RIP Ivan

This past year, with my student teacher, we hosted our very first Zervas 5th Grade Book Club in the library. We read books in different genres, recommended books to each other, and finally, we all read the same book together. The book we read as a group was The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Thanks to our generous PTO, I was able to purchase the books so each student could have a hardcover to keep.  (Isn't that #bookstack amazing?!)

If this wasn't exciting enough, through the wonder that is Twitter, I was able to connect with the author, and she graciously offered to Skype with us after we finished the book.  I am not exaggerating when I say there was excited screaming and jumping up and down over this news.  The day of our Ivan book club meeting, I had 25 giddy 5th grade boys and girls, all eager to talk about The One and Only Ivan with author Katherine Applegate.  She wowed them with her view and her bookshelves (and her dogs!) but really won them over with her thoughtful answers to each and EVERY question that they had.  Never has 30 minutes gone by so quickly!

I will never forget that day, and the joy in my young reader's eyes as they asked question after question about Ivan the gorilla.  They LOVED him, and the book (even though it was sad, they qualified).  Our book clubbers even took the time to write notes of thanks to Katherine Applegate - for her time with us AND her heartwarming story.

Well, I'm now even more sad about Ivan and his story, as the 50-year-old gorilla that The One And Only Ivan was based on passed away this week.  What tugs at my heart even more is that I won't be able to gather that particular group of students to share a moment of his passing together - as they are all starting middle school next week.  I'm still trying to figure out how to pass the news along - I feel like we all shared something special by reading this book together.

Thank you Katherine Applegate for sharing Ivan's story with us, and for taking the time to make an AMAZING memory for all of us (and for posing in our picture, too!)

Check out some student reviews at our library blog:
http://zervaslibrary.weebly.com/1/post/2012/05/student-reviews-the-one-and-only-ivan.html

And head over to Mr. Schu's blog to read all about how he got to meet Ivan this summer:
http://mrschureads.blogspot.com/2012/08/rest-in-peace-ivan.html

Can't wait to book talk this title next week!

Get Caught Reading!

It has been far too long since my last blog post.  The end of the year was a blur of project-based learning, retirements and wrapping up lessons.  Summer so far has brought time for summer camps, presentations, learning, and especially, reading!  I issued an invitation to students and staff at the end of the year to document themselves reading and writing over the summer and submit the evidence to me to post up on my blog - and the first few pictures are in!  Keep them coming, folks!  I've had the chance to read quite a few books from my to-read pile and I keep stacking them up to keep myself busy - a post on the best of what I read so far is forthcoming.  In the meantime - keep reading!

OH, the Places We Can Read!

Danielle reading in Manhattan!

Ms. Broderick reading at the Red Sox!

Ali and Nick reading on the way to their Grandma's!

Bamboo People Giveaway!

Thanks to Mr. Schu and Mr. Sharp (who I have "won" books from in the past few months), I decided to pay it forward and host my very first giveaway.  The premise is simple.  I have two copies of Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins and will mail them off to 2 lucky winners!  To sweeten the pot, they are both signed copies!  We were lucky enough to have Mitali Perkins in our library a few weeks ago - she had an amazing presentation for the 4th graders (you can read about it and their comments here: http://zervaslibrary.weebly.com/1/post/2012/05/mitali-perkins-visit.html) and she also graciously signed several copies of her books for me to pass on to deserving recipients.  That could be you!

From www.bamboopeople.org:
Chiko isn’t a fighter by nature. He’s a book-loving Burmese boy whose father, a doctor, is in prison for resisting the government. Tu Reh, on the other hand, wants to fight for freedom after watching Burmese soldiers destroy his Karenni family's home and bamboo fields.
Timidity becomes courage and anger becomes compassion as each boy is changed by unlikely friendships formed under extreme circumstances.
This coming-of-age novel  takes place against the political and military backdrop of modern-day Burma. Narrated by two fifteen-year-old boys on opposing sides of the conflict between the Burmese government and the Karenni, one of the many ethnic minorities in Burma, Bamboo People explores the nature of violence, power, and prejudice.

First Grade Fun!

First graders have been busy over the past few weeks and I have been slow to put up their work!  To end poetry month, they practiced their visualization (and I practiced my poetry reading over and over).  I chose to read from Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant by Jack Prelutsky.  I picked out a poem to repeat (and repeat and repeat) and the students illustrated while I read (I didn't show them the picture).  Here's what they came up with (and apologies for bad lighting and the amount of parenthesis in this post):

The Hatchickens

The Ballpoint Penguins

The Hatchickens

The Hatchickens

The Ballpoint Penguins

The Clocktopus

The Clocktopus

The Ballpoint Penguins

The Ballpoint Penguins

El día de los niños/El día de los libros!

Celebrating Children's Day/Book Day at Burr!

Poems, Red Carpets and Sidewalk Chalk: The Pefect Day

Today was the BEST BEST BEST BEST day.  Combining Poem in Your Pocket Day with the first annual Zervas Red Carpet Book Trailer premiere was just magical.  Highlights included poetry slams in all 2nd and 3rd grade classes, teachers going around the lunch table and EVERY single person sharing the poem in their pocket, seeing the "Ask me about the poem in my pocket" stickers on almost ALL of the students, hearing the principal exclaim, "Two students have asked me about my poem and school hasn't even started yet!" and then seeing him later in the morning in a tuxedo, playing Ryan Seacrest, interviewing the "movie stars" on the red carpet. And I can't forget the end of the day when 5th graders went outside to write their poems in sidewalk chalk on the playground!  Special thanks to all who came to support, and to the 4th grade classroom who were our special guests!  I'm already rambling, I'll let pictures tell the rest.

Preparing my credentials for the day...

A poem one of my 3rd graders shared today - it was amazing.

Mr. Griffin welcomes Mr. O'Rourke's class to the red carpet and preps them for "star sightings"!

Our debonair interviewer with hard-hitting questions...

Students took the initiative to make awards for each other!

This poem, written by the scribe's twin sister had a twist ending...

Days like today are why I believe I have the BEST BEST BEST job ever.

"I heard a poem, I almost cried..."

Haiku-of-the-day: April 9, 2012 (I've been tweeting my #haikuoftheday each day in April, and will compile them at the end of the month)

Children carefully
crafting creative combos
of words: POETRY!


We finished Love That Dog in 4th grade library today.  There were tears (luckily, not my own!), though a student did call me out on a wavering voice at one point.  We talked about connections to the poems, the emotional response most of them had at listening to My Sky by Jack, and then they worked briefly on writing some poems of their own.  One student wrote a poem about her sadness listening to My Sky.  I think I may have stopped her mid-poem, but she was happy to share.

Interestingly enough, many of them were struck by the contradiction of the sadness of Jack's poem and then his use of the phrase "smooshed in the street" when writing to Walter Dean Myers.  We talked about why Jack (and Sharon Creech :) may have decided to use words in that way.  There were many thoughtful responses!

I really can't wait to show them the Teachingbooks.net video of Sharon Creech and Walter Dean Myers reading from the Love That Dog Reader's Theatre.

First graders also had a chance to work on some acrostic poetry.  We wrote class poems about library (what better way to celebrate Poetry Month AND School Library Month!) and then they tried their hand on acrostic poems of their choice.

There were many examples for our Celebrate Poetry wall!