D.E.A.R. Day, Shadows, and Using Your Imagination

On April 12, 2013 readers of all ages took a few minutes to Drop Everything And Read. To learn more about D.E.A.R. Day click HERE

We had a fun time in the Library. Before DEAR Day, I had re-purposed some large printer boxes that I recently found discarded in the hallway How could anyone not see their potential? I wrapped them in green butcher paper and stacked them up knowing they could be used for a multitude of displays. This week DEAR Day,  next week Poem in Your Pocket Day.



















                   Here is how they look next to a book shelf.

When students arrived for their library class, books were quickly checked in and a new set checked out, then students had an opportunity to "Make Your Best Fruity Guess" at the Estimation Station, a library center. I had loaded our good old Teddy Bear jar up with 176 rubber fruit pieces and two kids came close with estimations of 180 fruit pieces. We always end up with a tie so I made sure to have two prize packages ready.

The prize package was a Joke Book double pack. This was to make a point because a teacher has been telling her students that reading a Joke Book is not really reading. Of course it is! Joke books provide an opportunity for shared social reading opportunities. Joke books are best read with a friend or classmate and help form a community of readers through shared experiences.

Occasionally, a kid will think back to a joke and say "hey, remember that joke about...." and everyone laughs. Which reminds me of a very funny video created by the authors of Guys Read: Funny Business.  It is a pieced together retelling of "The Joke" and well worth watching.

After recording their estimations, we did the real DEAR thing. We stopped and had 15 minutes of silent sustained reading. I decided to read the 2013-2014 Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri. Visit my Bluebonnet Book Club wiki for teaching resources: Ghetto Cowboy. This is a terrific book and I love the background research that I have been doing since I began reading it.

Our last DEAR event was to create DEAR bookmark that reflected a favorite character, book, or that demonstrated why reading is enjoyable. Kids did a terrific job. One of my favorites created by Madison was a bookmark that also was a mini-book. Leslie gave me my favorite quote for the day: Love, peace, and books. I wish I could show their projects but I used my phone camera and can't find images now.

For the three year olds. We read books about shadows in support of their Prekinder guidelines and then played shadow games. I made up a little poem while brushing my teeth this week so I shared that with them too.

I have a little shadow
That always stays with me.
Sometimes my shadow gets so big
as tall as tall can be.
Sometimes my shadow is so small
that I can hardly see.
I have a little shadow
a friend that sticks with me.





Next, I read "Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon" and talked about how much fun it is to use your imagination. Then I put on a Robot Head that my daughter had made out of a discarded diaper box and pretended to be a robot. This got a lot of giggles. Now all book lovers know that the perfect book that goes with a robot costume is Ame Dyckman's Boy + Bot.

It was a pretty terrific DEAR Day.