Getting Ready for NCTE!

We'll be posting infrequently as we get sub plans ready, finish report cards, polish our presentations and pack, so you won't see much of us here on the blog in the next two weeks, but maybe we'll get a chance to say hello in person at NCTE! See you in Vegas!!

LEMONADE IN WINTER by Emily Jenkins and G. Brian Karas

The book Lemonade in Winter: A Book About Two Kids Counting Money struck me as a very cute story. Two siblings stuck inside during a cold winter day decide that it is the perfect day to have a Lemonade Stand! Their parents warn them that on a cold day, no one will want a cold drink. And there is really no one outside to buy the drinks. But the children are determined and they make their lemonade, limeade and lemon limeade. They buy the ingredients and decide to charge 50 cents per cup.

The story is a fun book to add to my math picture book collection. It is a fun story with a great plot. The characters are quite adorable in the way they carry on on such a cold, winter day. Their enthusiasm is quite contagious.

The money counting part of this book is quite fun. There are lots of opportunities to count quarters and there are some pages that show the math behind figuring out total sold.  There is also a final page with more math explanations.

I think this is a perfect book for primary students who are learning about change. Teachers can create some great problems around this book to help kids understand the concept of money. I plan to use it with a small group of kids who need a little bit of extra help with counting money. Quarters are a perfect place to start when counting change and we can build from there.

So glad I took the time to read this book once Beth at Cover to Cover suggested I did!

October Mosaic

Fall colors, Fairfield County Fair. Other than that, October was a blur of schoolwork.

Photos can be seen full size on Flickr.

Poetry Friday -- Writer's Notebooks

What's in My Journal 

by William Stafford

Odd things, like a button drawer. Mean
Things, fishhooks, barbs in your hand.
But marbles too. A genius for being agreeable.
Junkyard crucifixes, voluptuous
discards. Space for knickknacks, and for
Alaska. Evidence to hang me, or to beatify.

(the whole poem is at The Writer's Almanac)

There's even room in my journal/writer's notebook for a bizarre gigantic "Siamese-Triplet" heirloom tomato.

Here's to all the bits of this and that which go into a notebook, and all of the brilliance which (sometimes) comes out!

The Poetry Friday Roundup is in Maine this week, hosted by Donna at Mainely Write.

Finicky

Finicky (The Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel Series)
by Karla Oceanak
illustrated by Kendra Spanjer
Bailiwick Press, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

It's hard to believe we're already to the sixth book in the Aldo Zelnick series! I have a student who is waging a one-man boycott of our school cafeteria over the very same issue that moves Aldo and his friends to protest -- no more pizza day on Tuesdays!

This volume is sure to please food lovers and finicky eaters alike, and the feast of words that begin with F fairly overflows!  Aldo and his fellow endomorph of a dad get a little more serious about their health and weight, and Aldo serves up a steaming banquet of remorse when his protests get a little out of hand.

Another must-read for Aldo Zelnick fans, and also for the Nate the Great and Wimpy Kid crowd.

WHY SCHOOL by Will Richardson

I just finished Will Richardson's new ebook, Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) .  Will Richardson is someone I have been learning from for years. I've read his books, I read his blog regularly, I follow him on Twitter, I've watched his Ted Talks and I was able to hear him speak in person this summer.  I have learned so much from his groundedness about teaching and learning combined with his knowledge of technology and connected learning.

Why School is a must read for educators and parents, I think.  I love this book for a lot of reasons. First of all, it is not about school bashing or teacher bashing but pushing us to think about where we are going with school. Richardson believes in public education and the institution of school but knows things have to change.

I also like that Richardson ends the book with some very concrete things we, as individual teachers can do to move things forward and to give our students the school experiences they deserve.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from WHY SCHOOL. I have 59 things highlighted according to my Kindle notes page but thought these would help you get a sense of the message Richardson conveys in this book. 

"I’m suggesting that this moment requires us to think deeply about why we need school. Or to ask, more specifically, what’s the value of school now that opportunities for learning without it are exploding all around us?" 

"Right now, we are at the precipice of two very different visions of what modern education should look like — two very different answers to the “why school” question. One bodes well for our children, and one bodes not so well, as I’ll explain."

"I contend that our focus on passing the test is not nearly enough any longer. I insist that the “test” doesn’t come close to capturing what our kids need to know and to be able to do at this moment of rapid and radical change, and that the longer we wait to start a conversation around doing school “differently,” instead of simply “better,” the more we’re putting our kids at risk."

"Just imagine the learners they could become if we made these skills the focus of our work; if, instead of passing the test, we made those ever-more important skills of networking, inquiry, creation, sharing, unlearning, and relearning the answer to the “why school” question. Imagine what our kids could become if we helped them take full advantage of all they have available to them for learning."

It is a great read.  And if you are going to NCTE's Annual Convention next month, Will Richardson will be speaking there.   (Did I mention that this book is only available in a Kindle Edition with a great price of $2.99?)

And my friend sent me a connected article that is worth a read too!

National Geographic Kids EVERYTHING DOGS

I picked up the newest book in the National Geographic Kids Everything series this week. The newest published in October is National Geographic Kids Everything Dogs: All the Canine Facts, Photos, and Fun You Can Get Your Paws On! . My kids gravitate toward books that have a magazine type set up when it comes to nonfiction. They love the visuals and the ability to read the pages that interest them without reading the entire book. However, so many of these books are not reader-friendly and kids often merely browse the pictures.

When I saw this book, I was excited about the possibilities. I don't think I have any others in the series but I will be purchasing some soon. This is a great series for middle grade readers. It has the set up they love and an organization that makes sense. There is also a great deal of text and organizational features so kids will dig in, read and learn.

The Table of Contents is extensive letting readers know what they are in for.  Each two-page spread focuses on a different topic about dogs.  There are dog diagrams and tables explaining dog behaviors. And the photographs are absolutely adorable.  I like the combination of things kids have probably already read about (breeds of dogs) and new information (dogs with jobs).  This book is packed with information that is accessible to kids. There is not only a great deal packed on each page, but I also see this as a book that will invite further reading.

It looks like National Geographic Kids has about 10 of these titles. I will have to pick up a few more as the format and topics will be perfect to encourage more nonfiction reading.

Declaration of Interdependence

Declaration of Interdependence: Poems for an Election Year
by Janet Wong
cover illustration by Julie Paschkis
PoetrySuitcase.com, 2012

With just a little over a week to go until election day 2012 (Tuesday, November 6, in case you missed the memo), we might be starting to feel a bit like the speaker in Robert Frost's poem, "After Apple Picking:"

My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin
That rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking; I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.

As annoying and pervasive as the campaigning might seem, let's never forget that voting is one of the most important acts of American citizenship. Running for office is the other. This is OUR country. Let's do our best to get it right, whether we're the ones in charge, or the ones in charge of "hiring" the leaders.

Let's take the pledge that is the lead poem in Janet Wong's DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE:

LIBERTY 

I pledge acceptance
of the views
so different,
that make us America

To listen, to look,
to think, and to learn

One people
sharing the earth
responsible
for liberty
and justice
for all.


There are twenty poems in Janet's gem of a book. Twenty kid-friendly ways to think about and talk about democracy, elections, voting and citizenship. Rather than tuning out the divisiveness of the elections in this last week before the big day, why not engage students in conversations about the ways we need to work together for our country, and ultimately for our world?

Visit The Declaration of Interdependence blog for more poems and thought-provoking writing prompts.

And for today's Poetry Friday roundup, visit Linda, at TeacherDance.

Format, Not Genre

We are working hard in fifth grade to be more specific in our identification of genre. Knowing that a book or story is fiction or nonfiction just isn't good enough anymore! We have identified the qualities of fantasy and science fiction, historical fiction and realistic fiction, and more. 

One of the first hurdles we had to cross was that "graphic novel" is NOT a genre. We have seen graphic novels that are fantasy, science fiction, biography, memoir, and mythology. So a graphic novel is a FORMAT for presenting a story, rather than a single GENRE.

The same is true for wordless books. It might be a fun informal assessment to give a group of students a stack of wordless books and ask them to sort the books by genre!

Here are two you could include in your stack -- one fantasy, and the other historical fiction.

The Night Riders
by Matt Furie
McSweeney's McMullens, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

In this fantasy, Frog and Mouse go on a journey together. They meet a scary dragon who turns out to be friendly. Dragon and his underground video-game-playing friend join Frog and Mouse and their journey takes them all the way to the ocean.


One of the best things about this book is the dust jacket -- it unfolds into a big poster with the characters on one side, and parts of the setting on the other!

Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad
by Henry Cole
Scholastic Press, 2012

The silence of a wordless book is perfect for UNSPOKEN. When the girl discovers a runaway slave hiding in the outbuilding, she keeps his secret.

Henry Cole uses well-chosen details to evoke the setting (both time and place), to build suspense, and to give the story a satisfying ending. For those with background knowledge about the Underground Railroad, such images as the lantern, the Big Dipper, and the quilts will resonate. This gorgeous wordless book belongs in classrooms at all levels. It will prompt great discussions, and perhaps some will want to try to write the story with words.

Parody

Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody
by Ludworst Bemonster (Rick Walton, illus. by Nathan Hale)
Feiwel and Friends Fiends, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

Yesterday, I read aloud Mo Willems' Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: As Retold by Mo Willemsand we talked about parody -- taking a well-known book or music video and redoing it in a new (and usually funny) way. One canny student asked, "Is that legal?" Knowing how we drill the evils of plagiarism, I can understand why she asked.

I think it will be easier for all of the students to understand just how parody works when I share The original Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, followed by Frankenstein by Ludworst Bemonster.

(In fact, I had to buy Madeline so that I could fully appreciate the humor in Frankenstein. Somehow, I missed this childhood classic, either as a child or up until this point in my adulthood. Shameful!)

Reading both books in the same sitting will allow my students to see that the author of Frankenstein does not copy any of the exact words of Madeline. What makes the book so funny is the way the illustrator imitates the style of the illustrations (right down to the fake Caledecott Honor/CaldeNOT Horror medal on the cover), and the way the author imitates the rhythm, rhyme and basic plot line of the story. It is parody rather than plagiarism because the author made something entirely new -- he did not copy the work of the original. The author of Frankenstein depends on the reader knowing Madeline in order to really "get" the humor in his book.

In Frankenstein, "In a creepy old castle/all covered with spines,/lived twelve ugly monsters in two crooked lines" who are wrangled through the town at midnight, scaring folks, by Miss Devel. Miss Devel is awakened one night, whispering, "Something is not right," and when she checks in on the little monsters, she finds that Frankenstein has lost his head. Off he goes to the hospital, and when he wakes up, he finds he has a new head and two new screws in his neck. (Now you know where those screws came from!)

Madeline and Frankenstein -- a pair of books not to be missed this Halloween season!