Joline Andrews

Snow Treasure Book Club Reflections

Session: 4/11/16
This session we did an icebreaker and spent some time getting to
know each other. We also created a contract for our time together. We
spent the rest of the session learning about Norway and World War II.
I was overall very pleased with how well our first session went.
The thing that stuck out the most to me was the level of excitement
the students had, and how this came out whenever I asked a question.
When making our contract, a few of them discussed ideas of listening
when other people are talking and making sure to take turns. They
agreed that this was important, and this was part of being respectful,
which was the one rule in their classrooms. Although this was an
agreed upon rule, whenever I asked a question, one of the students
would blurt an answer. Another one would raise her hand but make
oo, oo! noises. The other two would raise their hands and wait
quietly.
The student who kept blurting would apologize and say, I keep
doing that! which shows that she was conscious of her action and
knew that she shouldnt be doing that. After the first time she did it, I
looked at her and she immediately knew why. The next time, when
someone else was trying to answer, she blurted something and I
looked at her again and she apologized. I didnt have to take any more
action than that, although she did still start to blurt a few times before
catching herself.
While it wasnt too much of a problem this time, I would like to keep
monitoring it and have a plan in place in case it becomes more of an
issue. I know its easier to set the expectation now than it will be to try
to fix the behavior later. I want to make sure that each student feels as
though they have a chance to share, and that this student isnt the
only one answering because she blurts out what shes thinking before

the others have a chance. Im thinking I could either have an object

that they get to hold when they talk, or I can make sure to use names
before asking a question so they know who will be answering. I know
that sometimes I can say their names before I ask a question, but in
this context I was just trying to gather information about what they
knew, so I felt like it would have been too much pressure to ask each
student individually what they knew about Norway and World War II.
There are times its just nice to have a discussion and to let each
student think about an answer and not specify that the question is just
for one student, as the other students might not be critically thinking
about how they would answer that question since they know they wont
have to. I think that at the beginning of the next session we will review
our contract, and I might point that one out as being one of the more
difficult ones to follow, as we get so excited to share the thins that we
know and are thinking about.
I will also be curious to see if there will be a different dynamic next
time, as one of my five students was absent this time. It will be
interesting to try to catch her up on what we have done so far and see
how her presence affects the group. We will need to review the
contract we made together so she knows the expectations, and give
her a brief summary of what weve discovered about Norway and
World War II so far.

Session: 4/18/16
This session reviewed what we had learned last time since one of
our students was missing. We then discussed vocab, read and
discussed chapter 1, and read chapter 2.

I was shocked at how quickly the time went this week. I did not
have enough time to get through the three chapters I had planned on
finishing. It was a really good eye-opener about how little time we
actually have to read, let alone do other things. I dont feel like I spent
that much time doing other activities, so Im actually a bit worried
about how were going to manage to read the whole book and have
any time for anything else higher order thinking questions, activities,
etc! Im glad that all of my students were there this week, so I wont
have to review a whole session next time, even though I think I only
spent a little more than five minutes reviewing, and that included
asking the students what they know about the book. I realized as I was
going through that my lesson seemed a bit choppy, so I actually didnt
even follow it the way it was written. I made it shorter and I still didnt
have time to get through everything. We spent one minute writing
names on folders,
I spent maybe another five minutes asking the students about
their sledding experiences. I hate to cut that kind of thing out, because
I feel like it helps them to visualize and make connections. Maybe next
time I do something like this, though, I could have them visualize it in
their heads all at the same time instead of letting each person share
individually.
I really need to think about which things are adding value
because time is so precious. I guess Im not sure what value I will add
by making a list of characters. I would like to have a quick, onesentence summary written after each chapter so the students can
remember what happened. I think my biggest time hog was having the
students write down questions. I wanted them to read with a purpose,
so I told them to look for words they didnt know or things they didnt
understand, and they could write down questions. We probably spent
too much time answering those questions, but I actually really enjoyed
listening to them and clarifying things. I was really impressed with

some of the questions and how they led to the students making
predictions without me even prompting them. The other biggest use of
time was when I turned it over to my group and had them take turns
reading. Two of the readers are quite slow, so it took way longer to
read than I had anticipated, which meant we didnt get to chapter
three. I only did the first two vocab words, and even though I didnt
spend a long time on them, I still feel like it took the students awhile to
write them down and draw pictures. Im not entirely sure how to fix
that, as I think that the vocab work is important.
All in all I am excited about the students and what we have done
so far, but this session was a good lesson in making sure each minute
is productive. I need to make sure that each thing we do is adding
value, and that it isnt taking too long. At the same time I want to be
sure Im not glossing over important things and chances for deeper
understanding. This is going to be very difficult and take some careful
planning, especially because Im already behind where I wanted to be.
Session: 4/20/16
This session we briefly stated what has happened in the book so
far. We then discussed vocab and read chapters 3-5 in various ways.
I had the students read in partners for the first time this session.
I was prepared to pair the students up in a way that would put a
stronger reader reading with a lower reader, and it just so happened
that they sat down in that way, so I just had them read with the person
next to them. Because I have five students, I partnered with one of
them. Of course, my student and I finished first. The other two I
thought would finish at the same time, but one group took way longer
than the other. The lower reader in that group was much slower than
the lower reader in the other group was.
Although I had anticipated the need to carefully select partners, I
did not know my readers well enough to know the speed in which
theyd be able to finish a chapter. Technically I assigned the partners,

but really I went based off of where they were sitting. This worked
okay, except for the fact that the groups finished at different times.
One set of partners had me worried, as it took them a second to settle
down and start to read. At one point it looked as though they were
goofing off a bit while they were reading, and I called them out on it,
but it turns out they were just expressively reading one of the parts.
The other group worked well together. The stronger reader seemed
patient with the lower reader.
I have been thinking about how I could switch up the partners
next time so that we, and I think that my next step will be to have
myself be the partner with the slowest reader next time, as I am the
fastest reader. Hopefully we will balance each other out and finish at
around the same time as the other groups. I will also make sure to
switch up the other partners, so that the same two people arent
reading together. This made me think about how well you have to
know your students. I knew that two of the girls werent strong readers,
but I didnt realize how much slower one was than the other until I had
paired them up this week. If I do partner reading a third time, I would
like to be able to pair the slowest reader with the fastest reading
student so that the slowest one doesnt feel singled out.

Session: 4/25/16
This session we briefly stated what has happened in the book so
far. We then discussed vocab and read chapters 6-10 in various ways
including readers theatre and silent reading.
I had the students do readers theatre for the first time this
session and it went really well! Of course there are many boy parts and
I only have girls, so they were quite disappointed that they all couldnt
be the girl parts. They read really well and even got into acting it out.
My favorite part was when one of my students did a full-on accent for

Per Garson. She got so into the role and showed such confidence doing
it; it was great! She had a large part, and did very well with reading.
On the other hand, when we did silent reading, she was really
struggling. Everyone else had finished, but she still had 3 pages to go.
I was quite surprised that she struggled so much with silent
reading, as shes one of my better readers. We do share the classroom,
and she was trying to cover her ears, so I think she was distracted by
the other group, as they were reading aloud at that time. However, this
does make me nervous for when I assign the silent reading Im not
sure that I know their silent reading speed well enough to know how
many chapters I can assign. Im also not sure if the classroom really
will be quiet when they do their reading, so I dont know how well
theyll focus. One of my girls flat out told me that she doesnt absorb
the information when she reads it in her head. Also Im a little sad to
have them read some of the book without me! I love reading it and
reflecting together.
I did have the students who were done work on their pages for
our graphic novel, so its not as if they didnt have anything to do.
However, I saw that the student who was still reading was frustrated
and not making much progress. I ended up reading the last two pages
to her I was very unsure as to whether or not I should do that, but
she hadnt moved more than a couple sentences down the page in a
few minutes, so I went for it, and she seemed very appreciative. I
would love to be able to coordinate with the other group so were both
silent reading at the same time, but I know it would be nearly
impossible to do that. This session really made me realize that even
within a domain such as reading, a student can have a big range of
abilities. Its hard to anticipate those abilities, but its very important to
consider them in lesson planning.

Session: 4/27/16
This session we briefly stated what has happened in the book so
far. We then read chapters 10-13 in various ways including assigned
characters and partner reading. We discussed vocabulary as we came
to it in the book.
I paired the students up into partners and had them read a
chapter of the book. I let them choose how to read it if they wanted
to read a whole page or if they just wanted to read a paragraph at a
time. At the end of the chapter, I had the students think of a question
to ask their partner it could be a basic fact-comprehension check, or
a higher level thinking question. When we were done, one of the girls
wanted to share her thought with the group. She was predicting that
the German soldier with the kind blue eyes was Uncle Victor in
disguise. She got really excited about it and said, Id love to write a
story about that! Snow Treasure 2: Uncle Victor under cover! We then
had to get back to reading, and some of the other girls were sad that
they didnt have a chance to share as well. I purposefully had had
them share in partners so everyone would have a chance to say
something, but that apparently didnt give them the same feeling as
being able to share with our whole group.
I love that my students get so excited about sharing! I really
wish that we had more time to discuss in-depth so that each student
felt like they had time to contribute their thoughts. Unfortunately, we
are so often crunched for time, and when I ask a question I only let one
or two people respond, as after that theyre basically all repeating what
the first two students said. I also wish that we had time to explore
extra areas I would love for my student to have time to write her
follow-up book! She was so excited, and Id love for her to write it
before she finds out that the soldier was actually not Uncle Victor.

I need to find new ways to acknowledge the students and give

them time to share without pushing us too far behind. Even though I
felt like I kept it rolling this session, we still didnt finish the last chapter
that we were supposed to finish for the day. I know the reading is the
main event, but Im convinced that they would get way more out of the
book if we had time to explore some of the places their minds go when
were reading!

Session: 5/2/16
This session we used a graphic organizer to review what had
happened in the portion they read for their in-class silent reading. We
then read chapters 16-19 in various ways including assigned
characters and partner reading. We discussed vocabulary as we came
to it in the book.
I asked each student as they arrived to book club how far they
had gotten in their assigned reading. I was genuinely surprised to learn
that four out of my five students had finished the reading. I was
expecting that more of the students wouldnt finish because the last
time I had them do silent reading they struggled because of the
distraction of the other group in our room. One student in particular,
who is a strong reader when we read out loud, was especially
distracted and did not get very far, so I was especially worried about
her. I am glad that so many of them finished. Thankfully it did not
sound as though finished early and were bored though, as I had
instructed them to write a quick one or two sentence summary of what
happened, and only one student had had a chance to do that.
My one student who did not finish is my lowest reader, so it was
not unexpected for her to be the one who didnt finish. I was worried
that she would be upset that she didnt get to finish it and that she
wasnt going to be able to, as we were moving on, but she handled it

well. I am constantly wondering how this student feels during book

club. She is noticeably slower than the other students, so I imagined
that she would not like reading very much and that she would be
embarrassed to read aloud. I am finding that this is not the case. She
seems to be engaged with the book and continues to put her best foot
forward. Today when I assigned characters for reading one of the
chapters, she asked if she could be the narrator some time. Of course I
usually give the narrator part to a strong reader, as the narrator speaks
a lot, so I havent given it to her. I was so stunned that she would want
that part its so much reading! I know that I dont like to do things
that Im not good at, especially if I know the people who will be
witnessing it are way better at it than I am, so I guess I just expected
that she would feel the same. I am glad that this is not the case!
I would like to do another readers theatre with the kids, but I
dont think that there are more chapters with enough characters in it. I
think I might split up the narrator part and let her do the smaller
portion. I am realizing how hard its going to be as a teacher to find
ways to encourage lower readers, and let them read aloud, without
worrying about time and boring the other students, especially the ones
who read faster and cant help but read ahead.

Session: 5/4/16
This session reviewed what happened in our reading last time we
met. We then read chapters 20-23 in various ways including readers
theatre and listening to an audiobook version. We discussed
vocabulary as we came to it in the book.
I have struggled with picking vocabulary throughout this field
experience. I dont feel like I necessarily have a good grasp on what
words fourth grade students already know and which ones they dont.

This week, I picked two words but was really unsure as to whether or
not they were too easy: eagerly and absurd. I was worried that they
would already know them, but I felt like the other words that stood out
to me as words that they wouldnt know were too hard or else not
applicable in any area of their lives. I even tried finding a resource
online that would tell me in which grade certain words are learned, but
I could find no such thing.
When we got to the end of the chapter that had eagerly in it, I
told them to pull out a vocab card and I asked if anyone know what
eagerly meant. Most of them nodded their heads, so I thought that I
had picked a word that was too easy. But, when they started telling me
what it meant, I realized that I had not made a mistake. Most of them
thought it had to do with being curious or smart. This doesnt surprise
me a ton, as many of their teachers, or the adults in their lives, may
use it in terms of being an eager learner. I ended up being glad that I
had picked that word, as it cleared up some misconceptions that the
students had about its meaning. Absurd ended up being a good word
to choose too, as none of the students knew what it meant.
If we were not required to put it in our lesson plans, I would
definitely be picking the vocab words as we go through the chapters
together, as that is so much easier! There are many times that we get
to a word, the student says it wrong, I correct them, and I can tell that
they still have no idea what we meant. My students are also good at
asking about words they dont know. It would be so easy to pick words
that way. Having worked with many ESL learners both children and
adults I have gotten into the habit of defining words as we come to
them, especially because there are so many words that sound like
other words to ELLs, and many times I dont notice until they point
them out.
I realize that as a teacher its important to know the words you
want to focus on ahead of time, but I think it will take me awhile to

know which words my students will struggle with. Because my

experiences have been in a lot of different grades, I dont feel like I can
really zero in on what words are common vocab words in each grade. I
am sure that once I am with a certain grade level for a longer period of
time I will have an easier time identifying vocab words for them.

Session: 5/11/16
This session we finished the last chapter of our book. We then
worked on our graphic story, in which the students decided on the
main events and drew pictures of them. During this time, we talked
more about the novel, including its themes and what we can learn from
it.
We had a great time working on our books, but I dont know that
I went about it the best way. The students started a few weeks ago
the first time we did silent reading, one student finished way before the
rest, so I had her start on a page of an important event from that day.
The next time, when we did partner reading, I asked the set of partners
that had finished first to create pages. Eventually, all of the students
had a chance to start on a page. When they did this, they were mostly
drawing something that had happened so far in the reading that day,
although a few picked an event from the previous time we had met.
Although it was nice for them to have something to do, and to
draw the event when it was fresh in their mind, I think it would have
been nice for them to have talked as a group to decide the ten biggest
events from the novel once we had finished the whole thing. In order to
do this, we most likely would have had to have had the book done
before the final session in order to have enough time to both come up
with the most important events and draw them.

I think it would be good for the students to look back at the

whole novel and pick out the biggest events, but I also know that if we
had taken that approach, the students would have forgotten some of
the major events, as psychology tells us that we do a better job
remembering what comes first and last, and we lose track of whats in
the middle.
I guess my approach was kind of a mix of the two, as throughout
our reading, each student started a picture of a main event, and then
at the end we came up with five more main events. Its hard to figure
out which approach to use for something like this. Either way, Im
happy with the way the book turned out. Each student took a different
approach to doing their picture. I am really going to miss these
students!

Session: 5/11/16
This session we finished the last chapter of our book. We then
worked on our graphic story, in which the students decided on the
main events and drew pictures of them. During this time, we talked
more about the novel, including its themes and what we can learn from
it.
We had a great time working on our books, but I dont know that
I went about it the best way. The students started a few weeks ago
the first time we did silent reading, one student finished way before the
rest, so I had her start on a page of an important event from that day.
The next time, when we did partner reading, I asked the set of partners
that had finished first to create pages. Eventually, all of the students
had a chance to start on a page. When they did this, they were mostly
drawing something that had happened so far in the reading that day,
although a few picked an event from the previous time we had met.

Although it was nice for them to have something to do, and to

draw the event when it was fresh in their mind, I think it would have
been nice for them to have talked as a group to decide the ten biggest
events from the novel once we had finished the whole thing. In order to
do this, we most likely would have had to have had the book done
before the final session in order to have enough time to both come up
with the most important events and draw them.
I think it would be good for the students to look back at the
whole novel and pick out the biggest events, but I also know that if we
had taken that approach, the students would have forgotten some of
the major events, as psychology tells us that we do a better job
remembering what comes first and last, and we lose track of whats in
the middle.
I guess my approach was kind of a mix of the two, as throughout
our reading, each student started a picture of a main event, and then
at the end we came up with five more main events. Its hard to figure
out which approach to use for something like this. Either way, Im
happy with the way the book turned out. Each student took a different
approach to doing their picture. I am really going to miss these
students!