#wecantputbooksdown READ, WHITE & BLUE!

We are back again for some July #wecantputbooksdown fun! Make sure to follow all of us on Instagram for the chance to win a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble. It's the perfect chance to pick up a holiday weekend read, summer read, daily read, whatever!!

My favorite read of the summer so far just so happens to be one that I will share with my students AS SOON AS WE GET BACK in August. Anyone who has a heart and a sense of adventure will devour this book. I read it quickly and it was my first #bookaday of the summer!

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley. 

I don't mean to keep comparing this book to the movie, Big Fish, but it kind of keeps happening. All of the magic and hope I felt while experiencing that movie is how I felt reading this one. Cassie does such an amazing job at developing the setting and characters in this book that I just felt like

 I was there, experiencing it myself. The unlikely friendship that develops, the pain and grief that our main character goes through, those light up candies from the Circus? All feel so real. The light up candies really stuck out to me... Like, I want to know where to get one. It has reached Everlasting Gobstopper from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Whipped Neon Cream from Hook Status for me... I'm on the hunt. I can just see it glowing through my stuffed cheeks now! 

This Fantasy story has everything needed to become one that kids of all ages will love. A classic. The way Beasley weaves in and out of Grandpa's stories is just magical. Roald Dahl is my all-time favorite author, and she makes me feel RDish when I read this book. Make sure to pick this one up ASAP. And as Beasley reminded us this week, a book is for anyone who wants to read it.

Join us over on Instagram and tell us about a summer must read for a chance to win a gift card & connect with other teachers while finding great new books!

#wecantputbooksdown My Reading Story

Hi Bibliophiles! I'm Stacey from Literacy for Big Kids. I'm going into my 4th year teaching (3rd, 4th, 5th, now back to 4th grade!) Today I'm sharing my •READING STORY• 

Mine begins with lots of trips to our public branch of CINCINNATI LIBRARY as a kid. It was just a few blocks away so we often walked there for story time. Next is my EPICENTER READER: My Dad. My dad is an avid Non-Fiction reader. He loves all things Motorcycles and set a fantastic example for me by always having a magazine in his hands and always taking the whole family to Barnes & Noble very often in my childhood! 

CLASSICS played a huge part in my childhood reading! I was obsessed with Eric Carle, Mercer Mayer, Maurice Sendak and many others as a little lady. There's an Alligator Under my Bed & Miss Nelson is Missing are still two of my all-time favorites! 

In elementary, SCARY STORIES shaped me as a reader of the horror genre. I loved to be scared and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was THE book in the 90's. I devoured Goosebumps books and learned about Ohio's Spooky History!

In 5th-6th grade I became an avid fan of REALISTIC FICTION (still my favorite genre today) and ate up series like The Babysitter's Club, The Boxcar Children (This influenced me to camp out and eat wild onions or weeds rather outside with friends) and Sweet Valley High.

 In Junior High to High School, books like The Outsiders and Lord of the Flies had lasting impressions on me, however, I spent little to no time reading in high school because I was offered no choice in my classes. Sad. 

Enter college, where my focus within education was reading! I had finally found my people! I took African-American Lit, English Lit, Children's Lit, Women's Lit, anything to expose me to more books. Poetry classes! It was in college that I honed in on my love for animal rights pieces like The Jungle, became OBSESSED with my current two favorite authors Roald Dahl and Flannery O'Conner. They both have these volumes of short stories that are so raw, haunting and unforgiving. Two of my favorite books of ALL TIME! 

Which leads me here, being able to teach what I love! I love to read and love to share books. I wouldn't rather be doing anything else in the world. I read a lot of upper elementary and middle grades novels. I am a huge fan on YA, maybe because I always missed out on that piece in high school (take note HS teachers).. Now as a mother, I read to my little ones often and always take time to help them appreciate reading. My reading story continues, what is yours?? Check out the other girls to see theirs! (POSTS ON IG)

Summer Share: Student Driven Life-Long Reading Habits

After spending all school year really focusing on making independent reading the cornerstone of our classroom, an idea just HIT ME a few weeks ago. We do all of this work all year teaching our kids all of the things Wild Readers do, then we get to see them becoming Wild Readers before our eyes, so why isn't the next step having them pass it on to other students?? Genius, right?

Your Upper Grades kiddos might be ready for this challenge if you notice a lot of the following:

1. Passing of books & recommendations on to one another

2. Talking during IR time to share some amazing moment with someone, anyone!

3. Walking into homeroom talking about books

4. Walking into homeroom asking a friend how far they got in their book last night OR sharing with your teacher how many pages YOU read last night

5. Audible gasps for any of the following: new Scholastic book box arrives, new Book Raffle set up at the back table, Preview Stack waiting on your desk from your teacher, being the next on a Wait List for a new release you've been dying to get ahold of

6. Updating your teacher on your progress towards the class 40 Book Challenge

7. Sneaking in "edge reading time" in the bus line, waiting for lunch, before special, etc.

8. Begging for "5 more minutes..."

9. Looking forward to writing weekly reading response letter AND

10. Devouring an entire series

Are your kids ready? Mine were... Enter Summer Share.

We sat down and starting a BRAINSTORM. Can we take a moment to appreciate how boss the word brainstorm is... There is a storm of information, in your brain, amazing. I digress... 

We sat down to talk about our own plans for summer reading. How will I finish Echo when I'm borrowing Mrs. Riedmiller's copy? What am I going to do until Lisa Graff's new book comes out? What was that book Lydia told me I should read? The questions were flowing... We were making plans, because everyone knows that WILD READERS MAKE PLANS.

Then I threw this out there: "I think we should visit 2nd grade and share all our book knowledge with them. Show them how we do things down here and then help them make summer reading plans."

YESSSSS! That's awesome, yes! Can we do that??

{enter 5th grade excitement}

Then we decided on some core things we HAD to share:

1. Book Commercials (2-3)

2. Book Recommendations (By genre & series)

3. How to make a TBR (to be read list)

4. How to chart your books read & "sample" all genres

5. 1:1 conferences to help 2nd graders choose some books based on their interests

We had a plan, so then we set to work...

We made posters to show our Reading in the Wild charts from our notebooks.

We chose some great 2nd grade titles.

We borrowed Mrs. Riedmiller's laptop to start our rec list.

Then, we kept working...

We made and practiced book commercials.

We used the Chromebooks to type out our genre lists.

We made sample TBR lists for use as examples.

Then, we were ready to share.

What happened during the sharing part was kind of magical. My kids were up there talking Big Nate and suddenly 2nd grade eyes light up at the mention of Nate and all of his adventures. 2nd grade Friends remember that their teacher read-aloud from a Magic Tree House book and they are excited to hear an older kid mention the series. A friend pulls out a Minecraft manual from his chair pocket to share with my 5th graders. IT. WAS. MAGIC!

Doing this made me see just how much my own kids have learned this year; it showed me how much they have grown in their life-long reading journeys. You better believe we'll be doing this again next year. I can't wait to sit down and really give this planning process some energy and thought.

You should definitely do this with your own class as an EOY activity!

MAY you always love to read!

Get ready... The #wecantputbooksdown Girls are back with a Linky for May. New to the Crew is the most amazing and talented TeacherSunny. Find her on IG.
She is one of my most inspiring teacher buddies! 

This month we're talking about what we do in our classrooms to promote MAY you always love to read! I have a ton of things that I do to try to get my kids to really LOVE reading. I want to start the post by saying that my go-to resource for developing life-long readers is Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller. If you know me, you know I'm slightly obsessed with the Reading Queen and all that she has taught me about turning my kids into avid readers. Let's pause, take a look at the photo, get online and order this book... I'll wait.

Did you get it ordered? Good, thank me later!

I'm attending a Scholastic Reading Summit this summer where Donalyn will be speaker, along with Mr. Schu (obsessed with him too) and that fantastic Cynthia Lord. I'm so excited to learn more about reading with these fantastic advocates, and if you don't know Mr. Schu, go check him out. I'll wait again.

We had and awesome giveaway on Instagram where each person either gave away something fantastic from their TpT store or an Amazon gift card to buy more books. Thanks for checking in and don't forget to get back with us in June! :)

My IG post was about giving my kids the gift of TIME when it comes to reading. We spend 20-30 minutes everyday reading in class. This is Independent, free choice, reading for pleasure time. There is no worksheet attached, no work, no harassing teacher sucking the fun out of the room.

You may be shaking your head saying "Stacey, how do you find the time?" Well, my question to you is "How do you NOT find the time?" It has been said that kids should spend more time reading than doing reading related activities. Does that ring true in your classroom, I can say it does in mine. IR time is not the first thing cut from my schedule if something comes up (and doesn't it always?)... You have to make an effort. You make time for what you feel is important. Bottom line. What are not willing to compromise in your schedule? For me, it's this time. This time where all the magic happens. Where kids nurture their love of reading or discover it for the first time.

Here are some photos of my kiddos really loving their reading time... I mean seriously, kids beg for this time. That's how you know you're doing something right. They can't wait to take out their books.

So, what are you doing in your room to make sure your kids develop a life-long love of reading?

Check out some of my great friends on IG for their suggestions... Anything from time to book raffles and book commercials!