#IMWAYR - Looking At Some of My Favourites

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This past week Kristi and I got to sit down with the teachers we will be working with throughout first term and hash out what exactly that will look like. I love this collaborative time; I get so excited to be trying new things and love the energy and learning that goes on when we put our heads together. It is truly one of my favourite parts of the overall shift in how we "do" learning assistance at our school (more on that here, if you're curious). Inevitably, many of the teachers I work with want to focus on literacy, often based on the book Reading Power by Adrienne Gear (Adrienne, coincidentally, was just in Kelowna to talk to us about lit circles. Perfect timing!). Frequently, these teachers would also like me to model a lesson or two before we dive right in to co-teaching; twist my rubber arm, I say. So today, as I was working through my plans for these first few lessons, I pulled out a few of my favourite Reading Power books and thought I would share them here with you too!

Little Green (Keith Baker) - Way back before Reading Power was even published, Adrienne Gear did a pro-d workshop at my school in Vancouver. At that workshop, she led us through a visualization activity using Little Green. I loved it then and I love it now! Carefully hiding the cover of the book from the students, I have them draw the path of "Little Green" as I read; I still have my original "drawing"! Once finished, we compare our pictures, try and guess what Little Green could be and talk about the words that made us "see" the path of Little Green. So much fun and so powerful.

Note - finding this book was next to impossible. I ended up with a teeny tiny little board book version because that was all I could find anywhere! If you see it, grab it!

Knuffle Bunny & Knuffle Bunny Free (Mo Willems) - I use these ones for a mash-up of connecting and inferring in the intermediate grades. I like to have the older kids understand why connections are important and how their life experiences change the way they understand a book. Using Knuffle Bunny, we talk about their understanding of what it's like when Trixie goes boneless and loses her mind versus my understanding of it (as a mom of two young kids) and how that affects how we understand and appreciate the book overall (i.e. I shudder to the core imagining dragging boneless Trixie home while they find it somewhat amusing or annoying). Then, in Knuffle Bunny Free, we talk about how hard it would be to understand this book if you couldn't relate in some way to the idea of losing something important. We also look closely at all of the inference required in the middle of a story to understand how Trixie and her parents and grandparents are feeling. In this way, we really get at the importance of connecting and inferring to understand even a "simple" book like Knuffle Bunny Free. I love this set of lessons!

Those Shoes (Maribeth Boelts) - The lesson that goes with this one is actually Kristi's lesson, and a super successful one at that. I am stealing it because of how much she and others have raved about it! This book lends itself very well to transform, as it will have kids seeing shoes in a whole new light by the end of it. I am excited about the discussions at the end and am planning to spin it off in to a Socratic Circle as a lead in to Lit Circles. Not every book lends itself to changing students' thinking, but this one does it and does it well.

Je Reve en Couleurs (Sophie Rondeau) - It was brought to my attention that we have not featured any books in French on #IMWAYR. If you are not a French Immersion teacher it's hard to appreciate how difficult finding resources and books can be and how imperative it is to share anything you find. So, given the nudge by our new (and fabulous!) librarian, I am going to try and feature more books in French here on the blog (I'm headed to a book fair next week so will hopefully stock up the collection!). Please, if you know any French Immersion teachers, let them know so that we can all share the wealth.

Back to the book. I stumbled upon Je Reve en Couleurs while looking for some other resources on the Scolartek website. What a find! This book has the most wonderful descriptions, using language that is at once rich and accessible (the meaning of most unfamiliar vocabulary can be easily inferred from the picture or sentence). I use this one for visualization and then generally spill it over in to some writing lessons about word choice. Last year, we had our students create their own pages for a book "in the style of...". The kids loved it and we loved it! Wish this one came in English too!

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Jessie's Island (Sheryl MacFarlane) - This is a beautiful book, full of powerful imagery. I use this one in much the same way I use Je Reve en Couleurs; linking visualizing and word choice to create powerful learning in reading and writing. There are so many senses that are stimulated by this book so I like to use it to talk about how visualizing can be more than just pictures in your head; that it can be sounds and smells and feelings too. Provided you live near the ocean, this book provides countless opportunities for connection too; if your students have never seen the ocean, use it to get at that idea of how connections help us understand a book.

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Of course, there are many, many more books that Kristi and I love to use to teach literacy skills. The ones I've featured here are the ones that I went back to today, that fit with the lessons that the classroom teachers and I have decided we want to do, that are some of my go-to favs. We would love to hear about some of your go-to books - we are always looking for great new ideas!