Spring Break: Cabin Fever Edition

Last night, we got snow.  It's the middle of March, and we got measurable snow.  Since we've been tempted with multiple 70 degree days, this bout of cabin fever is a little more severe.

To fight this Cabin Fever, we tried finger painting for the first time.  I'm not sure we have a future artist.  She quickly figured out it didn't taste good.  After trying to get her to play and draw, she picked up the paper and threw it off in disgust.

Apparently, books are her thing.  (Trying to pretend this doesn't make me burst with pride.)  She saw her new Dory book on the island after I cleaned up all the paint.  She pointed at it and said, "da" as in "that."  We snuggled in the big chair while she read it, upside down.

Pointing the all the pictures and telling me what is going on.

Then, you moved to your chair and continued to read it aloud.  Turning pages.  Pointing to pictures and words.  Studying everything.  

Babies, movies, and snuggles rounded out our morning.

THIS FACE!!  My heart just melts. 

She slowly taps her baby's back to soothe her.  I love when she does this to me when she gets up in the morning.  

If we have many more snowy March days, we will need to increase our Disney movie collection...for Mom's sake.

Spring Break Reading Challenge

I often get random wild hair ideas, and I'm just crazy enough to run with them when they hit.  Because I geek out about it, my students will usually go with me, or at least pretend to.

Just before Thanksgiving Break, I happened to stumble upon an old blog post of a teacher friend.  She discussed how she encouraged independent reading by setting a weekend reading challenge.  I read the blog Monday night and by Tuesday morning, I had a plan in place.  With the long weekend coming up, I knew it was the perfect opportunity.

I was so moved by those who did make their goal without realizing they had it in them.  I had one student read an entire book over the long weekend.  She had never done that before and didn't know she was capable of doing so.  That right there was worth the entire activity.

This semester, when we got close to Spring Break, a student I had last semester asked if we got to do the reading challenging again. Of course!  (Inside, I was practically jumping of joy as her eyes lit up.)  She excitedly shared she already knew what she was going to set as her challenge.

My students are familiar with reading goals.  We follow Penny Kittle's reading goal guidelines in Book Love and monitor our reading growth each Monday.  (A great opportunity for me to talk to every single kid in my class, check in on their progress, and celebrate their accomplishments.)

So, with a few added stipulations, we set our reading goals for Spring Break.    The goal has to be somewhat of a challenge - more than their normal weekly reading goals.  They have to commit to the goal before they leave for the day.  If they write it down, they are more likely to commit.  And I will reward them on Monday with some kind of treat.  As I have said many times, when it comes to building reader's lives, I am not above bribery.

I, of course, challenge myself, too - never asking my students to do something I wouldn't.  The subliminal messages from them as I get wrapped up in a game on my iPad instead of reading really work.

Not every kid chose to participate.  I emphasized and reiterated that nothing really happened on Monday if they made a goal and didn't commit.  They would only receive "try again next time" from me.   But, I know I will have some I will get to celebrate on Monday.  And I can't wait.

A side note:  At the top of the white board is a series of stars with each of my classes total reading pages for the quarter.  As a whole, we read over 141,000 pages.  This is one proud teacher.

What I'm Reading: Unbroken

My Sports Lit class is reading Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand, and I'm reading it for the first time with them.  Of course, there is always a fear in assigning a book I haven't read.  But, there is also something scared about experiencing a book the first time with your students.  I am more a reader, like they are, than a teacher.  It allows us to connected and discuss more authentically.

As I was reading last night, Louie Zamperini was getting ready to go officially off to war.  Hillenbrand notes that the crew leaves Iowa in October of 1942.  This short simple sentence is a sea of descriptions caught me off guard.

This could have been my grandpa.

When I started to make parallels between what I knew of his stories and what was happening in the book, it was erie.  Besides the obvious Iowa connection, my mom confirmed Grandpa entered the war in 1942 when he was seventeen years old.  Grandpa fought in the Pacific Theater, like Zamperini.  I half expect Hillenbrand to mention Zamperini running into this young kid, Bud LaMasters, who ornery and caring and loyal.  I want to know if their lives every overlapped.  Is this book part of my history?

Whether they met or not, this story feels like it belongs to me, too.   The rich history and historical accounts with thorough research show me what my grandpa went through.  Now, I picture him with Zamperini and his crew as they face the conflicts of war.

Grandpa didn't share much with us about his experiences, and I don't blame him for that--though I would have treasured every story.  This book brought him back to me.

Because this is my first read through of the book, my students will get a different experience than if I was more familiar with it.  They will get my honest personal reaction and connection.  It may be emotional and mess, but more than anything, it will be authentic.