The Picture Book a Day Challenge

 It took exactly three weeks for me to get behind on this project of mine. Here is Week 3 (a week late): Monday--The Dot by Peter Reynolds  I love this book. It is part of my reading curriculum. I can't read the dedication page without getting choked up. It is a great story about not giving up, believing in yourself, and the power of a great teacher. Love, love, love this book.  Tuesday--All Are Welcome by Alexandria Penfold.  After reading this, we talked about the fact that our class is a family and that although we all come from different places, we are all going to live and learn together.  Wednesday--A Truck Full of Ducks by Ross Bursch A student brought this in and asked me to read it. I had never read it before. It is really funny. We laughed throughout. It is the story about a truck driver who is making a delivery of ducks, but one of the ducks eats the directions. I won't give away the ending. It's hysterical though. This is a selection when you are hav...

Tuesday PANDO by Kate Allen Fox and Turine Tran One of my goals as a teacher is to read more nonfiction with my students. PANDO is wonderful. Written by Kate Fox, the story begins with a single seed and grows into a massive living organism. Filled with facts, this story is also lyrical and the illustrations by Taurine Tran are mesmerizing.  PANDO sparked lots of conversation. I mentioned that I had never seen PANDO in person but now that I read this book, I wanted to go see it. One student said, "So you can do that? You can actually go visit it?" So we then got on Google Earth to explore a little. PANDO turned into a geography lesson. This is definitely not what I planned, but the interest was so high, I ran with it.  Another said, "It's like this book opens up a whole new world." After we were finished reading, a student asked to borrow the book. Within minutes, several students started asking to read it. It is now "checked out" until October.  Wedne...

 I am doing it again! Inspired by the #bookaday challenge and my love for picture books, I am reading at least one picture book a day for the 2021-2022 school year. I will include student reactions and conversations or comments my students make. Some people have asked in the past if I have any other activities I do with the book. For the most part, I do not. I read these books for the sake of reading them.  Day 1 -- I use Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse as a way of calming everyone's nerves on the first day of school. Lilly is hilarious and all my students relate to her story.  We talked about good days, bad days, and in-between days. We also talked a lot about managing our emotions. It is okay to be mad. How do we handle anger at school?  Day 2 --  I am going to try to do more with poetry this year. I want my kids to learn to love language and wordplay. Raven Howell's A Cheer For The Year is well written and has playful rhymes related to the year throughout. hey l...