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Dive Into Reading! is LEE & LOW’s new line of early chapter books that focuses on supporting readers in each stage of their reading development.
The Confetti Kids series follows a group of five children from diverse backgrounds living in a friendly city neighborhood, and each book follows a different character as they learn about friendship and how to navigate common childhood experiences.
Synopsis: Lily moves from a quiet suburb to an apartment on a busy street in the city. Lily worries that she’ll never fit in. As she and her parents explore their new, multicultural neighborhood, Lily discovers that sometimes change can be a good thing!
Synopsis: It’s a warm, sunny day, and the gang heads to the neighborhood playground to play. What should they play? Pablo comes up with a great idea: to play pretend. It’s a game that everyone can do easily. They can pretend to be archaeologists, astronauts, and explorers. There’s no limit to what they imagine they can be!
Here’s a preview of the types of engaging projects and activities you can find in the Confetti Kids Activity Guide:
You can purchase a copy of Lily’s New Home or Want to Play on our website 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 Dive Into Reading with the Confetti Kids Activity Guide as of 1/1/1900
Earth Day, April 22nd is right around the corner, and we at Lee & Low are some pretty big fans of this blue planet we live on. So, whether you choose to plant a tree or pledge to better uphold the 3 R’s -reduce, reuse, recycle- we are celebrating and promoting awareness the best way we know how- with books!
Here are 5 environmentally friendly collections to bring nature indoors & encourage “thinking green”:
Save the Planet: Environmental Action Earth Day Collection: Be inspired to be an advocate for planet Earth through the true stories of threatened ecosystems, environmental recovery efforts and restorations plans, and heroic actions. Like the individuals and communities explored in these stories, children everywhere will realize the difference they can make in protecting our planet and preserving its natural resources.
Earth Day Poetry Collection: Through rhythm and verse, float down the cool river, reach as high as the tallest tree, and search for all of the vibrant colors of the rainbow in the natural world. This collection of poetry books are inspired by the joy and wonder of being outdoors and brings the sight and sounds of nature and all of its wildlife to life.
Seasonal Poems Earth Day Collection: Travel through winter, spring, summer, & fall through a series of bilingual seasonal poems by renowned poet and educator, Francisco Alarcón. Learn about family, community, and caring for each other and the natural environment we live in.
Adventures Around the World Collection: Explore Africa while traversing Botswana’s lush grasslands and Uganda’s Impenetrable Forest, celebrate the deep-seeded respect for wildlife in India, Mongolia and on an island off the coast of Iceland, and journey to Australia to explore animals found nowhere else on Earth.
Vanishing Cultures Collection: The 7-book series introduces readers to the Yanomama of the Amazon Basin, Aborigines of Australia, Sami of the European Arctic, Inuit of the North American Arctic, Tibetans and Sherpas from the Himalaya, Mongolians of Asia, and Tuareg of the Sahara.
Lesson Plans & Ideas:
What fun is Earth Day if you don’t get your hands a little dirty? Bring some of the outdoors into your classroom-or vice versa- by engaging students in various hands-on and project-based Earth Day lessons and activities:
I Want to Be Recycled from Keep America Beautiful. Find out how different kinds of materials are recycled, transforming trash into new things. Students can play a super sorter game and start a recycling movement in their community.
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.
1 Comments on Reading for the Earth: Ultimate Earth Day Resource Roundup, last added: 4/20/2015
Readers might be interested to know that almost every book we manufacture is printed on FSC certified paper, meaning the sources can be traced to ensure it is not old growth product. Those that do not carry the FSC logo are printed on stock that is also certified but exempt from the logo as they contain an element that cannot by sourced – typically, for example, recycled board that the hardcovers are bound with. We also take steps to use wherever possible soy and/or vegetable based inks rather than petroleum.
As the school year comes to a close, many of the schools I work with are launching into a week or so of in-service, summer institutes, and other professional development. It’s “curriculum season”… Continue reading →
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Seeds Of Change
In honor of Wangari Maathai’s birthday on Tuesday, April 1 and upcoming Earth Day later this month, we at Lee & Low Books want to share all the fantastic resources and ideas that are available to educators who are teaching about Wangari Maathai’s legacy and using Seeds Of Change: Planting a Path to Peace.
Seeds Of Change
Elementary School:
Seeds Of Change made Reading Is Fundamental’s 2011-2012 Multicultural Booklist. The amazing staff at RIF has put together extensive guides for educators, families, and community coordinators to scaffold vocabulary, extend knowledge, and apply S.T.E.M. concepts.
In teaching standard 9 of the ELA Common Core, have students analyze two biographies about Wangari Maathai to build knowledge and compare the authors’ approaches. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Project created a lesson for students to compare a Wangari Maathai biography with Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.
School Library Journal’s “Curriculum Connections” e-newsletter features a lesson plan using Seeds Of Change to explore what it means to be a global citizen.
Lee & Low Books’ classroom guide includes teaching tips, interdisciplinary activities, and a range of literal to inferential questions.
Middle School and High School:
Seeds Of Change won the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in Illustration in 2011. The Committee Chair and Book Jury have prepared activities and discussion questions for Seeds Of Change in the 2011 Discussion Guide for Coretta Scott King Book Awards, P. 20-21.
Have students read and discuss author Jen Cullerton Johnson and illustrator Sonia Lynn Sadler’s joint interview with Lee & Low, which covers the environment, their travels, and Wangari Maathai’s achievements.
After introducing Wangari Maathai with Seeds Of Change, delve deeper with the Speak Truth To Power human rights education curriculum, a project of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. They present an in-depth exploration on Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement, and sustainability issues.
In teaching standard 7 of the ELA Common Core, have students evaluate how Wangari Maathai is presented in a documentary compared to the Seeds Of Change biography. PBS’s documentary on Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement, Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, contains a classroom section full of video modules, handouts, and lesson plans.
What did we miss? Let us know how you are using Seeds Of Change in your classroom!
We were thrilled to see the announcement this week that architect Shigeru Ban has won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of architecture’s most important awards. Ban is notable not only for his inspired and gorgeous designs but for his humanitarian work using innovative architecture and renewable resources to help refugees and those affected by both man-made and natural disasters. Take a look at his paper tube school in China, featured in our book Dreaming Up:
Teachers and students helped construct this temporary school out of plywood and recycled heavy-duty paper tubes after an earthquake destroyed many buildings in China’s Sichuan Province. Dreaming Up author and illustrator Christy Hale shares why she chose to include Shigeru Ban’s work in her book:
In selecting the architects and structures featured in Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building I began by considering children’s building play. What materials do they use? Children do not need prepackaged toys; they can build from whatever is at hand. In fact using recyclables encourages two qualities enormously important in creativity: resourcefulness and flexibility—essential for the problem-solvers of tomorrow. After developing my list of children’s construction activities, I then looked for architects working with visually similar materials and design challenges. This is how I made my pairings.
The new Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner, Shigeru Ban said, “Anything can be building structure material.” Ban creates elegant designs from humble materials. He is famous for upcycling industrial strength paper tubes, shipping containers, and even tea bags!
I thought my young readers would particularly like his Paper Tube School in Chengdu, a temporary school built in 2008 with the help of teachers and students after an earthquake destroyed many buildings in China’s Sichuan Province. I also wanted to showcase Ban for his humanitarian work. His architecture efficiently serves the pressing needs of disaster victims while simultaneously honoring them with beauty.
Shigeru Ban’s approach to architecture makes a great entry point when introducing young people to the art form. Use these teaching resources along with Dreaming Up to inspire next generation of architects:
Often when I mention poetry during a workshop, at least one teacher laments, "I would love to do more poetry with students, but there's so much else to teach in my curriculum!" What I try to encourage (and I'm often helped big time by the workshop participants) is for this teacher to consider using poetry within her curriculum, as an integral part of her language, reading, and writing lessons, rather than as an add-on. In other words, I ask her to find a purpose for poetry.
Now, before you poetry purists flame me and cry out, "Poetry is in itself worth reading!" let me explain that I agree with you. I fondly recall organizing poetry picnics in third grade, where we would spread sheets and blankets on the field adjacent to the school playground and share favorite poems as we munched on morning snacks. So yes, I believe in poetry for its own sake.
But at the same time, I'm a realist. Many of us find it increasingly difficult to allocate the time to read poetry for its own sake; we would, in fact, like to discuss it beyond the month of April without needing an excuse or (shudder) a learning objective.
So increasingly it seems that while teachers can name lots of good reasons for using poetry with children at an early age, they still wonder how they can continue to integrate poetry in later grade levels. I offer a few suggestions below. And even if you can't get through my ten reasons, do take the time to explore the recommended sites and resources appearing at the close of this post. I could in no way do justice to all the fantastic poetry books that are available, so I encourage you to share your favorite title in the comments section below.
1. Activate Prior Knowledge
Students are most receptive to new learning when they can connect it to what they already know. Poetry provides a quick and fun way to do this.
Recommended Texts:
The Year Comes Round: Haiku Through the Seasons by Sid Farrar and illustrated by Ilse Plume presents students with vignettes of each season in the signature haiku 5-7-5 syllable, three line form, focusing upon nature with a surprising perspective. Each month is represented by its own poem, and students can write their own after determining what makes a poem a haiku. Students can also unearth the literary devices employed by Farrar such as personification, metaphor, alliteration, and simile. A sample from the book:
to the form and function of haiku, with each poem offering a funny twist in the final line. Apart from pure enjoyment, this book shows students (especially some of your hard to motivate boys) that poetry can be simple and straight forward and even fun. in "why I wrote Guyku," Raczka says, "When I was a boy, I didn't even know what a haiku was. But I did spend a lot of time outside with my friends. Nature was our playground, and we made the most of it - catching bugs, climbing trees, skipping stones, throwing snowballs. Now...I realize that haiku is a wonderful form of poetry for guys like us. Why? Because a haiku is an observation of nature, and nature is a place where guys love to be." A sample from the book:
If this puddle could
talk, I think it would tell me
to splash my sister.
2. Establish Theme
Teaching with a theme and its accompanying guiding questions isn't new to most of us, and the majority of teachers maintain a ready repertoire of methods to establish themes for classroom novels or other literature units (see some ideas and a huge list of Universal Themes in my How to Teach a Novel Handout). The perfect poem, however, can lead to a wonderful writing reflection or discussion that allows students to construct the theme and essential questions for themselves.
Recommended Sites and Texts for Theme:
The Children's Poetry Archive groups poems by themes, and my class always enjoys reflecting upon poems about death since, after all, every novel we read seems to be about death! Many poems on this site are read aloud by their authors, and my students especially love hearing The Carrion Crow read aloud.
A common theme in upper elementary and middle school novels is Change. Encourage an in-depth study of Change using Paul Janeczko's examination of Nothing Gold Can Stay in his new Heinemann title Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades. This highly recommended book features 20 thought-provoking poems from contemporary writers, with extensive lesson plans which help students to better understand each poem, and to apply it to other texts and their own experiences.
Students can compose and publish their own poems using the Theme Poems interactive from ReadWriteThink.
3. Explore Language
If you're anything like me, you struggle to teach students grammar in way that is motivational or memorable. How many of us can recall learning our parts of speech and verb forms in deadly dull exercise books? While drill and example books might have a place in instruction, I'd recommend some verse to liven up the process of language learning.
Recommended Texts and Sites:
If you're seeking to help students learn parts of speech, check out the Language Adventures series
from Gibbs Smith. These highly engaging and hilarious books focus on discrete parts of speech through the incorporation of rhyme and humor, and later editions contain learning activities, definitions, and reproducibles related to the book's topics. Answer keys and additional activities can be accessed at author Rick Walton's website. There Rick offers some wonderful language learning activities (your lesson plan for next week might just be waiting for you there), as well as an amazing assortment of ideas for using his picture books (over fifty in print!).
At The Poem Farm, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater shares wonderful original poems and teaching ideas. One of my favorites is Getting Dressed, a wonderful poem featuring personification. In addition to the many poems she shares on the site, you can have her work for your very own in her newly published collection of poems titled The Forest Has a Song. In addition to the resources at Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's site, you can also download a Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Poetry Activity Kit, featuring ideas for "Getting Dressed" as well as several other poems from HMH titles.
Alphabest: The Zany, Zanier, Zaniest Bookabout Comparatives and Superlatives probably isn't a poetry book, since each page contains just three words (such as Fuzzy, Fuzzier, Fuzziest) but it reads like poetry, and helps kids understand how adjectives can be changed to compare two or more things. Author Helaine Becker sets the scene in a busy amusement park, and illustrator Dave Whamond delivers the goods with his spirited and wacky illustrations. Students can likewise choose a single adjective, and create images to illustrate its comparative and superlative forms.
From Alphabest: The Zany, Zanier, Zaniest Book
Looking for poems with onomatopoeia? Check out Noisy Poems for a Busy Day by Robert Heidbreder and Lori Joy Smith. Short and fun, and easily replicated by students. Collect all your students' poems and create your own Busy Day anthology!
Finally, check out this Figurative Language lesson on personification and alliteration from TeachersFirst.
4. Focus on Facts
Creating poetry is a wonderful way for students to share information they learned through class or independent study. What's fantastic about poetry is that it can bring life to otherwise dry and lifeless facts! I can recall assigning fourth grade students to create poems for mathematical operations, and as a class creating couplets describing the most important names, places, events, and dates for the American Revolution. Students are incredibly receptive to these challenges! So after checking out some of the examples below, be sure to devise your own lessons to have students write informational poems in class as well.
Each poem serves as a definition, and the terms introduced are explained in greater detail in the book's end. Mehrdokht Amini's gorgeous bright and intricate illustrations make this book itself a treasure, perfect for reading with groups or sharing on a parent's lap. A sample from the book:
Gold is the dome of the mosque, big and grand. Beside it two towering minarets stand.
Animology: Animal Analogies, written by Marianne Berkes and illustrated by Cathy Morrison, introduces students to word relationships (also known as analogies) through the simplest of rhymes. Bold, full spread pictures show realistic depictions of the animals in their natural settings. Like all Sylvan Dell books, this one includes the "For Creative Minds" follow-up activities in the back of book, which can also be accessed at the publisher's site, along with an e-book preview, a video trailer, a 48 page teaching guide, and other resources.
Hey Diddle Diddle: A Food Chain Tale is another Sylvan Dell title featuring a wealth of support materials for classroom instruction (see the menu bar to the right on this page). In catchy rhyme, author Pam Kapchinske describes the the animals and complex relationships which make up a food web, the circle of life, and more specifically the ecosystem on a pond and forest habitat. Sherry Rogers' images capture each animal playing its part in this ongoing natural cycle.
5. Set a Scene
Before launching a science, social studies, or math unit, I often used poetry to set the scene. The poems I chose from myriad books would spark discussion, curiosity, and prior knowledge, ultimately building excitement and anticipation for the new unit. If only all textbooks were nearly as engaging!
Recommended Texts:
Water Sings Blue, written by Kate Coombs and illustrated by Meilo So, provides the denizens of the deep with their own voices, priming student curiosity about life in the ocean. One of my favorites is the poem "Old Driftwood," wherein this artifact is described as a "gnarled sailor"..."telling of mermaids/ and whales thi-i-i-s big/ to all the attentive/ astonished twigs." Another sample from the book:
Sea Urchin
The sea urchin fell in love with a fork. With a tremble of purple spines, she told her mother, "He's tall, not a ball, but just look at his wonderful tines!
Each of Joyce Sidman's wonderful poems about the nocturnal world of the woods is accompanied by a fact-filled sidebar, exploring the creatures described in the poems and in Rick Allen's beautiful relief print illustrations. The title poem in part reads: "Perched missile, almost invisible, you preen silent feathers, swivel your sleek satellite dish of a head." This small excerpt gives you an idea of the book's sophisticated verse! The author cleverly formatted the poem "Dark Emperor" in the shape of an owl, and if your students are interested in creating concrete poetry like this, you might find that shape templates are a good way to get started. And if you're not familiar with Avi's novel Poppy, be sure to check it out! Boys find it easy to root for this strong female character because "she is, after all, a mouse."
6. Inspire Writing
If you're seeking ways to get students writing, poetry is an effective vehicle to transport them to success. Take the opportunity to preview Poetry Mentor Texts online at the Stenhouse site; you'll be amazed at the simple steps to sophisticated writing using the lesson ideas presented there. In addition to Poetry Mentor Texts inspiring students to write their own verse, this book will also provide you with ideas for using poetry as a creative response format for other disciplines as well:
Poetry shouldn't be just a part of the language arts curriculum. It offers another way to communicate and demonstrate our understanding of a concept in content areas. It is a method for deepening comprehension and developing a level of empathy and knowledge that can be applied to real-world situations. Poetry can be used to informally assess science and math. It can help students link content areas.
Additional Recommended Texts and Sites:
Students can extend or rewrite or revisit favorite or famous poems. In Casey Back at Bat, sports writer Dan Gutman revisits the classic American poem (the picture book version illustrated by Max Payne is one of my favorites). Choose similar narrative poems, and challenge students to extend them, revise them, or "answer them" with poems of their own.
In an earlier post, I discussed writing "Valentines for Vermin" using Vulture Verses: Love Poems for the Unloved as a mentor text. The book closes with a request: "So many cards to write! So many animal friends! I may need some help. Do you know someone who is misunderstood? Will you help me write friendship notes, too?" Such a fantastic suggestion! Working in pairs or teams, students can research basic facts about other unloved animals that "scuttle, slither, buzz, and sting." A really fun and stress free way to get students writing creatively, with results which they'll be eager to share with others.
If you're seeking inspirations for students to write poetry in a number of forms,
you'll be amazed and delighted to read Fly with Poetry: An ABC of Poetry or Leap Into Poetry: More ABCs of Poetry. First, it's amazing that author/illustrator Avis Harley has found enough poem forms to write and illustrate not just one but two ABC collections, and second, she's done it by focusing solely on the topic of insects! So she not only presents and explains the poetry forms in detail, but these mentor texts teach students wonderful facts about dozens of creatures that crawl, climb, and fly as well. Extensions using other animal species are possible, although I can see these form poems being applied to almost any subject area.
Students love the idea of fractured fairy tales, so a book like Monster Goose by Judy Sierra is certain to be hit. The author's creepy and comedic new versions of classic childhood rhymes will inspire your students to want to create the same.
After sharing a few poems such as Humpty Dumpty (below), provide students with a collection of unrevised rhymes, and see where their imaginations can take them. See, too, if their accompanying illustrations can be as entertaining as those of Jack E. Davis, illustrator extraordinaire of Bedhead fame. Davis not only captures a key moment of each poem, but also cleverly establishes and then breaks the borders of each illustration, creating an off-the-page effect.
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty swam in the sea
Humpty's sunscreen was SPF-3.
Because he was so lightly oiled,
Dear Humpty ended up hard-boiled.
7. See New Perspectives
One of poetry's transcendent powers is its ability to refocus, if not totally transform, our point of view. It's far too simple for students (and teachers!) to lose themselves in their egocentric viewpoints, and fail to consider issues from another perspective. Poetry open students' eyes to new ways of seeing.
Recommended Texts:
Make Magic! Do Good! by Dallas Clayton is a quirky and crazy collection of verses that collectively encourage readers to see the best in themselves, in others, and in every situation.
From Make Magic! Do Good!
So much of modern day communication relies upon snark and sarcasm, it's refreshing to find poems that are open and honest and encouraging, while at the same time remaining zany and random, which kids also appreciate. I also think that the way the book cover turns into a poster is a pretty cool twist!
Perspective, or point of view, plays a huge role in history and its interpretation. Although not entirely accurate in historic detail, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere remains a classic of American Literature. Check out this previous post where I discuss several picture versions of the text, and the unique perspective supplied by each.
In Daniel Kirk's Dogs Rule! and his later Cat Power!, the author/illustrator profiles some of the furriest and funniest heroes of each species. See my Words and Images in Perfect Harmony post for more details, as well as teaching suggestions.
The National Geographic's Book of Animal Poetry is wonderful in that it often features multiple poems for a single animal.
The zebra and the pig, for instance, are both celebrated by four different poets. Examining the poems, students can discuss what facts and features each poet chose to discuss. In what ways are their poems alike? Different? Older students can even attempt to identify the poem form used by each writer. After reading some of the examples in this book from both classic and contemporary writers, students can then try their own hand at describing animals both foreign and familiar. Such poems are an excellent addition to those animal reports and presentations which many teachers already include in their curriculum.
8. Ignite Curiosity
Much has been said in educational texts about inquiry learning. From my own experiences, however, I find that students are naturally inquisitive, and there's not much more we need to do but focus their natural curiosity. Poetry can do this!
Recommended Texts:
A Strange Place to Call Home, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Ed Young, is an intriguing exploration into diverse and unique habitats of the world.
In the preface, the author explains: "Extreme environments such as deserts, glaciers, salt lakes, and pools of oil may not seem appealing, yet in these places, there is often less competition and more safety from predators. So over time, a variety of animals have adapted to these challenging conditions. This collection of poems celebrates some of these great adapters and the risky places where they live." End notes give further explanation of each animal and its adaptations to its specialized niche, along with notes about the poetry forms employed for each piece. Below is a sample poem, written in sonnet form:
TOP OF THE WORLD mountain goats Atop a rocky peak, the air is pure, but the wind blows fierce and the climb is steep. Each step must be confident and so sure, there's little need to look before you leap. The ice, the snow, the winter's biting cold require a cozy, insulated coat. What animal lives here, hardy and bold? Behold this king of cliffs, the mountain goat! Feasting in springtime on grass that is lush, avoiding in summer the sun's blazing rays. Browsing in autumn on stubborn dry brush, learning to deal with the year's hardest days. Living where enemies cannot intrude, it succeeds indeed at this altitude.
World Rat Day by...wait for it...J. Patrick Lewis is a fun collection of unusual but authentic holidays, celebrated here in verse. Where else could you learn about Cow Appreciation Day, Limerick Day, or Chocolate-Covered Anything Day? Students will enjoy researching these and other wacky holidays, and even inventing their own to commemorate people, places, and events that are important to them. (See a video trailer here at the Candlewick Press site).
9. Provide Pleasure
Okay, so you may think I cheated on this one. After all, I'm supposed to be giving you purposes for using poetry. But if we can't convince our students that one of reading's purest functions is pleasure, then I don't think we've really done our job.
So many poems and books of poems exist to fill this classification that I won't even begin to list them all here. So if you have a favorite poem or book you read with students for pleasure, please share it in the comments section below!
Recommended Texts:
A Dog is a Dog by Stephen Shaskan is an incredibly simple, yet funny and clever book about a dog who may not be a dog at all, but perhaps instead a cat...or is it a squid?...or a moose?
This crazy dog sheds one disguise after another, and who knows what he'll be next? It's short, fun, and you'd better be prepared to read it more than once, although its simplicity, meter, and rhyme make it easily accessible to independent beginning readers. Also be sure to check out the cool stuff on the author's site.
Do you have older students who are obsessed with zombies? The Zombie Haiku site offers a unique twist on this traditional poetry form, with submissions from famous contemporary authors, as well as poetry "fakes" by greats of the past.
10. Capture Character
Most of us have assigned biography reports, only later to be disappointed when some students fail to capture the greatness of the men and women they studied. What's awesome about biographical poems is that they encapsulate the essence of what makes a person's life memorable and meaningful.
Familiar names such as Jackie Robinson, Harvey Milk, and Mohandas Gandhi share the pages with new discoveries such as Sylvia Mendez (Mexican-American-Purto Rican civil rights leader), Muhammad Yunus (Bangladeshi banker), and Dennis Banks (Cofounder of the American Indian Movement and Anishinabe political activist). Several artists collaborate to illustrate the poems, which can also lead to a discussion of what each artist chose to represent the whole of a person's life in a single image. For more teaching ideas integrating these poems with informational writing, see the related post at Two Writing Teachers blog.
Another collection of biographical poems, also be J. Patrick Lewis, is Freedom Like Sunlight: Praisesongs for Black Americans. These poems are notable in that they capture the content of each person's character, rather then the rote facts of his or her life. John Thompson's realistically rendered illustrations help to make this title a standout.
Use the The Explorers' Graveyard lesson plan for sharing facts and findings when reading biographies. Again, the aim here is to get to what's worth knowing about this famous person.If you're looking for a funnier take of epitaphs, I recommend Once Upon a Tomb: Gravely Humorous Verses by J. Patrick Lewis (yes, him again!), and illustrated by Simon Bartram. The hilarious and revealing tombstone tidings capture in the most clever way the humor of many professions. Take this one, for instance, written for a Book Editor:
Miss Spellings
Exclamation points
Were myriad!!!
She live on the margin.
And died.
Period.
Recommended Online Tools for Writing Poetry:
My top pick is Instant Poetry Forms, which allows students to enter prompted words and verses in order to form (you guessed it!) instant poetry. Some of the forms are purely creative and student-centered, while others allow students to enter researched information (such as data on an early explorer) to create nonfiction verse. An excellent way to encourage your poetry-phobic students (usually the boys!). Each prompt generator includes an example of a finished poem in that style, so students can get a good idea of how the finished poem might sound.
Rhyme Brain isn't just another rhyming site; instead, it has three functions: rhyme creator, alliteration creator, and portmanteau creator. The results for the latter two tools are pretty impressive, and lend themselves to some real playfulness with language.
Poetry Splatter is a decent site for reluctant or struggling writers. Students are offered limited words to complete template poems. The results are fairly closed ended, but this might be a good place to start for those students who struggle to generate poems wholly on their own.
At WriteRhymes, it's as easy as "As you write, hold the alt key and click on a word to find a rhyme for it..." That's it. You can Copy, Save, or Print from the site.
Additional Recommended Resources for Poetry Month:
Stenhouse Publishing has compiled a wonderful collection of poetry lesson plans and teaching ideas from about a dozen of their best-selling professional resources.
Check out the Poetry Sampler, available as a pdf download directly from the publisher.
ReadWriteThink is a go-to resource if you're seeking poetry lesson plans complete with interactive or printable components. From the search page, you can narrow down the 285 results by grade level, resource type, or popularity.
If needed, here's an extensive glossary of poetry terms. I wish each term was accompanied by an example, but a good place to start regardless. If you can't find a term there, then you can likely find it in this Glossary of Poetic Terms.
Bruce Lansky books and teaching ideas at Poetry Teachers. Sixteen poetry categories, fun ways to get students writing, and poetry theater (poems to download in read-aloud theater versions).
The Children's Poetry Archive is a wonderful collection of poems selected just for children, and read by their creators.
Tweenverse is a fun collection of poems by Richard Thomas. No activities included here, but you'll several of these to be perfect as mentor texts for helping students write verse to reflect on their own experiences. See Summer Camp Souvenirs or Brother Trouble for a quick idea of what you'll find there.
The Poets.org Educator Site provides teaching tips, popular poems to share, curriculum units and lesson plans, and suggestions for Poetry Month.
Poetry for Tough Guys features poems written by Steven Micciche, mostly aimed at guys. Don't worry; it's still kid appropriate! Perhaps a good stop for reluctant boys to gain entry into verse.
13 Comments on Purposes for Poetry: Ten Ways to Use Poetry in Your Instruction, last added: 4/8/2013
What a rich and wonderful post! Thank you so much for this resource and for including my book and site in your list. I look forward to sharing this with teachers. - a.
Wow-what a marvelous source of so much that is good for poetry in the classroom. I think that April brings out these sources that are valuable, yet often wonder if it wouldn't be good for everyone to post similar ideas in September, when the school year is starting, so that teachers can "begin" with ideas. If we wait for April poetry month, the year is already on the path to the end. Thank you for everything. I'll share, & also save for next year! One of my favorite books to lend, or give, is the XJ & Dorothy Kennedy book, Knock At A Star, revised in 1999.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Linda. I agree, this stuff should be shared earlier on, so perhaps I'll repost an updated version in September. Also, thanks for sharing your fave book on poetry.
Poetry is an integral part of life, to me-- and the better to show that early! Teaching children that poetry is something arcane, tightened, set apart, makes it something that is not accessible.
I love these resources, and I wholeheartedly agree that sprinkling and baking the poetry right into other lessons, makes it tastier; and gives young palates a natural taste for more.
What an extensive resource! Thanks for gathering all these great poetry books and tips. I hope you'll also give a glance to THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY (at PomeloBooks.com) and my blog, PoetryForChildren.Blogspot.com Great to connect with a kindred spirit!
Fantastic post, Keith! Guyku in particular sounds like it stresses the accessibility of poetry.
Re books - so many wonderful Australian books to recommend, but that is not much help to you! However, I have a huge soft spot for a North American publication, Alligator Pie from back in the 70s.
One useful online resource I like is Scholastic's Writing with Writer's Activity. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/activity/poetry-writing-writers-activity They also have a Poetry Idea Engine for kids. http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/poetry_engine.htm Another that's great for transmitting the idea of having FUN with poetry is Kenn Nesbitt's Poetry4Kids. http://www.poetry4kids.com
Guest post By Marcie Flinchum Atkins What is a mentor text?
As a writer, do you read as many books as you can get your hands on? When you are stuck on how to write a particular scene, or you can’t get your beginning quite right, do you go to some of your favorite books to see how that writer handled it? If you read like a writer, then you are using mentor texts.
Mentor texts are stellar pieces of writing that are used to “mentor” another writer. It’s teacher-speak for a book that a teacher uses as an exemplary example of how to write well.
Market Your Book as a Mentor Text
You are a professional writer. Just like athletes who want to become better observe and learn from the pros, young writers should look to your writing as a model.
As a teacher, I don’t teach kids how to write from a textbook. I use real examples from books they love. Of course, teachers love to find books that can be used to entice reluctant readers to read. We search for books that tie into our Social Studies and Science curriculums. But we also want to find books that can help us show kids how to write.
I’m not suggesting we are looking for how-to books. Teachers are using their favorite books to teach kids how to read like writers. As a writer, you can market your book to teachers to use as a mentor text. We aren’t just looking for an interesting story (although that is VERY important), we are also looking for ways to show kids how you put your story together. How did you use description to make the reader “see” the setting? How did you use shorter sentences to speed up the pace? We want to show students how you stitched your story together.
Mentor Text Lessons
There are hundreds of writing lessons that you could do with a text and each teacher will gear specific skills to his/her state standards and the level of the students. Take a look at the standards for the grade level of your book (Common Core or individual state standards) to see if you can capitalize on your writing strengths and pair it up with what teachers need to teach in the classroom.
Some common ideas for lessons include:
Word choice—including vivid verbs, specific vocabulary, sensory words
Word play—onomatopeoia, puns, figurative language, made up words
Description—including descriptions of setting and characters
Beginnings and Endings
Organization of text—this is useful in non-fiction
Sentence Variety
I teach fourth grade, and in the last month, I have used THE NIGHT FAIRY by Laura Amy Schlitz, SAVVY by Ingrid Law, and OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW by Kate Messner to help students use vivid verbs in their own writing. I used COME ON, RAIN! by Karen Hesse and HEAT WAVE by Eileen Spinelli to show them how sensory words can make their writing better. I find myself going back to some books over and over again because they are full of so many writing gems.
Do you do school visits? Speak at teacher conferences? Have a teacher resource area on your website? These are all good places to market your book to writing teachers and give examples of how your book can be used in the writing curriculum.
You have spent years perfecting your craft of writing. Help teachers not only inspire readers to enjoy your story, but also provide ways they can inspire budding writers in their classroom as well. Market your book as a mentor text for young writers.
–
Marcie Atkins
Marcie Flinchum Atkins teaches fourth graders to write using mentor texts and trains teachers on how to use mentor texts in their classrooms. In the wee hours of the morning, she also writes picture books and novels. For more resources on mentor texts, check out her website: http://www.marcieatkins.com. Click on the “For Teachers” tab.
Children’s Literature Top Picks of 2011 & 2012 By Patricia Austin, University of New Orleans
May B. by Caroline Starr Rose. New York: Schwartz & Wade, 2012. 231pp. Gr. 3-7 The title alone May B (short for the protagonist’s name Mavis Elizabeth Betterly) sets up an intriguing metaphoric premise. What is it that may be possible for twelve-year old May B, a poor girl from the Kansas prairie in the 1870s? She shares her dream of becoming a teacher but she struggles so in reading that people think she’s slow-witted. Her family hires her to a farm some fifteen miles away–to make money and help out. May suffers an uneasy relationship with the lady of the soddy, who is so sad, missing home, that she leaves. When her husband searches for her and doesn’t return, May is left to fend for herself facing uncertainly, fears (some imagined but most real) as she braves many hardships. The novel has perfect pacing with tension that will have readers turning the pages, yet its beauty is in the lyrical language. Readers who have felt “my best isn’t always good enough,” will find a special kinship with the determined protagonist.* They will also appreciate the short verses. Check out the blog of former teacher, Caroline Starr Rose where she offers info on making sod houses and provides teaching materials for her book.
*Yes!
4 Comments on R.E.A.D: Journal for the Louisiana Reading Association, last added: 9/8/2012
Month by Month CCSS Lesson Plans You Can Use Immediately in Your Classroom or School
School years includes many odd sorts of days.
You unexpectedly finish a unit on Thursday and don’t want to start a new one until Monday.
Holidays or special events make regular lessons difficult.
You’re sick and need a substitute teacher for a day.
This group of seasonal ELA and writing lessons is designed to fill in those odd days with fun, easy, lessons which require a minimum of preparation and yet still meet the needs of the Common Core State Standards. We suggest activities for each month, but most activities are flexible enough for any season.
Meets Common Core Curriculum Needs
Each lesson is correlated to appropriate Common Core curriculum maps.
The Common Core State Standards (corestandards.com) include ten anchor standards each for writing and reading and six anchor standards for language. Each ELA activity in this book will list the anchor standards addressed, thus making them flexible enough to fit any grade level.
Each activity is meant to be:
Flexible
Fast and easy preparation
Fun for students
Aligned to the CCSS
Correlated to CCSS curriculum maps
TABLE OF CONTENTS
August 26 National Dog Day (argument)
September 3 Skyscraper Day (informative/expository)
October 2 – Write a Comic Strip (comic strip/narrative)
November 21 – World Hello Day (letter writing/optional argument)
December – Rudolph’s Top 5 Writing Tips (narrative)
January- Frosty the Snowman (narrative)
February- Evaluate a Website (argument)
March – Gingerbread Man (folk tale/narrative)
April 5 – National Read a Road Map Day (Reading/Creating maps as informational text)
May 20 – Endangered Species Day (Informative/expository)
For the seventh year, Fiction Notes offers writing tips from popular personalities of the season. Tomorrow, the Grinch joins the lineup, with Top 5 Writing Tips from the Grinch (link will work on Friday, Nov. 25).
Top Writing Tips from Rudolph, Santa, Frosty, Gingerbread Man, 12 Days of Christmas, and the 3 Kings
In appreciation for all you do for children’s literature, I am offering a free set of lesson plans for Winter Writing with Kids. Based on popular Christmas and winter children’s stories, kids will learn 34 skills of writing.
A lot of you know I'm a former teacher. I've spent a total of seven years teaching English, social studies, or some combination of both.
One reason it's so much fun to teach these subjects is the variety of creative ways you can present subject matter. Both social studies and language arts lend themselves to assignments that allow students to work at their own pace and ability, giving them room to dig deep and explore topics well beyond initial classroom lessons.
While teaching English one year, I designed a reading assignment I called Where in the World are We Reading. Each term, my kids had to read a book located on a different continent, with the option of visiting one place "out of this world" (a fantasy title) during the year. Students marked their books' settings with stick pins on a big classroom map and kept a record of what they learned in a packet I called a Travel Log.
A few years later, I adapted the assignment for my social studies students. This time around, I drew from my students' understanding of setting (the time and location a story takes place). I gave kids permission to read anything in a different setting. Contemporary books like PEAK set in the Himalayas, historical fiction like Harry Mazer's A BOY NO MORE, and biographies all qualified.
Again, kids filled out a Travel Log while reading their books. My seventh graders were required to read two books a term. Fifth and sixth graders read one. Fourth graders could read for extra credit.
Some students chose to focus their reading in one area: I had one girl who read only about the Holocaust. She was able to use what she learned in a Social Studies Fair project later that year. Some decided they wanted to read about a specific country or period in history.
As a teacher, I was deeply satisfied watching my students go deeper and wider in the areas of their interest, learning about history and the world through literature.
For those of you interested in using this reading assignment, I have both the Where in the World Are We Reading and Travel Log handouts available as PDFs at my website. Please tell me about your experiences if you do!
1 Comments on Classroom Connections: Where in the World Are We Reading?, last added: 6/1/2011
I feel like the White Rabbit here. No time, no time! We’ll have to do this round-up of Fusenews in a quick quick fashion then. Forgive the brevity! It may be the soul of wit but it is really not my preferred strength. In brief, then!
Dean Trippe, its creator, calls it YA. I call it middle grade. I also call it a great idea that we desperately need. COME ON, DC! Thanks to Hark, a Vagrant for the link.
This came out a little less than a year ago, but I find it useful. From American Indians in Children’s Literature, Debbie Reese presents her Top Ten Books Recommended for Elementary School.
The Scop is back! This is good news. It means that not only can author Jonathan Auxier show off a glimpse of his upcoming middle grade novel Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes but he also created a piece of true art: HoloShark with Easter Bunny.
If you know your Crockett Johnson (or your comics) you’ll know that long before Harold and that purple crayon of his the author/illustrator had a regular comic strip called Barnaby. What you may not have known? That it was turned into a stage play.
J.K. Rowling wants to create a Hagrid hut in her backyard? She should get some tips from Laurie Halse Anderson.
Why do we never get sick of Shaun Tan? Because the man is without ego. So if you’ve a mind to, you can learn more about him through these 5 Questions with Shaun Tan over at On Our Minds @ Scholastic.
A lesson plan database? I’ve been saying for years we needed something like that. Smart AASL. Clever ducks.
Thanks to the good people of Lerner, I got to hang out a bit with Klaus Flugge at a dinner in Bologna recently. Not long after he showed The Guardian some of his favorite illustrated envelopes. Hmm. Wouldn’t be bad fodder for a post of my own someday. Not that I have anything to compare to this:
… bite they little heads off, nibble on they tiny feet.
Leila said, on 4/26/2011 3:41:00 AM
In filling my new bookshelves (hooray!) I actually got some of my Three Investigators up there. Where do you put yours? I considered shelving them by series title, since Robert Arthur only wrote the first few, and I thought about filing them under Hitchcock, since that’s who everyone associates them with (and because I have a bunch of those Hitchcock collections), but I ended up putting ‘em in the ‘A’s.
But I still might move them when we add more shelves.
david e said, on 4/26/2011 4:30:00 AM
what rams said. there’s no way i can hear those opening lines by b. kliben and not sing the rest of that song.
what a power-packed post. so much goodness shared, so much to check out!
Elizabeth Bird said, on 4/26/2011 6:11:00 AM
Leila I wish I had enough 3 Investigators to have that problem. Mine are all Arthurs, but if I had a Hitchcock or two I’d probably store ‘em with the Arthur like you did.
Boy, what I wouldn’t give if you did with them what you did with Nancy Drew *hint hint*.
And thanks, David!
Jennifer Schultz said, on 4/26/2011 6:16:00 AM
I love Cake Wrecks-I thought about sending you a link, but I was pretty sure that you were a Cake Wrecks reader!
Elizabeth Fama said, on 4/26/2011 6:27:00 AM
I love Dean Trippe’s and Daniel Krall’s concept for young Lois, too, but the adventures in the proposal aren’t, well, adventurous enough yet (book one: a respected pharmaceuticals representative has cheated on the asthma drug’s safety tests in order to get a promotion and a raise; book two: an elite boarding school is giving scholarships to children of celebrities and politicians…). Also, Clark is influenced by Lois, but they haven’t met at this point, so if Clark’s story is presented separately in the same book, it will sort of stall Lois’s action. There are kinks that need to be worked out, but it’s a great concept. Is DC the only publishing outlet, because they own the characters?
Leila said, on 4/26/2011 6:40:00 AM
Yes! That does make sense — I’d have never even considered shelving Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys under Stratemeyer instead of Keene/Dixon, so Arthur it is… until I dig out my Hitchcocks, that is. *Then* I’ll have to re-evaluate.
I don’t think I could bear to tear up one of the Three Investigators books, as I don’t have as many doubles. But maybe, someday…
Elizabeth Bird said, on 4/26/2011 7:40:00 AM
Agreed. The idea of young Lois is enticing but the writing needs some work. Frankly, I don’t think we need Clark in there at all. But a young gutsy girl reporter middle grade series? Love it! Like Kiki Strike but with some social awareness.
Oh! Not to tear up the 3 Investigators for bags, but rather to do a book by book analysis of the plots, Leila. There’s a lot to pick apart there. Like the fact that they win a week with a personal chauffeur . . . and that week somehow never ends over the course of the entire series.
Kristi Hazelrigg said, on 4/26/2011 10:51:00 AM
Someone suggested to me that Robert Downey Jr. would make a good Haymitch. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Then there’s the whole “easy on the eye” issue, as well.
Debbie Reese said, on 4/26/2011 11:44:00 AM
Thanks for pointing people to my site!
And on the topic of creating houses… Romance fiction writer Cassie Edwards lives in a mansion modeled after Tara. Smart Bitches took her to task for plagiarism. She plagiarized from many, including N. Scott Momaday.
I am usually delighted to find graphic interpretations of my favorite literary works. This spooky adaptation of Franz Kafka’s most famous work, Metamorphosis, delighted me:
And I was amazed by Zak Smith’s painting-per-page reaction to Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow.
The graphic novelization of major literary works is not without its detractors. I was very surprised to read an article in Slate slamming the recent adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s epic Fahrenheit-451, in which Sarah Boxer argues that presenting the book as a comic is insulting and ironic. I agree with her complaint that much of the language that makes the story great is lost when condensed into this form. Yet I wonder, would she have the same complaint were it made into a movie? She seems to ignore the ability of the comic genre to depict and illustrate ideas by juxtaposing words with images.
Nevertheless, the genre of the graphic novel is growing fast. Publishers recognize it. Prize committees recognize it. The use of comic books in the classroom is becoming increasingly popular. Art Spiegelman’s Maus won the Pulitzer Prize Special Award (the Board found the book difficult to classify). In 2006, the National Book Award went to Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese. The Best American series puts out a yearly comics compilation, and comics are also included in the Best American Non-Required Reading, which is a compilation aimed at young readers. Nearly every U.S. bookstore has a section for comics and manga.
First of all, apologies for contacting you through the comments section of this post. I'm not sure who authored the article, or how to contact them.
I work for a graphic novel publisher called Campfire that aims its titles at kids and young people, with one of our main focuses being on encouraging reluctant and struggling readers to start picking up books for the sheer enjoyment of doing so. At the same time as creating an entertaining read, we also ensure that our titles are high in literary and moral values so that learning takes place subliminally.
We launched our titles in the US earlier this year, using Random House as our distributor, and are keen to become established in schools, libraries and bookshops across the country. If you’re interested in finding out more about us, then please let me know. My e-mail address is [email protected]
I’ve found some more specific links, with lesson plans and lists of questions to ask students, that may help teachers to structure lessons about graphic representations of novels.
On making literature-to-graphic novel connections: http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/professional-library/building-literacy-connections-with-30351.html
Regarding techniques to establish pacing: http://www.writersstore.com/techniques-to-establish-pacing
Lesson plans for teaching literary devices with comics: http://www.teachingcomics.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:Teaching%20Literary%20Devices%20with%20Comics&catid=36:Lesson%20Plans&Itemid=57
A useful handout to aid student critiques of comics: http://www.teachingcomics.org/images/handouts/handout3.pdf
Basic steps to address mood and tone: http://ezinearticles.com/?Teaching-Tone-and-Mood-in-Literature---5-Basic-Steps-to-Consider&id=3720675
I have been in a lot of different writing workshops lately. Just this week I’ve been in 13 writing workshops and have met with 13 different teachers in either reflective practice meetings or planning meetings. Therefore, I have SO MUCH I want to record. Which leads me to my current dilemma: what do I not [...]
I'm craving some homemade applesauce and crispy, fresh apples so we're hoping to make our way to an apple orchard this weekend. I've noticed several other blogs writing about orchard trips and apple books and projects this week. Thought we'd chime in with a book suggestion of our own and an easy-peasy edible apple craft for today's StArt post.
I'm not sure how Apples, Apples, Apples made it's way into our library book bag last week, but it did! My daughter may have recognized the bunny character on the cover. We own one another of Nancy Elizabeth Wallace's books titled, Fly, Monarch! Fly! and the same characters appear in both books.
Two young bunnies, Minna and Pip, travel to an apple orchard with their Mom and Dad. They meet Mr. Miller, the apple farmer, who teaches them about different apple varieties and how to pick apples. He also points out the parts of an apple and describes tree growing practices. The bunnies return home and make some yummy cinnamon apple sauce.
In her Minna and Pip books, Wallace includes informational text intermixed with dialogue between the rabbits. I really like how this book teaches but also tells a simple story. The text isn't exactly riveting, but the illustrations certainly make up for anything the text lacks. Wallace uses a collage technique to construct her illustrations and her cut-paper artwork is very lovely. Wallace successfully incorporates a craft, a song and even a recipe into this book - another one of her picture books signatures. It's really a perfect book to use in preschool and kindergarten apple unit lessons and fun to read before visits to an orchard.
❖❖❖❖❖❖ stART Craft - Edible Painted Apple Butterflies ❖❖❖❖❖❖
Since we read both Apples, Apples, Apples and Fly, Monarch! Fly! this week, I thought it would be fun to make a craft that corresponds with both books. These Edible Painted Apple Butterflies from perpetualpreschool.com are so pretty and double as a delicious snack. My dau
13 Comments on Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace - Edible Painted Apple Butterfly Craft, last added: 9/17/2010
What a cute idea! I must be the only person I know who doesn't own food coloring, but the rest we could do. And we have "painted" with chocolate before. :)
Wonderful post!! I love Nancy Wallace's books - they are absolutely adorable! Thank you for sharing the extra links, too, for follow-up activities!! I really enjoyed this post!
My kindergartener has a love of words or, more accurately, a love of made-up words. She's not able to sit down and write words by sounding them out yet, but lately she's shown a lot of interest in arranging letters together to form pretend words. After she finishes writing her string of letters, she asks, "Mommy, what does this say?" We sound the word out together and laugh. She originally created a lot of words with only consonants, until I explained to her that all words usually contain vowels between the consonants. Our pretend word play turned into a simple lesson about vowels and consonants, and I provided her with a list of the vowels to use as a reference when making up words.
Here are a few of her made-up dictionary entries:
Eef: a type of lettuce that looks like a leaf
Amomilis: a kind of fruit that looks like a blueberry that grows on a pink bush. They are smaller than your pinky. If you drop one, it will disappear.
Coymix: type of food you need to mix. Need to make sure it doesn't have too much sugar because it might get very tall and all messy. It's a different kind of cake that has nuts in it.
Cobwixu: type of animal like a giraffe but it doesn't have any spots.
My daughter drew accompanying illustrations for each of her entries. Below I've included a few of her completed pages with illustration.
Most kids I know find dictionaries fascinating. Every home library should include include at least one printed dictionary, preferably more. Yesterday, I read an article in the Washington post titled, "Internet may phase out printed Oxford Dictionary." (Today the Oxford University Press issued a statement contradicting all the online buzz that they plan to stop printing the dictionary.) I use online dictionaries quite often when trying to find the correct spelling or meaning of a word, but I've never referenced the OED, print or online. However, we do own a massively large, one volume Webster's Third New International Dictionary and even though it is not as complete as the 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary, it is still very fun to browse though and use as reference. Last year we refer
6 Comments on Little Lexicographer - Creating a Pretend Dictionary, last added: 8/31/2010
The internet will not phase out much for me. I love books in their proper form, including dictionaries! I think we have four dictionaries in our house. I love the idea of making up a dictionary! Very clever. My kids love to call out a bunch of random letters and ask me what they spell all together - most often they do not spell a real word, so this is perfect for those made up words! Thanks.
Love it! She'll be a natural at Balderdash. :) E loves the hand-me-down dictionary we received recently. She comes by in honestly - I asked for an unabridged dictionary for my 17th birthday.
photo by BlatantNews.com www.flickr.com (photo is in public domain)
One of my favorite lessons plans for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I found when I was a writing specialist at Fairmount Elementary School. This lesson teaches children about Martin Luther King, Jr. AND teaches them about that elusive 6 plus one writing trait: voice. Plus, it’s super easy!
You need two books about Martin Luther King, Jr. One should be My Brother Martin, and the other one can be any fact book that you have for kids about Martin Luther King, Jr. Here’s the example:
First read the fact book to your students or your children. Ask them to remember one or two facts they can tell you when you finish reading. Discuss the book. Ask children to rate the book on a scale of 1 to 10. Next read My Brother Martin for this lesson plan for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and ask students to remember one or two facts that they learn in the book. Discuss the book and ask them to rate it.
Next ask students if they want to rate the first book again, and they will want to rate it lower. THEY SHOULD love the book My Brother Martin for the voice and personal glimpse of his life you get from his sister. (Although you’ll always have one or two children that don’t like it better because it’s too long! ) Talk to children about how the voice makes a huge difference in the enjoyment of the book. Whose voice is narrating, My Brother Martin? His sister’s! Whose voice is narrating the nonfiction fact book? An author who did research.
See where I’m going here. . .
You can also use this lesson as an introduction to personal narratives. I love lessons that (1) share books (2) cover more than one topic at a time (3) get kids thinking!
Click on the link to TeachersFirst.com and scroll down the page a bit for a quick hands-on poetry lesson featuring my poem--so wonderfully illustrated on my website by Nikki Schaefer. Of course, you'll want to visit my acrobatic bugs in the Writings section of my website, so you can enjoy the slideshow as well.
If you want to try an ABCEDARIAN--an alphabetic poem that uses the letters A-Z in proper order as the first letters of every line--start with only a few letters. As you become more comfortable with this poetic challenge, see how far you can go--alphabetically--with your lines. In a new Abcedarian I created below, I give myself a little leeway with an extra word, here and there, after the main letter word on a few lines. I also use two semi-invented words. (Can you find them?) That's why poetry is so much fun--it's puzzles and puns and wordplay all wrapped up in the coolest formats.
Give an ABCEDARIAN a try!
*****
FEATHERED FESTIVITIES
A
Bright
Cardinal--
Dressed
Elegantly--
For the Festivities,
Gathered
Holly berries
In a
Jaunty
Kitbag
Loaded with
Miscellaneous
Nuts and
Offerings,
Perfect
0 Comments on Teachers First with Poetry as of 1/1/1900
I’ve followed the book trailer phenomenon for a couple years and wanted to do a post. In 2003, it was just beginning; in 2006, there was lots of experimenting; in 2009, it seems here to stay and writers should take it as a given that they need a book trailer for trade books. Here’s some of the best about book trailers from around the web.
Every Book Needs a You Tube Video From CamCorderInfo.com. Of course, the Camcorder people would recommend book trailers; yet, the article is fairly balanced and has lots of links to new info.
What Can You Do with a Book Trailer? by Karen Dionne (billed as the “new Michael Crichton”) write a general article about trailers touching on where to share them and best practices.
Are Book Trailers Effective? This post quotes the Wall Street Journal: “”There is scant evidence . . . that the average book trailer actually has much impact on book sales.”
You saw it here first! Oliver has a new website and he’s having lots of fun this summer!
Geotagging: A Social App for Geography Fun
Our knowledge of geography is becoming more sophisticated: If you own a smart phone, like the Apple iPhone 3G or some Blackberrys, the phone will automatically adds geotags – location information – to every photo snapped. But can Americans locate those places on a map? Not likely.
Echoing every major study of geographic knowledge in the U.S. or Great Britain over the last decade, Americans performed dismally on the 2007 Facebook application, “Traveler IQ Challenge.” Out of 193 nations, US players ranked 117th.
2006 surveys indicate that over 70% of US high school graduates couldn’t answer these simple questions correctly (See answers below):
What is the most commonly spoken native language in the world?
What is the largest Muslim country in the world?
What country is the largest exporter of goods and services?
Can Technology Help Teach Geography?
Children’s book author Darcy Pattison says, “I like writing stories for kids that incorporate maps and geography knowledge. I don’t know why I’m drawn to these stories, since I’m not a good navigator. Maybe it’s because maps are a form of storytelling, too.”
The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman, a story about a wooden man who travels across the country to connect a family. In the sequel, Searching for Oliver K. Woodman, Oliver starts cross-country again, but when he’s lost a wooden woman, Imogene Poplar, P.I. searches for him.
It’s not surprising, then, that the main character of her books, Oliver K. Woodman, is the subject of a new Flickr Map Project (www.oliverkwoodman.com/map-project) designed for elementary students.
The Project encourages anyone interested to take a paper Oliver along on their travels and photograph him at landmarks. The key is to geotag the photos and upload them to a Flickr group site: (www.flickr.com/groups/oliverkwoodman).
Geotagging is simply marking a photo as belonging to a specific spot on a map. While smart phones can geotag photos automatically, you don’t need that much technology to participate. In fact, Flickr’s method of geotagging by allowing users to drag-and-drop a photo onto a map is more educational for kids. To correctly geotag, a student must accurately locate a place on a map.
Interactive: Photos + Maps = Better Learning
There are 35 million + photos already on Flickr and even more on GoogleEarth, the other major online photo-geotagging site. Isn’t it enough just to send students to view those geotagged photos? No.
“Geotagging photos is a great interactive tool for learning geography,” Pattison says. “Like other social applications, it depends on the community to generate content. It encourages interest, participation, and facilitates learning.”
Students will be more engaged:
“Aunt Jane took this picture in Athens, Greece.”
“I took this photo at the best climbing tree in town.”
“Our class uploaded and geo-tagged ten photos. Let me show you the one I geo-tagged.”
High interest character. Linking the activity to a favorite children’s book character like Oliver K. Woodman just adds to the fun. Teachers can use the FREE Lesson Plans (zip) available with the project to teach an integrated unit of language arts, math, social studies, art and more. The Oliver K. Woodman Map Project is a small step towards improved geographic knowledge through social apps and is perfect for the elementary school student.
Download the Pattern Now! (pdf)
Answers to Quiz: 1. Chinese, 2. Indonesia, 3. United States.
After reading through “Using Web 2.0 in the Classroom” in the most recent issue of Reading Today, I went online to ReadWriteThink.org to read through a lesson entitled “Weekly Writer’s Blogs.” It was too advanced (i.e., grades 9-12) for my students, but I realized it might not be too old for Ruth’s.
I decided to [...]
Two years ago, I got an email from the North Pole! Wow! It had Santa’s Top 5 Writing Tips and the next day, I got an email with Rudolph’s Top 5 Writing Tips. I’m still in contact with the North Pole and this is the 2008 Writing Tips, this time courtesy of the classic carol, The 12 Days of Christmas. Enjoy!
Writing tips for this song are all about structure and language.
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.
Play with alliteration, the repetition of initial sounds such as the p in partridge and pear.
On the second day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
This stanza is very important because it sets up the pattern: we now know that this is a cumulative story, a story that adds a line each time and repeats all the other lines. Some cumulative stories keep going and take off a line each time. Study other cumulative stories, then try writing one.
On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Good writing is about communicating. This video shows how a different audience might interpret this story. Why do those sea turtles have wings? Five gold rings are onion rings? And why are those ten lords sky-diving? Word choice does matter. And always keep in mind your audience and their point of view.
On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Parodies of this song are popular — as in this Geek’s version from TeacherTube. Study parodies and write one of your own.
On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
You gotta LOVE Miss Piggy singing 5 golden rings. When you do a long story, try to find places where the language can slow down the rhythm. Here, it also becomes a place where the singers can ham it up a bit. (Get it?)
On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Variety within a pattern is established here. We’re still adding a line each time, but now the verb at the end becomes important. For longer pieces like this be sure to add variety to keep the interest.
On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Numbers are often important to picturebooks, classic songs and our culture. For example, there are three little pigs and seven dwarves. Part of this fascination with numbers is cultural. In the Navajo culture, four is important: the four cardinal directions and the four sides of a hogan. Three and seven repetitions are generally in northern European stories. Nine is three-threes and twelve is four-threes (or three-fours). Watch for repetitions in stories and notice how many times something repeats. Try retelling stories with a different number of repeats and notice what it does for the story.
On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Here’s the Straight No Chaser men’s accapella choir. By the time they get to the 8th day, things get very complicated — and wonderful. Don’t be afraid to play and have fun with language.
On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Wikipedia has a great introduction to the history of this song. This article includes the lyrics, the music and links to parodies.
On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
And yet another parody, this one from a Science Class in Australia.
On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Take a deep breath — and finish what you started. Don’t give up before you finish a writing project. See it through to the end.
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!
And you just have to end with Burl Ive’s version with its lush illustrations.
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.
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by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace; 
) Talk to children about how the voice makes a huge difference in the enjoyment of the book. Whose voice is narrating, My Brother Martin? His sister’s! Whose voice is narrating the nonfiction fact book? An author who did research. .jpg?picon=993)
Our knowledge of geography is becoming more sophisticated: If you own a smart phone, like the Apple iPhone 3G or some Blackberrys, the phone will automatically adds geotags – location information – to every photo snapped. But can Americans locate those places on a map? Not likely.
Readers might be interested to know that almost every book we manufacture is printed on FSC certified paper, meaning the sources can be traced to ensure it is not old growth product. Those that do not carry the FSC logo are printed on stock that is also certified but exempt from the logo as they contain an element that cannot by sourced – typically, for example, recycled board that the hardcovers are bound with. We also take steps to use wherever possible soy and/or vegetable based inks rather than petroleum.