Read With Me Cultivating a Literary Community 

One of my favorite parts of this author study each year, is watching my students become lovers of good literature.

As we share deep, meaningful books together, and discuss them daily, I get to watch their little faces light up with excitement, as well a variety of other emotions the books may invoke.  There is no other time of day, outside of the read aloud, when I can confidently say that I have them ALL in the palm of my hands.  They wait on baited breath for the page to turn.

In the little conversations I have with one or a few students at a time, I witness even more closely their thinking and reactions to the books.  I love watching students dash away from our talks, with a sense of excitement and urgency.  They can’t wait to get to their reader’s notebook and write all the exciting thoughts and conclusions we shared!

This year has been even more exciitng with the addition of the wiki.  Students busily, diligently writing their thoughts, summaries, findings so they can contribute to our special project.  It has been a particularly rewarding week this week, as we delve deeper and deeper into the books.

It is a bitter-sweet feeling, knowing this author study nears its close.

We will leave this study better readers.  We will leave this study with an improved awareness of author’s craft, purpose and perspective.  We will leave this study with a broader vocabulary.  We will leave this study more aware of our world and our history.  We will leave this study with greater compassion for those different than us.  We will leave this study with an improved awareness of ourselves as readers and thinkers.  We will leave this study loving Allen Say.

Today our classes shared one of Allen Say’s more challenging books.  It’s not challenging because the words are hard or the book is really long…it is challenging because it is very abstract.  It, like A River Dream, leaves the reader wondering.  To compound the difficulty, it revolves around a subject about which our students have little background knowledge.  In fact, even I had to really think hard the first time I read this book.

Notice I said the first time I read this book.  Today we discussed the strategy of rereading.  Often, we use this strategy to help us determine the meaning of a word or find an error in our reading.  Sometimes readers find they need to reread when they realize their attention has drifted away from the text.  All of these situations, though, only require us to reread a portion of a text.  In some cases, though, it is necessary to reread the entire text.  (Obviously this is easiest and most practical when you’re reading a short piece, such as a poem, picture book, article or short story.  It does not, though, mean it is never appropriate for longer pieces.)

I’ve read this book about six or seven times.  Each and everytime I read it I notice new details.  I nurture new theories and interpretations.  I make new connections to Allen Say’s life and other works.

Between readings, I’m building my background knowledge.  I’ve investigated the author more.  I’ve researched the topic more.  I’ve read more.  My perspective has changed.

During my readings, I’m reading for different purposes.  I am no longer focusing on decoding text or tracking the sequence of events.  I’m now focusing more on author’s craft, symbolism, embedded clues and connections.  I’m thinking about text-to-world connections.  I’m listening for author’s viewpoint and themes.  I’m deepening my reading and thinking.

Today, we shared the story as a class.  For many readers, this was their first reading of this story.  For a few, this was their second.  I suspect it will not be their last.  There are many stones left unturned in our minds.  Many theories left untested.  Many interpretations left partially formed.

Readers had the opportunity today to write their reactions and thinking about Home of the Brave informally in their reader’s notebooks today.  I encouraged them to take their notebooks home and share their thinking here tonight by leaving a comment on this post.  I am anxious to see what they thought.

Leave your thinking here for all to share.  Be sure to read what your fellow readers thought, too.  Perhaps their thinking will spark some thoughts for you, too.  Feel free to include in your comment a reaction to your classmates’ comments and theories.  (Think back to our accountable book talk guidelines for ideas on how to do this.)

I can’t wait to read your comments!

Last Friday, Camp Nash hosted the first in a series of guest reader visits this year.

In an effort to model and share the habits of good readers, I’ve arranged for many familiar faces, and some, perhaps, not so familiar, to come share their lives as readers with us.  We’ll hear about what these readers like to read, when they read, where and how they find books to read, and any other special habits or “rituals” they may have.

Our first visitor, Mrs. Holtsman, also shared with us one of her children’s books, Kamishabi Man by Allen Say, a warm story about a retired Japanese storyteller remembering long ago days.

I hope you enjoy watching this video of our special guest.  I’m looking forward to sharing more with you soon!

In order for our author study to be a success, we needed to orient ourselves to the expectations for our journey.  Students in standards-based classrooms are taught that standards ard goals we expect for them to achieve.  Today, we discussed a variety of standards that we’ll be addressing through this author study, and what that equates to as far as my expectations for them.

Here is a summary of what we discussed.

I will expect my good, third grade readers to notice…

• When things don’t make sense.  (Reading Standard 2:  Self-Monitoring)
• What the author is trying to say.  Is there an underlying theme?  (Reading Standard 3:  Literature, Writing Standard 2:  Responding to Literature)
  
• Interesting language/new words (Reading Standard 2:  Comprehension, Reading Standard 3:  Vocabulary Building)
• Similarities/differences between books (Reading Standard 2:  Comprehension, Reading Standard 3:  Reading a Lot, Reading Standard 3:  Literature, Writing Standard 2:  Responding to Literature)
• How a story relates to something in the author’s life (Reading Standard 2:  Comprehension)
• How to talk and write about characters (Reading Standard 2:  Comprehension)

Today, readers had a brief period of time in class to explore Allen Say’s books in partners and practice thinking, noticing, and discussing their reading like good third grade readers.  Here are some of their early noticings.

This student pair noted some interesting new words from their reading.  (confound, fishmonger, thieving, motion, Spaniard)

This student pair noticed that the book they read connected to another Allen Say book: they shared the same setting.

This student pair noticed a pattern in Allen Say’s writing: he writes mostly about Asian culture and people.

Cody and his partner noticed the cultural similarities, and also found the same character in more than one book!

One thing I love about Allen Say’s writing is his word choice.  He is a master at integrating new and expressive vocabulary words!  As a part of our author study, we will be looking closely at a few of these words.

This week, we’re focusing on a select group of words from Grandfather’s Journey.

• journey – a trip that you take to get from one place to another
• astonish – to really surprise someone
• explore – to travel to a new place to find out what it is like, or to study something to try to find out more about it
• enormous – something that is very large or huge
• bewilder – when you confuse or puzzle someone
• marvel – when you are very surprised because something is so big or wonderful
• surround – when one thing is all around another thing

I’ve challenged students to tally a word when they see it, read it, hear it, write it, or say it in conversation this week.  Here are a few fun ways you can encourage the use and recognition of these words.

• “Thumbs up” when you see/hear/read/say a word.
• Exaggerate your voice when you use the word, helping the listener to hear it in context.  (Just for this week, just for fun.  Don’t make a habit of it!)  Encourage your child to do the same!  Let them “play it up”!
• When you hear a synonym for the word, restate the sentence again using the vocabulary word.  For example, “That fly was huge!  Oooooh…OR we could say, ‘That fly was enormous!’”

Get creative, and have fun with it!  (Warning:  this means you may have to get a little silly!)

Today, as the official launch of our third grade author study, we read Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say.  We are so excited to begin this study!

After reading this book, many students had questions about what we read.  Since we will be doing a lot of work and research with this and other books by Mr. Say, I asked students to record their questions on a sticky note for us to compile.  Here are some of their “wonderings”:

What war was it?  What part of Japan?  (no name)

World War I or II?  (Carson)

How old was Allen Say in the story?  (Nicole)

Where was the place in California you were at?  Where were you in Japan?  (Brianna)

What was the name of the war?  (Jessica)

Who fought in the war?  (Chandler)

There was a war in Japan?  (Lori)

What year and day did the war happen?  (Colbi)

What was the war called?   (no name)

What year was it?  (Daniel)

What war was it?  What city?  (Bryce)

What war?  How long ago?  (Jordan)

As you can see, many students were particularly intrigued, confused by, or interested in the few references to war.  In the upcoming days, we will research and answer these, and many more, questions in a variety of ways.  One goal we’ll be working towards is thinking deeper.  We will be sharing and collecting our findings on a class wiki.

I hope you are as excited as we are!  Stay tuned for future details…and keep thinking!