The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
November 8, 2008
Impulse Buys
Quick quiz - what foods are the most common impulse buys in large
supermarkets, with customers buying far more of the goods than they
consume?
If you guessed potato chips, cookies, or some other junk, you might
be surprised. People are most likely to buy fruits and vegetables
on impulse, driven by the urge to eat healthier meals.
Unfortunately, a fair amount of those veggies rot before they are
eaten. Retailers capitalize on this urge, arranging the layout of
most grocery stores to ensure customers walk through the produce
section first, while their carts are still almost empty.
There's a science to the layout of grocery stores that teachers and
literacy leaders can learn from as they think about children and
community members walking through their building and classrooms.
What's the traffic pattern for people entering your school? Where
do they linger? And most important, do you give them anything to
pick up and read on "impulse" in these valuable spaces?
For example, how about a wish list of books needed for classroom
libraries? Parents may want to clean out those home libraries of
Harry Potter and Magic Treehouse books this time of year if their
children have outgrown them, and they can also get a tax credit for
a charitable deduction at the same time. How about some copies of
a one-page article on tips for read-alouds at home, with a sign
encouraging anyone to take a copy?
While bulletin boards with notices on them are terrific, including
business cards with the information to carry away (like a brief
"Important Dates" card with parent conference, literacy nights, and
inservice dates) gives parents something to post on the fridge and
refer to later. In classrooms, a display of "Our Favorite New
Books" near the door for parents to browse, with notes from
students about why they are favorites, gives family members
something worth lingering over. Parents want to know more and do
more to help the young readers and writers in their lives, but
there is never enough time. Thinking through traffic patterns and
waiting areas in your school and classroom allows you to capitalize
on the impulse family members have to learn more and do more in
those moments we all spend waiting and wandering through schools.
This week, we've got some terrific resources for thinking through
how to stock classroom and professional book libraries on a budget,
plus more as always. Enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
There are so many new professional books available for literacy
leaders to purchase...and so little funding to buy them. In
Building a Professional Library from Scratch, Shari Frost gives the
details of how one coach surveyed colleagues, assessed needs, and
rooted out bargains before spending the precious $500 allocated for
stocking the professional book library:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/735.cfm
From the Choice Literacy Archives, Erin Ocon faces a
similar problem as a new teacher with a long list of desired books
and little funding. Erin manages to spend less than $100 in
creating her first classroom library:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/414.cfm
Of all the online book swapping services, Bookmooch is probably the
most useful one for literacy leaders. They use a point system
rather than one-to-one exchanges. It's a great way to clear out
the books on your shelf you aren't reading (or found disappointing):
http://www.bookmooch.com/
Looking for quick read-aloud tips for parents? This brief how-to
summary of advice is good fodder for parent conferences or a school
newsletter:
http://tinyurl.com/6rp85s
Reading Timelines are a terrific activity for students of any age
to think through their experiences and high points as readers.
Children's book author Barbara O'Connor shares photos of timelines
on her blog:
http://tinyurl.com/5uxo9v
Our new DVD, Two Workshops, was inspired by a phone call a year ago
from a Choice Literacy member in Illinois. "How come no one ever
publishes a DVD that shows a reading and writing workshop from
start to finish, instead of just minilessons or conferences in
isolation?" We answered her challenge by filming start to finish
workshops in Karen Terlecky's 5th Grade Classroom and Katie
DiCesare's 1st Grade Classroom. The DVD is useful for professional
learning communities looking to get on the same page when it comes
to strategies, principles, and activities in workshops, without
compelling everyone to follow the exact same routines. Members
receive a $30 discount off the purchase price. You can view sample
footage and more details at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/products/item21.cfm
For Members Only
[Not yet a Choice Literacy member? Click here for information on
subscription plans that can give you access to members-only content.]
The "status of the class" form is a tool used by many teachers
in reading and writing workshops to chart student plans daily. As
Franki Sibberson tests out a status form in the school library, she
discovers it has more value than she realized. Also included is a
video of a 5th grade teacher completing a reading status form, if
the concept of "status of the class" is new to you:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/733.cfm
No matter how many education methods courses and professional
development workshops you take, if you're a parent, your children
will always teach you the most about how students learn. In "What
My Son's Reading Difficulties Taught Me," Tammy Mulligan shares
three practical strategies for reaching struggling readers,
including recommended texts:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/734.cfm
In this week's video, Aimee Buckner confers with a student using the
questioning strategy for generating topics in her writer's notebook.
This is the second in a two-part series - a catch-up link is
included if you missed last week's installment:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/737.cfm
Finally, the new Choice Literacy Cluster focuses on teaching with
nonfiction texts. Contributors include Jennifer Jones, Karen
Terlecky, Suzy Kaback, and Franki Sibberson:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/736.cfm
That's all for this week!
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