Sunday, March 25, 2012

New Books

Tomorrow it is back to school and I am happy to be bringing back some new books for my students. Funny, I have an area for newest books I add to the classroom and a few days before break, a student, D,  called me out.
 "Mrs. DiCesare," he said.
"You know you have this sign and this place for new books but there haven't been any here. "
"I know," I said. And I left it at that.

I appreciate it when kids remind me about things that are important to them or I would just be on my way through the day thinking about what I think I need to get done instead of remembering that their quick conversations with me are often a reminder of how I can help them as learners.

D loves books, plain and simple he is always talking to me about what he thinks of some I help him find or ones he finds on his own.  He loved the Mouse and Mole Series, though he mostly picture read through it.  He is just learning to balance his strategies for reading words and thinking about what makes sense in the story.  He depends on meaning to make it through many challenging texts and his reading support teacher and are setting big goals for him to reread and work through words as he balances meaning.

His words about missing new books were just what I needed to remind me to step it up a bit these last nine weeks.  I hope he is excited when he walks in to see new books like I Don't Want to Be a Pea ( a friendship book about compromising), Amelia Bedelia's First Field Trip (I have quite a few kids who love this picture book series and will be excited to read this), Me Want Pet ( we love Bob Shea and he illustrated this one), and Up! Tall! and High! ( loved how this felt perfect for an emerging reader, has 3 very short stories in one and felt similar to Elephant Piggie set up with characters dialogue in work bubbles) to name a few.






8 comments:

Carol said...

My kids hope for new books every single week. I would soooo love it if I could do it financially-- it takes a LOT of books to make a reading workshop go.

Jaana said...

My high school students look for my new books all time time as well. Your Amelia Bedelia book reminded my about a time when I used to read Amelia Bedelia to my daughter....now I wait for grandchildren to read the same books to :-)

CBethM said...

I keep the new books and the just-returned books out where the kids can see them. Occasionally I put the ones that haven't been borrowed much lately there and see how long it takes for them to disappear.

Looks like some more titles to add to the reading list I have for me and my son. :) Thanks!

elsie said...

Kids are so funny! I'm sure your friend will be delighted with your new additions. Now I must look for some of these. What will I do when I run out of shelf space?

josie said...

Glad you are back to blogging and hoping that you had a wonderful family get away. Thanks for these two posts about new books. Love that your students are looking for new books. Great book ideas, I'll have to read some of these soon!

Lori said...

I start out many days telling my students I got a new book from Amazon yesterday and you're going to love it! So many of my students don't have books in their home.

jenb. said...

I don't know about you, but I NEED my students to remind me of all of our special routines-n-such. I love them, too, but it's one against a bajillion sometimes! :) I hope he is excited enough for you to have the potential for a follow-up slice!

Michelle said...

Looks like some great new titles that D and many other students are going to love! Enjoy sharing this week!