Category: K-6 Classroom

Three days of school left…

I’m not going to lie. It has been rather challenging. In fact, it has been a downright struggle to stay upright the past couple weeks.  I’m still knee deep in finishing mandated summative assessments, entrenched in 5th grade practice for their formal promotion ceremony on Friday, and am just overwhelmed with the thought of having to complete my report cards by Friday at 1:30PM.

My fellow teachers- yes, this time of year is hard. It is challenging. It is downright exhausting. You are not alone if you are struggling. I’m struggling, and I’ve been doing this for close to two decades! It’s normal to be overwhelmed. It’s normal to feel like you have no time to do the things that actually matter with all of the end of year hoopla going on.

However, I’m asking you, pleading with you, to do one thing both for yourself and your students. Before you say goodbye to your kiddos, pack up your shelves and cabinets, and close the door for the end of the year, take some time to make one last connection with your kiddos.  It’s truly a gift not only for your kids, but also for you.

During this insanely busy day today, I made sure there was time for 30 minutes of independent reading. Yes- I sacrificed other things, and I was happy to do so. For years now (more than I can actually remember), independent reading has been my one nonnegotiable in the classroom. I clear the schedule to make sure my kiddos have independent reading time every single day no matter what. In fact, I fiercely protect it.  Remember, when we value something we make room for it. If there’s no time, then perhaps it’s not something we really value.

Back to the gift to my kiddos and myself… during those 30 minutes of independent reading time today, I conferred. Rather than conferring with individual readers like I typically do, I held what I like to call cluster conferences. Cluster conferences are where I settle in near a group of readers (at a table, in the library, on the floor among a group of beanbags, etc…) to have a conversation around reading with the kids nearby. To start each cluster conference, I first asked my readers in the area if I could join them- after all, this is their personal reading space. Then, I asked them to come to a good stopping point in their books.  Once each reader was at a good stopping point, I simply stated, “Let’s chat about our plans for summer reading. What are you thinking?”

And, think and chat they did! Each of my cluster conferences turned into lovely and lively group conversations about what we all plan to read this summer. My kiddos gave each other recommendations for books, places and times to read, and even made plans to check in with each other over the summer about their similar book choices.

These conversations filled my tired teacher heart and made me smile. I realized that one of the reasons I was worn out is because I worked all year preparing my kiddos to do what they did today- to independently lead themselves and each other in goal setting and planning conferences. This was no easy task. It took work- a lot of hard, well-worth-the-effort work! Once I realized this, my exhausted feeling turned into a sort of satisfaction. I sat back, looked around my classroom at my readers, and smiled.

No matter what happens in the next few days, I know I still have precious time to cluster confer with my readers. I know I still have time to make a difference. I know I’m making a difference…

and so are you.

Hang in there, my fellow teachers. Hang in there, and take some time to genuinely connect with your kiddos before you say goodbye. Connect over summer reading- it’s a perfect way to embrace both the heart and the mind of each student before you say goodbye. You’ll be so glad you did.

You got this!

For more on summer reading… 

A Small Glimpse Into Our Summer Reading Conferences

The Road to Pleasure Reading: Six Steps to Ensure Your Students Will Read This Summer

Keep the Reading Going… Letter to Classroom Families

For more on conferring… 

Why Confer with Readers? Ten Compelling Reasons

I cannot believe that I only have 11 days left with my 5th grade kiddos!  The utter insanity of the end of the school year is in full force… report card writing, final assessments, parent conferences, meetings during every single planning period and after school, ordering supplies, planning promotion ceremonies, assemblies, parties, writing speeches, the list goes on! However, this doesn’t mean the critical work of teaching stops. In fact, it is ramping up!  My main goal right now is to make sure all my kiddos are  set up for summer reading success.  Of the (what seems like) 10,000 things I have to do in the next 11 days, making sure my kiddos each have a specific plan for summer reading is my most important job.

Over the past three days, I conferred with each of my students around their summer reading plans. We’ve been thinking, talking, sharing, revising, and planning out our summer reading for a couple weeks now, and I have to say my 5th graders have some thoughtful, intentional plans in store for their summer! All of their plans are completely unique and really show each of their specific personalities.

Here’s a glimpse into a few…

Harrison’s Plan for Summer

During our conference today, I asked Harrison to tell me about his thinking around his plan. He’s really looking forward to his downtime this summer- he’s going to explore his big interest even further, World War II, and continue with the Harry Potter series, which he started here in a fifth grade book club a couple months ago.

Chloe’s Plan for Summer

Every summer, Chloe and her family travel back to Greece to visit family, and she’s all set up for reading on her big trip. She is really excited to continue reading more books by Shannon Messenger and anything she can get her hands on about Hamilton.  When I asked about where she will get her books this summer, she responded that she already secured them through one of our local bookstores.

Nick’s Plan

Wow! Nick’s flowchart plan and his explanation of it during our conference really blew me away! Actually, Nick’s creativity and risk taking blew me away this entire school year. Nick is just as excited about writing this summer as he is reading. For reading, he has a different plan in mind depending on how the mood strikes him, and plans to continue pursuing journalism- a genre of writing he just fell in love with during the school year

Meg’s Plan

During our conference today, Meg talked about how she is so excited to tap into our middle school’s online Overdrive library. As a side note, I have to say  we are so fortunate to have such incredible teacher-librarians in my community. My students, especially Meg, thoroughly became excited about 6th grade when the middle school librarian paid us a visit a few weeks back. I wish all kids had access to such talented professionals.

Dion’s Plan

When Dion first came through my door in August, he was a self-identified nonreader.  With lots of determination on his part, conversations with his supportive parents, and an ongoing partnership with a dedicated specialist teacher at school, we’ve all devoted this school year to helping Dion view himself as a reader. During our conference yesterday, I reminded Dion of what he told me in the fall about his views of reading, and asked him how he now feels as a reader.  His response:  “I love reading.  I can’t wait to start Magnus Chase III”  And friends, there is nothing more important than that.

“A child sitting in a quiet room with a good book isn’t a flashy or marketable teaching method. It just happens to be the only way anyone became a reader.”  -Nancie Atwell

In the 22 school days remaining with my fifth graders, I have many goals- get through our final stretch of mandated standardized testing, support them in researching and writing about a topic in American history of their choice, delve deeper into the world of coordinate graphing, freely write in what Ralph Fletcher calls the Greenbelt, and ensure that we read for an uninterrupted time every single one of those 22 days. In my mind, that last goal is the absolute most important.  This goal is the most important because once my fifth graders leave my doors, they will not return to the world of elementary school, where their independent reading time has been protected for the past six years. My kiddos will be heading off to middle school next school year. I know that many of their future teachers will encourage independent choice reading, and I am so grateful that the work done the past few years will continue.  However, I also know that many of their teachers will not make time for reading in their classes- assignments and other time consuming activities will take the place that independent reading once held.  This truly saddens me- breaks my heart in fact. That’s why the next 22 days are critical in the development of my kiddos as lifelong readers.

In these next 22 days, we will read, talk about reading, and make plans for the summer ahead of reading. We will also talk about the beauty and joy of being a lifelong pleasure reader… well, we’ve talked about it all school year. We’ve lived it all school year! However, these 22 days are critical. In these 22 days ahead, I need to ensure that every single one of my students will read over the summer, and then hopefully on throughout the rest of their lives. This is the foundation on which the rest of their reading lives will be built. These next 22 days are the culmination of their reading-focused elementary years- from when their kindergarten teachers first introduced them to the joys of repeated story book reads to falling in love, and dare I say, becoming addicted to a novel series in fifth grade… this is it. This is both the end and the beginning. These next 22 days are critical.

So, to ensure that my kiddos will read over summer and in the future, I have six simple steps in mind. Before we get to the list, I want to point out that incentive programs are not mentioned in the list below. Incentive programs promote incentives, not reading. They promote the idea that kids should read to earn a prize rather than promote the idea that reading is something we do to laugh, think, grow, question, learn, and love as a means of connection between a reader and the world beyond the reader’s world. Incentives don’t work in the long run. However, many other things do. Here are six tried and true things you can do to support your kiddos in reading over the summer and hopefully beyond…

6. Enlist parents and families as fellow reading advocates. In addition to continually talking with families all year about reading, I also frequently emailed them reminders about the importance about reading at home.  Instead of an at-home reading log, I heavily relied on honest communication with families. For an example of this, take a look at this letter I wrote families last year passing the reading champion baton over to them. I plan to write a similar letter this year.

5. Recently, Kylene Beers offered this thoughtful idea in her blog: Send a few postcards home to students over summer asking about their reading. I’ve actually never considered this idea before, and am just thrilled that Kylene took the time to write about it. What a powerful, yet simple way to engage kids in connection around reading!

4. Book Talk, recommend, and mingle! This morning, two of my students book talked two different books. Now, there is a waiting list for those books in class, and a few other kids are seeking out other ways to obtain those books as well! Nothing excites readers more about reading than hearing about a great book from a friend. Book talks are verbal, in person recommendations. Recommendations can also be written and digital. If this work is new to you- just give it a shot! You have absolutely nothing to lose. The last few weeks of school are the perfect time to try out something with this year’s students, which is additionally practice for next year! Also, book mingling is my favorite new way to get kids talking about books… it’s a whole class movement and book talk activity where every student talks and learns about books that are potentially new to them. To learn how to book mingle in your classroom, take a look here: Book Mingle! 

3. Access is everything. If kids do not have access to books, they will not read. The reverse is also true. If kids have access, they will read. This is the time of year (if you haven’t already done so) to start talking up the local library to your class. Find out who has a library card and who visits the library. If possible, take a field trip to the library, or ask the library to come and talk with your class! Teaching kids how to use the local library is teaching them how to empower themselves. The time to set up kids for book access over the summer is now. We can easily give a child a book or two to read over summer, but an even more powerful gift we can give is teaching a child how to access books on their own without us.

2. Confer!  Aside from learning how to find books they can’t put down, nothing is more powerful than a one to one conversation between two readers: you and a student. If you’re new to conferring, there is no time like the present to start! If you’re not new to conferring, now is the time to start conferring around at-home and away-from-school reading habits and summer reading plans. Teaching a whole group mini lesson around summer reading is great, but having individual conferences with kiddos around summer reading is much more effective- conferences are personalized and responsive to what each child needs. To learn more about the sometimes tricky, yet extremely fulfilling work  of conferring, please feel free to visit the blog that Kari Yates and I started to support conferring with readers: To Know and Nurture a Reader. In the blog, we offer many tips and tricks to support busy elementary teachers in the classroom. We also have a book coming out of the same title from Stenhouse Publishers next month! You can check that out here.

1. Give students uninterrupted independent choice reading time every single school day between now and summer break. It’s not fancy, cute, or wrapped in a bow, but it is the only thing that truly develops a lifelong reading habit. Simply put, the only way kids turn into readers is by reading. Yes- it’s as simple as that.