Over the weekend, I discovered on the Nerdy Book Club blog, a blog I read regularly, a post (Buffets and Books: What Fills Me Up As A Reader? By Dana Kramaroff) in which the author compared choosing books with visiting a buffet (see the above quote). I loved seeing how she uses actual (paper) plates to describe what makes up her reading identity and thought this would be a great end-of-year reflection for our students (and myself) too.
So when our grade 5 students visited the library this morning, I introduced the task, sharing some samples I had made about my own reading/reading identity during this past semester. I visually represented the variety of genres I had read, added the various formats I read in, highlighting my favorites, listed some favorite books I had come across and added a couple of favorite quotes from these books. While I had used my reader's journal for this reflection, our students reflected on their reading while looking through their checkout history from semester 2. I loved seeing our students' creativity as they designed and decorated their plates. In addition to various kinds of pie charts and tallies, there was a book tree, book art, book stacks, books in various shapes and sizes, a guitar neck and more to represent the genres that had been read, to show preferences in reading materials and formats. The plates were also wonderful conversation starters and I heard students share comments about (reading) trends they noticed ("I read much more than last year...", "I read a lot of realistic fiction...", "You read many different genres..."). Beautiful! So, a big THANK YOU to Dana Kramaroff for sharing this wonderful idea.
The learner profile traits were mentioned quite a lot in this context, for example being an inquirer by asking questions, a communicator when sharing what we find out, a thinker when planning how to find answers to our questions, being caring when helping others and when listening to their ideas, being knowledgeable in using safe and kid-friendly websites and being principled when staying focused and on task. Our students blew me away with the many skills and attitudes they identified - and had displayed throughout our inquiry circles. Being part of inquiry circles is always a very special experience. Our role as adults during inquiry circles is that of a facilitator, for example in supporting access to some of the resources, and co-learner. After each round of inquiry circles, no matter with what age group of students, we come away with so much new learning ourselves. The best part is experiencing our students' enthusiasm, which is so contagious, seeing them take full ownership of their learning and sharing it with much pride. In the small groups, everyone gets heard, everyone has a role to play. It is a wonderful experience for everyone involved.
Below are three videos about our inquiry circles, one for each class, and a third one that provides additional insights into the underlying process. I hope you get a chance to watch them all, maybe even with your second grader who will surely provide you with lots of additional information. Enjoy!
2ai WWPT Inquiry Circles from tgaletti on Vimeo.
2ren WWPT Inquiry Circles from tgaletti on Vimeo.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been exploring the books of another author: Eve Bunting. Fortunately, we have a wonderful collection of some of her picture books in our library so that you have already had and will continue to have the opportunity to explore her books, read and listen to her stories. I think we all were pretty intrigued about Eve Bunting right from the start, after watching a video interview with her recorded by Reading Rockets. I especially enjoyed hearing about her mother's efforts to bring a library to her hometown - even though it failed at first; and of course learning about her dad, who loved reading and reciting poetry at home but kept it a secret from the outside world. Further, I also loved seeing her still so energetic, so enthusiastic about stories and reading, even though she is already in her late 80s. While I already enjoyed her picture books before finding all of this out, I am now even more intrigued to learn about her. How about you?
She is married to Ed, has three children and four granddaughters.
She is originally from Ireland and emigrated to the United States in 1958.
She can easily relate to other immigrants because she arrived with her husband and three little children and without any money in the United States in 1958.
Both her mum and dad were "book people", they read to her, told stories and shared poetry.
She has written over 250 books (the majority are picture books).
She says she likes "to write for every child, for every age, for every interest".
She has won many awards.
Her books represent cultural diversity.
She is not afraid to talk about difficult topics in her books.
Her books usually don't have "happily-ever-after" endings but there is always a message of hope.
She likes to grow flowers.
A lot of research goes into her books.
What is her favorite book among the books she has written?
Has she ever regretted writing a book?
How does she get her ideas?
​Where does she get such a variety of inspirations? There is such a wide variety of topics in her books.
Does she ever got to places before she starts writing about them?
​Is she currently working on a book/ does she have a new book coming out soon?
What inspired her to become an author?
​How many years has she been writing?
Today you have the opportunity during your library time to explore a couple of additional online resources. Share three interesting facts you discover in a comment to this post. You are of course welcome to add new questions and wonderings as well.
I am looking forward to all of us learning more about the amazing storyteller Eve Bunting from the facts we are discovering today and sharing in comments.