Why I Share Books Like The Belonging Tree

Some books immediately flood you with memories...good and bad. This was one of them. I know it will be a must-read every year in my classroom.

I'm going to highlight the book now but after the last pic, I'll tell you the background as to why this type of book is ALWAYS front and center in my classroom and should be in yours too.

The Belongng Tree is written by the talented Maryann Cocca-Leffler and illustrated by Kristine A. Lombardi. A perfect pairing and a flawless book IMO.

The illustrations are really cute.  Kids are going to love them.

I love Zeke playing with the babies here. She loves all her new friends no matter the species.

I'll come back to "There goes the neighborhood" below...

A great converstaion would hopefully follow the reading of this book on inclusion, appreciating differences/diversity, and acceptance.

When I read The Belonging Tree, I immediately thought of a former student I had many, many years ago.

He arrived from a war-torn country months prior to finish off the kindergarten year and lived with relatives. We were told of all he went through and it was devastating. What he saw in his every day short life so far was traumatizing. 

When he started in my class in September, he just starting speaking a little English.  Can you imagine all the obstacles this child had to overcome?  He was a brave child and his having to be brave broke my heart.

At the same time, this very wealthy town that I was teaching in was getting its first low-income housing. Parents were furious. Beyond. And very vocal about their thoughts.

The topic consumed the town as the housing filled up.

I kept hearing, "There goes the neighborhood.  Not in my town," etc. everywhere I went.  

(Hence the trigger from above book.)

So on Meet the Teacher day, a few parents, upon seeing this child's nametag, were aggressive toward that sweet child's mere existence. 

As I stood a few feet away talking to a child, I could hear a conversation that horrified me.

A parent pointed to this child's nametag and said to a group of people around him, "He isn't the "standard" accepted in this town."  Then one remarked how she saw him having a meltdown at every baseball game he played in that summer. They laughed and rolled their eyes.

I shut that shit down. Fast. 

I've always been outspoken and I'm not easily intimidated.  Parents were a bit surprised that as a young teacher, I spoke up to advocate for this child and shut them down so fast.

I stood on a chair, and gave them a speech that clearly let them know that I would not tolerate gossiping of any kind. 

I let them know that my - our- classroom community was always and would always continue to be a safe haven for ALL kids and families.  "I can promise you this: If a parent in this class or any class approaches me and tries to gossip about your child, I won't allow it. We all know that 5 and 6 year olds are learning from their mistakes each and every day. That's what children do. Your child is safe in here."

Parents clapped. The two that made those comments looked uncomfortable. They later apologized privately.

I've been doing this at EVERY Meet the Teacher and reinforcing the message at BTSN since.

It's too important not to.

NOTE: I also gave examples of gossip and what is a true concern when another child is affecting your child's safety/well-being.  

I've mentored a lot of teachers and have encouraged them to shut down the gossip the SECOND you hear/are approached with it. 

Because of this student (who I adored!), I still continuously seek out books about inclusiveness and books that convey empathy in an easy to understand way.  

Books such as these not only help me build a strong classroom community, they make it thrive.

You can NEVER share enough of these books with the kids. 

Or their parents!

Which is why I love to include retellings for homework: For homework tonight, retell The Belonging Tree to your family.

If you read this far, thank you! 

If you want free materials on Bucket Filling and see how this powerful activity can help build and strengthen your classroom community, check this out and sign up for me free newsletter.  

Have a great day!

A Must-Read Book for Your Class Library

Trying to build and strengthen your classroom community? One way to do it is to shine a light on empathetic behavior.

I've posted my thoughts about teaching empathy here and highlighted a few books that perfectly demonstrate empathetic behavior that kids can easily understand.

So yesterday, I wondered how I am only now discovering such a fabulous book that shows such an amazing empatheic and compassinate character, Marissa, in The Tooth by Avi Slodovnick.

Full disclosure: I've seen the cover on Storylineonline dozens of times but the cover never grabbed my attention and I always scrolled past it.

BIG MISTAKE. 

HUGE.

The video is only 5 minutes long and it is PERFECT. 

In.

Every.

Way.

(I noticed the video doesn't show up on mobile devices so here is the link: The Tooth,)

What did you think? Did you love it as much as I did?  

Will you be using it in your classroom?  

I'd love to hear your reaction. If you have any other book recommendations, please share.

Have a great day!

Sunday Snapshot: Saturdays Are For Stella Picture Book

Friends, I found a magnificent book at the library just hanging out on the new picture book shelf!

Saturdays Are For Stella is written by former teacher Candy Wellins and illustrated by Charlie Eve Ryan.

The fun cover immediately made me snatch it up.

George loves spending his Saturdays with his Grandma Stella. They have a blast hanging out together.

The author and illustrator nailed their relationship!

Now when I turned the page, it was obvious what happened next.  

Ugh.  I almost closed the book thinking I didn't want to read this to my first graders.  Death and dying books are always a tough call.

But, let me tell you, this is truly amazing and the author/illustrator managed to perfectly balance grief with hope and joy. Kudos to them!

Kids will see Geroge's grief in relatable ways. They'll nod when he decides he hates Saturdays.

But then...

And I'll leave the last few pages for you to discover on your own.

It really is such a lovely book. It moved me. The joy shines through. 

When would I read it? Honestly, I think I'd read this early in the year when we're talking about our families. 

Would also be a fantasic book to revisit privately with a student who is grieving. 

But to be clear, there is no need to try to fit Saturdays Are For Stella into any unit. An excellent book ALWAYS deserves to be read on any given day.

It evoked strong feelings of my own grandparents, and to be quite honest, my parents who have passed.

But it makes me feel all sorts of good inside. A gentle reminder that my parents and grandparents are still here in my own kids and a part of them will be a part of generations to come.

Is this a book I'd purchase or get from the library?

Oh this is a must-have for me.

Enjoy! 

The Perfect Science/ELA/CARES Book

Anytime I find a quality science picture book that I can immediately use and easily intergrate into my ELA lessons, I do a little happy dance! 

I was dancing last year at B&N when I discovered the perfect STEM / STEAM / COOPERATION / TEAMWORK Strong Female characters book...  (REALLY!)

Boxitects!  It's written and illustrated by Kim Smith. After reading it in the store, I had to buy my own copy.

Yep!  One of those must-have books!  

A little bit about the book:

Meg, the Boxitect, goes off to Maker School. She's quite the creative girl! ⁣

She loves meeting all the Blanketeers, Tin-Foilers, and Egg-Cartoners (Tee hee hee!) who admire her over-the-top creations. 

She was the only Boxitect in class until...⁣ Simone shows up. Another Boxitect.

You know what's going to happen next!  Luckily for teachers, this book is the perfect springborad for discussing TEAMWORK and COOPERATION without being didactic. A fun read! 

(We teach CARES at our school and this is the perfect book to jump into a Cooperation Unit.  Read my top 3 CARES books in each category here.

Over the summer, I made a packet to go along with Boxitects becuase I knew I HAD to do a unit with my kiddos when I returned.  (Not sure when that will be!)  

Since Teamwork and Cooperation are highlighted, I made this cute craft with writing prompt activity to go along with the book. The prompt fits perfectly under the box. Print on white paper and have kids color in or print on colored paper.

Differentiate these activities. Most kids in my First Grade class would use plain paper to complete these tasks but I have a few who would be able to fold the 3D papers (included) and create.

I use Poetry Binders so I had to add a poem!  Never having enough bookmarks, I focused on teamwork and cooperation here.  Black and white included.

Take a peek at the family letter below.  I would send this home on a Thursday (for Monday return) after I have made it clear that ONLY boxes that fit inside backpacks can come in to school.  

These are perfect to use, too!  The kids always floor me with responses!  A time for them to "Show What They Know" for sure!

Do I ever miss an opportunity to get a little phonics in?

NOPE!

This can easily be used throughout the year as you differentiate for your class.

If you haven't read it, reserve in the library. You'll be glad you did!

Promise!

Distance Learning: Sending Home My Products

I've been recovering from surgery this last month but wanted to jump on and let you know that I just got an email from a 1/2 teacher asking if she could share this with families via email since they are remote.

She especially wanted the clipcards and craft to send home today.

I told her she can send home all 89 pages if she wants!

ANYTHING you've purchased from my store can be shared via email with your families during remote learning.

ANYTHING!  

These are such difficult times and if I can make your life easier, I'm thrilled to do it.

Hope your year is off to a smooth start.

FREE September Poems for Back-to-School

Hey, Friends! Good news!  I converted all of my poems and songs into Google Slides! So now you can introduce on Google Slides in color and then print from the PDF.  It's so easy!

How Do I Use These Poems?

• I often introduce 1-3 poems per week depending on their length. I use Google Slides as I introduce them. 

• I Introduce the poems in various ways:
• I read/sing it in it's entirety as I point to words. OR
• I ask students, "What do yo notice about this poem?" They will come up and point out words they know, punctuation marks, rhyming words, etc.  This method works well because by the time my kids tell me what they know, they've been exposed to all the words. If using this method, I often incorporate mini-lessons. EXAMPLE: Someone noticed three words next to each other start with "BR".  I would introduce ALLITERATION. Not that they are required to know/use it. But exposure sticks with many kids.)  THEN: I'll read a sentence, they repeat. For the whole poem. OR
• I simply go straight to the CHORAL READING and DO NOT Teach from the poem.
• I strongly urge you to mix it up. If you "teach" poems all the time, they will look at poetry as a chore or something to be disected. Tedious. Many of the poems we simply read for enjoyment. They still end up, naturally, noticing all sorts of things.  But MY goal, is to simply let the poems entertain us and often, "tickle our ears."
• Pass out the poem and it goes in POETRY BINDERS.
• Many times throughout week, they read from their binders independently or via Buddy Reading.
• On Wednesdays, once November rolls around, I send home on Wednesdays for homework. I call it "Fluency practice."  Kids really enjoy sharing the poems with their families.
• My struggling students, by November, can read many independently and they really help those students learn sight words.
• I print out some poems (in color) and hang up in various places around the room. A print-rich environment is essential to reading successes!

Download the FREE September Poems and Songs today and try them out with your students. 

Would you like all of my Bucket Filling activities for FREE? Sign up for my newsletter here and get lots of tips and freebies to help strengthen your classroom community.

Have a great day!

The MUST-HAVE Book for the 2020-2021 School Year

You're going to fall in love with One Little Bag An Amazing Journey written and illustrated by the MAGNIFICENT and Oh, So TALENTED Henry Cole.

Why do I think this wordless picture book is AMAZING and Caldecott worthy???

Because I can't stop reading it.

Thinking about it. 

It got me through some tough quarantine days. Seriously. Marie Kondo would be thrilled to know how much JOY it brought me. No other way to say it.

I marvel at the gorgeous illustrations and wonder how Henry Cole could tell such a powerful epic generational love story with NO WORDS.  GENIUS!  Simply GENIUS!  Think about that!

Times a milllion. kazillion.

And I'm not the only one who thinks so:

* "Beautifully effective." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Deeply profound... compelling... emotionally resonant." -- School Library Journal, starred review

* "Elevating the life of an ephemeral object to the time scale of love across generations." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

NOTE: Until I started writing this Blog post last night, I had no idea what others were saying about the book!  To know it's garnered so many well-deserved STARRED REVIEWS makes my heart just want to burst!

The story was inspired by Henry's childhood experience celebrating the first Earth Day. He brought his lunch to school in a brown bag and decided to reuse that same bag for three years. THREE!

The story starts on the endpapers...5 black and white spreads. (The only color in the book is the bag.)

These first pages show the steps taken from tree to bag. Who thought of that?  Really? My full and complete admiration!

When the "official" story begins, you see Dad making a sandwich and placing it in the bag for his son to bring to school. A heart is drawn on the bag. You feel the love.

The bag is ever present in his life: from providing comfort whether it be from the dark or leaving for college (Dad's hand on his son's shoulder just has me feeling all sorts of things as Matthew prepares to leave for college once again!) to comforting / entertaining a baby in his crib.

The bag's use each time is a nod to the power of love and family. Creating special bonds and memories.

I don't want to spoil all the awesomeness of the book for you so I won't.  But oh, my. Pass the tissues.

Please.

And his Author's Note is just full of all sorts of goodness.  

We are a huge book family and over the last few years, we had to scale back our purchasing of picture books and turn to our fantastic library instead.  But, friends...  

This is a MUST purchase.

I'm sad it arrived at my house after the lockdown and didn't get to share it with my kids this year.

But next year???

It's the perfect book to use to launch a beginning of the year class activity and promote class community. Grab it by clicking on the book above.

Challenge your students to use a recyclable brown bag for their snacks and to try to make it last all year...aim for Earth Day and keep on going. (If distance learning, I still think this works. Enjoy your snack/break together.)

Who knows, maybe the challenge could be extended into the next school year. And the year after that. And then the next.

Henry kept his bag for 3 years before gifting it to a friend. His way to honor our natural resources.

Can't you just hear one of your kids saying, "See? One person CAN make a difference!"

It really is a must-read! Grab the activity by clicking on the pic above and consider implementing in your classroom the first week of school. Easy breezy!

Worried you'll have kids who will want to join in but parents don't have a bag? Buy 100 brown bags at the Dollar Store.  Enough for 4 years of classes and some left over to replace bags that might be ruined by those ever occurring juice and yogurt spills.

Let me know if you read this lovely book and use the activity and how it goes. 

And of course tell me if you're also predicting One Little Bag for a Caldecott win!

If interested, here is Henry's Reading Rockets interview.

Since we're speaking of the first week of school, check out my New Teacher Tips.  Not a new teacher? I think you can still find a gem or two listed!  

Have a great day, my friends!