Author Biography

    The author I have chosen to spotlight in my author biography is Patricia Polacco.  Patricia was born on July 11th, 1944 in Lansing, Michigan. Her parents’ families were from Russia and Ireland and they worked to keep their cultures alive through their storytelling. She is a very educated woman and has earned her Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. in Art and Art History. While earning her degrees, she studied in the U.S., England, France, Russia, and Australia. She is a very accomplished and knowledgeable author and public speaker. She has been a guest lecturer in multiple universities and has been awarded numerous honorary degrees in Arts and Letters. More interesting information about Patricia, her life, and rights that she advocates for can be found on her website at http://www.patriciapolacco.com/#author. ("Patricia Polacco.com", n.d.).

    Patricia Polacco has written and illustrated over 115 books for children and I want to focus on just two of her amazing works. The first book, Thunder Cake, is a realistic fiction book about a grandmother helping her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunderstorms. Together the grandmother and granddaughter bake a “thunder cake” and while doing so, the grandmother is able to distract her granddaughter and making the cake becomes a race to complete before the storm arrives. (Penguin Random House Network, n.d.).  The second book I chose by Patricia Polacco is, Oh, Look! this book is a children’s literature fiction and is great for engaging young readers. In the book, the famous Polacco goats are back and have to find their way back home through the gate, (squeak, squeak, squeak), over a bridge (click, click, click!) etc. The cute goats turn around and return back over the path they traveled until they are back home again safe and sound. (Goodreads, Inc., 2020). 

The two books are by the same author and are also on two different reading levels. This can be very beneficial for teachers in a classroom setting. The first book, Thunder Cake, has a Lexile level of 630, while the second book, Oh, Look! is at a Lexile of 350. Teachers are able to offer a variety of literacy learning by dividing their classroom into smaller “reading groups” and enabling students to work with teachers, peers, and individually. According to Fountas & Pinnell Literacy: Elevating Teacher Expertise (2020), “small-group instruction is more powerful when nested within a variety of instructional contexts with varying levels of support” (para.1). By putting students into groups that start with high teacher support, and then gradually move to medium teacher support, and low teacher support, and then further down to a level of high student-centered groups that allow for very low teacher support, educators are able to focus on students who need extra help with lower-level books and then gradually elevate them to higher-level books in a group setting. (Fountas & Pinnell Literacy: Elevating Teacher Expertise, 2020). Furthermore, when teachers are able to use multi-level books by the same authors and illustrators, they are able to bring those small groups back together in discussions on book similarities in the storytelling and in the way the books are illustrated. Patricia Polacco’s books are great for this reason because their illustration styles are very similar as are her themes for her books. I would highly suggest using many of her books at varying levels in a single classroom setting between readers at varying levels. 

Author Study on 2 Levels

This literature unit focuses on the author Patricia Polacco. Students will be reading Thunder Cake and Oh, Look!, both books have very detailed sequencing and character reactions to major events that happen throughout each story. Students will easily be able to identify different major events and give great details as to how each character reacts individually and with each other throughout each book. Thunder Cake has a Lexile level of 630 while Oh, Look! has a Lexile level of 350. Since second grade has an average reading level anywhere between 355 - 735 or 545 at its middle, these books offer a great range for higher and lower readers. 

Other Content Area Options to Consider

    One other content area that could be addressed with these books is art through the illustrative work presented in both stories. Patricia Polacco writes and illustrates her own books and they all have a very similar theme and feel to them when it comes to their artwork. Any teacher could easily use this author as a way to show how art is created in different ways but with the same or similar “feel”.  

Summative Activity Option

    The main purpose of conducting an author study is to have students compare two different books by the same author. The summative activity will begin with dividing the students into two groups depending on which book they read and studied. The teacher will provide a bingo-style worksheet and require the students to interview others from the opposite group in order to learn about the other book and then be able to compare and contrast the author’s writing and illustrations. For example, students will have to answer each other’s questions regarding; main characters and their traits, were they good or bad, what was the main plot of the story, what was one or two major events that happened, how did event #1 make the characters feel, etc. This is a great way for students to not only learn about the other book but to also share what they know and learned from the book that they read. At the end of the activity, the teacher may have students share similarities and differences that they found when interviewing their classmates.  

Benefits of Author Studies in the Classroom

    The benefits of conducting author studies are many but the one that I want to focus on is how they allow students to work together to become a community of readers that support one another and celebrate each other’s love of reading. Woodard (n.d.), “Questioning what students notice and wonder invites you into their minds and helps you understand how they make sense of the world. Inquiry can send you all off into a world of discovery and discussion as you build your classroom culture and establish community together.” (4. Build your community together.). By celebrating reading and allowing students to share their thoughts and opinions about books and stories, we are opening them up to the ability to have an opinion on what genres they like and don’t like, and even authors that they love and those that they’d rather skip. We are allowing them to choose, share,  explore, and discover a new world of reading for themselves.

References

Fountas & Pinnell Literacy: Elevating Teacher Expertise. (2020).  The Importance of Guided Reading Within a Multi-Text Approach. https://fpblog.fountasandpinnell.com/the-importance-of-guided-reading-within-a-multi-text-approach 

Goodreads, Inc.. (2020).  Oh, Look!. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/443622.Oh_Look_

Patricia Polacco.com(n.d.). http://www.patriciapolacco.com/#author

Penguin Random House Network. (n.d.).  Thunder Cake. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/354021/thunder-cake-by-patricia-polacco/

Utah Education Network. (n.d.).  English Language Arts Grade 2. https://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=4220

Woodard, S. (n.d.).  Building a Classroom Community of Readers. https://ww.greatminds.org/community-of-readers

Issues and Trends Interview

Today I am going to share an interview that I conducted recently with a local teacher. This teacher presides over a third-grade classroom in a private Catholic elementary school in the area. She has been teaching for over fifteen years and has a great deal of experience in the classroom. She has also been fortunate enough to have taught in two different states which has broadened her perspectives in teaching in general. 

    During the interview, I used the questions that my group had come up with during the week and I found them to be great introductions into important topics. We discussed the importance of interactive/online picture books and while she said that she doesn't use them nearly as much in third-grade as she did in kindergarten, she does like to use them for her ESL learners as they seem to be much more engaged when participating in motions while reading at the same time. When I asked her about virtual learning and if she noticed students struggling to read and engage in books online, she talked about a great program that the school introduced to the students in the Spring when the school first went to virtual learning. The program is called Epic! This is an online virtual library for students to use anytime, anywhere. One of the benefits for young readers is the option to have many books read to you instead of reading them on your own. (Epic! Creations, Inc., n.d.). 

    She also discussed her love of graphic novels and how motivating they are for her third-grade students. She talked about the level of difficulty and how some may be a bit high for some of her students, but that they are more willing to try them and work hard to read them through because of the pictures and illustrations. Overall, she said that while having to quarantine was most definitely not ideal, it did open her and the school up to new ideas and ways of teaching in and out of the classroom. She made great points on today's trends and these important trends today can be found everywhere, you can find 100 of the best graphic novels of all time, here. (Reedsy Ltd., 2020). 

    One book in particular that the entire third-grade reads at her school is, "Charlotte's Web" and while they weren't able to be in the classroom together, she was still able to read this classic story over zoom with her students. She talked about how well she was able to bond with her students over this book even though they weren't able to be together in person and how it still means so much to her. You can find the book here. (Goodreads, Inc., 2020). 

        When teachers of any grade level are considering what books to include in their classroom library, I am positive that they are considering all of the trends that are out there today. There are more options for students today than ever before. Students can read books 100% online and never actually hold it in their hands, or they can pick up a classic from a teacher's classroom library. These trends are important but thankfully, they don't completely take away from the traditional. 

    

References

Epic! Creations, Inc.. (n.d.).  epic!. https://www.getepic.com/educators

Goodreads, Inc.. (2020).  goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24178.Charlotte_s_Web

Reedsy Ltd.. (2020).  The 100 Best Graphic Novels of All Time. https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/best-graphic-novels

Graphic Novels

    This week’s focus will be on Graphic Novels. According to Penguin Random House Australia (2017), “A graphic novel uses the interplay of text and illustrations in a comic-strip format to tell a story. Instead of relying on just text to construct a narrative, it uses graphical elements such as panels, frames, speech/thought balloons, etc. in a sequential way to create and evoke a story in a reader’s mind.” (What is a graphic novel?). Graphic novels are a great way to introduce larger and more complicated books to younger readers in order to keep their interest while helping their confidence grow. “Like picture books, graphic novels are not defined by their content, but rather by their form. They include multiple genres, both narrative, and nonfiction, although most graphic novels are narratives” (Glada, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017, p. 241). There are several differences between traditional children’s literature and graphic novels, and each has its benefits.  

    There are many key elements to graphic novels. Perhaps the most obvious is the way they are laid out and presented to the reader. Graphic novels are similar to comic strips in the way that they are designed. However, comic strips tend to tell a story over several books or volumes, whereas graphic novels have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Another element of graphic novels is its illustrations. Graphic novels rely heavily on their graphics and augmented text in order to portray the emotions of their characters. They tend to use big words to portray excitement in the reader. Another important element to graphic novels is that they use elements such as color, negative space, font type/size, and more in order to tell their stories. (Smith, n.d.).

    Graphic novels are a great tool to be incorporated into any curriculum. The first and most effective reason to use graphic novels is as a stepping stone from picture books to chapter books for younger readers. A younger student may find chapter books to be daunting and overwhelming at first and by integrating graphic novels into your classroom library as alternatives, it may help some students grow their confidence towards chapter books. Another way to incorporate graphic novels into the curriculum is by focusing on the writing aspect in Reading and in Language Arts. By allowing students to study graphic novels and then asking them to write their own, it opens doors for teachers to give students a hand in their own education. Teachers can have students create their own graphic novel with a beginning, middle, and an end. They can ask the students to choose a theme or lesson to be learned or taught and require a certain amount of characters and backgrounds for them. The students will be learning but also having fun at the same time and being allowed to be creative in their art at the same time. 

    Graphic novels do a great job of keeping the interest of the children through the illustrations, the structure, and the way the characters address each other through thought bubbles instead of endless text on a page. The illustrations tend to be bigger and brighter in graphic novels than in traditional children’s literature and this makes reading them fun for students. The structure of graphic novels and its boxed format leads for a more creative reading method for students in which they have to rely on text cues and pictures to determine where on the page the story continues. Lastly, students find it more enjoyable to be engulfed in reading the characters' words through thought bubbles in real-time with their pictures instead of reading in the traditional sense and relying on clues from the text to help us imagine what a character is thinking or how they look or feel. 

Suggestions for great graphic novels:

Title: Smile

Author: Raina Telgemeir

Recommended Grade Level: 4th or 5th grade

Synopsis: A young sixth-grade girl named Raina trips and falls one night on her way home from Girl Scouts. She injures her two front teeth in her fall and has to undergo substantial orthodontic treatments including headgear, surgery, braces, and even a retainer with two fake front teeth attached. Along will all of the trauma she has to deal with typical middle school drama with friends and boys. This is a great coming-of-age story that will resonate with many young readers. 

Title: Cardboard

Author: Doug TenNapel

Recommended Grade Level: 4th – 6th grade

Synopsis: A young boy named Cam receives a cardboard box for his birthday from his father because he couldn’t afford anything else. Cam does his best to make something great come out of a bad situation and together they bend the cardboard into a man and to their surprise, he comes to life! To make matters worse, the neighborhood bully, Marcus, steals the cardboard man and starts duplicating an army of his own cardboard men. Soon everything is out of control and Cam must find a way to stop the cardboard from taking over their neighborhood.

Graphic novels are an integral part of literature that can easily be incorporated into any classroom. With their exciting illustrations and unique speech bubbles throughout the text, students will be enthralled from cover to cover. Students will be more willing to graduate from picture books to chapter books when incorporating graphic novels as an important steppingstone. Teachers should consider using graphic novels in their instruction, especially in grades three through five. 

References

Glada, L., Liang, L. A., & Cullinan, B. E. (2017). Literature and the Child (9th ed.). https://bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/9781337474887/epub/OEBPS/11_9781305642362_chapter4.html#page_240.

Go Raina: The official website of Raina Telgemeier(n.d.). https://goraina.com/smile

Kristen (2020).  Graphic Novel Review: Cardboard. https://thebookmonsters.com/graphic-novel-review-cardboard/

Penguin Random House Australia. (2017).  Getting to know graphic novels: A guide to using graphic novels in the classroom. https://prh.azureedge.net/resources/TR_OppositeLand.pdf

Smith, L. (n.d.).  What makes a good graphic novel?. https://usinggraphicnovels.weebly.com/what-makes-a-good-graphic-novel.html

Welcome!

    Hello everyone, my name is Mrs. Micek and I am a fifth-grade teacher at my local elementary school. I created this blog in order to help students and parents discover high quality, new, and exciting books for reading, entertainment, and learning. Working with students every day, I constantly see students choosing books that are too easy, or too hard for them. I also see students grabbing whatever book they see first when visiting the library, instead of learning to read the synopsis of a book before choosing to read it in order to make sure the book will interest them. 

    I hope that in creating this blog, I will be able to offer quality resources for parents and students in order to help them make great choices regarding the books they read! One way I hope to achieve this is by submitting a book of the week. This will include my own review and suggestions for grade and reading levels as well. 

Book of the Week: Stargirl

Grade Level Recommended: 5th

Reading Level: V

Lexile: 590

    Stargirl arrives at a quiet Mica High and changes everything simply by being herself. She is a firecracker and nobody at school ever knows what to expect from her. From her crazy name to her genuine free-spirit, she is able to capture the interest of an entire school, and one boy in particular. He struggles to understand this new girl and everything that comes with her! Get ready to read about first loves, being yourself versus "fitting in", and what it looks like to be Stargirl!  

    I love this book because it is a great example of learning acceptance of others even though they are different from you. It is a celebration of individuality and innocent first love. I have used this book in the classroom to introduce the idea of acceptance of others and how our school is a community that should work together to support and appreciate one another. I also use it as a lesson in unkind words and how we can choose to not let others' opinions of us affect how we feel about ourselves. 

    I highly suggest this book for any 5th or 6th graders to read before they fall into the chaos that we all know as the dreaded middle school. Students should know what it looks like to be confident in themselves and this book does a great job at teaching that! Students need to understand that life isn't always going to be easy or simple and this book is a great way to introduce this concept to them. I recommend parents using this took as a way to prepare students for what is to come. Something to consider from Literature and the Child, "it is crucial that children have books that offer them varied depictions of what it is to be human and the tools to understand that there are many ways of being for all people." (Galda, Llang, & Cullianan, 2015, p. 34).

References

Galda. L.. Liana. L. A.. & Cullinan. B. E. (2015). Literature and the Chila (9th ed.). Cenaaae                          Learning.