3rd Graders Learn About the SMART Board

With some of our Scholastic Book Fair profits this year, I was able to purchase a SMART Board for the library at school. We couldn't afford the entire system but Scholastic offers the Interactive Whiteboard piece in their Book Fair Profits catalog. Since we have a projector and speakers in the library, I decided I'd add one piece at a time as we could afford them and I am glad that we did. It might take us a few years to get the whole thing pulled together but it works well for now.

As part of the purchase, I was entitled to a one hour orientation. Michelle Wolfe is our SMART Board rep and she contacted me to set something up. Instead of giving me the orientation, I asked her if she'd be willing to give an orientation to a group of 3rd graders. Michelle happily agreed.

Over the past few years, I have been thinking about how we can use these tools to meet the needs of our 21st Century Learners. I keep going back to the documents such as NCTE's Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment, ISTE NETS for Students, and Partnership for 21st Century Skills' Framework for 21st Century Learning. I've been reflecting on ideas in articles like "It's Not About the Tools. It's About the Skills". I worry that we are using some new tools in ways that don't really change learning for our students. This article about the announcements of Apple's iPad reminded me just how important this was. For me, the important points from all of these documents are the focus on creation, communication, purpose and audience. I want to make sure that the SMART Board in our library becomes a tool for students instead of a tool for teachers to give information.

My thinking was that if we want the SMART Board to be used as a tool for learning--as something beyond a teacher tool, it was important that kids be familiar with and able to use the board. So, we put together a team of 20+ 3rd graders who will serve as our initial Think Tank. They volunteered for the position, knowing it would mean giving up recess time throughout the year. They were quite excited about their first meeting learning all they could about the board. Michelle was great--introducing them to many of the tools available on the software. Many had not had much experience with the SMART Board so they loved the whole nature of the touchscreen.

We decided to place the SMART Board on a wall in the library that is a little bit off to the side. Because so many of the "walls" in our library are windows, we were limited in our options. But I think the place that we chose will work well. It is a spot where a whole class can gather if needed. But it is also off to the side so kids can work on the SMART Board while other things are going on in the library. It is not front and center.

The students who were trained will be able to play a bit with the SMART Board over the next few months. I think that tinkering time will be critical. I think it will take a while for the newness of the tool to wear off but I think that as they play, kids will have great ideas for the kinds of things they might create. Another tool to communicate their learning, to problem solve, and to design. I imagine they'll design games, figure out ways to include their own photos, etc. use the software to revise writing, storytelling, and more. I'll plan to meet with the team every few weeks to reflect on things they've learned, share some new things and brainstorm how the boards can be used to better support their learning.

I'll keep you posted!

Discovering the Possibilities of Stopmotion in Grades 2-5

I introduced Stopmotion Animation to several classes in grades 2-5 this week during library time. One of my goals this year is to give kids lots of possibilities for creation. I want them to see how things are created and invite them into the creation process. With lots of new tools, our students will have lots of new ways to communicate their learning. As part of a district grant that we received last year, we were able to put FRAMES on our entire laptop lab in the library. Since kids have had so much success on PIXIE, we thought FRAMES was a great way to expand their work to animation. I think that if our students can see how different forms of media are created, they will become much more critical users of information, which is so important.

FRAMES has turned out to be a great tool for introducing animation to kids. It is easy to use and kids can see the process for creating animation and then they begin to watch animation a bit differently. Because the program FRAMES has a camera feature, and I am working with our art teacher to create a claymation project with 4th graders, I figured it was a good time to introduce the tool to lots of kids.

I have done a lot of reading on Kevin's blog and have been inspired over the year by the things his kids do with animation. He has so many great ways to work with kids in creating stopmotion. I've followed his reflections carefully and need to revisit them.

I started the lessons this week by showing kids several examples of stopmotion. I've been collecting interesting "mentor" pieces to show kids at various stages of the process and picked a few to show them the variety of things stopmotion could do. Some of the clips I shared included:

You Tube Frog and Toad Claymation

Mary Lee's "Setting Up My Desk Area"

Lego Build It Together

A Sample from the Parkway Film Festival

The Making of Frog and Toad Explained (via Kevin's blog post)

I showed a few examples with Post-It notes and I showed my daughter's stopmotion so they could get a sense of how many photos something like this takes. (Hers took 18 photos for this 3 second movie.)

This time around, sharing these were to let kids know many of the things that can be done with this. We will most likely revisit some of these later to look more closely at craft, message, etc. Today was just an invitation in.

Kids jumped in realizing how the things they've seen recently were made with this technique. Many kids mentioned a scene in iCarly in which Spencer creates a stopmotion movie.

Following the samples, I showed them, in just a few minutes, the basics of how to create stop motion with photographs in FRAMES. That meant teaching them to use the camera, demonstrating me taking several pictures of myself with slight changes and then playing the results. The total length of the lesson was about 10 minutes which included examples of Stopmotion as well as the intro to FRAMES.

My best teaching has always happened when I throw a few basic ideas out to kids and let them play. I can then use student work and discoveries in future lessons. I find that if I am too focused on product at first, kids produce things that look like mine. In order to let them explore and find new ways to use the new tools I've been introducing, I want to give them lots of play time with little direction so they are free to figure things out and open up possibilities for everyone. Just as I expected, this 10 minute minilesson really gave kids a way into this type of creation. Kids jumped right in and had a ball. And, they came up with things I would never have thought of. It was fun to watch different classes and different ages approach the same introduction. I learned so much watching different kids' spin on the software.

Kids came up with such great ideas and kids began to build on each other's thinking. The younger kids immediately began to do what they do best--tell stories using props such as puppets, magnetic sets, etc. Some students used legos to try to capture the sequence of building. Others used board games to try to capture the moves on a strategy game. Others found some of the dramatic play toys that we have in the library and began retelling old favorites using stopmotion. Others used books, objects sitting around the room, a train set in the building toy area of the library, their own faces, and more. They were able to see so many possibilities in the 20 minutes they had to play. Many left with plans for their next visit and many asked to come in and add to their creations during lunch. My hope is that these eventually become possibilities for them to share their learning. When they need to share or present information, this gives them a new way to synthesize their learning. A new way to share their thinking with others.

So often, as teachers with new technology, I think we are hesitant about introducing something that is new to us. We feel the need to learn it well first. But I think that might be holding lots of us back from getting our students' hands on these new tools. I learned the very basics of FRAMES--just enough to invite them to give it a try--in about 10 minutes. Then as kids played and I watched, I learned so many more about the tool as they discovered them. I think it was a richer experience than it would have been had I known the entire program well because the kids were in charge. Except for the few things I knew, they had to problem solve to figure out the others. I also think that because I didn't have much experience with it, kids were able to go off and try a variety of things rather than only the 1-2 things I shared. They knew it was open tinkering time and I think that is critical.

Even as I write this, I am amazed at how much kids did in just 20 minutes. I can't wait to see where they go next and what they do when I introduce ideas such as storyboarding, clay animation, etc. It will be interesting to hear their conversations about the things they notice outside of school--times when photos are manipulated, etc I didn't realize how much they would learn from this one tool.

Kevin Hodgson will be doing a session for teachers on digital storybooks at our Dublin Literacy Conference later this month. He is also doing a parent/child session on stopmotion that is getting huge response. Looking forward to learning more from him and the other speakers then.

Artist Michelle Stitzlein visits Our School

We have a great art teacher at our school. He is always busy doing great work with kids and is always thinking about big picture. This year, he organized a visit by a local artist, Michelle Stitzlein. She visited our school for two days last week and kids were able to work together to create pieces that will be put in our school courtyard.

Much of Michelle Stitzlein's art is art with recycled materials. We began the two day visit with a whole school assembly where Michelle shared her own art. It was amazing to see the creative process and the places she gets her ideas. As part of her slide show, she talked about her travels and the inspirations she finds for her art in different areas of the world. She also shared examples of other things she's found in her travels that have been created from recycled materials. Shoes, houses, etc. created from things that once had a different use. It was a fascinating presentation for both children and adults. She had so much to say about art, creativity, inspiration, taking care of our world, and more. All in such a short time.

For months, to get ready for the visit, our kids have been bringing in plastic bottle caps. Creating sculptures with children, using bottlecaps is one of her specialities. And her book LITTLE BOTTLECAP BOTTLECAP gives families lots of ideas for more projects they can do at home. It was amazing to see how many bottlecaps we collected at our school over the course of the last few months. And it was amazing to see how many sizes and colors bottlecaps come in.

For the two days that Michelle visited, each class was able to join her in the gym to work on one of the community pieces that were made. Before her visit, classes painted the pieces. During her visit, the kids worked in small groups to choose the best caps for each space, decide on the placement of the bottlecaps, and use drills to secure the caps to the pieces.

We ended up with several great large pieces, many of which will be placed around our courtyard and other places in the school.

This was a great visit. Michelle was amazing with the students. I am sure she opened up lots of possibilities for our students in terms of creativity. I love community projects and the focus on recycled art was a great theme, I thought. I think her work with kids will have a lasting impact in so many ways. We are lucky to have such an amazing local artist to work with our students.

January Mosaic

Eleven of this month's pictures feature food or a food-related event. (hmmm...)

Ten are about the cold and dark of winter.

Four pictures are of animals. One dog is peeking out of the curtains. Only the cat is ours.

Three were taken at school.

Which one is your favorite?

A Great New ABC Book--My New Favorite Baby Gift

I loved Margaret Wise Brown's SLEEPY ABC the second I saw it at Cover to Cover. The book is illustrated by Karen Katz. What a great duo. And what a fun book. The illustrations of the babies and the colors make it such a happy book! The themes around all of the pages is a good-night theme with many ways to look at it. A few favorites are:

"B is for Baaaaaa

When the lambs

close their eyes"

"F is for Feet that

won't fall asleep"

You can't tell by my examples but this is also a rhyming books. Every double page rhymes so it has a rhythm that kids will love. This book is my new favorite baby gift. I also think primary kids would love it. And it could serve as a mentor text to anyone writing his/her own ABC book--as a model of writing or as a way to think about a topic, such as bedtime.

Poetry Friday -- Swimming

photo by gabyu

SWIMMING

First it's about the shock of the cold

and the strength of the first five laps.

Then, for the next howevermany laps,

it's about the rhythm

and the breathing

and the black line below me.

It's the rhythm

and the breathing

and the black line below me.

It's the cardinal outside my window this morning

and the things I need to do this weekend

and the things that didn't get done today.

It's the rhythm

and the breathing

and the black line below me.

It's the girl in the purple bikini in the lane next to me.

She swims so fast it seems like she's on top of the water

instead of in it,

like I am.

It's the rhythm

and the breathing

and the black line below me.

It's the smell of the chlorine

and the push off the wall.

And the rhythm

and the breathing

and the black line below me.

Finally it's about the deliciously hot water of the shower

and the sting of the cold air on my damp head.

It's about

the drive home and

the late dinner and

the falling asleep.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2010

This is a poem about what it's like to swim laps. While it might look tedious from the deck (back and forth, back and forth), there's actually a lot going on inside my head while I swim. Besides working to keep track of my lap count, I think about my day, plan what needs to get done tomorrow, and make up stories about the swimmers around me. The counting keeps me focused, though, and makes my swim a 30 or 40 minute meditation. And no matter what else my mind is doing, the swim is always about the rhythm and the breathing and the black line below me.

Anastasia has the Poetry Friday round up today at Picture Book of the Day.

As you can see in the sidebar, we only have a month of hosts left for the Poetry Friday round up. If you'd like to host, pick a Friday in March, April, May, June or July (except July 16 -- I'm taking that one) and leave a message in the comments or send an email to me at mlhahn AT earthlink DOT net.

CitizenKid: Thinking in Terms of a Village

This is the final post about the Kids Can Press series, CitizenKid. CitizenKid is "A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens."

We're featuring the CitizenKid series because one of the CitizenKid authors, David J. Smith, author of the books reviewed in this post, will be at the February 20, 2010 Dublin Literacy Conference.

The theme of this year's conference, our 21st, is "Celebrating 21st Century Literacies." From the NCTE Position Statement on 21st Century Literacies, we know that "Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments"

There will certainly be authors and presenters at the conference whose topics deal with the tools of technology, multi-media texts, and information management. Just as important, there will be a focus on relationships, cross-cultural collaboration, and the global community.

We hope you'll consider joining us for the day on February 20 at the Dublin Literacy Conference. Come meet David J. Smith and hear him speak! You can find registration information here.

If the World Were a Village

by David J. Smith

illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong

Kids Can Press, 2002

Cross-cultural problem solving and global information sharing are among the 21st Century Literacies we need to help our students (and likely ourselves) to develop. Yet how to impart in our students an understanding of the world when it is so huge and varied and incomprehensibly complex?

David J. Smith has one answer: reduce the world's population of 6 billion and some to a village of 100 that mathematically represents the world in a more understandable way.

Nationalities: Of the 100 people in the village, 61 are from Asia; 5 are from Canada and the United States.

Languages: More than half the people in the village speak just 8 languages, even though there are almost 6000 languages in the village of 100. "If you could say hello in these 8 languages, you could greet well over half the people in the village." That sounds like a fine place to start!

Food: Along with sheep, goats, cows, pigs, camels and horses, the global village has 189 chickens -- nearly twice as many as the people in the village!

But here's where some really hard discussions can start to take place. Although there is plenty of food in the village, it is not distributed equally. 60 of the 100 people in the village are always hungry. Only 24 always have enough to eat. Whoa.

Other "whoa" moments are likely to occur when you read about the air and water, school and literacy, money and possessions, and electricity. We (in the United States) have so much, and yet we represent such a small part of the village.

Smith includes notes for adults about teaching "world-mindedness." A strong sense of world geography is the starting place, and he recommends connecting learning with doing.

If America Were a Village

by David J. Smith

illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong

Kids Can Press, 2009

If you want to start a little closer to home helping your students to think about where they fit into a bigger picture, this is the book for you. The "chapters" or "topics" are a bit different than those in If The World Were A Village, and they are presented as questions: "Who are we?", "Where do we come from?", "What do we own?", etc. In lots of the sections, interesting historical comparisons are made.

For example, in "Where do we come from?" we learn that "If the America of today were a village of 100: 15 would be of German ancestry, 11 would be of Irish ancestry, 9 African, 9 English, 7 Mexican, 6 Italian, 3 Polish, 3 French, 3 Native American, 2 Scottish, 2 Dutch, 2 Norwegian, 1 Scotch-Irish, and 1 Swedish." In 1790, those numbers would have been very different. At that time, "53 would have come from England, 19 from Africa (most of them slaves), 11 from Scotland and Ireland and 7 from Germany." We teach about immigration trends in American history, but thinking in terms of the village of 100 makes history come to life.

As with If The World Were A Village, reading this book with your students will bring up hard realities and hard questions. We are a rich nation -- how do we share our wealth? We use more energy and water than any other nation -- how can we slow this down and be more responsible world citizens? We have a great variety of cultures and religions and lifestyles in our country --how can we be more accepting of others? A new immigrant to the United States arrives every 27 seconds -- what are we doing to make them feel welcome?

We hope you've enjoyed this week's posts on the CitizenKid series from Kids Can Press. What a great collection of books to have in your classroom and to use to open the walls of your classroom and let the world in.

One Hen

How to Build Your Own Country

Tree of Life

One Well

Ryan & Jimmy

If the World Were A Village

If America Were A Village

CitizenKid: One Well

This is the fourth in a series of posts about the Kids Can Press series, CitizenKid. CitizenKid is "A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens."

We're featuring the CitizenKid series because one of the CitizenKid authors, David J. Smith, will be at the February 20, 2010 Dublin Literacy Conference.

The theme of this year's conference, our 21st, is "Celebrating 21st Century Literacies." From theNCTE Position Statement on 21st Century Literacies, we know that "Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments"

There will certainly be authors and presenters at the conference whose topics deal with the tools of technology, multi-media texts, and information management. Just as important, there will be a focus on relationships, cross-cultural collaboration, and the global community.

We hope you'll consider joining us for the day on February 20 at the Dublin Literacy Conference. You can find registration information here.

One Well: The Story of Water on Earth

by Rochelle Strauss

illustrated by Rosemary Woods

Kids Can Press, 2007

Of all our natural resources, it is perhaps our water that we take most for granted. At least in our part of the world.

We should remember that there is a finite and discrete amount of water on our planet. The water we have is the same water that has been here for billions of years. We should think of our water as one global well.

This book has short articles with gorgeous, detailed illustrations and fact boxes that tell about the water cycle, how plants and animals need and use water, water as a habitat, and the human impact on the water we share.

This is a great book to share along with...

Ryan and Jimmy: And the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together

by Herb Shoveller

Kids Can Press, first paperback edition 2008

In 1998, a Canadian first grader named Ryan Hreljac learned how difficult it is for people in other parts of the world to get fresh water. His teacher told him it only cost $70 to build a well for an entire village. He went home and asked his parents for the money, but they made him work to earn it. And work he did. One chore at a time, a few dollars at a time, Ryan earned the whole $70.

When he went to deliver his donation, he found out that the $70 would only buy the hand pump; he needed $2000 for the whole well. That didn't stop Ryan. Between his determination and the ripple effect caused by his story, he built a well in a village in Uganda. He also became friends with Jimmy, a boy from the village, visited the village, and went to school there for a day.

Ryan's family remained close to Jimmy even during a resurgence of the rebel war in Uganda. They managed to get Jimmy a flight out and a visa to visit Canada so that he could attend a conference with Ryan and tell the story of the well in his village. While he was in Canada, the fighting in Uganda got worse and he applied for and received refugee status. First, Ryan's well changed his life, and then Ryan's family accepted him as their fourth son, giving him a chance at a kind of life he never even dreamed existed when he lived in Uganda.

This book is further proof that anyone, even children, can make the world a better place, one small change at a time.

CitizenKid: Tree of Life

This is the third in a series of posts about the Kids Can Press series, CitizenKid. CitizenKid is "A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens."

We're featuring the CitizenKid series because one of the CitizenKid authors, David J. Smith, will be at the February 20, 2010 Dublin Literacy Conference.

The theme of this year's conference, our 21st, is "Celebrating 21st Century Literacies." From the NCTE Position Statement on 21st Century Literacies, we know that "Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments"

There will certainly be authors and presenters at the conference whose topics deal with the tools of technology, multi-media texts, and information management. Just as important, there will be a focus on relationships, cross-cultural collaboration, and the global community.

We hope you'll consider joining us for the day on February 20 at the Dublin Literacy Conference. You can find registration information here.

Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth

by Rochelle Strauss

illustrated by Margot Thompson

Kids Can Press, 2004

This is a fascinating book that makes taxonomy, the classification of living organisms, accessible to young readers by using the metaphor of The Tree of Life. On The Tree of Life are 5 branches -- the 5 kingdoms of living things: the Kingdoms of Monera (bacteria), Fungi, Protoctista (paramecia, amoebas, algae, etc.), Plants, and Animals.

The metaphor is further extended to the leaves on the tree: "If each species were represented by a leaf, there would be 1,750,000 leaves on the Tree of Life."

On each double-page spread about a Kingdom, there is information about the specifics of that Kingdom and about the way the rest of the Tree of Life depends on it. And there is a visual that shows how many of the 1,750,000 species (leaves on the Tree of Life) come from that Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Animals has 1,318,000 species, 1,265,000 of which are invertebrates. Of the 52,500 vertebrates, only 4,640 of the species are mammals. Of the mammals, humans are one of the 233 species of primates. "Humans -- 1 leaf on the Tree of Life."

Humankind's place in the "Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth" is so small, and yet so much depends on the ways we do (and don't) care for our planet. I know that last bullet point on NCTE's list of 21st Century Literacies refers to the ethical responsibilities required by the complex environments we have created with the tools of technology, but I can't help thinking they refer to the ethical responsibilities required by the complex environment of the Earth, too.

CitizenKid: How To Build Your Own Country

This is the second in a series of posts about the Kids Can Press series, CitizenKid. CitizenKid is "A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens."

We're featuring the CitizenKid series because one of the CitizenKid authors, David J. Smith, will be at the February 20, 2010 Dublin Literacy Conference.

The theme of this year's conference, our 21st, is "Celebrating 21st Century Literacies." From the NCTE Position Statement on 21st Century Literacies, we know that "Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments"

There will certainly be authors and presenters at the conference whose topics deal with the tools of technology, multi-media texts, and information management. Just as important, there will be a focus on relationships, cross-cultural collaboration, and the global community.

We hope you'll consider joining us for the day on February 20 at the Dublin Literacy Conference. You can find registration information here.

How To Build Your Own Country

by Valerie Wyatt

illustrated by Fred Rix

Kids Can Press, 2009

As it turns out, there are just three simple steps to building your own country: 1. Stake our your identity, 2. Run the country, and 3. Meet the Neighbors.

Author Valerie Wyatt leads the reader through the details of these three easy steps with lots of humor (the example country is Bathmatia, with a population of 3 [including dog] and a capital city of Lintbourg) and plenty of real-world examples, such as the annexation of East Timor by Indonesia in 1975 and the motto of the African countries of Chad and Burundi ("Unity, Work, Progress.") There's a template for creating your new country's passport, and for writing a National Anthem (to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"). Since you're going to have to set up a government, you might as well learn about a few of the most common forms, and in the likely event that you choose a democracy, you can find out about holding elections, writing a constitution, making laws and money, and serving your citizens.

You probably have to teach a unit on government at some point during the year, right? Why not grab a copy of this book and see how much your students can learn by creating their own countries!

CitizenKid: One Hen

This is the first in a series of posts about the Kids Can Press series, CitizenKid. CitizenKid is "A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens."

We're featuring the CitizenKid series because one of the CitizenKid authors, David J. Smith, will be at the February 20, 2010 Dublin Literacy Conference.

The theme of this year's conference, our 21st, is "Celebrating 21st Century Literacies." From the NCTE Position Statement on 21st Century Literacies, we know that "Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments"

There will certainly be authors and presenters at the conference whose topics deal with the tools of technology, multi-media texts, and information management. Just as important, there will be a focus on relationships, cross-cultural collaboration, and the global community.

We hope you'll consider joining us for the day on February 20 at the Dublin Literacy Conference. You can find registration information here.

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference

by Katie Milway and Eugenie Fernandes

illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Kids Can Press, 2008

review copy compliments of the publisher

This is my review from March 31, 2008:

Based on the true story of Ghanian Kwabena Darko, ONE HEN tells the story of the difference that microfinancing can make to an individual, a family, a community, and ultimately, a country.

In the story, Kojo and his mother live in a community that pools its resources and allows the families to take turns borrowing the money for a project that will help them to make a profit before they pay back the loan. Kojo's mother uses her turn to buy a cart so she can carry more firewood to market. With a part of their profit, Kojo buys one hen. The hen provides them with eggs, but also generates more profit. Kojo buys more hens, realizes he needs to finish school to better run his business and eventually gets a scholarship to an agricultural college. When he returns from college, he expands his poultry business, providing jobs for the community and paying taxes that help his country.

ONE HEN is beautifully designed. The illustrations, by Eugenie Fernandes, are bold and colorful paintings. Each double page spread is one third or one half text on a rich (pun intended), luminous gold background. On each illustration is a line reminiscent of "The House That Jack Built":

This is Kojo.
This is the loan that Kojo gets.
This is the hen that Kojo buys with the loan he got.
These are the eggs that Kojo sells from the hen he bought.

The book includes information about the "Real Kojo," Kwabena Darko, and sections titled "What you can do to help?" and "Making changes in the world, on person, one family, one community at a time..." There is also a glossary of African and economics terms.

ONE HEN was featured on the NPR story, Child's 'One Hen' Lays Microlending Success.

Be sure to check out the ONE HEN website.

Poetry Friday -- Sweet

Joy
by Julie Cadwallader Staub

Who could need more proof than honey—

How the bees with such skill and purpose
enter flower after flower
sing their way home
to create and cap the new honey
just to get through the flowerless winter.

And how the bear with intention and cunning
raids the hive
shovels pawful after pawful into his happy mouth
bats away indignant bees
stumbles off in a stupor of satiation and stickiness.

And how we humans can't resist its viscosity
its taste of clover and wind
its metaphorical power:
don't we yearn for a land of milk and honey?
don't we call our loved ones "honey?"

all because bees just do, over and over again, what they were made to do.

(the rest of the poem is at The Writer's Almanac)

I've posted some heavy-duty "gettin' through the rough times" poems in the last couple of months. (Thanks for your patience, Regular Readers.) When I saw this poem on The Writer's Almanac last week, I knew I wanted to use it. Partly for a change of mood, partly because I knew I had taken that great bee-on-a-sunflower shot last September (click on the picture to fill your screen with JOY), and mostly because my class has (finally) come together and I know again that I am doing what I was made to do...and the world is sweet.

The round-up this week is at the blog of the author whose book gets to wear the shiny Caldecott Honor Medal: Liz in Ink is the blog, Liz Garton Scanlon is the author. (Marla Frazee made the winning pictures, but couldn't have done it without Liz's fabulous words!)

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR ROOM by Eileen Spinelli

I bought HOW TO CLEAN YOUR ROOM without even looking past the cover. Once I saw that it was written by Eileen Spinelli, I knew it would be good. This is a unique "How To" book. It is not only a how to book but it is also a pop up book. This book starts out telling you how to clean your room. She knows that the closets is a mess and the books are piled high. But instead of the drudgery that usually comes with cleaning a room, Eileen Spinelli reminds us of all that we love in our rooms--all of the memories, all of the fun. She reminds us not to rush when we clean our rooms, but to slow down and enjoy the memories. My favorite line in the books says this about cleaning your room. "It's to feather-dust the corners of yourself slowly."

I love the poetic language in this book. It really makes me think about my expectations of a how-to book--such a nice surprise. It would be a great mentor text for kids. And, I so wish I had had this book when I did my book weeding last month. It would have made the task so much more enjoyable!

PicPocket Books

I have been watching some of the iPhone/iPod apps that offer picture books for kids. Lots of companies seem to be jumping at the opportunity to get books out there, no matter the quality. I haven't had much luck finding great books. But when I saw that one of Grace Lin's book ROUND IS A MOONCAKE: A BOOK OF SHAPES was a new PicPocket Book, I thought I'd check it out.

The problem with so many of the other sites I've found that offer books for kids to read on a handheld, is the fact that the books were written and produced for this purpose. Needless to say, the quality of many of the books designed as an app are not too great. PicPocket books offers mostly books that are already well reviewed by reviewers--books that kids already enjoy in book form.

I loved ROUND IS A MOONCAKE. The book is well done. You can choose to have it read to you and choose to have word highlighted as they are read. Picpocket doesn't have a huge selection of books yet, but the ones that they have are good.

I was pretty worried that picture books would never be good enough on a handheld--that ebooks were really about books for adults. But after seeing ROUND IS A MOONCAKE, I think I was wrong.

I am not sure how many of these books we'll want our kids to have on their iPod or how we balance this out for young readers. They are semi-expensive because you buy each one as its own app. Each costs a few dollars. But I think this is similar to listening centers and other ways kids have enjoyed books over the years. I can imagine kids having a copy of the "real" book and a copy of the ebook for trips, etc. I also think there are some good implications for the library and classroom if companies continue to put out quality books. As long as the book and story are good, I see it as a great thing for kids to do on their own. I am excited to see some great books like Grace Lin's becoming part of the world of handheld picture books. I am so happy to see PicPocket Books working toward getting quality books reformatted in this way.

The Socially Networked Classroom by William Kist

I have been reading lots professionally dealing with 21st Century Literacies. I have watched my own literacy change over the last few years and I am excited about the impact it can have for children in education. THE SOCIALLY NETWORKED CLASSROOM: TEACHING IN THE NEW MEDIA AGE by William Kist is my new favorite on the topic. I like it for lots of reasons:

-Kist gets into lots of classrooms and helped me to create a vision of what this could actually look like. It is clear that he works with a variety of teachers so he shows us many possibilities for social networking in the classroom.

-He is realistic in his understanding of the challenges we face as teachers trying to implement social networking. So, he takes time to share ideas no matter what kinds of blocks and constraints you have in your school/district. He gets to the bigger picture of 21st Century skills so that there is an in for everyone.

-He balances the theory with practical examples and some info on some terms we may not know. His voice is easy to follow and even when he is introducing something that was new to me, he helped me understand the tool as well as implications for student learning.

Early in the book, Kist says, "This book takes the stand that the writing is on the wall or rather on the screen: Schools are going to have to move past whatever barriers exist and closer to the literacy practices increasingly used in the "outside world". No matter where you may be on the continuum of believing in or disbelieving the construct of "childhood", there can be no doubt that communication in this new century is going to be different than communicating in the old century-not necessarily better or worse but different..."

Later he goes on to say that this book "chronicles the sometimes messy first steps of educators who are attempting to include social networking inside real schools and who are grappling with all the challenges that come along with this new kind of teaching."

If you are thinking about this topic at all, I would say this is a must-read. Even though it is written specifically for teachers of grades 5-12, I found it to be very applicable to elementary grades. I could see how things could be tweaked a bit to work for younger kids.

The English Companion Ning is beginning a book talk on THE SOCIALLY NETWORKED CLASSROOM this week. Bill Kist will be leading the discussion. I am anxious to get a sense of what others are doing with this issue and to hear others' responses. I think this book is going to make a huge impact on classrooms as we work to figure out the role of social networking in our classrooms.

WINNERS!

Last year, I totally had to concede to Franki -- only she and our bookstore friends, Beth and Sally, had read The Graveyard Book. This year, Bill, Karen and I get to be in the picture, too! Congratulations to Rebecca Stead and When You Reach Me for winning the Newbery Award! (Sally has The Shiny Stickers in her hand, ready to put on all the copies of books that hadn't already been sold!)

Here's the hash (sweet potato with smoked turkey, eggs over hard)...

And here are the Central OH bloggers who were able to get together today for the re-hash of the awards: which books won, which didn't, which we read, which we haven't, and which intern at Random House Kids lost their job this morning because they Tweeted the Newbery Award at least 5 minutes before it had been awarded from the podium.

We reconvened at Cover to Cover for more book talk and, of course, to buy some books. Pictured are (back row) Mandy, Bill, Kristine, Katie, Shelly, (front row) Franki, Karen, Mary Lee, and Lisa. We were joined for breakfast by Tony.

You can see many of the winners in our hands.
All the winners are listed here.

Kids Weigh in on Caldecott Award

This week, we spent library time looking at about 70 2009 picture books that could win the Caldecott Award. After having Loren Scully from the Dublin Library come talk to the kids last week, they had time to really look at the books this week. I always enjoy listening in on their conversations, but I really love to see the books that they gravitate to. I worry that they will vote for only the books they know, but that is never the case. They are much to smart to do that--they take this vote very seriously.

This year, the following books were favorites of the 1st through 5th graders at our school--in no particular order. It was fun to watch them spend so much time thinking hard about the 2009 picture books. I imagine these will all be checked out consistently for the rest of the school year.

THERE ARE CATS IN THIS BOOK by Vivianne Schwartz was one that so many kids loved. I didn't realize that the illustrator was from the UK until after it was out. It gave me a way in to remind them of the criteria of the illustrator living in the U.S. again.

DUCK! RABBIT! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal was well-loved. Kids spent lots of time talking about the illustrations with this one with friends.

OTIS by Loren Long is my personal favorite. The kids know this and it seems that several kids agree with me. So many kids spent time finding new things in the illustrations and needing to share their findings. This seems to be a story kids love to go back to again and again.

THE LION AND THE MOUSE by Jerry Pinkney was another favorite. The kids were amazed at the illustrations and seemed to spend lots of time on single pages.

SPOON by Amy Krouse Rosenthal was another favorite. The kids were drawn to the cover and loved the story. This was a brand new one so kids hadn't seen it earlier. Kids loved the story adn the fun in the illustrations.

THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS by Chris Barton is another that kids were drawn to. I had read this book to several classes so many already loved it. But for the kids who had not seen it, they were immediately drawn to it and loved the way the story was told.

The Dust Bowl Through the Lens

The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster

by Martin W. Sandler

Walker Publishing Company, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

I'm probably not a completely unbiased reviewer of this book -- my dad was born in a sod house in Eastern Colorado in the late 1920's. I heard stories of the Depression and the Dust Bowl all my growing up life on the flat, arid, treeless, barren landscape of the photos in this book. (So you can decide how much you want to trust my assessment of this book.)

This book is fabulous on many levels. First of all, it is inviting and accessible. Every double page spread has a short essay with a telling title and quote that functions as a subheading on the left, and a period photo that illustrates the essay on the right. The photos are so compelling that one way to read the book is simply to look at the photos and read the captions.

As much as it is a book about the Dust Bowl, this is a book about the history of the development of photography as an art form...which just happened to take place during the years of and largely because of the Dust Bowl photographers.

This is a book about how art (photography) can be used to document and remedy social inequities.

It is a book not merely about what the Dust Bowl did to the people but also about what it did to the land -- it's a book about the importance of soil conservation and smart farming practices.

This book is a testimony to the strength of the human spirit and the will to survive. And we mustn't forget that the Dust Bowl also gave us The Grapes of Wrath, Woody Guthrie, The Wizard of Oz, and Will Rogers.

History was changed because of the Dust Bowl and because of the Depression, because of the Okies and because of Roosevelt's response to the economic tragedies of the nation at that time, because of photographers like Dorothea Lange and because of the photographs themselves. At the same time, photography evolved from a portrait-making tool, to a tool for social change. A new form of storytelling, photojournalism, was born of the Dust Bowl and the Depression, as were photographic essays. The way we get information and understand the world around us was radically changed during those years.

Like I said, this book is fabulous on many levels. Pick it up and take a look. I'm pretty sure you'll have a hard time putting it down without reading the whole thing.

Poetry Friday -- There Are Worse Things

THINGS

by Fleur Adcock

There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.
There are worse things than these miniature betrayals,
committed or endured or suspected; there are worse things
than not being able to sleep for thinking about them.

(the rest of the poem is at The Writer's Almanac)

I hate it when I goof: when I forget something important, when I drop the ball, when I'm late no matter how hard I've tried to be on time, when my intentions are misread, when I speak without thinking or without sufficient preparation. I am haunted by my mistakes. They leave their tracks everywhere. The snow will melt and others will no longer see them, but I can't erase them from my memory.

Mary Ann's got the Poetry Friday Round Up at Great Kid Books today.

Potential Award Winners

As Franki reminded us all last week, predicting the Newbery was the reason this blog was born 4 years ago.

We started by trying to predict the winner.

That devolved to having read the winner.

Then we decided that it was good enough to have the winner in our Amazon shopping cart.

Last year, Franki and a few other people around here had read The Graveyard Book, even though it wasn't necessarily their pick for the winner.

This year, Bill and Karen at Literate Lives are putting us to shame with their series of Newbery posts.

Here are my favorite books of 2009. I'd be happy if any of them won!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

The Sweethearts of Rhythm by Marilyn Nelson

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graf

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (I'm glad it already won a shiny sticker!)

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Mare's War by Tanita Davis

Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes

Wild Things by Clay Carmichael

Last year was the first year I ventured into Caldecott territory, when I was cheering for River of Words from the moment I set eyes on it. Because of that one "honorable" pick, I'll give it a try again this year. Here are some of my favorite picture books for 2009:

The Lion and the Mouse, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

14 Cows for America, illustrated by Thomas Gonzales

All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Day is Done, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Tsunami, illustrated by Ed Young

A Great New Chapter Book for Transitional Readers

I have spent lots of time looking at all of the CYBILS Shortlists. I was on the group that chose the Nonfiction Picture book finalists and I LOVE that list. If you haven't had time to look at all of the great books on the shortlists, I would definitely suggest it. The thing I LOVE about the CYBILS is all of the great categories. When the final lists come out on January 1, every year, I go through to add to my next-read stacks.

One of my favorite categories in the CYBILS is Easy Readers/Short Chapter Books. I have always worry that our new readers move from great picture books to difficult chapter books far too quickly. These early chapter books are so important for transitional readers and it is hard to find good ones. So, I was thrilled to find one from the CYBILS list that I LOVED! GOOD DOG, AGGGIE by Lori Ries and illustrated by Frank W. Dormer. There is lots to like about this books. Kids will like it because it is about a dog who just can't learn to obey his owner, Ben. But from a teacher's perspective, I like it because it is a great story that is so supportive of readers who are new to chapter books. First off, the colors and the illustration are bright and colorful. It is immediately engaging. This book is about 48 pages and there are illustrations on every page. The book is divided into three chapters that follow a sequence. There is enough predictability that it supports readers and enough surprise to make it fun. A perfect book for transitional readers and also one that kids beyond the transitional stage will also love!

Creating Reading Challenges for Ourselves

I am always amazed at the reading challenges that bloggers give themselves. We just love an excuse to read more or differently! For years and years, my personal challenge was to meet Mary Lee's yearly goal of reading 52 children's books. And I love to participate in Mother Reader's 48 Hour Challenge each year. I don't join or participate in order to win . Instead, it is a fun way to challenge myself to stretch as a reader and to be part of a larger reading community. They give us a chance to set our own goals.

Last year, I decided to stop keeping a reading log. Bad decision. I really have no idea what I've read and have trouble going back to those books and that thinking. This year, I've decided to join Goodreads as a way to log my reading and as a way to keep up with books and friends' reading. So far, I love it. I was lost this past year without a record or a goal for my own reading. My reading this year was haphazard at best.

After reading about Kristine's challenges at Best Book I Have Not Read, I became interested in this whole idea again. Kristine signed up for the To Be Read Challenge. In this challenge, you pick 12 books that you've been wanting to read for 6 months or longer, but haven't gotten around to. WOW--love this idea! Although I am not officially signing up for the challenge, I think this is a FABULOUS idea. During my recent weeding experience one of the sad thing I noticed was how many books I have intended to read but haven't yet gotten to. So, this challenge makes sense to me. I tweaked it a bit for myself. I decided that the "for 6 months or more" didn't matter to me. Instead, I want to make sure to make time to read those "must-read books" from my 2009 pile. So, I decided on 12--one for each month. Books I really don't want to end up on the bottom of a very, very large pile. I am appalled that I haven't gotten to some of these. But sometimes things get in the way of reading and you end up forgetting about some of the best books out there for a little while. So, my own personal reading challenge--books I haven't given my chance to read this year so I'll read them in 2010.

Adult Reads

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Half-Broken Horses by Jeannette Walls

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Children's Books

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (so upset with myself for letting this one get lost in my next-read pile!)

Wild Things by Clay Carmichael

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork

The Seriel Garden by Joan Aiken

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordin (Can you believe I haven't read this one yet?)