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All of us at Two Writing Teachers are thinking about and planning for summer writing. Summer writing inspiration for our students and summer writing goals for ourselves. Kathleen wrote this fabulous post about using… Continue reading →
What's on your summer writing bucket list? You don't need to have a novel hiding in your desk drawer to call yourself a writer. All the small things add up. If you don't have a list going already, here's a little inspiration for Summer 2016.
For every one line of print read by low-income children, middle-income children read three.
So, to keep the kids reading all summer long, LEE & LOW has put together a Diverse Summer 2016 Reading List for Grades PreK-8 and printables which you can freely download here or find listed below. Each list contains books that not only highlight different grade-appropriate interests, such as sports, music, sci-fi/fantasy, and the environment, but also explore diverse cultural backgrounds and traditions.
These lists are not only an excellent tool to help you include diverse books in your summer suggested reading lists, but a way to begin diversifying the books available to students in your classroom libraries. It is important to remember that diverse books are not only for diverse readers. Reading books featuring diverse characters and communities mirror experiences in their own lives, allowing children to see themselves reflected in the stories they love, but they also provide windows into other life experiences to understand and be more accepting of the world around them.
Finally, there are many great organizations compiling and creating Summer Reading Book Lists and offering free, exciting programs for the summer. Be sure to check out your local library as well as the following groups for additional summer reading tips, suggestions, and ideas:
Veronicahas a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
0 Comments on 2016 Diverse Summer Reading Lists Grades PreK-8 as of 1/1/1900
When I was in elementary school, we were assigned the classic back to school essay:
How I Spent My Summer Vacation.
It was a good way to start pulling us away from the carefree days of our break and back to the task at hand. This old essay is still a good way to start the school year. It is a creative way for your students to write nonfiction that does not need any research. And it is a way to get the creative juices flowing again.
Teachers hope to see more than just a laundry list of summer activities.I like to encourage young writers to think about an original way to approach this essay.
I connect with students by providing interactive videoconferences with schools all over the country.One of my favorites is a program I titled
Where Ideas Come From:
Brainstorming with a Nonfiction Author
Teachers and students like this session because it is helpful and lots of fun.It is truly audience participation because I believe that to model what I’m teaching them about brainstorming-we need to actually brainstorm together.Live and on the spot.Yep, it is risky.I never know what they will say-or worse if they will clam up and say nothing.So far, so good.Every time I’ve done this program the students had lots to say!
What I want to do with my students is to model how they can take a mundane topic and put their own unique spin on it.I encourage them to think “out of the box”.Sometimes in this session students come up with amazing creative ideas.Yessss!! The goal is accomplished!
My session goes something like this:
When asked to brainstorm for ideas on an essay on How I Spent My Summer Vacation, most students will come up with the usual suspects:
I was out of school
I slept late
I went swimming
I went on a trip
I visited family
I watched TV and movies
All these are great places to start.Now let’s take these ideas to the next level.Reality is that in classrooms there are kids with a wide variety of experiences.Some vacationed on sandy beaches while others stayed home alone all summer.
Great writing doesn’t depend on having extraordinary life experiences. . .
it depends on putting a unique spin on
ordinary life experiences.
Carla Killough McClafferty
Let’s start with the students who stayed home all summer and played basketball in their own neighborhood.If they wanted to write about this, thefollowing questions could generate something to focus on in an essay.
Did you learn a new basketball skill?
How did you learn it?
Did someone teach you?
A new friend?An old friend?A brother, uncle, father, sister?
Did you win a game against someone for the first time?
Did you have a hot streak and make many baskets in a row?
For a student who played ball all summer, suddenly their essay could include friendship, family relationships, competition, or how they improved their skills.
www.morgefile.com
How about the student who traveled to the beach?A little brainstorming could bring up some possibilities on how to go a different direction with their essay.
Did you travel by car, plane, or train?
Did something interesting happen on the way there?
Did you make up your own travel games?
Did you devise a way to keep your brother from bothering you?
Did you get car sick?
Did you see a dolphin? A shark?
Did you walk on the beach and find a neat shell, or stone, or glass?
Did you learn to swim?
Or try to surf?
Build a sandcastle?
Find a tidal pool?
Suddenly, the essay can be more than going on a trip to the beach.It could be about family relationships, building a fort in the sand, watching a sand crab, walking on the beach at night, or learning to do something new.
www.morguefile.com
No matter what, students can bring something unique to their own essay because each one is unique.
So with a fresh school year upon us, let's brainstorm!
Thanks to my fellow TAs for beginning our back to school posts with a bang.Esther Hershenhornreviewed Kate Messner’s book Real Revision which sounds like a great way to get the creative juices flowing as the back to school season begins.
JoAnn Early Macken started it off with a post about how to Write a Poem Step by Step.And don’t forget to enterthe book giveaway.You might be the lucky winner of a copy of this excellent book by JoAnn Early Macken.
Carla Killough McClafferty
0 Comments on How I Spent my Summer Vacation: A New Twist on an Old Essay as of 8/14/2015 3:07:00 AM
“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” ~ William James
I have so enjoyed this unit on summer experiences presented by the Teaching Authors. At the core of these discussions is the importance of making connections. JoAnn connects to nature, offering interesting experiments with monarch butterflies.
Esther, Carlaand April explore the important connections to be made at writing conferences that go above and beyond the business of writing.
Mary Ann connects to the next generation of writers in her discussion of summer camp,
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” ~ Herman Melville
We know stories are old. Humans have been telling stories for over 100,000 years. Not every culture had developed codified laws, or even a written language, but every culture in the history of the world has had stories. Some research suggests stories predate language, that language came about in order to express story concepts.
And those first stories are found in paintings buried in prehistoric caves. An ancient man reaches out and across 40,000 years to his descendents, connecting past to present. It is the essence of humankind to connect. As Eric Booth states, in The Everyday Work of Art, “Art is not apart. It is a continuum within which all participate; we all function in art, use the skills of art, and engage in the action of artists every day.”
Kinza Riza/Courtesy of Nature.com.
“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thank you for connecting with me and the Teaching Authors!
Bobbi Miller
About the photograph: A stencil of an early human's hand in an Indonesian cave is estimated to be about 39,000 years old. Kinza Riza/Courtesy of Nature.com.
Chicago’s June through July rains and cold temps marked Summer as it’s supposed to be a Very Late Arrival.
Still, I found sunshine aplenty to keep me on task in the golden opportunities that kept me writing, reading and connecting.
So first, the writing.
I was honored to be invited to contribute 3 blog posts to the Newsletter of the American Writers Museum – a national museum celebrating American writers, opening in Chicago in 2016.
Early word about this museum quickly captured my attention. You can read all about it here.
Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the home page so you can subscribe to the Newsletter and learn about its soon-to-be-announced location.
I chose to focus my blogs on Chicago children’s book authors.
My first, titled “Somewhere, Over Lake Michigan,” shares L. Frank Baum’s Chicago connection to THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ.
Few know the author wrote the book while living on the northwest side of Chicago – and – that his visits in 1893 to the Columbian Exposition’s White City led to his imagining the Emerald City.
Next on deck: a blog about Chicago-born Shel Silverstein’s sidewalks and attics.
As for my reading,
this summer, thanks to my Newberry Library’s “Write Place” workshop students, I’ve been checking out all sorts of early chapter books and all sorts of relevant Kidlitosphere blogs, especially those that present diverse cultures.
Here are 4 blogs I found eye-openingly insightful:
Kelly recommends a 3-paragraph query: the first paragraph is personal, sharing why the writer seeks representation from the particular agent and the second paragraph offers an overview of the story, comparisons to similar titles and never gives away the ending. It was Kelly’s suggestion for the third paragraph that struck me as brilliant: the inspiration for the writer’s work! Just how and why did this book come to be?
What a clever way to get a true sense of the writer.
Kelly represents illustrators and writers for all age groups within children’s literature, though she is currently not accepting queries.
I do plan to attend vicariouslyvia SCBWI's Team Blog.
Click here now to read the pre-conference interviews and learn about the 25 editors and agents, the Golden Kite Winners and a host of authors who’ll be presenting workshops.
Of course, besides writing, reading and connecting, writers dream.
This summer, I began each workshop session with the inspirational words of ALA-award-winning authors.
My students took heart and hope from Sid Fleishman, Christopher Paul Curtis, Greg Pizzoli and John Green via their past acceptance speeches.
They were also able to do the same via the June, 2015 acceptance speeches of Newbery medalist Kwame Alexander, Coretta Scott King medalist Jaclyn Woodson and Pura Belpre medalist Marjorie Algosin.
FYI: The Horn Book Magazine publishes a special July/August 2015 Special Awards issue that includes the above speeches in print.
Confidentially, I love getting lost in these speechifying moments.
Whenever despair descended upon my very first Writer’s Group, we’d take turns sharing what we planned to wear when we accepted our particular awards, be they Newbery, Dr. Gesell, Prinz or Siburt.
I’m not so sure now about that navy blue gab pencil skirt with the front slit, or even the white silk blouse, long-sleeved, Georgette neckline. My ankle-strapped heels are still in the running, though. J
Here’s hoping the golden nuggets I shared from my Summer so far will keep you writing, reading, connecting and dreaming.
Esther Hershenhorn
0 Comments on One Writer's Nuggets from Her Summer...So Far as of 7/20/2015 9:53:00 AM
When my son was four, he was lying on the floor leisurely looking at a book one morning when I rushed in. "C'mon, honey--we've gotta go!"
"Okay, Mommy," he said marking his page, "lemme put it on pause."
Don't you love that?
my kiddo...who will be entering medical school in January
Put it on pause. Commas, line breaks and periods give pause; they remind us to breathe. Like Bobbi, I love commas. My summer present to you: three things about commas to make you smile:
1) A few years ago, I bought my mom (a true Punctuation Queen) this plaque.
2) When my son was in elementary school, I read poetry to his class once a week. I was trying to be like my teacher, Myra Cohn Livingston: I wanted to share poetry with no strings attached. As I read, they listened, just listened. Nothing was expected of them. I read every poem twice.
At the end of each year, I gave them each a collection of the poems they loved; in third grade, this was one of their favs (make sure to take a big breath before attempting to read it aloud!):
Call the Periods Call the Commas By Kalli Dakos Call the doctors Call the nurses Give me a breath of air I’ve been reading all your stories but the periods aren’t there Call the policemen Call the traffic guards Give me a STOP sign quick Your sentences are running when they need a walking stick Call the commas Call the question marks Give me a single clue Tell me where to breathe with a punctuation mark or two
Poetry Friday is at Carol's Corner this week--thanks for hosting, Carol!
As I said, TeachingAuthors is taking our annual Summer Blogging Break after this post (our sixth annual blogging break, for those of you who are paying attention). We'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail--which technically is Monday, July 13th. So, grab your towel, dive into the pool, and swim a few laps while we're gone ~ TTFN!
posted on a summer's day by April Halprin Wayland--with help from Eli (dog), Snot (cat), and Monkey.
0 Comments on 3 things About Commas To Make You Smile as of 6/26/2015 6:52:00 AM
Glue your butt to the chair, every day, or at least once a week, and you will not only become a better writer--you'll become a better teacher of writing.
Pinterest has become a teacher’s go-to source for all sorts of curation inspiration. If you’re like me, you can browse and pin for hours without even once questioning when you’ll have time to DIY your heart out or eat everything pinned to your food inspiration board.
So, since June is right around the corner we thought we’d help you get a head start thinking about and planning some fun end-of-the-year tokens of appreciation. Whether you’re a teacher, student, or parent, Pinterest has an overwhelming amount of DIY-inspired gifts to celebrate the end of the school year and kick-off the start of the summer.
Teachers: 8 gift roundups (& no apples in sight!)
101 Easy & Creative Teacher Gift Ideas from The Dating Divas. An impressive list of over 100 teacher gift ideas broken down by category: the first day of school, appreciation gift ideas, end-of-the-year ideas, and even 2 bonus gift ideas for the bus driver.
Teacher Gift Ideas in Mason Jars from Mason Jar Crafts Love. If I had to describe Pinterest in two words it might just be mason jar. But dare to challenge their all-inclusive, miscellaneous nature and you’ll surely be disappointed.
20 Cheap, Easy, Cute & Practical Teacher Appreciation Gifts from It’s Always Autumn. You’ll find less of the cutesy, where-am-I-going-to-put-this DIY projects and more practical gift ideas that teachers can actually use, from classroom supplies to gift cards.
28 Pun-Tastic Teacher Gifts from BuzzFeed. A laugh-out-loud collection of “punny” printables and DIY ideas for your “uh-mason” teacher or “berry sweet” students.
DIY Treat Bag Tags-Teacher Appreciation from The Busy Budgeting Mama. You can never go wrong with an edible gift, particularly those made with sugar. Here are 5 printable tags to say thanks in a sweet way.
25 Teacher Appreciation Ideas That Teachers Will Love by Crazy Little Projects. This roundup of 25 usable and practical DIY gifts hits it on the head for most teachers. I would be ecstatic to receive anything on this list.
4 Gifts That Teachers ACTUALLY Want (told by teachers!) from A Girl and a Glue Gun. This roundup of teacher-minded gifts shows you how to make what teachers really need and want-from cleaning wipes to pizza gift cards- feel personal and special.
from the blog Love The Day
FREE Teacher Appreciation Cards from The Chickabug Blog. Overwhelmed by Pinterest’s crafting skills? Are you a self-aware last-minute gifter? Or maybe you just have a sarcastic sense of humor? Look no further. This list of printable teacher gift card holders is here to save the day.
The Archives:These blogs are a treasure trove of teacherappreciation gift ideas, many more than can be covered in
thisroundup. Here, you’ll find teacher gifts for any and every occasion throughout the school year.
Teacher Appreciation Ideas from Skip to My Lou. 10 whole pages worth of ideas to thank a teacher. Need I say more? This is one you’ll want to bookmark for later.
Teacher Appreciation/School from Eighteen 25. Printables, printables, printables! This blog is chock-full of cheesy tags & quick DIY gift ideas for teachers that are practical, yummy, and great keepsakes.
Teacher Appreciation/School from The Domesticated Lady. An archive of teacher gift ideas and even “s’more” puns.
Teacher Appreciation Gifts from The Happy Scraps. Teacher gifts for any occasion, these DIY ideas are quick and as simple as possible without breaking the bank.
Students: 8 ways to settle those testing nerves and end the year on a high note with your students.
End of the Year Gifts! from Lessons With Laughter. Your students’ futures are bright! But with cool sunglasses to wear, a survival kit bucket for life by their side, and having had you as a teacher they’re sure to be headed in the right direction.
Smartie Pants from The Muddy Princess. These are the best kinds of “smartie pants.” All you need is some cardstock, brads, glue, and Smarties!
Sidewalk Chalk End of School Year Student Gift Idea & Free Printable from My Sweet Sanity. Puns make the teacher and student DIY gifts really special, and this “chalk full” of fun idea is no exception. Any inexpensive, summer-themed gift that encourages kids to head outdoors is definitely a winner.
End of the Year Gift for 2nd Graders from Drama Mama’s LittleCorner. There is only one small problem with this ice-pop gift idea and it’s that it’s being limited to second grade. Ice pops RULE!
Easy End of the Year Student Gift from Happy Home Fairy. Just like the school year, these Frisbees will fly (just hopefully not at your head!).
Candy Gram Ideas from Happy Home Fairy. Candy grams are always sweet motivation for either starting or ending the school year.
Graduation Gift Idea Printable Seed Packets from Pre K-Pages. Just as you helped them plant seeds of knowledge, encourage students to keep growing their minds with this gift. Not only perfect end-of-the-year gifts for students and teachers, Forget Me Not seedlings make memorable graduation gifts.
Finally, if you’re a fan of Pinterest then we want to connect! Follow Lee & Low Books on Pinterest here.
Veronicahas a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
0 Comments on Pinterest Roundup: 100’s of End-of-the-Year DIY Ideas for Teachers & Students as of 1/1/1900
Sorry about the break from the Friday Studio Tours this summer. I guess that's what happens when you're on summer vacation! Please look for the tours to begin when school starts in the fall. Yes, I said fall. I'm going old school here and will be back to posting tours after Labor Day. So look for the next Friday Studio Link post on Friday September 5th. Before then, I might even get a chance to do a post about how I spent my summer vacation!
0 Comments on Summer Vacation! as of 8/7/2014 12:52:00 PM
Hope everyone is having a great summer! Last week I headed down to the beach here in North Carolina for a short little summer vacation. Unfortunately it rained harder than I’ve ever seen it rain. It was one of those rains where you think it can’t possibly rain any harder but then it does….all day. Just as we checked into the hotel it started let up. The sun popped out for about an hour and half so the kids and I grabbed our boogie boards and headed down to the ocean. Right about the time we decided to to get out of the water the rain came back. And so it went the following day. Two hours of sun at the beach in the morning (with the darkest storm cloud I’ve ever seen on the horizon) followed by a torrential down pour. Since we don’t live too far we decided enough was enough, jumped in the car and headed back home. All in all everyone had a pretty great time. I think maybe we’ll head down another time before the summer is done and see if we can’t get a little better weather.
The six of us will be recharging our batteries, planning and brainstorming, coming up with even more great ideas to share with our lovely community of teachers and writers.
But don't worry, we've got lots to keep you going in the meantime!
Today we conclude our series on Writing What We Want to Write versus Writing What is Marketable (or, as I like to call it, WWWWWWWM). Each of us is taking turns thinking aloud about Marion Dane Bauer's terrific post, The Creative Mind, in which she writes convincingly about WWWWWWWM.
It's also Poetry Friday at Buffy's AND it's the start of TeachingAuthors' Summer Blogging Break--woo-woo!
So...wow. I've been mulling over how to talk to you about this one. It's potent. And personal.
Just like each of my blogmates, I've sent out countless manuscripts that have bounced back again and again and again and again. *Sigh.* I'd be a greatboomerang maker.
For example, Girl Coming in for a Landing--a Novel in Poems (Knopf) took me ten years to sell. Then it won two major awards. Editors who rejected it said, "Teens don't read. And if they do read, they don't read poetry." As Esther reminds us: "Times change; markets change; publishers' needs change; editorial staffs change." Oy--is that ever true.
More recently, I finally found a way to fictionalize the story of the flood which destroyed my family's farm and how we rebuilt afterwards. I'd been taking this picture book manuscript out, rewriting it, and putting it back in my bottom drawer for years. Last year I was invited to join a dynamite critique group; I took a risk and showed them my story. At this Magic Table I learned what my story was missing and how to strengthen it.
This is what happens at our Magic Table. Sort of.
I was elated. I sent it to my fabulous agent. She told me that picture books these days must be short. VERY short. Picture books used to be for ages 3-8 and could be as long as 1500 words. These days, editors want picture books for ages 3-5. After 650 words, editors roll their eyes, my agent told me.
I told the Magic Table this. They helped me shorten it. I sent it flying out my door again.
Editors said that it was too regional. I went back to the Magic Table. They said, What about all the floods around the country? What about your themes of resilience, problem solving, weather, storms, climate change and life cycles for heaven's sake? You've just got to help them see this. You'd got to help your agent sell it.
SO...I hired a curriculum specialist...and resubmitted the story complete with Supplementary Materials including Themes, Common Core-related English Language Arts activities, Science-related activities, and a Glossary.
(Huh! Take That, I say with all those Capital Letters!)
And it's still not selling.
And yet...I believe in the Power of the Table. I do. I love this writing biz. I do. And I love my gang around that table. So what else can I do but believe? I keep on keeping on.
I wrote a poem recently to our group, to our leader, to the Magic Table. It was reverent, in awe of the smarts and wizardry at the Table.
But today I changed the poem. Maybe it's not a Magic Table after all. Here's the revised version:
AROUND THIS TABLE
by April Halprin Wayland
It's magic, you know. Impossible feats of metaphor.
Six of us around this rosewood table, savoring tea.
Whether it's an institute put on by your own district, or an expert is coming to town, or if you'll be traveling many miles to take part, I hope that you are as excited about attending your institutes as I am about teaching them.
Want to obtain some high quality professional development at no cost to you? Need some books to sink your teeth into this summer? Feel like kicking back and just enjoying some time off? If you answered "yes," to one of these questions, then read on!
While the official start of summer is still two weeks away, writers with kids newly freed from school may already be wondering if they'll ever write again. At least that's how I felt every June about this time. I was fortunate to stay home with our kids, and there were a couple of really frustrating summers early in my writing career (and boy, am I using that term loosely). I drove myself crazy trying to follow the old "write every day" advice. Why wouldn't my kids cooperate?!
But my dad had his own advice: Enjoy your kids. They won't be little forever.
So I gave myself permission to take my own summer breaks. Play with the kids. Enjoy life. Store up memories.
Back then, I was specializing in rejected picture book manuscripts. But I also submitted lots of poetry to kids' magazines, much of which was accepted (Thank you, Carus!). Oddly enough, I wrote MORE poems during those summers than at any other time ... usually after getting the kids to bed. We'd say our nighty-nights, then I'd spend an hour or so deciphering odd snippets of rhyme from the sticky notes I'd been slapping onto my desk throughout the day.
So if you're ankle deep in Legos and Play-Doh and soap bubbles and sidewalk chalk right now, relax and enjoy. But keep your eyes and ears and hearts open. And take notes.
If you're more determined than I was to keep your writing front and center through these summer days, here are tips and advice from others who have found ways to make it work:
In the end, you have to do whatever works for YOU. Good luck!
Jill Esbaum
P.S. Enter our Rafflecopter giveaway to win a copy of Joan Bransfield Graham's The Poem That Will Not End: Fun with Poetic Forms and Voices.
P.P.S. Two books I've written are part of a new series from National Geographic especially for 3-6 year olds. Hitting shelves June 25th are Explore My World: Penguins, and Explore My World: Snow Leopards. Watch for them! :)
0 Comments on Summer Writing - with Kids as of 1/1/1900
By: Dana Murphy,
on 6/30/2016
By: vschneider46,
on 6/2/2016
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 8/13/2015
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By: Gail Maki Wilson,
on 8/7/2014
By: BobOstrom,
on 7/25/2014
together a Diverse Summer 2016 Reading List for Grades PreK-8 and printables which you can freely download here or find listed below. Each list contains books that not only highlight different grade-appropriate interests, such as sports, music, sci-fi/fantasy, and the environment, but also explore diverse cultural backgrounds and traditions.
Veronica has a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
Summer Vacation!
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