"I read in my bed or on my beanbag with my feet on my swirly chair"

Hearing from 467 students about their summer reading experiences is tricky, especially when classes are only thirty minutes long. With the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, we had a brief conversation and then they shared a bit via a Google Form. The first two questions were intended to help me understand them as readers and to help them begin to understand themselves as readers.

Question One:

Where did you read most this summer?

(When explaining the question, I gave them an example from my summer reading experience. I asked them to think about their summer reading and where they pictured themselves.)

Question Two:

Describe your summer reading experience.

(Again, I gave an example from my own summer reading experience and had students brainstorm other examples.)

Question Three:

Is there a book that stands out from the other books you read? Please share the title here:

The One and Only Ivan (5)
Wonder (4)
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp (4)
Gum Girl (2)
Sisters (2)
Warriors series (3)
Harry Potter (8)
Geronimo Stilton (2)
The Mysterious Benedict Society (3)
The Giver (5)
The Fourth Stall (4)
The Babysitters Club (3)
Smile (4)
Lions of Little Rock (2)
Phantom Tollbooth (2)
Out of My Mind (3)
Big Nate (3)
Hunger Games (3)
Flora and Ulysses (3)
A Snicker of Magic (5)
Mysterious Benedict Society (3)
Magic Tree House (2)
Starry River of the Sky (2)
Percy Jackson (3)

The Story of Babe Ruth
Who was Bill Gates
Dork Diaries
Masterpiece
The dragon in the sock drawer
Anne of Green Gables
Fancy Nancy
Horrible Histories
Hardy Boys
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Vince Lombardy
The Land of Stories
The Immortals
The Great Greene Heist
The 9 Lives of Alexander Baddenfield
The Grimm Legacy
Eragon
Shadow Children series 
Bird, Under the Egg, or Waiting for the Queen
A Mango Shaped Space
The Great Brain
Hatchet
Fortunately the Milk
Charlotte's Web
13th book in the series of Unfortunate events
The Julian Chapter/Wonder
Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism
The Unwanteds book #2 Island Of Silence
Hoot
NERDS
Thea Stilton and the Mystery in Paris
39 Day of Doom
Trumpet of the Swan
Confessions of a So Called Middle Child
Spirit Animals
The Cloak Society
Things Not Seen
Divergent
The 39 Clues series
Holes 
The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had
When Audrey Met Alice 
Because of Mr. Terrupt
The Red Umbrella
The Name of this Book is a Secret (2)
Catching Fire   
Foals in the Field
Witch and Wizard: The Gift
Twelve
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's library
Fablehaven volume 1
Lost on a Mountain in Maine
The Long Winter
Shark Wars
The Friendship Fairy
Goddess Girls
The Illiad
Bone
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Captain Underpants
Bunnicula 
Dorko the Magnificent
Summer of the Gypsy Moths
Saxby Smart
Jake and Lily
The House of Hades
The Red Pyramid
The Stolen Kingdom
The Lost Hero

I am hoping that students will rely on each other more for reader's advisory. This is a step along that journey. We've got a reading list!

"I am a good reader and I am good at working with others."

With one week of school under our belt, we are starting to talk about our library learning community. I decided to try something different this year. In an effort to give every student a voice in our conversation, I created a Google Form with three questions. Their answers to these questions will be a starting point for our discussions this week.

Here is what they told me:

Please finish this sentence: We are a community of...

I dropped their answers into Wordle. It's a bit hard to read the smaller words, but I am pleased to see words like: creators, workers, sharers, thinkers, coders, and dreamers amongst their responses. I hope that these words will be larger when we revisit this question in the spring.

I made the next two questions optional, but explained that their answers would help make our learning environment better and help make me a better teacher and learner.

What strengths do you bring to our learning community? How can you contribute?

"writing and reading and lots of courage"

"I am good at reading"


"I am good at using the technology"

"my nerdyness."

"computers"

"honest questions"

"I will listen to everyone and to their ideas."

"I read fast and work well with groups."

"I am very good at using the computers at library."

"I think I am a great thinker"

"my ideas and use of words"

"I think I am a great reader"

"reading"

"I am a good learner. I also am good at brainstorming."

"I can listen to other peoples ideas"

"by being quiet and not talking when not supposed to"

"sharing"

"Listening and raising my hand"

"keeping the shelves neat" 

"I help when others need help"

"by being quiet"


"helping others"

"suggesting books to other readers"

"I like to read"

"I like writing"

"Reading"

"I am a good reader"

"working"

"I LOVE to read"

"reading"


"I bring good reading strengths."

"I love reading and am a good listener"

"I'm a great reader."

"I love to read a lot"

"I Love to read"

"I am a good reader and I am good at working with others."

"I can help describe books and what they mean"

"I can contribute by helping around the room and to help others when needed."

"keeping the library full."

"I am a good listener"

"working together"

"reading and  technology"

"I can bring strength in reading lots of books"

"I try to bring strength to everyone when it comes to reading."

"I can help with technology"

"I am good at reading."

"reading"

"I am good at reading"

"I am a good reader"

"I am good at using the technology"

"my nerdyness."

"computers"

"honest questions"

"my ideas and use of words"

"I can listen to other peoples ideas"

"I will listen to everyone and to their ideas."

"laughter"

"By helping others"

"I think i am really good at technology and figuring technology out like fixing  
iPads, computers for example if a iPad does not work i can make it work or save battery."

"I am good at reading."

"reading aloud and independently"

"Reading"

"arts and crafts and reading"

"One of my strengths is I am a very good reader"

"good at coding and a good at reading"

"I am good with computers.I can help / cx;.lQ"

"I think I'm good at art, math(though i don't like it!), and reading."

How can our library learning community support you as a learner?

"listening when the teacher is talking"

"being nice"

"when we cooperate."

"by raising our hands"

"being quiet"

"if people raise their hands"

"to listen"

"more books"

"It can help me learn words"

"It inspires me"

"Easier to find books"

"More browsing and borrowing time instead of all the talking."

"everyone contributes"

"explain what we are doing"

"People can be quiet so everyone can learn"

"They can be patient and be supportive of my ideas."

"minimize rug time unless read aloud"

"not tease me and go at your own pace"

There is plenty of good information for me to digest here.  As I have said in the past, children impress me with their honesty and willingness to share.  I am looking forward to our conversations this week.

Wherein 5th Graders Reflect on Their Library Experience....

When you think about the Mason-Rice Library, what is the first word that comes to mind?

When thinking about the library program, please finish this sentence: I discovered that...

"reading can be awesome and librarians aren't all boring because some will even quote Pitch Perfect with you."

"library is not all about being quiet. ;) Also, there are many cool online learning tools!"

"Making Animoto videos is fairly easy"

"you can find out a lot of stuff by reading a book!!"

"how libraries are more than just books on shelves."

"there are helpful tools such as Animoto."

"reading can be fun"

"how (not THAT) to use common crafts and Animoto."

"learning is fun."

"there are many good books"

"books are fun to read"

"the library rocks!"

"you can do lots of stuff with books"

"the books in the library are great! and fun to read"

"you don't only browse and borrow."

"You could find New books in the library, and either check them out or read the first chapter then buy it (what I do)."

"We do more than read books. We do different projects."

"you can use technology in ways I didn't expect."

"I discovered that the library could use tech I never knew about."

"you can share books in many different ways"

"you can search library books on-line"

"I discovered that going to the mason rice library is A LOT of fun because we always have interesting projects to do"

"school libraries are good too! not just public and private libraries!"

"reading can take you on many adventures. Also not only my reading level books are good."

"I like realistic fiction the best."

"I discovered what the Dewey decimal system is"

"books can help with anything"

"we never have enough time to browse and borrow"

"library isn't just books, It has a lot of technology."

"There's a lot of technology"

"library isn't only about reading"

"books are exciting and can take you to new places"

"reading can take you on any adventure whether it's informative or thrilling due to the wide variety of genres."

"destiny is very helpful for finding books"

"You can find so many things"

"books take me in."

"books can take you on journeys"

"I found that there's a lot of good books out there."

"they are books for everyone"

"I discovered that there are so many authors' whose books are amazing but I haven't heard of them."

"there are many different call numbers"

"There are so many more books than I thought!"

"a library is more then just books!"

"there are a lot of good authors that I thought wouldn't be that good but were actually very good."

"there are many, many different ways to find books and study them which makes writing essays etc. easy."

"I discovered that books are more than reading material, they're an adventure."

"not all libraries have to be silent"

"a lot more authors that I have never heard of."

"anything is possible when reading or writing."

"You would borrow a lot of books"

"I like reading A LOT more than I thought."

"books are friends."

"books are more fun to read than before"

"you shouldn't judge a book by its cover"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The end of the school year was a bit too hectic for my taste. So much so, that this blog post got lost in the shuffle. I'm not that upset about it though, it was poignant to look back at what these students said and it makes me excited for what lies ahead for this year's students.