September | 2013 | Expect the Miraculous

The Daily 5 I-PICK Strategy is a tool that many of our teachers use with students to find a “just right” book. I’ve found this strategy to be so much better than using the 5-finger rule because it takes into account the many ways that we all choose books. Usually 1st grade teachers are among the first to teach this strategy, but this year Kindergarten is very interested in what this might look like for our youngest students.

I-PICK stands for:

I choose my books
Purpose: Why am I reading?
Interest: What do I like to read?
Comprehend: Do I understand?
Know: Do I know most of the words?

For Kindergarten, most of these pieces are obtainable except for knowing most of the words. We’ve also been teaching the students the ways that we read which have included reading the pictures, reading the words, and retelling the story.

After some email conversation with a Kindergarten teacher, I proposed that we leave off the “know” part of IPICK for most of the students. In class, students reviewed all of the steps of IPICK, but they specifically focused on “interest”. Each student was interviewed about what they like to read and the teacher and other helpers wrote down about 3 interests for each student. These cards were then given to me in the media center.

I took each card and created a personal stack of books for each student. I tried to find books that matched the interest and had plenty of pictures for students to practice reading pictures in a book. I won’t lie. This was very time consuming. It took me about 45 minutes per class to pull books. However, for the first time I could honestly say that I helped every student in a class find the books that they were interested in.

We kept our lesson very short. On the floor, I reviewed IPICK and set our focus on comprehension. We looked at some previously read books like Chalk to remind ourselves how to read the pictures in a book. We also looked at informational text to practice reading a photograph and attempting to read the captions on pictures.

Just like in a cafe where you place your order and they call out your name, I called each student’s name and handed them the stack of books. I reminded them that sometimes in restaurants we don’t like what we ordered and that it is ok to send it back or spit it out. I reminded them that they would probably find several books that they liked but they needed to pick the one that tasted the best.

As students sat at tables, the teachers and I walked around and had conversations with students about their books. They told us what they were reading in the pictures. If we saw a student quickly breezing through pages, we had a longer conversation and modeled how to slow down and carefully read a picture. I loved how finding the book didn’t get in the way and we were actually able to have quality conversations rather than spending our time running around the shelves looking for books.

In the end, each student chose a book. When we asked them why they chose the book, interest was usually the winning reason. It just reminded me of how important it is for students to find the books that they love to read even if it is Spongebob or Disney Princesses. Every student left with a smile on their face. I know that students missed the experience of actually finding the book on the shelf, but in the end, I felt like this experience was positive and rewarding in other ways for the students. This is not something that I would or could do for every session, but I think it’s important for students to come to the library and find the perfect match of a book at least part of the time.

Over the summer, I received an email from Carole Langley, wife of a Barrow alumni. She introduced me to the incredible story of Moina Belle Michael, an Athens area woman who is credited with making the poppy the symbol of remembrance for soldiers. The children’s book is called The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and her Tribute to Veterans by Barbara Walsh. Until this book, I really didn’t know the story of Moina and her ties to Athens, Georgia and the world, but I am so thankful that Carole introduced me to this book and I’m even more grateful to Barbara Walsh for creating it.

After that email, I contacted Barbara and her publisher and began a long collaborative journey to bring her to our school. Luckily, Barbara was already going to be in Decatur for the Decatur Book Festival. She graciously agreed to come to Athens and present her work to our 4th and 5th graders, but just like Moina, Barbara wanted to do more. She offered to visit as many schools as she could while she was in Georgia. I arranged for her to visit 7 other elementary schools in Clarke County and Carole Langley agreedto be her chauffeur.

Before her visit, I read the book to all 4th and 5th grade classes. We also watched the book trailer:

And we watched the video from the Georgia Women of Achievement:

All of this information was fascinating to the students and was a great tie-in to the 5th grade Veteran’s Day Luncheon that they do every November. The students couldn’t wait to hear Barbara talk.

Barrow was honored to be Barbara’s first ever school visit, and she did an incredible job sharing Moina’s story and the long process it took to write a work on nonfiction. In all, it took 7 years to bring this book into the printed copy that we hold into our hands today. Barbara shared how she interviewed numerous people, dug through archives at UGA and Columbia University, and used Moina’s autobiography as a resource. She shared how her editor wanted her to be extremely thorough in her research. I loved having this information emphasized for students so that they could see how hard authors have to work to research their topic. Having this at the front end of the year will allow this visit to inspire our work for the rest of the year. Barbara also shared many pictures of artifacts and the story of her 99 year old father who has a personal connection with Moina.

As students left, Barbara gave each student a poppy that was made by a veteran. She also gave them each a bookmark from her book. Avid Bookshop sold copies of her book and those will be autographed and delivered to students soon.

In the spirit of Moina Michael, Barbara Walsh doesn’t keep a penny of the profits from her books. She donates everything to Operation Purple, which benefits the children of those serving in the military. Barbara’s passion for Moina Michael’s mission is evident in every conversation that you have with her. She truly lives up to Moina’s own phrase: “Whatsoever the hands find to do, do it with all your might.” Thank you Barbara Walsh for giving this gift of a story to all children, and thank you for your generosity in coming to speak to our Barrow and CCSD students.