11 BIRTHDAYS by Wendy Mass

I am a huge Wendy Mass fan.  I became hooked when I read JEREMY FINK AND THE MEANING OF LIFE.  I've finally read one of her new books, 11 BIRTHDAYS and I loved it too. 

Amanda and Leo are best friends. They were born on the same day, in the same hospital and have been best friends their whole lives.  But when they are 10, they have a misunderstanding and stop speaking to each other.  

I don't want to give too much of the story away so I gave you the basic set-up. This book is about friendship and consequences.  I see it as a great book for reading aloud to third and fourth grade. It would also make a great booktalk book for grades 3-4-5.  There is lots to talk about and so much that kids will be able to relate to when it comes to friendship issues and misunderstandings.  

The concept of the book is a fun one, the characters and their friendship is very believable.   Wendy Mass has a really amazing understanding of kids this age.   To me, this book seems to be for a bit younger audience than JEREMY FINK--more 3rd through 5th grades.

It is a fun read and one I am anxious to share with kids!

SCAREDY SQUIRREL AT NIGHT by Melanie Watt

I was so excited to get a copy of the new Scaredy Squirrel book from my friend Larry in Canada.  What a good friend to send me my favorite books hot-off-the-press.

This 4th installment of Scaredy Squirrel is as good as the others. This one is the story of our favorite squirrel who is afraid of going to sleep at night because he is afraid of bad dreams!  This one is as good as the others--the humor is there and Scaredy is just as great while dealing with this problem.  Here are the things I love about this one:

-Scaredy Squirrel's glow-in-the-dark teeth against the dark of night on the cover are a fun way to start the book! 

 

-Melanie Watt has kept with her usual Warning at the beginning of the book--this one says:

Warning:  Scaredy Squirrel insists that everyone check under their beds before reading this book.

-We get to see SS in his pajamas--such a cute little guy!

-Scaredy takes up scrapbooking to keep from falling asleep.  I find that quite amusing.

-The closeups of SS throughout the book are some of the best expressions I've seen on him. Quite the fun book.  (My favorites are the pictures of SS after he finally gets a good night's sleep!)

-The humor is similar to the humor in the other books about SS. You can't help but smile throughout.

A great addition to books about our favorite nervous squirrel.  Can't wait to share it in the library!

21st Century Visits-March

I have spent the last several months really thinking about what the 21st Century Thinking means for me and for schools/classrooms. I have been reading, thinking, and looking for examples of this thinking that fit in with my beliefs about how we learn. I have been on a huge learning curve and am so excited about all that I am finding. Here are some things that I found recently.

GREAT EXAMPLES OF LEARNING IN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS
I have been looking long and hard for great examples of authentic uses of technology with elementary students. The samples of quality work is hard to find. I was thrilled to find THE MEDIA SPOT. This is such a great site with information for educators as well as lots of sample videos in many genres that can be used to think about the possibilities and to share with students.

I love this post by Katie at Creative Literacy. Using iMovie: Literacy Alive in the K Classroom. In it she shares a gift that she received from her child's Kindergarten teacher last week--an emailed video of her child reading aloud a book he had written in Writing Workshop. In it, I see so much potential for not only assessment but parent education. With the focus on tests, scores, and numbers, the technology that is readily available now gives us the opportunity to create these types of things to share information with parents. And what a great way to invite conversations at home between parents and students.

I also love this post by Kip about 21st Century Literacies in an Elementary Classroom. He shares his own thinking about technology working in his workshop and shares the things that are working at the elementary level.

Another site with great videos to share with kids and to think about possibilities is SAM ANIMATION. I want to spend some time exploring the software on this site to see what is possible. Some pretty amazing ideas.

POSTS TO THINK AND TALK AROUND
I love this post by Kim Cofino called CONVERSATION STARTER. She shares her thinking: "Using technology in the classroom is a mindset, not a skill-set." Such smart thinking with all of the technology being used for the sake of technology. A great piece to use to think from and to use with colleagues.

Another great conversation starter is the post called IDEO's 10 TIPS FOR CREATING A 21st CENTURY CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE May be a list I start carrying around with me. Some great points about education today.

This post by Doug Johnson called "CONTINUUMS OF LIBRARY USE" has really helped me think about the role of the elementary school library. What should we be moving to and how do we get there. I like this continuum, not only for libraries, but about learning in general.

At BuckEnglish, I read some of the best thinking I've seen around the Paperless Classroom. A paperless classroom is about so much more than saving paper. It is about rethinking the role of the teacher and how the classroom actually works.

IMPROVING THE INQUIRY PROCESS at The Librarian Edge is a post worth spending lots of time on. So much packed into one post about the Inquiry Process, self-reflecting on teaching and learning, etc.

In CHANGING RULES OF THE LITERACY CLUB at Education Week Angela Maiers shares her (very smart) thinking of the changes in The Literacy Club since Frank Smith's first writing on the topic. We can no longer hold onto our old definitions of literacy. What does this mean for us, for our students and for our schools?

JUST FOR FUN
And when I was told that I was "underusing" my iPhone, I put an effort to using more applications, etc. But who knew that THIS was possible?

Poetry Friday: What I Believe

WHAT I BELIEVE
by Michael Blumenthal

I believe there is no justice,
but that cottongrass and bunchberry
grow on the mountain.

I believe that a scorpion's sting
will kill a man,
but that his wife will remarry.

I believe that, the older we get,
the weaker the body,
but the stronger the soul.


The rest is here, including my favorite part:

"I believe in destiny.
And I believe in free will."






Tricia has the round up this week at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Great New Series: Frankie Pickle

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom
written and illustrated by Eric Wight
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
on the shelves May 5, 2009

Franklin Lorenzo Piccolini (aka Frankie Pickle) is a kid with a runaway imagination. The simple act of reaching for a toaster waffle becomes a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, and when he's sent to clean up his room and finds his GoGo Robo buried in the dirty laundry, it's suddenly time for WonderPickle to save "the metropolitan metropolis of Metro City" from the attack of GoGo Robo, resulting in an even messier room. Surprisingly, his mom agrees with him that if he doesn't want to clean his room, he doesn't have to. She simply says, "Whatever happens, you have to deal with the consequences."

Life is good when you don't have to clean your room! (Except when the Dryer Sheet Fairy stops magically delivering clean clothes.) And if you're not cleaning your room, you might as well skip cleaning yourself, right? ("Seriously, Mom. You're going to have to change his name to Stanky.") Who cares if it gets so bad that your faithful sidekick, the cute Westie named Argyle, won't even come in your room? ("Fine, you're a bed hog anyway.")

Finally, it gets to be too much even for Frankie and he deals with all the consequences, right down to taking a bath that results in water that looks "like milk did from Frosted Cocoa Loops."

This graphic novel hybrid is sure to be a hit with elementary kids in grades 2-5. I asked two of my graphic novel readers to check it out and they loved it. The way the story changes visually when Frankie's imagination takes hold reminded them of Baby Mouse. They liked the fake-brand-names-that-sound-real, like Frosted Cocoa Loops, and the dryer sheet cape that Frankie makes. I wanted my hybrid (Fogmound series) reader to read it next, but another friend was looking for a book when the first two finished, so we gave it to him. I'm pretty sure this is a book that will eventually make a complete circuit of my 4th grade classroom. And we're already looking forward to the next book in the series!

EDITED TO ADD:

From author/illustrator Eric Wight:

"I just turned in my manuscript for Frankie #2: FRANKIE PICKLE AND THE PINE RUN 3000 (the Pinewood Derby meets Speed Racer), and am writing Frankie #3: FRANKIE PICKLE AND THE MULTIPLYING MENACE (math meets Lord of the Rings). The plan is to do at least a dozen of them, with two coming out a year.

Definitely keep me in mind for school visits next year too. I have a couple of fun programs I'm putting together where the kids help me write a little adventure and then I do a drawing of it, or one where I help them make their own comic. By next school year I'll have galleys for the next two books. #2 is due next February, but we are trying to move it up to this November."

2009 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.
Used with permission of Kevin Henkes and Greenwillow Books.

The Notable Books in the Language Arts Committee, sponsored by the Children’s Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English, selects thirty titles each year that best exemplify the criteria established for the Notables Award. Books considered for this annual list are works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written for children, grades K-8. The books must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• deal explicitly with language, such as plays on words, word origins, or the history of language;
• demonstrate uniqueness in the use of language or style;
• invite child response or participation.

In addition, books are to:

• have an appealing format;
• be of enduring quality;
• meet generally accepted criteria of quality for the genre in which they are written.

2009 Committee: Deanna Day, Chair, Monica Edinger, Past Chair
Mary Lee Hahn, Janelle Mathis, Jonda McNair, Mary Napoli, Kathy Short, Edward Sullivan


Poetry

Bryant, Jen. (2008). Ringside 1925. New York: Alfred A. Knopf/Random House.

Giovanni, Nikki. (2008). Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.

Greenberg, Jan. (2008). Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World. New York: Abrams.

Thomas, Joyce Carol. (2008). The Blacker the Berry. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. New York: HarperCollins.

Weston, Robert Paul. (2008). Zorgamazoo. New York: Penguin.

Historical and Realistic Fiction

Almond, David. (2008). The Savage. Illustrated by Dave McKean. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. (2008). The Boy Who Dared. New York: Scholastic.

Bauer, Joan. (2008). Peeled. New York: Penguin.

Giff, Patricia Reilly. (2008). Eleven. New York: Wendy Lamb/Random House.

Lowry, Lois. (2008). The Willoughbys. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Nicholls, Sally. (2008). Ways to Live Forever. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

Fantasy/Folklore

Alley, Zoe B. (2008). There’s a Wolf at the Door. Illustrated by R.W. Alley. New York: Roaring Brook.

Berk, Ari. (2008). The Secret History of Giants. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

Morales, Yuyi. (2008). Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book. New York: Roaring Brook.

Prineas, Sarah (2008). The Magic Thief. New York: HarperCollins.

Reeve, Philip. (2008). Here Lies Arthur. New York: Scholastic.

Information/Biography

Bryant, Jen. (2008). A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Deneberg, Barry. (2008). Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered. New York: Feiwel and Friends/MacMillan.

Dray, Philip. (2008). Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist. Illustrated by Stephen Alcorn. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.

Nelson, Scott Reynolds, & Aronson, Marc. (2008). Ain’t Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry. Washington, DC: National Geographic.

Prelutsky, Jack. (2008). Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem. New York: Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins.

Scieszka, Jon. (2008). Knucklehead. New York: Penguin.

Picture Books

Chen, Chih-Yuan. (2008). Artie and Julie. Alhambra, CA: Heryin.

Choung, Eun-Hee. (2008). Minji’s Salon. La Jolla, CA: Kane/Miller.

Cottin, Menena. (2008). The Black Book of Colors. Illustrated by Rosana Faria. Toronto, Canada: Groundwood.

Gravett, Emily. (2008). Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Johnson, Stephen T. (2008). A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Reibstein, Mark. (2008). Wabi Sabi. Illustrated by Ed Young. New York: Little Brown.

Rumford, James. (2008). Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad. New York: Roaring Brook.

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. (2008). One Boy. New York: Roaring Brook.

Using Nonfiction in Your Read Aloud

This post is part of the Share a Story - Shape a Future Blog Tour for Literacy. The focus of Day Two is "Selecting Reading Material." The complete schedule for the week-long blog tour can be found here.

Stenhouse Publishers has sponsored this stop on the blog tour, and this stop is cross-posted on their blog.

In 2002, Stenhouse published my book, Reconsidering Read-Aloud. I'm proud to say that in the seven years since then, I haven't stopped reconsidering the content or the function of read aloud as a part of the balanced literacy approach I take in my classroom.

Three of the biggest changes in my read aloud over the past seven years are:

• I read much more nonfiction aloud.
• I read aloud more frequently during the day now, and often for shorter periods of time.
• I don't finish every book from which I read aloud -- sometimes my read aloud is a preview or a "book hook."
  

Here are some of the reasons I read aloud nonfiction:

I read aloud nonfiction to teach or review or reinforce content.

When we were studying weather, I read aloud THE SNOW SHOW: WITH CHEF KELVIN by Carolyn Fisher. It was a fun way to review the concepts of evaporation, condensation and precipitation.




I read aloud nonfiction to introduce or review the structures of nonfiction text.

The student population of my school is very diverse. I read ONE WORLD, MANY RELIGIONS by Mary Pope Osborne to promote discussions about our similarities and differences, but we wound up noticing the way each section was organized, the way the chapter and topic headings alerted us to get ready for new information, and the way a topic sentence in a paragraph promoted accurate predictions about the information that followed.




I read aloud nonfiction to model thinking strategies.

I didn't read aloud all of WATER HOLE (24 HOURS) by Zahavit Shalev (DK), but I wanted my students to know how to make sense of all of the information that's presented on each page. As I read aloud the first couple of pages, I talked about how my eye was moving across each page. I flipped back and forth to show them some of the features that mark time on each page. I asked questions, made connections, and ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the cute baby elephants (and at the recycling process that takes care of the massive amounts of elephant dung that the herd leaves behind!).


I read aloud nonfiction to tempt my students to read it more often.

All I would have had to do to sell THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: JUNIOR EDITION by David Borgenicht and Robin Epstein would have been to read aloud a few of the topics in the table of contents (How to Soothe a Peeved Parental Unit, How to Survive Outdoor Chores, How to Deal with Poo on Your Shoe). I did that, but then I read just one complete section: How to Survive Farting in Public. The book hasn't been back on the shelf since.

In another example, I tempted my students by reading one entry in HOW BIG IS IT? by Ben Hillman and they went on to read every entry in all of his books in the How Big/Strong/Fast Is It series.

I read aloud nonfiction that doesn't look or act like nonfiction to challenge my students' thinking about genre.

WHY? by Lila Prap. Are we supposed to take this book seriously and learn about animals, or is it a joke book, or a book to challenge us to think more creatively? (or all of the above?)

TALKIN' ABOUT BESSIE by Nikki Grimes. Is this a biography? But it's written in poems! And the poems are all from different points of view!








And finally, most of all, I read aloud nonfiction for the sheer enjoyment of it -- for the talk we have -- for the connections and questions and WOW moments that come when young people learn about the way their world works, about the people who have made their world what it is, and about their place in our amazing world.

Another Story That Dovetails in the Middle

I'm slightly goosebumpy about this coincidence: Last year on almost exactly this date I wrote about how my one example of Stories That Dovetail in the Middle had suddenly turned into a collection of three.

Here's the newest addition to the collection. It doesn't quite fit because you can't read it from either end towards the middle. However, it DOES have a two stories that work towards and away from the middle, so I'm including it!

Artie and Julie
by Chih-Yuan Chen
Heryin Books, Inc., September 2008
review copy provided by the publisher

Artie is a lion; Julie is a rabbit. Their parallel stories are told on split pages. At the same time Artie is learning to stalk and eat rabbits on the top half of each page, Julie is learning is learning to run fast and jump high to protect herself from lions on the bottom half of each page. (I'm predicting that kids will love these little "books within the book" and the mirroring of the stories!)

In the middle, both young animals are deemed to be sufficiently trained to venture out on their own. Both Artie and Julie get distracted by a jellyberry patch. Their stories come together full-page when a storm comes and they both seek shelter in a cave. By the time the sun comes out, they are friends. Their stories split again when they return home, and they each tell a new story to their parents that night -- the story of how lions and rabbits can become friends.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR:

From the Gecko Press site:

Chih-Yuan Chen, three-time winner of the prestigious Hsin Yi Picture Book Award, is an illustrator and writer from Taiwan.

"It is my hope that children from all over the world can learn to accept different people and things, and see the world with broader views and minds."

From the Kane Miller site:

Chih-Yuan Chen lives and works in Taiwan. Born in 1975, Chen is tall and thin, and does not like to wear suits. He does, of course, like to take walks.

Read Across America

This past Monday, we celebrated Read Across America in the library at our school.  I have trouble planning for these one-day celebrations. I know that literacy is built over a lifetime and that one day celebrations are not the real work of literacy teaching. But, I wanted to do something that would be fun for the students and that would familiarize them with many of the books in the library. So, I came up with about 20-25 ideas--books that invited "things to do".  Books that kids could have fun with. We set up the library with 20 tables filled with books and activities that kids could do around books.We have the best library aide in the world and we worked together to get it all ready in time. We had several moms come in and teach Origami and we pulled the Origami books for that table.  We made Pigeon Hats that were featured on Mo Willems' website.  

Other areas included: Paper Airplanes

Make a Bookmark

Be Filmed Talking About Your Favorite Book

Building Books with Building Toys

How to Draw Books

Song Books

Scrambled States of America Books and Games

Joke and Riddle Books

Lucky for me, I had great support for this event. Loren Scully, the children's librarian at our Dublin Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library System spent much of the day with the kids at a Captain Underpants game--Kids had the chance to toss underwear into a toilet and to see how many of them could fit in the World's Largest Pair of Underwear.  Not only did she join us for the day but two of our local Starbucks baristas helped out too!  (Did I mention that, in my opinion,  we have the best library AND the best Starbucks in the country.) Our art teacher is also incredible and he ran a table where kids did painting like Eric Carle. It was quite a busy station and the kids had a ball painting. Our Enrichment teacher filmed students who wanted to talk about their favorite book. Our Technology Support Teacher worked with kids to create bookmarks on Comic Life. The day was a hit. Kids had fun and adults were exhausted! This week, a few kids started asking for some of the Origami books and paper airplane books. Everyone had fun around books and kids got their hands on lots of book that I hope they'll ask for again!

GREAT NEW NONFICTION: HOW MANY BABY PANDAS?

I picked up a great new book at Cover to Cover last week called HOW MANY BABY PANDAS? by Sandra Markle.    You can never have enough nonfiction books about animals and this one is one that kids can enter at so many levels--there is so much about it that is wonderful!

First of all, it can be read as a counting book.  Counting from 1-8, we watch the phases of a baby panda's first year.  On the left side of each page is a gorgeous photo of a panda (or pandas) at some  point in that first year. The number of pandas is in red with the word version of the number underneath.  The page then has a question like "How may pandas are taking a nap?"  With that photo and small amount of text, readers can learn a bit about pandas.

On the right side of the page, more photos and more information is given about pandas.   These paragraph blurbs are perfect for readers--lots of information but not too much. 

There are also added boxes with extra information throughout the book.

The final question in the book is the critical one: How many pandas live wild and free?

The answer: Not enough.

The last few pages go on to explain the problems for pandas and what are being done about them

Extra trivia, a glossary, a map, author's note and great websites for more research are added at the end of the book.

This book has everything you could want in a nonfiction book and who doesn't love a panda?  Kids of all ages will love this book.  I can see using it in lots of ways--for leisure nonfiction reading, to use as a mentor text as a model for nonfiction writing, and more.

Roses and Thorns

ROSE THORNS
by Molly McQuade

Why do roses need their thorns?
Some things are little known.
.
.
.
The touch of a thorn
is a wry, deep telling
of the senses not to bloom
without a wish to,
without belief in pain
to hold us true.

(read the whole poem here)


There have been a few thorns in my life this week. It's good to remember the necessity of their pain "to hold us true;" good to be sure of our blooms, no matter what the cost.



Anastasia has the round up this week at Picture Book of the Day.

Teachers

We're up to 119 on our list of Cool Teachers in Children's Literature.

Cool Gate has The 15 Most Inspiring Teachers in Films.

Would it be okay if I worked on being cool and inspiring instead of doing report cards?

Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say.
Okay, then. See you next week.

Kids Are Making Huge Contributions: The Best Thing About the 21st Century

Last year, my 9 year old decided that she did not want gifts at her birthday party. She had heard about other kids who had used their birthday party as a way to give back to a cause they cared about. She knew she wanted to do something, but she wasn't sure what. I happened upon the organization THE READING VILLAGE and shared the site and mission with my daughter. Since Guatemala and literacy are two things that we care deeply about, we knew that this was the right fit. For Ana's birthday, she asked her friends to bring books written in Spanish, instead of a gift for her, to the party. After the games and crafts, Ana opened the presents which came wrapped. Kids loved watching as each book was opened. The variety of books we received was amazing. Kids often chose books that they loved when they were younger to share with the children in Guatemala. These books were sent to Linda at THE READING VILLAGE and Ana plans to do things like this for all of her upcoming birthdays.

As a parent, this birthday party was perfect. Since presents were not the highlight as they often are, the kids enjoyed each other and being together. They also enjoyed the fact that they were celebrating a birthday by giving something to others. Such a different kind of a party.

Ana recently attended party and the little girl collected things for the Humane Society at her birthday party. I love to see kids who find causes they believe in. I often worry about what service learning will turn into in schools if whole schools or whole classrooms take on projects that do not mean much for each student. When the teacher or the school chooses a cause, we take away students' role in finding and contributing to causes they care about. I think it is so important for kids to find causes that matter to them, personally, and to find ways to make a difference.

If you have not had a chance to hear Dr. Tim Tyson or to visit his blog, it is inspiring for educators. His goal: Using Technology to Empower Meaningful, Global, Student Contribution. Spend some time on MabryOnline looking at the contributions these students are making and it is happening in school.

Kids have always been amazing in the way they work to make the world a better place.  But, I think the tools of the 21st Century have made it easier for them.  The tools make it possible for everyone to know about issues that concern them and to make global contributions--no matter how old they are. Our children have learned to use these tools in powerful ways. I am amazed that children so young are so selfless and have been finding so many ways that children are making such a difference in the world.  Not surprised, but always amazed by children.  And inspired. So, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share all of the amazing things I have found lately--where kids are making a difference. I know there are others and so many more that are never made public, but here are a few that I've found recently, that I thought might inspire others. Enjoy and be inspired!

This blog, A YEAR OF CHARITABLE DEEDS shares a year in the life of a family who is committed to 365 Days/365 Charitable Deeds.  This blog began on December 31, 2008 and began like this:

How difficult is it to do a little something helpful now and again? Is it really that tough to pick up an errant piece of trash and dispose of it properly? Does it really cramp our style to hold the door open for someone? To improve some one's day by offering a simple smile?

In this age of jam-packed schedules, never-ending technological distractions, and rush-rush-rush attitudes, are we really so busy that we can't lend a hand now and again?

I love following them and their mission. So many ways to do good in the world.

This Public Service Announcement was produced by Noah Gray, a 16 year old, WE NEED A NEW "R" WORD. It is a very powerful video and will definitely make a difference in people's perceptions. Created for the Special Olympics.

Following this first video, youth delegates created this video in the reaction to the use of the "R" word in Bill O'Reilly's show airing February 9. This clip is as powerful, if not more powerful than the first one.

A video created to answer the question, "What does Special Olympics mean to you?"


Zach is the creator of LITTLE RED WAGON. The number of projects that this 5th grader has already done is amazing. He has done many many things in the past few years to support different causes. His site is inspirational and the videos he has included add to the understanding of his mission. A boy who is making a huge difference in the world.


Laura's Blog 25 Days to Make a Difference was started for this reason:
In December of 2007, I decided that the best way to remember my grandpa during the holiday season would be by living my life like he did, by making a difference and being a leader. I decided to honor my grandfather’s memory by trying to make a difference every day for twenty five days. I wanted to be able to do little things, like kids my age typically do, instead of HUGE things that are sometimes hard for kids like me. I decided to write about my adventures here, and I also created a challenge.

How about Capucine who I learned about from Stella at Mi World-Mi Mundo. Capucine, a four year old, is helping to make sure that her friends in Mongolia have books. She would like to open a library for them.  Capucine already understands the power of her words, the Internet, and making a difference.The new book 10 THINGS I CAN DO TO HELP MY WORLD by Melanie Walsh is a great one to start conversations with kids on contribution. I also think they would be inspired by seeing some of the things other kids are doing. I know I am.

February Mosaic

I love it that this month started with snow and ended with blue sky in the desert. So much can change in just one month...

I made this mosaic on fd's Flickr Toys.

21st Century Thinking-My Blog Visits

So, I've been busy learning lots through blogs and more. So much good thinking out there.  I just thought I'd share some of the interesting things I found while exploring issues related to 21st Century Literacy.  

A brilliant new piece by Kathleen Blake Yancey--A Report from NCTE on Writing in the 21st  Century.  The report was just posted and has already gotten lots of buzz.  It is a great document that gives many many reasons for supporting 21st Century Writing. A great report to share with colleagues, parents, politicians, etc.

Lots of great stuff going on in preparation for the Parkway Film Festival.  The district is hosting a film festival for all interested K-12 students. Their site has great clips describing the process and event. I was most excited about the student samples.  There are several samples that show the variety of things students can create. I can see using these to share with my students as samples of good projects.

I am learning so much from all of the TED talks that are posted on their site.  I recently discovered the site so I am catching up. One of my favorites is the talk by Ken Robinson "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" I am anxious to get his new book which I learned about here.

Loved this article about a 9 year old boy who created a program for the iPhone. A very cool program, that I am pretty sure I will need to buy.  

Connectivism Revisited is a great post about all of these tools and the way they connect us and our thinking.  So much changing in the way we are able to do things in such a short time.

If you spend any time watching Youtube, you have most likely seen a recent video called "David at the Dentist".  A very cute clip of a young boy, taken by his father, on his way home from the dentist.  But the reality of putting something out there and having people play with it is changing.  Alec Couros shares several remixes of the original as well as his thoughts. Wonder what this means for David.  Wonder how he is responding to all of the remixes. You just never know where things will go when you put them out there. Or what they will become.  This is a great example of that.

The idea of remixing is pretty interesting to me.  Lots of creative thinking and fun.  Play at its best!

Abby at Authentic Leaner shares a great story about one of her students  and their thinking about The Apple Store.

In his post "Passionate Voices", Ryan Bretag shares a discussion he had with students around 2 questions

What does it mean to be well educated in the 21st Century 

and

What should teaching and learning look like in the 21st Century to help develop said person?

Ryan reflects by saying one of my favorite lines of the month, "Days like this remind me that to continue creating the types of learners that will be successful, we must think past yesterday and beyond today by leveraging the voices of students! "

Barbara Barreda has a great post on LeaderTalk called "How Do We Help Stakeholders Move Beyond Window Dressings?"  She asks, "How do we create an understanding among the stakeholders in the educational community that effective technology integration is not measured by the amount of time students are using computers but rather by the framework and context of learning?"

Angela Stockman shares the story of her own children who skipped school to be part of the Special Olympics World Games Global Youth Summit.  She reflects on what they accomplished and in turn asks some very hard questions about schools.  She says, "I’ve heard plenty of excuses, but in the end, if each of us were stranded on an island with a class of one hundred kids and nothing in the way of resources, I’ve gotta believe we could still do a good job of making meaningful learning happen. So the fact that most of us are provided plenty more than that and accomplish less than what we should makes it hard for me to put the blame on NCLB, class sizes, limited funding, big bad administrators, or unsupportive parents...It's time we stopped pointing fingers and start pitching in.

Poetry Friday -- No Words To Describe

There are no words to describe
what I failed to capture
in 119 photographs

The sky was so blue
The cactus were so surprising and alien
The art was such a contrast

It was 85 degrees and crystal clear on Ash Wednesday
The blooms and bees and hummingbirds were filled with exuberance,
not mourning

I needed sunscreen, a hat,

shade, and water;
the desert did not need me at all

The round up this week is at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books.

Share a Story - Shape a Future Literacy Blog Tour

Jen Robinson announced it here.

The blog that was created to showcase the tour and the movement is here.

And on day two, one of the stops will be HERE, at A Year of Reading!

Amazing Speakers at IRA in Phoenix

The Two Sisters -- Joan Boushey and Gail Moser
I missed hearing them at the Dublin Literacy Conference on Saturday, so I went to their session on Monday morning! (I was completely absorbed in their talk -- and glad to even have a seat!! -- and I forget to take a picture. I borrowed this one from their Daily 5 website.)



IRA has a special interest group that is similar to NCTE's CLA -- the Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group. They sponsored a session titled Multiple Pathways to Global Literacy: Breaking Boundaries with Literature.

One of the featured speakers was Kashmira Sheth, author of Blue Jasmine, Keeping Corner, and other books featuring Indian characters.

Kadir Nelson spoke about how he became an artist, and how, more recently, he has become an author as well. He told us about a mistake in the painting of Slim Jones on the title page of We Are The Ship, but he made us promise we wouldn't tell, so I'm going to keep my word!




Nikki Grimes was inspiring, mesmerizing, passionate, and (not surprising) poetic. She has a new series of early chapter books coming out in May that looks really fun -- Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel.





Astronaut/Teacher Barbara Morgan did her best to describe for us what it's like to travel 5 miles per second, to see the earth from space (we should call our planet Ocean, not Earth), and to wrap our minds around the wonder that is space: space is all that we don't know.




We ended inspired by Greg Mortenson, co-author of Three Cups of Tea. His story of fighting his publisher over the subtitle of his book really sums up his perspective. The publisher wanted Fighting Terrorism One School at a Time, but Greg wanted Promoting Peace One School at a Time. They compromised, and the publisher got their way for the hardback. In the event the hardback didn't do well, they agreed to change the subtitle for the paperback version. The hardback did not do well; the paperback made it to the NYT Bestseller list. It's about perspective, and he understands the importance of focusing on the goal he wants to ultimately achieve -- it's about the schools and it's about the possibility for peace that comes when we educated the children of the world...especially the girls.

The other exciting thing that happened at this conference was that the list of NCTE/CLA Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts for 2009 (comprised of 30 2008 books) was chosen! Stay tuned for details!!

DUBLIN 20th Annual LITERACY CONFERENCE-Love how connected we are!

So, I went to hear Samantha Bennett talk about "Next Generation Workshop: Time for Students to Understand" on Saturday. The session was amazing. She helped me really think through the big understandings we want for our students. She talked about knowledge, skills/strategies and understandings. I worry that we have gotten away from planning for big understandings. I am thinking hard about what this means for the library and my own teaching. Planning for understanding is far different from planning for passing a test.

She said, "Understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one know."

I have heard this quote before but she set it in a context of workshop and teaching that gave me some new thinking.

Katie at Creative Literacy was also in the session. She blogged about it earlier this week, sharing another of my favorite quotes.

"There's no such thing as the perfect lesson, the perfect day in school or the perfect teacher. For teachers and students alike, the goal is not perfection but persistence in the pursuit of understanding important things." (Tomlinson and McTighe)

Here's the best part--Seems that Laura at Pictures, Words and Wisdom read Katie's post and did her own reflecting from Bennett's talk. I SOOOO love that the 21st century tools allow this kind of connectedness and collaborative thinking.

If you have not read THAT WORKSHOP BOOK by Samantha Bennett, it is AMAZING! I plan to reread it now that I have some different ways to think about it after hearing her talk.

20th Annual Dublin Literacy Conference -- Barbara O'Connor

What's almost as much fun as a group of bloggers who come to the same conference?


A group of bloggers who finally get to meet one of their favorite authors...who is also a blogger!


I'm not sure if we were more excited to meet Barbara O'Connor, or for Barbara O'Connor was more excited to meet us! Let me tell you, there was a lot of hugging and squealing whichever way you look at it!

I had the great honor of being Barbara's personal assistant for the day. I got to hear how the book MISSING MAY by Cynthia Rylant changed her life. I learned that Loretta is her favorite character in her own book GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE. And I was treated to her reading from all of her books, especially her work in progress, which features a frog in a pot of soup and something that falls off a train -- but she's not telling what!

Post Cards From Phoenix

Sometimes it's about the sights...

Phoenix Sunrise

Sometimes it's about the feel of the sun on your winter-pale midwestern skin...

Palm Trees and Sunshine

Sometimes it's about the heavenly scent of orange blossoms...

Orange Tree (With Functional Sundial in the Background)

And sometimes it's about the surprises...

Those Blooming Bushes are Rosemary!!

(...if only I could send you the smell of sunbaked rosemary accompanying you for an entire block of your walk back to the hotel...)

Thought for the Day

ART IS A GUARANTY OF SANITY
Phoenix Convention Center

20th Annual Dublin Literacy Conference -- Grace Lin

The Friday before the conference, featured author Grace Lin was the visiting author at our school. Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students were captivated by her presentation on her book A YEAR OF THE DOG. They loved getting all of the inside scoop on which parts came directly from her life and which parts were invented or changed.

And of course, they loved when it was time to
learn to draw a dog the way Pacy draws dogs
in the book.

You start with a 5, then add the top of the dog's
head and its ear.



After the neck comes the collar and tags,
the body, the tail, the spot and the bark!







The students all took their drawing lesson very
seriously!

They even learned to make some Chinese characters.
(Unless, like this girl, they can write in Japanese
and they already knew the characters!)



As a special treat when the dog drawing lesson
was over, Grace read a chapter from her new
book, WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON,
which comes out in June.

My special treat was getting an advanced copy of the
book from Grace the next day at the conference! I can't
wait to read it!


Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
by Grace Lin
Little, Brown Young Readers
June, 2009
Review copy compliments of the author

20th Annual Dublin Literacy Conference Series

Saturday's DUBLIN LITERACY CONFERENCE was great fun! So many great speakers and authors. This year was the 20th year for the conference. It is a conference planned by teachers in the Dublin City Schools. Between 600 and 800 teachers from around Ohio (and beyond) attend each year. This year's was another great year of learning and conversations.

Many of the concurrent sessions are run by classroom teachers, librarians, administrators, etc. We also hire keynote and featured speakers for many of the sessions. This year, we had 4 professional authors and 5 children's authors. Throughout the week, we will be sharing highlights, new books and new thinking from this year's conference.

I picked up Asma Mobin-Uddin's upcoming book A PARTY IN RAMADAN. A great book and so happy to have a copy. This is the story of Leena, who is invited to a party on the first day of Ramadan. The story takes us through Leena's day--fasting while at a party with friends. As a reader, I learned some of the things that are important about fasting on this day and what the day might be like for some children. A great story by a great author. This book is due out in spring. If you don't know her other books, MY NAME IS BILAL and THE BEST EID EVER, they are all great books --I can't keep the Eid book in the library. The author's website is also full of great resources--children's booklists, columns, information about author visits, and more. So glad I was able to get to know this author and her newest book!

Poetry Friday -- Sleepers Awake

SLEEPERS AWAKE
by John Ashbery

Cervantes was asleep when he wrote Don Quixote.
Joyce slept during the Wandering Rocks section of Ulysses.
Homer nodded and occasionally slept during the greater part of the Iliad; he was awake however when he wrote the Odyssey.
Proust snored his way through The Captive, as have legions of his readers after him.
Melville was asleep at the wheel for much of Moby-Dick.
Fitzgerald slept through Tender Is the Night, which is perhaps not so surprising,
but the fact that Mann slumbered on the very slopes of The Magic Mountain is quite extraordinary—that he wrote it, even more so.
Kafka, of course, never slept, even while not writing or on bank holidays.
No one knows too much about George Eliot’s writing habits—my guess is she would sleep a few minutes, wake up and write something, then pop back to sleep again.
Lew Wallace’s forty winks came, incredibly, during the chariot race in Ben-Hur.
Emily Dickinson slept on her cold, narrow bed in Amherst.
When she awoke there would be a new poem inscribed by Jack Frost on the windowpane; outside, glass foliage chimed.
Good old Walt snored as he wrote and, like so many of us, insisted he didn’t.
Maugham snored on the Riviera.
Agatha Christie slept daintily, as a woman sleeps, which is why her novels are like tea sandwiches—artistic, for the most part.
I sleep when I cannot avoid it; my writing and sleeping are constantly improving.

I have other things to say, but shall not detain you much.
(those other things are here)



Cuileann has the round up this week is at The Holly and the Ivy.

SHOULD WE HAVE PETS? A PERSUASIVE TEXT

I have loved SHOULD THERE BE ZOOS? for years. This book was written by Tony Stead and a class of 4th graders. The persuasive essays argue for or against zoos and it is one of the best mentor texts I have found for persuasive writing for elementary students. Last month, a member of the English Companion NING shared a related title SHOULD WE HAVE PETS by Sylvia Lollis, Joyce Hogan and her second-grade class. My copy arrived in the mail today.

SHOULD WE HAVE PETS is clearly modeled after SHOULD THERE BE ZOOS? Another great sample of persuasive text but one written by younger students. This one follows the same format of SHOULD THERE BE ZOOS? Pairs of children share their own opinion on whether or not we should have pets and focus on one reason to support their argument. At the end of the book, the writers ask you to form your own opinion based on what you read. They also share the process they went through when writing the book. A glossary and index are included.

The thing I like about this one, that seems different from the other, is the use of visuals. The students use photographs to add more meaning to their arguments. For example, when Franklin and Roshanda argue that we should not have pets because so many people abuse their pets, 3 photos of animals being treated poorly add to the information in the text. I can see minilessons on the ways that visuals support an argument because the photos are used very purposefully in this book.

It is hard to find good persuasive text for young students so I am definitely glad I found this one. Anxious to share it with kids!

Engagement

Last weekend, I read two posts that really resonated for me.

The first was Katie's post, describing a conference with a young writer who has grown so much this year, but who was not able to put into words what she does well as a writer.

The second was Carol's post, in which she shared some of her thinking about reading engagement. (She has since expanded her thinking to include what we do as teachers to promote reading engagement. Check it out -- it's great!)

My 4th graders always have a hard time putting into words what they do well as readers. It's something I work on with them every year. At the beginning of 4th grade, my students typically think reading is simply about knowing the words. I was positive that this group has come long way from that, but when I gave Carol's Reading Engagement Survey, I learned that they haven't come nearly as far as I would have thought.

The first thing I noticed was in the free response questions. 8 of 19 students who took the survey were proud of or needed to work on fluency or word recognition. Nearly half of my students are still focused on reading at the word level!

Overall, read aloud was the highest area of engagement for my students, with a total score of 67. No surprise there -- I clearly value read aloud. Two other items -- reading longer independently and not wanting to quit reading at the end of reading time were also high with 62 and 63. We have often talked about their growth from the beginning of the year when they could only sit still for 15-20 minutes.

What did surprise me is that two of the items that probe the social aspects of reading -- talking easily about favorite books, authors and genres, and sharing books with "reading friends" were two of the lowest with 47 and 42. In my mind, the class has come a long way in developing as a community of readers who know each other's tastes and share and talk about books regularly. What have I not done to express this as a valued behavior?

This survey has taught me that I need to be far more explicit about the behaviors of an engaged reader. I need to build in even more time for talk in our reading workshop, and I need to teach my students how to talk about books.

I can't wait to have conversations with each of my students to learn more about their answers.

The behaviors on this survey are not what is "valued" about reading according to the achievement tests our students are required to take. But they are certainly more important in "growing a child's reading heart" and in nurturing life-long readers.

Temporary Poetry Friday Round Up Schedule

Kelly at Big A little a is taking a short sabbatical from Poetry Friday scheduling.

If you're interested in hosting the Poetry Friday round up between now and the end of April, leave a comment and I'll add you to the schedule in the sidebar.

EDITED TO ADD:  The schedule is complete!  Thanks for your quick response!