Looking Forward

Whew!  It's h-o-t, hot here!

And it's going to stay hot and humid for most of the week.

Welcome, summer.

I am the first to admit I am not a fan of being hot.  Give me a nice sunny, 75 degree day with a cool breeze and I am content.  So I guess this week, I'll stay inside and read!  Nothing better!

Funny enough, I just found a book that I love - and it's all about fall!

Ivan's Great Fall is a cute little picture book that I can't wait to share with my {future} class on the first day of school.  Ivan is a little boy who loves summer!  He loves the long days full of adventure, baseball, and fun - and he's not looking forward to fall.

This story is a great read aloud for the first days of school.  I think kids and teachers alike all relate with Ivan's love of the freedom that comes with summer.

But the best aspect of this book is the format.  With the exception of the beginning and the end of the story, the rest is quotes from famous poets.  Super creative!  Everyone from William Blake to Emily Bronte to Ernest Lawrence Thayer is quoted.  Not in entirety, but enough to move the story along.  Each page tells of an adventure Ivan enjoys.

Every year, my kids write poetry books.  This would be a great book to revisit at the beginning of the unit.  I can totally see my kids writing a similar book on a topic they love and using the more contemporary poems by poets they love - Sara Holbrook, Shel Silverstein, Judith Viorst to name a few.

from A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein

If you haven't read these authors, do so.  They are great!

What a great way for kids to explore poetry with a purpose!




What are your favorite kids' poets?  More importantly, is there room for poetry in the CCSS?

A Bus Called Heaven

I just read the most amazing story.  A BUS CALLED HEAVEN by Bob Graham (2012) is a charming picture book about a community that is forever and completely changed when a bus is abandoned on the side of the road.  Where many see an old decaying and falling apart bus, a young girl sees beauty and promise!  With her encouragement, the bus is turned into a recreation center/meeting place.  Eventually the entire neighborhood is vested in the bus.  When their bus comes under attack, the people come together to save their beloved community center!

As we start a new year and work on creating a community within our classrooms and our schools, this book would be ideal for discussions.  What makes a community?  Were the people a true community before the bus?  How did they change with the introduction of the bus?  Are we a community or just a classroom full of people? 

Let me know if you check this book out and how you use it in your room!

P.S. ~ My room is DONE (yay!) and ready for Open House on Sunday!  But I forgot my camera at home today, so pictures will be coming soon!  It's GOOD!

Picture Book Picks # 3 ~ Be You!

One of the most important things we can teach our students is to be themselves.  To worry less about what others think about them and do what they feel is right.  A related lesson we must teach every year is to embrace others' differences.  I found a whole slew of books to help us do just that through Lindsey's linky party.  I know it's hard to believe, but I had never read any of these until they were recommended by Lindsey's readers!

Crysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  I know you all have read it a million times.  I have to admit as a 5th grade teacher I thought it was too babyish and never even gave it a chance. But when I saw that Hilary at Fifth Grade Fancy recommended it, I knew I should give it a chance.  I'm so glad I did!  I now love and relate to Chrysanthemum and look forward to sharing her story with my kids.  Even if they've already heard it, as they grow up and have new experiences, they will understand it on a different level than maybe they did earlier.

Also recommended by Hilary was Giraffes Can't Dance.  I cannot believe I never read this book before!  I have a ginormous collection of giraffes and giraffe-like things; everyone knows of my love of obsession with giraffes.  Yet no one has ever shown me this book?  It is so cute and teaches the lesson (be yourself) so clearly.

One of my favorite new bloggers of the summer is Heather whose blog is cleverly titled The Meek Moose.  Heather had a super list of books, some of which I haven't been able to find yet.  But one that I did find and love is Tough Boris by the incomparable Mem Fox.  Boris is a pirate who is tough and mean and strong, but when he loses his parrot, he isn't so tough or mean anymore.  I love the lesson that even tough guys cry!  It's okay not to be a stereotype.  Great story for the boys!

The next book I found that I fell in love with is The Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco.  Many, many bloggers included Ms. Polacco's books, and I've read most of them, but this one I wasn't aware of until I saw it in April's post (The Idea Backpack).  The teacher in this book is who want to be when I grow up!  Mrs. Peterson is one of those teachers who sees more in her students than their classmates, or even they!, do.  As with most of her books, Ms. Polacco draws from her own experiences to tell a story of a group of children known as the Junkyard.  Beautifully written with an afterword that will touch your heart, this book is not to be missed!

Finally, I want to mention a new book I found at the library that was not mentioned during the linky party.  Willow is the story of a  young student who does not follow the directions of her art teacher.  Willow draws pink trees and blue apples much to the consternation of her strict art teacher.  Miss Hawthorne is a very neat, very precise sort of art teacher who doesn't like Willow's free-mindedness.   The tension between the two grows all semester until winter break. 

Willow reminds me (text-to-text!) of one of the first books I ever reviewed on this blog, Odd Violet.  Click here to read my review of this equally delightful story.

Click the book covers to go to Barnes & Noble and purchase these great stories.

Picture Book Picks #2 ~ Science Rocks!

For this part of the series, I wanted to focus on Science books.  This year will be only the second year I have ever taught Science, so I'm still learning about great books to use in my classroom.  Here's what I've found so far:

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? is a great book about adaptations.  This one was recommended by The Science Penguin.  If you have not seen this fantastic blog, go now!  It is chock full of great ideas for Science teachers.

This book is fairly simple in its layout.  On every other double spread there are, for example, five noses.  The following page shows the animal who belong to each nose and what it's used for.  I know last year, it was difficult for students to understand the difference between an adaptation and speciation.  This will be a great reference to refer back to again and again as we continue through the chapter.  Love it!

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I found this next book indirectly through Nikki over @ An Uncommon to the Core Teacher.  She had mentioned a (super stinking cute) book called 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore.  Well, right next to it was another book by the same author that I cannot wait to use in my science class.

11 Experiments That Failed is hysterical!  The little girl who narrates has performed many experiments that are just plain silly.  Some of my favorites: "Can a washing machine wash the dishes?" & "Can a kid make it through the winter eating only snow and ketchup?"

Even though her experiments are ridiculous, the young scientist uses all the steps in the Scientific Method.  From hypothesis to question to materials to procedure to conclusion, she doesn't stray from solid science.  I think this would be a great book to include when students are asked to create their own experiments.  I'm going to recommend it to the 4th and 7th grade teachers as they begin to organize their Science Fairs this year. 

As always, click the book covers to buy from Barnes & Noble.

Picture Book Picks ~ D5: Read the Pictures

Remember this linky party we all participated in a few weeks ago? Well there were so many great books suggested, I just had to go check out some of them myself!  So I sat in the library for a LoOOnnnng time on Wednesday with my iPad and my notebook reading post after post and any of the books that were available.  Then today, I did it all again, but at a different library.  {Hi. My name's Lynn, and I'm a book addict.}

I've decided to do a series of posts to highlight the best or most useful books I've come across.  Many of them I found through the linky, and some I found out of sheer luck!

First I want to share two great books I found that are perfect for read the pictures.  If you've been reading my posts, you know I just finished and decided to embrace Daily 5 this year.  One of the questions I had while reading D5 was about including the three ways to read a book in a 5th grade classroom.  Do 5th graders really still read the pictures? or is that just in primary?  But as I read on, the sisters showed me how to incorporate read the pictures in upper grades as well. (Chapter 4)So I went on a hunt, and came up with these guys!

This first one is brand new and oh, too cute!  Oh, No! Not Again! by Mac Barnett was released just last month, and I can't wait to read it to my class.

When the narrator doesn't earn an A on her history test, she builds a time machine to remedy the problem.  The text is very simply written in thought and word bubbles with limited narration.  I can imagine reading it to the class and have them draw the pictures they hear one day and then reading it again and show the pictures the next day.  (The opposite of the suggestion in The Daily 5.)

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Next up is a book that's been around a while, but I've somehow I've missed it until now!  Bamboozled is an adorable story of a young girl's weekly visit to her grandpa's house.  She knows something is wrong, but can't quite figure out what it is!  The cover hints at what it could be:

Bamboozled is very funny and not at all subtle.  Once again, I read the book without looking at the pictures, and I got the gist of the story.  But it is much sillier when you look at the pictures of paintings drinking off the kitchen table with aid of a really long straw or the marble statue chiseling away at his own lower half!  It's really, really cute!  (Note: As I was writing this post, I realized this book is out of print.  It is available at B & N and Amazon through their community booksellers. Sorry, but I couldn't just leave it out; it has a ton of potential.)

I created this Things to Think About card to include in the kids' book boxes this year.  It's kind of like a mini anchor chart.  I print them on bright colored paper and expect the kids to read the prompts before they begin reading.  Last year, we kept them in their reading folders, but book boxed for D5 will be much better; the kids will have no excuse to forget.  You can get it free by clicking the picture!

Somewhat ironically, none of these books were mentioned in the posts I read from Lindsey's linky party.

I hope this post is helpful to someone out there.  Keep an eye out for future Picture Book Posts!

Must Have Picture Books {LINKY}

 By now, y'all know I ♥love a linky party!  It focuses me and makes me remember some of the great books I've already read.  Since I am always reading new books, sometimes I need this reminder.  The Teacher Wife's {Must Have Picture Books linky} is no exception.

 

I've been watching others link up their favorite books for almost a week now.  Since a lot of my favorites  (Enemy Pie, Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge, and anything by Chris Van Allsburg or Patricia Pollaco), were already shared, and since I teach upper elementary students, I decided to focus on the non-fiction picture books I love.  Let me tell you, even with a 'theme,' narrowing my choices down to five was h-a-r-d.

Lady Liberty: A Biography

Here is an amazing tale of a nation that came together in little and big ways to build the Statue of Liberty and fund a pedestal for her to guide Americans and immigrants alike home to her shores.  Historically accurate and filled with famous and not-so-famous characters, Lady Liberty is poetically told in vignettes of those who created her.

I love to share this story around Memorial Day.  It is wonderfully written and tells of a time we should all wish to reclaim - a time when the entire nation was unified.  Oh, and did I mention how absolutely gorgeous the pictures are?

 Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek

In 2008, the publishing world celebrated Lincoln's 200th birthday with a plethora (great word!) of books honoring our 16th president.  This is my favorite.  It tells the true story of Abe and his friend Austin when they are young boys.  When the two boys try to cross the rushing creek after a heavy rain. Abe slips and falls in but is rescued by his loyal friend.  Imagine if Abe had gone alone that day.  What a profound effect Austin, a mostly forgotten character, had on our nation's history!  

I share this story with my class around president's day.  The message is clear: you don't have to be a president to be important.  In addition, it's a great story to use when discussing story elements like character, setting, and plot.

 Faithful Elephants

This is my favorite book.  Period.  It is sad and terrifying and beautiful and heart wrenching.  

In the 1940's, all of Japan was preparing for the inevitable.  The zookeepers at the Ueno Zoo make the terrible decision to euthanize the dangerous animals in case their cages can't contain them after the city is bombed.  This is the story of three elephants and their keeper who, when poisoning and injecting the elephants do not work, have no choice but to let the poor animals starve to death.  

I used to share this on Veterans Day, but kids seem younger than they used to, and I feel like they couldn't handle it anymore.  (Plus, I think one of my students 'borrowed' my copy; I haven't seen it in years.)  If you teach older students, I highly recommend this book as a discussion starter.  How many innocent victims of war do we not hear about in the news?  Who, besides the troops, are affected by war?  Faithful Elephants is a cautionary tale that everyone should read.

#4 Ruth Heller's World of Language Series

I love these books!  They are written in rhyme and beautifully illustrated.  I leave them out all year and let my little authors refer to them whenever they need help with word choice.  It's a great way to reinforce parts of speech lessons without always doing worksheets.  This is just a sampling of the books available.  My personal favorite is A Cache of Jewels: A Book About Collective Nouns.  (It's also the least useful in class, so I didn't include it in my picture above.)

#5 Old Turtle

 OK, this one isn't non-fiction, but I love, love, love it!  I had to include it in my list.  

From Barnes & Noble

In the time that animals could talk to one another, a great argument took place. Each animal insisted that God was in his image. The argument grew and grew until Old Turtle spoke. He told the animals that people would come, made in the image of God, and would act as keepers of the earth. But over the years the people forgot-until Old Turtle's message rang from the earth. Chee's watercolors adorn this gentle parable. 

I know most of you can't use this in your classroom, but I encourage you to share it with your own children.  It's beautiful message is timeless!

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The Word Nerd!!

An Honorable Mention to the books of Brian P. Cleary!  His "Words are CATegorial" books are great, and I have an author crush on him.  (He came to our Young Author's Night a few years ago, and I was hooked!)

Thanks to LetteringDelights.com for the clip art numbers!

Math Book Blog Hop

Boy, I wish I was more creative with my post titles!

Anyway.  I am joining in on this really cool blog hop started by Donna over at the Math Coach's Corner.  Two of my favorite things: reading and teaching math; how could I resist?

Here's my favorite math book {series} to share (well, favorite after Math Curse, which I already blogged about here and didn't want to be redundant):

Have you met Sir Cumference and his wife, the Lady Di of Ameter?  They have a young son named Radius who's exactly half the height of his mother. This is a very clever series of books!  There are about eight books in the series now, but these are the first three and my favorites.  Bonus: they do double duty in our annual fairy tale unit.  My favorite to share with my 5th graders is The Great Knight of Angleland.  In this book, Radius goes on a quest using his knowledge of the Mountains of Obtuse and 'a cute' little village.

Check out this great series, and then hop into the hop!

Teaching Voice - Link Up!

I'm linking up with Lifelong Learning to share some of my favorite books to teach my little writers how to find their voice in their own writing.  I have two favorite picture books that I share with my students near the beginning of the year.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with this book, but if you have never read Math Curse by Jon Scieska - you MUST!  When the main character's math teacher, Mrs. Fibonacci (cool name!), says everything can be thought of as a math problem, suddenly everything - from dressing in the morning to lunch at school - becomes a major problem!  I love reading this aloud to my students with increasing panic in my voice.  It is obvious that the Curse causes more and more stress on the little girl as the day progresses, and the panic she feels comes through quite clearly.  I like to share this on the first day of school so my kids will "know what they can expect!" *insert evil laugh here*

This second book I also use near the beginning of the year.  Encounter by Jane Yolen tells of Christopher Columbus' initial meeting with the Taino Indians.  The twist is this story is told entirely by a young Taino boy.  In it, he describes the strange men "who are not men" and their canoes.  He is terrified of the strangers and describes their meeting in a far different way than most people imagine it.  I share this story with my 5th graders after we have read all about Columbus' great adventure and finding a whole new world!  My students are amazed to have their vision of a national hero altered so drastically and so quickly.  We have great discussions about right and wrong, fact and fiction, and point of view.  I love this lesson, and every year, I get choked up when I read Encounter to my class.  (I can't help it; I'm a total sap!)

I could list tons of books that have great voice.  I often point it out as we read aloud or as I'm reading to them.  I recently finished two books (In Between by Jenny Jones and Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt - stay tuned for reviews of both) that aren't necessarily appropriate or interesting for 5th graders, but I can't wait to share parts of the stories with them to illustrate finding your voice. 

So what are some of your favorite books to teach voice?  I can't wait to see what others use and get new ideas!

All the Way to America & a freebie!

All the Way To America:

The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel

by Dan Yaccarino

Last year my Social Studies curriculum was changed.  The most challenging but fun part of the new curriculum for me has been teaching immigration.  Up until a year ago, I taught American History from Indians through the Civil War.  I loved it and was disappointed when the wars especially were taken from my list!  I also wondered how to teach history, but not sequentially.  Now I would have to pass by all of the {super fun} war stuff and skip from colonial studies to immigration. 

At the beginning of the year, I sadly packed up my "Schoolhouse Rock" videos, my scripts, props, and costumes for plays about the Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere, the "Liberty's Kids" videos (goodbye Ben Franklin as played by Walter Cronkite ~ *sniff*), and bravely went on a search for new videos, plays, songs and books to help me make Immigration come alive for my students.  I'm not going to lie; it was a bust.  My heart wasn't in it, there was a lot of upheaval at my school, and I just didn't do a great job.

So this summer, I have recommitted myself to my students and the curriculum and have spent hours on the internet and at the library searching and developing great lessons.  Recently I came across this book on the New Book shelf at the library.  It's really cute and will be a great introduction for my students.

All the Way to America is the true story of the author's family beginning with his great-grandfather who immigrated from Italy through Ellis Island to start a new life with a shovel and advice from his mother: "Work hard, but remember to enjoy life, and always remember your family."  The story continues by following four generations of the Yaccarino family and the shovel that has been passed down through the years.  It is a great discussion starter, and hopefully it will make my students question where their families have come from!  I Loved it!  

There is also an All the Way to America blog!  It's not so popular yet, but I thought that would be a great authentic audience for my students to share the stories of their families at the end of the unit! Can't wait!

My school and students are very lucky to have a well-stocked library.  As soon as I read this book, I knew it would be a great springboard into the novels available in my library and the school's.  I made this quick activity that the students can do during library class to explore some of the books we have just waiting to be read!  You can download the activity for free by clicking this link or the picture.  If you download it, please let me know what you think.  I hope you can use it and your students love exploring these books!

Buy All the Way to America at Barnes & Noble

Clown

 

Clown

illustrated by Quentin Blake

September 1998

This weekend I had a garage sale, and my sister sent a ton of my nieces' forgotten toys and books to sell.  After selling almost all of their old dolls, stuffed animals and most of the books she sent, I was ready to close it up and send everything else to the Goodwill.  That's when I found this gem in the leftover book pile!  I'm soooo stinkin' glad it didn't sell because I {LOVE} it!

Clown is a delightful wordless story about a toy clown who is thrown away with a bunch of other toys.  Determined to save himself and his friends, the clown travels through a city looking for a child willing to help him rescue the other toys.  Despite a series of mishaps,  he and the discarded toys find love with a new family.  Illustrated by Quentin Blake, my students will instantly recognize the artist from his illustrations of Roald Dahl books (always a *huge* favorite in 5th grade!).

Ever since I saw a post using wordless picture books as reading centers, I have been on the hunt for great wordless books.  (Sorry ~ I can't find the post and have deleted the download from the post that led to my fascination!  If you know it, let me know.)  

Anyway... the creative soul from whom I  'borrowed' this idea wrote three writing prompts for each book and differentiated them by color coding them for below level, on level, and above level.  I loved them so much, I made a set of my own for the books I found at my local library.

As soon as I found this book hiding in the stack in my garage, I knew I had to create a set of prompts for Clown, too.  Click the preview to get the preview set for free at my TPT store:

Or click here to get the full version with activity cards for seven wordless books, including my new favorite, Clown.

Buy it at Barnes & Noble

Half Price Books and 2 New Fairy Tales

Today I went to Half-Price Books.  I really need to stay out of there... but some days I just can't resist.  Turns out,  today was a great day to give into my craving for cheap and new books; HPB has massive amounts of kids' clearance tables out right now!!  I do want it on the record that I did not buy any adult fiction for myself - even though that cart was calling my name, and there were at least three books that caught my eye and tried to come home with me.  I was strong.  I will not go back.  Maybe.

Anyway, by the end of my hour in the store, I had amassed a collection of about fifteen new-to-my-library books and three or four that I just needed one (or three) more copies of for my classroom library.  (I can't seem to keep copies of Love That Dog on my shelves!  I can't imagine that kids are that much in love with it; when they review it, most of them tell me it's about a boy whose dog dies.  Um... and??)

Falling for Rapunzel 

Leah Wilcox 

illustrated by Lydia Menks

December 2005

Two of the new stories I brought home fit in with my fairy tale unit, and I read them right away.   FALLING FOR RAPUNZEL by Leah Wilcox is a delightful picture book illustrated by Lydia Menks.  Written in a sing-song rhyme that lends itself to oral reading, it tells of a Rapunzel who is overheard whining about a bad hair day.  The prince mistakenly thinks she is wishing to be rescued and calls up to her to 'throw down your hair!'  Being so far away, Rapunzel can't quite hear the prince and instead throws down her underwear!  The mistakes continue with hilarious consequences.  

What kid doesn't love a book in which underwear lands on some poor guy's head?  I know the 5th graders will get a giggle out of this book.  I'm only sad that I should wait until next spring to share it!  This was a super fun book with silly pictures to go along with it.  

         

Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story)

written and illustrated by Barbara Ensor

July 2011

This second fairy tale was cute, too.  Barbara Ensor has rewritten the original Cinderella with some endearing twists.  At about 113 pages, this story is perfect for young readers who like predictable text and are ready for a short chapter book.  

In CINDERELLA (AS IF YOU DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW THE STORY), the poor young maid writes letters to her recently deceased mother.  Through her letters, we learn more about Cinderella's thought and emotions that we are usually given.

The illustrations are black and white silhouettes that are cleverly created and positioned on the pages.  Paired with crazy and fun fonts, the overall look of this book drew me in as much as the story. 

This would be a great book to compare with the original.  The differences are few but really change the reader's understanding of the characters' motivation.  Perhaps a good old-fashioned Venn?  I think I will create a center with the Venn cards already created and let the students sort them. (Hula Hoops - here I come!) It'll be interesting to see who are my careful readers; these two books are quite similar.  Students who don't read carefully could be misled by the nuances.

                                                        

Buy Falling for Rapunzel at Barnes & Noble

Buy Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story) at Barnes & Nobel