Silly Words Day!

Nancy at Journey Woman has proclaimed March 31 SILLY WORDS DAY!

My students and I are always on the lookout for words that are fun to say and/or spell. Here are a few we treasure (in order from shortest to longest):

Zit (won't be long before they abhor that word!)
Dilfy (a made-up mom word for messy)
Atlatl (a prehistoric spear thrower)
Boonka (a word remembered from pre-speech, meaning blanket)
Kwakiutl (a NW tribe of Native Americans)
Mississippi (fun to say and more fun to spell FAST)
Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras)
Onomatopoeia (fun to say and spell)
Gift Certificate (because the nominator only recently mastered the pronunciation of certificate...cerFITicate? cerFICKatut? Plus, they're fun to get!)
Pachycephalosaurus (there's nothing better than dinosaur names!)
Antidisestablishmentarianism (is that really a word?)
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (we KNOW that's not a word, but it's delicious!)

DRAWING COMICS IS EASY by Alexa Kitchen

We get Time For Kids in our classroom each week. It is a great magazine and we learn lots! In a recent issue, we learned about a book by a 7 year old, Alexa Kitchen. The book is called DRAWING COMICS IS EASY (EXCEPT WHEN IT'S HARD). I ordered a copy and can't wait to share it with my students.

There is a lot to like about this book.

First of all, with the popularity of graphic novels, this book will help aspiring graphic novel authors learn to draw great characters, think about color, and more. The first chapter is called "Very Simple" and starts out with, "You may think drawing is hard. Drawing is a big challenge. But it is not. After this chapter, you'll be surprised how easy it is." Other chapters include "Figure Drawing", "Landscape", and "Mistakes".

I also love that it was clearly written by a 7 year old (now nine). I love when I can show my students kids as authors. And kids doing things that they love. The text is not perfect. It has errors in conventions--errors that a seven year old would make. It has not been redone, edited to adult standards, or typed up. It is in Alexa's original handwriting and drawing. Clearly Alexa Kitchen loves drawing comics and from her website, I noticed that she has other books available. She seems like quite an amazing 9 year old.

This book has received a great deal of publicity and has received good press from publications such as Publishers Weekly.

I love books by kids and this one seems especially timely with the popularity of graphic novels. Wish I had found it sooner--I could have used it with my students when we created our own comic strips in the fall.

Poetry Friday: Pop Quiz

(apologies to Robert Frost)

Nothing Gold Can Stay

1. Nature's first green is what color?
A. Blue
B. Violet
C. Gold
D. Green

2. This hue is her hardest to what?
A. Fold
B. Hold
C. Cold
D. Mold

3. Her early leaf's a what?
A. Shower
B. Bower
C. Glower
D. Flower

4. For how long?
A. An hour
B. A minute
C. A day
D. A season

5. Because of the evidence in the poem that "leaf subsides to leaf./ So Eden sank to grief,/ so dawn goes down to day./ Nothing gold can stay." would you say that this poem is
A. Optimistic
B. Pessimistic



(Answers: c, b, d, a...and the jury's out on number 5. I'll poll the audience on that one. Let me know in the comments whether you see this poem as an optimistic one or a pessimistic one. There's a story behind this question that I'll share later this weekend.)

Reading Aloud EDWARD TULANE--had to share

So, I loved Edward Tulane before I read it aloud to my class. I am a huge Kate DiCamillo fan and love her work. All of it. I especially loved THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE when it first came out. Love the whole story and the writing was brilliant.

It has been our class's read aloud and we finished it yesterday. As often happens, I love the book even more after sharing it with kids. I must say that the kids loved the story. But, as kids do, they got more out of the story than I did. They are amazing. The story is so accessible and real for kids.

When we finish our read alouds, we often think about big questions that we'd like to linger over. Questions that are still swirling around in our heads after we've finished the book. The students brainstorm the list and then decide which they want to discuss. I have learned to just stand back and listen since their thinking is often better than mine. Sometimes we choose one to discuss as a whole class. It turns out that no matter which questions they discuss, they almost always gain a new understanding about the theme of the book.

So, these were the questions that came up after this read:

Why are the stars important? (Do they all connect to Edward's emotions?)
How did Abilene's grandmother know Edward only cared about himself?
Why did Kate DiCamillo choose the places he went? How did each place change him?
Why did the boy throw Edward overboard?
Why did the line, "You disappoint me" come up over and over.
Why did the illustrator decide on the front cover illustration? Why was it so important?
What does the title mean?
Why is Edward made of china?
Why did he not love before and why did he start to love later?
What does the quote at the beginning tell us?
Did Edward help himself? Was his time in the ocean the time he started to help himself?


So, as often happens, I think I can predict the conversations that will take students somewhere new in their thinking. And, as often happens, when I predicted today, I was wrong. I was pretty sure that the question "Why was Edward made of china? would take us nowhere. What was there to say or think about this one?

Then kids started sharing their thinking on the topic and we stayed with it for a while. I sat back and listened to them build on each others' thinking and was totally floored. Here are their theories--all of the things that his being made of china tell us: (I was amazed. So I must share!)

-Edward was china because he was breakable. His heart broke and broke.
-China is special and at the beginning Edward thought he was special and he was selfish.
-He was with a very rich family at the beginning--expensive, then he went to not so rich families, got dirty, etc. but even though they weren't rich, he learned to love.
-On the inside flap, it tells us that Kate D had a china doll and lost her.
-China is fragile--it is delicate and can shatter. Edward was delicate and shattered.
-People Edward meets along the way were all fragile or broken in some way.
-Breaking is like the dark and the author talks about the dark a lot.
-Maybe his whole being was broken--not just his heart.
-He was put back together at the end and that is when he found Abilene-broken and put back together and he was home --china and put back together again.

So, as always they blew me away. This little question brought them to this amazing thinking about Edward and the story of a broken heart. It was not a long conversation--15 minutes. These are 8 and 9 year olds. They are so brilliant every day. I do love my job.

I had to share. As much as I LOVE Mother Reader and as hard as I laughed at Mother Reader's view of Edward Tulane, this is the one and only time I have to disagree with her (SORRY MR). This book is a work of brilliance AND it is hugely accessible to kids--it is an amazing story with a huge life message. Full of hope and happiness. A great read aloud. It was a great day to be a teacher:-) (most days are)

Teacher Blogs

I'm a little irritated with Visual Thesaurus. I said their Blog Du Jour site was one of my five non-kid-lit blogs and then they went and let me down. Their newest set of blogs du jour are titled Teacher Talk. I checked them out, and the title should be High School Teacher Talk.

Where are the elementary school teacher blogs?

I've looked at education blogs before and I went looking again for awhile this morning, but mostly what I find are secondary educator blogs, or blogs about technology in the classroom.

However, I did find Teacher Tube:

About Us

After beta testing for almost two months, TeacherTube officially launched on March 6, 2007. Our goal is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill.

Seems like a BRILLIANT idea. I can't wait to spend some time exploring and viewing. One more for my spring break To Do list.

PEACH FUZZ -- Graphic Novel Review

PEACH FUZZ vol. 1
By Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges
TokyoPop, 2005
Review copy provided by publisher

After I read this book, I knew I needed a kid-sized perspective on the story. I wanted to make sure that my "adult perspective" filter wasn't interfering with my take on the story line. So I asked Carmen Girl, a responsible pet owner, to read the book and talk to me about it.

First, a mini plot summary: Amanda begs her mom for a pet, her mom caves in, Amanda picks a ferret because it's unusual but she knows nothing about ferrets, Amanda makes a lot of mistakes as a first-time pet owner (first-time and ignorant and with no parental support and guidance...but I digress).

Carmen Girl really liked the way the author portrayed humans from the pet ferret's point of view: as the evil handra, a five-headed monster that attacks the ferret with no warning. Carmen Girl also appreciated the sub-plot to the story -- that you have to teach pets not to bite, and you have to teach them right and wrong.

And then Carmen Girl went straight for the things about this book that concerned me when I read it: Amanda is an irresponsible pet owner. She doesn't know anything about animals. She doesn't realize she has to get in touch with the wild nature of an animal to understand why it bites. She is cruel to Peach Fuzz and doesn't take very good care of her. She needed to learn about ferrets BEFORE she brought one home. And for that matter, why does her mother let her do this? She spoils Amanda and is as unthinking about the pet purchase as Amanda is (they buy the wrong kind of cage). The first pet store clerk is a total ditz, and the vet is completely unprofessional. He admits he doesn't know anything about ferrets. All he does is listen to Peach Fuzz's heartbeat with his stethoscope and then he CHARGES them for saying she's still alive. (This incident occurs after Amanda drops Peach Fuzz from a height.)

By the end of the book, Amanda is starting to "get it." She is using the information she has learned from a helpful pet store clerk to train Peach Fuzz not to bite. They are starting to form a connection.

My question to Carmen Girl -- Is this reform too little too late? Is there too much irresponsible pet ownership in this book to make it worthwhile? Carmen Girl thought it was PROBABLY okay. We both agreed we'd like to read the next book in the series to see if Amanda keeps making better pet owner choices. And when I asked Carmen Girl if I should put this book in the classroom library, she cited A DOG'S LIFE by Ann Martin as an example of a similar book that doesn't show humans in their best light and that gives the pet's point of view.

Final verdict: I'll add it to my collection, but I'll try to make sure I talk to the kids who read it to verify they're getting the message about responsible pet ownership that comes late in the book.

Links: TokyoPop's official site for PEACH FUZZ
The authors' PEACH FUZZ website

Happy Birthday...

...to Kate DiCamillo!

Thank you Writer's Almanac for letting us know.

Non-Kid-Lit Blogs

MotherReader tagged us in a meme that originated at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy.

Our mission: Name five non-kid-lit blogs we read.

First, from Mary Lee:

Indexed A blog where the daily post is a picture (or more specifically, a chart, graph, Venn diagram...) that is worth a thousand words.

Tech_Space Daily notes on science and silicon from USA Today blogger Angela Dunn. Fun little tidbits of this and that.

Blog Du Jour From Visual Thesaurus. Collections of blogs on a variety of themes. And I LOVE Visual Thesaurus.

Pragmatic Chaos A peek into the life of a smart and funny nanny. Plus, I like her blog title.

LibraryThing Blog I'm going to buy a barcode reader and get my classroom books into my LibraryThing. Or maybe I should realistically say I'm going to ATTEMPT to get that done. Reading this blog reminds me that I paid for a lifetime membership and I should really be doing more with it!

From Franki:

Pundit Mom
A blog for moms with a lot of politics included. She also writes a bit about adoption.

Suburban Turmoil
A laugh-out-loud blog by Lindsay Ferrier of the Nashville Scene. Great posts about being a mom. My favorite posts are her posts of photos and captions.

Mentor Texts
I love reading about the classroom things happening on this blog.

NCTE Elementary Blog
NCTE has a new blog and the Elementary Section just started one of its own. There are only a few posts so far but people like Shelley Harwayne and Curt Dudley-Marling are writing for this blog. This one is not funny but it does bring up some great issues regarding education.

Brotherhood 2.0
Okay, so this one is connected to Children's Lit, but the two brothers' video blog is one of my favorites. The topics cover everything and they always make me laugh.

We tag HipWriterMama, Liz in Ink, The Blue Rose Girls, and Jen Robinson.

Literature Circle Update (or...This Must Be Why I Have No Time For My Own Reading)

Back in January, I wrote about my preparations for all of my students to be involved in literature circles. It's interesting how the groups have evolved and the directions they are going now that they have found a rhythm in the balancing act of reading at a pace for the literature circle: making sure you meet your deadlines to be respectful of the other group members AND to be prepared for discussion PLUS to avoid the withering look Ms. Hahn might give you (along with the patient lecture about meeting deadlines, respect for other members of the group and being prepared for discussions).

The group that has been meeting continuously all through fourth and fifth grade is now reading their "hardest" book yet -- The Secret Garden. They've been pleasantly surprised to find that although (or because?) it is their hardest book, we are having our best conversations. We're focusing on language (lots of Yorkshire-isms and old-fashioned words to puzzle out, along with some flowery similes and metaphors...no pun intended) and on how the author uses language to convey a mood.

I wanted to push the group of capable readers who read Mary Pope Osborne's Revolutionary War on Wednesday and The American Revolution: A Nonfiction Companion to Revolutionary War on Wednesday, so I offered The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop. The were wary when they held it for the first time. It was "long." Maybe "too long." So I did something I rarely do: I pretty much outlined the whole story for them as we looked at the cover picture, the blurb on the back, and the map of the castle inside. They thought it sounded like it might be good, and they decided they could probably read 25 pages in the week before we met again. The next day, the most reluctant member, who had never read a book that long and was pretty sure he couldn't, asked to reconvene the group so he could try to convince them to read more -- he had finished 25 pages in one day, he was hooked, and he knew the rule about not reading past the stopping point. If I haven't done anything else of value this year, I have shown that one student what it's like to get sucked into a story so great you don't want to put it down!

Even before we had finished The Travels of Thelonious, I knew what book I wanted that group to move to -- The City of Ember by Jeanne du Prau. I think the comparisons and contrasts of these two books of speculative fiction about a future where humans have almost, but not quite completely destroyed the planet (and who survives and how and why) will be fascinating. I read Thelonious for the first time with the group...great book! Review to follow soon!





The Friday Group has finished all five books in the Akiko Pocket-Size graphic novel series. An unlikely, formerly invisible-by-choice boy has emerged as a leader in the group. He is lobbying strongly for Time Cat as the book they read next. I think it would be a perfect pick for them -- just the right mix of fantasy and history.


The A-Z Detective Camp group continues to slog along at a chapter a week. They want to read something harder next time...maybe Castle in the Attic will work for them, too. Just at a slower pace than the Tuesday Group.








Those are the five groups from my classroom. Then, as if I didn't have enough reading to juggle, I agreed to organize a free author visit for our fourth and fifth graders. Angie Sage will be coming to our school in mid-April, compliments of HarperCollins Publishers and Cover to Cover Children's Books. We didn't have enough time to try to get every 4th and 5th grade student through one (or hopefully more) of Angie Sage's thick-ish fantasy books, so I am doing literature circles with a few fourth graders from each class and another with a few fifth graders from each class. I am listening to Magyk on cassettes in the car. It's a fun story that really moves along with lots of characters, plenty of action, a bunch of unanswered questions, and short chapters that have provocative titles. I often find myself sitting in the school parking lot or my driveway, listening for just a bit more...just until there's a good stopping spot!

Finally, in every other waking moment, I am reading The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson for my adult book club. Bryson writes about growing up in the 1950's with his characteristic dry humor. My growing up started exactly ten years after the 1950's, so this sometimes reads like history for me, but much of it rings quite true. As of today, I am halfway through. Jury's still out on whether I'll be finished by Tuesday.

NOW do you understand why I have that huge pile of professional journals and NYTimes Book Reviews that lie untouched?!? Why I still haven't finished The Higher Power of Lucky, or Clementine, or Hugo Cabret?!? And sadly, not only are there books to read, there are papers to grade. Sigh.

"Schools Are Right to Limit Parents' Say on Book Lists"

Ann Fisher, one of my favorite columnists for the Columbus Dispatch, has a great article about the role parents should play in school book selection. There was a controversy in a local district about parents' rights to sit on the selection committees. This started with parents demanding books (THE LOVELY BONES and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT) be taken off the high school reading list. Ann argues that parents have the right to decide what their own children read, but have no right to decide what other children read. It is a great piece.