Books to Celebrate Today--The First Men on the Moon!

Such a great celebration--40 years since we had men land on the moon. No matter how long it's been, it is still an amazing story. So much to celebrate about the day. As with any "event", there are many many books that tie into the first men on the moon. I am thrilled with the quality of so many of the books out on this topic. I think that the books will really invite our children to be part of this day in a way that makes it as exciting as it is to those of us who actually remember it.

I've shared two of these books before but thought that today was a great day to rerun the reviews.

ONE GIANT LEAP This book tells about the first trip to the moon from the time the Eagle took off to the time the astronauts landed. The book captures the power of the trip and the emotions of the astronauts well.

Mike Wimmer's illustrations are amazing. Most are dark as the moon would have looked when they landed. The details show so many things about the trip and the feel of the illustrations matches the feel of the world when the astronauts stepped out on the moon.

The language in the book is one that makes it a perfect read aloud. Yesterday, I read it to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes and they were glued. Not much of a sound from any group that I read it to. And kids this age take space travel for granted. But somehow the author and illustrator helped them relive the excitement of the moment in this book.

After reading this aloud to 4th and 5th graders, many of the kids pulled out a laptop and quickly found the original film of the moon landing on the internet. They watched and were excited to see what they had just read about and to hear Neil Armstrong's actual voice saying, "One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind." (On a side note, kids had heard spinoffs of this famous quote on Spongebob and other shows and had no idea what the origin of the quote was...) Within minutes they found information on Neil Armstrong, clips of the trip, information on more recent space travel news.

It isn't often that a nonfiction picture book can capture history so clearly and so powerfully. Often, I read aloud a picture book and kids learn but this one actually allows the children who take space travel for granted, to feel the excitement and thrill of the day. For the astronauts who lived it and for the world who watched.

I am also excited about LOOK TO THE STARS by Buzz Aldrin to my collection. As you can tell, I am kind of hooked on the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11. This is a great way to celebrate the flight. Astonaut, Buzz Aldrin starts with an introduction inviting readers to look at the history of flight. On each 2 page spread of the book, Aldrin looks at one piece of the timeline that led us to space travel and looks ahead to where we might go next. He highlights important times in the history of flight and space travel and gives interesting information with each. The book is definitely one that kids can read and follow. The end of the book includes an extensive timeline of important dates including events from the year 1543 through 2010. An exciting celebration of the discoveries that led us to current missions in space. An added bonus in this book are the end papers--they are filled with great quotes about flight by those who are known for their contributions. A great book!

ONE SMALL STEP: CELEBRATING THE FIRST MEN ON THE MOON may end up being a favorite with the kids. This book is put together in the form of a scrapbook. Each spread focuses on one piece of the history of space travel. Photos, sketches, diagrams, and text work together to pull a lot of information into one book. I loved seeing so many photos and captions that explain them. I loved the way that this book captures Launch Day (July 16) with photos of President Johnson, the astronauts and the people in the control room. There are lots of invitations for readers to lift the flaps to learn more about certain topics. My personal favorite page is the one that celebrates the three astronauts and that shares info and photos of the actual spacesuit.

I have always thought it was pretty cool to live in Ohio--home of Neil Armstrong, John Glenn and so many other great astronauts. I think this new set of books is a great way to celebrate this anniversary but one that I think we will all be able to learn from for years to come. These books won't be popular only because of the anniversary. These books will be well-read because they give great insights into the history of this day and more.

There are also so many great sites to celebrate today. "We Choose the Moon" is one of my favorites. We can also watch the landing on Youtube. Love that!

I also started to follow Astronaut Mark Palansky on Twitter. Love that they can tweet from space. That is amazing to me.

Enjoy the day!

Professional Development--21st Century Literacy

There are several of us who continue to do lots of thinking around the area of 21st Century Literacy. There is so much to think about and it is fun to learn and think together. How do we make these experiences authentic for our students? Especially at the elementary level?

This week, we had another great meeting. We met at my house and shared our learning and thinking. We spent about 3 hours together. We started off talking about the things we've learned this summer and the things we were hoping to learn more about. Then we spread out throughout the house and shared with each other. Some of us learned to do Voicethreads. others learned how to use the Flip Video camera and to edit film. We played with lots of tools and left with lots to think about. You can see that once the whole group chat was over, we spread around the house and learned from/taught each other. Everyone left with something new to think about.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A few blog posts connected to our professional development this week. We came together to learn from each other because we wanted to-because we trust the people we are learning with and we all have different goals and hopes for ways to use this new thinking in our teaching. Wesley Fryer wrote about professional development in his blog post TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CHOCOLATE CAKE. I think that there are so many ways for us to learn and summer provides time for some of this more intense learning.

I also thought David Warlick's post Technology and Teaching was very thought-provoking. He asks some hard questions. Definitely something to think about.

We are hoping to have one more of these sessions before school begins and then to meet throughout the school year. A great network of people to think and learn with!

Laurie Keller Author Visit

I am a little late posting this. Okay, so I am a lot late. With the end of the school year, things got crazy as they do. And then I traveled a bit and didn't have the time to give this post the energy it deserved. So, now I finally have the time to reflect on the great author visit that we had in late May. Author and illustrator, Laurie Keller visited our school in May. She also visited the Dublin Branch Library. It was a great day!

If you haven't read each and every one of Laurie Keller's books, every one is great. The fact that she is author AND illustrator is key because so much of the story goes on in the illustrations--and even in the lettering. Her characters are great and her humor is brilliant. Each one of Keller's books is one that can grow with kids. My daughter's personal favorite book is ARNIE THE DOUGHNUT. And, it was the favorite among the whole K-5 school who read and enjoyed all of her books. The story is a fun one--Arnie is purchased by a nice man, only to discover that the man intends to eat him! Arnie is shocked and the story goes from there. I can see why this has been my daughter's favorite for years. The story is fun--the whole concept is pretty fun. And the side comments probably make more sense as her sense of humor has developed. So she can enjoy it on different levels as she grows. All of Keller's books do this.

Laurie Keller was a great author to have visit our school. I was lucky enough to be part of all of the sessions and the students had such a great time with her. One of the things that was so nice was the tie-in to art. She not only talked about her books and her writing process but she spent lots of each session teaching kids to draw those characters that they love. Kids came with pencil, paper and clipboard and they left with quite a sense of pride and accomplishment. Laurie taught us how to draw several things--I was amazed at how simple she made it look. After her visit, many kids in the school created their own stories about the characters she had taught them to draw! (And at the Dublin Library, even children's library, Loren Scully was learned to draw some of Keller's characters!)

Keller's books are all great books for home, classrooms and school libraries. She has a unique format and a unique sense of humor that kids an adults enjoy. Even though I read all of her books to all of our classes, I never tired of them. I laughed every time and during every read, I noticed something that I had missed before.

DO UNTO OTTERS is a book that we have in every classroom of our school. It is a great book about manners and Keller writes it in a way that makes the topic amusing and engaging for kids. It is a great way to start conversations with kids about manners and the ways we treat each other.

OPEN WIDE: TOOTH SCHOOL INSIDE does a great job of teaching kids about teeth and dental health.


SCRAMBLED STATES OF AMERICA and SCRAMBLED STATES OF AMERICA TALENT SHOW are two of Keller's most popular books. She brings each state to life in fun stories so that kids learn about the states. Not only are these books great but the game, Scrambled States of America was quite a hit in the library. 4th and 5th graders had a fun time learning about the states and US geography with the books and the game.

Laurie also shared her upcoming book ME AND MY ANIMAL FRIENDS. This one is written by Ralph Covert of Ralph's World. Laurie Keller's illustrations make the book quite fun and I can't wait to add this new book to our library.

I do not often like video versions of children's books but Weston Woods has done an amazing job with Keller's books. Because there is so much going on in the illustrations, and because the side comments are too good to skip when reading aloud, I loved sharing the videos with the kids at school. The characters really come to life in each of the videos.

I would highly recommend Laurie Keller as an author visit if you are looking for someone. Her books are great fun for students from K-5. And she is great with kids--building a confidence and inviting them to do more with her characters. Plus, she is great fun to be around. She is genuinely excited about the kids and their learning and that shows in the way she talks to them and the excitement she shows about their work. And if you aren't looking for an author to visit your school, I would definitely add Laurie's books to your collection. Her graphics and the humor that she uses are great ways to teach kids about lots of things.

THE ONE AND ONLY MARIGOLD by Florence Parry Heide

I have just discovered a new character that I love--Marigold who stars in the new book THE ONE AND ONLY MARIGOLD by Florence Parry Heide. Marigold is a monkey and she is quite strong-willed. In this book, Marigold stars in 4 stories. I love that there are 4 separate stories about Marigold in this one picture book. Such a fun way to think about and get to know a new character. In the first story, Marigold goes shopping for a new coat, but she loves the one she has. In the second story, Marigold is looking for a new hobby. In the third story, Marigold sets up an alternative to the boring lemonade stand. And in the last story, Marigold wants a fancy new outfit for the first day of school.

All of these stories are quite short but the author humor and voice into each.

I just can't get enough of Marigold. Hopefully there will be more books starring this fun new monkey coming soon. Marigold is quite clever and I think kids will love her too.

New Blog on the Block!

Welcome to Shelly and Lisa and their new blog Two Learning Journeys!

Your contributions to the conversation about teaching and learning will be welcome and valuable!

Poetry Friday -- Against Travel

Last Friday, we drove 19 hours nonstop (except for dinner in Lawrence, KS and various restroom and gasoline breaks) between Eastern Colorado and Central Ohio.

We saw the sun set in the rear view mirror...

...and we saw the sun rise through the windshield.

It feels good to be home and NOT be traveling. That's why this week's poem spoke so clearly to me.


AGAINST TRAVEL
by Charles Tomlinson

These days are best when one goes nowhere,
The house a reservoir of quiet change,
The creak of furniture, the window panes
Brushed by the half-rhymes of activities
That do not quite declare what thing it was
Gave rise to them outside.

(the rest of the poem is here)


Are you delighted to be traveling or NOT traveling this week?
What are you against?
What are you for?

The round up this week is at Becky's Book Reviews. (Next Friday it will be here!)

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES by ann e. burg

all the broken pieces

by ann e. burg

Scholastic Press, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

We don't review YA books here very often, but this is one you won't want to miss.

This novel in verse shows the reader the ways that war breaks people, and the ways that they work to put the broken pieces back together.

Told in first person from the point of view of Matt Pin, a twelve year-old Vietnamese American boy who was airlifted out of Vietnam and adopted by an American family, the story weaves the threads of Matt learning to play the piano and joining the baseball team with his memories of his younger brother in Vietnam having his feet and hands blown off by a land mine. A variety of perspectives on war can be found in the course of the story: Matt's father feels guilty because he went to medical school instead of Vietnam. Matt suffers from the racism of a teammate whose brother was killed in Vietnam and from Vietnam Veterans who resent the reminders of the war in Matt's Vietnamese features. Matt and his piano teacher (a vet who takes him to a veterans' support group) help with the healing of a vet who becomes Matt's baseball coach, and this new coach helps to heal the rift between Matt and his teammate.

The parallels between the Vietnam War and all of the current global conflicts would make this an excellent read aloud or shared reading for a middle school or high school literature or social studies classroom. For those of us who grew up during the Vietnam War and lived in it without really learning about it, this book is an important education.

LUCKY BREAKS by Susan Patron

lucky breaks

by Susan Patron

illustrated by Matt Phelan

Simon and Schuster, 2009

review copy was purchased with my own money

I can't wait to hand this book to my student who read The Higher Power of Lucky at the end of the year last year. She'll love it! Lucky is the kind of character, and Hard Pan (population 43) is the kind of place that stay with you.

Maybe every girl on the brink of turning eleven needs to read this book. Not since Sandra Cisneros' story eleven have I seen this age described so eloquently. (I'm not going to link to any of the online copies of Cisneros' story--they are all violating copyright, so I'll let you find them for yourself if you don't already know the story. It's from Cisneros' book Woman Hollering Creek.) Here are the lead paragraphs of lucky breaks:

"Eleven. Lucky thought from her seat at the back of the school bus, eleven, eleven, eleven, and the idea of it the sound of it threw off sparks in her head. You start with one, two, three: those clunky one-syllable beginner-ages like wooden blocks that toddlers play with. Keep going and you get to eight, nine, ten: the plodding steps you have to climb until, at last, you arrive. Finally, finally, you reach the best age, the one that, when you say it out loud, sounds like a little tap dance or a drumroll.

...She pictured 11 as a swinging double door, a saloon door in an old Western; you push the sides open, bam, with both hands and stride through before they flap shut again, your childhood behind you." (p.1-2)

This is a book that will satisfy readers who read for plot. In the first chapter, we learn (from Miles, who is about to turn six) the story of two miners from about a hundred years ago who loved the same woman who was tragically killed in their fight for her. A piece of her brooch is supposedly at the bottom of an abandoned (or condemned?) well. The story captures Lucky's imagination, and any reader worth their salt is going to know that sooner or later, Lucky will be down that well looking for the missing piece of the brooch and it's a good thing that the book is titled lucky breaks. It would be interesting to use this book in a literature circle or grand discussion and have readers focus on all of the things that break (literally and figuratively) in the book.

This is also a book that will satisfy readers who read for characters. Lucky's friend Lincoln is fully developed in this book. He is still complicated and quirky and constantly tying knots, but he is also mature and stable, which are both lucky breaks for Lucky. A new character is also introduced -- Paloma, who becomes Lucky's first best friend who is a girl.

And finally, this is a book that will satisfy readers who read for setting. Hard Pan, the desert around it, and the sky above it are beautifully described. Matt Phelan's small sketches help readers visualize the vastness and the emptiness of the desert landscape. In this interview, Susan Patron shares that the setting of a fictional former mining town in California's Eastern Sierras was the initial inspiration for Lucky's stories.

The third book in the series is promised for 2010. YAY!

DRAGONBREATH by Ursula Vernon

Dragonbreath

by Ursula Vernon

Dial Books, June 2009

Grades 3 and up

Review copy provided by the publisher

What do you read after you've read all the BABYMOUSE books? DRAGONBREATH!

You'll notice some similarities -- the dream sequences in color (green for this book), the imaginative but bumbling main character (Danny Dragonbreath cannot yet breathe fire), the school bully (in this case, a Komodo dragon named Big Eddy) and the intelligent sidekick (Wendell, the green iguana).

And there are also differences -- DRAGONBREATH is a hybrid graphic novel/novel, there is no conversation between the main character and the narrator, and at 146 pages, DRAGONBREATH will take a bit more stamina from the reader.

Danny Dragonbreath is the only mythical creature at the Herpitax-Phibbias School for Reptiles and Amphibians. He is also an incredible procrastinator, turning in a science paper which he writes in less than 15 minutes and which he's hoping his teacher will grade on length and not content, seeing as he completely made up the sea creature featured in his paper -- the Snorklebat. Danny is not so lucky. He gets an F on his paper and must rewrite it by the next day. Luckily, Danny's cousin is a sea serpent who takes Danny and Wendell on a deep sea tour to gather facts for the rewrite. Adventures with a shark and a giant squid ensue, but Danny gets enough good material for an A on his paper.

The next DRAGONBREATH adventure will be ATTACK OF THE NINJA FROGS, but what I really want to know is what happens to the predatory potato salad that Danny uses to get back at Big Eddy in the cafeteria.

A ferocious predator, what the common potato salad lacks in bone structure, it more than makes up for in viciousness. A school of potato salad can skeletonize a cow in under two weeks, assuming that the cow doesn't get bored and move.

The last we see of the potato salad, it is oozing down into a storm drain. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of it!

NANA CRACKS THE CASE! by Kathleen Lane

Okay, I have been totally amused by the new book NANA CRACKS THE CASE! by Kathleen Lane. The story begins with Nana looking through the local newspaper for a job. She quickly finds one that sounds perfect for her:

It did seem that Nana had all of the qualifications necessary to be a detective. Not only did she own the various wigs mentioned in the ad, "but, " Nana said, "I must admit that I can also, when necessary, be a bit sneaky."

Nana is quite an amusing character--full of spunk and humor. Along with her grandchildren Eufala and Bog, she goes off to find a thief.

This is a short book--about 100 pages. It has a plot that will be easy for middle readers to follow. And the writing made me laugh throughout the book. From finding her orange and black spotted wig to going into a Lavatory instead of the Laboratory, Nana is full of fun surprises.

I have been looking for new mysteries and I like this one. A fun, beginning kind of mystery/detective story in which Nana has to find a thief. I was thinking that this would be a series because it certainly lends itself to a great one--a fun character that you want to read more about and a great concept--Nana looking for new jobs or Nana as detective. So, I am hoping that more stories about Nana are on their way.