Read With Me Cultivating a Literary Community 

As part of my friend Mrs. Holtsman’s fall blogging challenge, I was asked to take a class survey.  (You may have noticed the “class” survey results posted on Mrs. Phillips’s blog and Mrs. Holtsman’s blog.)  I suppose I could have very quickly polled all of the farmers at M.N.O. Farms to find out their favorite cookie (Oreo?  Chips Ahoy?  Fig Newtons?), their preference in sandwiches  (Peanut butter and jelly?  Turkey?  Balogna?), or even their favorite Chets Creek Tradition….but I’m not one for doing things randomly.

So, I created the Reading Survey.  The survey contains questions about what readers are reading at home, in school, favorite authors, favorite books, personal strengths and weaknesses as readers.  These questions are not new to the readers at M.N.O. Farms.  They’ve seen them before on their DRA2 Reading Survey, in reading workshop at the introduction of our author study, and are discussed in individual reading conferences on occasion.  Compiling the data, though, in a digital format provides unique benefits.

Perhaps the most important question on the survey is, “Do you like to read?”  This question was presented in a multiple choice format: yes, no, and sometimes.  This question alone is the reason I designed this survey to be completely anonymous.  I want the truth.

And what is the truth, you ask?

The results are a bag of mixed blessings.

1. I’m very thankful that nearly half of our students say YES, they like to read.
2. I’m thankful that only 4% say NO, they do NOT like to read.
3. I’m concerned that 49% of our students say they only like to read SOMETIMES.

My goals are:

• Identify what causes readers to like reading at times and not at others?  Is it the setting, content, genre, difficulty, or confidence?
• Provide readers opportunities to explore other genres, authors, and experiences with reading so they find something they love.
• Make reading more interactive so we share the experience and build positive memories and feelings around reading.
• Utilize the avid readers in our classrooms as Reading Ambassadors.  How can they encourage others to love reading?

What are your thoughts?

It’s time to begin our second nine weeks reading!

This grading period, students will be required to read the following books:

1. An Andrew Clements chapter book (other than Frindle)
2. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
3. A biography (chapter book)
4. One of the 2010-2011 Battle of the Books selections
5. Free choice chapter book
6. Free choice chapter book

After reading each of the books above, students will respond to EACH book, including the following information:

• Title and author of book
• Genre of book
• What is the setting of the book?  (Consider they physical, geographic, and time settings.)
• Who are the main characters?
• Write a summary of the book using a “Who? Wants what? But? So? Then?” summary.
• Make a connection to your book.  Your connection should be personal (text-self), social (text-world), or literary (text-text).  Explain this connection in 3-5 complete sentences.

For more information, refer to your handout.  If you lose your handout, you may print a replacement copy here.

1. jimmy carter
2. mountains
3. I would
4. et cetera
5. barefoot
6. ineffective
7. balloons of the clowns
8. timid little boy  (loud  shy  big)
9. Water slides are fun in the summer.
10. local — logic  (lobster  logical  loft)
11. sky is to blue: as grass is to ______
12. friendly
13. i want to live in a castel but mom sayes their too hard to heat
14. Ted Williams was a great baseball player.
15. nibble  next  nifty  never

Friday, the farmers at M.N.O. Farms learned the basics of good digital citizenship.  We took a trip to a friend’s blog, J Man Books.  We fell in love with his stories and had fun leaving him some comments using our new “code names”.

There’s so much we can learn from all the other student blog writers out there!  Check out some of the great STUDENT sites and blogs I’ve added as links in the sidebar to the right.  (Scroll down until you see the header “Blogroll”.) Consider some of these questions as you read and explore:

• Is the blogger a good digital citizen?  Why?
• Is the blogger encouraging learning and collaboration with their posts?  How?
• What is the blogger writing about?  Find any ideas for your own writing and posting?

After you’ve checked out some of these links, come back and practice your commenting skills.  Tell us what you found!
What did you learn or notice?  Did you see any great ideas you want to share with everyone?

Now that you know a little about me as a reader, help me continue to get to know you!  In addition to commenting on my My Life As A Reader post sharing information about YOUR life as a reader, please take a moment to answer the questions on this anonymous reading survey.  (Remember, anonymous means no one will know which answers are yours…so you can feel comfortable being completely honest!)

I’m looking forward to having a “Real Life Readers” Lunch Bunch on Friday with all of my commenters!

Check out this vlog about my life as a reader.

And, on a side note, don’t you think it’s funny how the videos always seem to freeze with the WEIRDEST POSSIBLE expressions on my face?  Hee hee hee!  How embarrassing!

My Life as a Reader from Jenny Nash on Vimeo.

1. clouds
2. mountains
3. wasn’t
4. organization
5. lamppost
6. repainting
7. lead of my pencil
8. a grave mistake (serious  spare  foreign)
9. I eat cold cereal at night.
10. jazz — jerk  (jersey  jaw  jelly)
11. threw is to through: as there is to ____
12. Hawaii
13. the girl in tar beach named cassie louise lightfoot is ate years old
14. Alligators are reptiles.
15. Japan  jerk  jazz  jaw

I know it isn’t Christmas yet, or even winter!  But, we’re going to the North Pole!

This week, we will share and discuss the story The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg.  If you’d like a fun way to experience the story again at home this week, be sure to check it out at Storyline Online.  Lou Diamond Phillips, a TV and movie actor, reads it aloud while you enjoy Chris Van Allsburg‘s beautiful painted illustrations.

As you listen to the story again, remember to think about the critical events, plot (the problem that drives the action of the story toward a solution), impossible happenings, the setting (time and place), and theme (the implied message from the author).

1. furniture
2. boss
3. wasn’t
4. mile
5. outside
6. unfearful
7. clubs of the men
8. frightening movie  (old-fashioned, scary, humorous)
9. Paychecks often arrive on Friday.
10. goblin – golf  (golly, gold, gobble)
11. corn is to vegetable: as grape is to _____
12. sudden
13. sara has began to read charlottes web a good book
14. My nephew Tyler is a physical therapist.
15. escape   erupt   erase   errand

We’re moving onward and upward!

This week, we will unveil a brand new resource to help us in our study of the English language: our “working” wiki.

Not only will this wiki become a wealth of information for our readers and writers to refer to, but it will also house our new language board form.  Each week, students have been working independently on a set of practice prompts that review a range of skills: guide words, syllabication, affixes and roots, compound words, abbreviations, common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, alphabetical order, and more.  Now, students will be submitting this work online!

Check it out…

As students complete one question, the form will automatically prompt them to answer the next.  Each item has reminders, tips, and explanations alongside the answer choices or space.  And as students complete their work, their responses are automatically added to a spreadsheet for Mrs. Nash to see.

This week, students will use our laptops to learn the new format and begin building the working wiki.  Be sure to check back soon for results!