My Favorite Books at the Book Fair

This week, we are having a Scholastic Book Fair at our school. It is always fun to watch kids shop for books! There are lots of books we'll add to our library and several that I will put on my "Next-Read Stack". But, I do have 3 books that I just LOVE. For totally different reasons. They are new-to-me books and I am happy that I had time to discover them.

CROW CALL by Lois Lowry is an amazing picture book. It is the story from Lowry's childhood. She tells about a day she spent with her father shortly after he returned from the war. This is a wonderful story with gorgeous illustrations. So happy to have a picture book by one of my favorite authors. This will be a great mentor text for kids when writing personal narrative. There is such a strong theme about relationship and connections that goes beyond the plot.

DOGS DON'T BRUSH THEIR TEETH by Diane deGroat is totally amusing. Photos of dogs are used and each spread shows a dog doing something that dogs do (looking out the window) and something dogs don't do (lounging and watching TV with remote in hand). Every other page is a lift-the-flap page. This book is quite fun and the text is perfect for new readers who are just beginning to match words to print. The phrases "Dogs Do." and "Dogs Don't" are the only words the kids read.


ONCE I WAS A CARDBOARD BOX...BUT NOW I AM A BOOK ABOUT POLAR BEARS by Anton Poltier is a story of polar bears AND a story about recycling and how it can help the polar bears. The title is what drew me into this book. This is a nonfiction book about polar bears. But on the side column of each page, there is another thread about recycling and how this book started out as a box but became a book. It is a very smart way to show the relationship between recycling and the need for us to take better care of our world--how that impacts polar bears. Very well done and very engaging.

Time To Nominate Favorites For CYBILS!!

Go to the CYBILS website to find out which books have already been nominated in these categories:

Easy Readers/Short Chapter Books

Fantasy/SciFi

Fiction Picture Books

Graphic Novels

Middle Grade Fiction

Nonfiction, Middle Grade/YA

Nonfiction Picture Books (Franki's on this panel!!)

Poetry

Young Adult Fiction

There's a nominations form this year that's going to make it super simple to nominate AND to keep track of the nominations! This award keeps getting smarter and classier every year -- and now you can even find the CYBILS on Wikipedia!

Poetry Friday -- Small Moments

"This poem just tries to capture a moment in time."

This Moment
by Eavan Boland

A neighbourhood.

At dusk.

Things are getting ready

to happen

out of sight.

Stars and moths.

And rinds slanting around fruits.

But not yet.

(read the whole poem here)

I've been thinking about the importance of capturing moments in time.

My principal joined my class for a science experiment this week.

He watched and listened and questioned and took notes.

When it was time for him to leave, he held my eyes when he told the whole class that the big lesson he had learned was to closely observe what's happening right in front of you. And be ready to record.

Good reminders.

YOU ARE INVITED!

Happy October!

You know what October means? Halloween is coming.

And A Year of Reading is hosting a VIRTUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY!

YOU ARE INVITED! Now, in case you are wondering what to wear, we have some ideas.

Instead of dressing as your favorite decade (as we have all done in the past) we want you to dress as one of your favorite book characters.

If you'd like to join us, start thinking now. Then, sometime between October 26 and October 30, post a photo of yourself in your costume on your own blog or site and then send the link to A Year of Reading (details on where to link closer to the party date!). Then, we will all be together for this fun Halloween event. What better way to celebrate Halloween than to see all of the great costumes of the Kidlitosphere!)

And, of course, there will be a prize for BEST COSTUME. You are eligible if you dress as a book character and have your photo to us by Friday, October 30 at midnight. The winner of our BEST COSTUME contest will receive Ohio's favorite candy for their Trick-or-Treat bag --Buckeyes from Anthony Thomas.

We can't wait to see you at our party!

(And, don't forget: CYBILS Nominations begin today. So, while you are thinking about your costume, make sure to put in your nominations!)

September Mosaic

I can't believe September is already over! 237 days have been marked off the 2009 calendar...

There are lots of signs of the end of summer in this mosaic. There are the literal signs announcing the last Catholic church festival of the summer and fresh produce for sale, and there are the more subtle signs -- the sunflowers and the mums, the art at the Upper Arlington Art Festival and the end-of-summer feast.

We spent time with dogs this month. The puppies from the puppy video were at the same event as the poof-head Briards and the scruffy farm dog, Buster (Bess' brother).

As Saturn owners, we enjoyed our first Saturn Day at the Columbus Zoo. The baby elephant, Beco, is six months old, but still cute as a bug's ear. (Check out this video of Beco at the Columbus Dispatch.) My other favorite site was the orangutan chewing and playing with a piece of bubble gum!

The month's pictures end with a couple from the Casting For Recovery retreat. You can see all the retreat photos here. Thanks again to the Central Ohio Bloggers for their generous contributions to CFR last summer during the 48-Hour Read.

Project 365 on Flickr is one way I'm thinking about my own 21st Century Literacies this year.

Ask Dr. K. Fisher about Weather

Ask Dr. K. Fisher about Weather

by Claire Llewellyn

illustrated by Kate Sheppard

Kingfisher (an imprint of Henry Holt and Company LLC), 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

When last we checked in with Dr. K. Fisher, his advice column-style letters answered questions by and about creepy-crawlies.

Now Dr. K. Fisher is taking on questions from animals about different aspects of the weather. He advises a young stork that liftoff will come easier once the morning sun causes warming air to rise, then explains to a thirsty lizard how beetles drink fog that condenses on their bodies, and finally, informs a young orangutan that rain is a necessary evil. All this leads up to a diagram of the water cycle.

Through other examples in advice letters to ducks, meerkats, fish, elephants, hares, and foxes, Dr. K. Fisher explains ice and snow, dangerous storms, the seasons, and climate.

This is a fun book to add to your collection of weather books, and books written in letter format.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Ken Robbins

Food for Thought: The Stories Behind the Things We Eat

by Ken Robbins

Roaring Brook Press, 2009

review copy purchased by me after I saw Jama's review in June

Go over and check out the inside images Jama has of this book (I hope you're not hungry). I first fell for the gorgeous pictures, but after I got my own copy, for the informative, well-organized, conversational text. For each food there is historical information, information from around the world, and tidbits that make you go, "wow!"

• Bananas are bushes that grow 20-30 feet in a year and die after producing just one bunch (100 total).
• Before the Chinese even knew about tomatoes, they had a sauce named kat siap, made of the brine of pickled fish. This name and the idea of this sauce has spread around the world and has had a variety of main ingredients. The first tomato ketchup is about 200 years old. In the U.S., we now use more salsa than ketchup.
• The grenade and the garnet both get their names from the pomegranate.

Every food does, indeed, have a story, and that's food for thought!

Composing Workshop

Franki's post, "How Did They Make That," has gotten several interesting comments. In the post, she tells about her students deconstructing the Scholastic Book Fair video, not in terms of content, as she expected, but in terms of how it might possibly have been made.

One responder declared the video a marketing failure because the students looked beyond the content. Others agreed with Franki's positive take on her students' point of view.

But the comment I want to respond to today, in light of the hour I just spent working in iMovie and GarageBand making a video I could upload to YouTube so that I can share some huggable puppies with my friends, is from takini8:

"I think this generation are creators and producers. They are moving beyond the viewing that I did as a child. I watched videos and enjoyed them, they view critically and with an eye to creating. I think that's because they can create and publish so easily. I think its a really exciting perspective and look forward to what they do in the future. My problem is what to call writing today. I originally started calling writing workshop, author workshop, because I was focusing on authoring but now... what do you call it when they are blogging, creating photo essays and music videos? It's so much more than authoring."

What do I call Writing Workshop now? I call it Composing Workshop.

It's that time in the day when we use a creative design process to make things we want to share with an audience for some purpose.

We get an idea, try it out, tweak it until we get it just right, look at it through as many lenses as we can, then share it out with an audience.

It might be paper and pencil, word processing, a music composition, a comic, a movie with narration or a sound track, a photo essay, or (insert project here).

Yes, there are times when my students attend to the genres of paper-pencil composing required by our district and the State Standards. But once my students have a firm traditional grasp on the standards as defined by the state, they are encouraged to work with the standards/genres in the media of their choice.

Another message I hope to be communicating with my "composing workshop" is that the processes and skills that my students are learning are not to be used solely within the walls of school. My students, too, can have a personal composing workshop on a rainy Sunday morning sitting at their very own kitchen table during which they put aside all their other work/chores to make a video and compose the music for its soundtrack.

And now, because I know you're dying to see it, here is the puppy video I made this morning:

KidLitosphere Conference Panel

Mother Reader has asked me to join Jennie (Biblio File), Melissa (Book Nut) and Tricia (The Miss Rumphius Effect) in leading a panel discussion for book bloggers at the 2009 KidLitosphere Conference.

The big question is:

"What do book bloggers want to know more about?"

If you're a book blogger (and especially if you're a book blogger who's coming to the conference), what are the issues you'd like to discuss?

If you're a book blogger who's not coming, we'll report back on the discussion. If you could be a fly on the wall, what would you want to hear us chat about?

If you're a reader of book blogs, what do you look for in a book blog? What do you like or dislike? What is unclear or mysterious or wonderful or frustrating from your side of the blog?

Please leave discussion topic ideas and questions in the comments, or send them via blog email. There are no trivial or stupid topics or questions except the one you don't ask!

Poetry Friday -- Georgia Heard (Blog Tour)

Recipe for Writing an Autumn Poem

by Georgia Heard

One teaspoon wild geese.

One tablespoon red kite.

One cup wind song.

One pint trembling leaves.

One quart darkening sky.

One gallon north wind.

Many of us know and love Georgia Heard through her poetry and her professional books about teaching poetry. Her new book, A Place for Wonder: Reading and Writing Nonfiction in the Primary Grades (coauthored with Jennifer McDonough and published by Stenhouse), is a natural extension of all she's taught us about developing our students' love of reading and writing poetry.

Here's the exciting news: Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough will embark on a three-stop blog tour starting 10/19.

October 19: A Year of Reading (right here!)
October 21: Miss Rumphius Effect
October 23: Carol’s Corner

In their book, Georgia and Jennifer discuss how to create a “landscape of wonder,” a primary classroom where curiosity, creativity, and exploration are encouraged, and where intelligent, inquiring, lifelong learners are developed. They provide teachers with practical ways – setting up “wonder centers,” gathering data through senses, teaching nonfiction craft – to create a classroom environment where students’ questions and observations are part of daily work.

As a special treat, Stenhouse will wrap up the blog tour with a live webcast with Georgia and Jennifer on Oct. 26th at 8 p.m. EST. This will be a great opportunity to join a small group discussion with the two authors. ***Five participants for this live webcast will be chosen (names-on-slips-of-paper-drawn-from-a-bowl kind of chosen) from the comments in this post and the blog tour post on October 19.*** If you would like to have your name thrown in the bowl, be sure you mention that in your comment and include your email address so we can contact you if you win! No special software or equipment are needed to participate in the webcast – just a phone and your computer!

From now until the beginning of the tour you can also receive free shipping when you order A Place for Wonder. Just use code “blog” at the checkout when you order from www.stenhouse.com or by phone at 800-988-9812. The book will start to ship Sept. 25, so reserve your copy now!

For more information about Georgia Heard and her work:

Georgia Heard's website.

Georgia Heard was featured on The Miss Rumphius Effect's Poetry Makers Series.

The round up today is at Susan Writes.