For 3 years, I have organized an online picture book smackdown in honor of Picture Book Month. Over those 3 years, our Google Hangout event has grown stronger thanks to the collaboration of librarians, students, and authors around the country. We are busily planning this year’s event, but you can go ahead and put it on your calendar now! It will be November 19th from 1:30-2:30PM EST.
We made a Smore to host all of the content of the event:
During the smackdown, you can expect to hear:
An introduction and welcome from Picture Book Month founder, Dianne de Las Casas
Students from at least 5 states share favorite picture books and why picture books matter in a fast-paced format
Authors such as Laurie Ann Thompson share her favorite picture books along with our students
We would love for you to watch the event with your students or share with classrooms. You can even participate by tweet about the event or tweeting your own picture book recommendations during the event using the hashtag #pbsmkdwn
Even if you can’t join us, we hope you are inspired by our event and consider having your own Picture Book Smackdown online or in your own space. Feel free to use our hashtag to connect our events together. Happy Picture Book Month!
P.S. If you can’t wait for this year’s event, here’s a little taste of what we did last year:
I’ve been doing a lot of work with teachers and students over the past couple of weeks focused on the IPICK strategy. One of the big pieces of this strategy is “interest”. The idea is that if we read things we are interested in then we are more likely to enjoy the books we read. But…what if you don’t know your interests?
In each class I’ve taught, there has been a handful of students that no matter what you ask, what you suggest, or what stories you try to pull out they cannot name a single thing that they like. This is frustrating, but rather than throw my hands up, it has made me very curious. Why are these kids just shrugging their shoulders when you ask them what they like? What can I do (we do as a school) to support all students in exploring their interests?
Ms. Spurgeon, a 4th/5th grade teacher, came to me with this exact same noticing. She had asked students to do an “All About Me” assignment, but when it came to interests, several students came up empty handed. She wants us to do a project together this year using student interests, but we can’t start because we don’t know their interests. We decided to try another route.
We were trying to decide what kind of text would immerse students in a variety of topics while still being very accessible to a range of reading levels. I’m not really sure how we decided it, but we decided to try magazines. I don’t really subscribe to magazines any more in the library, but we have all of the Ranger Rick, Zoobooks, Sports Illustrated, etc that we’ve subscribed to through the years. I pulled out the boxes and put them all over the tables. We did a very quick overview of how we really want to think about our interests and one way we do that is by trying as many things as we can. Ms. Spurgeon talked about some foods she had tried like zebra and how she would never have known how much she liked the taste if she hadn’t tried it. We modeled what “trying” a magazine looked like. We were very specific to not read every page and were honest how we as adults often just flip through a magazine and pick out the pieces we want to read. I loved this because I saw students perk up. Knowing that they didn’t have to read the entire magazine was an invitation. They dove in and started exploring. They oohed and ahhed over so many pictures they saw, and Ms. Spurgeon and I had casual conversation with them about what they saw.
One moment stood out to me. Carlos and Carlena were looking at Kiki magazine together. This magazine features a lot of fashion and crafts. They discovered a page with a great 80’s style craft involving beads and safety pins. The safety pins were put together on elastic string to create a bracelet. They were glowing with excitement, so I told them I would take a picture of the page and send it to Gretchen Thomas at UGA to see if we could incorporate it into makerspace.
They looked a little shocked at first like, “You mean we could actually make this?” Then, right after school I got an email from Carlos asking if I could email him the picture of the instructions.
It was that moment that told me I couldn’t let this momentum go. This was a chance to empower individual students to explore a genuine interest. Who cares if it was “just a craft”? It was something they were suddenly passionate about when they had moments before been shrugging their shoulders. That weekend, I went out and bought supplies, and I emailed them both first thing Monday morning.
I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw both of them walk in during their recess to get started on their project.
They came in for 3 days in a row during recess and didn’t even want to stop for lunch.
As they’ve worked, I ‘ve shared their process via Twitter. They have watched me documenting the process along the way, and I’ve told them that they are trying something out that they might teach to others or inspire other makerspace projects.
One day while we were working, Gretchen Thomas at UGA tweeted a picture of pins that her students had made. When I showed it to Carlos and Carlena, they both smiled and said, “They’re doing that because of us?”
Another opportunity started to emerge because I saw how seeing the impact that they could have outside of our school walls was a motivator for them. Next week for Dot Day, we are connecting with Sherry Gick and her 2nd grade class. I asked Carlena and Carlos if they would share with this class how they are making their mark by being the first to try a craft in our makerspace and how they hope to pass on what they’ve learned along the way. Without even blinking, they said yes.
I have no idea where this is going to go, but I feel like I’ve tapped into something that I can’t let go. I have to keep asking myself, my students, and our teachers how we can continue to explore interests, seek out individual passions, and amplify student voices beyond the walls of our school. All of our students deserve to explore so many things to figure out what they are truly interested in.
Just as I did for the early grades, I pondered what message I wanted our upper grades to take away from library orientation. I wanted to of course give them some reminders about routines and procedures, but I wanted them to leave with a sense that the library was a place for all readers to connect with books. I wanted them to know that if they had never found a book that they connected with that I wanted to help them find that book. If we didn’t have the book or topic in our library, then I wanted us to make sure that we did.
Over the summer, I saw John Schu post on his blog about a new site from Scholastic with the motto “Open a World of Possible”. On the site, there are several videos and resources about how reading opens possibilities for us all. One of the best videos is the one asking kids of all ages to talk about why they read.
I asked students to first think about what their answer to the question “Why do you read?” would be. I didn’t take any answers from them since I felt like it was a personal question at that moment in time and that some students may have never thought of the answer. Then, we watched the video to see if we connected to anything the students said or if their ideas sparked some of our own. At that point, instead of asking students to share aloud, I gave them an opportunity. I created a Flipgrid with that same question and told them it would be available for the next two weeks. I hoped they would think about their answer and share their voice with others in our school. I loved that some of them did this before they even left the library.
I shared with students that one of the reasons that I read is to walk in other people’s shoes, especially people who are different from me. I also love to experience things in a book that I know I would never do in real life. Books are my safe place to go into the spooky unknown, the thrill of the Hunger Games, or the magic of a schools for wizards.
Next, I shared a bit of a book that I connected with this summer called Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley. These grades will all have an author visit with Cassie in September, so this lesson was also a way for us to start diving into her text. I chose to read aloud starting on p. 65, which is the part where Ephraim first visits the circus as a young boy. He is a believer, so he is able to find the circus. However, he still needs a ticket to get in. It is on these pages that Ephraim discovers that every person’s ticket into Circus Mirandus is different. You can’t pay to get in but instead must offer something to the ticket taker that has a connection with who you are or simply what you have to offer. For one boy, it’s a spool of thread and for Ephraim it’s a fish.
I loved seeing so many students connect to this part of the story and want to read on. I knew they wouldn’t all connect because it’s so hard for us all to connect with the exact same book. However, this part of the story helped us talk about how we are each different. We each have interests that we bring into the library when we search for a book, and those interests are our tickets into the books on the shelves.
Beyond “why I read” and connecting through interests, students have an opportunity to explore the library and refresh their memory on checking out books, using Destiny, and finding the various sections. As in the past, I made some videos connected to QR codes. Students used iPads to watch these videos and then start checking out books when they were ready. I was able to talk to students about their interests rather than focusing on how to check out books.
I hope that students continue to think about why they read and that I can think of more ways to find out their interests and showcase their voices in the library.
Each year I ponder what to do for the first of the year library orientation. Once again, it’s a time where you want to talk about procedures, expectations, etc, but I think more and more about what message I really want students to take away.
This year we are fortunate to have author and illustrator Mike Curato coming to visit our school in October. His book Little Elliot, Big City has so many positive messages for students to start off their year. I decided to use this book as a conversation starter about problem solving, helping one another, being a good friend, and feeling welcome in such a big place.
As students entered the library, I played the book trailer.
Then, we opened with the story. Little Elliot, Big City has very few words on a page, but the discussions that can blossom from those simple words and powerful illustrations are priceless. Over the course of reading the book to students, there were certain pages that started to stand out as the pages I wanted to pause on in order to connect the book with the first visit to the library.
First, we paused here:
Students imagined an elephant in their mind based on what they had seen in a book, movie, or real life. Then, they talked with a partner about all of the differences. We could connect this to all kinds of library ideas such as how different we all are as readers: our interests, our stamina, our favorite authors, and more.
Next, we paused here:
I loved hearing students talk about this page and how Little Elliot was a problem solver. Even though things were challenging, he found ways to persevere. Again, there were so many was to connect to the library and school. We talked about the importance of not giving up, taking a deep breath, trying what seemed impossible, and the more classes I talked to the more ideas surfaced that I hadn’t even thought of.
Probably the most powerful page to talk about was here:
We saw Elliot struggle to be noticed as he went into the city to buy a cupcake. Students came up with all kinds of ways that Elliot could get his cupcake, but then he leaves with nothing. We pondered the question, “Why was Elliot able to be a problem solver at home, but not in the bakery?” Students amazed me with what they said. At home, Elliot was alone and could be brave. In the city, he was shy and scared. Students also talked about how he knew how to use all the tools at his house like his chair, his books, and his broom. However, in the city, he didn’t know how to use things, so he felt helpless. Wow! The conversations just kept coming and each class had a statement that stood out. I wish I had captured the brilliance. It really made me think about all the tools students really need in order to use the library and how that can be a little scary even though I have no intention for it to feel that way. It reminded me of the importance of smiling and patience as students ask over and over how to do things like check out their own books.
Our library really is a massive place, especially for a Kindergarten through second grade student. I don’t want them to ever feel like Elliot did in the cupcake store, so we had some honest conversation about what we could all do to make sure that happened. I was honest with them about how I work alone in the library so there are times that I can’t leave a class to come over and help them. I truly want to, but sometimes it’s just hard for me to do.
Suddenly, those rules and procedures for using a shelf marker had a purpose. I wasn’t just giving students a rule for the library during orientation. I was giving them a tool just like Elliot had his broom. The shelf marker was a strategy for those times that students were unsure. We talked about going to a section of the library and really examining the books on the shelf with a shelf marker rather than searching on the computer.
We also talked about how Elliot was a helper to mouse in the story and that we really all have to be like Elliot at some point. We have to help one another. We can’t wait on one person to be the person to help us. Whether it’s another adult roaming the library, a student from another class, or a volunteer, we can ask anyone in the library to help us access what we want.
I really didn’t plan for Elliot to have so many connections to library orientation, but he did. It just evolved. Students left with a positive story, a strategy for finding books, and I hope a sense that the library is a welcoming place where we all take responsibility to help one another.
I was honored to be one of the judges in Flipgrid’s inaugural Graduation Voices contest. Graduates of high school and college contributed their voices to two grids to complete the sentence, “To me, graduation means…” Almost 200 graduates added their voices between the two grids, and I enjoyed watching all of them along with fellow judges Shannon Miller and Alec Couros. Congratulations to the two winners, Eliot and Jay. They will each receive a new Apple watch. You can read the full post on Flipgrid’s blog. I also send a huge congratulations to the other top voices on the grids.
Judges’ top choices for Graduation Voices 2015
High School
Watch Ami’s video here. Watch Anthony’s video here. Watch Ben’s video here. Watch Guillermo’s video here. Watch Kyle’s video here.
College
Watch Abbie’s video here. Watch Alyson’s video here. Watch Jamie’s video here. Watch Liz’s video here. To view all entries to the #grad15 grid, click here. Since I had the pleasure of watching every single video, I heard many standout voices. Every video was special in some way, and some had me laughing out loud. Graduation means so many things to so many people. We all might think of it as closing one chapter and starting another, but most of us have other reasons we love graduation. High school and college are a time to find yourself and further develop yourself as an individual. Bravo to these students for letting their personalities shine through. I want to recognize a few of the voices that made me smile in their own way.
Neil’s: I’m done with school!
You know you all want to binge watch Netflix and eat some junk food at 3AM.
How about the freedom to buy baked goods?
The end to regulated lunches?
Here’s to sleeping in!
Spread your wings and prepare to fly from sea to shining sea
Time to do whatever you want
The end to pointless homework
Getting to go home!
Get on board that train
I wish all of these graduates the best as they continue on in what life has in store for them next. Go out and change the world!
Empowering student voice has become one of the goals in the library that I am most passionate about. I love it when a student’s voice reaches out into the world, finds an authentic audience, and gets a response. One of the tools that has been the most helpful in getting student voices out into the world has been Flipgrid. In fact, we use Flipgrid so much that students ask why we aren’t using Flipgrid if we choose to use something else. It is user-friendly for both the educator and the student.
With your yearly Flipgrid subscription, you get 10 grids. Think of your grids like your classes or your big topics. I have a reading grid, math grid, science grid, etc. Within those grids, you can ask unlimited questions with unlimited video responses from students up to 90 seconds each. As soon as students press the submit button, there video is uploaded and live for an audience to view which means no extra work on the part of the educator to prep videos for viewing.
You can find multiple uses of Flipgrid within the posts on this blog. It seems like we are always coming up with new ways to use the tool in our library.
Recently, some of the Flipgrid team visited my school to see what a day in our library is like. Along the way, they saw ways that our students have a voice as well as ways that we are using Flipgrid.
The first of two videos has been released based on that visit. I invite you to watch this short video about the natural side of student voice. Share it with your network and consider how you can give students a voice within your library.
The official World Read Aloud Day 2015 is in the books. We still have 2 days of connections, but it was fun to have a full day for the actual calendar date.
We started our day with enrichment clusters. I have a group of 2nd-5th graders who are exploring coding and making in a variety of formates. We connected with Okle Miller and her Kindergarten students in Tampa. We read Rosie Revere Engineer and then my students had a chance to share some of the inventions that they are creating. It was fun to see the messages of the book come through in their sharing. Most students did not have a complete product and most had plenty of failures during the process.
Eli showed a lego mindstorm robot that he put together right before the Skype. He has designed several robots, and this one was his version of a dog that you could walk since “everyone wants to be able to walk a dog and might not have one”.
Francisco showed his alarm that he made with littleBits that would go off when the sun came up.
Ludwig and Malachi showed off their video game made of cardboard, Scratch, and MaKey MaKey.
Louisa and Ansley showed off their blogs about how to use Tinkercad to 3d design.
Taylor showed off his Barrow Peace Prize medal that he designed and 3d printed.
Next, Ms. Ramseyer’s class connected with Crystal Hendrix and her students in Asheville, NC. We read I’m Bored and once again had fun taking turns being the girl and the potato. We also had the students talk about what they would write for a second book, and they were very interested in having the potato get eaten.
Ms. Wright’s 2nd grade connected with Jennifer Reed’s students in Newton, MA. It was very special to get to share Beekle with one another. We had some great discussions about the little girl in the book as well as dreaming the unimaginable and having courage. We even continued our conversation after we said goodbye.
Donna MacDonald’s 4th grade students were such great role models for Ms. Heather’s PreK students today. It was our PreK’s 1st Skype experience, and it was so special. We read Wolfie the Bunny. My students read the part of Dot, and Donna’s students were all of the other characters.
Getting to connect with authors is another really amazing part of the World Read Aloud experience. Barbara O’Connor was our 1st author of the day, and she connected with Mr. Coleman’s 4th grade class and a few of Ms. Tesler’s students. She read from How to Steal A Dog.
After the story, she took lots of questions from the audience. We learned the story of the poster that inspired the book and the story of calling Willie’s real owners to give them a copy of the book. We also heard about the revision process and how a book that is coming out next year is already heavily into this process with the editor.
Barbara even walked us through her house to show us the manuscript with all of its pages and markings. Our visit wouldn’t be complete without seeing the 2 famous dogs in Barbara’s house.
Ms. Mullins brought several 5th graders to connect with Margo Jantzi in Virginia. We read Crankee Doodle. Margo was hilarious with her pony voice, and I played the roll of Crankee.
Ms. Clarke’s students had a unique opportunity to connect with Mrs. P from Mrs. P.’s storytime. Mrs. P. (AKA actress Kathy Kinney) is an advocate for reading and writing. She is a master storyteller and encouraged all of our young learners to read and create as much as possible.
She told the students a couple of stories, but also gave them some thoughts to ponder. We had great fun hearing poems and songs about her cat and even heard the very first thing she wrote when she came out of the womb in the delivery room!
We closed out our official World Read Aloud Day with Laurel Snyder. She read to Mr. Coleman’s 4th grade from Free to Be You and Me, a favorite childhood book. It brought up some interesting things to think about in regards to “boy books” and “girl books”. We loved Laurel’s voices for the babies in the selection from this book.
Another thing that I love about World Read Aloud week is that the books that we share aloud and the books that are by the authors that we connect with are immediately checked out of the library. I love seeing readers get so excited about finding a book that they have a connection with.
I closed out World Read Aloud Day at my house by reading aloud Some Bugs, Toys Galore, and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttonswith my son, Anderson.
Wow! Day 2 was busy. We had much smoother Skype connections and plenty of stories. Here’s a quick look at what happened.
Ms. Hicks’ 3rd grade ELT students connected with Crystal Hendrix in Asheville, NC. We shared the story I’m Bored. Then, students had fun asking about life in each other’s communities. We made several connections between Asheville and Athens including college towns and weather.
Next Ms. Brink and Ms. Wright’s 2nd grade connected with Carol Scrimgeour and her 2nd grade in Essex, VT. We read the story Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. We had our students form lines and step up to the camera and take turns reading pages of the book. It was great fun to hear student voices reading across the miles.
Ms. Yawn’s 2nd grade came and read Elephant and Piggie Waiting is Not Easy. We had some trouble getting the right Skype accounts connected for our author visit, but we finally got it worked out in time to make our connection with Alison Randall, author of The Wheat Doll. She told us about her book and then read from Roald Dahl’s The Witches. It was scary fun.
Ms. Clarke’s 3rd grade class connected with Cathy Potter’s students in Maine. We were fortunate to be joined by Natalie Lloyd, author of A Snicker of Magic. We got to meet her camera-shy dog, Biscuit. Then, we saw some of her favorite books before hearing her read aloud the first chapter of Snicker of Magic. It truly was magical to hear her words drifting to Georgia and Maine from Tennessee. We even got to hear just a bit about her book that was just sent off to the editor.
Ms. Clarke plans to read Natalie’s book to her class as their next read aloud, so The Beedle just happened to put a new copy of the book in Ms. Clarke’s box.
Ms. Ramsey’s 3rd grade connected with Shannon Hyman’s Kindergarten in Virginia. We were joined by author Melissa Guion. She shared her wonderful penguin stories and illustrations. Shannon’s students were able to share some facts about penguins that they had just learned.
Ms. Em’s 1st grade connected with Okle Miller’s Kindergarten in Tampa, FL. We were joined by the amazing poet Laura Purdie Salas. She had our students chanting poetry about rocks and listening to poems about books and unusual pets.
Ms. Slongo’s 4th grade had a special treat Skyping with Barbara Walsh, author of The Poppy Lady. Barbara visited our school last year in person and it was her very first school visit. This time, we were her very first Skype visit. Our students loved hearing about the Athens connection to Moina, who is responsible for getting the poppy to be a symbol of remembrance.
Finally, we closed out our day with a high-energy Skype with 2 authors, Ame Dyckman and Adam Lehrhaupt. These two were full of laughs and energy. They took questions and then shared some stories. Adam shared a book that isn’t coming out until October (shhhh….don’t tell anyone). Ame shared Wolfie the Bunny. Ame even sent some amazing book swag for all of the readers in the class.
It was truly an amazing day. It was exhausting, but we feel connected to so many readers across our great country. Thank you to each and every author and class who connected with us for World Read Aloud Day.
@plemmonsa@Skype You are absolutely ROCKING World Read Aloud Day week. Keep the updates coming!!
Today was the beginning of a very exciting week in the Barrow Media Center. Each year on March 2nd, we schedule guest readers for every classroom in the school. These readers select favorite Dr. Seuss books to share with our students. It is amazing to see our community come together for this event. Each time we celebrate, there are new faces that join our readers.
Courtney Tobin helped me this year to organize readers. She created a Signup Genius and parent leaders in each grade level began sharing the signup. It was also shared with our regular library volunteers and on our library and PTA Facebook pages. By this morning, we had almost 2 readers for every classroom.
Readers gathered in the library, chose their books, and socialized before we took a group picture.
Then, students escorted them to their classrooms to read. I quickly ran around to as many classrooms as I could snapping pictures. It was so special to see students circled up on the floor listening to the words of Seuss spoken into the air. There were also special memories shared as readers brought in their own copies of books that they had read to their children or had even owned as a child. My wife, Denise Plemmons, shared a copy of Green Eggs and Ham with my daughter’s PreK class and she was able to show them where she had written her name in the book when she was a child.
These are the kinds of things that can’t be replaced by technology. While I’m a huge advocate of using technology to share our voice, it doesn’t replace the shared experience of sitting around a book, hearing the pages turn, and losing yourself in the illustrations. Thank you to all of the readers who took time to share stories with our Barrow readers.
This was just a warm-up to the 38 skype and Google hangout sessions that we have schedule this week for Read Across America and World Read Aloud week!
It’s time once again for the World Read Aloud Day blogging challenge as we count down the days to this special week-long event of sharing stories with one another across the miles. My friend and super librarian, Matthew Winner, has outlined the challenge on his blog.
The World Read Aloud Day “Speak Your Story” Blogging Challenge begins February 9 and runs through March 8. If you choose to take the challenge, each week you will be asked to write a post in response to a prompt or question (outlined below), for a total of 4 posts counting down to World Read Aloud Day.
Each of the prompts addresses the WRAD theme “Speak Your Story.” Speak Your Story encapsulates that simple yet effective way that we connect with others by sharing our stories aloud. Your voice is powerful and when a story is shared a bond is made.
For week 2, we have been exploring these stems:
Pick a question to answer with a partner. 1. If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me it would be…2. I think everyone should read… 3. My favorite part about reading aloud or being read to is…
Barrow students used Flipgrid to respond to this question:
Week 2 WRAD Challenge
For this week’s challenge, I interviewed my Facebook friends to see what they would say about these stems. I love the idea of crowdsourcing content and how technology can pull together so many voices. This has been especially helpful since I’ve been sick most of this week and losing my voice by the end of the week. It was so interesting to see various friends take time to respond to these stems and learn something new about them that I didn’t know before. Thank you to all who responded or paused to reflect!
I think everyone in the world should read…
Me: Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. I love that this story is about making connections in your community, listening to each person’s story, and finding the magic in your everday life. Each time I read this book, it makes me feel good and makes me want to go out and explore my community.
Facebook:
El Deafo by CeCe Bell (Matthew Winner)
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (Kaycie Rogers)
Wonder by R J Palacio (Julie Moon)
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Shannon Thompson)
Austin Kleon (Carolyn Foote)
Anything that sets your imagination on fire! (Amy Fowler James)
Whatever, whenever, and wherever they can! (Diane Cordell & Judy Serritella)
As many books as you can (Lee Rogers)
Anything, everything! (Frances Hensley)
Everyday (Em Tendo)
If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me, it would be:
Me: My daughter. She is just now learning how to read, so it is truly amazing to see how she has gone from a baby staring up at my face reading aloud to her to a reader who is working hard to figure out those letter and picture combinations on the page.
On a celebrity note though, it would have to be Jessica Tandy. There is something about her voice that is calming and peaceful to me. Listening to her characters in Driving Miss Daisy and Fried Green Tomatoes makes me want to hang out with her all day and just listen to stories. Her voice and her way of bringing stories to life through spoken word exemplify what it means for me to get lost in a story and suspend time.
Facebook:
Alec Baldwin (Lizzie Faville Payne)
Morgan Freeman (Jennifer Biddle)
My Grandmother (Ashlee Hembree)
My Grandchildren (Sherry Horton Jones)
Christopher Walken (Matthew Winner) Read Matthew’s post on the Busy Librarian
Anthony Hopkins (Dera Weaver)
Shelby Foote (Amber Dawn Suman)
Andy Plemmons (my mom!) She says that I make the story come to life 🙂
Hemingway (Beverly Hembree)
Sarah Koenig (Amy Fowler James)
Maya Angelou, Lauren Bacall, William Hurt, Antonio Banderas…(Deborah Bambino)
The struggling reader with a good fit book. (Em Tendo)
Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep, Billy Collins (Frances Hensley)
James Earl Jones and Mel Blanc together (George Webber)
When I read aloud my favorite character to impersonate is:
Me: I absolutely love to read aloud Epposumondas. I love making the southern voices in the story and watching kids’ reactions to the voice changes. Sometimes I struggle to find the right voice for certain characters, but the characters in that book just come to life for me.
Facebook:
Skippyjon Jones and Pigeon (Frannie McClester)
Eeyore (Lizze Faville Payne
The Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk and the Big Bad Wolf from Three Little Pigs (Amy Fowler James)
Emma from a made up story (Cindy Plemmons)
The Dump Truck from Little Blue Truck (Amber Dawn Suman)
Junie B. Jones (Amber Pace)
Pruella the Boo Hag (Dera Weaver)
Violet Beauregard (Laura Smith)
Veruca Salt (Holly Wolfe)
Pigeon (Donna Carney)
Any villain (Em Tendo)
The genre or author that takes up most of my bookshelf is:
Me: It’s no surprise to people who know me that it’s Kate DiCamillo. I have every book she has written and most of them are autographed.
Facebook:
Stephen King (Lizzie Faville Payne)
Poetry (Dera Weaver)
Harry Potter and Kathy Reichs (Frannie McClester)
Female authors Toni Morrison & Anne Pachett (Frances Hensley)
Cookbooks & Crafts (Em Tendo)
mo willems and michel foucault (Sarah Bridges-Rhoads)
My favorite part about reading aloud or being read to is:
Me: I love reading aloud because it brings the story to life in a different way. When a story is spoken into the air and heard by an audience, we all experience it together in many different ways. We laugh. We gasp, We question. We discuss. Reading alone is fun, but when you read aloud, the story comes to life.
Facebook:
Listening to how my daughter’s R sound evolves and becomes more developed. I can listen to her mature, and it’s amazing! (Dawn Jameson)
Getting to share the private experience of a story with someone else. (Lizzie Faville Payne)
Watching the faces of my first graders as I read to them, and then watching THEIR faces as they read to me! (Laura Smith)
I loved working with first graders @ the beginning they could not read then by the end they were reading a book! I miss those days! I love for Jacob to read to us! Read the Christmas story out of his bible Christmas Eve (Sandra Williams)
Seeing the expressions on the faces of my students when they get lost in a story…all kids deserve to be read to…even the older ones! (Tiffany Whitehead)
moving all around and acting out the characters! (Sarah Bridges-Rhoads)
My favorite part of reading aloud is doing funny voices. (Shannon Thompson)
The students’ interactions with the story and disappointment when the story is over that can be replaced with excitement when another is read. (Frannie McClester)
Becoming part of the story and “reeling” the kids in. I believe reading to children is the first step to helping them love to read. (Amber Pace)
Getting lost in a story, whether I’m reader or listener. (Dera Weaver)
Join me and countless others as we celebrate LitWorld’s World Read Aloud Day on March 4th, 2015 and throughout that entire week. Check out the shared Google Doc to find a connecting class or post your own schedule.
I was honored to be one of the judges in Flipgrid’s inaugural Graduation Voices contest. Graduates of high school and college contributed their voices to two grids to complete the sentence, “To me, graduation means…” Almost 200 graduates added their voices between the two grids, and I enjoyed watching all of them along with fellow judges Shannon Miller and Alec Couros. Congratulations to the two winners, Eliot and Jay. They will each receive a new Apple watch. 
I also send a huge congratulations to the other top voices on the grids. 
Expect the Miraculous 