Don't worry...

Lois Lowry has a new puppy.




I have a crazy dog.

Even though a whole pack springs to mind (Winn Dixie, Shiloh, the RED FERN duo, the great one in EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS, the Rottweiler in I AM THE DOG, I AM THE CAT, Old Yeller, Martha, and Clifford), never fear, we won't start another list of Cool________in (or peripheral to) Children's Literature.

Who would have thought?

So, I found this blog that has a Poetry Friday Haiku Contest on a theme/topic. Very fun. Maybe I would have liked Haiku in school had we had this much fun doing it. I am wondering how we can incorporate these little blog activities in the classroom. Kids would write Haiku if it was in a fun, playful way like this. I would love to have conversations with kids about which 100 Cool Girls, Boys and Teachers, in Books they would choose. If they are great conversations for those of us who love to read as adults, kids might have a ball with them too!

Poetry Friday--Moving Day

I just received a copy of MOVING DAY by Ralph Fletcher. It is a great book for elementary age students on anticipating a move to a new place. Ralph Fletcher does a great job of really hitting those feelings that you get when you don't want to leave a home and friends that you love. What I love about this book is the way that each poem stands alone but that it is also sequential so that it reads like a story. You go through the process of moving and accepting the move. There's a great variety of poems and moods to the poems. I think we'd have lots of students who could relate. It will also serve as a great model in Writing Workshop--for students trying to write poetry anthologies on a single topic, to look closely at a poem or at Fletcher as a poet. I think the book is due out in November. Definitely worth the wait!

Eats, Shoots and Leaves for Kids!

Have you seen the new EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES: WHY, COMMAS REALLY DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE by Lynne Truss? Beth at Cover to Cover recommended it to me. It is a kid version of the adult book on punctuation. It is great! Pretty funny too. Kids will clearly see the need for commas and what they do to the meaning of words. Amusing illustrations show the difference between two sentences like, "Becky walked on, her head a little higher than usual." and "Becky walked on her head, a little higher than usual." It is quite clever! Definitely a must-have for my classroom!

Flying Solo

How about Mr. Fabiano from FLYING SOLO by Ralph Fletcher? The teacher is clearly amazing based on the way his kids react to a no-sub day and the way that he responds when he finds out about their day without a teacher. He definitely fits the criteria!

Meditations On The Cool Teacher Project

I refuse to get an inferiority complex because I don't know all the books that have teachers who have been nominated for our list! And as long as we're trying to have read the Newbery and the majority of my kids' book reading time is devoted to the most current possibilities, I might not even get around to reading lots of those books for a long time to come. But it will be a great place to start someday.

Teachers who have elicited an, "Oh, YEAH! I forgot about her/him!!!" response from me include: Miss Honey, Ms. Frizzle, Merlin, and Mrs. Olinski. Maybe a parallel project should be re-reading some old favorites!

It is good to know that there is no shame in checking out your data on SiteMeter!

More Cool Teachers

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll start a list on the sidebar so you can check for your favorites.

Meanwhile, here are some of mine. Now, I can't take all the credit for all of these -- this was a collaborative effort with Franki and Karen T. over breakfast, and with owner Sally at Cover to Cover (children's bookstore extraordinaire) later.

Mrs. Kempczinski in GOOD LUCK, MRS. K by Louise Borden. The whole book is a love letter to a beloved teacher who misses the last months of school because she has cancer. But she comes back!

Dumbledore in the HARRY POTTER books.

Ms. Clayton in SCHOOL STORY by Andrew Clements. He has lots of good teachers. Thank you, Mr. Clements! This one is the teacher who helps the girl get her book published.

I also liked Mr. Maxwell in Clements' A WEEK IN THE WOODS. We take our kids to camp, so I could appreciate his organization in preparation for the trip. He made some mistakes and bad assumptions, but he (along with the main kid character) changed and grew.

Mr. Faulker, in THANK YOU, MR. FAULKER by Patricia Polacco. That's just obvious.

Ms. Isabel Hussey in CHASING VERMEER and THE WRIGHT THREE by Blue Balliett. She is energetic and child-centered. Her teaching is rigorous and the work her students do is authentic. She follows the students' agendas and her own, and their studies go further and deeper than any curriculum developer or textbook writer could ever imagine. She's a light in the darkness of standards-based teaching.

Miss Stretchberry in LOVE THAT DOG by Sharon Creech. You have to draw a lot of conclusions about Miss Stretchberry from Jack's poetry journal, but who wouldn't love to have a teacher who is so passionate about poetry, and so gently persistent in growing her writers?

Mr. Birkway in WALK TWO MOONS by Sharon Creech. Boy does he screw up reading the kids' journals aloud, but he realizes it and back pedals. I can kind of relate to that sort of thing happening now and then...

Mr. Todd, JUDY MOODY's teacher. He'd have to be a saint to put up with Judy!

Mr. Slinger, LILLY'S (PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE, by Kevin Henkes) teacher. I love him right down to his cheese puffs and Birkenstock sandals!

#3 Cool Teacher in Kid Lit--Miss Malarkey

Okay, so I was thinking, the Giver in THE GIVER is not really a teacher although he certainly serves as one. So, I am taking him off of the list and adding Miss Malarkey from MISS MALARKEY LEAVES NO READER BEHIND by Judy Finchler. I had to think hard about this one. I never like when kids are rewarded for reading. So, the principal dying his hair purple and sleeping on the roof was not my favorite. But.... then when I read the book, I decided Miss Malarkey totally makes our list. I never get the impression that Miss Malarkey really likes the purple hair reward. Instead it is clear that her goal is to hook each child into books by really knowing them as readers. She doesn't care how many books the kids read. She is all about turning kids into readers by finding books that they will love! So, Miss Malarkey becomes the third COOL TEACHER IN CHILDREN'S LIT.

100 Cool Teachers in Children's Lit

Okay so I am totally loving the lists from Jen Robinson's Book Page blog--Cool Boys from Kid Lit and Cool Girls From Children's Literature. I loved reading over these lists and thinking about these great characters we love.

I soo loved the idea that I started thinking. Could we come up with 100 Cool Teachers from Children's Lit? What do you think? So many teachers in books are these stereotypic, mean, dumpy people who are worn out. So, let's start putting together a list of 100 Cool Teacher's in Children's Lit. I am going to start with Great Aunt Arizona from MY GREAT AUNT ARIZONA by Gloria Houston. I also think The Giver in THE GIVER is a cool teacher. I would also like to add Mrs. Granger from FRINDLE by Andrew Clements. She is cool in disguise. We're looking for thoughtful teachers who understand kids and learning and are active, intelligent people who love their work. Do you think we can find 100? We are taking suggestions from readers!

Check the list in the sidebar to see if your favorite is already there! As of today (12/31/10), we have ALMOST 150 cool teachers! Keep 'em coming!

One more reason why she's currently my favorite children's author

Shannon Hale is sharing chapter one of her newest book, RIVER SECRETS!

YAY!

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Two minutes faster than last year, thanks for asking! Next year I hope to break the 30 minute mark.