Introducing My Summer Reading Scrapbook Featuring What's Mr. Giso Making "Room to Read" Pick #8

I'm really delighted to introduce my summer reading project.  I'm so busy during the school year with teaching grades 1/2 by day and instructing my grads and undergrads by night.  As a result, I try to cram all my reading in over the summer, but last summer that was impossible!  I moved schools (after 15 years of teacher hoarding--you know we all do it), got my Sheltered English Instruction (SEI) endorsement, taught six graduate credits worth of courses AND co-directed a summer reading program.  Whew!

My goal this summer is to take some time for myself to do something I find relaxing.  It's school related, but it's also part of my hobby--reading children's literature.  I'm considering this a "two birds with one stone" kind of deal.  This idea is a double bonus.  It will put all the countless scrap booking supplies I have to use.  They have been collecting dust for years.  I am also playing around with the idea of using this as an assignment in my Children's Literature in the Elementary Grades course this fall.

Our Teaching and Learning Alliance (TLA) coach, Joia, ended our last PD with sharing ways to encourage summer reading for both ourselves and our students.  I was inspired.  She showed us some very neat ways of keeping track of reading in journals, on bulletin boards, etc.  I thought this was a perfect idea.  The reading coach in our school, Shawna, and I have decided to read and log as many books as possible over the summer.  We have started already even though our last day of school is (YIKES) June 25th.  We are sharing and trading books and hope to get a few more colleagues on board.  Each book we read will help us become better teachers and will more importantly, give us the chance to share these books with our students and to incorporate them as possible mentor texts for Reading Workshop.  This is the cover of my journal.  Surprisingly, it's not orange.

Here is the beginning of my Summer Reading Scrapbook.  The first book I read was Esio Trot by Roald Dahl. 

Joia said I had to read it, so I did!  It was adorable and exciting.  I made Alfie the turtle and typed out the turtle chant whispered by Mrs. Silver in order to get her pet to grow.  Because Mr. Hoppy kept a garden, I incorporated some plants along the sides with the word "grow."  Here is the finished product.

After this, I put together a PowerPoint template that I will use to journal some thoughts for each book.  I'd love to attach it for you, but I can't due to the font and border copyrights.  The information I chose to record was, in part, inspired by a wikiHow I came across on Pinterest.  Click HERE for it.  It includes the following.

book number (read):
title (with the book level):
author:
received/recommended by:
number of pages:
genre:
part of a series (or not):
first line (from the book):
last line:
teaching points:
summary, favorite quotes and anything else (on the back):

I plan to store each form in back of my scrapbook page.  Here's a better look.

I'm looking forward to sharing with you my summer reading.  Please leave a comment with a favorite book or two.  Here's my "Room to Read" pick. . .

Esio Trot

By:  Roald Dahl

Illustrated By:  Quentin Blake

This fantasy begins with "Mr. Hoppy living in a small flat high up in a tall concrete building."   He lives above Mrs. Silver (his secret crush).  Retired, Mr. Hoppy tends his garden.  He's lonely and sad.  Afraid to ask Mrs. Silver for tea, he devises a plan to help Mrs. Silver's beloved turtle, Alfie, to grow.  It involves Mr. Hoppy's homemade tortoise-catcher, a secured chant from a tribesman in North Africa and over 140 tortoises!  Whether or not Alfie grows or if Mr. Hoppy confesses his love for Mrs. Silver are revealed by the end.  This book is surprisingly, a quick read.  I read it in one sitting on my back porch.  It's ideal for a few days worth of interactive read aloud in grades two or three and perfect for an opinion writing piece (you will understand this if you have read it).  This book is definitely all you would expect from Roald Dahl!