety of books because I’ve read them. If you are just building your library, there are many ways to accumulate books. Ask parents to donate gently used books. Put books up on Donors Choose. Create a wish list on Amazon. Ask for gift cards to bookstores in lieu of gifts. I used to be hesitant to suggest that, but now I inform parents at parent night that I am the sole provider of the books in my classroom and if they ever are looking for something to give me, gift cards are excellent. J And now that my library is ready, I can begin. 

Slice of Life - Defining Greatness

 Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers.

Friends, it’s coming. The start of school. In fact I saw some pictures on Twitter today of friends’ kiddos heading back to school. And although I am overwhelmed, and still have fourteen days left, my brain has started churning out some lesson ideas. So, today, I thought I’d share one here because that’s a slice of my life right now, creating lessons. J

I’m constantly looking for ways to help my students set their priorities. To know what is important and that, while they are wonderful people, they aren’t the most important people in the universe. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve been blessed over and over with amazing students. But one thing I’ve noticed is that kids lately seem to be a bit egocentric. (Now I sound like I’m 80… Kids these days!)  And on that note I cam upon the following videos.

My plan is to watch these at the start of writing workshop. I want to begin with this one:

And then I’m going to ask them to write about what makes someone great.

Then I want to show them this video:

And I want to ask them to write a little more about what makes someone great.

And finally, I will show this video:

And, once again, ask then to define greatness.

Then I’m going to ask them to go find a spot in the room and write about their definition of greatness and how they plan to aspire to it. We’ll come back together at the end to share. This will be our first writing piece we’ll work on as we learn the ins and outs of the writing workshop. I cannot wait to see what they create.

Finally, at the end of our workshop and just for fun, I will show this video. It incorporates my love of inspiring quotes with a great message to live their life.

How will you be kicking off writing workshop this year? 

The "Begin the School Year" Craziness

New books to add to the library

It happened yesterday. I flipped the wall calendar in our kitchen and my heart began to race, August. Oh Lord. As of today I have eighteen days left until our Inservice Day, nineteen until students arrive. I feel the need to run around my house screaming, yet I know that will make Chris more fearful for my mental state, so I will swallow the scream.

Are you having back-to-school anxiety yet? Here’s a list of events from today that did not help matters.

·      Printing off some Common Core handouts from this site HERE. (Amazing, by the way. I printed the bookmarks. Thanks to Paul Hankins for pointing them out.) I read through them and my head started swimming.

Bins to label

·      Knowing that Monday I need to go learn how to use our new student management program.

·      Counting 101 books on my bedroom bookshelves that I need to read.

·      Walking in my classroom today and seeing all that needs to be done.

·      Thinking of the curriculum planning I need to finish.

·      Realizing that once I have a class list in a week I need to begin all the items on the “to do” list that require student names.

·      Seeing the stack of letters my students wrote themselves in our end of the year celebration that I need to mail out tomorrow. (More about that HERE)

And the list goes on, and on, and on…

Bulletin Boards to change

Furniture to rearrange

And it is in times like these I begin doing some deep yoga breathing. Calm the heart rate. Think of everything I am looking forward to. I love fall. I love meeting my new class. I love the possibilities that a new school year brings. I love helping new groups of students fall in love with books. In thinking of these positive things I began to relax.

A new school year – my seventeenth. I’ve got this.