Act II, Scene 7 from As You Like It by William Shakespeare (1600)
Blow, blow, thou winter wind.
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember’d not. Heigh-ho! sing, &c.
I have just one word for the weather we've had for the past few weeks: BRRRRRR.
I'll stop complaining and put on my boots, hat, mittens, snow pants and down coat so I can head over to Amy's place in upstate New York. I have a feeling that we don't really know what cold is compared to the cold they have there! The Poetry Friday roundup is at the Poem Farm this week!
The schedule of roundup hosts for the first six months of 2011 is almost completely filled. Hosts are still needed on
This summer, Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks on Twitter) shared her Book-A-Day Challenge with us on her blog. Her goal was to finish a book a day all summer. She shared her reading via blog and Twitter (#bookaday). As her pile grew this fall, Donalyn suggested the book-a-day challenge again over holiday break. Lots of people jumped on board to join. Because my pile of books has grown and grown with no end in sight, I thought I'd try to participate this year. It seemed like a good time for me to catch up on some great books I've been dying to read. If you want to join us in meeting a reading goal, just tweet using the hashtag #bookaday.
I decided to try to catch up on Middle Grade novels for the #bookaday challenge. I am trying to fit in a few YA novels before break begins but have a stack of 12+ middle grade/early YA novels that I am hoping to read during #bookaday. Many of these were in my ALAN box but I am choosing the ones that lend themselves more toward younger YA readers. With a K-5 building, I am exciting to catch up with new books our older kids may love.
Here is what is on my stack so far. This list could change, but this is how it stands right now.
Who doesn't love cute baby animals? In my quest for great nonfiction for elementary kids, I came across ZOOBORNS (the book and the blog) from 2 different sources. During my last visit to Cover to Cover, Bill at Literate Lives had ZOOBORNS: ZOO BABIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland on his pile of books. I immediately ordered a copy. That same weekend, I learned about the blog ZOOBORNS from Larry Ferlazzo on Twitter.
The book, ZOOBORNS, is a great picture book for children. Each page in the book focuses on one specific baby animal born in a zoo somewhere in the world. 4-6 lines of text accompany each animal photo. The end of the book gives more information about each animal, their home zoo, and their conservation status. I imagine this book will be checked out at all times in the library. This is a great nonfiction book for young children. It is all that I look for when looking for nonfiction for young kids--great photos, interesting information and accessible text. It would also make a great nonfiction read aloud.
The blog ZOOBORNS is quite fun and I shared it with several 3rd and 4th grade classes this week as we are trying to expand their nonfiction reading lives. Our kids are very honest about preferring fiction over nonfiction but my theory is that they haven't yet found interesting, accessible nonfiction text. So many of the kids were excited about ZOOBORNS. This site highlights different baby animals from zoos around the world. It is updated often so there is always something new to read and learn. The side tags help readers who want specific information. Readers can follow a certain kind of animal or a specific zoo. This site is packed and seems accessible to middle grade readers. It is tempting to just can the blog and enjoy the adorable photos but I am hoping that this site encourages children to read the text that accompanies the photos.
If you are looking for any last minute gifts, this would be a great gift book. And I just noticed that there is another in this ZOOBORNS series. How exciting! I'll have to order it right now..
Tales2Go is a great app for kids. It is full of hundreds of stories told by various artists and organized in a way to be accessible to kids. This month, Tales2Go is offering a school promotion in which schools can get a FREE subscription (for up to 5 mobile devices). This offer is good through January 15, 2011. I am excited that I'll be able to offer this on 5 of our mobile devices in the library! Kids are going to be thrilled! So will teachers. The regular price for a subscription is $24.99 per year. Still a good deal but I so appreciate Tales2Go's effort to reach out to schools with their promotion. If you have not seen the original demo of the Tales2Go app, you can watch it below.
I have been looking at this app as a great way for kids to experience stories using mobile devices. But I now see that there are also huge implications for classroom teachers. The ways in which the stories are organized make it a great tool for teachers looking for the perfect book, a book to go with a genre study, etc.
I had previously only thought about this as a way for individuals to enjoy stories. But I now see the possibilities of sharing this with a whole class using a speaker system. I can also see the power of this as a great listening type of activity for several kids using my new favorite tool, the Belkin Rock-Star 5 Way Headphones.
Tales2Go has won several awards and has gained in popularity quickly because of its quality. (You can read the info from Parents' Choice Awards here.) The promotion they are running for schools is a great treat for everyone. Thank you Tales2Go!
I have been working in the library to get more online resources and varied reading available to our students. We have a school wide subscription to TUMBLEBOOKS which kids love. We also have started using iPod Touches and Kindles but are at the very beginning stages. I want all of our students to have access to a variety of tools for reading and learning.
One of the huge challenges I have had with many online literacy tools is how inaccessible they are to young children. Even if they are marketed for young children, many do not support students who are new readers. With my understanding of literacy in grades K-4, I am really looking for something that supports students as readers, writers and researchers and often the tools aren't build that truly support young children in growing in these areas.
One of my favorite resources that I purchased is a subscription to Pebble Go. Pebble Go is a nonfiction tool designed for students in Grades K-3. There are two databases available--one on Animals and one on Earth and Space. Our school purchased a subscription to both from Follett for a total of $695 for the year. One of our district librarians had mentioned it several timed and I looked harder at it at the SLJ Leadership Summit in October.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Pebble Go. This week, I introduced it to 1st-4th graders at our school. The subscription we purchased allows students to access it from home or from school with our school's password. I can't tell you how many kids told me they visited the site the evening following the introduction I gave.
There are sooooo many things to love about this tool:
-Pebble Go is a great nonfiction resource for kids. The text is simple, yet filled with great information. The images go with the text and there are videos, maps, and sounds that go along with the text. Each topic is divided into subtopics and "tabs" with headings so students can access specific information. I love that kids can learn from a variety of media on a topic. There are also many different ways that information is categorized which is great for kids of this age.
-Pebble Go gives students lots of layers of support. There are visual searches for students who need that but there is a search box for students who want to type in a search. There is a "listen" option for students who want text read aloud to them or who need search categories read aloud to them. Students can also choose to read text on their own. The entire resource gives layers of support and kids can use the supports as needed.
-There are words highlighted for students to get more support. If they do not know the highlighted word, clicking on it gives them a pronunciation and definition (read aloud to them if they'd like). Most of these are science specific words related to the topic.
-There are supports for students who are using Pebble Go for more formal research. There is a button that students can push on each page to "Cite the Source". A pop-up window provides the info which makes for a great intro to citing sources. Students can also use photos and print articles in a printer friendly format (font and layout continue to support young readers.
I see this as a great intro to research, but more importantly, it is a great source of nonfiction reading for young children. It was a hard decision to decide to spend $700 of our library budget on these two databases but one of our goals has been to add more "readable" nonfiction text. Although we have a great deal of nonfiction, it is hard to find lots of nonfiction that can be read by new readers. This tool has hundreds of topics and the nonfiction text is accessible to readers at many reading levels. I also see it as a huge support for content learning and a great language support for our English Language Learners.
An added bonus is that our older kids are enjoying the resource. Some siblings have come in and told me that they've explored the site together. The tool is so supportive of young children, that they need no help to use it well once they've been introduced to the basics. And it is so interesting in terms of the information, that it is engaging for older kids too.
Pebble Go has a great white paper that shares more details about the product. There is also a video on the Pebble Go site that helps explain it better.
I have never really reviewed an online resource like this, but I am so excited about this one that I wanted to share it. I think it is well worth the 70 books I didn't buy because of I used the money for this. Instead of having 70 kids check new books, out, all of our K-5 students have access to this great nonfiction 24/7. One of the things I learned early in the year (through a survey) is that our students spend a lot of time on computers but don't really know of great sites to visit. I have been trying all year to help them see the possibilities of things they could do on the computer that support them as learners.
I have always been impressed with Capstone's nonfiction resources for young children. They understand the supports young children need. It is so nice to see that understanding transfer to online products. I hope we see more things like this--things specifically designed to support young readers in ways that are embedded in authentic reading and learning.
You can go to the William Stafford Archives and see the drafts (in Stafford's handwriting) as this poem grew out of his daily writing. You can also hear him (I think it must be him) reading the poem. Wow.
Jama has the roundup today at Alphabet Soup, and there are still a few spots open on the Jan-June roundup host calendar. Comment there if you want to host a roundup in the first half of 2011. I'll share the html code of the calendar for your blog's sidebar once the calendar is filled.
And now, a little about the choice of this poem and the title of this post.
You might remember that I'm collecting autographs of Poet Laureates. So far, I have stood before Billy Collins, Ted Kooser and Kay Ryan as they signed my books and listened to me babble a bit about my love of their poetry.
My brother has had fun these last several years collecting autographs of long-gone Poet Laureates that have some meaning or connection to me. In 2008, he knocked my socks off with the gift of a book signed by Richard Eberhart, the Poet Laureate in the year of my birth, and a book signed by Robert Frost, who was the Poet Laureate before Eberhart (and who was oh-my-goodness ROBERT FROST!!!) Last year he sent a signed book about poets and poetry by the very FIRST Poet Laureate, Joseph Auslander.
This year, he asked me to call when I opened my present so he could tell me why it was perfect. This year's book is TRAVELING THROUGH THE DARK by William Stafford, the 20th Poet Laureate. Here's why he picked this particular book/poet for this particular year:
Stafford was born in Hutchinson, Kansas (not too far from our childhood home…). One of the most striking features of his career is that he began publishing his poetry only later in life. His first major collection of poetry “Traveling Through the Dark” was published in 1962 (not too long after you were born…) when he was ALMOST 50 YEARS OLD! It won the National Book Award the following year in 1963. Despite his late start, he was a frequent contributor to magazines and anthologies and eventually published fifty-seven volumes of poetry. He kept a daily journal for 50 years, and composed nearly 22,000 poems, of which roughly 3,000 were published. (Thanks to Wikipedia for help with this info.)
So some parts of life can actually begin at 50! You have a pretty good chance that you still have at least half of your adult life left to do what you want with (like William Stafford did…)! May you have a healthy and happy second half … and beyond!!
I found one more way this book is the perfect one for this year. The three parts of the book are "In Medias Res," "Before the Big Storm," and "Representing Far Places." In medias res means "in the middle part." It's also a literary technique where the story begins at the middle, instead of the beginning. My life story is at its middle, and I feel like the good part is just beginning! Hooray for the middle place in life! Hooray for the times "Before the Big Storm!" Looking forward to traveling to all the "Far Places" that come my way!
CRABBY PANTS by Julie Gassman makes me laugh out loud! I actually ordered the book because of the title. I didn't even open it up--just saw it online and knew I had to have it. I figured any author who would title a book CRABBY PANTS has to be great. And, I was not disappointed!
This is a story about Roger. Who gets CRABBY. A LOT. Roger gets crabby about a lot of things--running out of his favorite food, not being able to go to the zoo, and missing his favorite TV shows. Roger often ends up in the naughty chair. Finally Roger figures out how to stop being such a crabby pants... or does he?
I love this book. Roger makes me laugh. I am not sure how the illustrator gave such great facial expressions to this character but the illustrations work perfectly. I am hoping this author/illustrator team have lots more books in the line-up.
I love this book. I am pretty sure kids will love it too. My thinking is, "How can you not love this book?"
I have been working to find new early chapter books for the transitional readers. As I have always noticed about transitional readers, they jump into complex chapter books too quickly and often get used to reading with minimal understanding. So building a collection of great books that are perfect for these readers is important. We also have primary teachers who are always looking for great "chapter book" read alouds for their young students. Longer, more complex chapter books are often too long and difficult for students to hold onto over the time they take to read. Also, when we read aloud too many books that are well beyond students' independent reading levels, these become the books valued in the classroom and students are often hesitant to choose more appropriate books.
Ling and Ting are twins, but they are not exactly the same. This book is a collection of stories or "chapters" about these twins. The chapters each stand alone, which I like. Each tells a different story. But they also work together and connect in very clever ways. This is perfect for young children who are new to chapter books.
Grace Lin understand the humor of students who are transitional readers so well. Each story in this book has a little punch of humor at the end--humor that 7 and 8 year olds will love!
I fell in love with Ling and Ting and hope that Grace Lin has already written several more books about these sisters. Not only are the text and chapter design supportive but the characters and storylines make for a great read for kids. This is the perfect kind of book for transitional readers and I hope to see many, many more.
I have been working with students in the library on choosing good books. Many students who quit books before they finish, don't always spend much time previewing before they decide on a book. They get excited about one thing they read or see and then jump in, only to find that the book isn't what they had expected. I am working with them to take more time to preview. There are so many great new ways to preview with the tools available today. Kids can listen to podcasts, can learn about the writing of a book from the author, watch book trailers, and more. I want my students to know all that is out there around a great book.
I created the above sheet of QR Codes to go along with Barbara O'Connor's new book The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester. Each QR Code takes readers to a different place--the video book trailer, Barbara O'Connor's website, the publisher page for the book, and a blog review. I think the sheet of QR Codes will allow students to have quick access to sites around books that I may share or book talk. Rather than searching for reviews or typing in URL codes, students can get right to the sites with QR codes. This will give them experience finding lots of information on a book, visiting sites they might want to go back to. In time, they can begin to create QR codes of their own book reviews as well as sites around books.
QR Codes are a little trickier at the elementary level because most of our students do not carry smart phones with them. But we do have access to a few iPods with cameras and I am looking for a desktop QR Reader that works well with Mac. I want my students to have their eyes open to these QR Codes in the world.
Franki interviewed Stacey about the new book, their blog and writing.
Franki: Tell us a little bit about how you got your idea for Day by Day.
Stacey: Day by Day is an outgrowth of our blog. When Ruth and I were approached about writing a book for Stenhouse we envisioned a book that focused on reflective practice, within the context of the writing workshop. We thought a text like this would be useful to teachers who were trying to get in the habit of being more intentional about their teaching.
Franki: What do you hope teachers get out of the book?
Stacey: There are a few things I hope teachers get out of this book. First, I hope teachers who’ve been teaching writing workshop without reflecting on their practice daily will begin to make time for reflective practice. As someone who initially scoffed at the idea of reflecting on my teaching (when I was obtaining my first master’s degree), I’ve come to realize that setting aside time for reflection is what can make one’s teaching much more responsive. Each of the 180 discussions in the book include a challenge for teachers, as well as two or more reflective practice questions. Therefore, we’ve made it easy for teachers to get started with their reflective practice journey.
Additionally, we share our triumphs and our shortcomings throughout the text. I hope our candidness will help teachers develop an awareness that not every minilesson or conference will be perfect, but that they can learn and grow from their successes and challenges by reflecting on them daily.
Finally, for those teachers who teach writing workshop in isolation, I hope they find this book to be like a compassionate colleague they can turn to at the end of a day. No one should ever feel as though they’re teaching alone.
Franki: Your blog Two Writing Teachers follows your belief about the importance of daily reflection in teaching. Can you talk about how your blog has changed your teaching?
Stacey: Ruth and I started Two Writing Teachers when I was transitioning to teaching a new grade (from fifth to fourth) in a new state (from New York to Rhode Island). Blogging about my teaching -- the good, the bad, and the ugly – on a daily basis helped me to become more thoughtful about how I approached the teaching of writing. Additionally, receiving comments from other bloggers pushed my thinking and allowed me to consider new perspectives and approaches to use with my students.
Franki: What are the things that you love most about writing workshop?
Stacey: I love watching the way writing workshop helps children find and develop their voice. Writing workshop shows students that they have poignant stories to tell and important messages to share with others. In addition, I enjoy witnessing the transformation of non-writers into confident communicators within the context of a writing workshop.
Franki: What are your biggest challenges in writing workshop?
Stacey: The greatest challenge I’ve had teaching writing, in a workshop setting, has been around conferring. I never felt as though I was getting to enough kids. Even when I’d make it to five students during independent writing time, I always questioned if it was enough… if I met with the right kids on a given day… if I met with someone too frequently… Reflecting on my teaching helped me to work through those internal struggles; I became more confident about my decisions (i.e., who I conferred with on a given day or in a given week) once I thought about them, after-hours, more deeply.
Franki: Which resources do you go to as you reflect on your practice in writing workshop?
Stacey: There are a few books I turn to again and again when I need to be inspired about the teaching of writing. I find myself turning back to Assessing Writers and How’s It Going, both by Carl Anderson, when I want to think more deeply about my conferring. When I taught full-time, I always found myself paging through Georgia Heard’s The Revision Toolbox, when I wanted to present my students with new revision techniques. Finally, Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston always reminds me to be mindful of the language I use when I work with
Stick a fork in in -- the schedule is DONE! Stay tuned for the HTML code for your sidebar. Thanks, Everyone!! Looking forward to a great year of Poetry Fridays!!
There are lots of doubles in this month's mosaic. There are two Epcot balls, two friends riding into a possible Jetson-like future, two big stuffed Disney characters, two tropical flowers, two shots of a rainbow, and two kinds of popcorn. Two flowers were blooming in our house at the same time: the hibiscus had one last fling while the Christmas cactus was ramping up. There are two yummy dishes -- grilled cheese and red beans and rice -- from Skillet, our new favorite restaurant (thank you, Meredith!), and there were two crab cakes and two spears of asparagus on my plate at a dinner "Off Property" (ie: NOT Disney) at NCTE. The two people are Julie Johnson, who received the Donald Graves Excellence in Teaching of Writing Award and Steph Harvey, who was thrilled with her flight of Margaritas at Maya Grill. (There was an advertisement for the Maya Grill in the elevator of Coronado Springs Casita 2 proclaiming that if you ate there, you would be "besieged by enchantment." If that isn't a Disney mission statement, I don't know what is.)
Clever Jack Takes The Cake
by Candace Fleming
illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Random House (Schwartz & Wade), 2010
Review copy provided by the publisher
I'm guilty and I'll freely admit it: I judged this book by the cover when it arrived. "Another folk tale. Meh." And I set it aside for later.
Then, at NCTE, as I browsed the books in the Random House booth, I noticed all the stars adorning it. Hmm. Maybe I better take another look.
Was I ever wrong about this book! It does lean on all the other "clever Jack" tales for the basic "succeed by using your wits, even if everything possible goes wrong" story line, but it is fresh and original and...I'm sorry...clever! There's no way around it, it DOES...take the cake!
Jack is invited to the princess's 10th birthday, but he has nothing to take for a present. Read to find out how he manages to bake her a cake and how he manages to show up at the throne with nothing but the story of making and losing the cake. Read to find out what the princess thinks of her gift. (Study the end papers to see what happens before and after the story in the text.) Read to be delighted. Reread to take a closer look at the illustrations. Clever Jack, Clever Candace, Clever Brian. Lucky us.
A funny thing happened at school this week. One of my kids saw me in the hallway and yelled "Mrs. Sibberson, when I come to library today, will you have any of those empty books?" Empty books? What could she have possibly meant? "You know, the books with no words?" So I decided to read CHALK by Bill Thomson aloud this week, since she had asked so cleverly for wordless books.
CHALK is a great new wordless book--one that I would love to see win the Caldecott Award. Mary Lee reviewed it a few months ago but it wasn't a book that I took the time to fall in love with right away. You see, I am a text girl and I have very little patience for taking the time to enjoy a wordless book on my own. I do not always take the time to really take in the visuals. But this week, I discovered what a treat sharing CHALK with children is! I love watching the kids' faces each time I turned the page. The amazement, excitement, surprise, fear, and discovery were all so clear on their faces. Their conversations around the book have been amazing and this is definitely a book I could read a million times.
So, today, I am adding CHALK to my list of BOOKS I COULD READ A MILLION TIMES. I think this is the first wordless picture book to make the list but it is definitely one that deserves to be there.
Foodspotting was made for me: social networking around the pictures you take of food. What could be better? Meredith shared this iPhone app with me on the way home from NCTE. She also told me about a new (to me) restaurant. The day after I got home, I was eating at that restaurant and taking pictures of my food for Foodspotting.
It's hard to believe that a week ago I was in Orlando attending NCTE's Annual Convention. It seems like yesterday, and it seems like it's been months, all rolled into one.
There was time Wednesday evening after we got in for my one Disney Experience. I chose Epcot. We rode a few rides, took a brief walking tour of the world, hugged Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too, and saw the amazing fireworks.
Thursday was my Vacation in Florida Experience. I swam laps in an outdoor pool, made some vitamin D the old fashioned way, and caught my breath from the whirlwind week of teaching, grading, and sub plans.
Thursday evening at the Elementary Section Get-Together, Stenhouse Editorial Director Philippa Stratton received the NCTE Outstanding Educator in the Language Arts Award, and our blogging pal from Hilliard, Julie Johnson, received the Donald Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing. At dinner, I sat next to Louise Borden and across from/next to Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. (mandatory name-dropping)
Friday morning, I was due at the Yacht Club for a 7am Children's Literature Assembly board meeting. Disney Magic got me there on time with a magic carpet ride my very own van ride as the sun rose. After the board meeting, and upon my return to Coronado Springs, I snuck into the end of the Poets and Bloggers session, did some hard thinking in a session about how to teach 21st Century Literacies in spite of the "reforms" that would make sure our students can pass a test but not ensure that they would grow up THINKING, and got another dose of poetry at the Poetry for Children Notables session. Friday evening was all about the communities of writers I am privileged and honored and proud to belong to: the Stenhouse reception was followed by the Choice Literacy dinner. (Too many names to drop without forgetting some, but I would be remiss if I didn't thank Stenhouse for continuing to include me as one of their own, and Brenda Power for her incredible generosity, creative vision, and passion for teaching and leading.)
Saturday sessions/thinking: using conferences in writing workshop as a kind of formative assessment; smart ways to use picture books; three hours of talking about books and winnowing our list of Notables (fabulous committee, must drop names: Mary Napoli, April Bedford, Nancy Roser, Donalyn Miller, Yoo Kyung Sung, Tracy Smiles), and then a dinner sponsored by Macmillan. The authors at the dinner were fun, but it was also great to spend a little time with Elaine Magliaro, Trisha Stohr-Hunt, Karen Terlecky, and Barbara O'Connor. (drop, drop)
On Sunday, those who attended the Children's Literature Assembly breakfast were treated to an amazing talk by David Wiesner about his newest book, ART AND MAX. (There was much bantering later on Twitter between certain pairs of friends -- @donalynbooks / @PaulWHankins, and @maryleehahn / @frankisibberson -- about who is Art and who is Max.)
After the breakfast, I presented on reading workshop with Franki, Aimee Buckner and Donalyn Miller, then raced to Coronado Ballroom H and presented about the 2010 Notables (2009 books). After we talked briefly about the 30 books, there were 8-minute roundtable sessions with some of the authors. I got to hear Rebecca Stead (WHEN YOU REACH ME), Alexis Frederick-Frost (ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING), Ching Yeung Russell (TOFU QUILT), and Linda Barrett Osborne (TRAVELING THE FREEDOM ROAD). (drop, drop)
Two of my favorite people to run into in the hallways or in sessions were Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and Heidi Mordhorst. We know each other mostly on our blogs, but it's amazing how well we know each other. Heidi picked right up on my penchant for purple, and I gave her an idea for her next book. Amy and I sat on a bench in the hallway and chatted like sorority sisters.
(This post is getting way too long and I'm 1/2 hour over budget time-wise, but we're almost to the end, so let's just finish it up...)
Monday was the Children's Literature Assembly workshop. Now, I know there are some die-hard ALAN fans out there, but CLA puts on a classy workshop for those of us who work with younger readers. The CLA workshop is not about speed and huge boxes of books. There were 5 author/illustrators and we left with a stack of 7 picture books. We heard Doreen Rappaport talk about her recent series of biographies, especially Martin's Big Words and John's Secret Dreams, which were both illustrated by Bryan Collier. Then we got to hear Bryan Collier. After a break, Andrea Davis Pinkney sang to us, and talked about Sit In. After lunch, David Diaz taught us to draw and told us about his process for Me, Frida.
We ended the day with a trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, led by Hester Bass (she ALSO sang to us!), who wrote about the artist Walter Anderson in Orbis Pictus winner, The Secret Life of Walter Anderson. Her slide show gave us a peek into the process that E.B. Lewis used to create the amazing illustrations from extensive research and photographs taken on a site visit with Hester.
Next year when you are planning your NCTE experience, consider staying on Monday for the CLA Workshop! It is a fabulous, intimate day with children's authors and illustrators.
And now it's time for me to get back to my current reality: lesson plans, grading, and an attempt to make my days at NCTE a part of my life in the classroom.
Our "cell/wherin to dwell," after the Blizzard of '08
A THANKSGIVING TO GOD, FOR HIS HOUSE
by Robert Herrick
(1591-1674)
Lord, Thou hast given me a cell
Wherein to dwell,
A little house, whose humble roof
Is weather-proof:
Under the spars of which I lie
Both soft, and dry;
Where Thou my chamber for to ward
Hast set a guard
Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep
Me, while I sleep.
Low is my porch, as is my fate,
Both void of state;
And yet the threshold of my door
Is worn by th' poor,
Who thither come and freely get
Good words, or meat.
Like as my parlour, so my hall
And kitchen's small;
A little buttery, and therein
A little bin,
Which keeps my little loaf of bread
Unchipp'd, unflead;
Some brittle sticks of thorn or briar
Make me a fire,
Close by whose living coal I sit,
And glow like it.
Lord, I confess too, when I dine,
The pulse is Thine,
And all those other bits, that be
There plac'd by Thee;
The worts, the purslain, and the mess
Of water-cress,
Which of Thy kindness Thou hast sent;
And my content
Makes those, and my beloved beet,
To be more sweet.
'Tis Thou that crown'st my glittering hearth
With guiltless mirth;
And giv'st me wassail-bowls to drink,
Spic'd to the brink.
Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand
That soils my land;
And giv'st me, for my bushel sown,
Twice ten for one;
Thou mak'st my teeming hen to lay
Her egg each day;
Besides my healthful ewes to bear
Me twins each year;
The while the conduits of my kine
Run cream, for wine.
All these, and better, Thou dost send
Me, to this end,
That I should render, for my part,
A thankful heart,
Which, fir'd with incense, I resign,
As wholly Thine;
But the acceptance, that must be,
My Christ, by Thee.
I'm reading and listening to ALCHEMY AND MEGGY SWANN by Karen Cushman. (If you follow the link and listen to the sample, you'll hear a description of the house in London where Meggy Swann finds herself delivered, but, unfortunately, you won't get to hear her say,"Ye toads and vipers!") Cushman's newest book is set in London in 1573 "Under the accession of Elizabeth I to the throne of England but afore London's first theater and Shakespeare." All of this is to tell you why, when I began my search for today's poem -- after realizing with a gasp that it is FRIDAY (an aside here about how mixed up I am about what day it is: I keep calling the third day of NCTE Wednesday, even though it was Sunday, just because Monday means "the start of it all" and therefore two days after the start must be Wednesday) ... where was I? Oh. Looking for a poem. So my search turned up the poem by Robert Herrick and it felt like it had been GIVEN to me to share. Maybe even given to me by Meggy Swann herself.
Happy Thanksgiving, from my house to yours, and Happy Poetry Friday! Let's meet at Jone's "house" -- Check It Out -- for a feast of poetry!
I wouldn't be who I am today as a writer if Philippa Stratton and Bill Varner at Stenhouse hadn't believed in my ability to turn the sketchiest of proposals into a book.
I am grateful to Brenda Power for valuing my article-length thinking and writing for Choice Literacy. Thanks to her recent generosity, I now have ideas brewing for several articles about using new technologies in my classroom.
Who pushes my thinking? With out a doubt, Franki does, both on the blog and off: about reading and writing and education and baking and the value of Disney in the world (just to mention a few recent topics). Time spent with Meredith always results in new thinking and learning around technology and the arts. And then there are my smart colleagues in Dublin and Central Ohio, my blogging friends from far and near, and Tweet Peeps whose 140 character thinking prods, provokes and amuses.
For giving me a leg up and an invitation into the inner workings of NCTE via the suggestion that I apply to be on the NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Committee, I am forever thankful to Monica. My life as a professional outside the walls of my building and the boundaries of my district has been forever broadened because of this opportunity. Presenting is pretty awesome, but having the opportunity to lead is even more amazing. Thanks for believing in me, Monica.
My life as a professional within the walls of my building has forever been changed by the opportunity to work with the amazing principal, Jeff Reinhard. He leads by example with an attitude of gratitude and an unwavering belief in the teachers and children at our building. He was a gift to us from the universe at the time we most needed him, and we are thankful for every day we work together to find the path to the success we all know we can achieve.
The room for ALAN was huge! I think I overheard someone say that 500 people attended.
I have been hearing about the ALAN workshop at NCTE for years. It has always sounded like a great day, but I've never been able to attend. This year, listening in on Twitter conversations of @donalynbooks, @ProfessorNana and @PaulWHankins and all of the great YA books they were reading, I realized how behind I was on my YA Reading. So, this year, I attended ALAN for the first time and I think I am addicted. I was excited to see so many authors who write YA as well as middle grade fiction. I knew more of them than I had expected. I have always loved YA literature and today reminded me of that.
ALAN (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents) is an assembly of NCTE. Each year, they sponsor a 2-day post-conference workshop featuring YA authors. The day was incredible. I am finally a member of ALAN too and will begin to receive The ALAN Review. James Blasingame, ALAN's president, received several rounds of applause today for all of the work in putting this together. I cannot thank the planning group and the publishers enough for such an amazing day.
My 35 pound box of books!
My friend told me to arrive early in order to "organize my books". I understood what she meant when I arrived. At 7:30 am, I arrived to a giant (and quite heavy) box of books. At first, I thought about leaving it taped up and opening it when I got home. That thought lasted about 1/10 of a second. I cannot leave books untouched so I opened the box and dug in. Inside were about 40 books of all kinds. Some were books I had heard of. Others were new to me. I looked around to see what others were doing. People had quite a system for organizing their books in front of them. 500 people X 40 books. That is a lot of books thanks to so many generous publishers. I spent about $38 to ship the books home (all but the 4 I couldn't part with). What a great bargain day!
I tried to keep count. By mid afternoon, we had heard about 30 authors speak. Authors spoke for 10-15 minutes each and I was amazed at the power of what each said in that amount of time. Each was brilliant and gave such insight into their writing.
Following each speaker, a huge line formed at the back of the room for autographing. Anyone that wanted a book autographed could stand in line and quietly wait. From the line, they listened to other authors speak.
This day felt like a party. It was full of energy, fun and important work. From the day, I wanted to decide to dedicate a year to YA reading. I know that is impossible. I can't give up the other reading I love. But I did put lots of new books on list of books to read soon. Most are from authors we heard. Some are from the books I saw. We all got different books in our boxes so I spent lots of time looking at other people's piles to see what they were excited about. Here are the ones that I added to my To Be Read Pile from the day (in no particular order):
Multitasking at its best: Waiting for an autograph
from one author while listening to another!
MARTY MCGUIRE by Kate Messner-Due out May 2011 --(This one is not YA, but I saw Teri Lesesne with it today and took a peak. Looks great for middle grade readers!
Disclaimer: All blog posts, opinions, grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes are our own.
Franki and Mary Lee are both teachers, and have been for more than 20 years.
Franki is a fifth grade teacher. She is the author of Beyond Leveled Books (Stenhouse), Still Learning to Read (Stenhouse), and Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop (Scholastic).
Mary Lee is a fifth grade teacher. She is the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse) and has poems in the Poetry Friday Anthology, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books), Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food and Agriculture Poems, National Geographic Books of Nature Poems, The Best of Today's Little Ditty (2014-15 and 2016), Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's Poems are Teachers, National Geographic's The Poetry of US, and IMPERFECT: Poems About Mistakes.
