Class Antics – Inside Elementary Education

Read the Most from Coast to Coast!

Here is a neat idea for celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2.  Help set a record for Accelerated Reader quiz taking!

Renaissance Learning is sponsoring the program and offering free kits for teachers.  Click here to register your class and claim your planning kit which includes a poster, student bookmarks, and downloadable support materials.  Register by February 14th to ensure that you receive your materials on time. Get event information here.

For extra fun, all participants will be registered for daylong prize drawings.  You could win an iPad, a signed copy of a book from the popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series by Jeff Kinney, and more.

Teaching Tips

Get ready!  Have students set goals or make book recommendations to each other.  Check out stacks of books from the school library so kids have plenty to read.  If you teach at a school where students have home libraries, ask kids to bring in books to share.

Prepare for state testing!  If March 2 is near your state testing window, you might want to challenge your students to read NONFICTION on March 2^nd.  It’s excellent preparation for the test and corrects an imbalance since most students tend to read much more fiction than nonfiction.  If all day of nonfiction is too much for your gang, set a timeframe during which your class reads only nonfiction.  The students will get into it.

Make a day of it!  Set up blankets, have snacks, make forts, and read as much as you can!   It doesn’t all have to be silent reading.  The kids can read in pairs.  Parents can read to the class.  You can read to the class.

Fun data analysis!  Use AR’s reports to show your kids how much they accomplished.

> Print up a word count for your students the day before the event and compare it to their word count after the event.
> Compare class points earned before and after the event.
> See how much fiction versus nonfiction you read during the event.
> Break your class into teams on AR and see which team can read the most.
> Use the quizzes taken report to see which books were most popular that day.

I am posting a few days before the event, so my teacher-readers have an opportunity to create lesson plans.

What do Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Beezus and Ramona Quimby, Otis Spofford, Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse have in common?  They’re celebrating Beverly Cleary’s 95th birthday on April 12th.    

 April 12th also is National Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) Day.  D.E.A.R. is a reading celebration that encourages families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority.

 Beverly Cleary’s beloved character, Ramona Quimby, is the program’s official spokesperson. Ramona is responsible for spreading the word and the love of reading.  All this came about because Beverly Cleary received many letters from readers who participated in D.E.A.R. at their schools, so she gave the same experience to Ramona in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (link to amazon, book and movie). 

 The goal of National D.E.A.R. Day is to show families how to make time to drop everything and read.  It’s easy to set up and host your own celebration.   The D.E.A.R. website features information and tools to promote your celebration. There’s also a list of Favorite Read-Aloud Titles for Families of D.E.A.R. Readers

 Students get really excited about D.E.A.R. in the classroom: have them read any and all books by Beverly Cleary.  My parents read her books when they were in elementary school, and now Beverly Cleary’s books are published in twenty countries in fourteen languages.  Beverly Cleary’s autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet
, fueled my dreams of writing children’s books. 

Happy Birthday, Beverly Cleary!  Now, I’m off to read!

My students are always playing games.  Some are more fun than others…

So You Think You Rock?  is a game I invented to complement the Accelerated Reader program.  Actually, my sister invented it one day when she was volunteering in my class.  Here I was, trying to have AR conferences with the kids, which took forever—mostly because they were so slow in coming to talk to me.  Also, the constant coming and going was disruptive.

Then my sister printed up the class progress report and just started calling their scores out.  We jazzed it up by stating whether or not the student rocks.

Example: say it is the second week of the grading period.  You estimate that the student should be at 20% of their goal.  You have a class goal of scoring an average of 85% correct.  Announce it just like this:

John: rocks.  He scored 30% of his goal (students cheer) and has an 89% correct average.  Keep up the good work, John!  (John beams)

Paul: sort of rocks.  Paul, we are very proud of you for earning 45% of your goal.  You must be reading a lot at home!  (students cheer)  However, your average percent correct is 80%.  Could you work on that, please?  We know you can do it!  (students cheer)

George:  Rocks hard!  He has made his Goooooooal!  (Students raise their arms in a triumphant soccer cheer.)  Seriously, George rocked so hard!  Not only did he meet his goal in the first two weeks of the quarter, he has a 98% correct average!  (students cheer)  Have an ARHead, George!  (Airheads candy that I renamed.  Buy about 80 for less than $10 at Sam’s Club.)

Ringo: doesn’t rock.  He has 0% of his goal.  (Students groan)  What have you been doing, Ringo?  You are a Recess Reader until you fix this!  I recommend a Magic Tree House book.  (Grudgingly, Ringo looks for a Magic Tree House book in the class library.)  Ringo, put it in your backpack right now!  You are reading it this weekend!

In about three minutes, you have motivated students, nudged slowpokes to read, and reminded everyone of the existence of the AR program.

My students BEG to play So You Think You Rock!

Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary
AR Reading level 4.5  1 point
Available at Amazon.com

Cursive may seem outdated compared to typing, texting and tweeting, but it is still an important skill for kids to learn.  If nothing else, they need to be able to read cursive—notes written by parents and teachers, or cursive written by our forefathers in the Declaration of Independence.

Kids are very excited to learn cursive, but sometimes their interest lags after the first few lessons.  You can keep them going by reading to them Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary.

In Muggie Maggie, third-grader Maggie absolutely refuses to learn cursive.  She’s a smart girl, but she gets herself into quite a predicament—with a lot of embarrassment, time spent out of class, and even trips to the principal’s office!

See, Maggie’s teacher has hatched a plan with other teachers and school staff.  She makes Maggie the messenger.  All the messages Maggie deliverers are written in cursive.  Maggie is pretty sure she recognizes her name in the messages.  Maggie has no choice but to learn cursive so she can read the secret messages.

Muggie Maggie is clearly intended for a third-grade audience, but AR (accelerated reader) classifies the reading level is 4.5.  (Many Beverly Cleary books have a reading level above the intended audience’s grade level, as I have described in a different post about this topic.)  Some third-graders will be able to read Muggie Maggie, but I recommend that third-grade teachers read it aloud because it is perfectly suited to their audience.

I’m sorry to tell you a harsh truth: kids don’t read Beverly Cleary books.  Not like they used to, that’s for sure.

The Ramona & Beezus movie was wonderful, but the box office take was disappointing.  (I think it will have a long life as a DVD and Blu-Ray.)  All my students who saw the movie absolutely loved it, but none of them had read the books beforehand.

Kids don’t read Beverly Cleary!  Why?

You and I loved her books as children, but they’re a little old now.  Some elements are dated, particularly the books about Henry Huggins and the early Ramona books.

The main reason kids don’t read Beverly Cleary has to do with AR (Accelerated Reader).  Beverly Cleary’s books are written at a high reading level, according to AR.  (The formula is based on length of sentences, length of words, etc.  I’m not sure about the details because I think it’s top secret.)

For example, Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is clearly written for a third-grade audience.  The book’s reading level is 5.6.   Most kids are not allowed to read above their AR reading level, so they can’t read the Beverly Cleary books when they are at the age the books are aimed for.  By the time kids reach the fifth and sixth grade reading levels, they want to move on to harder and more macho books, like Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.

I think it’s too bad.  Beverly Cleary books are wonderful.  I can’t imagine life without them, actually.

On the other hand, I have to say that in my experience, when kids read above their reading level, comprehension suffers and students rarely actually finish the book.  They just lug it around to look impressive.

Obviously, as a future writer and teacher, I was an advanced reader as a kid.  However, many of my classmates also read Beverly Cleary books.  I have to wonder if more of today’s students would read the books should AR downgrade the reading level.

As a teacher or parent, I hope you will read Beverly Cleary books aloud and recommend them to students who are ready for them.  If you teach fifth and sixth graders, try to push them into Beverly Cleary books.  You know they’ll like them!  You can also recommend the books Beverly Cleary wrote for teens.  My favorite is The Luckiest Girl, but I also loved Fifteen and Sister of the Bride.

A sampling of Beverly Cleary AR reading levels:  (This isn’t all her books.  There are soooo many!)

Ramona Quimby, Age 8: 5.6
Ramona Forever: 4.8
Beezus and Ramona: 4.8
Ramona and Her Father: 5.2
Ramona and Her Mother: 4.8
Ramona’s World: 4.8
Ellen Tebbits: 4.9
Henry Huggins: 4.7
Henry and the Clubhouse: 5.1
Mitch and Amy: 6.2
Emily’s Runaway Imagination: 6.1
A Girl from Yamhill (Beverly Cleary’s Autobiography): 6.5
Fifteen: 5.4
The Luckiest Girl: 5.9

by Ann Cameron
AR book level 3.4  1 point
Available from Amazon.com

I first learned about The Stories Julian Tells because we have an excerpt in our Harcourt reading textbook.  Now, I am a big believer in Julian!  You will be so glad to know that there are many books about Julian.

In The Stories Julian Tells, author Ann Cameron creates a memorable family.  You will love Julian, a nine-year-old with a big imagination and a gift for telling stories.  His little brother Huey is cute as can be.  Julian’s dad is larger-than-life: a strict father who is even funnier and more imaginative than Julian.  Julian’s mom is a wonderful, warm character.

The Stories Julian Tells is an incredibly funny, warm and comforting book.  It makes a wonderful read aloud for the classroom.  However, I think a huge added educational value comes from the author’s rich description and imaginative use of figurative language.

For example, in the first chapter, Julian, Huey and their father make a lemon pudding for Mom: a lemon pudding that tastes like “a night on the sea” and “a whole raft of lemons.”  When dad wakes up from his nap to find that Julian and Huey ate the whole pudding, the boys are in for a whipping and a beating—Julian whips the pudding, and Huey beats the egg whites.  Mom tastes the new pudding—it’s just like a night on the sea and a whole raft of lemons!

My favorite story in the book is called “Because of Figs.”  When Julian was three, his dad gave him a fig tree that would grow up with him.  When the tree grew taller but Julian didn’t, Julian felt left behind.  Naturally, the solution was to eat the fig leaves to help him grow.  (They taste like spinach, so they must be good for you.)  Years later, Julian is bigger but the tree hasn’t grown at all.  Finally, Julian realizes that the leaves belong to the tree.  Now both tree and boy can grow up together.

My students absolutely love The Stories Julian Tells.  They are nuts about the companion books, like Julian, Secret Agent , More Stories Julian Tells, and Julian, Dream Doctor.  There are also great books about other characters in the series, like Gloria (who might be Julian’s best friend) and Huey, Julian’s little brother.

by Barbara Cohen
AR book level 3.0   0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com

Molly’s Pilgrim is a classic that deserves a place in your classroom library.  It can be read any time, but it is particularly poignant in November.

In November, we think of pilgrims as the Puritans landing on Plymouth Rock.  However, Molly’s Pilgrim reminds us that other pilgrims came to this country for religious freedom.

Molly is a young Russian-Jewish immigrant who feels out of place in America.  Molly’s school assignment is to make a Pilgrim doll.  Molly’s clothespin Pilgrim doll resembles her mother rather than a Puritan Pilgrim, teaching her classmates an important lesson about religious freedom in America.

Molly’s Pilgrim was made into an Academy award-winning short movie.  It is available on Amazon.com.

Molly’s Pilgrim is great as a read aloud, but if you wanted make it into a unit of study, you might consider buying A Guide for Using Molly’s Pilgrim in the Classroom, from Teacher Created Materials.

The Accelerated Reader program is so much more than comprehension tests about each book.  Many books have vocabulary tests, too.  The vocabulary test has the same quiz number as the regular test.

At our school, AR is set up to offer students the vocabulary test as soon as they complete the reading practice test.  Encourage your students to do the vocabulary tests.  They improve vocabulary and reading comprehension.  If students do enough, you will see an increase in reading level.

Since Accelerated Reader levels are determined by Star Reading, which is a test of vocabulary, the AR vocabulary tests are most directly applicable to raising a student’s Star Reading test score.

You can print labels that list the AR vocabulary words for each book.  Put these in the book cover so students can be sure to notice those words in the text.

Until this summer, I labeled my AR books by looking up the book information and writing the reading level, point value and quiz number in each book.  Students and parents helped with this.  It took forever, and it was easy to make a mistake.

Turns out you can just print the labels.  (I used Avery 5260, 1″ by 2 5/8″, 750 labels in a pack.)  Here’s how to do this from your teacher AR account:

1.  Click on Reports
2.  Select School Management*
3.  Under Quiz Management Reports, click Labels–Book
4.  Select Some (so you can select the quizzes you want)
5.  Click Select Quizzes next to the Some button
6.  Choose your quizzes.  The fastest way to search is “title contains.”
7.  Be sure to add the quizzes to your list.  You can select the quantity of labels you want for each book (nice if you have a class set)
8.  Click Save
9.  Click View Report
10.  Click the Print icon on the pdf
11.  When you print, if it doesn’t line up correctly with your labels, be sure to select None for page scaling.  Mine automatically went to Shrink to Fit, and my labels would not print correctly until I overrode the page scaling.
12.  Stick the labels in your books!

*From the school management menu, you can also click to print the AR Vocabulary lists for books that have a vocabulary test.

Dav Pilkey’s humorous style is perfect for reluctant readers.

His most famous books, the Captain Underpants series, turn children into chapter book readers.

Dav Pilkey’s appeal goes far beyond that.

Part of the attraction to readers and teachers: Dav Pilkey writes in series.  Once you hook a child on one Dav Pilkey book, there is usually a series to be explored.  By the time the child reads one Pilkey series, he craves another.  Soon, you have hooked the child on reading.

Check out the Dumb Bunnies books, about a truly stupid family of rabbits.  My favorite is The Dumb Bunnies’ Easter (AR level 2.7, 0.5 points), a mishmash of holidays that the bunnies get completely wrong.  (Santa Claus is the Easter Bunny, and he comes in a shiny red minivan pulled by eight flying pilgrims.)

The reading level of the Dumb Bunnies books helps you reach more than one target audience.  Primary students will work hard to be able to read Dumb Bunnies.  Dumb Bunnies books are also good high interest/low reading level (hi/lo) choices for struggling middle grade students.

The same holds true for Dav’s Dragon series.  (AR reading level around 2.7)  The books are perfect for primary children, but can be used as a hi/lo choice for older readers.  Once a child reads Dragon’s Fat Cat or Dragon’s Merry Christmas, there is a series to enjoy.

Students who tend to read the easiest picture book possible can be lured into reading harder picture books with titles like Dav Pilkey’s Dogzilla (AR level 4.2, 0.5 points).  Combining a humorous story with hilarious photographic illustrations using Dav’s own dog, Dogzilla will entertain all elementary readers.  After Dogzilla, readers will enjoy Kat Kong (AR level 4.1, 0.5 points).

Create chapter book readers with two of Dav’s series: Ricky Ricotta and Captain Underpants.

Ricky Ricotta is slightly easier.  The books’ AR levels range from 2.9 to 4.1, with most in the 3^rd grade range.  Children will enjoy reading about Ricky, a mouse who befriends a giant robot and saves the city from an evil rat scientist named Dr. Stinky McNasty.

Children clamor for Dav Pilkey’s most popular books, Captain Underpants.  They are perfect gateway to reading real chapter books.

Dav Pilkey can be an important part of your classroom reading program!

Many schools use the Accelerated Reader Program (AR) to guide students’ independent reading.  In essence, children read books and take a computer based AR quiz to earn points.  Points are based on the reading level of the book and the word length.  Points are awarded based on the quiz score.  A student must earn a passing score to receive points for a quiz.

Your child’s AR level is determined by a test called Star Reading.  This test is part of Renaissance Learning’s suite of programs designed to work in conjunction with AR.  Star Reading is a multiple choice test with a fill in the blank format.   Students read a sentence and choose the word that best fits the blank.  The test is self-adjusting because question difficulty varies based on whether students answer correctly. 

In essence, Star Reading is a test of vocabulary.  This is appropriate because vocabulary is an excellent predictor of reading ability.  I have found the Star Reading test to be quite accurate for my students.

Observations and Comments:

1. Most children do not read at grade level.  This makes sense, because grade level is basically a median.  Half the students are above, half the students are below.  The child’s AR level is usually determined by a statistic called independent reading level, which is the level of books a child can comfortably read on his own.
    
2. Sometimes parents want their child to read above the assigned AR level, but this can be a mistake.  Children improve by reading books that are fairly easy for them.  If the child is struggling to read the words, he can’t understand the story.  The child will not improve reading comprehension by practicing like this.
    
3. The way to move up in AR levels is to read, read, read!  Encourage your child to read everything available at his or her level.  By doing this, your child will pick up new vocabulary words.  The Star Reading score will rise, as will the AR level.

Connection:  You can also help your child build vocabulary by reading aloud.  Choose books that are above your child’s AR level.  Children can listen at a much higher level than they can read themselves.  Your child will naturally absorb new vocabulary.

I will write additional posts about the AR Program from time to time.