Two White Rabbits by Jairo Buitrago

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Two White Rabbits by Jairo Buitrago

Two White Rabbits by Jairo Buitrago, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng, reads, at first, as a simple children's book about a young girl and her father and their time spent on the road as migrants. The text is spare since it is told from the young girl's perspective, but as this review from Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Center's BookDragon blog points out, the details emerge in the illustrations. 

I read this book three times in a row and I am itching to reread it to pull out whatever details I couldn't catch in the first three readings. You will want to read it over and over as well, because there is more than one story going on here. On their journey, they encounter other travelers, soldiers, and symbolic figures that add depth and layers. I can't wait to analyze this with my students next year to discuss the symbols and perspectives shown.

Some other resources I incorporate into my 7th-grade World Geography class when we discuss migrants and refugees include:

Turning Refugee Crises Into Country Music

The devastating cost of closed borders, in one map

Where the Streets Have No Children

Border Challenges: Responding to the Global Migration Crisis

Tracking Four Decades of Refugee Migration [Interactive Map]

The World’s Congested Human Migration Routes in 5 Maps

And, of course, there are many excellent articles from Newsela.


I borrowed this from my public library's *New Books* display, but I will be purchasing it to pair with my copy of Migrant for my Social Studies collection. 

10 Steps to Pull Off a Beach Book Bash

10 Steps to Pull Off a Beach Book Bash

1. Pick a spot

We have a pond on our school grounds that is perfect for this event. Find any space that works for you (water body or not) with plenty of shady spots nearby!

2. Promote

I usually create a digital flyer to pull up in class and use on social media and email to promote the event and remind students and parents. I used to use good old Microsoft Publisher, but now I love Canva for its beautiful images and fonts. 

3. Request contributions

You can't go to the beach without a stocked cooler! I set up a Google Form with Choice Eliminator (Volunteer Spot works too!) for parents to sign up for drinks, snacks, and gift cards to Anderson's Bookshop and B&N for prizes. Here is an example of our sign-up from this year: Beach Book Bash Sign-Up

4. Gather prizes

It wouldn't be a Beach Book Bash without book-related prizes! Throughout the year, I'll use Scholastic Book Order points to snag some books to raffle off. I'll also keep my eye open for freebies from book stores like bookmarks promoting summer reading programs and YA author visits. This year, I hit the jackpot when I attended Book Expo America in Chicago. I was able to add a lot of promotional goodies to the Beach Book Bash prizes like stickers, pins, posters, water bottles, and even some autographed items! 

5. Plan games

While some students will just want to chill on towels, we wanted to have some games and activities planned as well. This year, we used the Build Your Own Deck feature on the HeadsUp app on my iPad to build a deck of our favorite authors, titles, and characters from the year. This is one of my favorite moments to watch! There's something about a thirteen-year-old jumping up and down screaming, "He wrote Booked and The Crossover! He visited Granger!" at the top of his lungs. In the past, we've also gathered old t-shirts and showed students how to make a no-sew t-shirt book bag. 

6. Prepare students

Sunburns are no fun, so we remind the kids (and parents) verbally and through emails and social media about the importance of bringing sunscreen and hats. We show them pictures from previous years of kids chilling on beach towels with their friends and favorite books. I'll bring some extra beach towels and sunscreen, too.

7. Inform staff

We let our teammates know well in advance when the Beach Book Bash is so they know how it may impact their math and science plans. We've done it as a whole team before (120 kids) and we've done it with just concurrent class periods (about 60 kids). 

We also check with the P.E. staff to make sure that the area isn't being used for P.E. classes that morning and also to borrow a few outdoor items like footballs and volleyballs.

We love to involve our LMC Director, too, because she is the heart of summer reading in our building. After textbooks and library books have been collected, she reopens the LMC for Summer Reading Checkout. On the Beach Book Bash day, we stop in the library first to stock up! She even orders shopping bags for the kids to take home their book stack! Readers can check out as many  books as they like! And even during those hectic last days, she finds time to stop outside to visit the Bash and snap pictures of readers with their books inside her big picture frame. I love those photos!

8. Document!

Speaking of photos, either designate a parent volunteer or make sure you have lots of room on your phone to snap tons of pictures. I share them on Homeroom for parents to see, on my class Instagram account, and add them (last minute!) to our end of the year slideshow. 

9. Celebrate!

Don't forget to relax and have fun with your readers! It takes some planning and coordination to pull this day off, but we like to kick off our flip flops and chill on a beach towel for a few minutes with the kids before it's all over! 

Other ways to celebrate: share reading totals for the year, talk about summer trips and plans, and get excited about new books being published over the summer and at the beginning of the school year (Harry Potter, anyone?!)

10. Party on!

Don't let the fun end at the Beach Book Bash! Share your summer reading plans with students! I stay connected with my readers through my class Instagram account and document my summer reading adventures there. You can find us at @walsh204ela on Instagram. After all, we do the Beach Book Bash to keep our reading momentum going!

Do you host a Beach Book Bash? I am always looking for new ideas! I'd love to see what you do! Connect with me on Twitter @storiestoldinsf

Reading Totals Day

These kiddos read 586 books!

These kiddos read 762 books!

Reading Totals Day: one of my favorite school days of the year. I wish I could bottle the energy of students counting their reading lists and release it on the first days of school like a magician. *sprinkle, sprinkle* Here kids! The reading magic is all here! Rub it in! Reading is cool, see?

As you can see from the pictures, our reading totals have a range. Let's be honest; not every kid left my classroom with summer reading books falling out of their backpacks. But let's be real; some did! Some filled out their reading lists when reminded, and some didn't! Are the totals exact? Nope. Does every reader like keeping track of their reading? Nope. I mean, some of their totals are smaller than the number of READ ALOUDS we did, so do I think they are perfect numbers? Not a chance. But here is where we are on June 3rd, with three days left of the school year (three days that were added on because of bad weather in January....it was fun in January, wasn't it? Not so much now that we could be at the pool.....with a book?!). 

Let's take a closer look at some of these numbers.

 Let's start with 132 Books Read. Could she have been any more humble about designing her number? Take out the magnifying glass. You are seeing correctly: one-hundred-and-thirty-two. That's almost one for every day of school! She read the most in both of my classes! Could she have done a multi-colored design with her number like our friends 44 Books Read or 6 Books Read or 20 Books Read? Of course! If I read 132 books, I would have busted out the bedazzler wand! (Stick? Marker? I don't know how that thing works.) But 132 Books Read is that kind of reader. Books are a no-brainer for her. Done with her homework? Time to read! Done with dinner? Time to read! I am so proud of her. But I didn't make her into a reader. She came to me a reader.

But 16 Books Read? 16 Books Read was hard work. Hours of interventions and strategies and conference prep. Strategically placed comprehension question post-its and side-by-side reading practice. I agonized over book recommendations for him because I didn't want him to call it quits in December. Do I fool myself into thinking that he gave up video games and sports for the summer and is blazing his way through the Maze Runner series? (Kind of?) But no. He worked hard this year, and he grew as a reader. I needed more time with him. But, I am so proud of him.

And 40 Books Read was one of my favorite readers. He was a reader when he came to me, but he was still a reader who needed care. He was popular and well-liked. A multiple athlete: football, track, swimming. Seventh grade could have easily been the year that he pushed reading aside. But he has a great support system at home. Academics is a priority, and he knows that reading is important. His end of year survey response to the question of "What has made you a stronger reader this year?" was "My goal for a stronger education has made me want to read more books. Also, the environment I am in with all my classmates and teachers is helpful." But he didn't just read to get good grades. He was a voracious reader. I couldn't recommend books fast enough! He would leave early every once in a while on Fridays for a swim meet and would come back on Monday with more than one book finished. He was always searching for the next great read. His favorites? It all started with The Fablehaven series. He wanted more like that. This year, he got into The False Prince series, the Legend series, and the Michael Vey series. I gave him a stack of books almost as tall as him when he asked me, "Mrs. Walsh, what should I read this summer?" I gave him Scott Westerfeld's books. My favorites: The Midnighters series and The Uglies series. 

I love that my students find Reading Totals Day so rewarding, but it's not just the numbers. I am still working on my practice and this day is a very tangible way for students to reflect on how they have grown as readers. Ideally, I want students to know this from our reading conferences, but this is a summer learning goal for me, so....in time.

For now, I will sit on my patio, sipping iced coffee while my baby naps and think about what it will take to get to next year's Reading Totals Day.

Writer's Notebooks in the ELA Classroom

Reading List

Word Part List

Word Part Work

Tier 2 Vocabulary Notes

Writer's Craft lessons

Writer's Craft notes

To Read Next List

Genre Notes

Reading Conference Teacher/Model Fishbowl Notes

Read Aloud Response Notes

Text Analysis

Text Analysis 

Envelope stapled into the notebook for handouts 

Rubric

Genre Chats

Students discuss what they already know about realistic fiction, mystery, science fiction, and nonfiction genres. 

Genre Notes

Our flip-up genre notes in our notebooks. Ready to be filled with what the students already know. 

Book Totals

Today was the big day: totaling up our reading records from first and second semester! 

My first block read 584 books, averaging 19.6 books per student!

My second block read 894 books, averaging 27.1 books per student. 

I love the excitement with which they jump in to count their titles and how even my struggling and often resistant readers are surprised and proud of their number. They are always surprised at how many books they have read. It's one of my favorite moments. I can't believe I went years without having my students keep track of their reading!

Dear Students 2014

Dear Students,

In the fall, you wrote letters to me. You shared the basics: who your 6^th grade teacher was, how many books you thought you read last year, and anything you thought I should know about you. You all mostly kept it safe. You weren’t sure what to expect of seventh grade. In my eight years of teaching, I have welcomed almost one thousand 12-year-olds to their first day of seventh grade. Saying hello on the first day may seem scary, but for me, it’s saying goodbye that’s the hardest.

In the fall, I left you to welcome my own child into the world, but I still thought about my kids at school – you all. I wondered what you were reading, what you were writing, and most importantly, what was going on in your lives. When I came back, you wrote me another letter. You updated me on what happened in your lives – there were many changes. Some good, some not so good. You were celebrating achievements – making sports teams, dancing on national television, welcoming new members to your family. You were experiencing heartache, too – divorce, cancer, and saying goodbye to loved ones. There were big changes, and you faced them with bravery.

But now it’s my turn to write you a letter. To let you know how proud I am of each and every one of you. You grew as readers, and you grew as writers. Most importantly, you grew as better people. You may not have seen it in yourself. But I did. Always remember that you have a lot to do in this world. So do it big.

And always remember what Coltrane taught us – you may be dropped in the middle of somewhere you think you don’t belong, but you are not your past. You are not your mistakes. You can make a difference.

And remember what Jeffrey taught us – that when we face the scariest battle, we can get through it with family and laughter.

Remember what Staples taught us – a person’s exterior can just be a mask to protect a scarred life.

Always remember what Luis Urzua taught us – no one gets left behind.

And please, please, remember what Zach Sobiech taught us – never give up when all seems lost. Smile, smile, smile. And you’ll go up, up, up.

This year, we laughed together and we cried. We questioned and sometimes we didn’t get along. But that happens in every family.

I hope you keep writing me letters. When I get emails or tweets from former students, the memories of that classroom community, of that year, come flooding back. Because each group that sits in these seats together is forever linked through the stories we shared in books and in our own writing.

Take care of yourself, and take care of each other.

And don’t forget to DIVE IN to a good story every once in a while.

 

With love,

Mrs. Walsh

Favorite YA Character March Madness Tournament

When I first heard about doing a book spin-off of a March Madness Tournament from my Choice Literacy newsletter, I was all over it! 

Here's how it went down: 

1. Kids nominated their favorite YA characters. I compiled their list and was able to use every one of their nominees with one to spare (mine! Harry Potter anyone?) to create a 32-character bracket. 

2. Instead of worrying about seeds, I entered the names into a randomizer online and went straight down the list for the match-ups. They ended up being pretty good match-ups! I then created two divisions (blue and gold for our school colors).

3. To try to help with the vote tabulations, I created quizzes for the match-ups in my Socrative classroom so my students who participate in BYOT could vote electronically. Students without devices just voted on post-its! Results from Socrative print out in a nice spreadsheet! Kids could see the match-ups on a Google Presentation (like PowerPoint) I created and displayed on the Smartboard.

4.  I promoted our match-ups to the characters' creators on Twitter and received some responses, which motivated my students!

5. Finally, after 4 rounds, and MANY close calls, it came down to two: Katniss and Jonas (love!!). Kids voted, and even our literacy leaders -- our librarian and principal -- got in on the final vote action.  When the winner was announced, the cheering would rival any NCAA stadium crowd. It was book heaven.

Want to know the winner? Who would you have voted for? Comment with your vote to know our winner! :)

Slice #2 Dive In

Yep...I'm already behind on the SOLSC.  That's okay! Not giving up!

Carving out time to read.

It’s important for everyone. That’s why I carve out 20 minutes a day for my students to read, and that time is protected. When they’re at home, they are susceptible to the lure of technology. In my class, they are free from that. We call it “Dive In”. When they hear the Yo Yo Ma cd, they know it’s Dive In time. They grab their books and jump in. Hearing the “yes!” when it’s a Dive In day is justification enough that it is 20 minutes well spent. I know that if they get into their books in the 20 minutes we read in class, more likely than not, we’ll be stopping in the middle of a good part that will just make them beg for more time. After that, I know that chances are they’re more likely to reach for that book when they get home. Who wouldn’t?

As often as I can, I read with my students. I do this for many reasons. One: It’s important for students to see the adults in their lives model a reading life. Two: When I’m not shuffling papers, talking to another student, or focused on another organization activity, the class is more focused on their reading. We are like one, zoned-in reading organism. Three: I get to read! In order to keep up with my most voracious readers, I need some time to get through my stack of books as well!

Sometimes, the 20 minutes starts or ends with me talking about what I’m currently reading, what I’m excited about reading next, or new books that are available in my classroom library. I’ll even share with students that sometimes I’m reading multiple books at a time. I’m usually reading a young adult book, an adult book of interest, a professional development book, and even a staff book club pick. Some of my students can’t even believe I can read more than ONE book at a time.

On that note, I’ll sign off by sharing what I’m currently reading!

Young Adult: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (sequel to Delirium)

Adult: I Do, Now What? By Bill & Giuliana Rancic and Nemesis by Jo Nesbo

Professional Development: Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher

Staff Book Club: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

I hope you find time to Dive In soon!

Slice #1

And then there was one.

The last car in the parking lot. The last to click off the light switch. The lonely click-click-click of heels on tile. When you’re the last teacher in the building — when even the administrators have thrown in the towel — a school can be a very lonely place.

The copy machine groans as it’s turned back on. I should be sleeping, it’s thinking. (Ditto, I think.) It develops a strange moaning sound as it spits out the handouts for my presentation. Does it always make this noise? In retaliation, it leaves a single black line going across every page and runs out of staples at packet 100 of 200. That’s ok, I think. I love hand-stapling. I welcome the karma that comes to me for procrastinating on this project.

I pack up my cart, and it’s not until I’m on my way out, walking down the long empty hallway, a janitor’s supply cart peeking around the corner, that I realize the organism that IS a middle school when all the students and teachers are there. How bereft of life it becomes when we all leave and only a few rows of lights still glow, casting shadows from locker banks. Though it’s impossible to find a moment of solace from 8 to 3, when you have it like I did tonight, it’s nothing to relish. It leaves me feeling uneasy. Unsettled.

I’ll take the hustle and bustle. The whirlwind of adolescent turmoil and glee. The half-eaten lunches and snippets of teacher gossip and complaints. (Hmm..I could probably do without the latter.)

I guess I learned two lessons tonight: stop procrastinating for goodness sake, but most importantly, accept that the chaos — well, it just feels right.

Classroom Library Genre Stickers

Here are the labels I use on the books in my classroom library.  The formatting is altered in the Google Docs view, but I believe if you download them, they will show up correctly in Word. Enjoy!!

Sports:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nH5dXhtirYo3Bx01iix0XfwX-mVlQ5nAYiuarrHWj84/edit?hl=en_US

Realistic Fiction:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ev-J7btRqbjvqi8PdW5k-VfLUQeUQAcm5IUXCTXRJRU/edit?hl=en_US

Suspense:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TZkcvL_paEQ5SO7xMumC4BSaxhigCuqhJVEzCqNf-bk/edit?hl=en_US

Science Fiction:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PvwvkAYuzqnzlnAmOcSVWlALXDyIDERbrxVrHqtqO0Y/edit?hl=en_US

Short Stories:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wzMlJXz-zWNWXVhQZTFPuJeisl0lA73pvVJ-p-E59SY/edit?hl=en_US

Fantasy:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D4BMbAO_VHbSeHg0NVUyifZYTC-3myxdIZaGYsizS2c/edit?hl=en_US

Biography/Autobiography:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_8l9RQEc11m7egEiWPLru0cUghCEhQ2v8wZRM2aIuoA/edit?hl=en_US

Mystery:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/150AaryFZjtuvY5D2pNBnoQHXq6r3b1NubaADCYuG-NY/edit?hl=en_US

Action/Adventure:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UwWVbVS-wyIY_U_aiY5z47xBIYJfimdWf3zNvAFU57I/edit?hl=en_US

Historical Fiction:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Id1fMd8v1w61aHc4swW1SceoMabqlIlDCdJSkDur15c/edit?hl=en_US

Humorous Fiction
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BReROT-Y6RInYONMEID6YECcxos7I7iK-62RD8XwLSA/edit?hl=en_US

Summer of Books!

My LA partner and I wanted to get books in our kids' hands one last time before Summer Break! Our kids love hearing book talks, and we love giving them, so we created a PowerPoint with recent releases, summer releases, and favorite authors coming into town.  We also included book trailers we found online (which do not show up in the presentation below, but were awesome!), as well as information about summer reading programs through our library and the community.  It was a great way to end the school year and welcome in a Summer of Reading!

Summer of Books

Beach Book Bash 2011

What a great way to kick off summer! My teammates and I planned this on a whim, thinking it would be a great way to wrap up a great year in books! We brought our beach towels, asked for parent support with snacks and prizes, and crossed our fingers for great weather! It was a great day!

2011 Beach Book Bash

Slice #10 - Pedicures were invented for teachers

I swear, pedicures were invented with teachers in mind.  The massage chairs, the foot soak, the pampering.  How do they know just what a teacher needs on a Friday afternoon??

If Pedicure was a greek goddess, she would be my favorite myth story.  Easing the pain of educators from atop Mount Olympus.  Bringing comfort to man and woman alike.  Transforming woman's foot with a touch.  I would worship her and spread the news of her powers far and wide.  Then, after all that walking, I'd head back to Olympus for another Pedi.

Me and two colleagues for a Friday afternoon treat!
Happy St. Patty's Day!

Thank you, Darren Shan.

Another one BITES the dust.

Darren Shan has saved another struggling reader with his Cirque du Freak vampire series.  I had the awesome pleasure of hearing a student who receives practically every reading intervention in our building tell me about the plot of Book 3 in the series! It started with A Living Nightmare (Book 1) when this student read for the Battle of the Books.  Now, two books later, I got to sit next to this previously self-proclaimed non-reader and hear him spout off Cirque terms and vocab that only someone deeply into the series would know! Once again, I am so glad that we have this book on our Battle list to introduce as a series to stick with!