Mock Newbery Questions Answered (Part One)

Many of you are so excited to try and start your own Mock Newbery Book Club. But I get, you've got questions! I've been there. Without the help of other teachers, I wouldn't have had the courage to tackle a new book club (and all the reading) this past year! But, I'm here to help (hopefully) and give you the courage to try something new in your classroom or school.

What is Mock Newbery Book Club? Not sure what a Mock Newbery Book Club even is -- don't worry! I've got you covered in a post I wrote as I was figuring everything out last year! Check out the past post {Mock Newbery Book Club} to get you started! That post covers a lot of basics and gives you a lot of resources to start and visualize what a Newbery Book Club could look like for you!

What does Mock Newbery Book Club look like start to finish? How long does everything take? Do you continue reading after the awards in January? I'm going to be honest - Mock Newbery takes some work. There is quite a bit of planning, reading, and organizing that has to happen in order for you to get the club up and running. I tend to stress out - so I probably over plan and organize all the details. However, working with other teachers and utilizing social media can really help ease the burden and stress. Everyone's timeline is going to look a little different. The Newbery Award is announced every January at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference.

So, I started getting ready in January for the next year's Mock Newbery. This includes reading novels published in the new year and having students give input on recently published novels as well. My goal is to have a rough list together by the end of April/May so I can prepare for funding of books and give out a summer list reading to previous book clubbers. Over the summer, I read, read, read. And then read some more to try and read as many of the titles as I can before school starts back. This makes me a better book talker and helps me get the kids excited.

By August, I have a list of books prepared for my new students and we start Mock Newbery in September. We meet September - January. We met about once or twice a month. I set up dates and passed them out to students as bookmarks. We then voted in January on our winner and honor books. Our last official event was watching the awards together LIVE! (or sort of live if you have specials during the time of the awards! But don't worry, they record them and air them by that afternoon so that you can all watch together (sort of) LIVE!) Then the book club is technically over. However, I do ask for reading helpers and experts, to help me read the newest books to start a list for Mock Newbery next school year. I blogged about {Enlisting Expert Readers} in a past post if you want to learn more!

How do you choose books for Mock Newbery? How many books do you choose? There is no set list or number of books. You could easily choose four books or twenty-four books and it'd still be a great experience. You want students to be exposed to new, quality literature. So pick books that can start a conversation or books that have a unique point of view or style. I chose several books last year that I knew kids would LOVE. I knew they may not fit the term "distinguished" to an adult but kids would absolutely love them. Those books such as The Wild Robot and Weekends with Max and his Dad were kid favorites. I also chose books about topics I knew my students could connect with like Finding Perfect. There is no magical list or formula. I literally look at what others are reading and thinking about the Newbery. I also look at star reviews and try and pay attention to the National Book Award as well. The blog Heavy Medal has also really helped me get ideas for books and what to read.

How do I ultimately narrow down my list and pick books? I read. I read a lot. This year, I'm still reading but I also relied on friends on Twitter as well as the Goodreads Mock Newbery Shelf and book discussion group. I also choose books by authors I admire and I know are great at connecting with readers. I've also chosen books that are already released so I could start reading and ordering books NOW. I can always add titles later or give book talks on other great contenders as books are released. Here's my Mock Newbery List (as of now) for 2018.

Lastly before I set my list, I need to make sure books are appropriate. Just because everyone is raving about a certain title, doesn't mean it was meant for fifth graders. So, I ask friends and also try and do some reading on my own. For this current year, my goal is to connect our Mock Newbery with the Reading Without Walls Challenge so I also tried to find more diverse authors, titles, and genres for my students to explore. I tried to be really intentional about the books I chose. Most recommendations were from friends on Twitter and Goodreads.

Here's a peek at my reading list for 2018... 

How do you buy the books? Do kids purchase books? Do you check them out from the library? Buying brand new books is NOT cheap. Therefore some thought and planning does need to go into how you will raise the money to buy the books. A stocked book club could run you about $500 - $700 if you're looking for 2 - 4 copies of each book so that it can be an actual reading club. Last year, I submitted a Donors Choose for all of my book club novels. I did add The Girl that Drank the Moon and Gertie's Leap to Greatness and bought two copies of each with my own money. This year, I was able to get a grant for $500 dollars through my school to fund nearly all the titles on my list. I've also won several ARCs on Twitter giveaways (A Rambler Steals Home, The Someday Birds, and The Ethan I was Before) which give me some extra copies too.

For my remaining titles (books not yet released), I'm going to either write a Donors Choose or set up an Amazon Wishlist for friends, parents, etc. to buy to help support our book club. I'm also hoping that since many of my choices were books published in January/February our local library will have some extra copies come fall. Last year, I was also able to get some audio book copies of The Key to Extraordinary and Pax which also gave access to more readers as they could listen to the books with headphone splitters in the classroom. Teacher Tip: If you're willing to invest some of your own money, check out Half Price Books, Barnes and Noble Market Place, eBay or Thriftbooks for cheaper copies of "older" releases. Often, you can find gently used copies for nearly half the price!

I have never asked kids or parents to purchase books. However, I did have several parents buy books for their kids after reading our Open House letter because the kids were excited to be part of the Mock Newbery Book Club. Many of those students then let other students read their copies once they were finished.

Stay tuned for Part Two tomorrow... 
I'll tackle some questions about checking out books and what to do during meetings!

A Teacher's Wish

This year there seemed to be a common theme in several of the novels we read together - wishing. We analyzed our characaters' wishes and learned: Wishing helps you hope. Wishing doesn't make things come true. Wishing things for others shows you care about them. 

As we read our last read aloud, I Wish You More, together as a team, I began to think about my wishes for my students. Many of my wishes are for the future of my students as many I will not see again for several years if ever again. I want them to have new teachers and experiences that challenge and change them. I hope that some of my wishing on acorns, stars, and flowers will bring my students some good luck in the future.

A Teacher's Wish

To my students

I wish you more
good days than bad.

I wish you more magic
and mischief
than repetition.

I wish you more stories
and love and laughter
than the boredom of being
alone.

I wish you more challenges
than easy answers. 

I wish you more books
than I could ever buy.

I wish for you to stay
readers, creators, and believers
no matter how old. 

Celebrating Our Reading

As the end of the year starts to feel more real, it's important to stop and celebrate all the good that's happened in the year. I know it can be hard with parties and stir crazy students, but it feels amazing to stop and reflect on all the great things happening that just feel routine at this point.

Something, really important in my room is celebrating our reading successes. The initial idea came from Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild. We didn't compare goals because we're all different readers. For some a HUGE reading success was reading 10 books this year, for others it was reading 79, 87 or even 104 books.  We counted any books they wanted. Some students included picture books as well as novels - other kids wanted their count to be strictly novels. I told them that all reading is valuable and worth celebrating - so we did just that.

We took 20 minutes of class time and made our awards (I made one too! I read 61 books this school year) and then we went outside to capture this memory! If I've done my math correctly, we've read over 2,000 books this year! The best part for me is that you can't pick out my students that told me they were non-readers at the beginning of the year - because they are all readers now. Thanks impart to a growing classroom library, Mock Newbery book club and some of my at-times-relentless-crazy book loving nature.

I'll print these as 8x10s and hang them in my classroom next year. I really wish I had started this tradition 11 years earlier. Hopefully, it will become a new tradition of readers celebrating and looking up to other readers. We also had sixth very dedicated readers complete the 40 Book Challenge and step outside their reading comfort zones this year. #BucketFilled

We also wrote Farewell Letters today. Each student wrote a reflection to his/her homeroom teacher. They could reflect on the year, their favorites/not so favorites, and even share their summer plans. These letters were truly heartfelt and amidst the crazy of our party today, it made me realize just how much I'll miss this group of students.

Life Without a Teacher Desk

I know there are only thirteen more days of school but I've been wrestling with an idea all year... Can I live without my teacher desk? Several teachers I know have already #ditchedthedesk this year and haven't stop raving about the space and flexibility it provided. I wanted those things too. But I still wanted my own space in my classroom. I don't sit at my desk very much but I felt like I needed a place to enter grades, check over work and keep my supplies. I'll admit, I was way too scared at the beginning of the year to take the leap.

My teacher desk was big and spacious and made me feel like a teacher... Plus, it was my space.

But alas, last Friday, with only 14 days left of school, I decided to try living life without a desk for just a few days. It would be a trial run. Just a few days to see if I really could completely ditch the desk. I knew I wouldn't have to officially give up my desk (since it can easily roll out into the hallway) and I could see if I could really live the desk free life.

Today was my first full day of being desk free. And I realize --  I have space. Glorious much needed floor space! Students commented about being about to stretch out more and we weren't all on top of each other or the massive furniture. My room has so many possibilities by moving Big Bertha to the hallway. I have room for some small end tables or more seating in the library along with room for two more book shelves! once I'm not sure how I'm going to quite utilize the new found space just yet, but I get myself organized, I'll start making some plans. I can't wait to see how one small change will impact my classroom environment. For now, my home base as I'm calling it is at my small group kidney table. I still have a access to all my supplies and have a space for myself in the classroom. I really wish I would have had the courage sooner.

If the notion of getting rid of your desk is even tickling your teacher brain, try it. Do it. It may not work out - and that's okay. But it's so worth giving it a try. I'm not sure why this little change was so hard but I'm glad the desk is ditched.

#IMWAYR

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

I've been feeling the reading slump lately. I currently don't even have an audiobook which is very uncommon for me. I've been listening to A LOT of podcasts and trying to get myself organized during this end of the year push. Between writing a grant application and trying to get a lists of materials ready for Mock Newbery, I think I'm just feeling restless. Sometimes, you just need the right book at the right time. I think it's important to share these natural breaks in reading with our students. If you're not feeling it - you're not feeling it. It happens even to the most dedicated of readers.

If you enjoyed, The Distance to Home, you'll definitely want to check out Jenn Bishop's newest novel, 14 Hollow Road. This book centers around Maddie, who is trying to find her place as a soon to be seventh grader. She's a very real character that many girls will be identify with as she struggles with friendships and her first crush. To complicate matters, a tornado has hit Maddie's hometown and she's focused to deal with life at a neighbors and the disappearance of her beloved dog, Hank. As someone who experienced a tornado my freshmen year of high school, Maddie's experience brought back memories of seeing the devastation and having so many friends displaced for months. Look for Jenn's book out June 13th!

If you haven't seen this book on social media, you may need to reconsider who you follow! Seriously, this book has been blowing up on Instagram and Twitter. So, when Target had this title on Cartwheel - I was there! One of my absolute favorite picture books of the year! You'll be laughing as Rock, Paper, and Scissors do battle against household objects including dinosaur shaped nuggets! Laugh out loud funny and the perfect read aloud for ANY day!

Josh Funk is a picture book genius! I was singing this book aloud as I read it at home to myself before taking it into my fifth graders. From swabbing the deck to searching for buried treasure it's a pirasaurs life on the high seas. This book is filled with wonderful rhythms that'll make you want to sing this book aloud! Lots of fun word plays make this a great addition to any upper elementary classroom. We're Pirasaurs, Pirasaurs with spiky tails we'll raise the sails and we are never bored! Google the trailer, you'll have the song in your head all day! If you don't know much about Josh or Pirasaurs check out the {Book Trailer} and it's guaranteed to be the best minute of your day!

I could absolutely NOT put The Children of Exile down! #Unputdownable So, needless to say, I was very excited to get to read an ARC of sequel, The Children of Refuge. Refuge follows Edwy's journey from after he and Rosi split up in the woods. I'm enjoying the difference in perspective and voice and it really showcases Haddix's craft as an author. I'm hoping to settle into this book and give it the time it deserves this upcoming week! So far, the cliffhangers are on point! Haddix is the queen of the cliffhanger! Look for The Children of Refuge out September 12th!