We're Lovin' Lit!

You may have heard, our district and our school are embracing an exciting literacy initiative this year. As always, we are very focused on strategies that help students become good readers by meeting them where they are and growing them. This year we are implementing some new practices and structures to accomplish our reading goals. Our reading teachers support their readers by using a practice called Guided Reading or by establishing Literature Circles. At the heart of both of these practices is the idea that we provide students multiple opportunities to read and respond to text that is at the perfect level for them to read independently. The teacher provides support for small groups of readers as they learn to use various strategies. If you have not already seen information regarding your child's reading level, please contact your teacher. I encourage you to help your child set goals for reading improvement so that you can celebrate success as they grow. Remember, one of the most important things you can do to support your child in school is to read with them. The ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend, so when you think you're done, you've really just begun. Ask your child to tell you about what they read and what they thought about it.  Happy reading!

Author and illustrator Kathryn Otoshi had the full attention of Oak Forest Elementary School students this week when she talked about a new student she'd had in her class back when she was in fourth grade. Otoshi told the students that she was taken with Ming because "she looked like me."

But Ming was not born in the U.S. and was still learning the language. She brought different things for lunch. These differences caused some of Otoshi's classmates to target Ming. They pushed her and pulled her hair. Ming cried the first day of school and then started hiding in a locked bathroom stall during lunch. Otoshi said that her last memory of Ming was of her crouching down behind the woodshed being ridiculed by a ring of kids.

The memory stuck with Otoshi because although she knew the way Ming was being treated was wrong, she didn't intervene. It also was part of the impetus for her 2008 anti-bullying book ONE, winner of the E.B. White Read Aloud Honor Book, which talks about acceptance, tolerance, and being that one person who can make a difference. Another book, ZERO, talks about finding and appreciating the value in yourself and others.

Otoshi read both books to Oak Forest students in four different sessions as part of her author visit. The children's book author and illustrator, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, scored some brownie points with students at the beginning of her presentation when she told them she'd worked for both Disney and for George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic. Among other jobs, Otoshi helped design the game pieces for the movie Jumanji as well as Jim Carrey's tombstone (as Scrooge) in A Christmas Carol.

She likened the creation of a children's book to being the director of a film. "All the characters are moving around and I'm the director," she said. "When you turn the page, it's a cut from the scene." Otoshi also told the students that although the book seems simple, it took her a long time to get ONE just right.

Oak Forest Guidance Counselor Jennifer Brown uses Otoshi's books in her work and was excited to have the opportunity to bring her to the school which is a No Place for Hate� campus. No Place for Hate is an initiative of the Anti-Defamation League which promotes respect of self and others and includes education about how kids can be upstanders and allies for others.

"I think her message is one that kids of all ages can relate to and understand," said Brown. "All of her books reinforce the values that we are constantly working on instilling in our students and ourselves. I heard her speak to a group of educators last year and literally got the chills. She did an amazing job of differentiating her message to the different grade levels."

Otoshi, who speaks about her books all over the country as well as abroad, said that she thrives off the interaction and the reaction of students. She's also honed her presentation over time.  "I started to incorporate more activity," she said. "It's a link between asking them to be a ONE and having them physically feel it. I really enjoy the dialog between me and the kids."