#Nerdlution: The Year of Billy Miller and More

We're into our first week of the second round of #nerdlution.  Today is the first round-up at Michelle Haseltine's blog:  One Grateful Teacher.  Each Thursday participants will link up to share their progress.

Let's be honest, a few days of being trapped in the house because of the extreme cold made this an easy first week.  Here are a few of my DISCOVERIES this week as I read for #nerdlution.


This Week's Discoveries

A Book
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes

Billy isn't sure how his year in second grade is going to go.  He doesn't get off to the best start with his teacher and Emma, another second grader, drives him crazy.  Things at home with his sister, Sal, can be challenging too.  Thankfully his parents always help to pull him through.  Billy loves Papa and Mama and his love for them shines throughout the story.

This is a great story about growing up.  Henkes captures the joys and challenges of being 7 perfectly.  If you haven't read this Newbery Honoree yet, you'll want to add it to your reading list.

A Blog (Maybe a few blogs)
This week I discovered a few posts that made me pause for a bit.

Teachers for Teachers  Pre-Assessment Questions:  Assessment Opportunities:  In this post, Clare and Tammy, authors of Assessment in Perspective, share authentic assessment opportunities that happen as we talk with children.  There is much to learn about what children know if we just ask a question.  This post is full of possible questions to ask as well as suggestions for listening closely to these conversations.

GStevens Blog  Slice of Life:  Would You Rather Fast-Forward Time or Rewind It?   I think we all ponder this question every now and then.  Stop by to see what happened when students were asked their preference.  Their answer may surprise you.  Which would you prefer?

Two Writing Teachers  Writing About Reading in a Writer's Notebook  Two Writing Teachers is hosting a week conversation dedicated to writing about reading.  Across the week several posts about the topic will be shared by the blog authors.  The event will be wrapped up with a Twitter chat on February 3rd at 8:30 EST (more here).  In this post, Stacey shares her thinking about writing in response to reading in a Writer's Notebook.  Her lens of reading as a writer really shapes her responses in her notebook.  Often she is able to spring from a piece she has read into new writing.  So many ideas here!

Can't wait to see what next week will bring!

The Joy of Discovery: Amy Krouse Rosenthal

I guess you could say it all started one day with a Spoon.

Sometimes it's so hard to just wait for students to discover something.  However, when the moment finally arrives and students authentically come to this new realization, discovery, or understanding it is all worth it!  Such was the case last week when I read Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (@missamykr) to my class to talk about the author's message.  My class loved this book in which poor Spoon just isn't happy with his life.  Knife and Fork have it so much better.  In the end, of course, Spoon decides maybe he does have it pretty good.  The conversation that followed was full of possibilities for what the author wanted us to know.  

When I saw how much they loved Spoon I knew I needed to share another book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  After lunch that day I decided to read Exclamation Mark.  I had been waiting for just the right moment to bring out this book and thought this might just be it.  I'm not joking when I say the kids actually broke out in applause as I closed that book.  I then said, "You know, Amy Krouse Rosenthal has written a few other books that we've read this year."  I reached near my easel and pulled out Yes Day.  My students loved this book when we read it earlier in the year.  What kid doesn't wish every day was Yes Day?  They applauded yet again.  I paused like I was really trying to think and added, "She also wrote the OK Book."  One of the students raced up to grab it.  The excitement was building as students tried to puzzle out what other books she might have written.  

"We should make a basket for her books," Paige quickly added.  The students all nodded in agreement.  "Let's see what else she has written," I said I as pulled up Shelfari and typed in her name.  At this point, I just couldn't keep up with them.  There were shouts of books we'd read that students were realizing had been written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  "She wrote Little Oink and Little Hoot," they chimed.  Then of course there were conversations of those we should definitely read.  We added a few "PLAN TO READ" titles to our shelf including:  Chopsticks (they'd seen Chopsticks in Spoon), It's Not Fair, Little Pea, and Wumbers.  

Had I just placed Amy Krouse Rosenthal's titles in our basket at the beginning of the year they likely still would have learned who she was as an author, but the joy behind this discovery and the excited conversation of our community has likely created an appreciation for Rosenthal's work that will stay with them.