Read Alouds We Love with KookyKinders!

 

Books are a SERIOUS addiction of mine! I spend most Sunday afternoons looking though the books at Goodwill to add to my collection. I can rarely leave Sam's Club without picking up a book and the bargain section of Barnes and Nobel is a happy place!  

These are a few of my newest and most requested read alouds. 

In My Heart is a book about feelings. Its a great way to discuss feeling with younger students who may not fully understand them. The book connects colors and feelings. 

What Do You Do With An Idea is the wonderful story of a child with an idea that's a little different. What do you do with an idea? Hide it? Walk away from it? Pretend it isn't yours? As the child's confidence grows so does the idea and something amazing happens. This is a great book to teach confidence and positive self esteem.

 Ellie is all about an artistic elephant who is trying to save her Zoo. It teaches my students about believing in themselves. 

 My last and very FAVORITE book is Mother Bruce. Its the story of a reluctant, grumpy bear who has to raise some baby geese. This bear reminds me so much of myself, he loves to find fancy recipes on the internet and enjoys supporting local businesses. :)

What are your favorite read alouds?

Don't forget to enter our giveaway!

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Read Alouds We Love (with Mrs. D's Corner)

I love books. I love buying books for my classroom. I love Amazon Prime... it's an addiction and a real problem (just ask my husband). So when I found out that the topic this month was books, I was very excited.

This is a fraction of the books in my classroom for February... and this is actually the *before* photo, meaning before I added a few 100th Day of School books to the collection.

Every month I switch out the books... sometimes even halfway through the month I will rotate books into this display for students to read. February has some amazing topics and holidays to read about too.

But let me be honest. My absolute favorite books to read to my class are these...

...anyone? Anyone else absolutely LOVE this old lady?!

She is my absolute favorite. With the clever wording and repetition, my kids love these books too. I love letting them predict what the old lady is going to spit out at the end too. They have come up with some pretty clever hypotheses!

You can grab a freebie here to teach There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books.

Have you heard about Tieks yet? Or do you own a pair? Or maybe you want to try a pair out? This month EE is having a fantastic giveaway.

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Read Alouds We Love With Greg From The Kindergarten Smorgasboard

Hello everyone!  It's Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard!   I am super excited to share two of my favorite read alouds with you today!

I LOVE reading and books!   I love teaching reading!   I love seeing my students become readers and loving books.

As a kid, I couldn't read enough.  I used to get in trouble for reading under the blankets with a flashlight.  In 3rd grade, the librarian had to make a special rule just for me (Yeah...I've always been spoiled..) so I could check out reference books.  I'm also a big nerd and read the almanac! 

So sharing my favorite read alouds makes me glitter heart happy!

I'll start with one of my favorite books since I was a kid!

I remember the first time our teacher read this book to us.  I was hooked.  I have multiple copies in my classroom library and LOVE reading it to my kids!

After we read Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, we do some opinion writing and a fun art project!  With food of course!

Why yes, we GLUE Cheez-Its and Oyster Crackers and sprinkles onto our art work!

And since Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is my favorite book, I dress the part!

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is also great for teaching about compound words!  In the past, we've listed all of the compound words in the story!  

Now I want to share one of my newest favorite read alouds.

This one was an accidental discovery, but it is great for a read aloud and great for persuasive writing and debating skills!  (And arguing...let's be honest...)

The great message of this book is that we can all do things to make others feel special and important.  I love that!

But I love that the ending of the book is vague so it leaves the door open for research and debate.

(Short summary...cow is sad.  Chickens put egg under cow.  Egg hatches.  Says MOO!)  

So we debate if it's a cow or a chicken.  And of course, I play the devil's advocate and counter the arguments.  

"It's a chicken because it came from an egg!"

Me-"But it said moo."

This continues until things get heated.

Then we vote on whether we think it's a cow or chicken.

And then we write a persuasive argument for the cow or chicken!

Click here to get your free writing paper, graphing labels and recording sheet!

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Read Alouds We Love! {With Alex from The Kindergarten Connection}

I am obsessed with children's books. I have been hoarding - I mean collecting - them for years now, and my collection has grown to over 2000! Some of my favorite ones are ones that are engaging, make my kids smile, and are just good fun!

It was super hard to think of just a few of my favorite books, but after spending some time in my classroom library this past week thinking about it, I found a few that I can say would definitely be on my favorites list! 

First up is The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland. This book never fails to crack up my kids as the animals do their best to cheer up Bear, who really is wanting to hibernate! 

Another book that really gets the laughs going is Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey (also the author of Kat Kong which is just as funny) Mice must unite to save the world from the beastly terror of "Dogzilla!" 

I love wordless books. They are so great for teaching kids the strategy of "reading the pictures" which is especially helpful as most of my students come as non readers. This book, Tuesday by David Weisner, contains flying frogs and many shenanigans that keep their interest and make them laugh too! 

If you are looking for books on friendship, Owen and Mzee is a fabulous one, and is a true story as well! The text is long, but I often paraphrase it or showcase the photos to my students. They are always fascinated that a tortoise and hippo would be best friends! 

Doesn't the cover of this book even make you smile? Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown is the funny, engaging story of a bear who finds and wants to keep a kid as a pet - which is a funny twist on stories we usually read! This book makes my kids laugh and is a much requested one in my classroom! 

We LOVE Tieks Giveaway! 

Not only do we love books, but we love Tieks and teachers too! We want to show our love and appreciation by giving away a pair of Tieks to one lucky winner! 

Enter below! 

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Professional Development Books Worth Reading { with Mrs. D's Corner }

In liu of everyone else sharing books about how to get your Guided Reading groups to work correctly and how to do this and that, I wanted to share a book with you that I believe every teacher should own. It's a book that in inspiring and helps you get back to that place of "this is why I teach!" when you've had a rough day... or week... or year!

If you've not heard of Taylor Mali yet, I'm hoping that you've seen the video below. It's been around for awhile and it's what prompted me to purchase one of his books.

If after watching that video, you don't feel revitalized as a teacher, then you definitely need to read this book:

"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A-­‐ feel like a slap in the face. How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best." - Taylor Mali, "What Teachers Make"

I pre-ordered this book in 2012. At the time, I was working in a very tough, inner city, very urban charter school. I loved the staff that I worked with, but I was constantly going home each night asking myself what in the world I was doing. Why was I a teacher?! Why did I think I could do this?! What else can I possibly be good at so I don't feel incompetent at the end of every day? I remember saying to myself, "I can't seem to get through to these kids! I'm not cut out for this!" It was a true struggle, and even writing about it now brings tears to my eyes.

So I bought this book after the video prompted me to research more about Taylor Mali. The video gave me that reassurance that I needed to remind myself that this is the path that was chosen for me and teaching is what I am supposed to do. I figured the book had to be equally as good.

The book was and still is amazing. It is my absolutely favorite teaching book. I've recommended it to many friends and colleagues, and I've read it myself over a dozen times. For me, this book was my saving grace. It kept me going on days that never seemed to end, and it has filled my heart with love for teaching countless times over.

There's a statistic that floats around saying that most teachers quit at or before year 5. I believe it and I've been there. Not to get all political, but we all know and feel as though we aren't appreciated like we should be, nor are we compensated for all of the extra hours we put in. So to give back and to help reignite the love of teaching flame inside of you, I am giving away 1 copy of Taylor Mali's book What Teachers Make.

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What is your favorite teaching book? 

Professional Books Worth Reading with Mrs. Grooms' Room

Hey everyone!!  

It's Shana Grooms from Mrs. Grooms' Room.  

Today is our first day of summer vacation!! 
(BIG WOOHOO!) 

I am so excited to be on vacation. Have you ever needed summer vacation in your bones?  Usually, I do summer school during the summer but not this year. 

(a little yippee!)

However, I will be hitting some of the professional development courses that our school district offers. Which isn't sooo bad during the summer!! 

(secret yes!)

Probably one of my all-time favorite professional development workshops that I have taken and one of my favorite professional books is Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites by Marcia Tate!! Let me tell you...when I came out of that workshop, I came out a refreshed teacher and a teacher full of purpose!! 

This is my copy.  The is the first edition so the second edition looks a little different.  Marcia also signed my book...soo cool!!!!!! I wish I had my picture made with her but I didn't.  Darn.  

There are so many things that I learned from this course....here are a few: 

 This is why we launch lessons, question before, during, and after stories, and check for assessment at the end of a lesson. 

My favorite is number five!  Be purposeful!! If you have a purpose, you will learn.  When we did our project-based learning unit on plants, learning seemed so easy.  We had to know how to take care of our plants and what they needed to grow to grow them.  Learning came naturally.

I love going on field trips and I love having students perform the actual task at hand.  You do, you definitely remember.  I myself am the same way.  

Tell me and I'll forget.  Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.  -Chinese Proverb

Fellow teachers!!!  THIS IS WHY WE DO THESE THINGS!!  We just don't do them because we have to...we are organizing thoughts, making memories, creating comprehension, and we are growing dendrites!!  

Does your classroom look like this?  I have room for improvement for sure. We will be working on number four and number eight. We will be role playing in our stories and in our lessons, and we will also use puppets in our stories we read. (I love puppets!)  

Starting today!!! I mean August!!!!    :)

How do you grow dendrites in your classroom?

You can check out Marsha Tate's website here! 

Professional Development Books Worth Reading [with Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching]

Happy June Friends~

It's Dianna from Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching here with you today! This month we are first sharing ideas of great books to read. There are a ton of great reads out there.

First, let me share with you a book I read this year with my staff for Professional Development.

This book was AWESOME! Close Reading in Elementary School by Diana Sisson & Betsy Sisson. It talks about so many Close Reading strategies for all elementary school grades. It also talks about conversations, writing, plans, rubrics & more! I loved it because my primary friends could definitely relate to these strategies to use in their whole group & small group instruction. Everything is laid out for you to just implement & go!

Next, let tell you what I'm getting myself into this summer! The first two books are starting this week actually!

The first is a book I read last summer but I am reading over again. Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller. It was so fantastic & books are like movies. You catch more of it the second time through. I love how she breaks down the process of learning from students perspectives. It's something that is hard for teachers to see. This book is all about reflecting upon yourself & improving. I'm joining in with my Elementary Entourage friend Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard for a book study he is hosting.

The second is a book that is brand new to me. Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz. I've only read the first two chapters but I am hooked! This book is all about empowering students to collaborate, lead & succeed! I LOVE it! I'm joining in with my girl Amanda from The Primary Gal for a book study she is hosting.

The last is a book I read in 2004 but I so desperately am itching to dive into again with my staff. The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson. My K-3 Teachers are going to do a Guided Reading Book Study for Professional Development. We have some really good momentum going on now with Guided Reading & Guided Writing implementation in each classroom & this book will help us fine tune some things. It will be a great collaborative summer read to start the new school year with. This book is full of strategies & lesson plans for all primary teachers. It lays it out for you & it is fantastic!