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1. Booktalks
If you’re a teacher-librarian, you probably already do booktalks on a regular basis, but they also work well in a classroom setting. Think of a booktalk as a 2-3minute commercial that introduces students to a book. If you teach grade 3 or higher, try modeling a booktalk a few times, and then invite your students to choose a favorite book and do booktalks of their own.
Booktalking is a great technique for introducing your students to the classroom book collection. If you alternate between fiction and nonfiction titles, students will be exposed to a wide range of literature. By including nonfiction titles, you let students know that you value nonfiction and find it interesting to read.
2. Read-alouds
By adding nonfiction picture books to your classroom read-alouds, you provide engaging opportunities to explore content. Choose books with a varying voices so students can explore the many ways to write nonfiction and come to realize that an author's writing style often reflects content. Here are a few recommendations:Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre
Army Ant Parade by April Pulley Sayre
The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman
Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart
Those Rebels, Tom and John by Barbara Kerley
Lightship by Brian Floca
When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan
Redwoods by Jason Chin
Here Is Antarctica by Madeleine Dunphy
An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Aston Hutts
Move! by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page
Neo Leo by Gene Barretta
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill
Frog in a Bog by John Himmelman
Hello, Bumblebee Bat by Darrin Lunde
Mosquito Biteby Alexandra Siy & Dennis Kunkle
3. Use Nonfiction as Mentor Texts
When you teach writing, use high-quality trade titles (such as the ones listed above) as authentic models for structuring text, crafting beginnings and endings, choosing precise words, selecting voice, and more. Some students may understand the power of vibrant verbs, sensory details, similes, metaphors, alliteration, hyperbole, imagery, and other language devices better by interacting with examples in both fiction and nonfiction texts.
4. Pair Fiction and Nonfiction Titles on Related Topics
Reading fiction and nonfiction titles together enriches student experience by allowing them to make real-world connections to the ideas or themes of a fiction work. It also provides students who prefer nonfiction with a concrete way to approach the story. For more information about this teaching strategy and sample book pairings, see this article. 5. Give Students Opportunities to Skim and Scan Nonfiction Texts
When students have free time, encourage them to look through nonfiction titles and complete activities that involve identifying text structures, text features, key ideas, or specific language devices. You can find some sample ideas here and here and here.
*Strategies based, in part, on suggestions in Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer’s Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits by Donalyn Miller with Susan Kelley (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2014).
When we first moved to Portland, OR, we lived in a condo downtown…and my life was downtown-centric. Now, we live in a little house across the river. I love our quiet neighborhood, but it's a bit removed from the action. Several times a week, it seems like I'm commuting somewhere, and my favorite way to do this is by bike.
I hate driving, for one thing. The bus is reliable but takes a while. And I’ve slowly outfitted myself with a variety of bike gear—waterproof this-and-that’s, good gloves and booties, and even most recently, a truly sweet headlamp that is so high tech you just plug the whole thing in to recharge.
And then there’s the commute itself.
Portland has this wonder called the
Springwater Corridor and wow is it great.
It allows me to travel much of my commute on a dedicated bike path.
No cars, just bikes, joggers…and the occasional goose.
You see, the section of the corridor I travel runs alongside the Willamette River, skirting the edge of the
Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.
As I ride, I see kayakers or crew teams in the river, and, on the other side of the trail, Great Blue Herons standing quietly in the marsh. Three times now I have even seen a bald eagle. There are hawks. And in the spring, there are baby geese—Canada Geese that start out as tiny yellow puffballs and quickly grow into gangly awkward goslings.
I commute by bike a lot, and my favorite ride is to and from my critique group meetings. The commute home often proves to be almost as productive as the meeting was.
My critique partners raise good points, ask good questions, leave me wondering how on earth I am going to fix the problems I didn’t even realize were there until I went to group.
But as I start pedaling, once I’m off the busy streets and into the quiet, tree-filled, goose part of my commute, I find that I’ve started to work out those problems, without even realizing it. I’ve had to stop my bike more than once (sometimes more than once in the same ride) to write down what I’ve just figured out while I was pedaling.
I’ve come to look forward to those rides home. And I always pack my notebook and pen in easy reach.
As an author of science activity books for children, I've attended my share of elementary/middle school science fairs. I cannot recall ever being surprised by a project or display that was particularly clever or original. Mostly the exhibits are the predictable volcano models, electric circuits, acid-base changes detected by red cabbage juice. Parent fingerprints are all too often all over the display and when I've asked the student about their work, they show little background or knowledge of the subject. The “fair” aspect of the event is far more important than the science. I’d like to help change that. Since most science fairs take place in March—two months away—NOW is the time to start.
First, there is a coming shift to looking at science as a
process. Juliana Texley, president-elect of the National Science Teachers Association, told me:
“The Next Generation Science Standards emphasize the practices of science. With respect to science fairs, the first six are most crucial:
1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
Tomorrow's science fairs will place less emphasis on winning, more on cooperation and on the pathways that were used to get to the products.”
I like the idea of kids working together. After all, the body of knowledge we call “science” comes more from collaboration than competition. When I researched my biography of
Marie Curie, I was impressed with the eagerness she exhibited when a new journal came in the mail. She couldn't wait to go to her own lab and repeat the experiments of colleagues in other parts of the world. Science is the original wiki—a communal body of work.
Playing with nature, asking testable questions, taking an initially informal, experiential approach to curiosity are the scientific behaviors that elementary students should be doing. The formalization of experiments and the “scientific method” can be learned after there is some experience with just playing around. My approach in my own books has always been to bring science into the world of children; let them learn something new about something familiar before subjecting them to the abstract, rigorous generalizations or laws of science that are the result of cumulative knowledge. One problem in elementary school science is that most teachers do not understand it well themselves. They need to learn to listen to the questions of children so that they become aware of the questions that can be answered by doing something.
The best science activity books for children give a reason or motivation for doing an experiment that goes beyond a “wow!” or a “so what.” So if you’re looking for help, here are two books to get you started: Prize-Winning Science Fair Projects for Curious Kids by Joe Rhatigan and Rain Newcomb. This book is a collection of experiments actually done by kids for science fair project that answer kid-friendly meaningful questions and show dramatic changes in otherwise ordinary items.
My own book: See for Yourself: More Than 100 Experiments for Science Fairs and Projects. Projects are rated according to “challenge level” so there are quickies and then there are more ambitious projects.
Here's a suggestion: since science touches every aspect of our universe, find out what a child is interested in and Google it along with the word “science” and see what you get. Experiment with other word combinations but always attach the word “science.” Bring imagination and curiosity to the inquiry. If a question occurs to you or the child, don't dismiss it; think about it. You just might be led down a path of creative discovery that shows you why scientists love science.
Note: I’m collecting a list of terrific science books to be published here on the I.N.K. blog at the end of January. Please send your suggestions to me along with the link to the Amazon catalog page, a brief description of the book and an image of the cover:
email@vickicobb.com.
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Wow. During the past three weeks or so, I’ve been following an extremely passionate and thoughtful debate on the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Discussion Forum. English teachers and their students are currently discussing Mark Twain’s famous classic, Huckleberry Finn, a book that's included on required reading lists for schools all over tarnation. And it seems that every single teacher has a different way of dealing (or not dealing) with the ever-present “N” word in Huck’s tale.
What do the teachers have to say? You name it:
~So should the book be banned? ~How dare anyone even think the book should be banned!! ~Should the “N”word be repeated aloud in class? ~Let’s put a less offensive word in its place! ~No way….that’s verboten. ~How do I keep from offending my black students? ~We’re a bunch of white men, so maybe we’re unfit to discuss such things. ~Can the word make for a teachable moment?~Maybe there’s another equally good book that could replace Huckleberry Finn and still get Mark Twain’s points across without using politically incorrect language. ~Why would you want to do that? ~Mark Twain just uses the "N" word to satirize the racists' immoral behavior. ~Should we simply have kids read certain “safe” passages and ignore the rest?~Why can’t they take a gander at the whole tamale? ~Can we as adult teachers even use the word “nigger” with each other in this forum? ~Yes, of course! ~NO, most certainly not!
I just looked at Mark Twain’s book as I was typing this blog, and the word is all over the place; on the first page of Chapter XLII alone, it appears 14 times. But what does all this have to do with yours truly?
Right now, a lot. I’m writing a nonfiction picture book about the Civil War for kids ages 10 and up, and to me, many of the most riveting, memorable, candid, and revealing quotes I have ever seen anywhere come from slave narratives compiled verbatim after these people were freed.
If anyone wants to understand what life was really like for black Americans before and during the Civil War, they should see these unfiltered stories as experienced by the genuine human beings themselves. I’ve read slave narratives by the hundreds by now, and for that reason, I’m including a few of the strongest paragraphs in my (not yet finished) manuscript. Or at least, that’s my full intent. This is nonfiction, so the plan is to uncover the truth, not to Bowdlerize history.
The problem is that slave narratives are liberally peppered with the ubiquitous “N” word. It was an integral part of the language back then and appears on almost every page. Of course I’m no Mark Twain—tis to laugh— but I’m already getting the same kind of push-back Huck Finn is getting for including the word (in its proper context). You can find the warnings I’ve gotten in the list above, and I’m getting five more:
1) Your book will be banned if you use that word because you ain’t Mark Twain. 2) Yup, Mark Twain was white like you, but he’s a famous dead guy and can get away with things you can't.3) Have fun trying to get the word nigger past your publisher.4) Be practical. If you include the word you won’t sell a single copy. 5) Look out for the hate mail.
People, get in line. I’ve gotten push-back for writing non-Bowdlerized history plenty of times already, so why stop now? (Even so, I’d like to know what you think…..)
The nonfiction book that changed my life was Daniel Defoe's A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. Okay, okay, I know. It's not really a book of nonfiction. But when I read it at age 12, I wasn't much of a reader and didn't really care about the distinction between fiction and nonfiction. What I knew was that I took a fancy to the notion of a gooey mega-disease killing off thousands of people, read the book and found myself wandering the streets of London with the narrator, tentitively entering shops and bars with him to see if anyone was still alive, and wondering how many dead bodies might be clogging the alleys off of Coleman Street. Defoe and his narrator put me in the middle of a disaster and it changed my life.
How? To start I began reading everything I could about the Black Plague. Not just the 1665 one that Defoe chronicles. All of them and in any and all countries. Right now I'm happily reading Ole J. Benedictow's (what a great name!) THE BLACK DEATH 1346 -- 1353. Now aside from a history paper I did as a freshman in college, I've never written anything about the plague, but I can recommend a wonderful children's book entitled WHEN PLAGUE STRIKES: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin. He looks at how the arrival of these diseases created great fear and prompted nasty and sometimes hostile responses to vicitms.
But Defoe's book also changed the way I approach my own writing. After writing a couple of standard nonfiction books, I decided I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to put young readers into the middle of whatever historical event I was investigating, much as Defoe did. But with a major difference. He was free to invent things; I'm not. Still, I was sure that with enough research and thought I could fashion nonfiction that read like a story (and slip in lots of important details and information and historical analysis along the way).
How have I done? Well, the results vary according to the subject being explored. Some topics are information rich (especially with firsthand accounts); others not so. One I'm particularly fond of is my AN AMERICAN PLAGUE: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Because no one back in 1793 had any real scientiific knowledge of the disease I decided to write the book as a medical mystery (telling readers precisely what doctors knew about the disease in 1793 and holding back our current understanding of yellow fever until the last chapter). I wanted kids to experience this plague just as people back then did and let them come up with their own opinions and ideas along the way.
One example is how to view Benjamin Rush. At the time, he was the most famous and powerful doctor in the United States, but his notion of a cure (massive amounts of bleeding and purging) probably harmed more people then it helped. I let readers see how he came up with his cure, its impact on his patients, how he tried to bully other doctors into using his methods, and how other doctors viewed him -- all without trying to influence readers as to whether Rush was a hero or a monster. It's one of the many instances in this book where I hope readers use critical thinking skills to form an opinion about an individual or situation.
Doing nonfiction books like this isn't easy (and I usually end each day with a headache as a result). Sometimes I grumble that Defoe did this to me; most days I just sigh, thank Defoe, and see this curse as a kind of blessing.
As regular readers of this blog may have noticed, there is a theme for September. We I.N.K. bloggers are recalling important — perhaps life-changing — nonfiction books from our childhood. We are also contributing to a list of noteworthy contemporary nonfiction titles that will be compiled at the end of the month.
Important nonfiction books from my own childhood are notable, mostly, for their absence. An exception is All About Strange Beasts of the Past, by Roy Chapman Andrews.
This was perhaps the single most important volume of my childhood (an endpaper is shown — the cover was loved off). This book was probably responsible for launching my early career as a rock and fossil collector, a preoccupation that lasted into my teens.
Of course, memory — or the failure of it — is part of this story. I recently came across this photo of myself at a tender age “reading” what is clearly a picture book about animals, though I have no recollection of it.
But if, as far as I can recall, I had access to few illustrated stand-alone volumes about the natural world, I did have encyclopedias and field guides. The serial nature of these publications probably made an impression. My parents bought each volume of the
Golden Book Encyclopedia at the grocery store as it was published (weekly, I think), and I eagerly awaited each new book. What I remember most clearly is the cover illustrations, but the interior graphics and information were fascinating as well, and quite sophisticated for the time.
I spent many hours with the
Book of Knowledge, a more formal multi-volume children’s encyclopedia, and remember being particularly taken with the endpapers.
I also owned a collection of Golden Nature Guides (Kelly Milner Halls describes her love affair with the Reptiles and Amphibians volume in her I.N.K. post of September 5th), which allowed me to identify many of the insects, snakes, field mice, and other creatures that I caught and kept in my room.
Today there are dozens of beautifully illustrated and/or photographed single-volume encyclopedias about the animal world. A few of my favorites (some of these books are written for adults, but the illustrations and photos make them accessible to young readers as well):
National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia, Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia of Animals, and
Smithsonian Super Nature Encyclopedia.
My own modest contribution to this genre, the
Animal Book (October 2013) is a little different. At 208 pages, it’s an encyclopedia of sorts, but the entries are more eclectic and reflect my personal interest in the animals I included in the book.
There are still field guides, of course, but also related to those
Golden Nature Guides, at least in spirit, are some excellent contemporary series by single authors, often focusing on some particular aspect of math, science, and the natural world.
David Schwartz has authored several of these series, including
How Much Is a Million and related books intended to illustrate large quantities; the
Look Once, Look Again series, which focuses on various biomes and animal parts; and the
Life Cycles series.
Loreen Leedy’s Mission Addition, Subtraction Action, Fraction Action, and other titles dealing with math and measurement provide playful, non-threatening introductions to basic math concepts.
And April Pulley Sayre’s quirky chant series, including Trout, Trout, Trout — a Fish Chant; Ant, Ant, Ant — an Insect Chant; and Rah, Rah, Radishes — a Vegetable Chant are hilarious, infectious, and full of accurate information about their subjects.
This is by no means a complete list of nonfiction picture book series, but it covers a lot of ground.
As a kid in Friendswood, Texas, I grew up chasing snakes, frogs, toads and lizards – dodging dance class and piano lessons. I was a whirlwind of a little girl, knee deep in activities traditionally earmarked for boys. When I walked into the public library and the library at school, finding books I thought were “for me” was nearly impossible.
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| Copy #2 of my first life-changing book. |
Even so, one book I did find, literally changed my life – A Golden Nature Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians.
We moved to the Houston suburbs just before I started Kindergarten. When I wasn’t at school, I practically lived outside, but so did every poisonous snake in North America. Tying me down was not an option, so knowledge was my only defense.
My parents bought me the little book. They poured through the pages with me, ceremoniously circling the venomous snakes with a red Magic Marker.
“Don’t touch THESE snakes,” they would tell me, making it clear what they were called and what markings identified them.
That book literally changed my life. It gave me knowledge, freedom and even expertise. As the years flew past, the neighbors who once saw me as an odd little fish out of water, turned to me for information.
“Run get Kelly,” they said. “She’ll know what this snake actually is.”
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| Copperhead snake |
If I said it was safe, they let it go. If I said it was a danger, other measures were taken. I begged them to let those venomous snakes go, too, but I didn’t always win their release.
That little book gave me direction, sure, but it also gave me purpose. That little book even made it okay for me to be exactly the kid I was born to be. I was a little weird, especially as a little girl of the early 1960s, but that was okay – thanks to the power in the facts of that book.
There is not a doubt in my mind I became a nonfiction writer because of that book, and the absence of others like it. I write now for the kid I used to be.
Today, there are dozens of exceptional books for young readers on nature and animals – dozens of books I would have loved to check out and own, had they been around when I was a child. But the diversity of author voices is as important now as it ever has been.
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| Weird and proud of it! |
You may not write or read the books I write and read, but the topics you do love will give comfort to young readers – the kids waiting to discover they are not alone in their “weird” and wonderful interests. When they find the right books, they also find the safety of kinship.
If you’re really, really lucky as a writer, parent, librarian or teacher, you’ll feel the kinship, too. When that happens, anything is possible.
A wise man once told me, everything in life is about human connection. The right books reveal the paths to human connection, and those books change lives every day. When an adult shares the right book with the right kid, magic is not only within reach, it is unstoppable.
Welcome back everyone. I hope you’re looking forward to the new school year where the focus is on nonfiction. Here’s where you can learn how it can enhance your life and your students' from the people who eat and breathe it on a daily basis.
How do you learn best? When you know the answer to this question you have the secret to life-long learning and a rich life of discovery and skill acquisition. There is, perhaps no more important knowledge for each individual to acquire. I wrote a postabout my process. Since this blog's theme this month is "Life Changing Nonfiction: Past and Present," I’m going to discuss one very important way of learning, the way I LOVE to learn and that’s by doing. I am the product of a progressive elementary school that emphasized experiential learning. It carried over to my life at home as a parent, as a teacher and as a nonfiction author.
First, the past: When I was a kid, my mother made me stay in bed when I was sick. I didn't mind because I loved to read, but more importantly, I loved to do projects. The book I remember most was called Junior Fun in Bed and it was edited by none other than Virginia Kirkus, who started the "Kirkus Reviews." I remember thinking that the title was odd. Why did they have to put in the word “Junior,” which wasn't all that common back in those days? Why didn't they just call it “Fun in Bed?” Childhood back then was definitely more innocent! You can still find it on Amazon where it now has the subtitle: Making a Holiday of Convalescence that is absent from the original title and the jacket art. But the original description is still there: “….You'll discover that the authors have crammed the pages with pleasant ways of passing the time. There are dozens and dozens of magic stunts, puzzles, riddles, mazes, and indoor games, most of which you've never played before. There are limericks and cartoons and question-and-answer tests. There is a whole section devoted specially to hobbies and to the really useful things you can make indoors when you find time lying heavy on your hands…” This book kept me busy. The best things were the activities where I made something. In the process, I learned how to read to follow directions, an important life skill.
Fast-forward to young adulthood:
As a mother of small children, I retired from teaching, and scrambled to earn money at home writing nonfiction for children. My first books were literally First Books—on Logic, Cells, and Gases. I had also written a book on economics: Making Sense of Money and navigation: Sense of Direction: Up Down and All Around. Now, thankfully, all of them are out of print; I use them as excellent examples of bad traditional writing.
The book that put me on the map was the sixth book I wrote: Science Experiments You Can Eat. It was my first activity book. As a NY State certified high school science teacher, I knew enough settled science to take a very creative approach to research—prowling up and down supermarket aisles and reading labels to invent experiments. I did every experiment in the book, some of them several times to make sure that they gave results and to hone the procedures. The purpose of this book is to teach basic science—chemistry, physics, and biology—through food and food preparation. It was an instant hit with its outside-the-box title and has had proven staying power because it is strong on content and stays true to its purpose. Published originally in 1972, it was revised once and has never been out of print. That's 41 years! In preparing this post, I read some of the recent reviews on Amazon from many people who remember this book as a child and are sharing it with their grandchildren! There were also reviews by teachers who are still using it in class. I'm proud that it is still very relevant and providing as much fun as ever. But it is not a book just to read. It's a book that calls the reader to do.
Hi everybody-
Whilst trying to think up a different way to welcome you back to I.N.K., I thought you might like to hear a secret inside writing tip from a famous editor. She once told me that when writing nonfiction books, you should begin by saying something of specific interest to your readers that cries out for immediate attention. OK……....all of your cars have been stolen.
Noooooo!! That’s not right AT ALL! We actually DO have news you can use this season—a new series of blogs that are of specific interest to you.
Our I.N.K. bloggers couldn’t help but notice that our two most popular topics are lists of cool books, and anything to do with the Common Core State Standards. Alert the media, ladies and gentlemen, because with that in mind, here’s the drill so far:
1) Every month except this one, a single blogger will discuss a specific and (of course) 100% spellbinding new topic that showcases the very best nonfiction books in a particular category. And at the end of each month, a list of these books will be compiled and posted in a permanent Recommended Book List on its own page.
BUT! In hopes of starting September off with a bang, each of our bloggers will write about this season's first recommended-books topic: Life-Changing Nonfiction: Past and Present. This month you’ll discover all kinds of surprising tales about nonfiction books that actually changed our authors’ lives when they were kids. Then each author will spotlight newer books related to the ones they loved before. And beginning on September 30, all of these books will be posted in our Recommended Book List.
2) In October, we've decided to devote each of our posts to the Common Core State Standards. Since we’re all so incredibly different from each other, everyone will present a different take on this subject. Look out for just about anything, from highly specific lesson plans to scholarly contemplations of a particular CCSS standard to discussions addressing educators’ concerns about implementing and testing these nonfiction standards in schools. So please be sure to chime in.
Uh-oh. Now I’ve just about filled my allotted space and I still have to talk about nonfiction I used to read as a kid that changed my life. Right now I can conjure up a whole armload of fiction that I loved back in the day, but nonfiction? I must be reeeeallly ancient because the only nonfiction we ever read in the olden days was a bunch of atrocious book report bios that were dry as dust and full of lies and platitudes about famous people.
Unless you include the World Book Encyclopedia, that is. I cannot tell a lie - I actually used to sit around and memorize it, even as a young kid. And I particularly loved the pictures; a certain complicated painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder come to mind, as do some hideous cars of the future, cutaway views of sailing ships, photos of tropical fish and tarantulas, flags from around the world, and the later transparent plastic overlays that showed what’s inside the human body. When I was in elementary school, I used to press autumn leaves inside the appropriate pages, and that started a trend of mine. Before anyone could use the internet but while I was making my living as an illustrator and then as an author, I used the encyclopedia as my filing cabinet for storing thousands of the very best images and published material I could collect as research for anything—ANYTHING—I might ever want to draw or write about. All that stuff I collected is generally a whole lot more useful than most things I need to wade through online because my collections were so selective to begin with.
Of course I can’t help but put this vast collection to regular use in the nonfiction books I write and illustrate, and the very first one of them is right here: How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark.
I used a zillion sources as research for this book, just like the World Book Encyclopedia did. Besides the words I wrote, the encyclopedia also taught me to make sure every picture I painted was as accurate as humanly possible—the famous faces, the soldiers’ uniforms, the different ways the Indians dressed and the dwellings where they lived, the ever-changing scenery, the explorers' wintertime fort, everyone’s different weapons and boats, and all of the wildlife along the way had to be just right.
OK…..that’s my small contribution to the list. Now I’m done, and we all hereby place our hands upon our hearts, salute the flag, and cordially invite you to stay tuned.
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“The difference between fiction and non-fiction is that fiction has to be believable.”
―
Mark Twain
Barbara Kerley’s Sept 13 blog about strong opening paragraphs,
Balloons, got me thinking about what makes a good closing. Typically writers and teachers reason that the last sentence needs to sum up, tie together, or provide closure to a narrative. But science, history, and other subjects such as human rights [a personal favorite] change, grow, and evolve without an end in sight, or a clear trajectory from the past. So the last paragraph is not necessarily
end of story.
Years ago I wrote and photographed a book about the life and times of an eight-year-old dwarf. Her name is Jaime. This was the second book I authored and illustrated, and the first children’s book about dwarfism. I wanted it to be perfect. After spending months and months with Jaime, her family, and her friends, I had a large body of material to easily pare down to a thirty-two-page picture book. But I didn’t have an ending. Over and over I returned to Jaime’s home in New Jersey, trying to uncover that impeccable final phrase that would tie everything together. No luck.
Why couldn’t I get Jaime to say something like this: “Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.” Well, Virginia Woolf had already ended
To the Lighthouse with that stunner
. But my Jaime was so smart, so wise; she
could have come up with something like that. I kept pushing, taping, waiting for a Virginia Woolf moment.
Finally in exasperation because I was driving him and this wonderful child crazy, my husband said, “She’s eight years old, for goodness sake! [He used stronger language.] She’s not ready for an ending.” Then he closed his eyes and pointed to a group of sentences on the storyboard mess of text and photos strewn across the floor. “There’s your ending.” Lo and behold, the last line was right there patiently waiting for its close up: "I’m like everybody else, just little.”
In my view the reader does need some kind of closure, but it need not be detailed, complete. I like books that allow the reader a little breathing space, space to wonder. My favorites are the ones where I wistfully reread the last lines before closing the cover.
There are gazillions of great endings in literature. One that particularly moves me is from Oliver Sacks’s
Musicophila:“But to those who are lost in dementia, the situation is different. Music is no luxury to them, but a necessity, and can have a power beyond anything else to restore them to themselves, and to others, at least for a while.”
And you? When do you know your book, article or essay is complete? Please share your favorite endings – the ones you have written, and ones you wish you had written?
And Jaime? She’s become a beloved first grade teacher, who continues to think big, and is not nearly ready for her ending.
Reposted from June 2013
School’s out for summer! Many summer reading lists combine nonfiction and fiction reading recommendations. It was exciting to see Steve Sheinkin’s
Bomb: The Race to Build, another INK contributor, on the list from my son’s English teacher.
Since summer’s here and it’s time to play, I thought that it would be fun to add other senses to the mix and a little play. A few years ago I taught a class at the Games for Education Conference at the Chicago Toy and Game fair. The class was titled Play and Creativity in the Classroom.
Here’s what I wrote about the class on the INK blog titled
Play in Classroom with several nonfiction book recommendations. Why not add a little kinetic learning to the summer reading schedule?
A teacher friend is taking her children on an extended vacation to New England this summer. They are reading fiction and nonfiction books in preparation. When she mentioned that they were creating KWL charts to go along with the reading, I was curious. Many teachers reading this will know about KWL charts, but my friend explained, “It is a 3 column chart- list what they KNOW, list what the WANT to know, and then after reading list what they LEARNED. It is a great way to assess prior misconceptions as well as knowledge, see if they learned anything from their reading, and can be a basis for further research for unanswered questions.” Here’s a link that explains how to make
KWLcharts.
Kind of wish I had made a KWL chart before our recent London and Paris trip. After we were back home, while recuperating from jetlag, I tried to remember what my preconceived impressions of Paris were. For example, my mind had a different vision of what Notre Dame was like. Being there right in front of Notre Dame was rather surreal.
Everywhere we went on our vacation, I would point out what we were seeing to my children. I think they became a little tired of me by the end of our trip. Last Christmas, I bought the family a puzzle of the London Underground and a puzzle of a map of Paris. I do this because of my childhood. Growing up, we would go almost every other summer to Germany for a month to visit Oma. Most of what I remember was my little brother and I creating a dividing line in the back seat of my uncle’s Mercedes and constantly tapping my mom on the arm while she spoke in German to all my relatives. We went to some cool places, but I have no idea where I was, why the place was significant, or how it related to European history.
Here’s a few nonfiction and fiction reading ideas for the summer with some added senses, kinetic learning, and play.Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steven Sheinkin
The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
Modern Marvels - The Manhattan Project (History Channel)
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
King of the Mound - My Summer with Satchel Paige by Wes Tooke
Watch a baseball game or go to a game.
Major League Baseball Scrabble
Eat a hot dog, peanuts and Cracker Jacks
Football Hero: A Football Genius Novel by Tim Green
Sports Illustrated Kids 1st and 10: Top 10 Lists of Everything in Football by Sports Illustrated For Kids Jukem Football Card Game by Jukem
Play football in the backyard
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier or
Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes
The American Revolution for Kids: A History with 21 Activities (For Kids series) by Janis Herbert
City Doodles: Boston by Chris Sabatino
Educational Trivia Card Game - Professor Noggin's American Revolution by Professor Noggin
Chicago History for Kids: Triumphs and Tragedies of the Windy City Includes 21 Activities (For Kids series) by Owen Hurd
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
City Doodles: Chicago by Anna M. Lewis
Chicago-Opoly by Late for the Sky
Build a Skyscaper model
Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide by George Beahm
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson
Eat Harry Potter Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans by Jelly Belly
(This list could be endless.)
Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder by Tanya Lee Stone (author), Boris Kulikov (Illustrator)
The Calder Game by Blue Balliett(Author) , Brett Helquist (Illustrator)
Make a Mobile
Go to an art museum
For Younger Readers:
The First Teddy Bear by Helen Kay (Author) , Susan Detwiler (Illustrator)
Made in the USA - Teddy Bears by Tanya Lee Stone
The Teddy Bears' Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy (Author) , Michael Hague (illustrator)
Baby Bear Counters by Learning Resources
Gather all your teddy bears and have a tea party
Play the song Teddy Bear’s Picnic
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein
New York City by David F. Marx
New York for Kids: 25 Big Apple Sites to Color (Dover Coloring Books) by Patricia J. Wynne
50-Piece Double 2-Sided Jigsaw Puzzle - New York City by Pigment and Hue
This list is just a jumping off point to get everyone thinking about all the possibilities. I had to stop somewhere or I’d be still writing this blog post. Please add your recommendations to the comments and I’ll add it to the list. On my website, I will add a hand-out form when I’m done compiling.
Here’s to a happy summer with lots of reading and playing.
Having just completed a stint as a judge for the PEN Center’s 2013 Children’s Literature award, I thought I’d reprise my blog on the history of PEN, from October 2012. The judging was great fun. One thing though: I was dismayed by the small number of nonfiction books we received. I urge nonfiction authors west of the Mississipi to ask your publishers to submit your books for consideration. Information is here.
Did you know that PEN – that venerable group that fights for freedom of expression worldwide – is an acronym for Poets, Essayists, and Novelists? I didn’t, until I attended the PEN Center USA Literary Awards Dinner last night in Beverly Hills (swanky hotel, delicious dinner.)
Way back in 1921, the founders of the world’s oldest international literary society acknowledged us nonfiction writers. Today PEN also includes historians, screenwriters, playwrights, graphic writers, journalists, editors, and translators. But somehow PENHSPGJET doesn’t trip lightly off the tongue, so PEN it remains.
Founded in London, PEN’s first president was John Galsworthy, followed by H.G. Wells and J.B. Priestley. In the wake of World War I, its first members hoped that “if the writers of the world could learn to stretch out their hands to each other, the nations of the world could learn in time to do the same.” If only……
PEN American Center was born a year later in 1922 in New York, and PEN Center USA (for writers west of the Mississippi) set up shop in Los Angeles in 1943. Today PEN is active in more than 100 countries.
Though PEN began as a dinner club for literati, it became overtly political in the 1930s, and for decades has lobbied for release of writers imprisoned for speaking their minds. Lives have been saved and prisoners released thanks to PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee.
An empty chair has been a PEN symbol for oppressed writer for decades now, and in 2011, to mark the 90th anniversary of PEN, Witness, a sculpture by Anthony Gormley, was installed at the British Library plaza in London. Its simple lines speak volumes.
In addition to its human rights mission, PEN gives out literary awards every year and that’s what took me to Beverly Hills. I was a finalist for the PEN Literary Award for Children’s Literature (for my novel, All the World’s A Stage: A Novel in Five Acts,) and sat with the winner, Matthew Kirby (for Icefall.) [Correction: Allen Say’s Drawing from Memory, was one of three finalists.]
Children’s books are sometimes removed from shelves in U.S. schools and libraries, or not purchased at all. Self-censorship – by writers and publishers – of controversial issues has been discussed here and elsewhere. But we haven’t been thrown into prison, tortured, or killed. (I see on the PEN website that just last week, down the road in Tijuana, another journalist was murdered.)
PEN recognizes our work. I’d like to encourage my literary community to join PEN in their worthy work.
Last summer, part of my job was helping some 4th and 5th graders hone their skills at writing persuasive essays. This essay form is often seen on standardized tests and is the style kids tend to hate the most. The format must be strictly followed and the rules can be intimidating. There must be five full paragraphs: Introduction, Reason 1, Reason 2, Reason 3, and Conclusion. Yes, each essay must state three reasons and you have to write a full paragraph elaborating on each reason.
Boy, kids really hate this. Can’t you hear the whining now about how they can only think of two reasons? Even though the essays are usually about “kid friendly” topics, they’re not the kind of subjects kinds enjoy pondering, especially when faced with the pressure of writing five paragraphs in 30 or 40 minutes. Honestly their feelings about whether there should be vending machines in school or all students should wear uniforms is usually rather limited and their fear about if they will have enough to write seemingly never ending.
So instead of rote practicing, I used non fiction books to get them thinking. After we talked about the life experiences of a certain bird in New York City, my students had a much better understanding of perspective and point of view. And once we put those things together, their essays really started to flow.
I chose I.N.K. books about a bird named Pale Male, a hawk who chose to build a nest on a swank 5th Avenue Apartment building near Central Park in NYC. This was fascinating to city bird watchers because Hawks were rare in the area but it became a full blown news story when the ritzy apartment building removed the hawk’s nest because of the resulting mess in front of the building and the constant peeking eyes of the bird watchers with large telescopes in Central Park.
There are at least three good non fiction children’s books that I know of about Pale Male. The story and illustrations are a great way to introduce the concept of perspective. The hawks fly high above Central Park and the buildings, giving them a perspective to search for their prey, see the natural beauty of the city, and keep away from the crowds. In the trees or lower on the ground, they can be vulnerable to large groups of crows or people touching their nests. These books also open up a conversation about perspective’s cousin, point of view: what did the hawks want and need, how did the bird watchers want to help them, and how was this the same or different from how the people living in the apartment building thought about birds nesting there?
I ‘ve also found it effective to read two of these books and compare and contrast. What points of the story did each writer focus on? What were some details that were included by one writer but left out by the other? Are there any facts that were absolutely necessary in order to tell the story?
These discussions translated easily and naturally to the persuasive essay form. The kids began to understand that students will often see an issue differently than a teacher or parent or the Principal based on their point of view. They could expand their reasoning when seen from another point of view and based on whom they were trying to convince. Is the letter to a friend or relative? Lets talk about how you could have fun and do things together. If the letter is to the Principal, you can focus on reasons such as safety, health, learning, and community.
From my perspective, using non fiction is tremendously effective in helping kids expand their own way of seeing things and how others see things. This enables them to feel much more confident about their reasoning and, ultimately, helps them express that more naturally in their writing.
Well, maybe not 1,000, but even as a writer I can’t deny the power of a photograph. One click of a shutter release and BAM, we see a story. Photos capture drama (below, survivors from the 1915 sinking of the
Lusitania). They convey emotion. Sometimes they offer clarity. At other times they fill us with questions. And that’s where the words come in (thank goodness, say the writers).
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| Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ggbain-19173 |
I owe at least two of my books to photos. I became so captivated by the Earnest Withers “I AM A MAN” image from Memphis 1968 that I wrote a whole book about it, Marching to the Mountaintop. Ditto for the “Blood Brothers” image of John Lewis and Jim Zwerg, following their beating as Freedom Riders on May 20, 1961. (See page 42 of this title.)
I’m not sure which I love more, writing or photo research. Both are passions for me, so I am lucky to work in a genre that seamlessly weaves the two media into a powerful forum for conveying the stories of history. If you read these words on their magical 12-12-12 posting date, you can imagine me engaged in photo research. I’ll be in Washington, D.C., that day, wrapping up three days of research for my latest project which, come to think of it, started with an image, too. (Or at least it started during an earlier round of photo research when my efforts to track down the background of one picture led to the discovery of a whole new story from the past.)
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| Photo courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-01901 |
So what is photo research like? Truthfully it’s about as glamorous as a day of writing, which is to say not very. By the end of the day my back aches for bending over images. My mind is so warped by time traveling through thousands of windows into the past that it is jarring to step out into real time. My sleep is animated by disjointed pictures as my mind races to process all the scenes it has observed.
But photo research is also as rewarding as writing. That moment when you revise to the perfect conclusion is matched by the discovery of a gotta-have-it photograph. I suspect there is some chemical parallel between gambling and photo research, because that rush of excitement from finding one great picture becomes the fuel for the next few hours of fruitless searching.
Sometimes I do photo research using on-line databases. Sometimes I’m on site, glove-adorned, paging through carefully catalogued original prints. And sometimes I’m cut loose in an archive of dog-eared, we-should-organize-these-some-day gems. I become a treasure hunter, gently sifting through the sheets of chemical-infused paper to find just the right shades of sepia and cream. Here a dramatic smile. There a scene filled with action. Now a glimpse of a forgotten figure. Then a fresh look at a favorite icon. Sorting the wheat from the chaff, the powerful from the mundane.
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| Courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-03177 |
One of my favorite places to conduct photo research is the
Library of Congress, and I will be there at least twice during my current research trip. Those on-site trips offer access to materials that are otherwise inaccessible, but these days it’s getting easier and easier to find treasures using the online databases of the Library’s Prints and Photographs Collection. I’m a big booster of this site, especially when I do school visits. Anyone who hasn’t used it should kill an hour or two playing around with the search engines. More and more material is now accessible off-site, and any images that can be downloaded from a remote location can be used with a clear conscience as material in the public domain. These are our tax dollars at work, people. It’s wonderful! Enjoy!
Why have so many people stopped using "me" after prepositions? Instead they say, "This is just right for you and I," or "Ted went to the game with Tony and I." Friends do it, family members do it, TV news anchors do it, I've even heard an NPR reporter do it. OK, she was reporting from a battleground, so I'll cut her a break for stress, but still...
What's wrong with "me?" Could it be that some "I" misusers think "me" sounds babyish? "Me want cookies now!" Or maybe "I" seems more educated, more elegant, more formal than "me." "Me" certainly feels more sensual in the mouth. You have to press your lips together to produce the "m" sound, the vibration that begins a moan or a moo. "I" is unsullied by such an earthy consonant.
I bet the "I" crowd never had to memorize the 48 prepositions in alphabetical order and be ready for a pop quiz on them every single week, as I was required to do in 8th grade English. If they had, they'd think twice before using a subjective pronoun after a preposition.
But I'm guessing the main reason so many people say "for you and I" instead of "for you and me" is because the usage has become so common. You hear it all the time. My theory--which is probably not original although I can't recall reading about it before--is that Jim Morrison and The Doors share the blame for this. In 1968, they released a single called "Touch Me" that reached #3 on Billboard Hot 100 and has been playing on oldies stations every since. You must have heard it. Here's the refrain:
I'm gonna love you
Till the heavens stop the rain
I'm gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky for you and I.
The rhythm slows for the first three lines, which are sung gently, sweetly. Then the tempo starts to pick up and at the crescendo Morrison punches out "FOR YOU AND I!" Yeah, yeah, I know Morrison did it for the rhyme and that there are no grammar rules in rock and roll. And I think it's a great song. I'm just fascinated by the power of music, and by the idea that maybe the emphatic "FOR YOU AND I," heard over and over again on oldies stations, became so embedded in our brains that the usage spread like a virus. Personally, I hope we find a cure for this virus. I think the cure might have to do with memorizing prepositions and diagramming sentences.
What does this have to do with nonfiction for kids? For one thing, it reminds me of something Jim Murphy discussed in one of his INK posts. Faulty "facts"--like faulty grammar--can take hold through sheer repetition.
As for the poor old pronoun "me," I can't feel too sorry for it, since it appears to have usurped "I" as a subject. Me and my kids can tell you all about it.
Last July 8, a Cairn terrier came into our lives. We had been without a dog since
Tinka, our beloved Golden Retriever, died in 2004. While in Pennsylvania for a party, we heard about a dog who needed a home, and even though we debated for seven years whether or not we could have a dog in the city (we lived in Bucks County, PA, during the Tinka years), we have not looked back. Ketzie is, as I tell her often, a value-adder in our lives.
There is only one time when I feel at all doubtful about Ketzie. And that's the last walk of the night. Not because I'm too tired, but because the last walk of the night has become THE RATTING WALK.
Before you get too grossed out (or maybe too excited), see below for one of the cuter aspects of the dog being a ratter. Here she is hiding under our bed. "Hiding." Why is she hiding? She has a new toy bone, and she doesn't want us to get it. OR rather, she'd like for us to try to get it, but she wants to put up a fight. She knows it is safe under there.
(Why are there books there? Our bed is a little bit broken. Until we can get our friend
Keith to make us a new one, we have to prop it up with something. We have more books than we have space for, so.....)
Where we lived in Pennsylvania, there were mice and moles and skunks and deer. Where we live now, there are rats. Mostly they are hidden. But once in a while, at night, one will scamper across the street or sidewalk in front of us. While my instinct is to jump back, Ketzie's instinct is to become very alert. She assumes a posture we don't see any other time: alert in every cell of her body. It's as if her ratting genes coming to ATTENTION. Cairns were bred to get rats out of cairns (or maybe, truly, out of homes made of stones). And at night, just outside our lovely apartment building, Ketzie is ready to be OF SERVICE.
I don't think we're going to train her to be on
the rat-hunting squad. Yes. There is a rat-hunting squad in NYC and that link is to an article and a video about it. Please watch the video. It's only a minute and a half, and so worth it. I'll wait until you come back.
Right? Ketzie really should be on that squad. But considering every night we're (husband and I) terrified she will catch a rat, I don't think it is in her future.
When we have to force her to come back inside--Cairns are stubborn!-- I feel like we're thwarting her most basic nature. Which makes me sad.
Tinka, our Golden, did not understand fetching in our Buckingham back yard. But the first time we threw a stick into the ocean, in Nova Scotia, she swam in, retrieved it, and laid it at our feet. Another clear sign of genes being able to express themselves.
As parents and teachers and writers it is our job to help kids find their true selves. To help them express who they are,
who they were meant to be. People who live their lives letting their innermost selves guide what they do are the ones we admire the most. Often those people have to fight inner and outer battles to do so.
Paul Erdős was one of those people. He was so lucky that his mother (and later his father) nurtured his love of math, and understood his true nature. Mama let Paul be home-schooled until he was ready for school. She challenged him with math from the time he showed the great interest and ability (when he was four). Later on, the love and support he got from his parents, and the great foundation he had in math, allowed him to go out into the world--on his own terms.
(Shameless and excited plug: THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH is coming out next Tuesday. Check out my
website for news, etc.)
Even if we are not math prodigies or ratters or retrievers, we each have inborn strengths and talents that should be nurtured. We each have problems to overcome; everyone has to learn strategies for how to fit into the world. Some, like Paul Erdős, have more of a challenge than others. But with adults in their lives who understand their needs, they have a greater chance at success and a happy life.
As parents, teachers, and dog-owners, we do the best we can. Even though I don't let Ketzie go after rats, I do buy her a new toy every time she destroys her current favorite. I think--I hope--that along with about an hour and half's worth of walks every day, good food, and lots of attention, that's enough. She seems pretty happy, and at home.
Reprinted from October
With Halloween just around the corner, I’m going to offer a solution to something some teachers find scary: incorporating nonfiction into their teaching. With the adoption of the Common Core http://www.corestandards.org/ in 46 states, there is a strong movement to use more nonfiction in the classroom. But how, exactly, should teachers do this?
The most common way that I’ve seen nonfiction used in classrooms is as a resource for students to find information to include in subject-area reports. There is nothing wrong with this, but many books written by Interesting Nonfiction for Kids (I.N.K.) authors and others are far more than a list of facts on a subject and can be used to do so much more. Our books are designed to inspire, engage, enlighten, challenge, and deepen understanding. We wrote them to open kids’ eyes to the world around them and to encourage kids’ to ask questions about their world. So really, what we are trying to do with our books is very much aligned with what great teachers are already trying to do with their classrooms.
The best news of all is that many authors have thought deeply about how their books could be used in the classroom and have created teachers’ guides that offer discussion questions, writing prompts, hands-on activities, individual and group projects, theater scripts and more. But there is no organized way, as far as I can see, to get these powerful resources to teachers.
So here is a start: What follows is a list of free teachers’ guides available for some of the best children’s nonfiction books out there. PLEASE share this list with a teacher you know, forward it, repost it, tweet it, share it on Facebook, etc. And please let me know about great teachers’ guides for nonfiction that you wrote or know about. If I get a lot of additions, I’d be happy to post another, larger, even more inclusive list.
Happy teaching and Happy Halloween!
Elizabeth Rusch
The books and teachers’ guides are organized by subject area and then by grade level (preK-12) within subject area. So a subject-area teacher can find his or her section and a grade-level teacher can look for the grade-appropriate books in each subject area. Some books cross subject areas and so are listed under more than one category.
SOCIAL STUDIES/HISTORY
On This Spot: An Expedition Back Through Time
By Susan E. Goodman
Subject areas: Life sciences, animals, adaptation, prehistoric times and creatures, ecosystems, Earth science, natural history, U.S. history, geography
Grade levels: K and up
Guide includes: Cross-curricular activities in art, language arts, math, science and especially history (historical changes and adaptations); and, personal, historical, social and societal timelines.
One World, One Day
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: global awareness, other cultures
Grade levels: K - 4
Guide includes: diary of a school day; hopscotch around the world with bar graph follow-up
A Little Peace
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: global awareness, other cultures, peace
Grade levels: K - 4
Guide includes: school-related peace projects (peace posters; Welcome-To-School packet)
You and Me Together: Moms, Dads, and Kids Around the World
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: global awareness, other cultures, families
Grade levels: K - 4
Guide includes: creating a Thank You card for a parent; interviewing a parent
A Cool Drink of Water
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: global awareness, other cultures, water resources
Grade levels: K - 4
Guide includes: making a water diary; gallons/minute water use exercise
Sandy's Circus: A Story about Alexander Calder
By Tanya Lee Stone
Subject Area(s): American Art, Art History, Contemporary Art, Biography
Grade Levels: K-5
Guide Includes: Synopsis, About the Author and Illustrator, Author Interview, Pre-Reading and Discussion Question, Cross-Curriculum project suggestions
Additional Resources:
Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote
By Tanya Lee Stone
Subject Area(s): American History, Women's History, Suffrage, Biography
Grade Levels: K-8 (upper level usage because of curriculum connections to American history)
What the Guide Includes: Synopsis, Author Interview, Pre-Reading and Discussion Questions, Cross-curriculum project suggestions
The Truth About Poop
By Susan E. Goodman
Subject areas: Health, human development, the human body, digestion, science, animals, world history, regions/cultures
Grade levels: 1 and up
Guide includes: Cross-curricular activities in language arts (vocabulary, grammar, research skills), math and science
Saving the Whooping Crane
By Susan E. Goodman
Subject areas: Language arts, life sciences, endangered species, birds, national history
Grade levels: 1-4
Guide includes: Cross-curricular activities in history, endangered species, the scientific process, and geography by providing links to detailed lesson plans by National Geographic, and superb downloadable booklets, slideshows, audio and video clips, handouts, activities and teachers’ tips by Journey North.
Those Rebels, John and Tom
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: biography, history, American Independence, American Revolution, Continental Congress, Presidents, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, slavery
Grade levels: Grades 2 and up
Guide includes: Venn diagram exercise to compare/contrast; links to historic homes of Adams and Jefferson
The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: biography, history, women's studies, American literature, Mark Twain
Grade levels: Grades 2 and up
Guide includes: tip sheet, "Writing an Extraordinary Biography"; audio clip of author discussing and reading from the book; extension activity (designing a place to create)
The Right Dog for the Job: Irah’s Path from Service Dog to Guide Dog
By Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Subject area: Social Studies
Grade levels: Grade 2-8
Guide includes: Activities for young children
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: biography, history, science, history of science, paleontology, art, dinosaurs
Grade levels: Grades 2 and up
Guide includes: make-a-dinsosaur puzzle; creating dinosaurs out of tin foil; hosting a dinosaur feast; writing a letter in defense of paleontology
What To Do About Alice?
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: biography, history, women's studies, Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt
Grade levels: Grades 2 and up
Guide includes: language exploration of metaphor; link to learn more about being a kid in the White House
For the Love of Music: The remarkable story of Maria Anna Mozart
By Elizabeth Rusch
Subject area(s): History, music, biography, women’s studies, language arts
Grade levels: Grades 2 and up
Guide includes: Creative art projects, hands-on musical games, and engaging history lessons for elementary and middle school students. The guide features lessons on mapping the Mozart's musical tour of Europe, writing timelines of Maria Anna Mozart's life as if she had been alive today, linking primary source letters written by the Mozart family and friends to scenes in For the Love of Music, and more.
Walt Whitman: Words for America
By Barbara Kerley
Subject areas: biography, history, poetry, poets, American Civil War, Walt Whitman
Grade levels: Grades 3 and up
Guide includes: creating poetic language; making small notebooks and then observing/taking notes
Saving Audie: A Pit Bull Puppy Gets a Second Chance
By Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Subject area: Social Studies
Grade levels: Grade 3-8
Guide includes: Comprehensive 4th grade lesson plans with questions and space to write
Jeannette Rankin: Political Pioneer
By Gretchen Woelfle
Subject area(s): American History, Geography, Contemporary Politics, Literary and Dramatic Activities
Grade levels: Grades 4 and up
Guide includes: Research on women and other political figures in 20th century politics, Vietnam War; map Rankin’s movements; research gender politics in current local, state, and national office; poll class members on gender politics; creative writing, creative dramatics, research on 1960s protest songs; stage a women’s suffrage tea party or ‘60s anti-war rally.
Write on, Mercy! The Secret Life of Mercy Otis Warren
By Gretchen Woelfle
Subject areas: Social Studies, American history, women’s history
Grade levels: 4-8
Guide includes: Social Studies: research and discussion of men and women of the Revolution, women in politics today, political cartoons; Language arts: creative writing and dramatics, parts of a book; Visual arts and crafts: symbols in portraits, painting a portrait, making and using quill pen and ink
Generation Fix: Young Ideas for a Better World
By Elizabeth Rusch
Grade levels: Grades 4-12
Subject areas: Social studies, community service, language arts
Guide Includes: Chapter-by-chapter discussion questions
Guide includes: Tips and questions to kick off a classroomwide, clubwide, or schoolwide commitment to community service
See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House
By Susan E. Goodman
Subject areas: Language arts, social studies, U.S. history, civics, government
Grade levels: 4-12
Teachers’ guide:http://www.susangoodmanbooks.com/?page_id=2456
Guide includes: Cross-curricular activities in history, government, civic involvement, and language arts (key ideas and details, integration of knowledge and ideas, research skills, option/analytic texts, informative/explanatory texts, etc.)
Marching to the Mountaintop—How Poverty, Labor Fights, and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final Hours
By Ann Bausum
Subject area(s): U.S. history, civil rights, labor rights, poverty
Grade levels: Grades 5-12
Includes: Discussion questions and downloadable study guide to come by 2013.
Unraveling Freedom—The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I
By Ann Bausum
Subject area(s): U.S. history, World War I, wartime homefront, civil liberties, free speech
Grade levels: Grades 5-12
Includes: Discussion topics and questions about echoes of history, presidential secrecy, and restrictions of civil liberties during war time.
Denied, Detained, Deported—Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration
By Ann Bausum
Subject area(s): U.S. history, immigration policy, World War I, Red Scare, World War II, Japanese American internment, holocaust survivors, Mexican-American border relations
Grade levels: Grades 5-12
Includes: Discussion topics on themes explored in the book, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, deportations during the Red Scare, exclusion of Jewish refugees pre-World War II, detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the exploitation of Mexican and Mexican-American laborers.
Muckrakers—How Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, and Lincoln Steffens Helped Expose Scandal, Inspire Reform, and Invent Investigative Journalism
By Ann Bausum
Subject area(s): U.S. history, journalism, progressive era, muckraking, investigative reporting
Grade levels: Grades 5-12
Includes: Step-by-step online tutorial on how to conduct online photo research using the Prints and Photographs Reading Room at the Library of Congress.
Includes: Further suggestions on how to conduct research at and download images from the Library of Congress.
Freedom Riders—John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement
By Ann Bausum
Subject area(s): U.S. history, civil rights, the Freedom Rides
Grade levels: Grades 5-12
Includes: Activities and discussion topics related to race and racism, following one’s convictions even in the face of death, the power of song, and commitments to causes.
With Courage and Cloth—Winning the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Vote
By Ann Bausum
Subject area(s): U.S. history, women’s rights, voting rights, World War I, civil liberties
Grade levels: Grades 5-12
What you’ll find: Background information about the research and writing of the book.
Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs—A Photobiography of Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews
By Ann Bausum
Subject area(s): U.S. history, exploration, paleontology
Grade levels: Grades 5-12
What you’ll find: Background information about the research and writing of the book.
Our Country’s Presidents
July is the month we iNK-ers repost a favorite from the past year. This post (from last January) has me thinking about two of my favorite things: books and chai. Enjoy!
I’ve never been one of those writers who tuck their laptop into their bag and then head off to a coffee shop to work every day. I’m too attached to my ergonomically angled keyboard and the utter quiet of my office.
But every once in a while, a very rare once in a while, I need a change of scenery to get me into the right frame of mind. I need a place that is not my office, and I need to pick up a pen.
When I’m stuck and I need to be playful—when the tone of what I’m writing needs an element of play—sometimes it works best to leave ergonomics and quiet behind.
I have a couple places near me that I like to work, and this one is the most playful of all: a teahouse inside a little red caboose.
Technically, the entire teahouse is not in the caboose. There’s a whole addition built out from the back side, with lots of tables and chairs, a lovely outdoor courtyard, and about 50 kinds of tea. But to enter the teahouse, you board the little red caboose. Just the idea of it makes me happy. They also make an excellent masala chai with just the right amount of spice and the right amount of sweet.
I went to the caboose last week, when I was working on a new idea for the early concept books I do with National Geographic. The books introduce simple ideas supported by fabulous photographs (not mine, of course—the fabulous photographs that have made National Geographic famous.) I’ve written about a variety of topics: water, families, peace, a day in the life of school kids, and a new title out this spring encouraging kids to get out and explore.
My goal with these titles is to have a clearly defined concept expressed succinctly in an accessible tone. To express a big idea in a kid-friendly way, with language that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
In other words, to be playful.
That kind of writing is best not done at a quiet computer. That’s when it’s a good idea to head to a caboose.
I know that summer vacation seems like the worst time to think about school visits, but maybe it's the best. After a bit of rest from early mornings, long days and cafeteria duty, summer gives time to reflect upon the fun parts of teaching and the best ways to use authors in the classroom. That's why on I.N.K. "reprint" month, I'm featuring my post on an inspirational school visit.
Before I do, let me take a moment to welcome my newest book into the world. It will be published tomorrow, on July 9th. How Do You Burp in Space? is a travel guide telling space tourists what to pack and expect on this not-so-distant future vacation. Don't you wish you could go up there this year? I'd do it in a heartbeat.
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I had another I.N.K. post just about finished when Kelly Milner Halls' plea for school librarians and a package pushed me in another direction.The mailer came from Carol Sweny, the Henniker Community School librarian, in Henniker, NH, where I had recently talked to kids, K-8. The disc of photos recording my two days there included all the ingredients of a great school visit and reminded me how often a school librarian is at its core.In the school visit's section of my web site, I have a version of what most authors say on theirs: I find that when kids are prepared for a school visit, they get more out of it. So I ask that students have access to some of my books beforehand, and read (or are read) at least one of them. I also have downloadable pictures of me and book covers to make a poster for your hallway. These efforts alone will invoke kids’ interest and enthusiasm, making the visit more memorable for them. |
| Remember you can click on all these pictures to make them larger. |
This statement isn't an ego thing or a plea to buy more of my books beforehand. When kids know I'm coming, when they have read or heard some of my books, they are psyched to see me. They have had time to think and wonder about things, they listen more attentively, they ask more questions. They get more out of the experience. It's not that I can't grab an uniformed class or auditorium's attention; I can. But time after time, I notice that prepared kids have a better experience. Like Kelly, I know that classroom teachers and principals are overloaded. Some may not even know an author is coming in time to prepare. Besides they are trying to get through their curriculum and whatever enrichments they have planned, let alone teaching to whatever state test is coming up next. PTO parents work hard to raise money for author visits, but their role doesn't usually extend to the classroom or library. The school librarian is the perfect person to rally the troops: to prepare the kids in library class, to suggest and facilitate related classroom exercises, to organize book order forms, to generate excitement.The Henniker has one author come each year, and Carol Sweny makes the most of it. I'm not suggesting that every school or school librarian wants or needs to put in the time and effort she did. Perhaps showing how she rallied her school, however, will remind people how important it is to have school librarians and how much their efforts, with school visits and everything else, help kids learn and grow. |
| Here is part of the flyer Carol made to pass around to the teachers. |
As you saw, grades K through 4 saw a presentation based on my book On This Spot, which takes New York City back in time to when it was home to forests, glaciers, dinosaurs, towering mountains, even a tropical sea. This presentation included, among other things, kids taking many different objects and sorting themselves into a timeline.
Carol asked the teachers to have their classes use timelines to supplement normal learning. They did so in different and wonderful ways. The school's corridors were festooned with examples of this interesting way to think about time and history. |
| The kindergarteners made timelines of their days. | | | |
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| First graders created a timeline that would record a whole year of learning month by month. |
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| The 2nd graders made illustrated lifelines. |
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| Third graders did their lifelines too. |
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| Here's a new way for a 4th grade class to think about the making of the Statue of Library. | |
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| The 5th grade concentrated on learning new computer skills while doing their personal timelines. |
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| The 6th grades' timeline of our presidents was perfectly timed since my visit occurred shortly after the election in November. |
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| The 7th graders learned research and computer skills creating a timeline of Henniker's history that took up an entire hallway. |
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| The 8th grade's timeline cascading down the stairway brought their study of the Harlem Renaissance to life. |
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As Kelly so wisely said, school librarians (any librarians) are teachers. They build relationships, spark imagination. We should fight for them.
I would fight for Carol Sweny. Besides a great school visit, she gave me a moment of feeling like a rock star. Check out what greeted me when I pulled into the school parking lot.
In case you missed it, I'm rerunning this offering from last October as my "Best of" summer post. When it originally ran, I was excited to hear from a number of people with their own examples of landmarks named after women. To see those, click here. Feel free to add your own in the comments section. And have a great summer!
In downtown Rochester, New York, a triple steel arch bridge carries Interstate 490 over the Genesee River. Originally called the Troup-Howell Bridge, this structure was renamed the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge in 2007, after two historic heavyweights with ties to the city. Locals affectionately call it the “Freddie-Sue Bridge,” as I learned on a visit there last week. It’s just one of several local monuments to Ms. Anthony. (There’s also a local Roller Derby skater with the truly inspired Derby name Susan B. Agony, but that’s a topic for another post.)
As someone who grew up in a world where almost all schools, bridges, and other public memorials were named after men, I rejoiced at the very visible presence of Ms. Anthony in her adopted hometown. Nothing pleases me more than to see women’s names carved in stone or displayed on highway signs. When I wrote Bull’s-Eye, my biography of Annie Oakley, I shared in the pride that members of the Annie Oakley Foundation felt when they successfully lobbied the Ohio legislature to rename a portion of US127 the Annie Oakley Memorial Pike. When I was working on Bylines, my biography of Nellie Bly, I even was thrilled upon driving past the dilapidated Nellie Bly Amusement Park in Brooklyn, New York. Alas, this tribute to Nellie’s round the world voyage was renamed the Adventurers Family Entertainment Center when it was refurbished in 2007.
It’s important for women to stamp their names on things, at least as important as it is for men. It helps us remind people of our achievements and our presence in the world. I know I’m not the only one who thinks so. A few years ago, I attended a weekend celebration of women who graduated from Princeton, and President Shirley Tilghman told the story behind the naming of the university’s newest residential college. The college, home to some 500 undergraduates, was built with donations from 30 donors, but primarily from then eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Class of 1977, and her family and colleagues. President Tilghman implored Whitman to lend her name to the college, but she relented only after the president pointed out that every other residential college, including Rockefeller, Wilson, and Forbes, was named for a man. In 2003, I had the satisfaction of taking part in the dedication ceremony for another institution named for a woman. Madeline “Maddy” English was a veteran teacher and guidance counselor with the Everett, Massachusetts, Public Schools. She was also a standout third basewoman on the Racine Belles of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. After the town voted to name its newest school for her, Maddy asked me to represent the league at the event, since I was then on the board of the Players’ Association and lived only a few hundred miles away. I got to say a few words about her as an athlete and see her pride as the entire community celebrated her achievements. Sadly, Maddy passed away less than a year later, but her school and its “Madeline English Bulldogs” are still going strong.
Some time back, journalists Lynn Sherr and Jurate Kazickas put together a book titled Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women’s Landmarks. It’s full of parks, museums, libraries, and other sites that are significant to women’s history. I’d love to see a companion volume of buildings, bridges, and other structures named for women. Are there any in your neck of the woods? Let me know by commenting below.
Since this post first appeared on May 1, iNK has participated in two conferences: The 21st Century Children's Nonfiction Conference and ISTE. One result of our participation is that it was noticed an article in School Library Journal and in Publishers Weekly. An article for NPR's Mindshift, by Holly Korbey, featuring the iNK website and the I.N.K. blog as resources for parents is scheduled for release imminently.
iNK Think Tank has been pioneering a new kind of interaction with schools through Authors on Call, a group of nine nonfiction authors who are equipped to do interactive videoconferencing. (Many authors now Skype but there are other ivc technologies that some schools prefer.) We call our programs Class ACTS where “ACTS” is an acronym for Authors Collaborating with Teachers and Students. They are not exactly school visits nor are they professional development for teachers but a hybrid that takes the books and expertise of an author and “bakes” it into the classroom experience with the “buy in” of the teachers and the students. Andrea Warren wrote up her Class ACTS experience and posted it on this blog here. Let me give you some other examples.
I have been working with, Sarah Svarda, a media specialist from Discovery School in Murfreesboro, TN. She is using me as a mentor to help her 120 4th, 5th, and 6th grade library students learn how to do research. She teaches these students once or twice a week and since she has so many students and interactive videoconferencing is more effective with groups of 40 or less (so that kids can ask questions) we decided that I would meet the students in smaller groups over the period of time that they were doing their research. Sarah would then model the lesson to the other students who didn’t interact with me. So I met with the 4th grade just when they were starting the program, then with the 5th grade as they were several weeks into their research to help direct it more specifically, and then with the 6th grade as they were starting to write. I have one more session to go, which will be some kind of wrap-up.
The students’ original idea of “research” is to look something up in an encyclopedia (or Wikipedia) and write up what they find, which often includes verbatim material, and turn it in the next day as homework. So, in effect, I was teaching them what I do when I start a project—a long term process that changes over time. As it happens, I’m just beginning a new book on hurricanes, so I do what all nonfiction authors do. I went to the library and took out every book on hurricanes I could lay my hands on. I showed the kids my pile of 25+ books and told them that I start by reading a lot of sources. This was a real eye-opener for them. I told them that I don’t read every book but that I look at all the books and read the ones that grab me first. This was another eye-opener—comparing sources and expressing preferences for different writers. In addition to the 4 videoconferences, Sarah and I also chronicle what we do on a wiki—a communal document. You can see the wiki for our work, as can parents and other people in the public, but only Sarah and I can write on it. Read it from the bottom up to get the chronology of our progress.
We are also working with a group of teachers in PA. Sue Sheffer is a retired educator working with the York School District on a Library of Congress grant to help teachers use primary source material. The group is scheduling sessions with our history authors: Roz Schanzer, Carla McClafferty, Jim Murphy, Andrea Warren plus Myra Zarnowski, our children’s lit consultant,who wrote a terrific book for teachers: Making Sense of History. The raves for each author have been off the charts.
Alexandra Siy is working with teachers from Lewis and Clark Elementary in Missoula, MT. They are using her book Cars on Mars as a mentor text for their own research. Here is the link to their wiki. Again, the enthusiasm for the program is unequivocally positive.
Here’s what our Class ACTS programs offer that is different from a school visit or professional development for teachers:
- Author school visits are considered “enrichment.” Class ACTS are programs that are aligned with the curriculum and the classroom work of the students. They take place over a period of time from two weeks to several months. They bring the excitement of a school visit to daily work, although the author isn't present on a daily basis. Since a Class ACTS program is no ephemeral one-shot, it can be transformative for students.
- An author visit is about the author and the author’s book. Class ACTS is about students and their work. The shift is to the “demand” side of the school money—it’s where the rubber meets the road in terms of results, so here authors can make a profound difference. Students are discovering that doing work in depth produces a more thoughtful learning experience than simply “covering” material. And content is now starting to matter again.
- All educators know that the key to learning is motivation. When students are motivated they will do the hard work of learning. Having an author involved in the process provides motivation. Studies have shown that another character trait exhibited by successful people is grit. I maintain that none of us nonfiction authors would be here without it. We also exemplify the skills mandated by the Common Core Standards.
- Scheduling is much more flexible than a school visit because it’s just a short time during the day and you don’t need travel time, etc. So the videoconferences are booked with a short lead time and are given at the optimum time for the students.
- Teachers find that all day professional development sessions are not nearly as useful as having a personal learning network—a place to go to ask a quick question on an as needed basis. Through Class ACTS, an author becomes a part of the teachers’ pln with very positive outcomes.
Last year, Authors on Call piloted a program with many authors and one school. This year we have sold a variety of programs and we’re learning all the time. Here’s some of what we’re discovering:
- The teachers we’re working with this year are PHENOMENAL. Make no mistake, there is a lot of extra work figuring out how to use us and our books and our skills so that students benefit. The teachers we’re currently working with are early adopters who see something for themselves in taking a risk and doing something different. As a result, they are, perhaps, a self-selected group totally committed to their students and are doing the lion's share of the work. We authors are learning from them in this truly collaborative effort. I have no doubt that our incredibly successful outcomes are due to the quality of the teachers we’re working with.
- Last year, in our pilot program, the best teachers were the ones that signed on first. They created a bandwagon effect with other teachers joining in because they didn't want to be left out. But the teachers who joined later were not as effective
- A successful program depends on planning, collaboration and commitment. But the rewards are beyond anything anyone imagined in terms of student output. It is humbling to see how much talent children have when you give them the opportunity to strive, think, create and shine.
- It takes patience for a new idea to take hold. The success of Authors on Call depends on schools that have the videoconferencing technology to understand the value of books and authors and for schools that appreciate books and authors getting the technology. We’re moving forward, however, and Authors on Call is leading the way.
For more information on Class ACTS programs, you can download a pdf of our brochure here.
By the time I wrote the following post 13 months ago, nonfiction authors and nonfiction readers were getting a lucky break. Check it out and then go have yourselves an outstanding summer that might even include some great reading and writing....
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Who woulda thunk it? Nonfiction is on a roll! And it’s largely because of a big game-changer called the Common Core State Standards. What in the world is that? Well, it’s an educational initiative that has already been adopted by every public school in 45 of these United States and in 3 territories to boot. In my humble but admittedly prejudiced opinion, the best part is this: The Common Core requires that by senior year in high school, 70% of the books students read throughout their entire curriculum have to be nonfiction. Hoo-hah!! Ladies and gentlemen, it is about time.
And there’s more. Instead of writing dreary papers that imitate the facts kids have to learn for testing purposes, they are now being encouraged to write some truly interesting and thoughtful nonfiction literature of their own. Here’s just one small example. To tempt the Youth of America to dip their toes into nonfiction waters, the
New York Times is holding its Third Annual
Summer Reading Contest, in which young people aged 13 to 25 are invited to submit blog posts for possible inclusion on the Times’ educational site. Check out last year’s winning post by Elisabeth Rosenthal and tell me this isn’t a great idea. Here ‘tis:
“Answer for Invasive Species: Put It on a Plate and Eat It”
But what if students like Elisabeth get psyched by reading some truly outstanding nonfiction (insert brazen hint about INK books here). And what if they get enough of a kick out of writing brief nonfiction pieces that they want to write an entire book of amazing-but-true tales? Or come to think of it, what if you want to write a nonfiction book your own self?
I recently helped a couple of fourth grade classes at Bogert Elementary School in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, to do just that. The challenge was to take certain bland basic material from the school’s curriculum and let the kids work together to write and illustrate an exciting (and accurate) page turner that they would actually love to read themselves. The kids came through like champs and had a blast. And in the process, they soaked up the material in their curriculum like a sponge.
Of course there’s more than one way to skin a cat. But maybe I can entice somebody out there to walk down the author path by offering a few small tricks of my own for writing nonfiction books that (I hope) can’t be beat.
1) PAIR YOUR TOPIC WITH A GREAT HOOK
Whether you pick a topic that you’d love to know more about, or whether a teacher has assigned your kids to write about dry subjects from the school curriculum, any budding authors out there should try hard to write stories that fascinate. How? One way is to
find a great hook! I write about history, and here are just a few of the hooks I’ve used ever since time immemorial for readers in different age groups:
- Drawing colorful, complex picture mazes in which readers have to wend their way through the accurate but amazing scenery of America’s Wild West, say, or Europe’s Middle Ages in order to reach the next pages in the story.
- Telling true tales from two completely opposite points of view.
- Picking a genuine hero from the past and telling his story via his 13 great escapes from danger.
2) BECOME A SPY
Everything in a nonfiction book has to be 100% true, and you can never ever put your own words into other peoples’ mouths either. So to find the facts and to figure out what really happened and what people really said, you have to do tons of research. That's when you get to become a spy! Snoop around till you can quote from the original letters, diaries, speeches, and journals of your protagonists! Bravely interview people who were on the scene during a terrifying event! Or rustle your way through dusty ancient tomes written by responsible scholars until you uncover hidden clues.
3) USE THE MEAT AND SALT METHOD
“Meat” equals the facts. Make sure you have them down pat. “Salt” equals a tasty sprinkling of all the humor, interesting tidbits, unusual facts, and clever or creative ideas you can lay your hands on in order to bring your book to life. I love the salt part.
4) WRITE A PAGE TURNER
Every single sentence you write has to be carefully crafted so that your readers can’t wait to see what happens next. Read what you wrote out loud to find out. Does it sound compelling enough? You may be surprised.
5) ADD PICTURES PLEASE
Everyone loves pictures, even grownups. It doesn’t matter if you can't draw your own cartoons in a graphic novel. Try adding a bunch of your best photos from your cell phone or create very some clever, colorful graphs with fancy lettering on a computer instead. Or if you have the chops, make Like Michelangelo. In other words, just add your best pictures to the mix and more people will be likely to read your book.
And speaking of reading, read and READ and READthe best nonfiction books you can lay hands on. Then pick your faves and try to figure out what it was about the authors’ writing styles that clicked inside of your brain. That’s it.6 comments:
School’s out for summer! Many summer reading lists combine nonfiction and fiction reading recommendations. It was exciting to see Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race to Build, another INK contributor, on the list from my son’s English teacher.
Since summer’s here and it’s time to play, I thought that it would be fun to add other senses to the mix and a little play. A few years ago I taught a class at the Games for Education Conference at the Chicago Toy and Game fair. The class was titled Play and Creativity in the Classroom. Here’s what I wrote about the class on the INK blog titled Play in Classroom with several nonfiction book recommendations. Why not add a little kinetic learning to the summer reading schedule?
A teacher friend is taking her children on an extended vacation to New England this summer. They are reading fiction and nonfiction books in preparation. When she mentioned that they were creating KWL charts to go along with the reading, I was curious. Many teachers reading this will know about KWL charts, but my friend explained, “It is a 3 column chart- list what they KNOW, list what the WANT to know, and then after reading list what they LEARNED. It is a great way to assess prior misconceptions as well as knowledge, see if they learned anything from their reading, and can be a basis for further research for unanswered questions.” Here’s a link that explains how to make KWLcharts.
Kind of wish I had made a KWL chart before our recent London and Paris trip. After we were back home, while recuperating from jetlag, I tried to remember what my preconceived impressions of Paris were. For example, my mind had a different vision of what Notre Dame was like. Being there right in front of Notre Dame was rather surreal.
Everywhere we went on our vacation, I would point out what we were seeing to my children. I think they became a little tired of me by the end of our trip. Last Christmas, I bought the family a puzzle of the London Underground and a puzzle of a map of Paris. I do this because of my childhood. Growing up, we would go almost every other summer to Germany for a month to visit Oma. Most of what I remember was my little brother and I creating a dividing line in the back seat of my uncle’s Mercedes and constantly tapping my mom on the arm while she spoke in German to all my relatives. We went to some cool places, but I have no idea where I was, why the place was significant, or how it related to European history.
Here’s a few nonfiction and fiction reading ideas for the summer with some added senses, kinetic learning, and play.
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steven Sheinkin
The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
Modern Marvels - The Manhattan Project (History Channel)
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
King of the Mound - My Summer with Satchel Paige by Wes Tooke
Watch a baseball game or go to a game.
Major League Baseball Scrabble
Eat a hot dog, peanuts and Cracker Jacks
Football Hero: A Football Genius Novel by Tim Green
Sports Illustrated Kids 1st and 10: Top 10 Lists of Everything in Football by Sports Illustrated For Kids Jukem Football Card Game by Jukem
Play football in the backyard
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier or Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes
The American Revolution for Kids: A History with 21 Activities (For Kids series) by Janis Herbert
City Doodles: Boston by Chris Sabatino
Educational Trivia Card Game - Professor Noggin's American Revolution by Professor Noggin
Chicago History for Kids: Triumphs and Tragedies of the Windy City Includes 21 Activities (For Kids series) by Owen Hurd
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
City Doodles: Chicago by Anna M. Lewis
Chicago-Opoly by Late for the Sky
Build a Skyscaper model
Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide by George Beahm
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson
Eat Harry Potter Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans by Jelly Belly
(This list could be endless.)
Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder by Tanya Lee Stone (author), Boris Kulikov (Illustrator)
The Calder Game by Blue Balliett(Author) , Brett Helquist (Illustrator)
Make a Mobile
Go to an art museum
For Younger Readers:
The First Teddy Bear by Helen Kay (Author) , Susan Detwiler (Illustrator)
Made in the USA - Teddy Bears by Tanya Lee Stone
The Teddy Bears' Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy (Author) , Michael Hague (illustrator)
Baby Bear Counters by Learning Resources
Gather all your teddy bears and have a tea party
Play the song Teddy Bear’s Picnic
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein
New York City by David F. Marx
New York for Kids: 25 Big Apple Sites to Color (Dover Coloring Books) by Patricia J. Wynne
50-Piece Double 2-Sided Jigsaw Puzzle - New York City by Pigment and Hue
This list is just a jumping off point to get everyone thinking about all the possibilities. I had to stop somewhere or I’d be still writing this blog post. Please add your recommendations to the comments and I’ll add it to the list. On my website, I will add a hand-out form when I’m done compiling.
Here’s to a happy summer with lots of reading and playing.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the Common Core State Standards and how important they are in creating a market for nonfiction writers. That’s nice for us, but I’m excited about this new approach to teaching way beyond its effects on my pocketbook. I’ve seen too many examples in my life of how our citizens don’t know how to read for information content and how to evaluate what they read.
My first exposure to this problem occurred when I worked as a teaching assistant in a basic zoology class while in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. More than once after an exam, a student who received an inferior grade would come to my office very discouraged. “I came to all the lectures and I read the text but I only got a C on the exam—what’s my problem?” I’d ask them about their reading techniques and it would turn out that they had no idea that there was more than one way to read. Of course they’d learned to read in school, but as has been the practice for decades, they learned by reading fiction, which requires a totally different reading style than nonfiction. You can ‘fast read’ fiction by skimming lightly over some sections and focusing on following the plot and the emotions of the characters. That kind of reading will get you nowhere if you are reading to learn.
Reading to learn requires a form of close reading in which you carefully follow the text with your thinking brain engaged at all times. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you read nonfiction text. Does this make sense to me? Am I “getting it” as I read, or do I need to reread this more carefully? Am I examining all the illustrations, reading the captions, and checking to see if I understand what the author is trying to convey? Do I stop frequently and review in my mind what I’ve just read to see if I’m absorbing the information?
This kind of focused, concentrated reading takes time, and people like me, who have always read a lot of informational nonfiction can have a hard time reading fiction. We become so accustomed to reading carefully, paying attention to every word, that it’s difficult to finish a novel in a reasonable amount of time. I, for one, haven’t learned how to flip an internal reading style switch, so a novel takes many hours to complete.
The other problem associated with learning to read through fictional texts is not learning how to evaluate what one reads critically. What kind of reading do adults need to master in order to be successful in the world? Nonfiction, not fiction! They read the paper, either on ‘paper’ or online; they have to be able to read all sorts of forms such as for income tax and contracts for work. They need to be able to spot propaganda-style writing and to recognize when they are only getting one side of the story. The internet has only made this skill more important than ever, since anyone can put up a snazzy looking website and fill it up with misleading nonsense or misinformation.
If a student plans to be part of society’s middle class, he or she also needs to be able to write coherently in order to apply to college, to apply for jobs, and to communicate within the work environment. I’ve spoken to many college teachers who need to devote vital time to teaching their students how to write when they are supposed to be teaching them economics, science, psychology, or some other academic subject. The CCSS are designed to improve students' writing skills, too.
We can hope that the application of the CCSS will help to alleviate these problems so that Americans will be able better to cope with the challenges of our complex new world in which communication has become even more important than in the past.
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What does it say about us, Jim, that we love plagues? The first chapter of A DISTANT MIRROR by Barbara Tuchman that described the devastating effect of the Black Death on the 14th century world is unforgettable.
I had pretty much the exact same experience at age 12, with the MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY trilogy - historical fiction that seemed real to me, and hooked me into a lifelong obsession with the story. But don't get me wrong, plagues are good too.
Susan -- I don't think it says anything bad about us, though I admit that studying various plagues is a bit like driving past a car accident. I'm curious about d and glad I wasn't in the area when it happened.
Steve -- Oh my, yes. I read the Bounty books also and loved them (I think I read Michner's Tales of the South Pacific, then went on to read anything that was set in the Pacific and had beautiful women in it. Hey, I was 12!).
Yeah, Jim, I admit the BOUNTY'S descriptions of the women of Tahiti might have made a slight impression on me... I confessed as much in a comic I did a while back:
http://oldsite.momentmag.net/moment/issues/2010/12/speaking%20volumes.html
Keep on putting your readers in the center of what happened in history. It's what helps teachers like me to discuss historical context with kids. And, the big bonus is that it makes a fascinating read.
Keep on putting your readers in the center of what happened in history. It's what helps teachers like me to discuss historical context with kids. And, the big bonus is that it makes a fascinating read.