A New Resource: Reading with Mr. W

Yesterday I announced a hiatus for the #PictYourBooks challenge and said that much of my time would be spent on a new resource for the students in my school and in my district. Today I'd like to share that resource with readers of Help Readers Love Reading as well.

Reading with Mr. W  is a temporary website I'm creating to provide reading experiences with my students during the indefinite school shut down here in Wisconsin due to COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). The site includes many of the activities I would be doing with students if school was in session such as novel read-alouds and picture book read-alouds and opportunities to partner-read with me.

More information about the website and its purpose can be found here.

Those of you who follow this website have become familiar with the activities I've done in the past few years including #TheCharacterTournament, the #PBIDchallenge, this year's #PictYourBooks challenge, and all the book reviews. I hope my passion for books and reading has been evident in the activities I've created and shared here, just like I hope that same excitement can be seen with my students at school. Reading with Mr. W is an attempt to connect the two: create an online presence that somehow replicates my students' school experience.

As always, your thoughts and ideas and comments are appreciated. We're all in this together, whether you are a teacher or parent or both, so let's work together to do the best we can for our kids while schools are closed. Stay safe and stay healthy, everyone!

#PictYourBooks Update

A lot has happened since the last time we had a #PictYourBooks challenge update. The COVID-19 (or novel coronavirus) has been declared a pandemic and started spreading through the United States. Like many schools in the U.S. (and many schools in the world) all schools in Wisconsin were closed by our state governor. Then our school district decided to close schools two days before the governor's order.

Which means that last week on Monday you were given a new #PictYourBooks challenge, and by Monday of this week, all of our schools were closed due to the virus.

Things sure change quickly. We have learned a lot of new vocabulary words in the past week like pandemic, quarantine, and social distancing. Here is another new word from the #PictYourBooks challenge:

HIATUS: A pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process.

As in, "The #PictYourBooks challenge will be on hiatus for a while." Note that hiatus means a pause or a break. It does NOT mean stop or end! The #PictYourBooks challenge will be back soon, but for now my time will be spent updating other reading resources for the students in my school and district.

Thank you for understanding, everyone. Be safe, be well, wash your hands, and keep reading all those great books!

Week 21 #PictYourBooks Challenge

Time for some teamwork, everyone. Every answer to this week's challenge will take at least 2 books to answer, so you sharing books with each other and putting them together to answer the challenge will show great teamwork. Here's the challenge, followed by an example of how to answer the challenge:

Challenge #21: Create a math problem 

using books where the answer is TEN. 

Numbers are everywhere in books. They might be in the title (like Walk Two Moons or The Three Little Pigs) or they might be part of the book (like four houses at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter books or the three kisses that Strega Nona blows into her magical pasta pot). Your job is to take those numbers and put them together somehow to get an answer of 10. Here are two examples:

FOUR houses at Hogwarts PLUS THREE little pigs PLUS Strega Nona's THREE kisses EQUALS TEN. 

4+3+3=10

OR

THREE blind mice TIMES the FOUR sisters in The Penderwicks MINUS Cinderella's TWO wicked stepsisters EQUALS TEN.

(4x3)-2=10

Step 1: Find the numbers in the books you are reading.
Step 2: Put your books (and your brains) together to make a math problem.
Step 3: Share your answer with me!

Good luck!

You have one week to submit your answer. Answers can be submitted three ways. Snap a picture of any book that answers the challenge and:

• text it to (715) 903-6455
• email it to PictYourBooks@gmail.com
• respond to @HelpReaders on Twitter

Please include the week number with your picture. You may also include who the image is from, like a teacher's name, and a description of how the book answers the challenge. Writing information on a sticky note and including it in the picture works great!

To be notified of new challenges and weekly wrap up videos, sign up for email updates. Enter your email address under "Subscribe for email notifications" at the top of the page on the right side.

Week 20 #PictYourBooks Answers

Week 20 #PictYourBooks Challenge

Last week we shared books that take place far away, so I was thinking that this week we should do the opposite.

Challenge #20: Share a book that takes place close to home. 

However, the closer you get to home, the harder it gets. For example, I don't know any books that take place in my hometown but can name a couple books that happen in central Wisconsin. It gets easier if you include all of Wisconsin, and if "close to home" includes neighboring states, then we could name a bunch, I'm sure.

But don't forget to think creatively. There's a phrase that says "that hits close to home" which means something affects you personally. Just today I read a book with some students about a man who got a new puppy. Even though the book isn't in a place close to me, the book still hits close to home because my family just got a new puppy too! Once you think creatively, this week's challenge becomes:

Challenge #20: Share a book that hits close to home. 

So either way is fine. Share a book that happens in a location close to home or book that connects to you personally, one that hits close to home.

You have one week to submit your answer. Answers can be submitted three ways. Snap a picture of any book that answers the challenge and:

• text it to (715) 903-6455
• email it to PictYourBooks@gmail.com
• respond to @HelpReaders on Twitter

Please include the week number with your picture. You may also include who the image is from, like a teacher's name, and a description of how the book answers the challenge. Writing information on a sticky note and including it in the picture works great!

To be notified of new challenges and weekly wrap up videos, sign up for email updates. Enter your email address under "Subscribe for email notifications" at the top of the page on the right side.

Week 19 #PictYourBooks Answers