INQUIRY CIRCLES IN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS

It is so nice to have extra time on a long winter break to catch up on some professional learning. I had received a copy of INQUIRY CIRCLES IN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS. This is a DVD companion to the book INQUIRY CIRCLES IN ACTION by Steph Harvey and Smokey Daniels. I am so glad that I made time to watch this DVD today!

I read the book, INQUIRY CIRCLES, when it first came out but I read it rather quickly. I revisited it recently because so many librarians are talking about the implications of this book for libraries. I am still hoping to take part in the Teacher Librarian Ning booktalk on the book. This book is definitely one that has implications for classroom teachers, librarians, related arts teachers, resources specialists, coaches, etc. I think anyone who works in schools can benefit from the work of Harvey and Daniels. I have been reading so much about 21st Century Literacy and Learning but I think sometimes, we forget that the key to all of the good thinking people are doing about learning is anchored in students' curiosities. And without inquiry, creativity and student ownership of learning students really can't have the learning experiences we hope for them. This book and DVD series reminds us of that and brings us into classrooms where inquiry around curriculum is happening.

For me, I love professional reading. I learn so much from this. But I also like to see and hear the way kids and teachers talk when involved in the kinds of things I read about. So, this was great for me. The DVD is about an hour in length. The first half of the DVD takes us into a first grade classroom where students are learning about African Animals. The independence and brilliance of these 6 and 7 year olds is interesting to watch--they are learning not only about African Animals but about research, information, and collaboration. In the intermediate section of the DVD, a 4th graders are exploring Ancient Egypt. Again, it is inspiring to see such independent thinkers who are so committed to their learning. It also helped me to see the teacher talking to students about her own research notebook and to see her work in small groups. The key for me was the decision-making on the part of the student. It was clear in every part of the study.

To me, Inquiry Circles, as shared by Harvey and Daniels makes sense for classrooms and libraries. It seems the perfect vehicle to help kids truly become information literate and to support their learning of 21st Century skills. This book and DVD helped me rethink some ways to expand the options for kids in the library.

And what about technology? It was interesting to me that in both the book and the DVD, tools of technology were mentioned but they were mentioned along with many other tools for learning. Technology was definitely a part of student learning throughout research and as they shared their learning but Inquiry Circles certainly don't rely on technology. For example, when students were asked to share their new learning publicly, they brainstormed ideas for doing this. Some built models, others performed, used art, etc. Such a great reminder that giving kids lots of options to research and share learning is key to 21st Century Learning.

(There is a second DVD to this set--It is called INQUIRY CIRCLES IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS. I didn't have a chance to watch it but hope to do so soon. It looks to be just as good as the elementary DVD. From the Table of Contents, it looks like the next DVD focuses on a 6th grade inquiry on Civil Rights and high school Literature Circles. Even though they are geared toward older kid, it looks like I will learn lots that I can apply to elementary.

Unit of Study on THEME (a music connection)

Sometimes a picture (and some music) are worth a thousand words about what is meant by THEME and variations.

(sorry about the annoying annotation...you can get rid of it with the tool on the far right of the play-time-volume bar at the bottom of the video)

Unit of Study on THEME -- Poetry Friday Edition

Subtitle: In Which the never-ending struggle to balance direction and instruction from me with enough big chunks of time when I just let go and give my students the freedom to explore and find new paths through the uncharted territory of this project (previous posts are here) results in not very much poetry for this poetry Friday Edition.

Sub-Subtitle: A 3000 Word Essay About What Else We Did Yesterday:

But I digress. Poetry and the Theme Project.

Earlier in the week, it occurred to me that I need to pick a theme to explore in the same way my students are. I need to be able to model for them using real examples from my real work. On the way to school, I was listening to that Miley Cyrus song that I used for Poetry Friday back in September, "The Climb," and decided that my theme would be "Overcoming Challenges."

Since I was going to ask my students to search for poems that fit with their theme, I did the same. I showed them that I didn't find any poems entitled "Overcoming Challenges." I had to read the poem and think about what it said so that I could decide if it fit my theme.

Some of the students had an easy go of this. With a theme of "Friendship," you can hardly turn around in a poetry book without finding a poem. For at least one group, the guys who are exploring "Power," this activity changed the way they are thinking about their theme. With some guidance from me, they found poems about Mt. St. Helens, Old Faithful, and dragons.

Now back to the subtitle for this post. I showed my students the posts in this series and invited them to write a little bit about how one of their poems fits with their theme so I could use their thinking for this post today. They worked hard for the whole period...on podcasting their interviews, polishing their Pixie images, adding to their Keynotes, typing up and illustrating their poems...

One student came through for me. A student whose theme is Power.

CHINESE DRAGON

As the sun came up a ball of red

I followed my friend wherever he led.

He thought his fast horses would leave me

behind,

but I rode a dragon as swift as the wind!

--Chinese Mother Goose Rhyme

He dictated his thoughts to me:

"My theme is Power. I chose this poem because dragons are strong and they breathe fire out of their mouths. Have you ever seen "Heroes" (the TV show) and how they fly and have powers and everything? And they try to save the world every day? Dragons are a different kind of power. Some try to save the world, some try to destroy the world, some try to just be dragons. The thing I really like about dragons is that there is so much history about them. There are old stories and cool pictures about them."

So I don't have too much to share today from this poetry facet of the project, but with this student's writing as a model, I have a way to lift the level of the writing the other students do about their poem(s), and make this student feel really good about himself! (for those who are worried about grading, this little piece of the project will be for a grade--choosing a poem and writing a paragraph about how it fits the theme)

Coming up tomorrow: integrating this project with the music teacher's curriculum.

Now, go get your Poetry Friday fix: Susan Taylor Brown has the round up today at Susan Writes.

Unit of Study on THEME (middle, part 2)

Subtitle: In Which I Integrate Reading and Composing Workshops

Tuesday I wrote about how I laid some of the groundwork for studying theme with 4th graders. Yesterday, I described the Theme Project we're working on in Composing Workshop.

This exploration of the idea of Theme is in preparation to write Literary Essays, a genre that depends equally on work in Reading and Writing (or Composing) Workshops, so at the same time that I started spinning the Theme plate in Composing Workshop, I began my first round of Literature Circles in Reading Workshop. I chose titles on a wide range of reading abilities, and all short enough for students to complete in the three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. All four books have pretty obvious themes. The choices were:

On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer

Tommy Trouble and the Magic Marble by Ralph Fletcher

Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan

Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher

Each child has a little folded paper booklet in which they keep track of the characters and character traits, most important events, possible themes, questions, predictions, sketches and such. These booklets have helped guide their first foray into literature circle discussions. I'll be interested to see if they want to continue with something like them in future literature circles.

In read aloud, I decided to do a shared reading of Baby by Patricia MacLachlan. I collected enough copies from the public library so that every child can follow along as I read. This book is complicated enough to make it a perfect pick for shared reading in fourth grade. I can help the students navigate the flashback/memories, notice all the clues in the beginning of the book about something unspoken in the family, and think about the ways MacLachlan uses poetry and songs to reinforce the themes in her story.

Coming up tomorrow: what happens when poetry and music are added to the mix.

Unit of Study on THEME (middle, part 1)

Subtitle: In Which Writing Workshop Becomes Composing Workshop

Yesterday's post told about how I laid some of the groundwork for studying theme with 4th graders.

Other groundwork had been laid long before I ever imagined this project: although my writing workshop looked fairly traditional (paper on pencil) in the first trimester as we studied Narrative Structures, I had spent some time introducing my students to applications like ComicLife, Pixie, Pages, and GarageBand. I'd been itching for them to have some way to USE these applications -- some authentic content -- so that I could shift our WRITING Workshop into a COMPOSING workshop, where we would use the design process to make things (workshop style) with our words and ideas.

The trimester-long multi-media multi-genre project that I imagined was this: every child would pick a theme, then they would explore that theme by making things that illustrate or describe or embody their theme.

To prepare to explain the Theme Project, I made a chart listing all the themes we'd identified in the video clip and THE LION AND THE MOUSE, and specific themes that are mentioned in our state's 4th Grade Language Arts Standards. The last section of this list has themes we've added since the project began -- we've talked about theme as "the moral of the story" and read both traditional Aesop's Fables as well as Scieszka's SQUIDS WILL BE SQUIDS, and some of those final themes were brainstormed when students couldn't find a theme they wanted to work with on the big list, while others came from our read aloud (more about that tomorrow).

Posible themes:

practice

perseverance (don't give up)

honesty

confidence

*

friendship

helpfulness

family

power

*

overcoming challenges

loyalty

kindness

love

*

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

"Do unto others..."

service to others

celebration

leadership

loss

healing power of language

arts make our lives better

I also made a list of possible things to make. Notice that not all are digital:

poems (original, collected)

narrative

skit (video? iMovie?)

interview(s)

images (original photos, Pixie)

music (GarageBand)

podcast

Keynote

ComicLife

mural

collage

sculpture

We talked through these charts and then I sent them back to their writer's notebook to make a web with the theme they'd chosen in the center, and around that theme, a few of the things they wanted to try to make.

And we all lived happily ever after? No, but this is what I love best about teaching: launching a big project that is untested and not completely planned to the minute...and then teaching off of and around all that happens when the students take hold of it and make it theirs.

Some of the challenges we've had so far have been understanding that this is a project around a theme (big idea, moral of the story kind of stuff) and not a topic. But they're 10. We'll get there. I'll tell you about this journey in more detail in a future post. Maybe on Friday...it would fit with Poetry Friday...

Then there was the child who was making a list rather than a web. For every theme, she was picking a something off the Possible Things To Make list. A little one to one correspondence going on that needed to be shifted into "web one theme" mode. This project will really stretch my literal thinkers. For some of them, it might have to be more of a project on a topic rather than a theme. (I think that's called differentiation...)

And then there's the ongoing struggle with the student who's unwilling to let go of a successful character he created (original comic superhero) during the narrative structures project. I can't seem to get him to understand that his character can be a part of this project, but this will not be a project about his character. (This isn't differentiation, this is where the teacher puts her foot down...)

Tomorrow: How I have integrated reading and writing workshop (because the ultimate point of all of this is to get them ready to write a literary essay).

Unit of Study on THEME (beginnings)

This week, I am going to do a series on the unit of study on THEME that I've just started in my 4th grade classroom. I knew as soon as I mentioned it last week that I would need to write more about it.

Our district focus for 4th grade writing workshop this trimester is "Literary Essay." I couldn't imagine my 10 year-old writers maintaining any interest in a workshop dedicated to nonstop literary essays. I knew I needed to get my students wrangling with the big ideas they would need to address in a literary essay. Big ideas like theme.

First, I showed my students this video that Doug Noon shared on his blog Borderland, and we started our conversation about the difference between plot (the story; what happens) and theme (the deeper meaning; the author's possible message; the possible message we infer whether the author intended it or not).

My students were completely captivated by this video. We watched it over and over again. Some were so amazed by the tricks that they declared it to be "fake." We talked about the "plot" (a movie about bike tricks) and the "themes" (practice, perseverance, follow your dreams, have confidence, believe in yourself).

(And how did I get this video off YouTube and into my classroom? Zamzar made it into a QuickTime file.)

The next day I shared THE LION AND THE MOUSE by Jerry Pinkney (I reviewed it here). The students picked right up on the themes of family and power and helpfulness.

This video and book laid the foundation for me to introduce the multi-media multi-genre project I had in mind for my students. Tomorrow I'll continue this series with more details about the project and how my writing workshop has been transformed into a composing workshop.

Giving Back, part 2

Last week, Franki wrote about Giving Back at this time of year:

It is the time of year where lots of people give back to families and organizations. We all have causes that are important to us and we support those causes in many ways.

She wrote about two of the organizations she'll be supporting this year and asked blog readers (and me) to share some of the organizations we'll be supporting.

One organization I'll support this year is Kiva. Last year, Franki gave me a gift certificate to Kiva and I used this gift to help a farmer in Cambodia buy two oxen for use in his rice field so that he would not have to hire laborers with oxen to plow his field. All year I have received email notifications of the repayment of this small loan and I've thought about the big ways I was helping someone across the world with what was, to me, such a small amount of money. This year I'll reinvest the money Franki gave me last year, I'll add some more of my own, and I'll be giving at least one gift certificate so that another person has the chance to change a life across the world.

Another organization I'll support is the Kit Carson County (Colorado) Cattlewomen's Pink Chaps fund. When I was back home in November helping my mom after her surgery, we were sitting at the kitchen table one afternoon as she was opening get well cards that had come in the mail that day. She opened one envelope and gasped. Inside was a check for an incredibly generous amount of money; an amount that will be a significant help with medical bills and other costs in the coming months. It was from the KCCW Pink Chaps. A little research into the group and how they disperse these funds revealed that they do fundraising all year and then divide the money they raise by the number of people who have been nominated to receive help. I'll contribute to their fund so that another cancer survivor in a rural area where the network of support seems as sparse as the trees will be able to gasp with surprise when they open an envelope and sigh with relief when they realize that there are lots of people who directly and indirectly care about them.

In the comments of Franki's post, Jenny told us about Students Helping Honduras, and Andi reminded us about Greg Mortenson's (Three Cups of Tea) Central Asia Institute that helps build schools for girls in remote Pakistan and Afghanistan.

How about you? How are you planning to give back (locally or globally) this holiday season or in the New Year?

Poetry Friday -- Happiness

HAPPINESS

by Jane Kenyon

There’s just no accounting for happiness,

or the way it turns up like a prodigal

who comes back to the dust at your feet

having squandered a fortune far away.

And how can you not forgive?

You make a feast in honor of what

was lost, and take from its place the finest

garment, which you saved for an occasion

you could not imagine, and you weep night and day

to know that you were not abandoned,

that happiness saved its most extreme form

for you alone.

(the rest of the poem is at Poetry Foundation)

I was looking for a poem about staying late at work until my desk was completely. cleaned. off. Or one about what it feels like to (finally) look up and see different stuff on the big bulletin board in the classroom, or one about that feeling when I remembered that my students have a guidance lesson, (which means I have the gift of time). I needed a poem about turning a corner and feeling like maybe, just maybe, the worst was behind us for a little while.

You can see what I found. It's a poem about happiness. That scoundrel happiness who decided to mosey on back, and who we (as always) welcome with open arms.

The round up this week is at Random Noodling.

Wow! THANKS!

Didn't realize we'd been nominated for an Edublog Award in the Best Group Blog category...THANKS for the nomination!!

If you feel so moved, THANKS for the vote, too!

And, once again, Wow! THANKS!

(All the categories are here.)

Giving Back

It is the time of year where lots of people give back to families and organizations. We all have causes that are important to us and we support those causes in many ways. I wanted to share two of my favorite organizations.

The Reading Village is an organization that brings books to children in Guatemala. There are many organizations that bring books to kids but this one is a little different. If you visit the website, make sure to watch the video about the founder. Instead of just bringing books to kids, Reading Village is committed to creating a culture of reading in Guatemala. They do this by training teen volunteers and making them leaders in their communities. The things that are happening are amazing as lives are being changed by books.

An organization I just recently learned about is Hannah's Socks. Again, I am in awe of an amazing child making a difference in the world. Hannah began collecting socks for people when she realized that many people in the homeless shelter where she was serving food, had no socks. She is now 9 years old and hopes to donate 60,000 pairs of socks this year.

Hannah's Story - In Images, Words, and Music | Hannah's Socks

These are two of the organizations I will be supporting this season. I would love to hear about the organizations you are supporting this year. I have learned of so many great organizations from blog posts I've read.

live, laugh, celebrate

live, laugh, celebrate

by Ferdinand Protzman

National Geographic, 2009

304 pages, 3.51 lbs.

review copy provided by the publisher

This is a book about life, and joy, and celebration around the world.

"Humankind just cannot resist a celebration -- whoever we are and wherever on Earth we may be, someone has a reason to cheer..."

Picture after picture, page after page, we see that people around the world are not so very different from us in the urge to celebrate births, weddings, new homes, new leaders, religious events, graduations, parades. Picture after picture, page after page, we see that even though the urge or event is similar, the way it is celebrated is as diverse as the people who celebrate.

Here is a sample:

This would be a great book to give as a gift, and a great book to put on your coffee table.

I'm thinking it will also be a great book to have out for my 4th grade classroom right now.

My students are beginning work on multimedia multi-genre projects that are based on a literary theme each of them has chosen from a big list we've created from reading fables and other theme-rich stories (friendship, family, perseverance, use of power, etc.) and this book provides a way for me to show them how this author gathered images on the theme of celebration.

• We can study the way he organized his images, and study the essays he includes at the beginning of each section of the book (Cycles of Life, Around the World, Life of the Party).
• We can look at the way each photograph is attributed to the photographer with information about the city, country, photographer and year, along with a short descriptive caption.
• And we can study the photographs themselves, identifying the ones that speak most strongly to us and figuring out what the photographer did with light and composition (and sometimes luck) to capture the moment in a way that makes us want to look, and look again.

This will be a great mentor text for our theme project, and a fabulous look at celebrations around the world!

TOFU QUILT and a couple more cool teachers

Tofu Quilt

by Ching Yeung Russell

Lee & Low Books, Inc., 2009

Review copy provided by the publisher

This is the story of a girl growing up in a culture that values boys. Luckily, her mother scrapes together the money to send her daughter to school, where Yeung Ying falls in loves with books and stories and writing.

This is the story of a writer being born -- it is about her false starts and first steps and her perseverance and her dream.

This is the story of the impact a few good writing teachers can make on a writer's early life. The poem, "mr. hon," (did I mention, this is an autobiographical novel in verse?) tells about Yeung Ying's 4th grade teacher:

He reads us

a Chinese translation of a story

about three American boys from

a long time ago,

who rode a raft on the Mississippi River.

.

.

.

And Mr. Hon is the first teacher

who displays my stories

marked, "Great work!"

on the classroom bulletin board

even though

I

am

just

a

girl.

Not until her seventh grade teacher does Yeung Ying get encouragement again, when she hears, "Your story really comes to life" and "You write very well./ Keep trying./ You can be a writer someday."

I nominate Mr. Hon and Mr. Lee for inclusion on our list of 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature. (We are up to 128 Cool Teachers. Has there been a Cool Teacher in a book you read recently?)

For a fabulous review of Tofu Quilt, complete with mouth-watering photos, head on over to Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup.

Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000

Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000

by Eric Wight

Simon and Schuster, February 2010

ARC received at NCTE

The dedication of this newest Frankie Pickle adventure reads, "To my dad, who is always there to help -- even when I don't know how to ask." I'm thinking there is perhaps a fair amount of autobiography woven into this story, and as a child whose earliest mantra was, "Do it SELF," this book rings true for me as well.

Frankie gets too tied up in his own imagination to receive his Possum Scout merit badge for knot-tying. This means he won't move up in rank from Pygmy to Shrew with the other boys in his troop unless he wins the Pine Run 3000. Which is this weekend.

I won't reveal the rest of the plot, which involves messes, mistakes, revelations, disqualifications, and unlikely displays of good sportsmanship.

This book is another winner by Eric Wight, and luckily, we will only have to wait until June for book three!

My review of the first book, Franki Pickle and the Closet of Doom.

Eric Wight's website at Simon and Schuster.

Eric Wight on Twitter: @Eric_Wight

News of the next book:

Another Winter Book!

SLEEP, BIG BEAR, SLEEP! by Maureen Wright and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand will make a fun winter read aloud. As everyone knows, bears sleep through the winter and it's time for Big Bear to do just that. Old Man Winter keeps telling him to "Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep", but Big Bear doesn't hear very well and he thinks he is hearing different directions--such as, "Drive a jeep." and "Dive Deep." Bear does as he thinks he is being told, but he is very, very tired!

This is a fun book and the repeated phrase, "But Bear didn't hear very well; he couldn't sleep in his den in the dell..." is one that will invite kids to join in on the reading. As always, Hillenbrand's illustrations are wonderful and the feeling of winter is clear. I will add these to my other great new winter books! Kids seem to love to hear stories about the seasons. These will be great to read when we get our first snow. (I do remember that last year, in early March, when we were all sick of snow and cold, one little first grader came in demanding a book about SUMMER! So, I'll read these winter books in the early part of winter when we enjoy winter and snow!)

*This book is a review copy provided by the publisher, Marshall Cavendish Children's Books.

Poetry Friday -- I Praise My Destroyer

Some of those close to me are dealing with the tragic loss of young lives, and others with the painful loss of parents or friends to cancer or Alzheimer's. It's easy to be angry and disbelieving and sad to the point of drowning.

from "Elegy" by Diane Ackerman

The world is breaking someone else's heart

today, the roses are busily mumbling scent,

all the greens of summer have blown apart...

...My own sorrow starts

small as China, then bulges to an Orient.

The world is breaking someone else's heart.

All the greens of summer have blown apart.

Eventually, acceptance is necessary in order to go on another day.

from "We Die" by Diane Ackerman

...Lost friend, you taught me lessons

I longed to learn, and this final one I've learned

against my will: the one spoken in silence,

warning us to love hard and deep,

clutch dear ones tighter, ransom each day,

the horror lesson I saw out of the corner of my eye

but refused to believe until now: we die.

And if we are to live joyfully in the midst of tragedy, loss, and the breaking of hearts, then we must learn to praise our destroyer.

from "I Praise My Destroyer" by Diane Ackerman

...Our cavernous brains

won't save us in the end,

though, heaven knows, they enhance the drama.

Despite passion's rule, deep play

and wonder, worry hangs

like a curtain of trembling beads

across every doorway.

But there was never a dull torment,

and it was grace to live

among the fruits of summer, to love by design,

and walk the startling Earth

for what seemed

an endless resurrection of days.

I praise life's bright catastrophes,

and all the ceremonies of grief.

I praise our real estate -- a shadow and a grave.

I praise my destroyer,

and will continue praising

until hours run like mercury

through my fingers, hope flares a final time

in the last throes of innocence,

and all the coins of sense are spent.

I Praise My Destroyer

by Diane Ackerman

Random House, 1998

(my own copy, autographed by the author!)

(If you follow the link to Amazon and "Click to look inside," you can read the three poems I've excerpted in their entirety.)

The round up this week is at Wild Rose Reader.

November Mosaic

What a month.

I stepped off the treadmill of school life on November 2 and went back home for two weeks to help my mom while she recovered from surgery.

Back Home.

I've lived in Ohio longer than all my growing up years in Eastern Colorado, and yet I still go Home. Home to the streets I rode my bike on, the house where my kindergarten teacher lived, and the place where the glow of a lamp and the view from the back windows is as familiar as the scar on my knee from the incident with my cousin's Shetland pony and the barbed wire fence.

Home is where my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Bryner, still lives. I visited her in the nursing home and we talked about the importance of finding a way to love every child so that you can reach them and teach them. ("And," she said with a twinkle in her eye, "some children are harder to love than others!") True then, true now.

I had one day to unpack and repack my suitcase, and then we were off to Philadelphia for NCTE for five days.

For one day on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and then again on Monday, November 30, almost exactly a month from the day I stepped off the treadmill, I stepped back on the treadmill of school life...or at least I attempted to. In the weeks I was gone, someone ramped up the speed...or I lost some of the stamina I'd built up to deal with the unrelenting onslaught of meetings, meetings, meetings, planning, teaching, report cards, committees, behavior issues, homework issues, meetings, meetings, meetings, report cards, PD, data, grouping, grading, meetings, meetings, meetings...

I drove to another building for a committee meeting after school yesterday. On the streets leading up to the school are "traffic calming" humps. I've learned it's not worth it to zoom up to one and then screech down to 25 mph to go over and zoom up to the next one and screech down. It's better just to go a steady 25. It's calming.

It's calming. And I'm not just talking about traffic here. By the time I got to the committee meeting, my brain had slowed down and my blood pressure had fallen and the clutter of my brain had settled down somewhat.

I need some speed humps in my life to keep things calm and steady. I need to try to quit zooming and screeching. I need to find a steady speed I can maintain.

LETTERS TO A SOLDIER

I am excited to add LETTERS TO A SOLDIER by First Lieutenant David Falvey and Mrs. Julie Hutt's Fourth-Grade Class to our school library. It is hard to find a book that answers kids' questions about a soldier's experience in a way that makes sense to them. But this book does just that. In 2008, while David Falvey was serving in Iraq, Mrs. Hutt's fourth graders decided to write letters to a soldier--thanking him and finding out a bit about his life there. This book is a compilation of the letters that Mrs. Hutt's fourth graders wrote along with the responses that Falvey sent back. Each two-page spread gives us a copy of a letter by one of Hutt's students along with Falvey's answer. In his introduction, Favley talks about the importance of the letters and the challenges at answering some of the questions. The book is filled with children's honest questions and a soldier's honest answers. The questions go from very big questions (Why are we at war?) to questions that had to be a little bit more fun to answer (Are you a Red Sox fan?). Some photos are included that give readers a little more insight into life as a soldier in Iraq. This would be a great book to share near Veteran's Day or at any other time during the year. I imagine it will be checked out from the library quite often.

There seem to be a lot of generic books about soldiers and things but none as personal and as geared to children's real questions as this one is. First Lieutenant David Falvey seems to be the perfect person to answer these questions for children in a book. His answers are authentic and respectful and we learn a lot about his life as a soldier.

*This book was a review copy provided by the publisher, Marshall Cavendish Children's Books.

Great Language and Word Play: 3 New Books

I received three books that I'll add to my books to share with kids when we are thinking about words and language. When I think about talking to kids about words, I want a variety of books to share. I want fiction and nonfiction. I want books with strong language and books that just have fun with words. I want my students to look at words and how they are used in many different types of text. Today, I found three books that will be great additions to word study talk.

COOL DOG, SCHOOL DOG by Deborah Heiligman is just plain fun. If you remember the book FUN DOG, SUN DOG, this is a sequel. Tinka is the dog in the story and each page tells us a bit about her . She is "a fun dog, a sun dog, a run-and-run-and-run dog". The pictures and the rhyming, rhythmic phrases help us get to know and come to love this dog! This would make a fun read aloud and kids will love the sing-songiness of the book. With older kids, I might really look at the way the author uses these fun phrases to tell us so much about this dog. Word choice is critical!

THE BUSY TREE by Jennifer Ward is a different type of book altogether. It is not quite nonfiction but it is a close look at one tree-a busy tree. The book starts at the roots of the tree and looks at so many part of the tree. We see how much can go on in one tree. The thing I like most about the book is the language used to tell about what is going on. Each page has 2 lines of rhyming text but I like so much more than the rhyme. What captured me was the way that each thing is described. For example:
"These are my branches, leafy and high,
a sidewalk for squirrels that soar through the sky."
I can see using this book in Writing Workshop and looking closely at the words the author uses to describe the tree.

SNORE, DINOSAUR, SNORE by John Benall-Brunello is a story told in VERY few words. Three little dinosaurs are trying to wake their mother up. But she won't budge. Each page uses only 3 words but the combination of words and pictures tells a great story. Younger kids will love the story and will do lots of picture reading. For older kids, I think this book would start great conversations about the great verbs that tell the story.

*All three of these books were review copies provided by the publisher, Marshall Cavendish's Children's Books.

Books in My Shopping Bag

Between NCTE and my trip to Cover to Cover today, I have lots of books that I am hoping to read in the next several weeks. Here are a few that are on the top of my pile:

CLAIM TO FAME by Margaret Peterson Haddix--I was so excited to see a new book by Haddix. I haven't been paying attention to new releases so I wasn't even aware that this was coming. This does not look to be part of any series that Haddix is so famous for. It is a stand-alone book that reviews say is for ages 9-12. From the inside flap, it sounds like the book is about a girl who is a TV star and then she realize that she can hear anything that anyone says about her. This become quite awful so she goes into hiding. I love all of Haddix's books and I think the 4th and 5th graders at school will be thrilled to see a new book by Haddix!

I am going to give myself permission to read more YA this year. I love it but always feel like I should be reading children's books that make sense for our K-5 library instead of YA. But this year, I plan to give more time to reading YA--just because I love it and I think YA books are some of the best out there. Two that I have been hearing a lot about, that I picked up today are THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner and CROSSING STONES by Helen Frost. I am a huge Helen Frost fan and Mary Lee cannot stop recommending CROSSING STONES so I picked it up. And THE MAZE RUNNER is another one I keep hearing about. I love the whole concept of this book-a closed-off world where kids enter. I keep hearing that this is one of those books that you can't put down once you start it so I am anxious to read it!

BUCK FEVER by Cynthia Chapman Willis caught my eye for several reasons. First of all, the cover is intriguing. A boy hunting for a deer, but clearly not shooting it. When I read the inside flap, the premise reminded me a bit of Wringer--a boy's father wants him to carry on the tradition of hunting but the boy (Joey) isn't interested in hunting and can't imagine killing an animal. This sounds like a great story about a boy growing up.

Another book I picked up was WILLIAM S. AND THE GREAT ESCAPE by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. This one is about four children who run away-to their aunt's house. It looks like this book is about their runaway adventure and their journey for a home and a family.

And, finally, I picked up LOVE YA BUNCHES by Lauren Myracle. It is one that I have been seeing a lot--definitely marketed to upper elementary girls. The inside format is fun and it looks like a great book about friendship.

I am sure I will add many more to my list before winter break begins but these are a starting point. Now, if I didn't need to do any holiday shopping, baking etc., I'd be set! I doubt Ill get as much reading time as I am hoping but I have plenty to read for the time I do get!

NEVER SMILE AT A MONKEY by Steve Jenkins

Steve Jenkins is one of my favorite nonfiction authors/illustrators. I love the way he organizes information and the combination of his words and his art is always a great combination.

I love this new book. So many of Jenkins' books are difficult to read aloud because there is so much on the page. But I think this new one, NEVER SMILE AT A MONKEY: AND 17 OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER would make a great nonfiction read aloud. The premise of the book is that things are dangerous. In his introduction Jenkins says, "What makes these animals dangerous? And what should you NEVER do if you encounter one of them?" He then goes on to tell us.

Each page focuses on one important thing to remember such as NEVER PET A PLATYPUS or NEVER STARE AT A SPITTING COBRA. Following the directive is a paragraph explaining a bit about the animal and why the creature may react to such a behavior. A large illustration of the animal also accompanies the text. There is a lot to learn in this book and kids are always fascinated by animals --especially the dangerous ones. The back of the book includes additional information about the creatures in the book.

So many books are written about a specific animal and I always love the uniqueness of Steve Jenkins' book topics. I think a nonfiction author study on Jenkins would be great. I also think his books have great lessons for our nonfiction writers in writing workshop. I can't wait to see what he writes next!

The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics

I visited my grandparents' house every Sunday throughout my childhood. I tell the story often of going up to her attic each week and choosing a new Nancy Drew book. But, until recently, I had forgotten about the trunk of comic books that they had in the entrance hall. A chest filled to the top with magazines and comic books. I loved going into that trunk to see what I might find. It was packed full with great reads. I was not an avid comic book reader but it was fun to read a few comic books each week at my Grandma's while the adults chatted. I am not sure if it was more fun to hunt around in the trunk to see what I might find or to actually read the books. Either way, I have great memories of many of the comics I read there. Some of my favorite were Little Lulu, anything with Disney Characters, Richie Rich, Dennis the Menace and Archie's gang. I hadn't realized what a role these comics had in my reading life until I discovered the new book THE TOON TREASURY OF CLASSIC CHILDREN'S COMICS selected and edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly . So many of my favorite characters as well as some stories and characters I had forgotten about these nearly 350 pages.

The book is divided into sections--giving categories to some of the comics that the editors hope are rediscovered by today's children-especially those who love graphic novels. There is a chapter of comics about kids (the first being Clifford by Jules Feiffer!), a chapter about Funny Animals, Fantasyland and more. So many great comics from the 1930s to the 1960s. Treasury is definitely the right word for this collection!

The introduction to the treasury is by Jon Scieszka and he shares his own experiences with comics as a child and some history of comics. There is also an introduction for grown-ups about the comic book in general, complete with a photo of a Comic Book burning in 1949. The editors make a case for comic books and the that parents might have in sharing our old favorites with our children.

This is a huge book and I am excited to put it on the shelves in the library. I am still trying to figure out how to house more comic books in the library since graphic novels are so popular. I can't keep them on the shelves. So I am sure that this book will definitely be a hit. It would also make a great holiday gift!

Monkey With a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem

If you liked MONKEY WITH A TOOL BELT by Chris Monroe (and how could you not have), you will LOVE this new book about the same character. I was thrilled to see MONKEY WITH A TOOLBELT AND THE NOISY PROBLEM when I was at NCTE. How did I miss this book about a character I love?

I loved the first book about this monkey because, well, how could you not? A monkey with a tool belt is a very funny idea and I loved it from the start. But, to be honest, I was worried that a new book about this character might not be so funny since I was already used to the idea of the monkey and the tool belt.

I was pleasantly surprised. As I was reading the book to myself at the kitchen table, I must have laughed a little too loud because my husband asked what I was laughing at. I don't want to give the story away, but Chico Bon Bon (the monkey with the tool belt) can't figure out what it is that is making the loud noise in his tree house. He knows he can fix it if he can just figure out what it is that is making the noise. He uses many tools to investigate. He finally does find the noise and solves the problem (but I can't give this part away.) There are so many things that made me laugh in this book--his tools, his 100-watt flashlight, his earplugs and especially his "hear-a-lot tool". I loved the illustration of his house with a bazillion rooms. And I so loved the 12 steps he used to solve his problem (by using more of his clever tools!).

This is a great story. I keep finding things that I missed during the first read. I am thinking it will make a great read aloud this week. Definitely not a disappointment -this character is definitely one that I hope to see again (and soon) in more books! The author is a genius!

Poetry Friday -- Manners

photo by roboppy

MANNERS

by Howard Nemerov

Prig offered Pig the first chance at dessert,
So Pig reached out and speared the bigger part.

"Now that," cried Prig, "is extremely rude of you!"
Pig, with his mouth full, said, "Wha, wha' wou' 'ou do?"

(the whole poem, including the punch line ending, is at The Writer's Almanac.)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! This poem seemed to be appropriate not just for all of the feasting that took place yesterday, but also for the Black Friday grabbing shopping that is taking place even as I sit at my quiet kitchen table and compose this post. All I plan to buy today is a haircut, so the rest of you can knock yourselves out (and maybe each other) getting great deals and spending lots of money.

The round up today is at Becky's Book Reviews.

2 More Books I Could Read a Million Times

So, I have to add TURKEY TROUBLE by Wendi Silvano to my list of "Books I Could Read A Million Times". I loved it when I first read it but then I read it to nearly every class over the last few weeks. It is a fun read EVERY time and kids in grades 1-5 got quite a kick out of it. The older kids picked up a lot of the word play. And the book never got old for me. A great read.

And OTIS by Loren Long might be one I could read a billion times! It is absolutely wonderful and was quite fun to read to kids of all ages.

I reviewed both of these books before I shared them with lots of kids and I realized later that they were both perfect additions to my BOOKS I COULD READ A MILLION TIMES list. I'll never get tired of either of these!

Blog Tour with Author and Illustrator of JOEY FLY

We feel lucky to be included in the blog tour that the author and illustrator team of Joey Fly, Private Eye are one. We are so happy they stopped at A Year of Reading. If you are like us, you are on the hunt for great new graphic novels to add to your classroom or school library. This new book--that will hopefully become a series--is one of the best new ones out this year. This book is a mystery--full of fun. The story, the language and the art are all quite fun. How could it not be fun when the characters are bugs? You get a good sense of the book and the type of humor when you watch the book trailer.

When my copy of JOEY FLY arrived, it was sitting on the island in the kitchen. My 10 year old daughter, Ana, immediately asked if she could read it. She couldn't stop talking to me about the book and I would hear her laughing aloud as she read. She loved it. So, we thought it would make sense for Ana to ask the interview questions for this blog tour. We were curious as to what a 10 year old would ask the author/illustrator team after reading the book. So, here is Ana's interview:-)

Ana: Where did you get the idea for this story?

Aaron: Originally, the book was called Joey Off, Private Fly (you know, Off…like bug spray?). That was all I had…a title, which is often how it works for me. I’ll get a title in my head that seems funny or inspires some cool ideas, and off I go. So, when I thought of the title, it seemed funny, a snarky insect mystery. It wasn’t until I sat down to write it that some of the details came along, like Sammy Stingtail and his tail of horror, and Delilah and her stolen pencil box. Most times, I don’t think out the story in advance…I sit down to write the idea, and the story comes along the way.

Ana: Why did you choose to make the characters bugs?

Aaron: I love bugs…they make great characters because there are so many different kinds and they’re all so freaky and unique looking. I have several other books that feature bugs, including Tiger Moth, Insect Ninja and The Tale of the Poisonous Yuck-Bugs. In real life, I don’t mind bugs, but I can’t stand spiders. Yechhhh…too many legs=gross.

Neil: And yet Aaron put a giant hairy tarantula in the second Joey Fly!

Ana: How did you decide when to switch colors for things going on in the story?

Aaron: That was totally Neil’s thing. Fill her in, Neil.

Neil: Yes! Well, originally, I thought it would be fun to try a different take on the whole black and white thing, you know, like old film noir movies. But since sometimes black and white can be boring, I changed it up to blue and white! The flashback scenes made sense as another color, because they take place in a different time frame, and at the last second, we decided to add reds for all the outdoor daytime scenes, just to spice things up a bit. It worked out even better than I thought, and is now part of the storytelling that makes Joey Fly unique.

Ana: How did you get the idea for Joey to talk to himself/the reader in the squares throughout the book?

Aaron: Well, turns out, all those language arts words they make you learn in school aren’t a waste of time. The book is written in first person point of view, which means that the main character talks directly to the read about themselves and their story. When I started writing, this is just how things came out. Joey had lots of running comments or sarcastic little opinions he wanted to throw into the mix, so I wanted to give him the chance to talk directly to the reader without the other characters hearing it or being part of it. In a graphic novel, the best way to do that is in caption boxes, which are those little squares that he talks to you in. These are different from speech balloons, which is the stuff he says to other characters.

Ana: Will there be more Joey Fly books?

Aaron: Definitely! The second book is done and Neil is already finishing the art for it. I’ve seen his sketches and they are AMAZING! It’s better than the first book. And I’m currently working on the third book and have cool ideas about a fourth. So, we’ll keep going as long as the publisher lets us and the ideas keep coming. That is, if Neil is okay with that…

Neil: Of course I’m ok with it! The second Joey Fly is the most fun I’ve ever had on a project! I can’t wait to read the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh!

Ana: Which other books, especially graphic novels, would you recommend to kids who like this book?

Aaron: I really a huge fan of graphic novels for kids…there’s a new one out called The Amulet by Kazi Kibuishi that I LOVE! The second one just came out. I also love the Artemis Fowl graphic novel…definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen it. Also Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale is AWESOME! I’m also a huge fan of an old European comic called Asterix. I used to buy them as a kid at flea markets and they are still SO FUNNY.

Neil: Old Mickey Mouse comics have great mystery and suspense, Tintin by Herge, Super Mario Adventures by Kentaro Takekuma and Charlie Nozawa, and if you like the wordplay in Joey Fly, check out The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster!

They have made several other stops on this tour. You may want to visit to learn as much as you can about this book and this great team. A few of their stops have included:

November 2--Writing For Kids (While Raising Them)

November 2--Book Nut

November 6--Abby the Librarian

Our 5th grade Graphic Novel Club in the library is well underway and a few of the kids have already read this title. I am thinking I might offer this as a book club title to 3rd and 4th graders this winter. It is a great new book with so many fun things to discuss. I think it is worth buying several copies.

More good news: You can follow Joey Fly on Twitter!

Poetry Friday -- Fear

image by packtpulk

FEAR

I am not afraid of the dark

or cold weather

or hard work.

I am not afraid to be caught

without an umbrella

and I'm not afraid (anymore)

of those big millipedes

that are sometimes in the sink

when I turn on the kitchen light

in the morning

in the summer.

I am not afraid to walk on ice

or skip a meal

or swim in deep water.

I'm not afraid to drive alone

across the country

and I'm not afraid (anymore)

of unknowns:

taking risks,

speaking in front of strangers,

navigating in new places

where there may or may not be

clear signage.

The round up today is at The Drift Record.

2 New Books for Winter

I picked up two new picture books for winter. I think they will both be fun read alouds. Both are about the joys of winter. Now, I am not a big fan of winter. But these books do remind me of the fun of winter play. Kids will definitely relate to the fun that the characters are having in both of these books.

HERE COMES JACK FROST by Kazuno Kohara is about a a little boy who hates winter...until he meets Jack Frost. When he does, they have a great time together--playing in the snow, ice skating, and sledding. As long as the boy doesn't mention anything warm, they can have a great time! The illustrations are great--all done with blues and white. The illustration on the cover was what drew me to the book.

The other book is CHAUCER'S FIRST WINTER by Stephen Krensky is a fun book about a little bear who wants to know what winter is all about. But, bears sleep through the winters. Chaucer decides to go out while his parents are sleeping. He learns all about winter and has a great time with his friends--slipping and sliding and having snowball fights. He finally goes back home excited about all that he has discovered about winter.

WHOSE NEST IS THIS?

I am so happy to have discovered this new nonfiction picture book. Last month, I attended a workshop and Selections Bookfairs was there selling books. Since our school has a courtyard, I have been trying to build our collection of books related to some of the things they kids see there and I've been lucky to find some great new bird books this year. WHOSE NEST IS THIS? by Heidi Bee Roemer is one of my new favorites. I thought at first glance that this book was about birds, but it is about more than just birds. I always forget that there are many other creatures that build nests. I think kids do too.

The first page of the book tells us that spring has arrived and many parents are making nests for their young. Then the rest of the book becomes a great guessing game. Each two-page spread has a clue filled with information on the left side. On the right side we find the answer. Although many of the nests belong to birds, we find that turtles, mice, and wasps also build nests. The guessing format makes it a fun one to read and along the way, we learn so many things about nests and habitats. So many different things are used to build nests and they are built in such a variety of places. This book is just packed with information.

The end of the book has a Fun-Fact Glossary with a bit more information on the animals in the book.

I can see so many reasons to read this book. It can serve as a type of field guide. It can be used for kids as they are learning about animals and/or habitats. And it is a great format for nonfiction writing. It could serve as a great mentor text. I always love to find nonfiction writing that has such rich language.

TWIMERICKS: THE BOOK OF TONGUE-TWISTING LIMERICKS by Lou Brooks

I love when people come up with new things and Lou Brooks has come up with Twimericks--Limericks and Tongue Twisters all rolled up. You can tell right away that this book is a fun one. There is a warning on the first page:

"THE SURGEON GENERAL HAS DETERMINED THAT RAPID READING OF THIS BOOK ALOUD TO OTHERS MAY LEAD TO YOUR TONGUE BEING TWISTED INTO A PERFECT OVER-AND UNDERHAND BAVARIAN PRETZEL KNOT--PROBABLY FOREVER."

Then the author goes on to tell us a bit about the history of Limericks and a bit about Tongue Twisters. Then he goes on to tell us what happens when you put the two together. Following this introduction are 36 Twimericks that are quite fun. Some of my favorites (all listed in the Cable of Tontents:-) are Rufus the Goofus, Banana Bonanza and Six Silly Swiss Sisters. My very favorite is "Frankly, Frank Fankley" (of course, because it has my name in it--kind of).

This book is great fun and would be a great addition to any classroom poetry collection. It begs to be read aloud. Reading them aloud is quite fun! (I read a few aloud to my husband while he was watching hockey. My reading wasn't quite enough to pull him away from the TV but he did chuckle a bit.) I can also see kids having lots of word play fun in writing workshop, word study, etc. Just a fun, playful book!