Poetry Friday -- Cinquains

I can't write a poem a day in November, of all months. Nor could I (ever?) write a novel in a month. No NaPo(a day)WriMo or NaNoWriMo for me!

But not one to leave ALL the challenges to everyone else, I have challenged myself to write a poem a week. Not just any old poem, I'm going to try writing one inspired by Tricia's Monday Poetry Stretch. This week, the stretch was to write a cinquain, and Tricia totally rescued this form for me. Lo and behold, cinquains were NOT invented to test a writer's knowledge of the parts of speech! They are more like a Japanese tanka, and follow a syllable pattern in the 5 lines of 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.

It was threatening to rain on Wednesday after school, so I kept the Environmental Club kids close to the building as we gathered gorgeously-colored fallen leaves from the Maples, Sweet Gums, and Bradford Pears out front.

When we brought our treasures inside, I had art supplies ready, and in less than 5 minutes, there was a creative hum in the room as the students tried to capture the beauty of the sky and trees on their paper. Vivaldi's Four Seasons played in the background.

Try to

capture Autumn's

color with paint, collage.

Today's art will be forgotten,

not lost.

Dark sky

Children's laughter

Brilliant colors of fall

Collect beauty strewn by the trees

New art

Brilliant

color against

heavy dark purple skies:

red, gold, green, orange, yellow, brown.

Rain begins.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Diane has today's Poetry Friday Roundup at Random Noodling.

Bugs in my Hair!

Bugs in My Hair!
by David Shannon
Blue Sky Press, 2013

**itches head**

Every teacher needs this book for her/his classroom. Buy it in honor of all the past, present and future students who discover to their great horror that there are bugs in their hair, feasting on their blood and having a "Lice-a-palooza!"

**itch itch**

Leave it to David Shannon to demystify a common childhood malady with some facts and a whole bunch of humor (both in the text and the illustrations -- my favorite is the closeup of the nit comb scraping those little buggers off every strand of the kid's red hair).

**itch itch**

CYBILS: Nonfiction Picture Books

I love being part of the CYBILS! It is always so wonderful to learn about and read so many books in a single category.  This year, I am part of the Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction Committee. I have loved discovering new books and am excited to share some on the blog.

It's Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona is one I am so glad to have discovered.  A few years ago, I created a list of books to go along with the idea of community garden and I have only found a few more since then.  This new book is one that kids will love because they will see themselves in the book.  The book is told in narrative and follows the chronology of one New Mexico elementary school's community garden.  The book begins with one person's dream of a garden and takes us through lots of ideas, stages, learning and work.  It is clear that George Ancona spent lots of time in this school, learning about how the community garden is integrated into the school community.  The gorgeous photos not only capture the content of the information, but they also capture the joy and energy of the project.

Pedal It!: How Bicycles are Changing the World (Footprints) by Michelle Mulder is another book I'm happy to have recently discovered.  The book is a short chapter book (46 pages) about the history and impact of bicycles in our world.  The beginning of the book shares some important history in the invention timeline of the bicycles. The photos and artifacts bring these events to life for kids.  (The short news article about a woman wearing bloomers on a bicycle being warned of arrest was quite telling:-)  The rest of the book goes on to tell how and why bicycles are so important today and how they are used for different purposes in different places. Again, photos are an important way that this book shares information with readers. This book is packed with interesting information about bicycles and there are many possibilities for it in the classroom.

And what kid wouldn't like Toilet: How It Works (My Readers. Level 4)?   (I didn't realize that David

Macaulay has a series of these including one on castles, jet plane, and eyes.) This is a simple explanation of the way a toilet works.  The book helps readers make sense of how the toilet work through the use of words, illustrations and diagrams.  The book takes us from the meal we eat to the end of the cycle when the water is cleaned in a large tank.  An interesting read and a complex idea told in a way that young readers can grasp!

Looking Forward to These Books: November!

Lots of great new books coming out in November! These are those I am most excited about right now! I am so behind on my reading that I am sure there are lots more that I'm missing!?

Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer's Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits 

 by Donalyn Miller

Celebrating Writers: From Possibilities to Publication 

 by Ruth Ayres with Christi Overman

God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant

Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella by Jan Brett

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

Dot.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Book 8

Red Knit Cap Girl to the Rescue

Fossil by Bill Thompson

The Sign Painter by Allen Say

October Mosaic

Row 1: 1. Giants, Midgets and Oddballs at Ochs Fruit Farm in Lancaster, 2. Ochs, 3. Go This Way, 4. Mums, 5. More Wag, Less Oink (Fairfield County Fair)

Row 2: 1. Piglet Plea, 2. Goat Grin, 3. Fair Rides, 4. Stick Horse Race, 5. Sunflower Seeds (all Fairfield County Fair)

Row 3: 1. Goldenrod, 2. Preying Mantis, 3. Last Sunflower, 4. Heroic Grasshopper, 5. Last Coneflower (all school Land Lab + Yucca in the next row)

Row 4: 1. Yucca, 2. This one has a story. So our master bath is decorated with a bird theme. We've lived in the house for almost 17 years and I just noticed that there are two birds in the marbling of the vanity -- a short, stout Twitter-like bird on the right, and a caricature of partridge on the left. Imagine all I'd see if I really paid attention!!! 3. Fin du Monde beer bubbles, 4. Food For Thought tasting event at Old Worthington Library -- Bleu Cheeses, 5. Now Panic and Freak Out (we resisted buying this at Sur la Table when we got the new bowls...but it was hard not to...)

Row 5: 1. The five bowls that replaced the one I broke, 2. Which Contrail Do You Leave -- Delicate, Bold, or Meandering?, 3. X Marks The Spot Where The Moon Is, 4. Tic-Tac-Cloud-o (all three cloud pictures were the same morning -- inspirational sky!) 5. Celebrating Josie!

Row 6: 1. Who Made This Nest?, 2. Our Punkin', 3. Sunflower with new filter app, 4. Apple Crisp with new mosaic app, 5. Starbucks with new mosaic app


You can see the pictures full-size on Flickr.

My two new favorite photo apps on my iPhone are FilterMania 2 (I could play with this one all day!) and Mosaicam (shoot a mosaic rather than having to go back afterward and build it).

Saturday Celebration

Ruth, you inspire us in so many ways!

This week, I started 15 Minute Friday writing with my class. We logged into our Kidblog, opened a new post, set the timer for 15 minutes, and WROTE.

Here's the first celebration: when I said go, the only sound I heard was the clicking of keys on keyboards. You know that feeling of tension in the room when someone is frustrated? There was none of that. EVERYONE wrote. Here's mine:

I can’t get the look on C’s face out of my mind. He was frustrated and confused in math, and rather than helping him, I just said, “Hmm…you’ll have to keep thinking about that,” and walked away from him. It killed me to do that. And if I would have looked back, I’m sure he would have been shooting daggers into my back.

However, after working ten more minutes, I broke into a wide smile when I heard him say softly to himself, “Oh! I get it!”

Thats what it’s all about for me.  That lightbulb moment. That obvious memorable moment when learning happens.

Because here’s what I believe: I believe in the power of learning. I believe that intelligence can grow. I don’t believe that we are born with all the smarts we’re ever going to have.  Learning sometimes hurts. It’s like growing out of a favorite pair of shoes or jeans. You wear them and they get tighter and tighter. Your toes hurt and you’re uncomfortable. Your bare ankles show. But…ahh…when you get your new shoes or jeans, they feel so good. They fit. Same thing with new thinking. The old thoughts are tight, but when that new learning or understanding comes along…ahh…it fits. It feels so right.

STOP

The first thing I celebrate about this new routine in our classroom is that my writing will live right there alongside theirs. I have been using my own writing in minilessons more and more often, and I am putting that writing in posts on Kidblog to create an archive of minilessons and anchor texts. 

Next celebration: I just finished reading through all of their posts and comments, and let me just say that mine aren't the only anchor texts on the blog! Wow! What a great way for them to read quick examples of each other's writing and learn from each other!

Celebration #3: They were so surprised at how much they wrote in 15 minutes (me, too!) and where their ideas went once they got started. Many think they have the seed for an idea they'll want to pursue in writing workshop!

And finally: It is going to be so powerful to have these weekly bits of writing to use for formative assessment, conferencing, minilessons, and small group work in writing workshop!

Thank you, Ruth, for your 5 Minutes on Friday writing, which inspired this new RICH-ual in my classroom!

Check out all of the Saturday Celebrations at Ruth Ayres Writes.

Poetry Friday: Leaf Hurricane

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Paul Stevenson

LEAF HURRICANE

Clouds darken
Wind gusts
leaves swirl
I twirl

          My wild spinning dance
          Is magic to me
          I dance with the wind
          I dance with the leaves

Rain spits
wind gusts
leaves swirl
I twirl
   
          I dance with the wind
          I dance with the leaves
          With every spin
          My spirit flies free

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


This poem was inspired by the children who danced yesterday (all recess long) in the leaf hurricane that forms on the playground in the corner by the cafeteria and art room windows.

Linda has the Poetry Friday roundup at TeacherDance this week. Have another handful of candy corn, and head on over for the after-Halloween party.

Ghosts

Ghosts
by Sonia Goldie
illustrated by Marc Boutavant
Enchanted Lion Books, November 26, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

This book holds explanations for all of those unexplained happenings in life -- GHOSTS! The ghosts of the chimney, TV, behind-the-curtains, and garden, along with the more ordinary ghosts of the attic, basement, night...and MORE!

Here are a few excerpts to give you the feel of this book:

The Ghost of the Kitchen

SQUAFUMPF...The door of the 

refrigerator is pulled open.

PLOP! A package falls

to the floor. Who's that

moving around in the kitchen?

It's a gluttonous ghost that devours

anything and everything

that's white. Sugar: YUM!

Milk: SLURP!

.
.
.


Don't you love the sound of the refrigerator door? So perfect!


The Ghost of Gray Days

It's cold and damp and rainy. It's gray.
Dull gray. Neither black, nor white, but
gray: gray skies, gray clouds, gray air,
even gray wind. Weak, tired, down in the
dumps, and grumpy -- this is what the ghost
of gray days is like.
.
.
.



This is a fun book with lots to look at and and small caption-y text. It will be released too late for Halloween this year, but (at least according to the book) ghosts are everywhere all year long...if only we pay close enough attention!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all of the ghosts and goblins and trick-or-treaters in your world!

Emma in Buttonland

Emma in Buttonland
by Ulrike Rylance
translated by Connie Stradling Morby
illustrated by Silke Leffler
Sky Pony Press, October 1, 2013review copy provided by the author

I have already proclaimed my love for fantasies "with small worlds, or toys that come to life, or characters that shrink."

Emma in Buttonland is my newest favorite in this sub-genre of fantasy. I wrote in my Goodreads review that this book is "part Borrowers, part Wizard of Oz." When I checked out the only other review (so far) for the book, that person said the same thing!

Emma is stuck at her aunt and uncle's house while her mom is on a trip to Africa. Her aunt and uncle are preoccupied with their jigsaw puzzles, leaving Emma free to wander through their rambling, many-roomed house. She discovers a locked room, and the lure of adventure is too much. She swipes the keys from the sleeping cook, opens the door, and discovers a room full of buttons. Boxes and boxes full of buttons. When one of the buttons speaks to her, and then when her fingers touch it as she reaches under a cabinet to grab it after it runs away, the magic begins -- Emma shrinks to button-size and enters Buttonland!

The first character she meets, Louise, a small silver button with a large red hat, introduces one of the main themes throughout the book: What does it mean to be VALUABLE? Louise is on a quest to discover her value.

Next, she meets Gustav, a button from a pair of lederhosen. His quest is to find his true love, his matching button, Constance.

Both accompany Emma on her quest to find the gold button that made her shrink so that she can touch it again and perhaps be restored to girl-size.

The book is illustrated with full-color illustrations, mostly along the bottom edges of the pages. The illustrator, Silke Leffler (according to the back flap) was "trained as a tailor and then studied textile design." There couldn't have been a more perfect pick for an illustrator! Her collages bring all of the fabrics, sewing notions, and different buttons (and other small lost items) to life.

I can't wait to book-talk this in my 5th grade classroom. I've got several readers who I think will love it as much as I do!

2 New Favorite Nonfiction Authors

This summer, I did a Choice Literacy workshop for teachers around Nonfiction. I spoke in the morning and Andrea Smith spoke in the afternoon.  It was a great day of learning as I always learn so much from Andrea. But the big surprise was the books.  I have been on the lookout for better nonfiction for years and I love my collection lately.  I brought crates and crates of books for my part of the presentation.  Andrea also brought crates and crates for her part of the presentation.  The room was filled with amazing nonfiction for children.  And here's the thing, there was almost NO overlap in the books I brought and the books Andrea brought.  We each had a great collection of DIFFERENT books!  Needless to say, it was an expensive afternoon of amazon ordering but I discovered some great new books.

Now, well into the school year, I've realized I have 2 new nonfiction authors thanks to this workshop.

Suzi Eszterhas is an author I discovered while I was getting ready for the workshop months earlier. I don't know where I read about or saw her newish series EYE ON THE WILD (Eye on the Wild: Lion)  but I fell in love immediately.  This series currently has about 6 books--each about a different animal in the wild. Each book begins when the animal is a baby and takes it through adulthood.  The text is narrative and very well written. There is enough on the page for my 3rd graders, but not so much to make it overwhelming. And Eszterhas's photos are amazing. I checked out her website as I am a new fan and loved learning about her other work. The part of her website that was most fascinating was the section on tours and workshops. I would NEVER want to go on any adventure that observes animals in the wild, but I love that she does and that we get to learn from her brilliance!  Two more books in this series are due out in 2014 and I am very happy about that!  And I definitely want to go back and check out her past work in Ranger Rick and Time Magazine! Love finding a new favorite author.

The other author was one I discovered from Andrea at the workshop.  I knew Markle from The Case of Sandra Markle was an author I didn't know as an author--I had a few of her books but had never really looked at them together to see what Sandra Markle was about. Well, what a happy discovery!  Sandra writes great nonfiction books for kids around a variety of science topics. The thing is, all of her books have different illustrators/photographers, so it is hard to notice that they are all by this wonderful author. Go through your classroom or school library and I bet you have lots by this author.  I love her work because she really makes things more interesting and very accessible to children. Her take and focus on big topics narrows things down so kids can really understand.  Her language is beautiful and can be used in any minilesson on craft.  I currently love her Animal Predators series.  Owls in this series is one a few of my students have loved.
the Vanishing Tree Frog but hadn't paid attention to how many other books she wrote that I loved!