For Teachers

How do I motivate students outside the classroom?

By on June 5, 2020   /   Articles, Common Core & NGSS, Curriculum Tie-in, For Librarians, For Teachers, Teacher Tips  

Distance learning took many teachers by storm.

With the advent of Covid19, teaching went from being in front of a classroom of students to being behind a computer with periods of facetime. The magic of the classroom and active student engagement was gone. Every teacher was faced with the same question. “How do I motivate students outside the classroom?”

Before I describe the following Harry Potter contest, imagine using other books you’d like to feature. How could you incorporate a biography? A STEAM book? Historical Fiction? Think how this system could work in your own classroom between students, between classrooms within the grade level teams, or between grade levels in the same school. Have fun. Think outside the box.

Our school librarian was concerned that our students would opt for entertainment games instead of reading a good book. She and the other librarians in our school district came together and created a Harry Potter Contest. The contest was designed to be a competition between schools.

After creating the different elements of the contest, the librarians designed a website with weekly instructions and a leaderboard featuring house points. Before the contest began, the librarians sorted the schools into houses. My school was sorted into Hufflepuff.

(As a side note, we just finished the contest and it was a HUGE success. Students were engaged, books were read, lively conversations took place, and best of all, the schools came together in a friendly reading competition. Oh, and Hufflepuff won!)

Harry Potter Contest

Week One

  1. Reply to your Hogwarts invitation letter via electronic owl (Google Form)

Prompt positive responses are worth 5 pts; late responses will still be accepted, but will only be worth 1 pt.)

  1. Access a copy of the first Harry Potter book. The audiobook is currently available to stream for free online (in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Japanese) from Audible Stories; and the ebook is free on Amazon for Amazon Prime members (please talk to your parent/guardian for assistance).
  2. Take a picture of yourself reading/listening to the first Harry Potter book (worth 1 pt). Submit to your house email box.

Week Two

  1. Read Chapters 1-4
  2. Find out what wand you would get by taking this quiz
  3. Design your own wand or Arm yourself with a wand such as a chopstick, stick, or pencil. Post a pic with a sign showing your quiz results (worth 5 pts). Submit your results to your house email box.
  4. Take the Ch 1-4 Trivia Quiz (Teacher created Google Form) Your answers must be submitted by noon on (TBA). Participation is worth 10 pts. The winner from each House will battle the other Houses in a Trivia Match. Extra points will be awarded to the house that wins.

Week Three

  1. Read Chapters 5-8
  2. Show your House spirit by making a House bookmark. Post a pic of you using your new bookmark (worth 10 pts)
  3. 3. Ch 5-8 Trivia Quiz Your answers must be submitted by noon on (TBD date). Participation is worth 10 pts. The winner from each House will battle the other Houses in a Trivia Match. Extra points will be awarded to the house that wins.

Week Four

  1. Read Chapters 9-13
  2. Create your Patronus animal out of origami
    • Dog (easy)
    • Cat (easy)
    • Horse (that flips) (medium)
    • Bird (that flaps) (medium)
    • Snake (medium)
    • Rabbit (medium)
    • Fox (not hard, per se, but has more steps to it)
    • Phoenix (not hard, per se, but has more steps to it)
    • Mouse/Rat (doable, but slightly tricky at times)

Share a pic of your Patronus (worth 15 pts)

  1. Chapters 9-13 Trivia Quiz. Your answers must be submitted by noon on (TBD date). Participation is worth 10 pts. The winner from each House will battle the other Houses in a Trivia Match. Extra points will be awarded to the house that wins.

Week Five

  1. Read Chapters 14-17
  2. Make something for the Hogwarts end-of-year feast (for some inspiration, click here)
  3. Take a pic of your food/beverage for the virtual banquet table (worth 20 pts) Submit to your house email box.
  4. Ch 14-17 Trivia Quiz Your answers must be submitted by (TBA) to be in the running to compete in the Trivia Cup Final against the other Houses; the winner from each House will battle the other Houses in the Trivia Cup Final held at (TBA) with questions from the whole book.

    The winning school wins the HOUSE CUP!

    The winner is awarded the right to display the HOUSE CUP for one year, until the next competition.

 

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The Most Important Thing About Children’s Books: For Readers and Writers During COVID-19

By on May 20, 2020   /   Articles, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, News, Writing, Writing  

Last night, my son asked for something extraordinary. He requested I read him a goodnight story. From my shelves, I pulled out a picture book, The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco. At first glance, this might not seem that unusual.

Except my son is a ninth grade, a newly minted 15-year-old, and I couldn’t more proud. He wasn’t afraid to ask for what he needed– the comforting ritual of a bedtime story read aloud by a parent. He wasn’t embarrassed. His ears didn’t pinken. This wouldn’t have happened pre-COVID. Well, it would have but like six or seven years ago.

This was not an isolated incident.

My oldest son, who graduated from college last year and is a software engineer for a celebrated car company, is back home and after reading some non-fiction, picked up The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman. My son had first read this very book and the rest of His Dark Materials series when he was ten. He said he relished re-reading it even more because “there was so much that I didn’t understand” the first-time round.

My middle son, a 20-year-old, and college sophomore has been asking for back rubs after sitting in his chair digesting his third Zoom class for the day. He also has been introducing us to some of his favorite board games.

In fact, all three of my sons have asked that we play family games at least once a week. Our favorite is definitely Exploding Kittens, which is silly, involves a little strategy and a lot of luck.

I’m not trying to glorify sheltering-in-place. It’s been, at times, incredibly stressful and full of grief. Two of my students have lost their grandparents. Three of my students have been hospitalized. Childhood friends are struggling to recover from COVID-19. My youngest son may have had COVID-19 for a month in March, but at the time we couldn’t get him tested. But I don’t need to tell you of all this woe. We’ve all experienced heartbreak in one form or another, collective grief and loss in many forms.

So I’m really trying not to be a Pollyanna.

But I do feel like COVID-19 has helped me put priorities and values into sharper focus.

Health. Wow. That’s important.

Friends. Community. Books. All Vital.

And it’s clearer than ever before that children’s books are not just for one particular life period. And reading aloud shouldn’t have to stop when you’ve graduated from the HarperCollins I Can Read Level 4. Nope. The pleasure of children’s books are for every season of life. The idea, for example, that you read middle grade just when you’re 8-12 is merely a state of mind.

And as creators of children’s books, it’s especially imperative to embrace this perspective.

Next month, starting on June 15, I’ll be teaching Middle Grade Mastery, a four-week interactive, remote course for the The Children’s Book Academy with Rosie Ahmed (Penguin Random House/Dial Books) and Mira Reisberg (Clearfork/Spork). It’s a class I’ve taught for several years now, and one that I love. We focus on craft and mentor texts. But this year, I plan to remember what I’ve learned from this sheltering in-place. I want to emphasis more reading aloud at any age. And to remember that no one is ever too old for children’s books; they open hearts and minds, pose and answers questions, as well as (perhaps most importantly right now) mend and delight the spirit.

Hillary Homzie is the author of the Ellie May chapter book series (Charlesbridge, 2018), Apple Pie Promises (Sky Pony/Swirl, 2018), Pumpkin Spice Secrets (Sky Pony/Swirl, 2017), Queen of Likes (Simon & Schuster MIX 2016), The Hot List (Simon & Schuster MIX 2011) and Things Are Gonna Be Ugly (Simon & Schuster, 2009) as well as the Alien Clones From Outer Space (Simon & Schuster Aladdin 2002) chapter book series. She’s also a contributor to the new Kate the Chemist middle grade series (Philomel Books/Penguin Random House 2020). During the year, Hillary teaches at Sonoma State University and in the summer she teaches in the graduate program in childrens’ literature, writing and illustration at Hollins University. She also is an instructor for the Children’s Book Academy. She can be found at hillaryhomzie.com and on her Facebook page as well as on Twitter.

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Journaling in the Time of Covid-19

By on May 11, 2020   /   Articles, COVID-19, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, Homeschool Resource  

Six months ago if someone had told me I’d be writing a blog post titled “Journaling in the Time of Covid-19” I would have said, “What’s Covid-19?”

We could all start sentences that way now… “Six months ago, if someone had told me…”

“… schools would be closed for months…”

“… I would not see my parents for months …”

“…. Zoom would be part of everyday life…”

“… a mask would be part of my wardrobe…”

“… people would run out of (WHAT?!) toilet paper…”

Times are rapidly changing and that means we are all having new and unforeseen experiences. There’s no better time than now to be journaling. I have written in diaries and journals off and on since this date:

Friday, June 13, 1975 – I’m nine years old. I got my diary today. I should have gotten it on the 1st of January. But then I never even wanted one.

Not long ago, I shared the following story in a Facebook post:

In February of 1977, I was a fifth grader in Westerville, Ohio when the Energy Crisis coincided with weeks of unusually cold weather. Today I found this diary entry from that very strange winter. We were out of school for two weeks and when we returned, we could not go back to our own buildings. Instead, the district utilized the newest buildings with electric heat, and closed the older ones with big fuel oil furnaces. So we went to school half a day, every other day, in order to allow four elementary schools to use the same building. I don‘t recall how long that lasted. I do recall how unsettled I felt.

Okay, here you go. Straight from the mouth of fifth grade me:

Feb. 1, 1977 – No fair! I really don’t think it’s right. For the past month there has been a gas shortage. It’s awful. The weather is down to 20 degrees below zero and sometimes the chill factor is between 40 and 50 below. Our heat is down to 60 degrees inside. School has been closed for 8 days. Don’t people realize children NEED schooling? More than 1,000 workers are laid off. This is a mixed-up world and I wonder if I have to grow up in such a crazy place.

No photo description available.

Some of my memories of that winter are fuzzy. Some are crystal clear. I remember sitting in someone else’s desk at someone else’s school building. I was glad my teacher was the one standing in the front of the room, and I was happy that my friends were sitting in the desks around me.

I’m really glad I was keeping a diary during that unusual time in my childhood.

Parents, teachers, librarians, anyone with a young person in their life: Gift a child a blank notebook, an empty journal, or even a diary with a lock and key. Tell them to fill the pages.

“With what?” they will most certainly ask. “With words,” tell them. “With words only you can write.”

Then, help them out with this list of questions that pertain to our current world situation.

Do you miss going to school the usual way?

What do like about having school online?

What’s the best thing about staying at home most of time?

What’s the worst thing about staying at home most of the time?

How do you feel about wearing a mask in public places?

Who do you know that has gotten Covid-19?

Are you worried about getting sick? Are you worried about someone you love getting sick?

What do you think it’s like for people in other countries?

What activities have you missed because of the pandemic? How did you feel about missing them?

What have you done to stay busy while at home?

Who do you miss spending time with?

What is different about the grocery store now? The library? The movie theater? The playground? The street where you live? How you and your family go places?

Journal prompts on many general topics are easily found online. Hopefully, they’ll want to write about more than just life in the time of Covid-19. And, hopefully, like me, they’ll find that journaling is fun.

Here’s a bit from Day 2 of my diary-keeping life, 1975 (third grade grammar and all!)

Sat. June 14, 1975 – Lisa doesn’t no how personal a diary is. She wants to no what I write. But, Mom had a talk with her. We staked tomato’s in the garden. The second night I’ve written in my diary – it’s fun! Jackie’s got 10 pups and a knew calf!

Who knows? Forty-five years from now, your youngster could be reading from their first journal. All they need to get started is a nudge from someone who cares. (Thanks to Mom for giving me my first diary and apologies for calling out sister Lisa, who was only a first-grader at the time.)

 

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