Polar Bears and Holes

Another quote from the student who always keeps me laughing:

"Miss H, pull up a picture of an all-white polar bear."

"Honey, all polar bears are all white."

"No, I mean the ones that eat fish and walk."

"Honey, ALL polar bears eat fish and walk."

"No, but not the ones that are black and white and brown."

"Those are pandas and brown bears. That's different than a polar bear."


Why are kids saying these things in seventh grade?
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The seventh grade team has decided to read the book "Holes" during our daily 30 minute literacy period, since we ordered a grade level set last year with all the teacher resources and never used them. I am SO excited to get to switch gears for a bit. I have always loved reading, and my kids and I are already having tons of fun.

My literacy block is with my last period of the day. They are my lowest class, and many of them do not enjoy reading because they struggle with it so much. I knew I would have to break out the bells and whistles to get them excited about the book, especially since it's going to be a lengthy unit. So I hyped it up real big. It's all about modeling, right? I acted ridiculously excited so that they would have no choice but to follow my example.

I awed them with the "brand-spankin'-new" copies of the books, holding them up Vanna White style and hyping up the fact that each of them was assigned a book that would become theirs for the unit. I called them up to receive their new book in a tone that rivaled the announcer of the Price Is Right...."Number 19...Johhhhnnnnnyyyyyy!!! COME GET YOUR BOOK!" The kids were just staring at me, not quite sure of what to make of me. I mean, I've been silly before, but this was just pure crazy. One of the kids said it felt like winning the lottery. BINGO.

When each student had their book, I made them smell the pages, then open them very slowly close to their ears to hear them "sing" to them (I, of course, was making the sound effects as we cautiously opened the books, then shut them quickly so as not to let too much of the book's soul out at once). We held the books with both hands above our heads, and on the count of three, we raised the roof and yelled, "WHAT WHAT!" And then, finally, we started reading. I have the audio version, so we listened to the first 2 chapters and followed along with the book. I could see the kids watching me for my reactions as we read, and I totally overdid it. Then, lo and behold, one of my most disruptive students shouted out, "HEY! There's a vocabulary word!" as the Male Voice was in the middle of a sentence in chapter 1. We devised a new system so that whenever they heard a vocabulary word, which we had studied leading up to the book, they would give me a thumbs up. Every single kid in the classroom was following along with the book. It was nothing short of amazing. When Chapter 2 was over and we still had 10 minutes left of class, they wanted to keep going. So we read Chapter 3.

And here is my favorite part of the literacy block. Normally, after we've finished whatever we're working on, we do this little stomp-stomp-clap-clap-"PANTHERS!" routine that the kids love. On Fridays, we switch it up to yell "FRIDAY!" And some days, when I'm feeling extra sassy, we say "YOU KNOW!". But today, one of the girls raised her hand and said, "Miss H, can we do stomp-stomp-clap-clap-HOLES!" instead?

Um, YES WE CAN.

I am so stinkin' excited for literacy period tomorrow. I made the kids color-coded bookmarks so they could tell which book was theirs, and I've created a sacred space in my cabinet to store our class set of books. I am praying that they will bother me about reading before literacy begins, and that we can harness as much excitement for the book as we did today. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and success after those kids left the classroom today, and even though it had nothing to do with math, I couldn't be happier.

If any reading teachers have advice on activities you do with book studies, how you read the books together, etc., please share! I'm new to this!