180 Book-A-Day Challenge

This school year, I participated in a "180 Book-A-Day Challenge."  My goal was to read one children's book for each day students were in school.  As I read the books, I displayed my "Principal's Picks of the Week" in the main hall in our display case and posted images of all of the books I had read.  I also promoted the books I had read the previous week on the Monday morning announcements.  Students were able to turn in book recommendations to me, and I selected one student each week to appear on the announcements with me to promote the book he or she had recommended. 

Those of you who have visited my blog know that my goal this school year was to become the lead reader at Mayflower Mill.  This challenge allowed me to successfully meet that goal.  It also caused reading to become contagious in our building.  Not only were students reading like crazy, they were also recommending books to me.  As I would pass a student in the hall, he or she would say, "Hey, Ms. Higgins, have you read....?"  My staff also caught the reading bug and began to ask me for recommendations and began borrowing books from me.  I heard more teachers talking about what they were reading to their students and what they were reading for their personal enjoyment.  Teachers began posting what their class was currently reading on their doors for passersby to view.  Books and the culture of reading became visible and palpable entities that began to define us.

I never thought something as simple as this challenge and the intentional promotion of reading would do so much to foster a culture of reading in our building.  However, I am proud to say that Mayflower Mill is now a community of readers.  What could be more rewarding than that?

Principals and teachers, how have you promoted reading in your building?  I'd love to get some new ideas for next year! 

Read Across America

The staff participated in Read Across America Day theme--"Dr. Seuss Day."

This year, our school celebrated Read Across America Day (also Dr. Seuss Day) by having two large group read-a-thons in the cafeteria/gym.  There was a morning session and an afternoon session.  Each session began with me reading aloud a Dr. Seuss book.  I chose to read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back to the first group.  The kindergarten students still think that Little Cats A-Z were in my hat!  The second group was entertained with Oh the Thinks You Can Think! 

 

Sharing a good book.

Students brought their book boxes and a blanket or beach towel and spread out after the read aloud to do some reading of their own.  Teachers moved from child to child to share books.  Each session was an hour in length, and at the end of each session I had several students ask if we could do this again some time.  It was very rewarding to see over 500 kids engrossed in books and enjoying the shared experience. 

We love to read at MME!


Spreading out to do some reading!

Parent University

Over 400 members of our school community enjoy a meal together at Parent University.

Parent University is an event we hold at our school 3-4 evenings a year.  This idea was conceived as we worked on a school improvement plan that called for strategies to get parents involved in their children's education.  A group of teacher leaders worked with me to design an event that would bring parents to the school to learn about what was going on in our classrooms on a daily basis.

Parents become students during information sessions at Parent University.

The first year of its conception had us running a large group event with breakout sessions specific to grade-level needs.  The first events were attended by a small percentage of parents and only one or two teachers per grade level were present.  Over the past two years, we have grown Parent University into an event that has regularly had 300-400 attendees with every teacher in our building being involved.  How do we get families to come?  We provide a meal which is paid for by our Parent Advisory Council.  We also provide free daycare for families who have children younger than elementary age.  We also not only have the parents in sessions learning about curriculum and instruction, but we have sessions for the students to come and do some fun learning activities.  Then, parents and students get back together to do some learning together.  It has been a recipe for success!

Parents work with their children on research.

The Parent University event we held in February drew over 400 people (parents and students combined).  Our school community shared a meal and an evening of learning.  These events not only keep parents informed of what their children are learning, they also solidify relationships between the home and the school.  Our community comes together to show our students that school is important and enjoyable.  Their presence at the events shows their children that they value what is happening in our school on a daily basis.  My staff does an amazing job of providing parents with the tools they need to be more involved in their childrens' education through the design of high-quality information sessions.  I am very grateful to have such a supportive school community!

Our Favorite Books in January

Staff photos of our favorite books read in January.

What was your favorite book this month?  As part of our focus on all things books and reading, I asked the staff to send me photos of themselves holding their favorite book from January.  It could be personal, professional, a class read aloud--whatever book they enjoyed most.  



We wrote short reviews for our January selections.



 

After posting their photos on our staff classroom bulletin board, each person also wrote a short review to share with the group and then we posted them on our Read It and Rate It bulletin board.

My favorite book this month was Navigating Early  by Clare Vanderpool.  In this story, Jack, a young boy from Kansas is uprooted from his home in Kansas after the death of his mother.  His father, who has been serving in the Navy during World War II, enrolls him in a boarding school in Maine.  When Jack arrives at the boarding school, he meets an interesting character named Early Auden.  What ensues is an adventure of epic proportions as Jack and Early seek to find answers to questions that have been haunting them.  Early's story of Pi (the number 3.14....) adds a unique twist to the storyline.  It is really hard to describe just how good this book is with a brief review.  I hope you will add this to your "To Be Read" pile.  It is sure to be an instant classic.

 

 

A Week of Professional Learning in Review

This week, we continued to work on professional learning in the area of writing instruction.  Teachers were asked to bring 2-3 samples of student writing to our meeting on Monday.  They were then divided into cross-grade level teams of teachers from K-2 and  3-5.  Each member of the group introduced each student's piece and read it out loud to their group.  Then the rest of the group gave positive feedback and asked questions. We spent both Monday and Tuesday completing the review of student samples and reflected on what we had gained from the experience.  On Wednesday, we reviewed a video clip of Lucy Calkins conferring with a young writer and critiqued it.  We then explored the Reading and Writing Project's website resources.   To end the week, I moderated a Tweetchat to discuss our learning.  I have included the chat below.  This was our 2nd Tweetchat of the year, and the first time I have used the Storify app to archive our discussion.    I feel it was a very successful week of learning for us, and I plan to continue to incorporate social media into our professional learning on a regular basis.