Cover to Cover Books for Young Readers

You've probably guessed that Cover to Cover is our favorite bookstore. They just updated their website with their spring picks and lots of great pictures of the store and various author events. Now you can visit, too!

Poetry Friday on Caffeine

A New Lifestyle by James Tate the whole poem is here A New Lifestyle People in this town drink too much coffee. They're jumpy all the time. You see them drinking out of their big plastic mugs while they're driving. They cut in front of you, they steal your parking places. . . . . . .They're so serious about their coffee, it's all they can think about, nothing else matters. Everyone's wide awake but looks incredibly tired. * * * * * * * * * * * I am wide awake and incredibly tired. When it comes to caffeine, I'm serious about my tea. And my Dove Dark Chocolate. I've had plenty of both in the **gasp** TEN days since I blogged! What can I say: Lit. Conference weekend, report cards (grading, grading, grading), Saturday conference, Sunday leadership retreat (another weekend -- poof -- gone), powerpoint to create and present, physical therapy, etc., etc., etc. But I think my head is finally above water. It's good to be back.

IT'S A BUTTERFLY'S LIFE by Irene Kelly

I am on the lookout for examples of great nonfiction writing. I found a new one this week that I had to add to my classroom collection. It is called IT'S A BUTTERFLY'S LIFE by Irene Kelly. Since there were so many great books for sale at the conference, I had to really justify each purchase I made:-)

I HAD to have this one for lots of reasons:

1. The illustrations are wonderful. The butterflies seem to be flying across the page and there are several butterfly illustrations on each page.

2. The facts are presented in interesting ways. ("You may not be able to taste a cupcake by standing on it, but a butterfly can!")

3. I loved the layout. There is a lot going on on each page. The font and the text layout make it very engaging.

4. The language--it is not so easy to find nonfiction that is crafted well.
One of the great lines:

"Butterflies fly by rippling their wings up and down slowly gliding on air currents, just like birds."

5. Great facts and labels add to the information on each page.

This is a great book to use in a study of butterflies/life cycles, one to use to look hard at the way the author crafted the nonfiction or just a great nonfiction read.

Poetry Friday!

This poem is from a GREAT new poetry book called SHOUT: LITTLE POEMS THAT ROAR. Every poem in this book begs to be read aloud. I can't wait to add it to our collection for Poetry Friday! reading. I know the kids will love it. Every poem is as fun as the next. Enjoy!


SHOUT

Shout it! Shout it! POETRY!
Fun for you and fun for me.

Clap your hands! Stomp your feet!
Feel the rhythm! Feel the beat!

Chunky words all chopped in chips!
Silky sounds upon your lips.

Tell a story--happy, sad;
Silly, sorry; good or bad.

Leap a leap, hop a hop,
See the ocean in one drop.

Shout it! Shout it! POETRY!
Fun for you and fun for me.

by Brod Bagert

Hooray for Lisa Yee!

She's been named the 2007 Thurber House Children's Writer in Residence!

We're already planning our tour of Columbus for Lisa. First stop will be The North Market.

At The North Market, we will be sure she samples Jeni's Ice Cream:
"25+ flavors of gourmet, artisanal ice creams. Traditional, signature and seasonal varieties available by the scoop and pint.

Experience ice cream taken to a new level. Fresh, handmade ice cream, sorbet and gelato are all created with the finest and freshest ingredients. The menu of flavors changes frequently. On a given day, you might see Dark Cocoa Gelato, Wild Berry Lavender, Toasted Hazelnut and Salty Caramel."

Pam's Market Popcorn is also a must.












Next stop, Cover to Cover Children's Bookstore.

Later, we'll stop at the Main Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library






to see the original art by Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson.











You see, there's WAY more to Columbus, OH than the Buckeyes! And we've only scratched the surface!

Teaching Grammar and Conventions: An Interview With Jeff Anderson

Last week, Jeff Anderson was one of the speakers at the Dublin Literacy Conference. It was a great day and Jeff's sessions got rave reviews. Jeff is the author of MECHANICALLY INCLINED--a must have for Language Arts teacher in grades 4-8. He's answered so many of my concerns and questions about teaching grammar and mechanics in the context of real reading and writing. He seems to have figured it out so that kids actually transfer what they learn to their writing. It is a great book. He also has a video series coming out with Stenhouse this spring that will show some of the things in action. I can't wait! We interviewed Jeff about his book and his work. A Year of Reading: What inspired you to write Mechanically Inclined? Jeff Anderson: Teaching grammar and editing skills in the context of reading is what I have found to be effective. That's why I do it. When I taught skills in isolation--they kids seemed to know the material, but they couldn't or didn't apply it to their writing. Plain and simple, grammar and editing skill are part of the writing process. When grammar and editing are taught as separate activities, kids don't necessarily apply it to the writing. So the more we can connect and integrate skills within the process, the more the kids remember. It's about using grammar and editing as tools to shape the messages they want to write. In reading it's about how the ideas, structures, and patterns work together. It's not that we can't break a skill down to its smallest chunk of meaning. I like to call that zooming in, but the point is we need to make it about meaning and how everything fits together. A Year of Reading: What is the most effective thing that you do that helps your students understand the skills you are teaching. Jeff Anderson: First we can't minimize the importance of how kids feel about grammar and editing. We need to invite kids in with positive examples from professional and student writers. It needs to be about how effective things are rather than an "error hunt" (Weaver, 1996). Students get excited when they look at a sentence from Flush or The Invention of Hugo Cabret. They get pulled in--and they have fun imitating and playing with patterns, seeing what effect they have. Using models or mentor text to help kids find their power. That's been the number one thing that has made my teaching of grammar and editing more effect. A Year of Reading: What are the most common questions do you get from teachers about your work? Jeff Anderson: How do you replace DOL (Daily Oral Language?) How do you come up with the sentences you do? I have a dirty little secret. I find an incredible amount of powerful texts in the first lines or first paragraphs of novels. That's where the authors put in a lot of work and the sentence often end up inspiring kids to write more. A Year of Reading: Are you working on any new projects? Jeff Anderson: The DVD that was filmed in my classroom in January is coming out in May at IRA. It's called The Craft of Grammar. I am also working on a book of daily invitations to edit. I hope to create a sound alternative to DOL, that is systematic and authentic that invites students into the world of editing and the power of all those little marks we call punctuation. If you love this interview so much that you'd love to read more, you can visit Jeff at his website

Updates

New books added to the Master List of Books about Books and Reading. Thanks, sanam.

New blogs added to the blogroll:

Brotherhood 2.0 -- vaguely related to children's literature. Mostly for fun.

NYC Teacher: Mentor Texts -- great stuff going on in this writing workshop! Check it out!

New blog name:

The SLJ Blog is now Bowllan's Blog, and she wants to know if handwriting still matters. Go weigh in.

I know we need to let it die, but I just can't resist one more

That Word used in context by a three year-old.

I'm not sure which are funnier, nanny stories, or library patron stories. Us teachers, we're being slightly neurotic about real careful with sharing our kid stories, but don't think for a minute that our kids don't say and do funny things!

Cynthia Lord Rules! (get it?)

I just received the best packet from Cynthia Lord, author oF RULES and the timing couldn't be better! Cynthia Lord has a teacher packet that she uses during author visits. The packet shares her whole writing process, including pages of the revision process and more. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the book. We are just getting ready to finish Rules and the discussion has been amazing. It has been a great read aloud. And now we can take a look at the process Cynthia Lord went through to write this book. The packet from Cynthia Lord came right at the perfect moment. We are set to finish the book this week. And, last week, Georgia Heard (author of several poetry books for kids and professional books for teachers) visited our school as part of a yearlong study put on by The Literacy Connection. We had all read and discussed her book THE REVISION TOOLBOX which is a must-have for teachers who have writer's workshop in their classrooms. 

Georgia Heard taught a lesson in a first grade classroom and in our classroom on Friday. Today, I attended a full day workshop that Georgia led about revision. I learned lots and am anxious to bring the new learning to the classroom. I know my students will benefit greatly from all of the ways my thinking has changed on revision work.

CRACKER: THE BEST DOG IN VIETNAM

CRACKER!: THE BEST DOG IN VIETNAM
by Cynthia Kadohata
Atheneum, February 2007
Review copy purchased at Liberty Books

Cracker is completely devoted to his boy, Willie. Unfortunately, Willie's dad lost his job and the family has to move into an apartment building that does not allow pets. Willie has one month to find a new home for Cracker. Time is running out when Willie sees the notice that German Shepherds are wanted by the Army for use in the Vietnam War.

Because the book is told from the dual perspectives of Cracker and the humans in his life, we get a sense of how hard this separation is for both Cracker and Willie. Besides being devoted, Cracker is smart, independent, and quite willful. His new handler, Rick, joined the army at 17 planning to "whip the world" and escape running the family hardware store. Rick is inexperienced and naive, gets on the wrong side of the sarge, and winds up with Cracker as his dog.

It takes some time and not a few forbidden hot dog treats, but Rick and Cracker become a team.

The book takes the reader through the process of training a military dog to sniff out booby traps and snipers, and the reader accompanies Rick and Cracker on missions. Dogs die, friends die, legs are blown off, and Rick suffers mental anguish about all he sees and experiences.

In the end, though, the book is about the incredible bond of loyalty between a man and his dog.

In the author's note, Kadohata explains that 4,000 dogs served in Vietnam. "Dogs were considered military equipment; at the war's end they were considered surplus military equipment." These dogs saved approximately 10,000 human lives. 1,000 dogs died in Vietnam. 200 dogs were reassigned to other U.S. military bases. It is unknown what became of the rest. Kadohata interviewed dog handlers who served in the Vietnam War, and several photos in the back of the book show some of the men and their dogs.

I asked Amazing 5th Grade Girl Reader (AGR) to read CRACKER! and let me know what she thought of it. AGR has read KIRA, KIRA and WEEDFLOWER, so she is in a position to place CRACKER in the context of Kadohata's other books.

CRACKER was AGR's least favorite of Kadohata's books. She thought it was slower, and not as exciting. The war part was intense, but confusing. AGR said she would have appreciated a glossary of place names, weapons, vehicles, and military jargon, such as "Charlie" for Viet Cong. She now has some idea of what the Vietnam War was about -- something she never knew before. She enjoyed reading from the point of view of the dog and thinking about how dogs might interpret our words.

Another one of my 5th graders is currently reading CRACKER!. He is a military history buff, so stay tuned for his quite different take on the book.

Links: Author's website (has an excerpt from the first chapter)