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?! 

            

Nonfiction with 4th and 5th grade

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in a vertical planning meeting with 4th and 5th grade teachers. They mentioned that they needed to do more with nonfiction.  That is where I come in! We started planning immediately.

4th Grade

The 4th grade teacher mentioned that her students were specifically having trouble making inferences with nonfiction text. We scheduled a day/time for each of her classes, then started planning our lesson. We decided to create a Nearpod lesson, which is an edtech tool where teachers can create interactive lessons. The lesson shows on the students device screens (we use Chromebooks) and the teacher can give immediate feedback. 

I was in charge of finding the nonfiction passages and the questions. We reviewed making inferences, then we practiced together. We used text clues + schema to come up with our inference. 

I made a note taking sheet for students to fill out while they found clues in the story, plus writing down their schema. 

 

At the end of the lesson was a short quiz that students completed. I was able to send them their scores immediately after completion, and students could see what they answered correctly or missed. 

5th Grade

The 5th grade ELA teacher mentioned that she needed her students to have a better understanding of:

• the different types of nonfiction 
• text features
• purposes of text features

I decided to pull books and magazines to allow the students to have examples in their hands. We reviewed the types of nonfiction, and in groups, students sorted out their books/magazines into types of nonfiction. We discussed features of biography, procedural, magazines, newspapers, and informative texts. 

Then, I showed examples of types of text features commonly found in nonfiction texts. This part was a review, but then we went deeper and discussed how each type of text feature helps us comprehend the nonfiction text. 

The final piece was for the students to find examples of text features in their books and magazines at their tables. They added the examples to a collaborative board in nearpod, but had to include specifics on how that text feature helped them as readers. This was the hardest part, and many students had to go back and add specifics. In the end, they got it! 

Collaboration

If you aren't already collaborating with your teachers, please start! Start small, and your collaborative partnerships will grow. 

Start off by asking to sit in on a PLC or a vertical planning meeting. These are perfect places to offer to help out on a skill that the classroom teachers mention their students need more help. 

Co-teaching and collaborating with the teachers have done wonders for our students on my campus. They have 2 teachers in a lesson to help them, monitor, and teach them.  

Chromebook Academy

I am so excited that our first graders and kindergarten students will be learning to use the Chromebooks this week. When our school first purchased the Chromebook carts, I had quite a few people tell me that they did not think little ones could use them successfully.

Challenge accepted!!

So, I started researching some things and found Clever badges. I immediately sent the information to my library direction, who in turn talked with our technology department. I was so excited to be chosen as one of the pilot schools for the Clever badges.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask! 

After we got word about the clever badges, and I got them all printed out, laminated, and ready to go, Chromebook Academy was in the works. We started off with simple steps -- how to carry our Chromebook, how to open and close the Chromebook, logging in, using the touchpad, etc... The excitement was contagious! 

Look at these smiles! 

I lay my Chromebook flat on a table to use it. 

Kindergarten students can use Chromebooks, too. 

I hold my Chromebook with two hands.

Chromebook Academy

I got the idea of calling it Chromebook Academy from my kids' kindergarten teacher. We were blessed to be able to have the same teacher for both my son and my daughter, and she was AMAZING!! She had different academies throughout the school year, such as shoe tying academy. The students received certificates once they passed the academy. 

I created the presentation below to guide us through each day and each step. This is still a work in progress, but feel free to use the presentation for your school. 

Don't underestimate young students, they are very capable of learning how to use technology. However, don't assume they know how to use technology just because they can play on a tablet. They must be shown how to effectively use devices. 

I will also add that our second grade students were taught how to use the Chromebooks at the beginning of the school year, and all second grade students can login using their Google Account logins. They can learn, and they can use the devices! 

Theme and Character Change

One of the highlights of my job is collaborating with teachers on my campus. Collaboration is easy, you just have to start small! There are so many things that you can collaborate with the teachers about and have co-teaching happen in your school library.

While ELA is not the only subject that librarians can collaborate about, it seems to be the most popular. I am always collaborating and planning with the ELA teachers. One great lesson we did recently was over theme and character change.

I created a template in Google Draw and added it to Google Classroom. Each student had their own copy, and filled in how the character changed throughout the story.

The next week, we discussed theme! I wanted to make it fun and let the kids move around. There is so much more room to move around in the library than in the classroom. The teacher used an app called Chawzi, which groups students. 4 - 6 students put their fingers on the iPad and a colored dot comes up under their finger. This lets them know which group they are in.

Each group received a folder with their mission. The mission was to identify the theme in a story using clues.

Inside each folder was a set of clues to look for, as well as a list of common themes found in literature. Students then had to search the library for their assigned story, and start hunting for the theme.

The students had loads of fun, and learned a lot about finding theme.

Powered Up Week #poweredlibraries

This past week, October 1-7, was Power Up Week, a week where libraries across the state showcase innovation and dynamic leadership. I was excited to participate this year and showcase some of my programs this year on twitter. Powered Libraries even used one of my pictures and tweets in one of their daily highlights! 

Advocacy Monday

I try my best to advocate for my library everyday! This year I sent out a smore showcasing everything that had happened in the library in the month of September. 

This was sent to my administrators, as well as the teachers on campus. This helps them to see what is done with all the grade levels, not just what I do with their classes. 

I also started the week with a collaboration project with the 5th grade teacher. They have been studying the US Regions, so she brought them in for a quick lesson on citing sources and using Google Drawings to create a poster and share with the group. Since they used Google, students were able to work on this at home together, using the comment section to collaborate. 

Tinkering Tuesday

Tuesday was probably my favorite day of the week. Kindergarten was introduced to the MakerSpace materials, which I will pull out once a month for them. It was the quietest they have ever been in the library, they were so involved in their building. 

Web Widget Wednesday 

Wednesday was another collaborative project, this time with the 4th grade ELA teacher. We worked together to review the genres, and for Wednesdays lesson I created a Kahoot for the kids to play.  Feel free to use this kahoot in your class/library to review types of genre. 

 

The best part of collaborative teaching and my flexible schedule, is both myself and the teacher work together to ensure that the students understand. The teacher tells me the skill they want and the end product, and we plan together. I created the Kahoot and she went over the concept and did the checking for understanding. 

Powerful Partnership Thursday 

This year, I decided to participate with the second graders in the 2017 Global Read Aloud. We are reading books by Mem Fox and connecting with other classes around the world. This week, we read KOALA LOU by Mem Fox, then looked at Australia on a map to see how far away it is.

We connected with other classes through a padlet created by Mrs. Ockey to connect with others. We added our favorite parts of the story, and answered some of the questions asked by other 2nd graders. We also looked at where the other students were from on the map compared to where we live. 

The students thought it was fabulous that other kids their age around the world were reading the same book. 

Another way we partnered up this year was with the author/storyteller, Mary Brooke Casad. Even though it took place on Friday, it still shows our partnerships with people in our community. Mary Brooke Casad is the author of the books Bluebonnet the Armadillo, and she lives not far from our city. She came to speak with our 4th graders this year about her stories and how she became a writer. Her message to the students is to "Keep reading and keep writing!" 

 

  

It was a fabulous week, and I can't wait to see what our school will do next year for Powered Up Week!! If you did not participate this year, I highly encourage you to get out and advocate for your library and all you can do for your school!

Reviewing Genres with 4th Grade

One of my favorite lessons when I was the 4th grade ELA teacher was introducing all the different genres. I used to do a book challenge with my students to read at least one book of every genre. If you've never read a mystery, you don't know if you like mysteries!! Try it, you may like it!

The 4th grade teacher asked me to help her introduce genres to her classes. We collaborated on this last year as well. This year, we decided to make it 2 lessons, instead of only one. The first week we went over the genres and their definitions. I created a slide show using Beth Newingham's posters, which are available for any education use.


After the slide show, students were broken up into groups and placed at a table with a stack of books. They had a set time to decide together which genre the books belonged to. Then, students rotated around to each table to browse through each genre. They wrote down at least one title from each genre on their recording sheet of a book they might like to read.

You can also read about last year's genre lesson.

The second week, we integrated some technology by playing a Kahoot game. Feel free to use this kahoot with your students. They had so much fun, and it gave the teacher the opportunity to go over misunderstandings of the different genres.

Look at these smiles!!! Having fun learning! 

Here the teacher is going over details about the types of genre that students are mixing up. 

On another fun note, it was Christmas in September!! Our new books arrived last week, and we are getting them ready for the shelves. We love getting new books!