Professional Development Books Worth Reading {with The Sunny Side of Second Grade}

Welcome back, friends! I hope you have been enjoying our posts about our favorite PD books worth reading. I know it can be difficult sometimes to find the time to read for ourselves, but I hope you have found at least one book to help you learn and grow as an educator this summer. For the last post in our series, I bring you an oldie but a goodie.

Ron Clark's The Essential 55 is a must read book for not only all teachers, but parents as well. Ron Clark outlines 55 rules that all students should follow. Most rules focus on things we teach in the first few weeks of school as part of our classroom management and classroom expectations: manners, respect, etc. Working at a school with a high population of students that need good life role models, this book has provided me with some essential skills and has helped remind me that I must teach students some of what many consider the "basics". For example, rule 37 states, "If someone bumps into you, even if it was your fault say, 'Excuse me'." This is something you would think all students would know and understand, but the sad fact is that they do not - they have to be taught.

Often times it is easy to get caught up in what we think students should come to us knowing. This book reminds us as teachers and parents to take a step back and ask ourselves if the child truly has the foundation we are expecting. This may seem simplistic and like a no-brainer for us, but for some students, these common sense "rules" are simply not what they are accustomed to. This book reminds me to not only teach the content, but the life expectations as well. Definitely a book worth reading!

Professional Books Worth Reading {Enchanted Kinder Garden}

With all these summer book studies happening, I think this month's first topic is perfect. I've joined Amanda from The Primary Gal and Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard for their summer book study. We're reading Learn Like a Pirate and Teaching with Intention. Those books are AMAZING so far. If you want to join in on a book study, it's not too late. We've only done one chapter for each of the books.

Every summer, I try to read at least one professional book. I read tons of for fun in my spare time, but try to dedicate my summer reading to improving my classroom. With that in mind, here's a few of my favorites that I've read in the past.

I read this book in college. It has so many wonderful ideas for new teachers. I love the way that everything is laid out in the book. It would be a wonderful book study for a group of new teachers. This is one of those books that I did not get into because I was being made to read it. After I began teaching, I went back to look through it. Most of it relates to upper grades on strategies to help with reading, but it is seriously a great read.

Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller is a phenomenal book. This is another one that I read in college and have still kept around. I LOVED rereading this book and I'm thinking about reading it again closer to school starting back. I love that this is geared towards primary grades. There are so many books out that forget that kindergarten teachers do exist. Most of the ideas, routines, and strategies are geared towards older grades and it makes it hard for us to use them. I loved that Debbie relates to use and gives meaningful ideas that can easily be put into place.

Obviously, I had to include The Daily 5. I read the first book about four years ago. I read the Second Edition last year. I've been using a form of The Daily 5 for about three years. It has changed the way that my classroom environment works. I love it. The 2 Sisters literally have come up with a system that can be molded to create the perfect system of any of group of students. My first read was a lot more meaningful than when I read the second edition, but there are a few changes to what is introduced and how it is introduced.

There are tons of teachers that have made this work for them and not followed their system to an exact T. The reason that I have tweaked it a tad is because of the time constraints. Some days, I don't have time in the day to get to 5 rotations. I've worked it out to make sure they do go to every single thing at least three times by the end of the week. I have it displayed on my Smartboard and it worked flawlessly. They don't ask me where to go. I don't get interrupted during my small group time and it can easily be changed where they are going each time even though it doesn't get changed often.

What is another great book that I've missed? Let me know! I need something else to read after I finish these book studies.