Celebration: Let there be music

Posted on May 31, 2014 by carriegelson

I am digging deep this week. Usually writing this post is a source of joy. Today, after a very long week, I mostly want to crawl into my bed and hide under the pillows. But, I am pretty certain, that this is all the more reason to find things to celebrate. I thank Ruth Ayres, for the inspiration and her Celebration Link up that she hosts each week.

This week there is huge escalation between the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation (our teacher’s union) and B.C. Public School Employer’s Association (bargaining on behalf to the government). There are rotating strikes – so we were out of the classroom on Monday and now the government has locked us out for part of every day and is deducting 10% of our daily salary each day. We can not arrive at school before 8:15 a.m. and must leave by 3:45 p.m. We are not permitted to work with students over recess or lunch. It is ugly and stressful. I am exhausted and feeling disorganized and completely out of sorts. I love my job but I have lots of needs in my room. The teaching and learning work when I am energetic and “on my game.” This week, with everything going on, it was hard to be in that place. A challenging week to feel inspired and passionate about a job that I love. Which just felt all kinds of wrong.

But at the end of the week, I do have gratitude. When I look back over the week, there were many happy moments with the children. And there was one half hour block that was my “guaranteed happy” – our music class on Thursday afternoon with Jill Samycia Recently I wrote a letter in support of what this outreach program means to me. I am sharing it here:

Every week, there is almost a guarantee that I will be moved to tears with my students. Not out of sadness. Or anger. Or frustration. But out of pure joy.

This moment happens Thursday afternoons when my children (an energetic Grade 2/3/4 class) come upstairs to sing with Jill Samycia from St. James Music Academy. On the way up there is noise – singing, humming, chatter. On the way down it is louder, inspired by thirty minutes of time with Jill. While we are there, there is rarely a silent moment. A second here or there when we breathe between lyrics and the piano momentarily stops. Between songs, the children are buzzing. They make requests. They keep singing a favourite part. They are negotiating who will sing with who if there are “solos” Natter, natter, natter. And then Jill begins to play and whoa . . . Whoa.

My chatty, energized, silly class rises up and sings. It is precious and magical and shockingly amazing. These children belt out lyrics. Elements of soul, passion and emotion reveal themselves. They smile. They sway. Some get up and dance. We all get lost in the song. I often kind of cry. Because Jill finds the place inside of these children that is talent and music and confidence and risk taking all rolled into one.

She brings it out and it shines bigger each week. It strengthens who we are as a community. It strengthens the spirit of each child. I catch smiles of happy and proud and calm. Children sing solos that are barely audible at first. Others knock us over with throaty style that seems to channel from some older, wiser soul. Some of these kids are kids who barely say boo in class. Others are kids who never stop talking. But when we sing, we all have voice. When we sing together . . .

So Thursday afternoon is a beautiful, inspired time with my students and with Jill. Guaranteed wonderful. Guaranteed magic. A piano. A room full of kids. A talented teacher who has ways . . . Let there be music.

Thank you St. James Music Academy and the amazing outreach program. Thank you Jill Samycia.

With gratitude and Thursday tears,

Carrie Gelson

Grade 2/3/4 Teacher

Seymour Elementary

This I celebrate! Thank you to Jill and the sounds of singing that gave me my “guaranteed happy” in a challenging week. It always means a lot. This week, it was especially wonderful. And oh so needed 🙂

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Celebration: Ivan: One, Only, Ours

Posted on May 23, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. Thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

I celebrate Ivan, Mighty Silverback and his story, shared.

This week, we finished the brilliant, beautiful and special story The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This is the third time I have read this book but the first time I have read it aloud. As a read aloud, it is pure magic.

My students have already shared their brilliant thinking on our classroom blog. This celebration post highlights our closure with the book. Finishing a novel this profound needs some time. We finished the story Thursday morning. When I read the last few words, there was a brief silence. The power a read aloud has to create community was felt in the room. Some kids crawled into my lap, some asked to hold the book (I noticed that they hugged it before passing it on), many just sat and let the story wash over them. Big smiles. Big feelings.

On Friday, we read the author’s note in the back and checked out three websites/videos. We . . .

looked at Katherine Applegate’s information about the real Ivan on her website.
watched the video I found on Mr. Shu‘s blog Watch. Connect. Read. about the upcoming picture book about Ivan!

looked at the information and video from the Zoo Atlanta site about Ivan. The children found it incredible to watch the real Ivan move about. We had to watch the video two times in a row!

Here we are watching Katherine Applegate talk about her picture book Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla to be released in October 2014 (illustrated by one of our favourites: G. Brian Karas).

Watching the real Ivan in the Zoo Atlanta video. Absolute joy and fascination on their faces!

We ended the day with Ivan themed yoga! Thank you to the brilliant Miriam who led us through tree poses in the jungle, Ivan knuckle walking, downward dog poses to greet Bob and entwining elephant trunks in honour of Stella and Ruby.

Before our yoga session, the children did a quick final response. Some excerpts here:

“The novel was amazing because the writing was just right. Ivan didn’t break his promise.”

“Ivan is one of my favourite novels because Ivan saved Ruby.”

“I wish we could go to the zoo to meet Ivan. Did he hang out with his friends?”

“I don’t like the way he was being treated. This was my favourite novel because it was emotional and it was read very slowly. I didn’t have to say ‘Can you say that again a lot of times.’ I feel happy he was in a zoo at the end and it made me happy. It made me even more happy to see the video.”

“So Ivan is a gorilla and he died. I am going to save him. I will dig a hole and I will find Ivan. I will use a defibrillator to make Ivan come back alive. And I will take him home to Africa.”

This little writer was particularly inspired and touched by Ivan and his real and fictional story.

“I’m excited for the picture book because all the kids or anyone should know the story. The picture book will be amazing because the illustrator is one of my favourites. I feel so awesome that people saved an animal that had a cruel life. And after they saved him, he had a wonderful life. I want to see Ivan’s artwork. I heard he’s a very talented artist.”

Isn’t it funny that this story of Ivan, a gorilla, teaches us so much about what it is to be human? Oh, how we celebrate this book!

Celebration: Following the questions

Posted on May 10, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. Thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

This week I am celebrating the power of books to cause a stir. To inspire questions. To promote thinking and lots of discussion.

Last weekend I read a title that I just knew I had to share with my class: Ruby’s Wish written by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Sophie Blackall.

I brought it in early in the week to read aloud. Students were surprised by so much in this book about a little girl in a prosperous Chinese family wants an education like her brothers and male cousins. She doesn’t want to settle with only marriage and motherhood. This story was especially powerful because it is based on the life of the author’s grandmother. A beautiful example of a little girl who speaks up and the grandfather who hears her. The children were shocked that at one time in China’s history, a man could have multiple wives. They were most surprised that boys could go to University when girls could not. When Ruby received an admission letter for University from her Grandfather, there was lots of nodding. And then the questions. The biggest one: “But why could the boys go to school and the girls couldn’t?” I asked the children if they would like to read more books that explored this question. The room erupted, “YES!”

And so, the next day I brought in Every Day is Malala Day by Rose McCarney with Plan International and read it to the students. This book is a photographic thank you letter to Malala Yousafzai for her courage and her determination to speak up for the rights of girls to have an education. Both text and photos (of girls all over the world) are powerful.

“People everywhere wondered why it was so hard for girls to have an education. But you and I know the answer. In many countries bullets are not the only way to silence girls.”

This book inspired outrage. Confusion. Upset and indignation. And rich, important discussion. I overheard two little girls talking about this book as they looked at it again together.

“It’s the ladies who should be having the most education because they are mostly watching the kids and kids have lots of questions. The Moms need to know stuff.”

On Friday Morning, with the intention of sharing Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell written by Tanya Lee Stone and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, I put this statement on the board in the morning:

As students noticed it, it became very interesting in the room. There was whispering. Some children raced over to me immediately.

“Ms. Gelson, why did you write that on the board? Womens can be whatever they want!”

More children started to express their upset and confusion.

“I can be a Doctor. I’m a girl. I can be.”

“Really, I can’t be a Doctor?”

“Oh no. The girls are going to be mad about this. I don’t think it’s true.”

“No. It is true. My Mom was told she couldn’t be a Doctor in her country.”

“Are the girls only allowed to be nurses? That’s stupid.”

I had to reassure everyone that I didn’t believe this statement but had put it up as a writing prompt. I asked them to go write for 10 minutes about their thinking. Many leaped up to share their thoughts with each other as they wrote.

Excerpts from some student writing are shared below. Note that I am sharing the writing from both boys and girls here:

“Why can’t women be doctors? It is silly. It can be possible for women to be doctors. Women can be whatever they want.”

“Silly! Sad! Because the girls don’t get to be doctors and the boys do. The girls just have to be the stinky old nurses. Why can’t the boys be the nurses and the girls be the doctors?”

“Women can be whatever they want if they put their heart to it! That makes me mad. That’s so silly. That’s not fair. Why would they think that? Wwwwwwhy!!!??”

“Some womens can be doctors if they’re more smarter than the boys. All that matters is about knowledge. It doesn’t matter if you are female or male.”

“Why? It makes me mad because they can. Girls are smart. They should have an education.”

“It seems really unfair if this is true. Because if boys are doctors, girls can be doctors too.”

This little thinker worked out her questions and thinking as she went.

“Why only boys can be doctors, not girls? Can girls and boys be doctors? Can it be girls too? Girls can be doctors too”

This girl who wants to be a doctor, wrote this very powerful statement”

“That is silly. I am a doctor. Why can boys be everything? I am happy because I live in Vancouver. And in Vancouver, I can be everything! And in Vancouver in 2014, I can do everything!”

We came back to the carpet and I pulled out the book to read. But one little girl insisted she had to ask something before we started:

“What is it with all of these books talking about girls who can’t do things and can’t have education and stuff? Girls here can go to school just like boys.”

Then the beauty of classroom conversation took over. I sat back. Some children shared about their mothers in other countries not having the same possibilities. Some children reminded everyone that it is different in history and different in other countries. There was lots of talk and lots of buzz and finally we were able to begin this book.

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell written by Tanya Lee Stone and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

We only read the first five or six pages and I had to promise that we will finish it next week. The best request?

“Can we talk more like this next week too?

The Other Side of Me

Posted on May 4, 2014 by carriegelson

“Lost in a book? It’s the best place to be!” I often say this in our classroom when the bell rings and everyone is so busy reading or listening to a story that nobody has noticed the time. But how much better is it when the book we are all reading (see below) is a book of stories written by our classmates? Add to this that each of us has our own copy to keep! And . . . that this book is the product of a whole lot of amazing process work: talking about, planning, writing, editing and illustrating a story with the help of staff and volunteer mentors from the Writers’ Exchange.

This was our journey:

On Day 1, Jennifer from the Writers’ Exchange arrived at our class with four volunteer mentors ready to begin working with students on a creative story. We split into four working groups and Jennifer led us through some engaging get to know you guessing games. Students then filled out a story planning sheet in preparation of writing a transformative story – where they would turn into another “version” of themselves to have a small adventure. With the help of the mentors and school staff, all of the children made a great start on story ideas.

One week later was Day 2. The day we called “Sticky Note” day. Our young writers added various details to Story Maps to flush out their story ideas. Clever mentors seemed to know that these colourful sticky notes were great inspiration for writing a lot of details! And they also make great moustaches. Don’t you think?

While I knew we were on route to some really fun stories, I particularly loved all of the talk time with our mentors. Students were so engaged and so excited to discuss their ideas. They were able to listen to feedback and were inspired to stretch their thinking.

Day 3 (one week later) was our day to write drafts. Jennifer explained that in some places we could just transfer some of our sticky notes and write details/words around these ideas. This certainly took the pressure off students who were worried about rewriting everything again.

Look at how many adults were in the room talking and engaging with students! It was a beautiful thing! Many students actually wrote and edited their drafts in this one hour work period.

Day 4 was a busy, busy day! Final edits and drafts were completed and then there was time to make masks, complete illustrations and celebrate creativity! The room was full of language, sparkles and the buzz of imagination.

And then we had to wait . . . Jennifer and her team brought our stories and illustrations back to the Writers’ Exchange where they would be passed along to those people who worked on the editing, design and layout of our book. In the meantime, we had to decide on a title for our book. We thought The Other Side of Me was a brilliant idea! It captured the essence of our stories of transforming into another “enhanced” version of ourselves.

On April 23rd, we had our Book Launch party at the Writers’ Exchange (located just a few blocks away from the school). Yes, there were treats (the brownies were perhaps the biggest hit!) but first we received our books and students were invited to come up and read in front of classmates, Seymour staff and mentors. We even had two Moms come along to celebrate!

As our brave students read their story, everyone else followed along. The respect and focus was incredible. Some of our quietest children volunteered to read. Let’s just say that the adults in the room were in a constant place of “emotional awe”.

Proud writer showing us her story.

Proud Mama with her two little authors.

A few days later, students filled out feedback forms about the experience. Here are some answers to the prompt: My favourite thing about working on this project was . . .

writing my story. I like when we made our own books
reading, making and drawing my character
the nice mentors. I get to use my imagination.
making us better at writing
that we can put anything we want. We can write mythical!
our story! our own ideas! And now we can make our own book at home
we made our own stories with our own ideas and they are brilliant ideas
everyone feels like a star
everyone feels like a real author

Students then did some writing about what this project meant to them and what they were grateful about. I typed out key ideas from each child and these were used as part of a thank you photo series for the staff and mentors who worked with us. This thank you post (The Other Side (and side and side and side) of Me) can be found on our classroom blog. It is well worth taking a peek at! Here are just two photos that are part of the post.

More information about the Writers’ Exchange can be found on their website. From the inside of our “chapbook”:

The Writers’ Exchange makes literacy exciting and accessible for inner-city kids through free mentoring and creative writing projects like this chapbook.

Our gratitude is huge for everyone who helped make this book possible: staff and volunteer mentors from the Writers’ Exchange, Seymour staff and volunteers and the huge generosity of all those who provide donations for this amazing program!

Our little writers feel all kinds of pride!

Celebration: All things literacy

Posted on May 3, 2014 by carriegelson

I love ending each week thinking about all that I have to celebrate. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week. Thank you to Ruth for the inspiration.

What am I celebrating this week? All things literacy. Some conversations. Some great books. Celebrations of writing. Thinking. Sharing. Listening. Creating.

Celebrating . . .

1. A Skype visit with Liesl Shurtliff – author of Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin (one of the best read alouds out there!)

This was an absolute highlight of our week! I shared our experience on our classroom blog here (including how we prepared). This was our first author Skype so it was especially exciting! Liesl was so charming and the kids cannot stop talking about the day!

Students shared with Liesl that they had just had a book of stories published as well and that we had even had a publishing party. (Thanks Writer’s Exchange!) Such fun to find out that Liesl had brownies at her publishing party too! All about the treats!

Here is one of the many pixies that we shared with Liesl during our Skype. All of them can be seen at the link I shared above.

2. Friday afternoon in my class was hot. The air circulation is terrible. And yet, my classroom looked like this:

Recipe for such engagement? I asked the students to think about what their dream house would look like if they could design it, have it built (or build it themselves) and then live in it? We split into two groups and spent 15 minutes sharing our ideas. Ms. Wilks, our Project Teacher and I recorded all that was said on chart paper. Kids got totally excited just listening to what other people suggested. A few examples:

Gummy worm walls that grow new candy when you pull it off
Trampoline floors
An aquarium full of dolphins to swim with
Water slides leading to an outdoor pool
Chalkboard walls to draw on

I quickly showed them the end pages in Chris Van Dusen‘s If I Built a House as some added inspiration. (Next week we will do a related project in Art) We then passed out writing books and told everyone to go draw, sketch, label and write. Some kids were so into it, they continued working through their Choices time.

In the middle of the brainstorming, one student who had been listening from his desk sailed a paper airplane over to us. Written on the back? Be Smart! He thought we were being absolutely ridiculous in our dreaming, “No house could have all of that!” I loved his message system! Not every activity is going to speak to everyone!

It was so interesting to examine all of the different ideas and how they were represented.

This little house designer showed me that she would have a book gnome (bottom right corner) that would get you any book you wanted for your book shelf. 🙂 A little reader with big book dreams like mine!

3. Last week we celebrated publishing a class book of stories.

To thank the amazing Writers’ Exchange for working with my class, I have been working on a blog post with the children’s words and photographs. We wanted it to be a sent along to surprise all of the staff and mentors who worked with us. It’s supposed to be a surprise but these photos are just too cute. So I’ve had to share one . . . or two . . . or . . . four. . . via twitter. It has been joyous both taking and sharing these photos (text comes from individual writing from each child). I’m hoping to have the post finished in the next few days.

Okay, sneak peek at our thank you: How we love the @writers_ex #vsblearns pic.twitter.com/aWj0lbEgq6

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 1, 2014

We’re serious! We love the @writers_ex and we really mean it! pic.twitter.com/qV7BGn8VP3 — Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 2, 2014

We are overflowing with creative energy! Thanks @writers_ex! For everything! pic.twitter.com/aod0irIkvm

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 2, 2014

Whoa. It’s exhausting being published authors. Thanks @writers_ex! pic.twitter.com/IfrBz3AnNO — Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) May 3, 2014

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Celebration: Best lines

Posted on April 12, 2014 by carriegelson

Celebration honoured. This is the loveliest of reasons to share. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week.

This week I am celebrating how amusing and amazing my students are by sharing a few of the things that made me laugh or made me pause.

1. My class had the opportunity to go to the forest and participate in outdoor games with some high school students who are taking an outdoor education course. It was less than a 25 minute bus ride away but for some of my students, a completely “other” world. In our pre-trip discussions about what we might see, one child predicted elephants . . .

There was a mixture of fear

“I’m scared – of the dark, the prickles, the bugs, the dirt . . .”

And huge excitement:

“I’m ready for the trip! I packed my nopulars so I can see near and far.”

Nopulars (binoculars) do help with that! All children had an amazing time! Within seconds of sitting back on the bus, I heard, “Can we come back here?” multiple times.

2. As we continue to study the ocean and all of the amazing sea creatures that live in its waters, I have the chance to read aloud many fabulous nonfiction titles. Friday, we started reading Here Come the Humpbacks written by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Jamie Hogan

One of my students was fascinated that whales are also mammals and that the baby whale rolls when it is born and breaks the umbilical cord attaching it to its mother. All morning she kept telling me:

“I really love talking about the hunchback whales.”

In the first few pages of the book, the author explains that the male humpbacks have scars on their skin from past competitions. This sparked an interesting conversation.

“What competition? Races?”

“No. They are competing for the girl whales.”

“Why do they have to have competitions? Isn’t there enough girls to go around?”

3. I found a book at the public library this weekend that I just had to bring in and share with my class: Wild by Emily Hughes

After reading the book aloud, I admitted that I really loved the book and wished I had a copy for our classroom. One child remarked:

“You really should buy it. Otherwise, you might go a little crazy.”

4. Right now we are reading the novel The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

This is a seriously beautiful book to read aloud and there are many moments of silence where we just allow for space and thinking. If you know the story (as I know so many of us do), we are at the part when the baby elephant, Ruby has arrived. Students have needed to talk a lot about how the older elephant Stella has felt about the baby coming. When Stella announces that she can hear a baby elephant coming because she can hear her crying, Ivan tells her that she is just hoping. “No,” Stella says softly,”Not hoping. Not at all.” It took the children some time to get what this meant. Slowly, through discussion they recognized that Stella didn’t want a baby to come and experience the captivity that the animals at the Bg Top Mall experienced.

The next day, I knew it had really sunk in when we read this part:

“Relax, Stella,” I say. “It will be okay.”

“Ivan,” Stella says, it will never, ever be okay,” and I know enough to stop talking.

I paused. The class was quiet. One voice piped up

“Stella doesn’t want the baby to feel what they feel. . . to feel locked up and sad.”

We all continued to sit in silence for another few moments until another child prompted, “Okay, you can read now.”

This book’s magic is in these multiple moments of understanding and compassion that we quietly share.

I celebrate spending each day with children who make me smile – for so many reasons. What are you celebrating in your week?

Make the Time: 15 things that matter

Posted on March 21, 2014 by carriegelson

Time There is only so much of it in each school day.

I always tend to get introspective after a few days away from the classroom so part way through Spring Break I have been thinking about things . . . Specifically what matters in terms of time and how we spend it? What are the things I really want to honour? What things need to be happening?

Here’s my list

Make the Time . . .

For Joy

There needs to be happiness and celebration as we learn. In our classroom, this is where we begin.

For Gratitude

We have a Gratitude Circle at least once a week where we share something we feel grateful about. Sharing our happiness and what we appreciate is a gift to others. Gathering in a circle to breathe, share and be calm is powerful. Especially on Halloween 🙂

To Play

Play happens daily in our classroom. It lets us get creative, solve problems, practice negotiation and always, helps to build our social skills. Plus, of course, it is FUN!

To Be Lost in a Book

I always say, “Being lost in a book is the best place to be.” If there is lots of time for reading, there is more likelihood this will happen. Often.

To Read Aloud

Read aloud builds community. And of course so many amazing literacy skills are practiced: listening stamina. appreciation for the sound of language, sense of story, inference and prediction skills, etc.

To Calm and Regroup

Sometimes after very exciting activities (like pumpkin carving) we need down time (like reading to our pumpkins). Balance.

To Breathe

We do mindful breathing three times a day. When our K/1 buddies come up for buddy reading, we participate altogether. This daily time to center and focus means something.

For Mentorship

Some of the best teaching is not done by me.

For Time Spent with lots of Adults

Lots of interactions for many reasons. Here is a student sharing his great reading with supervision aides and office staff just before recess.

For Time with Different Ages

Playtime outside with our K/1 buddies = lots of fun. Building relationships is what it is all about.

For the Mess

When we do interesting things and make discoveries, there are things everywhere. Clean up is easy. Thinking is messy.

To Switch it up

Sometimes, we need to abandon a lesson and go in a different direction. Here I had planned a place value review. The students needed to be architects. So we were architects and we demonstrated our knowledge of hundreds, tens and ones the next day.

To Work Together

Great learning happens when we stand back and let the children figure it out together. And of course wearing blue lab gloves and working with fancy coloured water makes it all the more interesting . . .

For Upset

Because it happens. We get sad. Mad. Frustrated. Grumpy. Mean. We are a community and we need to weather it together. The learning is in the acceptance, the forgiveness and the moving on.

To Laugh

Right?

These are fifteen things I value.

Also significant? What I didn’t put on the list . . .

What about you? What would be on your list of what matters? Please share in the comments!

Celebrating readers and writers

Posted on January 25, 2014 by carriegelson

Celebration honoured. This is the loveliest of reasons to share. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week.

This week I am celebrating my young readers and writers. They are learning to express opinions, celebrating writing they love and savouring reading experiences. Sharing a few moments here:

1. I am currently reading Rump by Liesl Shurtliff to my students. Students adore this book wholly and completely.

Proof #1: I have to reread parts aloud to students at recess, after school, during playtime, etc. if someone happened to be out of the room when we read aloud that day.

“I missed the last part of the chapter when my Mom picked me up early, can you read it to me this morning?”

Proof #2: I finished our chapter seconds before the 3:00 bell the other day and one child grabbed the book to her chest. “Please can I hug it now?!” she swooned.

Proof #3: Very little can cause silence in my classroom. When I start reading this book aloud, magical silence descends.

2. We often talk about what happens when we put the the right book in the hands of a reader. I realized this week that sometimes this magic also happens when we match the right readers together to share some great books. Every week, we have buddy reading with the K/1 class. While we assign buddies for the day, they might be different each week. This little moment captured in the photo below made me realize that sometimes, we can also find the right buddy match. I think I will be making this match again.

3. I often ask students for perspective statements when I know that anxiety might rise around regular things that happen throughout the day. Often when I booktalk new books, many children decide that their day will be ruined if they do not get to be the first one to read a particular book. When you are seven, eight and nine, big drama happens over many things. While I appreciate the book love, the upset does nothing for classroom climate or individual well being. So now I ask for perspective statements. It goes something like this.

Me: “Not everyone can be first to read these new books. Can anyone share a perspective statement?”

Student responses:

“Maybe you can be the one to read it next?”

“I can ask to read it after.”
“We have a room full of books.”

“We’ve got a whole year left to read everything we want.”

I smile with each little share. Students also do this to facilitate solving things:

4. I have a some major Shel Silverstein fans in my classroom. They have bookmarked favourite poems and read aloud to each other in Reading Workshop. I haven’t been sharing much poetry lately and certainly haven’t read Silverstein aloud more than twice all year. This is all about independently discovering great writing, being inspired and sharing the #booklove.

5. I read The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig to my class this week. I am working on a blog post to try and capture the insightful comments and the writing shared. It was a pretty powerful read aloud session. This picture below says a lot.

“Can I read it to myself now?”

6. Every week we write book reviews for new books that weekly guest readers bring in to share with us. We rate the books out of 5 and share our thinking. One of my little writers gave a book a 2/5 and told me she didn’t have much to say. I asked her to explain her lower than average rating and she gave me a little look like I had just given her permission for something she thought she wasn’t allowed to do. Here is what she then added to her review:

It was nice but not that exciting. The problem is too easily solved. I would like to read a story with not a really happy ending sometimes.

I feel lucky every week to be in a room of readers and writers that are growing in amazing ways.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Bully. Who, me?

Posted on September 30, 2013 by carriegelson

Yesterday I read Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger and just knew I had to share this book with my students. First thing this Monday morning we gathered together for a read aloud. What a powerful experience.

As always, I love that Seeger can say much with so few words. This story is conveyed through simple illustrations weighty with emotional expressions and speech bubbles that send big messages.

I read the story and said almost nothing else. Seeger’s story truly speaks for itself in a room full of children comfortable sharing their ideas and observations.

Joeli wrote a wonderful summary of the story:

There was a mean bull and another bull passed by the mean bull who said GO AWAY! Then that bull was mad and then rabbit came and asked, can I play with you and the bull said NO! The bull bullied every single animal. But the goat said “Bully” and the bull started to cry and he said sorry.

Very quickly the children realized that when something happens to us that hurts, it can start what one of them called “the on and on and on pattern of bullies.” They also had many text to text connections to Desmond and the Very Mean Word written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams and illustrated by A.G. Ford. We recently read this important book about forgiveness and it had made quite the impression. Ibtihal identified the feelings of the bull almost immediately. She shared, “I think that just like how Desmond felt guilty when he said a mean word, the Bull is starting to feel guilty too.”

The children were very intrigued by the changing shape of the Bull as he continued to be cruel. One keen child commented, “When he bullies he actually gets smaller but he feels bigger.”

Because I always believe that students say it best, some more student responses . . .

Heman: I think the goat in the story is brave. Why did the Bull bully the chicken? At the end of the story it was nice and calm again. It was nice when the Bull made friends with the Turtle, Chicken and Rabbit.

Kelvin: I felt sad when Ms. Gelson read it. I give it a 5/5. It’s in my ten favourite books list. I wish that the bully felt sad for the bull at the start. I love when the bull came from a devil to like a god. I felt happy for the bull when he went from mean to nice. His heart was brave. He turned his heart upside down.

Soleen: When he bullies, he gets smaller but he feels bigger. The goat was brave enough to tell the Bull you are a bully!

Ibtihal: So every time when he says a mean word, he feels like growing bigger. Then he said “I am sorry Do you wanna play?” So they (the animals) said a nice word “yes” you can play with us.

Gracie: First, the Bull was bullied. And then he was a bully. When he was the bully he was getting smaller but he feels like he’s getting bigger. Maybe the bully who was bullying him got bullied? The goat was very brave. The goat changed the bull. The chicken, the turtle, the rabbit and the goat all got bullied. But they said yes to playing with the bull.

Powerful for young children and even for listeners right into middle school this is a jumping off point for many conversations and reflections. Highly recommended.

In 2013/2014 I will be . . .

Posted on September 22, 2013 by carriegelson

On the last day of school in June all of us in our classroom brainstormed a huge list of words on the board. What did we want to be in 2013/2014? Beyond goals, how did we want to visualize ourselves? How did we want to be described? What descriptors would be a fit for each of us? We each chose five words. We wrote them down and signed the paper. We also asked a witness to sign.

Most of us were returning to spend the year together again for 2013/2014 as our Grade 2/3 class was becoming a Grade 3/4. Over the summer, someone switched schools and some new students moved into the neighbourhood. By the end of week one in September, we had become a Grade 2/3/4 class with 8 new students. We invited our new students to also take part in this exercise sharing our words and coming up with a few more.

With photographs of us, these words are going to be posted on the walls of our cloakroom. We will see them when we arrive each morning and as we grab our coats and bags at the end of the day. Our words will surround us as we learn and grow. Will these words feel right at the end of the year? Will they be motivational? Will they inspire us? Confuse us? Make us reflect and think? We don’t know yet. We do know that we felt pride and confident choosing our words and happy to share and celebrate them.

If you visit us, please look out for our photos and words in our cloakroom. If you follow our learning journey from afar, here are some lovely examples.

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Fun

Calm

Focused

A Writer

A Leader

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A Teacher

Brave

A Reader

A Learner

A Listener

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Kind

Passionate

Peaceful

Giving

A Thinker

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A Reader

Creative

Brave

A Leader

Myself

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Independent

Brave

Compassionate

Helpful

A Reader

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Creative

Brave

Focused

Patient

Organized

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Brave

Calm

A Reader

Respectful

Kind

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Creative

Patient

Helpful

Calm

Fun

As the teacher of all of these young students, I was amazed at how brave many of these word choices were. There was real vulnerability in the writing down of words that have big importance. Some quiet children chose the word Talkative. Children who struggle with impulse control wrote that they would be Calm. Learners just beginning to read wrote the words A Reader as did voracious readers who devour books. Our classroom community values many things and this also came through in the choices: Mindful, A Leader, Creative, Kind . . .

These words will visit us everyday, I am not going to ask the students to revisit their choices and evaluate later in the year. I don’t want these words to be intimidating. This process is not about living up to a goal. This process is about choice. We all have the ability to choose who we are becoming. The words we have chosen celebrate this power. My responsibility and my joy will be to support these choices all year long.

Happy 2013/2014 everyone! What will you be?

Would you like to share your 5 words in the comment section? We would love to read them!

Here are mine and Miriam’s (Miriam is my brilliant Student Support Worker who shares these wonderful children with me):

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