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A mystery lurks in the middle of the ocean. A growing collection of plastic rides the currents to the North Pacific. How does it affect marine life? How does it affect us?
A team of trash detectives sets sail to find out. Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch chronicles their scientific adventure on the high seas--an adventure with environmental heroes, science student role models, fascinating marine creatures, and an evil villain (the tons of plastic that lures in marine life and then poisons or starves it).
For science-lovers, Plastic, Ahoy!illustrates the scientific method in action. Trash detectives weigh anchor armed with questions. They gather data, make observations, formulate hypotheses, and conduct experiments. Examine the tools they used to study the Garbage Patch--and what alarming discoveries they made.
Join photographer Annie Crawley and me for weekly "plastisphere" posts from now to World Ocean Day (June 8). Find out the story behind the book. Celebrate Earth Day (April 22) with us. Read guest posts from the scientists featured in Plastic, Ahoy! Discover sculptors who bring new life to discarded plastic.
Next week: Meet Ocean Annie, ocean photographer and filmmaker, on documenting the expedition 24/7 Classroom tie-ins:
Earth Day (April 22)
World Ocean Day (June 8)
Classroom materials:
Teacher's Guide aligned with the Common Core and NextGen Science Standards
When Christopher Cheng enters a room, the first thing one notices is his long braid. “I haven’t cut my hair in thirteen-plus years,” he says. The second thing one notices is his smile. “I guess I have always been a pretty positive person. I look past the bad and see the good…in people, the environment, in life.” When he begins to speak in his lovely Australian accent, his energy and enthusiasm for life and learning infuse every syllable.
Cheng studied to be a teacher, but there were no classrooms available after graduation. Instead, he began an eight-year career as an educator at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. He taught thousands of children about monkeys, pythons, kangaroos, wombats, bats, possums, lizards and more. During his tenure at the zoo, he wrote several brochures, informational articles, and teachers’ guides. Then Scholastic came calling with a book idea. Throughout college Cheng’s children’s literature professor encouraged him to share his stories and he still has copies of his books from childhood, so writing for children seemed like a natural fit. “It wasn’t until my first book came out, Eyespy Book of Night Creatures, that I realized that writing for kids was so very way cool!” More...
0 Comments on Where do authors get their ideas? The zoo! @chrischengaus #3rdchat #4thchat #5thchat #literacy as of 1/1/1900
In second grade Jeff Mack says his teacher “enthusiastically supported” his writing and art projects. She sponsored a Halloween writing contest that he entered with a story about a skeleton at school who tried to fit in despite a series of unfortunate events, such as the food leaking through his bones at lunch. Mack won the contest and still remembers it as a moment of pure encouragement.
The sonogram photograph on his website indicates that he was born with a pen in his hand. Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but he recalls stories that swam through his head as a young child. Since he could draw before he could write, he expressed his story ideas through illustration. More...
0 Comments on Where do authors get their ideas? Humor drives Jeff Mack #3rdchat #4thchat #5thchat #literacy as of 1/1/1900
Author-illustrator Mary Ann Fraser has published more than sixty fiction and nonfiction picture books and early readers for children. Long before her professional career began, she wrote, illustrated, and assembled her own books as early as the first grade. Although she did not own many picture books as a child, her family made frequent trips to the public library where Fraser headed for the nonfiction section. “My early reading was kind of an eclectic mix,” she says, including falconry, biology, and how to speak Arabic. When she read something particularly captivating she said, “I want to write a book like that,” rather than “I want to read another book like that.”
Family fly fishing trips to nearby rivers or lakes fed her interest in nature and animals where she collected bones, rocks, fossils, and watched the fish swim in the water. Fraser often uses animal characters as stand-ins for children in order to communicate a childhood milestone (I.Q. Goes to School), but she also portrays animals in their natural habitats to convey a respect for what they are and to protect the niche they occupy in the world (Where Are the Night Animals?). More...
0 Comments on Where do authors get their ideas? Author-illustrator mines nature and art #3rdchat #4thchat #5thchat #literacy as of 1/1/1900
In May 2013, Jo Kittinger traveled to New York City to receive a Christopher Award for The House on Dirty Third Street, a book that “affirms the highest values of the human spirit” in the words of the selection committee.
The seed for The House on Dirty Third Street was planted when Kittinger and her husband were out of town, searching for an address on Thirty-Third Street. Kittinger became tongue-tied and she said dirty-third for thirty-third. “I started wondering what Dirty-Third Street would look like,” she says. One wisp of an idea led to another and soon Kittinger incorporated her experience repairing homes with fellow church-members in impoverished neighborhoods with her family’s frequent moves during her childhood. “The House on Dirty-Third Street captured a lot of who I am,” she says, “those memories of moving and having to start over in a new place.” More...
0 Comments on Where do authors get their ideas? Christopher medalist studies human spirit #2ndchat #3rdchat #4thchat #literacy as of 1/1/1900
"This book is about a dog. This book has kids in it. This is about a kid. This book is about a dog and a kid. The dog Looked at the pictures. This dog is named Bruce. I wish the dogs would come today so I can read to them."
Note: The book Jax reviewed was made specifically for his school's READ program (Reading Education Assistant Dogs). He dictated his review using the new iPad his school earned through its successful DonorsChoose crowd-funding proposal.
Thanks for submitting, Jax, and here's a picture of my dog, Jingles, to tide you over until your dogs come to school!
My young friend Amanda visited me yesterday. She wanted to share her latest classroom writing project: a tomorrow alphabet book. Very clever idea. In the photo, Amanda shares one of her entries--"R is for cloud, tomorrow's rain."
So students have to think in two steps: 1. the outcome that matches the letter of the alphabet they're assigned, and 2. Backtrack to figure out how to achieve it.
A great cause/effect lesson!
Amanda's other entry said, "C is for spider, tomorrow's cobweb."
So clever! If your class participates in this activity, please send me your photos and I'll post them (newmanbooks at live dot com).
0 Comments on Classroom activity: Tomorrow ABC book #1stchat #2ndchat #3rdchat #literacy as of 1/1/1900
Award-winning nonfiction author Kelly Milner Halls uses memories from her childhood to write books for young readers. “The freedom I had to explore miles of undeveloped wooded acres and everything that thrived in those woods gave birth to every book I’ve ever written,” she says. Her experiences between the ages of nine and twelve were “the happiest, most joyful, discovery ridden” of her life.
She recalls gathering what she thought was an abandoned spider egg, placing it in a jelly jar with holes punched in the metal lid, and waiting for it to hatch. Every day, Halls watched and waited. “One day when I was all but convinced it would never hatch, I saw something move from inside the egg.” To her surprise, the egg yielded a single lizard rather than dozens of spiders. “I got to watch it take its first breath of air, its first steps inside the jar. I watched it scamper away when I set it free where I’d found it months before…I remember the wonder I felt, the magic—like it was yesterday.” More...
0 Comments on Where do authors get their ideas? Childhood memories fuel @KellyMilnerH #3rdchat #4thchat #5thchat #literacy as of 1/1/1900
I had the good fortune to meet Tammy Payton from Standiford Elementary in Modesto, California at a November California Reading Association conference. The Common Core State Standards were the hot topic of the weekend, and I spoke about ways to use my books in the classroom. Today, I Skyped with Tammy's third graders. Thank you for the great questions, everyone! At CRA Tammy purchased a copy of my book, Nugget on the Flight Deck, because she discusses career opportunities in all subject areas with her gifted third graders. She uses Dr. Sandra Kaplan's Depth and Complexity Model Icons (Big Ideas and The Language of Disciplines) to help students read more deeply.
A student's understanding of flight deck jobs on an aircraft carrier.
After reading Nugget on the Flight Deck, a recent lesson focused on aircraft carrier careers. First students compared jobs on the flight deck. Each job is designated by a different color shirt. The outline color on the photo to the left denotes the shirt color.
Next, students chose a job on the flight deck that would interest them and wrote about it (see picture below). For instance, one student says, "If I had to choose one color job it would be the yellow shirt job. I would choose the yellow shirt because you give orders to other people."
Student responses--their preferred jobs
Another student says, "If I could be a coler [sic] shirt, I would want to be a red because I love wepons, explosove [sic] things. I would like to handle some of the crashes that are going on and more. I also would because I like red. That is why I would want to be a red shirt."
Lastly, "I am going to tell you the job I would want and why I want it. I would like the white shirt job. I would like the white shirt job because I help people when a plane crashes. Also you can make sur [sic] that everybody is safe and healthy. That is why I want the white shirt job."
Thanks to Mrs. Payton's third graders for reading and discussing Nugget on the Flight Deck.
0 Comments on Mrs. Payton's 3rd grade class responds to Nugget on the Flight Deck #3rdchat #ccsschat #titletalk #militaryfamilies as of 1/1/1900
Amanda, age 8 Squirrels on Skis by J. Hamilton Ray
"I read Squirrels on Skis. My teacher wanted me to do a diorama. I picked the scene where the girl and the bunny are trying to make the squirrels go away. The squirrels were skiing and they smelled some acorns and hot chocolate cooking. They skied to the place that they were cooking at in the forest. They found a bunny and a little girl. The squirrels waited for some food. The squirrels ate hot chocolate and acorns that the girl gave them.
"I used fake trees and hot glued them to the bottom of the shoe box. I painted the bottom of the box white so it would like snow. I painted the back of the box purple to look like night. I made the creatures and the girl out of clay. I used white paper to look like snow was on the sides. The hot chocolate is really wood (for the cups) and inside is clay. I got the acorns outside in my backyard. The brown benches are scraps of tile from my Grandma's new kitchen."
Amanda received an "outstanding"--the highest grade--on her project. Keep reading, Amanda!
Kids on KidLit is CCSS-aligned and gets students reading and writing. Send your writing project to me and I'll post it on my blog
0 Comments on Amanda (age 8) shares her response to literature #1stchat #2ndchat #CCSS #literacy #kidsonkidlit as of 1/1/1900
(From my guest post on the Authors for Earth Day blog) In school, we often ask students to work together in groups solving a shared problem or creating a project in which each team member contributes to the outcome. Similarly, in the study of alternative energy scientists around the globe form cooperating groups that pose experimental methodologies and ask hard questions in the race to find affordable, deliverable solutions to fossil fuels. More...
0 Comments on Creative discovery approach to alternative #energy curriculum #4thchat #5thchat #eco #CCSS as of 9/5/2013 6:53:00 PM
Help me celebrate the release of my two newest books: Navy SEALs: Elite Operations and Army Special Forces: Elite Operationsand their Common Core-aligned teacher guide. These books are sure to engage even the most reluctant of readers!
Here's the official description:
Navy SEALs: Trained to fight at sea, in the air, and on land, U.S. Navy SEALs tackle the toughest of missions. They are masters of underwater combat, fast-roping from a hovering helicopter, and demolishing enemy weaponry. Learn how Navy SEALs are taught to think like scientists and perform like soldiers as they track down terrorists, rescue hostages, and venture into enemy territory to gather critical information.
Army Special Forces: Hunting down terrorists. Rescuing prisoners of war. The highly trained U.S. Army Special forces carry out these and other secret missions around the world. Skilled in fighting as well as diplomacy and foreign languages, they are ready to go undercover into dangerous territory at a moment's notice. Discover how these elite forces fight for our freedom every day.
With vivid photos and engaging text, the Military Special Ops series covers exciting information about the U.S. military’s special operations forces – highly trained units that perform unconventional, often high-risk missions. Each book introduces one group’s position in its military branch, as well as its key functions. Each book also details the group’s uniform, special equipment and gear, and techniques and tactics. A final chapter covers the training and skills needed to excel in each special ops group and how to pursue a career in this area.
0 Comments on Book birthday! #titletalk #ccss #sschat #literacy #librarians as of 9/5/2013 6:55:00 PM
Elementary school teachers and adults apprenticing as children's book writers often ask my opinion on writing strategies: teachers want to engage their students; adults want to become more efficient and practiced with their craft. Even though I am a published writer this is a tough question for me because my process tends to be non-linear--not the best for breaking writing down into teachable moments!
With that said, I have learned a few things from each project I've completed--many of which I shared in a recent conversation with Genny Heikka and Aaron Robbins on the Part Time Author Podcast (Episode #5: Hard, But Possible--Sticking With It). Writing begins with a simple concept...writers write.
This piece of advice is particularly appropriate for adults who find that life gets in the way of the creative process. Jot ideas on bits of napkin or in a small notebook that fits in a pocket or purse. Dictate them into your iPhone. Write in the pick-up line at school. The goal is to get your ideas down for a few minutes each day. After our podcast interview, Aaron Robbins wrote to me and said, "Thanks for everything you shared on the Part Time Author Podcast. I've written everyday the last week --a feat largely inspired by something you said on the show. Writers write. Every time I walk past my computer, intent on doing something non-writery, I hear your words. A brief inner debate leads to a 37 year old computer programmer doing what writers do."
To apply the "writer's write" philosophy to students, I suggest writing activities that span curriculum areas because writing crosses every aspect of education and, eventually, the working world: 1. Language Arts:
Write poems (rhyming, non-rhyming, haiku) or riddles.
Ask every student to write an opening paragraph of a short 5-paragraph story. Once the paragraph is written, the stories are gathered up and redistributed, so another classmate writes the second paragraph, and so on for the third through fifth paragraphs. Ask the team of 5 writers to present in a reader's theater exercise. [Story structure: Paragraph #1 introduces a character or two and a problem; in paragraphs #2 and #3 the characters try and fail to solve the problem; paragraph #4 is the successful solution to the problem; paragraph #5 is the conclusion.]
Write a response to literature by participating in my Kids On KidLit program where student work is posted on my blog.
2. Social Studies: Ask students to research and take a stand on whether they support zoos and write a persuasive essay. 3. Science: Collect grass clippings, leaves and flower petals in a coffee can and design an experiment to record what happens to the biomass over time. Ask students to write a concise one-paragraph conclusion on what's happening in the can. 4. Math: Write a script of a commercial advertising a math game, such as "21" or "Tangrams". Why is it fun? What do you learn? Make a video of the students' commercials.
Please share some of your writing strategies for adults or students in the comments section to share with others.
0 Comments on Motivating student & adult writers #literacy #reading #elemed #gtchat #kidlit #writing as of 1/1/1900
Connecticut librarian Jenny Lussier has done the impossible. She's convinced students to willingly skip part of recess to read! Learn more about Read Aloud @ Recess from Jenny herself:
Where would you imagine 60 3rd and 4thgraders would be during recess? Not many of you would come up with, “In the library,” but that is exactly what has been happening this year!
Jenny's beautiful sun room. Comfy pillows and snacks provided!
Inspired by Julie Hembree, a K-6 teacher-librarian from the Seattle, WA area, we began our own Read Aloud @ Recess as part of a renewed effort to celebrate reading this year. Each Thursday, 4th graders come and get comfy with a snack in our glorious sun room. We read aloud for about 15 minutes and then I shoo them out to recess (I still believe in fresh air!) and then in come the 3rd graders.
What fun we have been having! I was so nervous when I started back in November. Would they really come? Would they stay? But as usual, the students remind me of why I do this job. They came and they stayed. And when we finished the first book, they immediately wanted to know what we were reading next. They did! They wanted more! And my heart soared.
What have we been reading this year? Oh there are so many amazing choices. I thought about so many books, ones that would appeal to a broad audience. I had recently read Frindle by Andrew Clements with my son and knew that this was the one! We have been working hard to talk with students about their "on deck" book or "next read". Many of us have TBR (to be read) piles, but so often, students do not realize how important this is. I thought Andrew Clements, with all of his fantastic books, would be a good choice that could lead to continued reading.
For our second round, the students and I suggested titles and each group chose. Grade 4 is reading one of our Connecticut Nutmeg Book Award books, Saving Armpit by Natalie Hyde. Grade 3 chose another Andrew Clements book, School Story. We can’t wait to find out what happens next!
A couple of students have told me that they are simply coming for the snacks and I am totally okay with that. One week we had apple cider donuts from our local orchard - delicious! Another week we had brownies! What a pleasure it was to hear all the “thank yous!” and "yums!" from the kids.
Why do I do read aloud at recess? Because every time they stay and listen, there is just one more chance that one of them might connect with a book. And that would be best of all!
0 Comments on #Librarian convinces 3rd & 4th graders to give up recess to #read! #literacy #elemed #gtchat @jluss @mrs_hembree as of 1/1/1900
Alice McGinty’s sense of wonder is her secret to writing picture books that appeal to children. She describes it as “an amazing sense of awe at the little things in the world. The way the sun hits the snow and it sparkles. How good it feels to dance and to move.”
Children’s literature had a profound effect on McGinty as a child. “I remember my Dad reading Drummer Hoff [by Barbara Emberley] to me. We repeated the phrases together,” she says. “I developed a love of language really early, and I still have that.” When she readCharlotte’s Web, she appreciated the effect of E.B. White’s words. “The power of being a writer wound itself into wanting to be a writer,” she says. More...
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Danna Smith attributes her love of words to her grandparents. Her grandmother wrote poetry and owned a clunky typewriter that the young Smith adored. “She allowed me to type on it. I started writing as soon as I could read,” Smith says. “I thought it was a dream come true because I’m a nerd.” Her grandfather owned a special pen that he kept in the pocket of his shirt. “I was the only [grandchild] who could use it because he knew how much I loved writing.” Smith’s uncle gave her an ear for rhyme as she bounced on his knee listening to his funny impromptu rhyming stories. More...
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When Patricia MacLachlan was a young girl, she remembers one special walk on the prairie with her mother. “My mother looked down at her foot prints, and said, ‘Somebody may have walked here or maybe no one ever has. Either way it’s history.’” MacLachlan always knew she wanted to write, but in that moment she felt connected. “There were people before me and there were people who would come after, and I think that is what I needed to write.” She saves bags of prairie dirt to remind her of this simple, yet life-changing walk. More...
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Nugget on the Flight Deck demo: Mookie gives Gutts and Nugget the old scissors move.
The students and faculty at David Lubin Elementary School in Sacramento welcomed me with smiles, questions, and a love of reading. The perfect combination for a successful author visit!
I'm a nonfiction author at heart--even my fiction is based on careful research. Curiosity. The willingness to hunt for great information. The desire to ask questions. These are the hallmarks of a writer, and I encouraged David Lubin students to jump in with both feet and write what they don't know. Sure it's a little scary, but since when isn't writing scary?
Jingle the Brass demo: Inspecting cars for sticking brakes
Especially teaching it! At lunch a few teachers and I discussed the linear way in which writing is taught in schools--a process completely foreign to my own. During my character workshop with third graders, I suggested that perhaps instead of starting with an outline of the plot, start with character. The plot forms organically from the character's desires and problems.
At the close of the 5th and 6th grade assembly, I received some unprompted praise from a 6th grader. (Remember, most 6th graders are too cool for picture books.) He said, "You're a great writer, Mrs. Newman. I loved Nugget on the Flight Deck."
If I can reach one student on that level during each author visit...if I can get a student to admit that they love ONE book--any book--it fuels my fire to keep writing.
Current titles--watch for 4 more titles in the fall of 2013 and spring of 2014
0 Comments on My msg to students: #Write what you DON'T know! #literacy #elemed #edchat as of 1/1/1900
And are you ready for our exciting results? Drum roll please…
·MENTORED STUDENTS: This year alone over 10, 600 kids voted—and in total we have empowered tens-of-thousands of young readers! The librarian at April’s event was quoted in an article saying how generous it was to donate on behalf of the students and give them “an opportunity to do an authentic research project with real-world impact.”
·FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Our 2013 team donated over $9,100 and brought our total contributions to nearly $25,000! Wow! It’s quite remarkable to think that our eco-minded children’s authors & illustrators have given so much green to our blue marble in just four short years.
·DONATION RECIPIENTS: We have now supportedover 30 conservation organizations! This year the recipients were: Ocean Conservancy, NRDC, Rainforest Conservation Fund, Blue Ocean Institute, Save America's Forests, World Wildlife Fund, Phoenix Zoo Conservation Fund, Desert Big Horn Sheep Society, Rutgers Marine Institute, Pine Jog Environmental Center, San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, Wildsight, Australian Marine Conservation Society, Panthera, Audubon Society of Rhode Island. There are still a couple organizations to be added but you can see the broad scope of conservation initiatives that our program is funding.
·BLOG: Let me also take a moment to acknowledge the valuable outreach provided by our most recent A4ED guest-bloggers—Tony Abbott, Lurlene McDaniel and (coming up) Leslie Helakoski.
The A4ED website has been updated and we encourage you to share the link with any librarians or teachers who may be interested in hosting an A4ED event next April.
An ENORMOUS thanks to all who shared their expertise and enthusiasm! Let’s do it again in 2014!
0 Comments on Authors for #EarthDay donates $9,100 & mentors over 10,000! #eco #literacy #teachers #kidlit #elemed as of 1/1/1900
I celebrated Earth Day with the students at Genevieve Didion K-8 in grand style. The students were curious, the faculty welcoming, and the PTA lunch outstanding (with linen and china, no less)!
To commemorate Earth Day, the students, staff, and I participated in Authors for Earth Day, a grassroots coalition of award-winning children's authors and illustrators who help young readers shape the world around them. The day focused on the type of literacy we associate with reading and writing, but also environmental literacy. Prior to my visit, I forwarded to the students a list of five non-profit conservation organizations I would consider supporting. On Author Day, the students voted and the votes were tabulated.
Using Jingle the Brass (and willing volunteers) to demonstrate a railroad concept
Each assembly and writers' workshop throughout the day began with the exciting announcement that 50% of my Author Day fee will go to...(drum roll, please)...the Ocean Conservancy in honor of the students and staff at Didion K-8. Book your 2014 Earth Day visit now to celebrate the release of my new ocean science book (to be announced soon)! Visit my website or my A4ED page.
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Teacher Michelle Cordy (@cordym) incorporates iPads into daily instruction for her 3rd and 4thgraders. We chatted via Skype about how iPads are assisting in classroom tasks. Her London, Ontario school first became interested in iPads as a means to create ePortfolios for assessment. At first, the school started with laptops, but the additional gear required (headphones, microphones, and cameras) was too complicated for young learners. “The iPad was an incredible shift that allowed for seamless collection of artifacts,” Michelle says in a Feb. 26 blog post on David Fife’s Perspectives 2.0 blog. The iPad allowed seamless integration of writing, reading, video, and pictures.
How does Michelle use the iPad in the classroom?
Michelle finds that the iPad is an excellent tool for writing instruction. “Almost all of their writing is done on their devices,” she says. A brainstorming app allows students to record their ideas in a graphic-style organizer. With a tap of a button, “the ideas swoosh into outline form.” Students can then swipe between their outline and Pages (a word processing app) as they create their sloppy copy. “Some kids still hand-write their sloppy copy,” Michelle says. For these students, typing is still too much of a chore.
In a recent math assignment, students wrote multiplication jingles to help them remember their times tables and set the jingles to a rhythm produced in the Garage Band app. Although Michelle admits that the resulting recordings are not of stunning professional quality, the students developed a high tolerance for revisiting the same piece of media over and over, which in turn cemented their multiplication facts. “You haven’t read until you’ve reread,” Michelle says. [Visit Michelle’s blog, Hack the Classroom, for student examples.}
What makes an iPad-worthy project? Three examples:
1.At the start of each day, students choose print books for silent reading. Michelle admits she used to ask students to conduct their reading on the iPads, “but a kid holding a device looks exactly like a kid not doing their work.”
2.Each student has a dedicated device, but students are not on their devices every hour of every school day. Michelle takes a balanced approach to iPad use. “I make pedagogical moves appropriate to the task,” she says. “There are still some things you need to see in three dimensions. We did a unit on 3D geometry, so we’re not going to use our iPads.”
3.Michelle finds the iPad useful for lowering barriers to allow kids to produce more work in the classroom. “I think kids spend a lot of time listening to instructions. They spend a lot of time consuming and reading. I think it’s much harder to get them to make their learning visible,” she says. For example, “If I want my kids to read a website about how aboriginals helped pioneers, I email them the link. They go to the link, select the text, and it’s automatically read to them. My kids are reading at a huge range, as low as early grade 1 up to grade 5, but we’re united and grounded by the same curriculum.” The iPad allows students to consume a text with a higher degree of complexity.
What are the challenges to using iPads in the classroom?
1.1:1 student iPads does not mean the classroom is paperless. “Why would I digitize a handout?” Michelle says. “It doesn’t make it better (besides saving a tree). There is still a place for books, pens, pencils, and paper handouts.”
2.Students must learn proper file-naming conventions so Michelle can identify their work. “If there’s no name on an adventure story one of my kids wrote, it’s like teacher CSI. I don’t even have their handwriting to figure it out,” she says with a laugh. Michelle needs to develop the digital equivalent of a Trapper Keeper.
3.There is a steep learning curve to being the school’s sole 1:1 iPad teacher. “I feel like a pioneer. I’ve arrived in this new land and it seems really great. Pioneers make it easier for people who come along, right?”
4.As state testing draws near, Michelle’s focus will shift back to pencil and paper tasks.
Who owns the data students produce?
Currently, Michelle posts student work to her blog, or the students post to their individual classroom blogs. Videos are hosted on Michelle’s district YouTube account. But what happens when students ask for their work to be deleted? The answer to that question opens up a discussion on how to manage digital rights because nothing is ever truly deleted from the Internet.
How has the iPad affected Michelle as a teacher?
“It’s amazing to put more power in kids’ hands. Especially in my school that has at-risk kids that come from backgrounds that face many challenges. It’s amazing to give them something so empowering that they can place themselves in the world.”
Michelle says it is important for students to understand that they belong in that digital world, because increasingly that is the world. “It’s balanced between a face-to-face world and world that’s mediated through technology, and if they can’t do their border crossing and code-switching between those two worlds, they’re going to be behind in everything.”
0 Comments on Pioneering iPads in the Classroom #literacy #1:1 #elemed #reading #writing as of 1/1/1900
While trolling my Twitter feed one day, I found the following tweet by @erinlibrary: "Teaching kids to checkout books when THEY need them, not because they HAVE to."
WOW! What a concept, right? Promoting literacy with the power of choice! Erin had recently attended a seminar on open librariesby Laura Beals D'Elia (@ldelia), the school librarian at the Pine Glen Elementary School in Burlington, Massachusetts.
One thing led to another, and Laura agreed to be a guest blogger this month. Her passion for literacy is evident as she discusses her open library program. I challenge you to follow Laura's example to put the choice back into literacy.
My Library is a Matter of Choice
by Laura Beals D'Elia
School Librarian
Pine Glen Elementary, Burlington, Massachusetts
As an adult who loves to read, I could not imagine a situation where someone said to me, “You can’t read that book, it’s too easy for you” or “You can only visit a library on Thursdays between 1:30 and 2:00.” Yet, these are the inane things adults say to children all the time (and it hasn’t ceased to raise my hackles when I hear them.) I am a reader because I have choice. Choice in what I read, when I read, and how I read. Students need, deserve, require the same choices if they are going to develop into readers for life.
My school library isn’t there for me; it exists for my students and making sure that it is open and available when a student needs it is more important than it being open when I want it. I don’t close for lunch, inventory, or planning time. I let my students know that they are welcome in the library any time of the school day by providing homeroom library passes because sometimes students just want to checkout a book during a time other than their scheduled library class. I know, crazy, right?
Instead of putting limitations on the number of books that students can check out, I teach students to ask themselves three questions: How many books can I carry?, How many books can I read at once?, and How many books can I be responsible for?Readers have control over their own reading lives and it is important that my students learn how to make the best choices for themselves. The second I put a limit on their checkouts is the second I’ve squashed their enthusiasm toward reading.
Here’s another strategy for crushing a child’s love of reading: tell them what they can and cannot read. You will not find leveled readers in my library nor are there any age restrictions on borrowing from certain sections. Any student can borrow any library book regardless of age, reading ability, or interest. When you make a judgment on a child’s reading choice or deny access, you crush his reading spirit. Period.
I reinforce these concepts with my students and my teachers every day. I remind them often, ensuring them that it really is okay to be in the library anytime and to check out what they want when they want it. They’re still used to the old library rules and changing culture is never easy. Sigh. But it’s a battle I’m willing to fight because I see how it is building readers. And that’s my choice.
0 Comments on Put Choice Back Into #Literacy #elemed #edchat #reading #gtchat #librarians #teachers as of 1/1/1900
Thank you to picture book author Danna Smith for inviting me to participate in The Next Big Thing, a global awareness blog campaign originally launched in Australia that highlights upcoming releases from authors and illustrators. Every author responds to (nearly) the same list of questions, so here goes...
What are the working titles of your next books?Energy Lab: BiofuelsandEnergy Lab: Water Powerare two books being released this month as part of an alternative energy series.
Where did the idea come from for the books? I was contacted by the publisher this time around. I know that sounds unusual, but many nonfiction series often begin within the publishing house.
What genre do your books fall under? Nonfiction (Hooray for nonfiction!)
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? Hmmm, this is a hard one when it comes to nonfiction. I'm thinking documentary, possibly narrated by Morgan Freeman or Richard Attenborough.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Discover how the world can reduce its dependence of fossil fuels with gasoline from plants and electricity from ocean waves and tides.
Who is publishing your books? Biofuels and Water Power are part of Cherry Lake Publishing's Language Arts Explorer series, which applies the NCTE/IRA Standards to science and social studies content. Each book sends the reader on a fact-finding mission, posing an initial challenge and concluding with questions and answers. Through engaging, interactive scenarios, readers experiment with text prediction, purpose-driven research, and creative problem solving--all critical thinking skills--while learning about ways to care for our planet.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of each manuscript? When a publisher assigns an author a topic within a series, the lead time is extremely short: about one month per book. Each book required in-depth research before I could craft a detailed outline and bibliography for approval by my editor. Once the outline was approved, I had about two weeks to actually write the book. I had to drop everything else I was working on to meet my deadlines!
What else about the books might pique the reader's interest? I interviewed several eminent scientists and entrepreneurs, including: a research scientist from Lawrence Berkeley Labs at University of California, Berkeley; a sawgrass plant manager for British Petroleum (BP); scientists and educators at Cornell University who are developing ways to include biofuel research into the public school curriculum; the president of a company that manufactures turbines to capture energy from ocean tides and currents; and a research scientist from the National Renewal Energy Lab.
Who or what inspired you to write this book? I accepted this assignment because I enjoy writing about topics related to our environment. I am a new member of Authors for Earth Day, "an international coalition of award-winning children's authors and illustrators, who care about kids and nature—and the future of both. Each participant schedules one A4ED school visit in the month of April and donates at least 30% of that day's speaking fee to a non-profit conservation organization, as directed by a student vote at the author's host school." I will visit Genevieve Didion K-8 in Sacramento on April 19.
My next, next big things? Watch for two books about military special ops (fall 2013) and Plastic, Ahoy! (spring 2014)!
Next week, please visit the following authors for their Next Big Thing: fellow SCBWI regional advisor Judy Goldman, author/illustrator April Chu, and illustrator Hazel Mitchell.
2 Comments on New energy books for The Next Big Thing #nextbigthing #literacy #nature #eco #lrnchat, last added: 1/30/2013
Patricia Polacco’s childhood friends received “fat cards” for special occasions. Polacco’s family had no extra money for presents so she drew a wordless story featuring her friend as the main character. The edges of Polacco’s fat cards were bound and sewn like real books. Years later when Polacco sold her first children’s stories, she realized she’d been making picture book dummies or mock-ups all of her life.
Polacco descends from a family of storytellers. “I loved family reunions,” she says, “sitting and listening to the older people talk about the old country, their lives, and their stories.” From an early age, Polacco knew she didn’t learn the way other children learned. Polacco remembers sitting at her grandmother’s knee, listening carefully to her words. “I drew pictures to keep a memory in my head if I knew this was something important to remember.” Even today, Polacco does not usually write out her stories in long hand. She prefers to sit in her rocking chair in the sunroom of her Victorian home in Union City, Michigan. “I was a head-banger and a rocker as a child,” she says. “Rocking is part of my process.” It helps flesh out the details after she picks up what she calls “the scent of the story.” Only after she addresses many of the problems in her mind does she sit at the typewriter and tap out a first draft. [Read more of Patricia's profile.]
0 Comments on Clothing: The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco #picturebookmonth #literacy as of 11/30/2012 8:59:00 PM
Both books sound really valuable. Bravo!
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