Spark the JOY of READING Early On!

That's the face of a kid who loves books!

Isn't that the goal?

Get books in the hands of kids early on and let them enjoy those books. Every single time a child is reading a book, there doesn't need to be a quiz or a discussion or a running reading record. Sometimes kids need time to explore books and just foster that love of reading that will last their whole lives.

That's why I really do love the program we use in our school, Collaborative Classroom. It gives kids time to love on books, build their reading stamina, and conference with teachers. If you haven't heard of it before, look into it! It's a nonprofit and has transformed our culture for learning!

Read 20 Minutes a Day, EVERYDAY! Collaborative Classroom can help!

How do you instill a love of reading into your kiddos?

Start early.

Read with your child every day.

Model being a reader so your kids know it is important to you.

Provide a variety of texts and opportunities to explore books.

Create a rich literacy environment at home and in your classroom.

As a classroom teacher, I dedicated about half of the room space to my enormous classroom library, and no matter the grade I taught, I always brought every single book with me to the new classroom I was setting up. You never know what book will strike the fancy or meet the needs of a student - I wanted kids to have every book at their finger tips. And it showed everyone who walked into my classroom that I believed reading was important and worthwhile.

Now, many of us have seen this infographic:

How do you get kids to love reading?

Our new ELA program is masterfully engaging kids in reading every day.

In the past, our reading programs did not provide for a sustainable chunk of time every day for reading independently - I had to build that in myself. That meant giving up time somewhere else in my schedule to get every kid reading in a quiet and focused environment for a set amount of time to build stamina, foster a love of literacy, and give me the opportunity to conference with them individually. IT WAS WORTH IT TO ME.

Now, I am in several classrooms for our IDR time - Individualized Daily Reading. Our ELA program, Collaborative Classroom, sets goals for kids to read a certain about of time, uninterrupted, each day, while the teacher conferences with individuals. It's basically my dream - administration putting this structured reading time into the schedule. And the kids LOVE it. They're beginning to love reading, which will positively impact them in every other subject area. As well as in life, because isn't that our goal? To develop life long learners?

If you're look for Collaborative Classroom resources, check these out by clicking here!

Mentor Text Suggestion: Jabari Jumps

THIS IS AN AWESOME BOOK!

I found this book, Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, on First Book Market Place. (If you don't know about First Book, go explore their website. They offer discounted books for teachers in Title 1 schools. It is amazing and I always load up - as an instructional coach, I am ALWAYS lending books to teachers for various needs so my classroom library has come in handy.)

Jabari Jumps is about a boy who wants to jump from the high diving board. He is excited but then extremely frightened. This book is all about facing your fears, building up the courage to try something new, and ultimately discovering that you can do it!

Check out a few excerpts and then GO BUY IT for your classroom or home library to encourage your littles to  try new things because they just might like it!

IKEA Spice Racks Hack - Make your own BOOKSHELVES!

Can you ever have enough bookshelves? Nope. The answer is NOPE.

We have bookcases, shelves, boxes, baskets, and bins or books in every room of the house. Also stacks of books, but that's not as cool.

Anyway, I bought these $4.99 IKEA spice racks when Violet was a baby. YEARS ago. She's almost 3 now. I painted them, and then we just never got around to hanging them. Over the weekend, I asked my husband to hang them and it took about an hour. He had some screw issues. Just basically searching for the right size. Anyway, once it was finished, VOILA! We had a beautiful display shelf!

I really just wanted a place Violet could see the covers of her books in her bedroom. A place we could change up the books for themes or holidays. She has regular bookshelves in her room, along with, NO JOKE, a WALL of books in her bed. She probably has 50 books piled up behind her pillows in her bed. Nice and neat stacks. Always ready to wake up, reach behind her, and start reading. How can I argue with that? And she's still short enough that she has plenty of room in bed! :)

So, now we are those people who did an IKEA hack and it worked!

And it looks beautiful!

For real, I looked for these type of shelves online and they were a little pricy. I was NOT willing to pay.

My only concern hanging them like this was creating a literal ladder on the wall that Violet might climb. It turns out that she never thought that once. She was so into changing up which books would be displayed first.

But my 9 month old, Braxton? Oh, he's the one I might have to watch.

Happy hacking!

Mentor Text Alert: The Paper Bag Princess

Enter one of my all-time favorite books!

The Paper Bag Princess!

Talk about female empowerment, determination, clever trickery, and a spin on the classic fairy tale we all know and love. I just adore the humor and the themes you can pull from it.

I have ALWAYS used this book in my classroom for SOMETHING. I love it to pieces. But now, it is also part of our third grade curriculum for our new ELA program from the Center for the Collaborative Classroom. And it is just another reason I love our new ELA program. They literally chose every book I love as a mentor text and use it somewhere in their program. I feel like they read my mind a little bit.

The only downside to this book is that my two-year old isn't into it. I don't know why. Maybe it's the dragon. I have tried a few times and she prefers classic fairy tales...or just anything else.

Anyway, this story is about Elizabeth, a beautiful princess whose castle is burned down by a dragon and her fiance is stolen away. She wears the only thing that did not burn, a paper bag, and tricks the dragon in order to save her fiance, Robert. He is disgusted with her appearance and tells her to go home and change, and to come back when she looks like a real princess. So she leaves him! And she lives happily ever after...on her own!

Pictured below are a few of the pictures from the book to give you a taste!

Mentor Text Alert: Jabari Jumps

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall is an amazing picture book! It is great for teaching skills such as persevering through a challenge, facing your fears, and supporting each other. The text will lend itself well to discussions around fears that kids may have and how they can overcome those fears either on their own or with support.

In this book, the boy is so excited to jump off the diving board, but then he realizes that he is quite frightened. The book explores how he overcomes this fear and ultimately has success. It really does demonstrate to kids that they can do anything.

Common themes include: courage, perseverance, supportiveness, and so on. Remember, any theme can work as long as you have evidence from the text to support it!

Included below is a sampling from this text. I highly recommend adding it to your library ASAP! (Also, my version is from First Book marketplace. Check it out for discounted texts for teachers in Title 1 schools. It is the best!)

Mentor Text Alert: Field Trip to the Moon

WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS ARE MY JAM!

Yes, I said it. I love them. No matter the grade level I was teaching, I relied heavily on wordless picture books for teaching many comprehension strategies. Most notedly, questioning and retelling. Also inferencing. Really, anything!

I love John Hare. His other wordless picture book that I am obsessed with is Field Trip to the Ocean Deep. These books are gorgeous. Beautiful pictures, intriguing stories, and they really get kids thinking. My 2-year old is completely engaged and rereads them over and over. Teachers at school are using them for questioning strategies during virtual learning. Check them out! 

Below is a sample from Field Trip to the Moon. I ordered this through First Book marketplace. I teach in a title 1 school, so I am able to sign up for a membership through First Book and order wonderful texts and supplies at a steep discount. If you have not visited this website, it is dangerous but amazing. I routinely order giant boxes of books for a fraction of the price!