The disclaimer below the title is exactly what you will find - even though I want to teach secondary, this blog has a ton of resources for teaching math and science through literature.  I never knew cute books existed that combined reading and math for young kids.  I have fun scrolling through the math and earth science tabs on the right side of the page.  I even wrote down a few titles to purchase for my daughter and me at home - after all, I really need a break from Umizoomi!

How often do students look up to celebrities, right?  I thought this list was so cool.  If anything hopefully it gets one student interested in a book because their favorite star is too! I feel so special - Tyra, Halle and I have a special bond!  Our favorite teenage book is Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume!!!!!!! p.s. I think Hillary Clinton wussed out.  NO recommendation for teen/adults and Goodnight Moon for your fav childrens book? c'mon Hillary!?! p.p.s.(or is it p.s.s.?) With a soft heart I noticed that Whitney Houston's fav childhood book was the bible. RIP Whitney...

OK- so maybe this is a stretch for extra credit, but even if it isn't worth any extra points - still cool to share - hopefully all you "real" teachers unlike myself know about this!  Any k-12 student that reads 5 books gets 2 for 1 pricing on tickets plus no ticketmaster fees - yay for sports and reading!

Although different opinions grumbled both sides in this article, I think it had a large nugget of truth attached to it.  For the last three years, a pilot program in NYC were taught to read using this Core Knowledge program.  Although a bit more complicated than this explanation, the Core Knowledge Program means that students primarily read non fiction books of their choosing in schools while teachers would conference from desk to desk with the students.  The study said it was most pronounced in kindergarten, where students that were apart of the study scored five times higher than those peers who were not apart of the study.  Note: it did not say what was on this brief reading test given to both parties.

Although none of us are currently teachers in Arizona, I thought this article hit close to home.  In a nutshell, the Arizona curriculum (led by a Republican state education superintendent) is banning minority study type books because of a fear that teachers may not use them appropriately.  So, even though schools need to teach a minority studies, they can still be removed if it is determined that by using an antiwhite curriculum to foster social activism. What a load of bunk when trying to shape young minds.  Scary how quickly a government can decide what books to offer and not offer students, regardless of what political party you sway towards.

I read this article with the idea that I would do a graphic organizer, except once I got started I realized that this held some important information, but I kept getting confused with the layout of the article - i.e. finding what were the big points and the sub points. So, I decided to use Livebinders.com to find a way to organize it, visually, for myself and anyone else who wanted to take a peek. This is the website for the original article: http://www.prel.org/products/re_/ES0419.htm This is the website for my livebinder: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=322029

Dear, Dear Marzano - oh how close we have all become, right? Brett, I am glad that you picked this book. I think one of my pet peeves as a student is getting papers back so late that you no longer remember- or care - about the grade or content. I only hope that I can "walk the walk" as a teacher - it won't be easy always submitting papers in a timely manner. I'm glad that it is a commitment you are so focused on making. Good for you.

I enjoyed "The Book Whisperer" because I liked her ideas, but mostly because I felt as though I could relate to her as a person. I've often found that the best ideas comes from "the trenches", and not necessarily from the "corporate expert". Miller puts those thoughts to ease, and has a wonderfully conversational dialogue with the reader. The book is not only a delight to read, but is also helpful - between the chapters the book contains whispers -which are her activities/suggestions she has used within her classroom. For instance, one of them is a student interest activity survey which every student fills out at the beginning of the semester/year. From this survey Miller HAND SELECTS (can you say WOW) books for each and every student- like a prescription if you will. Each student gets their own stack, geared just for them. To check up on their reading, Miller assigns a Readers Notebooks where student and teacher have dialogue about the books each student is reading at least once per week.
Fascinating but she declares an "enemy" which stops students from wanting to read - and refreshingly it is not parent, student, teacher, or administrator - but is really all those corporation online package "systems" that schools buy into, filled with information from "experts".
In a nut shell, she allows students a large chuck of time to read in her class, everyday, and this decision is supported by her administration, which is the reason she can implement this system in her class.
As a great bonus (at least I thought so) in the back of the book she lists the books her classroom "library" contains - cutting out a significant amount of work for a teacher that would want to emulate the same in their classroom.
I stopped for a second when I got to their quote..."I have purchased every book in our class library with my own money".
That is an extreme commitment, and one that would require teachers to make some pretty significant sacrifices. Her reasons for doing so are quickly explained, mainly because then she can do what she pleases with them, but STILL. For my own giggles I went online to amazon to see what a few of the books she suggested were going for, and what I came up with was that "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen was used for 10 bucks (ouch if you see how many book she has purchased in her library), but "Inkspell", which is part of the Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke was only 1 cent (obviously a little more pocketbook friendly).
In the end, I was inspired by Miller. Regardless if you are ready -or are able - to make the financial and administrative adjustments to be a "book whisperer" yourself, an easy thing to try is the student survey she suggests. Taking into account students' suggestions and insights is a GOOD thing - it shows that a teacher values their opinion, and this can only ignite conversation and learning.

Below is the link to see the book on amazon, if interested.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470372273/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

just an article I stumbled across...additionally, the page contains a platform for a bevy of opinions on this "hot topic".  Poke around if you get a chance. 

This was a great read that I came across in the SVSU library.  Just a note, to see it you may have to enter your username and password which is the same as your svsu email and password. This article is uplifting, encouraging, and seems like teachers could attempt just a few of these for maximum success in engaging those hard to engage readers.

Lyons, W. & Thompson, S.A. (2011, October). Guided Reading in Inclusive Middle Years Classrooms. Intervention in School and Clinic, 47: 158. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://isc.sagepub.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/content/47/3/158.full.pdf This study was interesting, because it focuses on something that I am sure so many teachers struggle with - how to teach students who demonstrate a wide variety/range of ability and needs. This study took a really "rough" socioeconomic level of 4th -8th graders and their teachers, and using guided reading as their main method of instruction DID see an 80% of students advance at least one, if not more levels. This was attributed to the fact that in small guided reading groups teachers could spend more time with small groups of students, targeting individual needs. That was the warm fuzzy. Of course, the part that this article mentions in the end, and would stop most teachers in their tracks before attempting to duplicate this, is that each classroom was equipped with several teachers and teacher assistants to make this work. Additionally, there were many times where the rest of the class NOT consisting of the 3 to 5 students in the guided reading group were supposed to work independently. All in all, every study has its flaws - the interesting thing here is that despite them, students still improved overall.

oops...ok I edited my post and stuck the citation in it...thanks!