The Groovy Teacher: Finding that Sacred Bubble Space and a Snowy Day Re-Tell

If you're a Daily 5 fan and it's something you do with your kids, I just wanted to share what I've noticed. Not all kids come to us as readers or even "lookers" of books. You can always spot those kids who thoroughly enjoy a good book, they've got a little sparkle in them. And so, Read to Self is never an issue for them, they just do it well. Then, there are those kids who just can't seem to get into it, for whatever reason and they spend most of their Reading time rearranging the books in their Daily 5 folder, staring out the window or attempting to suck another innocent reader into their vortex. As teachers, we do what we can, we model it, start off in small spurts of reading time, increase it gradually and still we haven't reeled them all in. I've been trying to solve this problem for years, I'm sure it will always be a work in progress for me. So, I've started off the New Year trying to help those reluctant readers find their bubble space and learn to love being in that space cause once you're in that space, it is truly sacred. Not sure how it's going to work out, but I am hopeful. Here's what I've done as a visual.

Just click on either pic to download it from google docs. I laminated these back to back and hung them in my room, so they twirl around and are always visible.

Onto a snowy topic. we read this book this week, it is one of my all time faves, such a sweet, simple story and beautiful flow.

It is perfect for doing a beginning, middle and end activity because it's not too short, not too long and I told my kids to choose one thing that the character Peter did while he was playing in the snow and that would count as their description of the middle of the story. We had so much fun re-telling this story.