Chapter+8

__**Chapter Eight: Readers Make Plans for their Reading Lives **__ #1. Kathy shares with us her emotional last day with her very first class of students. Looking back at what the students did in September and what they have accomplished by the end of the year is a great way to validate the growth made on this journey. What artifacts do you save throughout the year to trace this growth?

The artifacts I keep are pieces of writing, and daily journal. One artifact that may seem strange is the video of their concert and end of the year talent show. I'm validated on what others will comment on. How did you get them to present like experts? I am new to the workshop, but in reflection I created Reading Clubs using music and poetry. One activity is in December, because we have worked whole group and small group and individuallly. These were minilessons that they took beyond the classroom to practice strategies. I did conferring often, I coached when needed, modeled and demonstrated. Yes, my assessement is authentic and their growth was visual.

Margaret Fox

//I like most teachers probably do save a lot of the students’ artifacts or work to trace their growth. One item that I've done consistently throughout my years of teaching is a pre and posttest ofstudent work. It includes all subject areas, and has questions that relate to what we've learned throughout the year. For example, I may ask, "How often did you read during the previous school year?" or "What books have you read from cover to cover?" This will give me an idea of where the student is coming from and where they'll hopefully end up. This test is then given at the end of the school year. It's an excellent way for parents,students and I to examine the work we've done all year and how well I've done as an educator. I measure this by knowing in my mind where I'd like thes tudents to be and if I've taken them there or not. Another artifact I like touse for assessment of the year is the students’ readers and writer’s notebooks.These hold a wealth of information even though they are not graded in a sense;it's easy to see the growth from the student's entries. This past year I tried something new...I had the students write 100 entries about themselves, givingthem a different prompt each day. I loved to see and hear the students go backthrough and read all about themselves. It was kind of like a mini diary orclose look into their lives. I'll definitely do this again this coming school year.// //Cara1212﻿// Chapter 8 from Bobbi Friend– I have not been very good about keeping artifacts to show growth throughout the year. I do, however, have students keep a writing journal and they write in the journal on a daily basis. The writing journal includes writer’s workshop entries as well as entries based on specific pieces of academic learning that we are using in our classroom. That journal definitely shows a tremendous amount of growth from the beginning of the year to the end. The other artifact that students have is their reading notebook. The notebook includes all reading reflections, all sticky notes that they have had in books and have transferred to the notebook, as well as extended responses that they have written throughout the year. The reader’s notebook also will include partner work that has been recorded.
 * Respond Here: I have also not been very good about keeping artifacts throughout the year as some teachers do. I do keep many writing samples and poetry work. The kids also have their daily journal, writing folders (with all pieces that they choose to save) and they have their reading folders with their responses to reading assignments, book logs, sticky notes on books that they have saved and their DRTA's from our read alouds throughout the year. The children especially like looking through their journals and are amazed at their growth. They also like to look through book logs to see how many and what kinds of books they have read throughout the year. Sgaunt **

Saving artifacts has not been one of my strong points, but an area that I have a plan to improve upon for the upcoming year. I am using Beth Newingham’s idea of keeping reading workshop materials in a three ring binder. Students will then have their reading logs, responses, sticky notes, and handouts from the beginning of the year to reflect upon in late May/early June. I then need to remember to spend some time reflecting upon this work. It always feels like crunch time at the end of the year and reflecting is something that often goes by the wayside for me. Students need to be able to really examine the growth that they have made since the start of the year.

Stephanie Cooper Keeping artifacts throughout the school year is so hard for me. I’m not sure if it is because I can’t organize myself well or that by the end of the year there is such a time crunch I can’t seem to put together the artifacts well. It is an area I need to improve. One way I shared with readers their growth last year was through our classroom website. I often posted on our website reading work that the students were doing throughout the year and by looking back at this the students could see some growth. I wish I has been more explicit in showing the growth of the students made instead of expecting them to recognize that themselves. I think that having a more complete and formalized conferring notebook could help me show the students their accomplishments. Garth

I keep a portfolio for each student which include 3 writing samples - beginning, middle, ending, a student's choice writing, pre and post assessments, list of books read throughout the year, word study samples, and student and parent reflection on the portfolio. I love Collins' suggestion to make copy of book covers/list of books the class read together. Fran Olesen

Keeping artifacts is second nature to a resource room teacher! I keep samples of students’ responses to the books that we read in hanging folders for each student. Students also keep records of their reading fluency throughout the year as well as their SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) scores that we take. One of the suggestions I liked from the book was to keep copies of book covers from read-alouds, I will include those this year along with the responses from each book. What a nice way to organize the folders.

Sue Ronning

**I remember feeling this same way at the end of my first year of teaching, so it was interesting to read about another teachers experience! For the most part, the only artifact I save this past year with my fourth grade students was pages from their reading logs (other than assessment results). During the last week of school I did ask kids to get out their logs and look back over all that they had read. First we just spent a minute taking pride in that huge amount of reading, but then we started to look at them in more detail. Kids noticed so many things by looking back over their logs: the difficulty of their books became greater, they read very different authors, they had one author they really liked, they got into a series of books, they read mostly fiction or nonfiction, they tended to finish chapter books or stop before they were done, and lots more. There were a lot of good observations to make just from looking at the logs. For this coming year, I would like to save sticky notes with their stop and jots for them to look back over. Also, any work we do at the end of a unit for a celebration would be a great artifact to save.** **--Kristy Weberg--** Saving the children's samples I admit is not my strong point. I always have good intentions of things I am going to save and in the end it seems like it never amounts to much. I always save their writing journals/response journals, and usually I will save a beginning, middle, and end of the year sample of a writing piece. This is something we always share at conferences, so I always have it. I need to figure out a way of organizing their samples that I save in a notebook/binder and I think that will help me. I did like the idea of keeping a list of the books that we have read together all year and would like to do this with my children and really keeping track of all of them. J Baker

Once again my clipboards are saved. Anything important goes on a clipboard—all rubrics, assessments, disaggregated data—all on a clip board. This is how I look back to see how we did—yes we—not just the kids scores but my rigor. I save there work to see the progress and the progress varies but it is always informative. KDN

The only artifacts I have ever kept is the student's writer's notebook. I am going to use a 3 ring binder for students this year to use as their reader's notebook. I am going to have them keep all of their responses, reading logs, and hand outs from me in there. I also like the idea of keeping a copy of the covers of our read alouds. TGaribay

#2. Research has suggested that "the best predictor of summer loss or summer gains is whether or not a child reads during the summer" (McGill-Franzen & Allington). As you help your students plan for their reading lives over the summer, there are some suggestions in this chapter that we can keep in mind. Starting the conversation and continuing the discussion about their reading lives will be a great way to encourage summer reading. How do you encourage reading over the summer? Share your suggestions.

This year we went to the source. I've been the mobile reading person. Spent time in the homes where books were needed. There were othe children in the homes that wanted a book too. I always came with a wide variety of leveled text. Always rienforced the importance of each one teach one. I included the parents by putting in a read aloud. Involve the parents. I have used the reading list, activities that are available at local libraries and on line stories. Make a connection, get out of the box.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Margaret Fox <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Respond Here: I send home a reading summer packet at the end of the year. It consists of reading logs for kids to keep track of books read, a pack of sticky notes, a fresh pencil, a new bookmark that they make, author's addresses and websites for the kids t use, and several publications for parents to read the latest research on reading and school gains/improvements. Kids are encouraged to bring their packets back to me in the fall so I can review them with the kids and of course I have a certificate for them and a special treat if they take the time to do summer reading and visit me with their folders. I have found as Bobbi said, if I have done a good job teaching reading and kids truly have fallen in love with reading, they will read at home and value what they have gained from their reading. In third grades I have so many kids who are into series books and they often tell me about their plans for reading more in a series over the summer. S. gaunt Chapter 8 from Bobbi Friend - Encouraging summer reading has to be somewhat intrinsic for students. If I have done a good job throughout the school year of getting students fired up about reading, they will hopefully want to spend time reading over the summer. I have often allowed students to take my books home for the summer to encourage them to keep reading. Most of the time, I have been able to get them back because students care about books enough that they want to make sure they get them back to me so that other students can read them. Another way is to read the first book of a series or two as a read aloud and encourage students to continue the series in the summer. Also, inviting a representative in from the local library to talk about summer reading programs is a very valuable way to get kids to read over the summer. Taking the class on a field trip to the local library at the end of the school year is another idea. Knowing the data about the value of summer reading should motivate us as teachers to be creative in our ideas to promote summer readiing. One way I try to encourage reading over the summer is by using a piece of technology called Raz-Kids. Raz-Kids is an online reading library of e-books that students can use free of charge if they have online access. Raz-kids is very dynamic and it allows me to assign reading levels for each student as well as monitor and report on the reading each student is doing. It is a site we use all year long so it is not complicated for them during the summer to use. Over the summer I can monitor their reading, send encouraging messages to each reader, and assign bonus points that students use to create and customize a virtual spaceship. For those students who have the means, this site seems to be a fun way to encourage summer reading. Garth

We send home a letter stating the research about summer loss, and an invitation to summer school for all students who were below grade level or otherwise at risk. I like the idea to have the student create a summer plan as homework and that the parents are involve in the process. I would like to see us adapt that for our students next summer. Fran Olesen

My principal arranged for funds to purchase at least 3 books for every child to take home this summer and keep. She ordered boxes of the LLI books as well as trade books. I gave my students a choice of which books they wanted to pick (from their current reading level). Every student in the school also had a book bag to keep their books, information for parents regarding research about summer reading loss, and a schedule of the “Wild for Books” book bus that travels through the district during the week all summer. Several staff members (including myself) volunteer on the bus. I often see my former students and that’s such a treat. I’m so fortunate to have many great resources like that already in place for my kids. Near the end of the year, the students and I created a list of strategies good readers use. I typed it up and created bookmarks for the kids. They decorated the other side. I also had leftover pictures from our school pictures. The students glued my picture next to the list on their bookmark so when they saw me it was as if I was reminding them to do those things. (“Gimmicky” I know J ). Also, after attending the reading workshop class at the ISD this school year I learned of another way to encourage literacy over the summer. I suggested to my principal that we make a DVD of teachers reading-aloud a picture book. The project wasn’t completed in time for various reasons, but hopefully it’ll be ready this year. Our hope was that students would watch the DVD and see their teacher (and former or future teachers) reading aloud to them. Another teacher in that class with me worked on a calendar of ideas that families could refer to as another way to incorporate reading into their summer. I’m interested in checking out the resource you mentioned, Garth, called Raz-Kids. How cool that you can check on them throughout the summer. I’m not familiar with that site. I have used [|www.storylineonline.net] with students during the school year. They listen to famous people read aloud familiar picture books.

Sara Sabourin

**This year, during the last 2 weeks of school, I tried to do as much as I could directly with my students to build the motivation and desire for them to read at home all summer. Of course, I let parent know of our plans and requested that they do what they could to have the kids read at home, but I really put the responsibility on my kids. Some have parents who will have them read and some don't. Some will have teachers who will do Reading Workshop next year and some won't. I just want them to know that it is a need that they have to fill for themselves, regardless of if an adult makes it happen for them. The biggest way I did this was getting them a large quantity of books during the school year to set up a home library. I took pictures of my own library at home and brought them in to show students how I keep my books. I talked to them about my home reading habits and asked them to imagine their own. Each of my students received between 30 and 40 books this year to keep and add with whatever books they already had. But I also had to spend time building up the love of reading and the desire to read on their own. Just having lots of books wouldn't make that happen. I can't say we got to this 100% will all my kids. I know there were still a few with some reluctance. But them I tried to build in some other motivators as well for the summer. Scholastic has an online summer reading program that kids can log into and log their hours spent reading. I can then get on over the summer and check it out to see how much kids are reading. I signed up my whole class for this and got them a username and password. They already love doing stuff like this anyway, because its online, so I knew they would be excited to do this. Because many of my kids do not have computers as home, I also gave them a summer book log to keep track of their reading, and then told them that they would take their logs and when they were able to get on a computer they could log in their time. Not all of my students, but quite a few have logged in reading time this summer. But just as Kathy states on page 247, we had to make specific plans as a class for how we would do this.** --Kristy Weberg-- To encourage summer reading—oh that is so critical for my school. I thought what Marg explained in your face to face was so wonderful—to go to the kids. How exciting for the students teacher do not go to the bat cave—they are alive and coming to my home for the importance topic of the book I’m reading WOW.

What I have been involved in that I know works is a quality summer school program. This allows summer vacation with a structured 3 hours of so 4 days a week to focus on math and reading. I have had special ed teachers come to me and say thanks what you did during the summer assisted a 3rd LD student to pass the MEAP. AtRoosevelt we had packets and met back at school 3 times during the summer for ice cream and review—some success. KDN - <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">#3. The last celebration of the year will hopefully leave a lasting impression on your students. We have guided our <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">students towards being independent readers and thinkers. What could this final celebration look like? Share <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">your ideas. // There are so many ways to have a final celebration...A couple of years ago, I had probably the most successful celebration of all. To celebrate both our reading and writing done throughout the year, we held what we called a Poetry Jam. It was an event modeled after those held during the Harlem Renaissance period. This was a timeof celebration of jazz/blues music and poetry. It was an event that was dear to many African-Americans and was an important era of our time. Our Poetry Jam included the 4th and 5th grade classrooms. Each room (4 rooms) had to have a presentation at the event that had to deal with poetry or short prose. My class did a celebration of mothers; I selected a hand full of poems dealing with mothers that the students had written and the students read them aloud duringthe event. They then presented them with a rose. I also had four or five poems that I felt were exceptional to be read aloud at the mic. Two of the poets decided to rap their poems; these two poets were not exceptionally well students grades wise. But they shined in this form of reading and writing which was even more of an accomplishment to me and for them. The teachers also read a poem written from Maya Angelou, Exceptional Women. All of us teachers were female,so it was fitting for the occasion. The environment of our Poetry Jam was dimlights with candles, tables with balloons and table cloths, with lightrefreshments. Everyone enjoyed the event and we plan on doing it again soon. Itwas a perfect way to celebrate the students reading and writing throughout thepoetry unit we had previously done. // // Cara1212﻿ //
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Respond Here: There are many ways to celebrate as Cara has stated but I still like to have our administrators come in and listen to kids read their favorite books and pieces of their writing. Often we have had a big slumber reading party, invited people to come in including parents and have snacks and lots of reading! I think it is very important to try to get the parents to come in and join this celebration. So often many parents cannot attend because of work, etc... Another way we have also celebrated is to have a reading party with another class. My ultimate reading celebration for the students would include having all parents/grandparents being able to be there and see the excitement and growth that the children have worked so hard on all year long ! S. gaunt **

I envision a celebration where families are present to witness the growth made by students. Yes, students will be taking their binders home at the end of the school year, but, unfortunately, some of them will never be opened again once they walk out of the classroom door. Students could cuddle up with family members and share some favorite texts and their reading binder. Students could alternately conduct a book club with another child and that child’s family as mentioned in the text. Students could then move to making bookmarks with their families. The child could make one of their own design, while the adults could write a message to their young reading on the bookmark they create. Finally, what better way to end the celebration than with a snack? Perhaps the snack could even come first as the teacher shares some remarks and students give families a tour of the class artifacts around the classroom as well as their reading binders and book boxes. This is not something I have attempted in years past and would like to try this year. Stephanie Cooper

On the last day of school I invite families and any staff available as well as siblings from other classes to join us for an Authors’ Celebration. In the past, I’ve focused on students sharing their writing from writing workshop. It has varied between sharing from our last unit or a combination of units. I’ve had kids create charts about what they’ve learned that good writers do and share at our celebration. The format was like musical chairs. The families would stay seated after his/her child read to them in an intimate circle. The families had a job. They had to ask the writer what s/he learned this year. If there was time remaining the students would read from the poetry/song notebook that we added to throughout the year. I would play “Celebration!” on the CD player and the kids would move to a new family and repeat. This kept all kids engaged the whole time, no one was on a stage fretting about reading in front of a room full of people, and families were able to interact with more than just their own child. I would end the ceremony with a presentation of the samples of work that I had saved for them over the year (which the kids and I had looked over and reminisced about their growth during the last week or so of the school year. Like Collins mentioned on page 240, saving the reflection for the last day of school with little ones is difficult!). Then we’d have juice and cookies and veggies (I’m pushing healthy food until the last minute of our year together!). This year I tried something a little different. I had the kids perform a readers’ theater for the families. In retrospect, I didn’t plan enough with the kids, they were silly in front of their families, and I was embarrassed but tried to be patient, keep a smile on my face, and still let them know my expectations even on the last day of first grade. I’m thinking though that there is a still a way to combine their reading and writing work to keep it an Authors’ Celebration. I love Cara's idea about the Poetry Jam. How powerful! I'm excited to keep brainstorming for more ideas on how to make it successful. Sara Sabourin

I meet with parents individually on each of my students and at that time we always have students share their growth in reading. I have not had an end of the year celebration but really like the ideas shared by others of having students and families share the response journals students have used over the year and have students share a favorite text with their family. I am going to include this in my end of the year plans for this upcoming year. Sue Ronning

When I taught first grade, I have always had my children invite their parent in for a classroom tea at night. During this time the children perform their fairy tale plays. This is something that they have worked together on in groups of four/five and they have created their own costumes and props and have been rehearsing for about a month. The children serve cookies and punch afterwards. The children love to perform for their parents. We also have a dress rehearsal that day at school for the Kindergartners so they can showcase their talent to their peers in practice for their performance in the evening.JBaker

So many great ideas! I have never done this before, but I was thinking of doing some kind of Reading Talent Show. Students could work together or separate. They could read a favorite poem. Works in groups and do a reader's theater. Read a thoughtful response to a book they loved. Do paired fluency readings. I have some wonderful selections made for two readers. My class could perform this on our stage in the cafeteria for the other third grade classes and parents could be invited. Might be fun to make a video of it too. I will definitely toss around some ideas for an end of the year celebration. TGaribay