Summer Reading!

Our local library promotes summer reading by doing a 100-hour tracker. What I love most is that they also encourage adults to participate as well. So this year, I decided to take the plunge! I’m only 21 hours in...I have a ways to go!

My goal was to try to blend pleasure reading with professional development reading to keep my interests going throughout the summer. I’ve always loved reading so I didn’t think it would be too difficult.

I’m nearly finished with my pleasure reading book, which I just so happened to get from the library for finishing the first 10 hours of reading. This book is called A Sudden Light by Garth Stein. When I opened this book, I could not put it down! Within three days I was three-quarters of the way through. It has definitely caught my interest, and I recommend the book if you are into a little bit of mystery.

Now for professional development, I’ve really pushed myself! My team and I decided that we were going to revamp our literacy block to incorporate more play, which meant that we had to run centers. I’ve done centers in the past, but felt that it wasn’t as cohesive as it could have been—I knew I was missing something but I couldn’t quite figure it out. I decided to pull one of my undergrad books out, The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (the sisters). I’m sure many of you have read this book as I did in my undergrad program, however at the time that I read it I didn’t have a classroom to implement it in. My first year of teaching, I attempted in implementing the Daily 5 but things kept changing throughout the year and I think I became that 1^st year teacher who wanted to try everything to see what fit, so in the end the Daily 5 didn’t work as well. The last two years, I’ve done a center rotation to the best of my ability while trying to implement new literacy programs. That in itself was a difficult task, so once again things didn’t work out as well as I would have hoped. Now that we have officially adopted a literacy program and I have a year of using the program under my belt, we decided as a team to take the plunge and make literacy more engaging for our students. I took a lot of pointers from reading The Daily 5 that I will use in my classroom this year to kick off the school year.

In June, my team and I attended a Reading Summit for struggling readers. We learned even more about play-based learning and incorporating centers into the day. This is what originally struck the idea to read The Daily 5. I chose to start with that book to get an idea on where and how to start. I’ve of coursed revamped the “sister’s” ideas a little to flow with my classroom schedule, but that’s what every teacher does right? I then wanted to get a little more understanding about the research behind play-based learning so I could defend it if I was ever questioned about my teaching methods. So I read Joyful Literacy Interventions by Janet Mort. Janet Mort is one of the speakers at the reading summit who I met last year when I attended my first reading summit. I loved the idea of play-based learning and saw the results right in front of me, but I couldn’t figure out how to incorporate this method into my classroom when I was being tied to a literacy program by the district. Janet Mort provided the research I needed to stick with the plan and go forth with this idea. If a Reading Summit ever comes to your area, I strongly recommend you attend! I’ve learned so much in the two times I’ve been able to go and I’m excited that I get to take another class in a couple weeks during our summer institute.

Speaking of summer institute, this year I decided to run a Book in a Day course with one of my teaching partners. We are currently reading Catching Readers Before They Fall: Supporting Readers Who Struggle K-4 by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier. I remember this text being a part of my Masters program and loved the pieces of it that I did read, so I knew this would be a great fit for me. So far, I’m thoroughly enjoying it! I don’t have much information on it quite yet as I’ve been so enthralled with my other book. But I can’t wait to share my findings after I teach the class.

Well, I’ll close my night by heading to bed to read a couple more chapters in my book. I hope I’ve inspired some of you to pick up one of these books. They are definitely worth your time! Happy Reading!