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Let’s talk about culture. I’m not talking about the stuff microbiologists have in those plastic petri dishes…I’m talking about the common values and beliefs of a community.

I was curious about the culture that we live in and looked up the top trends on Google. These are the top 10 results that were trending this past year: Meghan Markle, Celebrities, Hurricane Irma, NFL National Anthem, Unicorn Frappuccino, How to Make Slime, NY Yankees, DACA, Bitcoin, and the iPhone.

While this is by no means a scientific study, it does shed a little light on our values, what interests us, and what is important to us as a country.

The one thing that I didn’t see was a book. In American culture today, reading has taken a backseat. And, it’s not just Google telling us this.

Americans don’t read in school. According to a recent Scholastic survey, only about ⅓ of classroom teachers reported that they allocated independent reading time during the school day. Most educators cite “the demands of the curriculum” as a reason why they do not have students read independently in the classroom.

We don’t read at home. According to a Common Sense Media study, kids read for fun less and less as they older. By the time they reach the end of high school, nearly half of 17 year olds report that they read by choice only once or twice a year.

And, we don’t read as adults. According to a study by the National Endowment for the Arts, nearly half of adults (18-44 year olds surveyed) report that they read no books for pleasure.

While we can’t force adults to read, I am here to say that we can make a difference in the reading lives of our students. And, hopefully, instill the love of reading and learning that will carry them into adulthood.

How can we do this? What strategies can we use to instill the love of reading in our students? We need to go back to the idea of culture.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Peter Drucker said this when he wrote about management and leadership in the business world. What he meant was that you can have 1000 new strategies to improve a business but if you don’t have a culture that allows the strategies to thrive in your organization, the strategies are worthless.

We applied this thinking to our school. Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

With this in mind, we focused on the reading culture in our school.

A few years ago, after being inspired by the work of Donalyn Miller and Steven Layne, a group of us at Barrett Ranch Elementary School (home of the Broncos!) decided to do something about reading in our school. We noticed that our kids were doing well learning the fundamentals- which says a lot about our RTI program because 50% of our students are English Language Learners and 70% of our students are socioeconomically disadvantaged (receive free or reduced price lunches). We have many students who come to us from another country not speaking a single word of English. I am constantly amazed at the growth that some kids show as the school year progresses. However, we also noticed that, for many students, progress became stagnant and they didn’t get to more advanced levels in reading proficiency. We had students who were considered “long term” English Learners because they stayed at intermediate levels of English proficiency for many years. When we delved into the data and looked for answers through the research community, we ultimately came to the conclusion that there were several factors creating this dilemma. First, the general lack of background knowledge was hurting our students in reading comprehension (see my earlier post on Building Background Knowledge). In addition, we saw that students needed more work on building academic language and vocabulary. Finally, we realized that they just didn’t have enough practice reading. They didn’t read more than what was required. They didn’t want to read more. Who would blame them? Their reading experiences came from small workbooks that drilled into them the foundational skills. While these skills are so important in learning how to read proficiently, I’ve never seen any student rush home to finish reading their page on sounding out C-V-C words.

We thought that if we could only get kids to want to read more, half the battle would be won. The research on independent reading, choice and volume is vast (see my video on Independent Reading). So we looked at our reading culture.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

We formed the “Spark the Fire” Committee (named in honor of Steven Layne’s book Igniting the Passion for Reading) to start a campaign we called, “BRONCOS READ…” The sole purpose of this campaign was to come up with ways to get kids (and adults) excited about books- reading books, talking about books. To start to build that culture of reading. In the next few posts, I will detail the activities and ideas that help build our reading culture. From the 40 Book Challenge to collaborating with local businesses to create eight reading lounges on campus, reading became a priority. We have made it fun for kids and adults. It’s been several years now and we have made great strides in building that culture of reading and the love of literacy. A lot has happened since our first “Spark the Fire” meeting. We even got the 2018 Exemplary Reading Program Award from the International Literacy Association a few weeks ago!

We have an extraordinary staff. We all come from different places when it comes to our own reading lives. I come from the perspective of learning to read English as a second language. Reading books was a way for me to learn about a new culture that was different than that of my Vietnamese roots. Kendra Barrett fell in love with books as a young child listening to her mom reading aloud Mary Poppins. Sadly, she lost that love in school but rediscovered it in college reading Homer’s Odyssey. Karina Almanza’s love for reading was instilled by her farm worker grandparents who had no formal education and struggled to become self taught readers. She is a witness to the positive impact reading can provide in creating opportunities for children and families.

Whatever our perspective, we know one thing to be true. Reading has changed our lives for the better and we want this for our students. And I believe that if our school can do it, your school can do it, too. You, too, have an extraordinary staff. No ordinary group of people has the audacity to believe that it can change the world by educating the next generation of citizens. Sometimes, we educators just need to remind ourselves of this. Everyone has their own reading perspective or story and can articulate how reading has made an impact on their life. There is great power in this realization because many of our own stories are reflected in our student’s lives and backgrounds.

So where do you start? There’s no magic in this. You just start. You start with a little passion and desire to ignite a fire for reading. To empower others through literacy. To build a culture in which reading is celebrated and valued.

And remember always, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

A few weeks ago, one of my teachers, Jennifer DeBortoli, gave me a copy of a book titled, A Different Pond by Bao Phi. She left it on my desk with a note that just said, “Don- I think you’ll like this book”. She was wrong. I loved this book.

A Different Pond is a story about a young Vietnamese American boy who wakes up in the wee hours of the morning to go fishing with his dad. They go early because his dad has a second job to go to later that morning. They fish because, “Everything in America costs a lot of money” and they are recent refugees in a new country. They fish, not for fun but for survival. The book shows a family unit that works together to make ends meet. Already looking exhausted, mom and dad are both headed off to work and leave the kids to take care of one another later in the morning. At dinnertime, the family reunites and gathers around the table. They tell funny stories, talk about their day and homework, and eat some rice and fish.

When I was a young kid in school, I would’ve loved to have read a story about other Vietnamese people. To be honest, I would’ve loved to have read anything remotely close to representing any Asian American experience. The only time during school we read about Asians or Asian Americans was the chapter in social studies when we learned about World War II or the Japanese Internment. That was usually about a page…and these weren’t even the stories that celebrated my culture or history. Far too often, we neglect to tell the stories of the people who make up our schools and communities. When we do that, we are sending the message that you are not as important as others, that you live in the margins of the mainstream…that your story is not worth being told.

After reading A Different Pond, it took me a while to process what this story meant to me as a reader, a Vietnamese American reader. I connected with the characters in ways that I’m not sure I can explain. But, here’s my shot at it:

I knew exactly what the boy felt like waking up early in the morning, excited to spend some time with his father, and hoping to contribute to the dinner table. I remember fishing with my family. I remember the red and white floaters, the excitement of catching a fish. I remember those times as part of the joys of childhood, not so much the struggle.

This book reminded me that my story is forever weaved together with that of my parents. I reflected on my parents’ refugee experience- a journey to a new and unknown country to escape war and persecution. I can’t imagine the fear but marvel at the courage to learn a new language and culture. I look at family pictures from our first few years in America and can see the exhausted looks on the faces of my mom and dad and am reminded of the beautiful illustrations from the book (Thi Bui is the amazing illustrator of A Different Pond). The bags under the eyes of the mom and dad in the book depict more than characters who are tired from their daily struggles. To a reader who has lived it, they represent sacrifice, perseverance, and hope for a brighter future.

If you have a hard time understanding my perspective (of course not everyone shares my history and background), indulge me a bit and imagine you taking your family away to live in a country that is very different from America. You live in this foreign land for decades and your kids go to school there. They learn the new language and adopt the new culture. You are a citizen of this new country now but you still have your American roots. You look different and, in some ways, you are different. Everything’s good except there are not books or stories about Americans who live in your new country. No stories about Thanksgiving or the celebrations that may reflect your past (or present). No stories that include people who look like you or share your experiences. Would you start to feel less important in that society?

The picture above is with one of my students- Colin. He’s one of our few Vietnamese American students. He’s in Ms. DeBortoli’s class and after she read aloud A Different Pond to the class last week, Colin said to her, “I can’t believe they said Vietnam. That’s where my family came from. I just loved it”. Decades later, we are still looking to see ourselves represented in American culture…to see ourselves in the stories that make our country great.

This is why diverse books are important- not only because they make us feel important but because they make us important.

Colin and I just started our Vietnamese American Book Club today.

I’m a big sports fan. I love Bay Area sports. The San Francisco Bay Area. The Warriors. The A’s and Giants. My football team is the 49ers (even though that’s hard to say these last few seasons).

In football, before most plays, the players gather around and plan the offensive attack. This is called the huddle. It’s usually a quick preview of what the play is, who’s doing what, and what to look out for. I’m introducing the Two Minute Huddle in my Read Alouds to do just that- to plan for the play. And of course, the play is the reading of the story. Is there vocabulary that may need explained? Any things to look for or be aware of in the story? It’s just a way to prepare kids for the reading so that they get the most out of the story.

In the new book by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown, Creepy Pair of Underwear, Jasper Rabbit overcomes his fear of a pair of ghoulish and greenish underwear. I decided to make this my next video read aloud, my first since the summer, but felt the need to include some way to help kids understand some of the vocabulary better. In the Two Minute Huddle, I break down the word “Ghoulish” and then explain them the suffix “ish”. They will see this in the book so, in a way, we’re planning for the story in our huddle. Hopefully, when they see it in the book, they understand it better AND the ideas are reinforced through the reading.

We can do Two Minute Huddles to help preview any reading in the classroom. And, we should! Imagine football players going out and playing without the huddle before each play! There’d be a lot of confusion. The same goes for reading. The huddle doesn’t have to be very long. In fact, it shouldn’t be a lengthy lesson at all. It’s a short preview- keeping their attention on the reading at hand.

Check out the new read aloud of Creepy Pair of Underwear and the Two Minute Huddle here:

The Two Minute Huddle basics:

• Quick preview of vocabulary, essential ideas in the story and/or introduces background knowledge
• Shouldn’t be longer than a few minutes!
• Helpful to struggling students, English Learners…really, it should be helpful to all students!
• Use of graphics, images is helpful to struggling learners when learning about new vocabulary or ideas.
• Make it fun and interesting!
• It can be done in the classroom or at home when reading a story to your child.

Planting the seed for change. A few weeks ago, I talked to my students about how it only takes one person to make a difference in the world…one person who cares enough to solve a problem and help others.

I introduced to them a man named Jadav Peyang from India.

Most people have never heard of him but he is known as the Forest Man of India. He started planting trees by hand in 1979 after a heat wave and monsoon wiped out the natural habitat of his village. He was a young kid back then and asked the elders what he could do to help protect the animals and the people from these disasters. “Is there something we can do to help fix this problem?” The elders answered, “Of course, there’s always something we can do.” They gave him some bamboo shoots for planting to provide shade for the animals and protect the land from erosion. Jadav planted the bamboo shoots. And he has planted every day since.

At 47 years old, Jadav has not stopped planting. Today, there is a forest bigger than the size of New York’s Central Park. Jadav’s forest is over 1360 acres today! Now, the animals are back and the erosion has decreased. He is a reminder to us- adults and kids- that one person can make a difference in the world. I hoped that my students would understand this idea and be inspired by this story.

Change blooms. As educators, we hope that our students learn something from our lessons. One afternoon, I was walking through a classroom (Ms. Almanza’s) and noticed some kids working on their computers, discussing a plan to help the people affected by the devastating hurricanes in Texas and Florida. It was a part of a class project but they wanted to see if they could do more. They asked me if they could actually do a fundraiser at school and send the money to a charity to help the victims. I immediately thought about Jadav asking the village elders and responded to them, “Of course, there’s always something we can do”.

Allie, Manmeet, Leuel, Andrey, and Ms. Almanza

Not only did they come up with a flyer that they posted throughout our campus and sent home to parents, they took care of the little details. They made announcements, bought candy for donors, prepared envelopes for teachers, made a video, and even went on a morning radio show to do promote their efforts.

These students have raised almost $2000 to help the victims of the hurricanes. They’ve also inspired others to do the same. Our teachers are now talking about donating our Scholastic dollars and bonus points to help other schools hit by the hurricanes.

Just like Jadav, these students remind us that one person (in this case, four people) can make a world of difference.

Click here for the video that Allie, Manmeet, Leuel, and Andrey made.

Click here for a link to an award-winning documentary about The Forest Man of India.

The Journey Trilogy, by Aaron Becker, starts with the book, Journey, and takes us on a magical odyssey with a lonely girl who finds adventure, whimsy, and redemption through kindness and loyalty. Her magical red writing instrument allows her to draw a door to a new world where she saves a beautiful bird from captivity, only to be caged herself. Her feathered friend repays her kindness and becomes a companion on her future adventures…In the next book, Quest, the girl, the bird and a new friend have an adventure when they meet a king who is captured and taken away through a magical door. They begin the adventure by drawing keys to that door and entering enemy territory to help save the king. Their new adventure requires them to solve a colorful puzzle. How will they save the king from the enemy? In the third book of the trilogy, Return, the girl is followed into the magical world by her father. He joins her in an attempt to save the king and her friend, both of whom have been captured by enemy soldiers. Will they be able to help their friends and collect all the colors of magical writing instruments?

As you read the descriptions of the three books in this marvelous trilogy, you may not realize that these books do not have written words in them. I repeat, there are no words to read in these books. 

So why did we choose the Journey Trilogy for a theme of a reading lounge if none of the books have words to read in them? Here are a few of our reasons:

1. Travel to another world. The three books in the trilogy: Journey, Quest, and Return remind us what good books can do for us. Good books can take us to a different world. Whether it is a magical kingdom behind a red door or a certain place and time in history, good books take us on adventures in worlds that we may never have a chance to visit. These three books do just that, even without a single word.
2. Exercise imagination. Reading requires us to use our imagination. A picture book without words requires us to use imagination, also. It requires us to make connections with our thoughts and language. This is a literacy skill. We don’t know exactly what the girl is using to draw with- is it a crayon, a marker, a pen? We are required to imagine what it is and fill in the details. Throughout the stories, we are allowed to imagine what other things are possible. Where did the purple bird come from? What is it like in the box of trapped colors?
3. Develop literacy skills. Using pictures to connect to the story (in this case, make the story) is a critical skill in reading. Students learn from early on that they need to use pictures as context clues. We “read” the pictures with kids first before they read the words themselves in order to connect them with the written story. In addition, pictures help emerging readers develop important literacy skills as they work on comprehension and predicting. As adults, we use the same skills when reading a newspaper, reading an online story or reading instructions to put together a piece of Ikea furniture. Using pictures as context clues is a lifelong skill.
4. Art appreciation. Picture books help develop an appreciation for art. Do you remember some of your favorite childhood books? What images do they conjure up for you? Most of us can still appreciate the whimsy of a Dr. Seuss illustration or the sweet pictures of Charlotte, Wilbur, and Fern by Garth Williams. Picture books are often times the first exposure children have to the world of art. And we believe that reading and art go hand in hand in enriching the lives of children and adults!

Introducing the Journey Trilogy Reading Lounge…

This reading lounge could not have been completed without the dedication of 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Kendra Barrett. In collaboration with the Reading Lounge Committee and funding from our PTA and the Winn Foundation, Ms. Barrett and her family spent countless hours planning, designing, building, painting, and creating a magical space for kids to read. If you’ve read the Journey Trilogy, you may feel like you were thrown into one of the pages upon your visit to this reading lounge.

Below is a photo of the man who made this possible! Jack (Ms. Barrett’s dad) spent days and days recreating the magical forest of Journey. Thanks Jack- you’re a Brilliant Bronco!!!!

More about the author/illustrator Aaron Becker

Aaron Becker has created a magical world in which we are all lucky to be able to visit. Check out his website: http://www.storybreathing.com/

Want him to visit your school? He can’t visit everyone but he’s made himself available to all schools (virtually)! Here’s a free author’s visit on  http://www.storybreathing.com/free-virtual-school-visit/

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go”. – Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss was selected as the theme for our second reading lounge. Our team of first grade teachers and parents really did a great job putting this all together. Again, Ikea of West Sacramento helped with the design and donated all of the furniture. OSH donated the paint and supplies.

For this lounge, we had a special “reveal” for kids on live TV. This room was covered up and students did not have access to it for a couple of weeks. We wanted the first time kids saw the room to be recorded on live TV. Good Day Sacramento, a local morning show, came out and featured this reading lounge. They recorded a few segments and one was the actual “reveal” of the lounge to students. For some reason, we could not locate that clip. If you are curious to know how the kids reacted to seeing this lounge for the first time, it could be described as “shocked and excited”.  We do have the introductory segment. Check it out here.