The Big Book Center

Big books easily has the chance to become a favorite center! It is one of the easiest to maintain and gives students a high level of reading support since they are books you have completed in shared reading. I do one big book each week as part of my shared reading. At the end of the week, I place the big book in our laundry basket and the students were then allowed to use it as part of their big book center. (Lakeshore and other education companies offer beautiful storage furniture for big books. A cheaper option is to purchase the type of laundry basket that has the very tall sides. It is a cheaper alternative and a great way to store big books. Also, many of them come with wheel which is great perk for moving it when it gets full of books!)

In the big book center I often see students working independently or cooperatively to play “teacher.” They echo teacher talk and even some of the concepts, vocabulary, and ideas I’ve introduced. The fabulous part is as you teach shared reading lessons this was the model for the big book center.  

There are many things students can do in big book center. They can explore concepts about print through one to one matching, return sweep, left – right, top – bottom, or identify parts of the book. A great way to facilitate this is to provide pointers for your students. Pointers can be purchased at almost any teacher store but they can also be made easily from supplies from any craft store. By gluing a cute animal or figure on the end of a dowel rod you have a pointer. Other things that can be used are magic wands, chopsticks, rulers, Halloween witch fingers, or flyswatters.

While students are reading big books, there should be a higher level of fluency and phrasing. This is due to the previous work in shared reading. During shared reading I spend time encouraging students to run the pointer under the words instead of pointing to each one, one at a time. By moving the pointer faster and sweeping their eyes, this can help with their reading pace, fluency, and intonation.

As I mentioned earlier, students will try to model your behavior. They may ask their partners to find high frequency words, ask them questions about the text, correct each others errors, read in “character voices”, highlight key words, cover certain words with post its and write the correct word or synonym on top, discuss their favorite parts of the book, or turn the big book into readers theatre. Students may even carry activities over from the library center. They may mark text connections with sticky notes or share out a book review for the class. Another idea for Big Book activities is to place sticky notes inside each book cover with words from the book. Students can find the words in the book and cover them with the sticky notes and then reread the book. If sticky notes aren’t working, clip a ziplock back to the back cover with index cards with the words already written on them. Highlighter tape, post it notes, and markers can be stored in the bag as well.

There are several key areas to look at in big books before deciding to introduce them in shared reading and then a center. First, is this a picture book that has just been made big? Many publishers take their picture books and blow them up for quick sells. Although these are good for read alouds as they do truly let all students see the pictures, these are not good for shared reading. Shared reading texts should be something that is slightly above the average reading level of the class. Since the teacher provides a high level of support, it is not necessary that students can read it on their own the first time. I look for a book with familiar characters, is enjoyable year after year, read after read, has rhythm, rhyme and repetition, contains several key high frequency words that repeat over and over again, can be turned into a readers theatre piece, and has text large enough to be read by all students. Many of Joy Cowley books emulate these concepts. A personal favorite of mine is Mrs. Wishy-Washy. Through the year kids LOVE this book. They will read it over and over and over again. This book has endless opportunities for readers’ theatre, high frequency words, and class projects. I wrote out this entire story on sentence strips and we would go around to all the Kindergarten classes sharing the story while we acted it out. Another benefit of Mrs. Wishy-Washy is there are series of books with her, her cow, duck, and pig while she constantly tried to keep them clean. An example of a poor choice for shared reading and big book center might be If You Give A Mouse a Cookie or Brave Irene because of the high level of the text. 

Although I will spend time modeling this center throughout the year, I always make an “I Can” chart during shared or interactive writing with what students may do in this center. Mini-lessons on topics such as on book care, use of highlighter tape, post its, taking big books out and putting them away, and pointer use, as there is always someone who wants to turn it into a sword, can go a long way too in helping the center run smoothly.

Remember to include your class-made big books in the center as well. Almost any big book has a component that can be rewritten by your class or continued. By publishing your classes work, you can ensure there is always something for all your readers to read.

Anno’s Counting Book

One of my favorite changes recently in math adoption programs is the addition of quality literacy materials. In my district’s current math adoption, each teacher received a series of math texts to be used as read alouds and a big book. I love that publishers are starting to understand content area integration and providing support and materials to facilitate that process. 

Starting in the early 2000’s, when I first starting using the math adoption Investigations, I will admit it took me a while to really understand how to implement it in the classroom. I was used to very traditional math programs and Investigations definitely is not traditional. One of my favorite parts of the series were the trade books and the activities that aligned with them. Classic texts like Mouse Count added a fun twist on traditional math instruction. In Kindergarten, one of the most fundamental pieces of the curriculum is numeracy and helping children develop a deep understanding of numbers and number concept that will help them as they move onto more complicated topics in the future.

In Anno’s Counting Book, the story develops as through each page more images are added, but always in sets equal to the number for the page. For example “Page 0” is completely blank. Then, on “Page 1” there is one house, one sun, one tree, etc. I used this book a ton throughout the year and finally went on Amazon and bought the big book. Last time I check it was around $16.00, which, as big books go, is pretty decent.

In the Investigations series, after reading Anno’s Counting Book, the students make their own counting book named after themselves. They have pages similar to Anno’s, and as they move through the book they complete it in the same way. So for example, on “Page 2” the student mike draw two chairs, two pencils, two students, two dogs, etc. The point is that they are not just making on representation of the number, but really understanding the number as a set.

As an adult, I think back on my own math instruction as a child and remember how I easily picked up addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, but I really was just memorizing facts. One of the best gifts we can give kids early is a deep understanding of numbers and I love finding books that can help me do that.

A Pooh-fect Time of Year

As a kid I loved Winnie the Pooh, probably because my grandmother (who watched me during the day) thought Winnie the Pooh was the best. As I was older and babysitting for family and friends, I used to watch The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and even had a few laughs then. One year for my outside display I decided to create a Pooh theme. After finding that you cannot purchase large prints or posters of the Pooh characters I found black and white images and copied them on transparencies and used the overhead to blow them up to “life size.” I traced each character on its primary color (e.g., orange for Tigger or pink for Piglet) and then used markers, construction paper, and paint to color the other key to match. After I had my life size shapes I put them outside in the hallway on top of a “100 Acre Forest” scene I had created from bulletin board paper (basically a blue background, green grass, and a tree trunk). I then placed the characters around the display so they looked like they were having a great time and wrote on the top “It’s a Pooh-fect Time to be in Kindergarten.” Around Pooh and his honey pot I glued bees with each child’s name on it.

As excited as I was about Pooh and his friends, I learned that year that Dora was much bigger than Pooh with my class. Something like “It’s a Dora-ific Time to be in Kindergarten” may have been more popular, but at least I enjoyed my trip down memory lane. J

Student Picture Displays

For several years I displayed students work by attaching it to the cork strips or taping it to the walls. I found though that sometimes, in the effort of putting it up and taking it down I might damage the work or it took so long to change the display it became outdated. I decided I needed a quick (but nice) way to display each student’s work in the hallway. The next year I took blue, green, and purple 12”x18” pieces of construction paper (the calming colors!) and attached them outside my wall in a rectangle. To account for new students arriving during the school year, I generally made it about seven pieces across and four down for 28 squares. I left a space between each piece of paper to avoid looking like it was a patchwork quilt.

At the start of the school year, I would take each child’s picture. I usually made several copies since we would use them on our name chart and for other projects through the year, but one picture I would glue at the top of the large construction paper sheet. Then I would print each child’s name with a fun font and attach two paper clips, spaced about 6 inches apart under the photo. That way whenever I wanted to display a project or a student’s super work I would run out to the hall and attach it to their construction paper page using the clothes pins. Anyone who came down the hallway could easily see whose project or paper it was by the name and the picture. Because it was so easy to use I was able to constantly keep it updated and have current work out in the hallway. A win-win for everyone.

Chair Pockets

When I started teaching Kindergarten in a new school I went in early over the summer to meet some of the teachers who would be on my team. When I walked into T’s classroom, I saw she had chair pockets for each of her students’ chairs. In the chair pocket was the child’s journal and their bag of crayons. T explained that by each child keeping their crayons in a ziplock bag labeled with their name it avoided fights over crayon colors and the destruction of the crayon boxes that typically happens within the first millisecond of being touched. Also, not having to include transition time for looking for and finding journals and then returning back to their seat reduced transition time during the writing block or when children chose to write after finishing their center activities. The first thing I thought was, “YES! No more crayon boxes!” and the second thing I thought was “I must have these.”

T had actually paid a fair amount for hers and being the “frugal” person I am, I checked them out and thought – huh, I can make these. After all, I did get an A in middle school home ec. Long story short, by the time I bought the fabric, matching thread, and – wait for it – a sewing machine, I am not sure I saved any money. Fortunately, though, the chair pockets are actually pretty easy to make and basically only took about a day to make 30 or so.

To make a chair pocket you want to first make sure that your fabric is wide enough to cover the width of the chair plus about two/three inches. Depending on the length you want the chair pockets to be, I measured from the top of the chair to about six inches or from the floor and doubled it. This gave me enough material to cover the back of the chair and the “fold up” where the materials are stored. For my kid size chairs, the rectangle of material generally was about 16 inches wide and about 48 inches long.

The first thing is to hem the two edges. Lay the rectangle of fabric down. Take one short side and fold the hem up, then take the other short side and fold the hem down. Sew the hems. Now lay the fabric down again. Measure to the middle of the fabric on the long side and mark with a pin. Fold one side of the fabric to the middle and pin the edges (the hem should be facing up). Then turn the fabric over and fold the other side of the fabric to the middle and pin the edges (again the hem should be facing up). Run a line of pins down the outer edges to secure the fabric together. It should almost look like an “S” if you look at it sideways. Run the sewing machine down each edge. You have been sewing on the “wrong side” of the fabric. Now turn it right side out and you have a chair pocket! You may want to play with the length, width or format, so I always took a chair home with me to try it out right away so I didn’t have to wait until I went back to school to see if it worked.

As you can see in the picture, I am really into colors and my tables are color coded. The blue table has blue chair pockets, a blue table canister, blue matting under their name tag, and blue matting under their behavior chart. I even had blue pencils and blue erasers one year. It is pretty hard to forget which color table you sit at. When looking for fabrics, look for a pretty thick fabric that will hold together well. Since I wanted different colors for my fabric, I was a little more limited in my choice, but T’s are a thick fabric with a heavy weight as compared to mine that were more cottony. I generally have to replace mine about every two to three years, while T’s have lasted at least six. Finally, make sure you get a washable fabric as I take mine home about two times each year to spruce them up and erase the beautiful crayon marks that have somehow magically appeared. Isn’t that funny how that happens?

Hot Town Summer in the City!

A few years ago I stumbled upon the website kizclub.com. On the website they have a ton of activities, crafts, games, and lessons and best of all it is completely and totally free. Music to my ears and bank account! The crafts are some of my favorite and are easy to use since the blackline masters are always provided. One of my favorite crafts for the summer is the Fancy Sunglasses. The website offers a color pattern and a black and white pattern. I recommend printing the pattern on cardstock since that helps with the durability of the glasses. The website recommends you then use colored cellophane or plastic wrap for the lenses of the glasses. I use both hot glue and white glue and both seem to work well to attach the cellophane to the glasses but you want to make sure to be careful with the white glue as it can smear.

The kids love to wear the sunglasses outside and will actually last for a while since they are almost unbreakable! Every year I take a class picture of us in our shades – me and my stylin’ group of students. J

Self Sustained Reading

Today I learned more about the Self-Selected Reading Block (SSR) in my new, used Four Blocks book. In the introduction the authors share that SSR ensures all students experience daily-read alouds and time for reading books of their choice and on their own level – which is an idea I really like. Too many kids do not have the opportunity or desire to read at home and we know that continued reading makes you a better reader.

The SSR is made up of four big components: (1) Teacher read aloud to begin the block, (2) Children reading independently books of their own choosing, (3) Teacher conferencing, and (4) Sharing or reader’s chair.

The first section is the read aloud, which we know is a huge part, or should be, a huge part of any classroom for modeling, developing language skills, serving as mentor texts, reviewing comprehension skills and strategies, building background knowledge, learning new information – and of course the list goes on. What I liked that the authors mentioned was the scary lack of non-fiction or informational books as part of read alouds. I think this stems from the root of what makes us want to be teachers. As a kid playing school, which were the books I modeled reading aloud? Fiction! And, of course, I had to read it just like my teacher and librarian did by holding the book so my “students” could see the pictures! As teachers I think we loved the classic stories and can’t wait to share them with our students, however, not only is the collection of quality children’s non-fiction growing, but students routinely show they love non-fiction! I really have to make a conscious effort to make sure I am pairing fiction and non-fiction texts in the classroom to meet all my students’ needs and interests.

The second and third sessions, which occur concurrently, are the student’s independent reading and teacher conferencing. In the book, the authors share that students may participate in SSR by reading from collections of texts or rotating through centers that have a clear reading focus (e.g., big book center, magazine center, author study center, etc.) This of course differs from say, the Daily Five where you include writing and word work as part of your literacy centers.

During this time students may select the texts they read. The goal of course is that they are selecting texts on their reading level and aligned to their interests. Maybe because I taught younger grades, but I found my students had a really hard time finding an appropriate book in a sea of choices. Eventually I divided my reading centers into two separate centers. When students were at the “Independent Reading” center, they would get their book box (cardboard magazine files I bought online) which contained all the books they had read over the past few weeks in guided reading and their reader’s notebook. They had complete choice about which books to read, but that way I knew that at least in that center the students were reading books at their independent level. Then I created a “Library” center where students could read in the library, which contained books sorted by theme, topic, genre, and select whatever book they wanted to read. This allowed students the free choice and opportunity that was important as well. Although it may not be the best strategy altogether, this way I was assured that students were getting exposure to books on their level and books they were interested in.

Since I was always pulling guided reading groups, I never really got to conference with my students during independent reading or library center. In Four Books, the authors suggest that your conferencing focus on the child and their reading development since this is one of the few 1-1 times you have with that child that day. The basic conference procedures includes having the child read a page or two to assess if the book is on the appropriate instructional level, asking a general question or two for background information (Why did you choose this book?, What might happen next?), asking deeper comprehension questions (such as about the author or a focus skill or strategy), and open ended questions to facilitate discussion (Do you like the book? Why or why not? What was your favorite part?)

The find session is the sharing session. Most kids love to talk anyway, but Four Blocks shared some ways to make it “extra” exciting such as letting kids talk into a microphone, pretending to be on TV, having a reading party, or reading to younger reading buddies.

I like the idea of the SSR, but I also like the idea of literacy centers and traditional guided reading. I think there are ways to combine the best of the best practices together into a comprehensive literacy framework that supports students’ reading development and love of reading. I think I need to start with adding two more hours to every school day though because otherwise I don’t think I can get it all in!