Read Aloud Roundup: December 2014

It can be hard to find winter holiday books that are appropriate for public school. Naturally, many of them are explicitly religious. Our community foundation is the arm of a church (admittedly one that recognizes many faith paths), and I'm sensitive to the appearance that we're preaching to the classroom. At the same time, most of the students are African-American or Latino and celebrate Christmas with their families, which I want to acknowledge. Additionally, some of the winter-themed stories focus a lot on snow... which San Francisco kids just don't have. So I usually use the December Read Aloud to introduce diverse or interfaith/intercultural holiday traditions. This year it falls in the middle of Hanukkah, and several of the books are about that celebration. Discussion usually centers on family traditions and what the children will do over their winter break.

Read Aloud Roundup: February 2014

Black History Month came again, with a new round of children's books! Some favorite authors and illustrators made their appearance -- Jacqueline Woodson, Andrea Davis Pinkney, and Kadir Nelson are always excellent choices. My wife reminds me that I should seek out biographies of activists like Bayard Rustin (watched this documentary today) and Malcolm X (for kids? maybe middle school) for next year. I had an overflow of books about African-American women, so a couple will be featured in March for Women's History Month.

I had some trouble finding accurate and thoughtful books suitable for our youngest students, so both kindergarten classes were assigned poetry -- one short poem per book, which was closer to the usual picturebook experience than the anthologies I'd tried earlier this year. Still, the big ideas behind the little words means more work for the volunteer reader leading the discussion. If I'd had unlimited time and funds, I would have tried to find something better for kindergarten.

Read Aloud Roundup: November 2013

This month we had a number of holidays to choose topics from -- my selections for Read Aloud covered Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah. I had an extra Hanukkah book left over from last year, which was fortunate, 'cause the kindergarten book Veterans: Heroes in Our Neighborhood turned out to be written in stilted verse. The message was still inspiring, but the book was not as great as I thought it would be for reading aloud. Things got reshuffled. (And I ordered a used copy of How Many Days to America? by accident -- it was a withdrawn library copy with markings -- and managed to order a new one in time.) I included a "bonus" book that I can't use next month, as a backup in case any of the readers didn't like the assigned book. Here are the discussion questions for November.

Read Aloud Roundup: October 2013

Read Aloud has a new crew of volunteer readers this school year! My wife has sat in for the past couple of months while the roster got sorted out, and now we have some fresh faces along with the "old hands" who have read to the same teacher's classroom for many years in a row. I think it's great for kids to have that ongoing connection (even part-time) with an adult role model, and to have that adult lead discussions on big topics.

This month's general theme was Being Different. (A new title about Dia de los Muertos fit the bill as well as being seasonally appropriate.) I asked the readers (particularly the newer ones) to keep in mind the school's mission: to empower student learning by teaching awareness, acceptance and non-violence, celebrating our diversity, achieving academic excellence, and fostering strong family-school-community connections.

Read Aloud Roundup: September 2013

Yesterday was the first Read Aloud session of the school year! The books we used for the K-5 classrooms and the discussion questions are included below. You can click on the links for summaries, reviews, and more.

The feedback I received from the reader volunteers was positive overall; we have a few new faces as well as some that have been with the program for more than a decade. We also had a couple of unexpected absences, so my wife stepped in to cover the 5th grade session. She said they had a good conversation about beauty norms and judging a person by more than appearances.

Children with Incarcerated Parents

Today I read a frightening statistic. 1 in 28 children in the U.S. have a parent who is serving a prison sentence. That's an average of one or more per classroom (though probably more concentrated in urban areas like mine). Many more who know incarcerated people -- family members, neighbors, etc.

Okay, this settles it: This year I'm using Visiting Day in Read Aloud.

Choosing Books for Read Aloud

Although I get the summer "off" from bookbuying, I still do some work on the Read Aloud program. The bigger headstart I have at the beginning of the school year, the less pressure there is each month, I've found. So even without making purchases until the end of August, I've kept up my list of possibilities and I explore them in person when possible. (A library trip is great for this!)

CC by San Jose Library (Flickr)
The Read Aloud program I volunteer with is not affiliated with SJPL. These photos are for illustration only.

Read Aloud Roundup: May 2013

April's Read Aloud was cancelled with short notice (schoolwide testing), so the books stayed on until May. The spring theme is still appropriate after Earth Day, thankfully. This was the last session of the year!

Read Aloud Roundup: March 2013

For Women's History Month, I selected stories about strong, smart, spunky girls and women -- most of them real historical figures, but also a few modern fictional characters. Nearly all of the titles are appropriate for, say, grades 1-4. There wasn't much difference in reading level/complexity, and the subject matter didn't have notable violence, say, as some of the more challenging titles I've had before (Henry's Freedom Box, Your Move) do.

One of my prospective titles didn't arrive in time, but I do have a few on hand to fill in gaps for this purpose (they're left over from previous months now and again, or donations I've picked up) and one was a great fit! Be Who You Are is the story of a child who realizes that she feels more like a girl than a boy, and has supportive family members who help her transition gender at school and in the world. We've often talked about the different roles people have for boys and girls, issues of equality and fairness (kids feel this deeply!), and respect for others, so this picks up the topic at a more advanced level. I gave it to the 2nd-grade reader who really liked 10,000 Dresses.

I also donated 3 additional books for the 3 classrooms of 4th and 5th graders. They’re longer selections that weren't appropriate for Read Aloud, but will be great for chapter book readers or for a longer unit with the teacher another time.

Sweethearts of Rhythm

It Can’t Be Done, Nellie Bly!

The Woman in the Moon

Read Aloud Roundup: February 2013

This month's theme was an obvious choice for an elementary with "civil rights" in its name: Black History Month.

I offer books representing people of color as a year-round practice, but in February I focus on particular events and eras of African-American history, like slavery, Jim Crow, school desegregation, and voting rights. The familiar names -- Martin Luther King, Jr.; Rosa Parks; Harriet Tubman; Ruby Bridges -- certainly come up, but this year I made an effort to branch out and look at some less well-known individuals and also at the communities involved. Civil rights didn't happen because of one person giving a speech or going to jail -- of course, they didn't just happen, but were fought for and are still being won today -- but were the result of many years of many people standing up for what they believed was right, and overcoming a majority who wanted to keep the status quo. That valuable lesson is one that repeats in many of these titles and the related discussions.

Black History Month often means talking about big ideas with little people, so most of these discussion question sets begin with an overview or some talking points before the reading. That gives the reader a chance to find out what the class has already studied, and where the general maturity level is regarding the topic of race. (By February, these recurring readers should have a grasp on what works for that grade level, and the kids have had half a year to become accustomed to discussion of sensitive or uncomfortable topics. Also, they'll be well into units on civil rights and Black History Month, so these topics aren't coming out of nowhere.)

Read Aloud Roundup: January 2013

This month was a bit of a mishmash as I put together some of the books leftover from previous themes. I'll be touching on specific themes later -- Black History Month, Women's History Month, Earth Day/Environmentalism/Spring, etc. Some of the books for the older grades were poetry or non-fiction, so I recommended selections to be read and discussed during the session. I also got a lot of feedback this month, so I held off on publishing this post until I could add those notes.

Read Aloud Roundup: December 2012

This month the volunteers read on on a day just before school let out for break. I picked out books to touch on several winter holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice. I'd purchased Mrs. Greenberg's Messy Hanukkah, but somehow it didn't make it into the stack. I'll have to put it aside for next year. :/

Read Aloud Roundup: November 2012

Selections this month touched on civic engagement and the election process, thankfulness and helping others, and family members. Some of the books were a bit long for a single read aloud period, so I asked the readers to cover part of the story, and leave the rest for another time. Students could read the book by themselves later, or their teacher might choose to read it to the class.

Read Aloud Roundup: October 2012

K
Dad and Me in the Morning, by Patricia Lakin

How do you wake up? Do you wake up the at the same time every morning?
What are some ways you communicate without speaking words? Do these ways work for someone who cannot hear?

Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match, by Monica Brown

Are there things you like to do or wear or eat that “don’t match”?
What is it like when you surprise someone by doing something unexpected?
Why does Marisol try to match? Do you think that’s a good or bad idea?

Read Aloud Roundup: September 2012

Yesterday was the first Read Aloud volunteer session of the new school year!

I bought the books over the summer and wrote the discussion questions for each class, and the volunteer readers met their classes in the morning for storytime. Each reader will stay with the same classroom all year long (many of them have been reading for the same teachers' classes for years!), so that the children get to know them and know what to expect at storytime and in discussion afterward, for the entire time they're at the school. 

Read Aloud Roundup: March 2012

This month, my sweetie wrote questions for grades 1 and 2, and I did questions for 3, 4, and 5; we collaborated on the kindergarten questions.

K
The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill
What would you do if someone acted like Mean Jean at recess?
What kind of rules do you have for your school playground?
Why do you think Jean acted the way she did?

Read Aloud Roundup: February 2012

Questions this month again brought to you by the tireless sweetie (who also read to the mixed 4/5th grade classroom). Selections were made with an eye to observing Black History Month.

Strange Search Keywords

Hack Library School, that excellent blog for LIS students, just posted their 2011 blogging stats. I'm impressed! They're definitely a popular location. (Go, check them out!)

Now, I'm just starting out on this blog, and it's a hobby I have to cram into little spaces of free time between work and school. But I do watch my traffic stats on the Blogger dashboard, and I keep an eye on which posts get the most views. One feature I hadn't noticed until last night is the Search Keywords (under the section on Traffic Sources). I guess some people are stumbling across my blog while looking for something in a search engine -- not just from the links I post to Facebook and LinkedIn.

For now, most of the search keywords that led users to click on my listing are from (presumably) other library science students: "libr 285" competency proposal and subject analysis "libr 202" head the list, and also someone's search for design and implementation of instructional strategies for information professionals. Boring stuff like that.

But the best keyword search so far?

It's the little things...

One other gift I received for Christmas was a lifetime membership to LibraryThing. (Check out the widget in the left sidebar -- that's LT!) While a basic membership allows me to list up to 200 books on my LibraryThing account, a premium member's listing limit expands to 5,000. Both annual ($10) and lifetime ($25) memberships are available, and my personal elf happened to pick up my gift from the LT holiday sale at only $15! There was a little hiccup in getting the membership code applied to my account, but an email exchange straightened that out.

This is such an excellent gift because now I can add all of the book titles that were donated to the HMCRA Read Aloud Program in previous years, and have them all in one place. Keeping a catalog at LibraryThing helps me (or any other volunteer for the program) in the following ways:

Preventing Gender Bullying with Lessons of Diversity

I loved reading this article by a grade school teacher who found herself conducting lessons about gender equality for first graders.

I taped up two large pieces of paper and wrote “Boys” on one and “Girls” on the other. “Students,” I said, “what are some toys that are for boys?” Eagerly, the students began to shout out their answers: “Legos!” “Hot Wheels!” “Skateboards!” “Bikes!” The list grew quite long. “OK,” I said, “now tell me some toys that are for girls.” “Baby dolls!” “Nail polish!” “Barbies!” “Makeup!”
Her lesson goes on to discuss whether girls can play with Legos, or boys with dolls -- leading to examples of people the students know personally who blur the gender divide. The teacher mentions, among other tools and tips, two classic books that I'd selected to be part of the collection for younger grades in the Read Aloud program.