2nd Grade Biography

One of my favorite projects every year is the biography project in 2nd grade. Students get to choose a famous person, an athlete, celebrity, president, author, etc... The final project is to write a report about their person and give a presentation. The presentation is my favorite part!! The students dress up as their person and present their report as if they were that person. It is so cute!!

I collaborate with the 2nd grade teachers on this project in various ways. I pull books appropriate for the reading levels of the students. This year, the teachers asked if I would help with note taking skills and citing sources.

I tried and tried to find a note taking organizer that would help the students, but I could not find one I liked. So, I made my own. 😊 You are welcome to use it however you'd like.

I wanted to model note taking to the students, so we researched Barbara Park together. Junie B. Jones is a very popular series in 2nd grade right now, so they were all excited to learn more about the author. We started with Pebble Go. I had the students read the page, and as a table group, come up with an important fact we could write in our notes. 

We talked about the importance of taking notes:

• writing down the most important information
• putting the information in our own words (don't copy from the page)
• write down the information in a short way. 

On the organizer, students have a space to take notes from each source, and a space to cite their sources. This gets them ready for upper elementary when they have to create a bibliography page with their sources. 

After we took notes from PebbleGo, using bullet points for each fact we found, students filled out their sources. Then we used a book about Barbara Park and followed the same steps. 

After modeling, students then used PebbleGo, their books, and other reliable sources that the teacher and I had looked up before hand, to begin taking their own notes. 

They will continue their research over the next two weeks, then make their presentations in class. I always love to see the students dressed up as their famous person. 

Favorite Picture Books of 2017

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you know that my passion is collaborating and co-teaching with the classroom teachers. However, I also really love story time! Especially with kindergarten and first grade students. There is just something magical in the way that the students will sit and listen to a story being read.

I have compiled my top 10 favorite books that I read aloud to classes in the year 2017. These books were not necessarily published in 2017, but they were books I chose to read aloud during the year 2017 to my students.

***These are in no particular order.***

La Princesa and the Pea

One of my favorite fairy tales from when I was little was The Princess and the Pea. This is a latino take on the original story. The author incorporates Spanish words into the story, so it was really fun to read with our bilingual class. They enjoyed telling me when I said the word wrong and praising me if I said it correct the first time.

The rhyming text makes it fun for a read aloud, and the illustrations are gorgeous! This is perfect for multicultural, fractured fairy tales, and trickster tales!

Elyn, Susan Middleton. La Princessa and the Pea. G. P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2017.

We Found a Hat

I love Jon Klassen's Hat trilogy, but it is dry humor and not everyone appreciates it. For example, the first of the triloly, I WANT MY HAT BACK, is not something that I would read to my kinders. I don't think they would understand it. This book, though, was not quite as deep and some of the gifted kinders could understand. My first graders and second graders found it to be hilarious! 

Two turtles find a hat. They both want the hat, but there is only one hat. What ever will they do? The ending is so sweet, but the best part is that students have to make inferences to really know what happens.  

Klassen, Jon. We Found a Hat. Candlewick, 2016.

The Grumpy Pets

Billy is a grumpy child, so his mom takes him to the pet store to pick out a pet. Billy does not want a cheerful, cute, playful pet. Then, Billy finds the pets in the back of the pet store. These pets are grouchy, and a bit grumpy just like Billy! 

This is a great read aloud for younger students. The kids laughed out loud at the faces that Billy made, and then all the antics of the pets in the store. There were quite a few oooohs and awwws at the end of the story, too. 

Lombardi, Kristine. The Grumpy Pets. Harry N. Abrams, 2016. 

School's First Day of School

I knew I would love this book when I saw that it was illustrated by Christian Robinson. He is one of my absolute favorite children's illustrators. 

I read this to kinder and first grade back in September when everyone was back at school. It was especially great for the new kinders and all our new first graders. Everyone is nervous the first week of school, but did anyone ever think about how the school building feels the first day of school? In this story, the main character is the school building, who talks to the janitor each day. The school is really nervous about school starting, but everything turns out great. By the end of the day, the school decides he wants the children to come back. 

Rex, Adam. School's First Day of School. illustrated by Christian
 Robinson. Roaring Book Press, 2016. 

Samson in the Snow

Samson, a wooly mammoth, has a dandelion patch, which is his favorite flower because yellow is his favorite color. While tending to his dandelions, Samson meets a red bird. The red bird asks if he can have just 3 dandelions to give to his friend, who loves anything yellow. Samson allows the bird to have the flowers, then begins to dream of what it would be like to have a friend. He wakes up to snow everywhere! On his journey through the blizzrd, he finds the mouse and offers him shelter. Samson finds out the mouse is looking for his friend, that turns out to be the red bird! A beautiful story of friendship and kindness. 

Stead, Philip C. Samson in the Snow. Roaring Book Press, 2016. 

Good Night Owl

If you do not own any of Greg Pizzoli's picture books, I implore you to buy some for your library this week!! He is a fabulous author, and the kids love his books. 

Good Night Owl is about an owl that is just trying to get some sleep. As soon as Owl settles down into his cozy bed, he hears a sound. He knows he will never be able to sleep if he doesn't find the sound. He looks everywhere: cupboards, floorboards, even the walls! While tearing up his house to find the sound, he misses a small mouse-shaped detail. 

The best part of the story is the illustrations. Owl's cute pajamas made the kids crack up, and with the mouse hidden on each page we all had a case of the giggles. 

Pizzoli, Greg. Good Night Owl. Disney-Hyperion, 2016.

Nugget & Fang: Friends Forever -- Or Snack Time?

Who doesn't love a good book with a shark? How about a shark that is a vegetarian?! My students love shark books, and this book did not disapppoint! 

Nugget and Fang are the best of friends, and they love swimming together in the big ocean. Then Nugget has to go to minnow school, where he learns the dangers of sharks. Fang has to prove to Nugget that he can be trusted. He takes desparate and hilarious measures to get Nugget back as a friend. 

The illustrations make the book even more hilarious. The text and illustrations also make this a great book for making predictions. 

Sauer, Tammi. Nugget & Fang: Friends Forever or Snack Time? illustrated by
Michael Slack. HMH Books for Young Readers. 2013. 

Alan's Big Scary Teeth

This book was so fun to read aloud, because you can make the different voices for Alan the Alligator and the other animals. The kids love to hear the different voices, it draws them in. 

Alan comes from a long line of alligators who are great at being scary. He doesn't know how to do anything else, so he scares the other animals in the jungle with his big scary teeth. What a surprise to find out his big, scary teeth are FALSE, and he loses them one day! What will Alan do now? 

My favorite thing about this book is the look of astonishment on the kids' faces when we find out that Alan's teeth are false! 

Jarvis. Alan's Big Scary Teeth. Candlewick Press, 2016. 

Penguin Problems

Who doesn't love a good picture book with penguins? How about a penguin who doesn't know if he likes being a penguin? His home is too cold, other animals are trying to eat him, everyone looks the same, and the list goes on. The long speech by the walrus was a little much, but if you talk in a funny voice you can keep their attention. The ending is hilarious, and helps teach making inferences. 

John, Jory. Penguin Problems. illustrated by Lane Smith.
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2016. 

The William Hoy Story

I am a huge baseball fan, so I knew I would love this biography about William Hoy, a professional baseball player who struggled because he was deaf. On top of his teammates and other teams shunning him because of his disability, he couldn't hear the umpires. He works to have the umpires use hand signals for the calls. This changed the way the game of baseball was played. 

This amazing biography teaches perserverance, and is a great read for any student that loves baseball or biographies. 

It was hard to make my top ten choices, because so many great books have been written. What was your favorite picture book you read in 2017?

Bluebonnet Club and A Little Book Tasting

#ReadYourWorld

One of my favorite things to set up is a book tasting in the library. One of the third grade teachers approached me last week to discuss a unit in Social Studies over different cultures. She asked if we could do a book tasting. I was so excited!! So, of course I said YES!! 

I had a table for each of the following types of books: nonfiction, biography, traditional literature, picture books, and chapter books. All of the books were about a different culture, or had a character from a different culture. The students had a sheet where they could record books they want to read later. 

Students look at biography books about people from
other countries, or another culture. 

This student looks through a biography about a female architect from the
same country her mom grew up in.

So many students wanted to check out the books, we decided to let the teacher check them all out and leave them in the classroom for a few weeks. 

Bluebonnet Club

Each year, books are chosen to be a part of the Texas Bluebonnet List. Students in grades 3rd - 5th at our school read at least 5 of the books in order to be a part of the Bluebonnet Club. In January, we meet as a group in the library to discuss the books and vote on our favorite book from the list. 

I bring the dessert and drinks, and the kids bring their lunch. It is a HUGE deal to get to eat their lunch in the library. The kids had lots of fun discussing and debating which of the 20 books were the best. 

Students conduct the voting online. 

This year, 24 third, fourth, and fifth graders took part in the club and were given a vote. The winner for our school was the book SOAR by Joan Bauer. This was one of my favorites, as well.

Bauer, Joan. SOAR. Viking, 2016.

I was very happy that coming closely in second were also two of my other favorites from the list: THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON by Kelly Barnhill and SOME KIND OF COURAGE by Dan Gemeinhart. You don't think my book talks had anything to do with this, do you?!