The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy May 15, 2010 A Box of Friends


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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
May 15, 2010
A Box of Friends

Sample "Boxes of Friends" from Ann Marie Corgill's students.

Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.

                                                Robert Heinlein

Are you looking for the perfect way to close out the year with students? We are too. We've been working on a feature about closure activities for the end of the year (and we're also soliciting your ideas in a survey this week). Ann Marie Corgill, who wrote the amazing book Of Primary Importance, has this suggestion:

I typically read A Box of Friends by Pam Ryan during the last week of school. It's the story of a little girl who moves a distance and misses her friends. Her grandmother shows her the "box of friends" she's collected with keepsakes marking special relationships in her life. She then helps her granddaughter create her own box, full of small items that tell the story of those friendships - a piece of sea glass, an origami animal, a feather. Each item tells the story of someone special in this girl's life.

In my class, the kids each decorate a shoebox and bring in one thing that represents themselves. I'm bringing in 28 pencils next week. One girl in our class is an incredible golfer, and she brought in 28 pink golf tees today. Another child collects stamps. He brought in 28 stamps, each on a postcard so that his classmates could write to him this summer or just keep the card in their box.   It's great to watch how our classroom community has come together, as well as how they represent themselves for their friends to remember.

I love the economy of this idea, and the fun of seeing each day what small treasures come into the classroom. What's your favorite way to close the year? Share it with us, and you might win a free subscription to the website for a year.

This week we conclude our popular series of recommendations from favorite teacher authors for summer reading. Plus more as always - enjoy!

Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy

Free for All

This week we conclude our summer book recommendation series from some of your favorite authors and Choice Literacy contributors.   Bill Bass, Aimee Buckner, Andie Cunningham, Tony Keefer, and Ruth Shagoury all share their summer "must reads":

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1174.cfm

What's your favorite end of the year literacy activity? We'll compile some of our readers' suggestions in a round-up in two weeks. If yours is included, you'll receive a free year's subscription to the members only sections of the website. Participate by filling in the survey at this link. It's a very short form:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LLZ57KV

From Scholastic, some suggestions for learning up to the last minute in classrooms:

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4348

Just in time for Memorial Day, the Smithsonian's Share Your Story Project encourages people to share their stories and photos linked to the American flag. The mosaic alone is worth a look. Many lesson plans for different grade levels are also provided:

http://bit.ly/cH1dr3

A hearty welcome to our newest site license members from Spokane Valley, WA; San Antonio, TX; Steele & Lake St. Louis, MO; Auburn, NY; Camden, DE; Creedmoor, NC; Viera, FL; Carrollton, KY; Springfield, OH; and our renewing site license members from St. Louis & Columbia, MO; Shawnee Mission, KS; Charlottesville, VA; Lancaster, PA; and Upper Arlington, OH. To learn more about our affordable site license program, including rates and an application form, click on the link below:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department63.cfm

For Members Only

How can teachers complete thoughtful assessment conferences with students when time is limited?   Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan find they glean lots of information in short periods of time when they listen closely and take succinct notes:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1170.cfm

Jennifer Allen helps herself and the experienced teachers she works with return to their "creation chambers." This is the second feature in her new series, explaining how she planned and developed a professional program for accomplished teachers in her district which includes extended monthly meetings, readings, videos, and classroom observations:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1040.cfm

We're continuing our new video series with "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser), who are helping a 7th grade teacher redesign her small classroom. In this segment, they make changes to the meeting and book display areas:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1171.cfm

This week we've posted a bonus video from a preschool classroom. Melissa Kolb guides her students through the morning message, and explains the value of the message for literacy learning:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1172.cfm

Video Updates: We continue to repost many videos in new formats and players (with higher resolution and full-screen options). As we make these improvements, we'll announce them in the newsletter. Here is an updated video you may want to revisit. Karen Terlecky leads a small group of 5th graders as they search for the main idea in nonfiction text and build their summarizing skills:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1173.cfm

That's all for this week!