Comprehension, Vocabulary & Writing Development in Grade 2: Previewing a New E-Book

I am just getting ready to publish the second volume of read aloud instruction on iTunes for grade 2. This is a continuation in a series of ebooks I have produced. In this ebook, there are seven units of study.  Within the units of study there is direct instruction focusing on comprehension, vocabulary, and writing in response to text, as well as independent reading.

The texts below are referenced in this ebook. For each text  there is a multi-day lesson.

Unit 1: Inspiring People

Bruchac, Joseph. (2009). Rachel Carson: Preserving a Sense of Wonder. Illustrated by Thomas Locker. Golden, CO: Fulcrum. (No Lexile Level Available)

Lawlor, Laurie. (2012). Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World. Illustrated by Laura Beingessener. New York: Holiday House. (890L)

McGinty, Alice B. (2013). Gandhi: A March to the Sea. Illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez. Las Vegas, NV: AmazonChildren’s Publishing. (No Lexile Level Available)

Roth, Susan & Cindy Trumbore. (2011). The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families. Collages by Susan Roth. New York: Lee and Low Books. (1180L)

Winter, Jeanette. (2011). The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps. New York: Schwartz & Wade/Random House. (820L)

Winter, Jonah. 2009. Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx: La juez que crecio en el Bronx. Illustrated by Edel Rodriguez. New York: Atheneum. (840L)

Unit 2: Soil Habitats

Aston, Dianna Hutts. (2012). A Rock is Lively. Illustrated by Sylvia Long. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. (1110L)

Bial, Raymond. (2000). A Handful of Dirt. New York: Walker Childrens. (1190L)

BodhaGuru Videos. (2012). Science - Soil Formation and Soil Layers. Retrieved 5.12.13

Murray Raymond C. (2005). Collecting Crime Evidence from Earth. Geotimes. (1280L)

Tomacek, Steve. (2007). Jump into Science: Dirt. Illustrated

by Nancy Woodman. Washington DC: National Geographic. (840L)

Unit 3: Noticing an Author’s Language

Christian, Peggy. (2008). If You Find a Rock. Photos by Barbara Hirsch Lember. New York: Sandpiper. (980L)

Collins, Pat Lowery. (1994). I Am an Artist. Illustrated by Robin Brickman. Millbrook Press. (1210L)

Hesse, Karen. (1999). Come On, Rain. Illustrated by Jon Muth. New York: Scholastic. (760L)

Unit 4: American Tall Tales

Kellogg, Steve. (2004). Paul Bunyan. New York: HarperCollins. (1030L)

Lester, Julius. (1999). John Henry. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Puffin. (720L)

Mora, Pat. (2005). Dona Flor: A Tall Tale about a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart. Illustrated by Raul Colon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.(860L)

Nolen, Jerdine. (2003). Thunder Rose. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. San Diego, CA: Silver Whistle/Harcourt. (910L)

John Henry Video. Retrieved 7.11.13 from https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MuCLvu0CkU

S.E. Schlosser, S.E. Casey Jones: A Tennessee Legend.

Unit 5: The Power of Community

Cohn, Diana. (2002). ¡Si, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! Janitor Strike in L.A. Illustrated by Francisco Delgado. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press. (No Lexile Level)

DiSalvo-Ryan, DyAnne. (1994). City Green. New York: HarperCollins. (480L)

McKissack, Patricia. (2008). Stichin’ and Pullin’: A Gee’s Bend Quilt. Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. New York: Random House. (No Lexile Level Available)

Tate, Don. (2012). It Jes Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. New York: Lee and Low Books. (840L)

Unit 6: All About Trees

Buchmann, Steven and Diana Cohn. (2012). The Bee Tree. Illustrated by Paul Mirocha. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press. (1190L)

Chin, Jason. (2009). Redwoods. New York: Roaring Brook Press. (1100L)

Guiberson, Brenda. (2009). Life in a Boreal Forest. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. New York: Henry Holt. (860L)

Unit 7: Wants and Needs

Elya, Susan Middleton. (2006).  Home at Last. Illustrated by Felipe Davalos. New York: Lee & Low Books. (No Lexile Level)

English, Karen. (2004). Hot Day on Abbott Avenue. Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. New York: Clarion Books. (640L)

Johnson, Angela. (2003). I Dream of Trains. Illustrated by Loren Long. New York: Simon & Schuster. (No Lexile Level)

Larson, Jennifer S. (2012). Do I Need It? Or Do I Want It? Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications. (510L)

Park, Linda Sue. (2004). The Firekeeper’s Son. Illustrated by Julie Downing. New York: Sandpiper. (450L)

Designing K-3 Professional Support through iBooks Author: A Look at a Summer Literacy Project

I. The Project
This summer I will be working to support teachers and children in K-3 summer schools scheduled at 16 sites in a city. The focus of our work will be on the prevention of reading difficulties. For the last several weeks I have been busy creating eBooks for teachers as professional support for their work. Each book is aligned and helps to explicate the pedagogy and content of the literacy project I designed. 

Four literacy/learning structures dominate the 3-hour block in kindergarten and grade 1 and three in the 90 minute block in grades 2 and 3. These include:

• interactive read aloud with quality children's books
• shared, choral, echo, & paired reading/writing/performing (I designed a shared reading anthology featuring diverse texts with city emphasis)
• guided literacy group (guided reading, guided phonics, and guided writing) with multicultural texts
• inquiry centers

There will be internal supports (master teachers, principals) and external supports (coaches from my company and myself) along with the eBook guides.  Below are two pages from the 42-page Interactive Read Aloud Guide. In this eBook each of the selected read aloud texts are outlined and include:

1. book introduction
2. vocabulary selection
3. text dependent questions aligned to CCSS [ELA and mathematics]
4. aesthetic questions and engagements designed to invite embodiment of the text. 

What is significant about iBook Author is that it allowed me to embed specific video of excellent teachers doing the teaching work that is described in the guide, along with slideshows, hyperlinks, images and text.  I have been fortunate to have video of great teachers like Michele Damiano and Barbara Cummings teaching.  I am at the stage where I have just uploaded the books via iTunes Producer so that they can be published and then made available for the teachers to download (if the choose) for their use.

Here are some sample pages:

II. Read Aloud & Guided Texts

The read aloud texts selected include:

Kindergarten

• Aruego, Jose.  (2002). Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom. Illustrated by Ariane Dewey. San Diego, CA: Gulliver Books.
• Brenner, Barbara. (1997).  Thinking About Ants (big book format). Illustrated by Carol Schwartz. New York: Mondo Books.
• Collier, Bryan. (2004). Uptown. New York: Henry Holt.
  
• Cotten, Cynthia. (2002). At the Edge of the Woods: A Counting Book. Illustrated by Reg Cartwright. New York: Henry Holt.
• Jenkins, Steve. (2011). Actual Size. New York: Sandpiper.
  
• Thong, Roseanne. (2000). Round as a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes. Illustrated by Grace Lin. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

First Grade

• Burns, Marilyn. (2008). The Greedy Triangle. Illustrated by Gordon Silveria. New York: Scholastic.
• English, Karen. (2004). Hot Day on Abbott Avenue. Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. New York: Clarion Books.
• Lunis, Natalie. (1999). A Closer Look (big book format). New York: Newbridge Educational Publisher.
• Park, Linda Sue.(2009). The Firekeeper's Son. Illustrated by Julie Downing. New York: Sandpiper.
• Winter, Jeanette. (2011). The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps. New York: Schwartz & Wade.
  
• Winter, Jonah. (2011). Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx: La juez que crecio en el Bronx. Illustrated by Edel Rodriguz. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Second Grade

• Chin, Jason. (2009). Redwoods. New York: Flashpoint.
• Claire, Nivola. (2011). Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
• Elya, Susan Middleton. (2006). Home at Last. Illustrated by Felipe Davalos. New York: Lee & Low.
• Guiberson, Brenda. (2009). Life in the Boreal Forest. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. New York: Henry Holt.
• Tate, Bill. (2012). It Jes Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. New York: Lee & Low.

Third Grade

• Alvarez, Julia. (2002). How Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay. New York: Yearling.
  
• Curtis, Christopher Paul. (2004). Bud, Not Buddy. New York: Laurel Leaf.
• Myers, Walter Dean. (2008). Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told.  Illustrated by Bonnie Christensen. New York:
• Pinkney, Davis Andrea. (2000). Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters. Illustrated by Stephen Alcorn. San Diego, CA: Harcourt.
• Weston, Mark. (2008). Honda the Boy Who Dreamed of Cars. Illustrated by Katie Yamasaki. New York: Lee & Low Books.

The linkages between students seeing themselves represented in the text and reading comprehension (Bell & Clark, 1998; Bishop, 1990; ) is well established. So too is the importance of teachers modeling with mentor texts and guided texts that are inclusive (Gangi, 2008; McNair 2008; Scroggins & Gangi, 2004).  The guided literacy and take home to read books were selected with this in mind.

Guided Reading Collection from Lee & Low Books (Text Levels: 1-40)

• Big Cats, Little Cats
• What Do You See at the Pond? 
• How Do I help?  
• What Can Fly? 
• First Day of School 
• Family Picnic 
• This Is My Home
• Batter Up 
• Jump Rope
• What Time is It? 
• Best Friends 
• My Family 
• Laundry Day 
• What a Street 
• We Eat Rice 
• I Play Soccer 
• I Make Clay Pots
• At the Park
• In the Mountains 
• I Need to Ask You Something 
• Block Party
• The Dashiki 
• Ice Cream Money 
• Go Go Gumbo 
• Car Wash 
• Chinatown Adventure 
• Confetti Eggs 
• Living in An Igloo
• The Best Thing 
• Silent Sam
• The Goat Goes to Town
• At the Firehouse with Dad
• Pop Pop and Grandpa
• Surprise Moon 
• Can You Top That? 
• David's Drawings 
• Leo and the Butterflies 
• African Dance: Drumbeat in Our Feet 
• Allie's Basketball Dream 
• Rainbow Joe and Me
• My Steps
• Babu's Song 
• Under the Lemon Moon 
• DeShawn Days 
• Saturday at the New You 
• Strong to the Hoop 
• Richard Wright and the Library Card 
• Abuela's Weave 
• Baseball Saved Us
• Joe Louis, My Champion

Series
Frog & Toad, Jamaica, Carlos, Song Lee, Hey L'il D, Ivy & Bean, Nikki & Deja, Julian, Mice & Beans, Danitra Brown, Dyamonde Daniel, and Koya Delaney

Technology
So the one thing I don't have in place that I know would make a difference would be a handful of iPads/iPod Touches in each classroom with some specific apps that I have used with other children or have seen used.  I am trying to figure out how to get that done--if not across all 16 sites at least at a few sites.  If you have any ideas let me know.


Works Cited 

Bell, Y.R. & Clark, T.R. (1998).  Culutrally relevant radign material as related to comprehension and recall in African American children. Journal of Black Psychology, 24 (4), 455-475.

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6, ix-xi.

Gangi, J. M. (2008). The unbearable whiteness of literacy instruction: Realizing the implications of the proficient reader research. MultiCultural Review, 17(2), 30-35.

McNair, J. C. (2008b). The representation of authors and illustrators of color in school-based book clubs. Language Arts, 85(3), 193-201.

Scroggins, M. J. & Gangi, J. M. (2004). Paul Laurence who? Invisibility and misrepresentation in children’s literature and reading and language arts textbooks. MultiCultural Review, 13(3), 34-43.