Category: Classroom Book a Day

  • Read Across America: If not Seuss, then who?

    Read Across America is coming up this Monday, March 2nd. Originally, the National Education Association (NEA) started this nation-wide event on the birthday of political cartoonist turned children’s book author Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, to celebrate and promote reading. In 2018, the NEA dropped the celebration of Dr. Seuss in favor of…

  • Beyond the Textbook: Using Picture Books in Our History Learning, Part 1

    Some picture books make us laugh. Others tug at our heart strings and make us cry. Many support our work in studying the craft of writing. Then, there are some that just truly stop us in our tracks. Today’s picture book read aloud, The People Shall Continue written by Simon J. Ortiz and illustrated by…

  • 180 Days of Literacy Learning: Three Things That Mattered Most

    Written off and on a week or so after the last day of school while enjoying a weekend away in the woods at Northern California’s Russian River and also in my backyard after summer school. All posts in this blog series can be found here. If you’re a classroom teacher, you can probably understand why it…

  • The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 5 days to go, Drawing Inspiration from an Important Read Aloud

    Written while enjoying a rare Bay Area rainy Sunday morning in late May with coffee. All posts in this blog series can be found here. “Wow- you’re still teaching?” These words were actually said to me last week when I was asked what my students were doing in class right before lunch on Friday. “Yes, I’m…

  • The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 13 Days to Go, Classroom Book a Day- Pride

    Post #7 in the Last 20 Days of Literacy Series… Written while scarfing down a salad during my 40 minute, oddly uninterrupted, lunch. All posts in this blog series can be found here. The absolute best thing that has happened in my classroom this school year has been our commitment to reading a picture book a…

  • The Last 20 days of Literacy Learning: 17 Days to Go, Interruptions Galore is No Excuse

    Post #4 in the Last 20 Days of Literacy Series… Written after a day of not much instructional time. All posts in this blog series can be found here. Take a look at today’s teaching schedule. As you can see there was not much instructional time. If I had absolute control over my teaching day everyday,…

  • The Last 20 Days of Elementary Literacy Learning Blog Series

    So much is emphasized, written, and said about the first 20 days of school. Well, I’m entering my last 20, and the work isn’t even close to being done. This blog series will chronicle the literacy learning of the last 20 days of school in my fifth grade classroom. The Last 20 Days of Elementary…

  • I Haven’t Read Aloud in Days

    That’s right. You read that title correctly. If you know my work with teachers or my work with students, you’re probably thinking the title just can’t be true. Well, it’s true. I haven’t done our picture book read aloud in days… My students have taken over! They are now taking the initiative to bring in…

  • 10 Reasons We Read Aloud Everyday

    Committing to reading aloud every single day is perhaps the best promise I made to my students and even myself this school year. The simple practice of reading aloud a different picture book every single day with my class has changed us in ways that I did not even expect. Earlier this week, I had…