Teach with Picture Books

How to Encourage Reading through Author Studies

2011-04-11T00:03:00.000-04:00

If you've ever considered tackling an author study but wondered Is it worth the time? Is it worth the energy?or What can my students really get out of it? then I encourage you to check out a recent post at my How to Teach a Novel site titled Born to Write: What Students Can Learn through Author Study.

In addition to providing answers to all the questions above, I've also provided dozens of links to author study resources, as well as a chance to win Charis Cotter's Born to Write: The Remarkable Lives of Six Famous Authors.

Easy to enter, easy to win! Good luck.

Make Language an Adventure: Learning Grammar with Picture Books

2011-04-01T11:31:00.001-04:00

Or, How I Learned to Love Grammar

I am a former grammar hater, certainly as a student, but even as a beginning teacher. I simply didn't see the need to learn about past imperfect participial possessives (I know there's no such thing) and I dreaded the fat grammar book from which we dutifully copied every sentence, underlining or circling the grammar du jour. Why in Math could we do odd or even numbered problems, but never in grammar?

As I continued to teach, however, I more and more saw a need for grammar instruction. The fact is, teachers and students require a common lexicon when discussing the components of reading and writing.

Questions such as these require that students possess a solid foundation in grammar:

What part of speech does the author rely upon to describe how his characters speak?
How would you describe Maria when we first meet her? What adjectives describe her by the story's end?
If your writing uses the same nouns over and over, which synonyms could you substitute for those words in order to create greater sentence variety?
"The eggs were eaten by the snake" is written in the passive voice; how could we revise this sentence to create active voice?
This paragraph tells the reader that Sam completes all the chores her grandfather assigns, but what do the adverbs tell us about how she completed them?

In their own conversations with peers, students who understand grammatical terms are more likely to suggest and implement recommendations stated in a common language. The comment, "You need to move your participial phrase closer to the noun it describes," is certainly a greater help than, "This sentence sounds weird."

So for some time I tried teaching grammar solely in context of reading and writing, with no discrete lessons or practice at all. I would occasionally pull a Ruth Heller book off the shelf and share that as well, but this approach was hit and miss at best.

In later years I would attempt to drag students though a formal "diet" of grammar, beginning with nouns, moving on to verbs, then adjectives, and so on, but I noticed a real disconnect. Employing some Brian Cleary titles to liven things up certainly helped, and my students would even go back to those books as a reference source. And that's when it hit me: my students were much more apt to care about, and even seek, grammar help when they immediately needed it.

I therefore decided to radically change my approach to grammar, and create learning situations which required that students know grammatical concepts in order to be successful. Whereas I once believed I could sit by the pool all summer, eating Bon-bons and planning out grammar units for the entire year, I now realized I would need language instruction to be much more reflexive and reflective, based upon student needs for both remediation and growth.

In essence, then, I was jumping back to my original desire to teach grammar within context of authentic reading and writing, with the realization that discrete, focused lessons with immediate, dedicated practice were a "necessary evil." But even these lessons became enjoyable and immensely productive for both the teacher and students because they were rooted in our needs as writers and readers. We wanted to learn how authors used language to achieve their goals, and how we could do the same.

One new tool in my grammar arsenal is a series of fantastic grammar picture books by Rick Walton. The Language Adventures series, published by Gibbs Smith, is an incredibly funny, well-illustrated collection that includes the following titles:

Herd of Cows! Flock of Sheep! (Collective Nouns)
Suddenly Alligator (Adverbs)
Bullfrog Pops! (Verbs and Direct Objects)
Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse (Prepositions)
Once There Was a Bull (Frog) (Compound Words)
Pig Pigger Piggest (Comparing)
Why the Banana Split (Idioms)
Just Me and 6,000 Rats (Conjunctions)

I discovered these just recently, and how I had never seen them before, I do not know. Like Heller's and Cleary's books, these titles provide ample examples in context, so they can serve as a handy reference for students. Unlike those other two series, however, Walton's books are absolutely narrative in nature, which is to say, they are story driven. They provide an enjoyable, purposeful context for the use of the grammatical conventions.

If you don't believe me, how about the expert recommendation of a voracious picture book reader? Mackenzie, my seven year-old, loves to take books to bed. One night she called down, "Hey, Dad! This book is really good! It's funny!" She was referring to Why the Banana Split, which I hadn't even read yet.

The following day she couldn't find it, so she read the other seven books instead! Did she know she was getting a lesson in grammar? No; for her these colorful, easy to read books were purely story.

But as she reread in the car a day later, she began to make observations about the text. In speaking about Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse, for example, she said, "Do you know that every page tells you where the fox and mouse ran? There's always a word that's bigger than the rest, and then the picture helps you figure out the other words if you can't read them." Wow. This kid should do a commercial.

So while it's difficult to give the books higher praise than that, I will point out that the illustrations are fabulous. What's interesting is that Gibbs Smith selected several artists, rather than just one, to illustrate the series. At first that bugged me, but as I checked out the styles of Jim Bradshaw, Mike and Carl Gordon, Jimmy Holder, Chris McAllister, Greg Hally, and Julie Olson, I began to appreciate that each artist brought a unique vision to the title they illustrated. I can't picture anyone but Jim Bradshaw creating such funky, animated critters for Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse, or Mike Gordon and Carl Gordon for the tongue-in-cheek humor of Just Me and 6,000 Rats.

I should also point out that the newly revised paperback editions of this series are labeled as "New Educational Editions," and each contains learning activities, definitions, and a reproducible related to the book's topics (earlier hardcover library editions may not contain these). Answer keys and additional activities can be accessed at author Rick Walton's website. Rick offers some wonderful language learning activities there (your lesson plan for next week might be waiting for you there), as well as an amazing assortment of ideas for using his picture books (over fifty in print!).

On a side note, I'm honored to be included as a feature speaker at this year's NJTESOL Annual Conference here in New Jersey. I can't wait to share this series of "stealth" grammar books with the ELL teachers there; I think they'll be genuinely impressed by the combination of images, narrative, and practical applications of grammar.

Check them out for yourself, and I think you'll feel the same way!

Grammar Explorations Online

It wouldn't be one of my marathon posts if I didn't recommend some terrific online extensions for the picture books I discussed. Below are just a few of the sites I've used in the classroom; do share others you've enjoyed as well!

Grammaropolis

These games provide excellent review of all parts of speech. Students shouldn't worry if they miss a few; some are intended to be tough!

Road to Grammar

Not as fun-looking as Grammaropolis, but better organized. Here you can choose which grammar or usage practice you'd like to focus upon. The Notes section of each quiz provides excellent feedback and additional information about the grammar concepts being assessed.

Grammar Ninja

Throw your deadly ninja stars at the chosen parts of speech.

Grammar Blast
Grammar Blast from Houghton Mifflin English provides short, self-checking exercises for grades 2 through 5. Nice for quick checks! You can also access Grammar Blast for grades 6-8.

Wacky Web Tales
Students love Mad Libs, and this is a cool, interactive version of that game. In order or students to be successful, however, they'll need some knowledge of parts of speech.

Grammar Bytes
Grammar Bytes provides online interactive practice, plus handouts which can be downloaded. Teachers will need to explore this site before unleashing students.

English-Zone.com
This site isn't pretty, but it does contain some solid, focused GUM (grammar, usage, mechanics) exercises. Some are available only to subscribed members.

Picture Books: Alive and Well

2011-03-18T23:45:00.000-04:00

Some time ago I read a post titled Rescuing Picture Books from Extinction. In that post Kim Yaris expresses dismay that picture book sales are seeing a decline, but she goes on to explore why, and also provides a personal anecdote.

I, too, have heard that picture books will fall at the feet of ereaders and that the era of the printed picture book is dead. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, "Reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated."

Want proof that picture books are alive and well? Check out some of the latest Scholastic titles to hit the shelves. These are the types of books that beg to be read in their original large-size format. These are also the types of books that prove that the language of picture books is just as challenging as equivalent-grade (or higher!) chapter books.

In the tradition of The Steadfast Toy Soldier, Captain Sky Blue tells the tale of a favorite toy that once lost, finds its way back to its owner through a series of misadventures. In addition to Richard Egielski's bright illustrations, young readers will love the "pilot talk" liberally mixed throughout the narrative. Aviation terms such such as wilco (I will do it), jink (a quick move to escape danger), spooled up (excited), and brain housing group (a comic term for the skull) introduce students to the idea that jobs and activities have a specialized jargon all their own.

Extensions:

Ask students to interview parents or other relatives to collect a list of terms which are job specific. Share these in class and discuss why people have developed these lexicons within their vocations. Students may want to share other precise terms they know from sports, music, and other free-time pursuits.
Assign students a term for research. To what activity or vocation does it refer? What are its origins? Hat trick, for example, refers to three points or consecutive wins by the same player, whether in ice hockey, cricket, or horse racing. Its origin is the hat traditionally bestowed for this accomplishment in cricket (via Wordnik, a pretty cool online dictionary).
Two themes of Captain Sky Blue are Loss and Determination. Share and discuss other books which explore either of these themes. Challenge students to write their own tales, using one of the mentor texts as a model.

Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow retells the classic story in which Robin Hood, disguised as a one-eyed beggar, bests the Sheriff of Nottingham's favorites to win an archery contest, a contest designed for the sole purpose of catching Robin and his Merry Men. To us this is a familiar tale, but to many students it's brand new!

Author Robert D. San Souci describes his source material in an afterward, and I'm pleased to see that he references Howard Pyle. Howard Pyle's retellings are those that I read as a boy, and to this day my ragged copy is a part of the classroom library. But E.B. Lewis' saturated illustrations make this tale new even for me, and I can't wait to share this book with my students.

Extensions:

Ask students if they can name other books in which one character devises a plan or mischief to catch another. Why are these stories such fun to read? What makes us root for one character or another? Why in this book did Robin Hood reveal his identity to the Sheriff of Nottingham instead of maintaining the ruse?
Share other Robin Hood tales with students. Equally famous is Robin's chance meeting with Little John at the middle of a log crossing a stream. Neither man will give way. After reading this tale, ask students: What else could they have done to solve this problem? Can anyone suggest a possible compromise? If they hadn't disagreed in this manner, would their resulting friendship have been as strong?

Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer, the author and illustrator of The Phantom Tollbooth, team up again in The Odious Ogre. This story of an ogre who is "extraordinarily large, exceedingly ugly, unusually angry, constantly hungry, and absolutely merciless" contains some of the most amazing language I've seen in a picture book in a long time!

You see, the ogre in question has "an impressive vocabulary, due mainly to having inadvertently swallowed a large dictionary while consuming the head librarian in one of the nearby towns."

In his own words:

"No one can resist me... I am invulnerable, impregnable, insuperable, indefatigable, insurmountable."

While the lesson of this book (kindness wins over odiousness) might be a selling point for some, it's the language that wins me over.

Extensions:

Use this book to introduce students to adjectives and adverbs. I'll admit, at first I was staggered by the words Juster employs, yet they work! How do I know? My first read through was with my seven year-old, who selected the book from the stacks of dozens beside my desk. As she listened to me read the book aloud, she didn't know what several of the terms meant, yet she "felt" what they meant, and she only asked me about a couple of them in a second reading. Truly a testimony for the power of learning vocabulary in context!
Assign each student one of the book's wonderful words to research, define, use in a context sentence, and illustrate.
If you haven't already done so, create a "Said is Dead" wall. Revisit The Odious Ogre to collect wonderful speaking tags such as whimpered, sobbed, offered, assure, grunted, admit, mumbled, and insisted. Then ask students to revisit a narrative of their own to revise the dialogue with more exacting language. Instead of she said sadly, a student might write: she lamented, she whined, she whispered with dismay. Each of these expresses sadness, but in different ways.
Discuss the book's message. The book's last line reads, "She also understood that the terrible things that can happen when you come face-to-face with an Ogre can sometimes happen to the Ogre and not to you." What does that mean? Can this book teach us a lesson about how to respond to people who treat us with odious manners or words?

I look forward to seeing more fabulous picture books from Orchard Books and Michael Di Capua Books. Glad to see that Scholastic is still in the game!

I Can Write Like That: Focusing on Mentor Texts

2011-03-15T23:45:00.001-04:00

If you're here at this site, you're most likely interested in teaching with picture books. You recognize that these models provide excellent examplars for word choice, idea development, story structure, and many other skills and traits.

In fact,

You know the importance of using mentor texts when teaching author's craft to your young writers. But how do you- a busy teacher with only so many hours in a day - find great mentor texts? With so many children's books available and so little time to peruse them all, matching books to writers' workshop minilessons remains a challenge.

That challenge is met in I Can Write Like That! A Guide to Mentor Texts and Craft Studies for Writers' Workshop, K-6, an International Reading Association title by Susan Ehmann and Kellyann Gayer.

The excerpt above appears on the book's back cover, along with this:

In these pages you'll discover engaging fiction and nonfiction children's books and ideas for using them to their maximum potential as teaching tools. And you will find new ways to give your students a priceless gift - exemplary models for their own writing. Realize the reward of having your students listen to a well-written story then identify the author's craft and say, "I can write like that!"

Four years in the making, I Can Write Like That! serves as an invaluable resource if you're seeking to accomplish the following:

Build a library of mentor texts;
Uncover all that you can teach from each book in your growing mentor library, whether it be from an old favorite or a new discovery;
Find the perfect mentor texts to teach specific craft elements; or
Locate age-appropriate craft studies that support your writing curriculum and further serve as models as you develop craft studies of your own. (pp. 5, 6)

I was frankly surprised to see that half the book consists of annotated lists of picture books; upon closer inspection, however, I realized that this feature makes sense. So many teachers in workshops have come to me and said, "I have so many of those books in my classroom library, but I never really knew before how to use them for instruction," or, "I want to create a core collection of really great books, but I don't even know where to start."

My wife, a kindergarten teacher, confirmed the value of the lists. As she looked through the annotations, she remarked, "This is pretty cool. If you already own one of the books, you can see what skills to focus on. Or if you want to teach a mini-unit on a single skill, such as repetition, you can use the chart and choose books from there."

The straight-forward organization of the book allows teachers to easily locate exactly what they're looking for:

Part I: Craft Elements provides detailed descriptions and teaching points for working with craft elements such as alliteration, breaking the rules, flashback, leads, personification, text features, and voice, a surprising twenty-seven craft elements in all.
Part II: Selected Craft Study Lessons features sample lessons, providing teachers with models for their own instruction.
Part III: Mentor Texts to Demonstrate Craft Elements contains an expansive matrix, aligning hundreds of new and classic picture books with the twenty-seven craft elements, followed by a through breakdown of these books by element (see figure to the right).
Two Appendices feature student recording sheets and additional reading lists for teachers.

You and your colleagues will refer to this resource again and again. That's why I'm excited to announce that the International Reading Association has provided a giveaway copy for one lucky reader of this blog. To enter the drawing, simply send me an email with I Can Write Like That! in the subject line by 12:00 midnight (EST), Sunday, March 20, 2011. That's it! Good luck to all.

KidLit Celebrates Women's History Month

2011-03-03T22:37:00.001-05:00

I'm incredibly honored and excited to participate in KidLit Celebrates Women's History Month, a fantastic month-long blogging collaboration hosted by The Fourth Musketeer and Shelf-Employed, featuring thirty wonderful bloggers and authors from across the kidlitosphere (you can see them all listed in the right hand column at the blog).

From the site:

Why celebrate women's history and children's literature? Not so long ago, women's history was virtually ignored in the K-12 curriculum. In 2011, we are fortunate to have many resources for our children to learn about women's history, from fabulous biographical picture books about remarkable women to historical novels to compelling history books written to especially appeal to young people. We hope this blog will help you identify some of these resources, learn about new books on women's history, and enjoy reflections by some distinguished authors in the field. We will be featuring a post each day in March by a different author in children's literature or by a blogger who specializes in writing about children's or young adult literature. Each post will tie into Women's History Month.

Check in every day to reap the fantastic book recommendations and resources offered. While I'm probably the least talented and interesting person participating, I'd also invite you to stop by and check out my post today! Don't be too shy to say hello in the comments!

In the meantime, you can always revisit some posts here that celebrate extraordinary women and their accomplishments:

To Create One's World: Exploring Georgia O'Keefe in Picture Books
Girls Got Game (Incredible Female Athletes)
A League of Their Own: Women in Baseball

Making Peace with Picture Books

2011-02-26T13:24:00.006-05:00

Character education is best taught through models.

But one look at the headlines of any newspaper should reveal that we, as adults, are failing to provide those models for children. Perhaps picture books can better serve this purpose. But rather than focus upon just one of the Six Pillars of Character ®, let's focus upon the intended result: Peace.

Through picture books we can Make Peace with Ourselves, Make Peace with Each Other, and Make Peace with the World.

Make Peace with Yourself

Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners, by Laurie Keller

When Mr. Rabbit discovers that the Otters will be his new neighbors, he exclaims, "I don't know anything about otters. What if we don't get along?" That alone is a fabulous conversation starter for students, who are likely to offer many ways that the two animals might disagree, and agree.

Mr. Owl shares an old saying: "Do unto Otters as you would have otters do unto you." This, in turn, leads Mr. Rabbit to wonder, "How would I like otters to treat me?" He decides he would like otters to be friendly, and polite, and honest, and so on, but more importantly, he describes what those words mean to him, and provides many examples.

So while Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners at first glance seems to be about manners, it's actually about becoming the kind of person you would like others to be. What's surprising and refreshing is that it doesn't come off as preachy, and Laurie Keller's illustrations are simply hilarious.

Extension: Using the traits provided in the book, help students create a "Looks Like, Sounds Like" T-chart for each. We all know that Honesty is important, but what does that look like? How can we see it being practiced? And what does it sound like?

Those Shoes, by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones

More than anything else, Jeremy wants "those shoes," those cool black ones with the two white stripes. They're in every ad, and everyone has them! Everyone, it seems, but Jeremy. His grandmother tells him that "There's no room for 'want' around here - just 'need.' And what you need are new boots for winter."

Through a series of events, Jeremy discovers that Grandma is right: a new best friend, a loving family, and a pair of warm boots are all that he needs, and all that he wants.

Extension: After reading Those Shoes, show students some ads from magazines, or even some popular commercials which have been posted online. Are these advertisements appealing to our needs, or our wants? If you're looking for an in-depth lesson plan on this topic, check out a previous post on Media Messages (featuring some great links) and another on Dollars and Sense (financial literacy for students).

Make Peace with Others

Three Hens and a Peacock, written by Lester L. Laminack, illustrated by Henry Cole

Life on the farm is quiet, with only an occasional visitor stopping to buy tomatoes or corn, or perhaps a quart of milk. All of that changes when a crate falls from a passing truck, and a peacock finds itself down on the farm.

Confused by his new surroundings, the peacock does what comes naturally: he spreads his feathers and begins shrieking. Folks passing by stop to admire this marvel, and of course they purchase all the tomatoes, corn, and milk. Soon business is booming! Everyone is happy.

Everyone, that is, but the chickens.

"We do all the work around here. I'd like to see that peacock lay one single egg... That peacock gets all the attention and we do all the work!"

Dismayed by the hens' comments, the peacock mopes around for days, until the old dog finally suggests a solution. "Why not let the peacock stay here to be useful while you hens take the glamorous job down by the road?"

Henry Cole's hilarious illustrations of the fat chickens dressed in their finery, and the equally plump peacock attempting to squeeze into the hen house, help the reader to instantly realize that neither party is playing to its strengths. Neither the chickens nor the peacock find satisfaction in their new roles, and all are happy to return to the previous arrangement.

All's well that ends well, right? Maybe. But what's in that new crate that just fell from the passing truck?

Extension: Students will love predicting what might be in the box which falls off the truck at book's end. (The large egg pictured in the book's inside back cover might give us a hint). Students may also enjoy writing their own versions of a role-reversal tale with its funny implications. Settings might include a farm, zoo, or circus.

Peace Week in Miss Fox's Class, by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Anne Kennedy

Miss Fox has had it with all the arguing in her class. "That does it!" she exclaims. "We're having Peace Week." When her students ask her what that is, she puts the question back in their laps: "It's your Peace Week. You design it."

What a wonderful prompt! I think we'd all agree that students often know what it means to be polite and peaceful, but putting those abstract notions into concrete actions is where the problem lies. Her students succeed in doing it, and the good feelings and the positive interactions carry over into the words and actions of all with whom they come into contact.

Extension: A natural extension is to create a Peace Week! You'll certainly find ideas in Peace Week in Miss Fox's Class, but additionally you may want to share books about peace (some suggestions appear here!) and perhaps study great peace makers (winners of the Nobel Peace Prize might be a good place to start; see Wangari's Trees of Peace below). The week could even culminate with a "Mirthday Party," celebrating what was accomplished.

Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare, by Patricia Polacco

This oldie but goodie is especially popular with older students who can sympathize with sibling squabbles! In this autobiographical tale, Patricia laments that she'll be in the same school as her "rotten redheaded older brother."

After Richie and his friends make fun of her dancing, Patricia challenges him to attend her ballet school and perform in the recital. Richie counters the challenge with one of his own: his sister must practice with the ice hockey team and play in a game. Students love cheering on the siblings, and they're always surprised to learn that the story is based on a real-life event from the author's life.

Extension: How does putting ourselves in "another person's shoes" help us to better understand them? Have students create a story where two characters come to appreciate each other's differences through a reversal in roles.

Make Peace with the World

Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, by Jeanette Winter

"The earth was naked. For me the mission was to try to cover it with green." Wangari Maathai

Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa tells the true story of how Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai revived her native Kenya by encouraging the planting of over thirty million trees. Although almost cliche, the phrase "Think globally, act locally," could never be so true.

Extension: You might also consider sharing Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya, written by written by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. How is the same story interpreted by two different writers and illustrators? Which sentence from each book is most powerful? Do those sentences express the same thought? Which illustrations help you to best visualize Wangari Maathai? Which pictures help you to best visualize the land of Kenya? Why might it be important to use multiple resources when researching a topic?
Extension: Ask students what could be done beautify their own world. Consider taking on a simple project to make the classroom or school more beautiful.

A Lion's Mane, by Navjot Kaur, illustrated by Jaspreet Sandhu

"I have a lion's mane and I am different, just like you. Do you know who I am? The lion and its mane are special in many cultures around the world. Join my flowing red dastaar on a journey to find out why I have a long mane."

A daastar is another term for turban; often worn by young Sikh males and in another style by young Sikh females. Beneath this daastar, Sikh males wear a long "mane" of hair. Taking the metaphor of a lion's mane, author Navjot Kaur transports readers to many diverse cultures the world over, whose esteem for the virtues of the lion (strength, respect, courage, loyalty, patience, wisdom) unites them, regardless of their other differences.

Illustrator Jaspreet Sandhu enforces the metaphor of the mane by unfurling the bright red sash across every page, providing a bold contrast to the the lion's virtues which are printed clearly upon it. Additionally, a glossary and pronunciation guide assist the teacher in further discussion of the book's topics. A wonderful title for children struggling with tolerance and acceptance of cultures which seem very different from their own.

Extension: A simple way to discuss cultural symbolism is through the study of national flags. What do the colors, shapes, and symbols of each flag represent? Students are excited to learn that their flag shares common traits with those of their classmates.

Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace, by James Proimos

Paulie Pastrami can't whistle, he has trouble matching his socks, and he is usually picked last in sports. But he plans to achieve world peace before he turns eight. After all he's accomplished a lot in his lifetime: he ate an entire pizza in one sitting, he beat a tiger in a race (actually, it was a kitty named Tiger), and he was even kissed by a girl (Aunt Margie). "But achieving world peace was his greatest accomplishment to date."

Paulie begins with being kind to plants and animals, and his efforts soon turn to humankind. His actions have an impact on his classmates and then his entire school. Eager to do more, Paulie convinces his father that a world tour is in order! Armed with a trailer full of cupcakes (which can often settle a dispute when nothing else can), Paulie and Dad tour the world, or at least their small part of it (Furniture World, Tire World, Sports World, Toy World, World of Magic and finally Mattress World).

Upon returning home, Paulie Pastrami's father announces, "Now entering your home: Paulie Pastrami, the boy who just achieved world peace!" Exhausted but satisfied with his efforts, Paulie goes to sleep, peacefully. James Proimos' bold and bright pictures and minimal text per page will make this a popular independent book for younger readers.

Extension: Paulie's success relies upon cause and effect. After discussing this with students, ask them what small act they could carry out which might have a positive effect upon a single person, who might, in turn, do a kind act for another. Encourage students to ask themselves, "What Would Paulie Do?" and write about and illustrate one kind act they could commit that might lead to world peace.

What Does Peace Feel Like, by Vladimir Radunsky

What Does Peace Feel Like gathers the wisdom of numerous children who tell us what peace smells like, looks like, sounds like, tastes like, and feels like. Each spread is devoted to one of the senses, with the thoughts of five to seven children per page.

Extension: This simple book relies upon bright images and similes and metaphors to share its message. Students can easily use figurative language to create their own interpretations of what peace looks like, smells like, etc. and illustrate those same thoughts with watercolor paintings. A nice activity for kicking off or culminating your very own Peace Week.

Have your own favorite book on peacemaking, or an activity you've successfully used in your class or school? Please share it in a comment below!

For more on ideas on making peace, check out Josephson Institute's Six Pillars of Character®.

Literary Giveaway Blog Hop

2011-02-18T21:07:00.002-05:00

I'm pleased to participate in Leeswammes's Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, which allows blog readers to visit many excellent blogs (see the list below) for the chance to win awesome books and other prizes. Here at Teach with Picture Books I'm giving away a Caldecott Honor picture book (of course!), a Newbery Honor Award chapter book, and a sensational nonfiction business title.

My guidelines, as always, are simple:

The giveaway is open to US residents only.
To enter, email me with the title of the book you hope to win in the subject line. Want to win all three? Send three separate emails.
You don't have to follow me to win, but it would be a nice gesture. Pity follows are happily accepted. Following my blog will increase your good karma, but not your chances of winning.
Contest will close at midnight EST on February 24th EST. I'll notify winners shortly thereafter.

My picture book giveaway is the 2010 Caldecott Honor Book Interrupting Chicken, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein, and generously provided by my friends at Candlewick Press.

From the Candlewick site:

It’s time for the little red chicken’s bedtime story --and a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt. But the chicken can’t help herself! Whether the tale is HANSEL AND GRETEL or LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD or even CHICKEN LITTLE, she jumps into the story to save its hapless characters from doing some dangerous or silly thing. Now it’s the little red chicken’s turn to tell a story, but will her yawning papa make it to the end without his own kind of interrupting? Energetically illustrated with glowing colors --and offering humorous story-within-a-story views --this all-too-familiar tale is sure to amuse (and hold the attention of ) spirited little chicks.
A favorite joke inspires this charming tale, in which a little chicken’s habit of interrupting bedtime stories is gleefully turned on its head.

Be sure to visit the publisher's site for downloadable activities, as well as their original Story Hour kit.

My chapter book giveaway is the Newbery Honor Book The Jumping Off Place, written by Marian Hurd McNeely, and generously provided by my friends at South Dakota State Historical Society Press.

From the SDSHP site:

Four young homesteaders strive to succeed on a quarter section in Tripp County, South Dakota, at the beginning of the 1900s. Faced with the prospect of the upcoming harsh winter, the youngsters work hard to "prove up" the land and buildings. All the while, Becky, Dick, Phil, and Joan contend with drought, discomfort, and sabotaging squatters. As winter looms, the battle for their land heats up. Short of money and fearful for their lives, the children learn that the prairie is not as lonely as it looks and that they are stronger than they thought. With the help of new-found friends and their own derring-do, the youngsters seek to hold the enemy at bay and withstand whatever the elements throw at them.

The Jumping Off Place makes an excellent companion book to any study of Pioneers or the Westward Movement. Also a great comparison novel to such classics as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books.

My nonfiction business book giveaway is the soon-to-be-best-selling Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, written by Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple, and generously provided by the man himself.

Reviews of this book say it all:

"Guy's book captures the importance - and the art - of believing in an idea that delivers something entirely unique to the customer. The power of a really good idea to transform the marketplace and individual customer experiences is huge, and this book offers a wealth of insights to help businesses and entrepreneurs tap into that potential."
-Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group

"Kawasaki provides insights so valuable we all wish we'd had them first."
-Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: Science and Practice

"Guy has written the small-business manifesto. There is nothing more important for entrepreneurs than to enchant their customers, and Guy explains exactly how to do this."
-Jane Applegate, author of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business

Hope you see a book you like!

Good luck with the drawing, and be sure to visit these other awesome blogs for more chances to win:

Sit Down and Be Counted: Exploring the Civil Rights Movement with Picture Books

2011-02-06T00:56:00.009-05:00

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

History is often made by ordinary people taking extraordinary risks.

Such was the case on February 4, 1960, when four black college students took seats at the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina. Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, tells that story with same passion and intensity with which it took place.

The story is told with minimal yet factual narrative, with a delicious dash of figurative language salted throughout (Brian explains why in the video below). The narrative is also punctuated with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which not only guided the protesters of the time in their nonviolent methods, but may also help young readers of today understand how these crusaders could withstand such abuse and humiliation.

In this video, author Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrator Brian Pinkney discuss the events leading up to the sit-ins (these same events are detailed in an epilogue called "A Final Helping" at book's end). They also discuss the writing and illustration process, and close with a brief overview of the book.

Several segments of this video lend themselves to discussion and extensions for the book:

Andrea and Brian discussed the food references used in the book. Why was food mentioned so often? Share a specific passage which employs a food metaphor and ask, What does that passage mean? Why not just come right out and say that? What other food-related metaphors did you hear? In our everyday language, what other metaphors are often used?
The author and illustrator talked about the need for conducting research using photographs from the time. Why would this be so important? What information might the photographs provide? If the author/illustrator team chose to create a picture book set in a time period before photography was invented, how might they gather information for their pictures? If we also say, "Write what you know," then why do research?
Toward the end of the video, Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brain Pinkney discuss their own heroes. Why is that included in the video? How might their own heroes have affected their decision to create this book? Why is it important to have heroes? Who are some of your heroes? How could you find out more about them?
For additional ideas and extensions, check out the teaching guide from Hatchette Book Group, prepared by the very talented Tracie Vaughn Zimmer.

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

In Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, a young narrator describes her family's involvement in the sit-ins and protests which took place in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. This would serve as a terrific companion book to Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, since the two books chronicle the same event, but in very different styles and perspectives. Author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Jerome Lagarrigue take a much more linear storytelling approach to the event, and provide many more historical details in the actual narrative.

Once you've read Freedom on the Menu with students,

Grab the excellent lesson plan outline, with lots of links to related resources, at author Carole Boston Weatherford's website.
Encourage some theatrics with a Readers Theater Script based on Freedom on the Menu.
Check out some recommended activities for this book including an activity that compares the story of the civil right movement told in newspapers from 1960, a work of historical fiction, and students' own social studies textbook. You'll also found a download meant as a reading guide for Freedom Summer, aimed at parents but also a valuable resource for the classroom.
Show students this excellent dramatic interpretation of the Greensboro events. (Visit the Smithsonian's History Explorer for related lesson plans as well as transcripts of the video below). Consider having students create their own dramatic retelling of another Civil Rights era event.

Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer begins with this note from author Deborah Wiles:

In the early 1960s the American South had long been a place where Black Americans could not drink from the same drinking fountains as whites, attend the same schools, or enjoy the same public areas. Then the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law and states that "All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment" of any public place, regardless of "...race, color, religion, or national origin."

I was born a white child in Mobile, Alabama, and sent summers visiting my beloved Mississippi relatives. When the Civil Rights Act was passed, the town pool closed. So did the roller rink and the ice cream parlor. Rather than lawfully giving blacks the same rights and freedoms as whites, many southern businesses chose to shut their doors in protest. Some of them closed forever.

In this fictional account, two boys, one white and one black, share all the joys of summer together: shooting marbles, swimming in Fiddler's Creek, and cooling down with ice pops, all beautifully portrayed in Jerome Lagarrigue's images (yes, he's the same guy who illustrated Freedom on the Menu). So the boys are excited to learn that the town pool, which previously catered to whites only, will be opened to "everybody under the sun, no matter what color."

But the next day, their eager feet skid to a stop when the boys discover county dump trucks backing up to the pool. The trucks pour hot asphalt where the water used to be. Rather than allow blacks to swim in the pool, the county has tarred it over. "I didn't want to swim in this old pool anyway," the white narrator offers bravely. "I did," replies his friend. "I wanted to swim in this pool. I want to do everything you do."

The title Freedom Summer refers to a movement organized by civil rights workers to register black voters in Mississippi. Even children, who might have been blissfully unaware of tensions before, began to notice the dangers of open friendships between the races.

As you discuss this book, you may want to ask

Why are these two boys friends? What qualities do you look for in a friend?
Do the changes happening around the two boys strengthen their friendship, or weaken it? Explain.
John Henry and his older brother, Will, are both black, yet his brother is part of the crew that fills the pool with asphalt. Why would Will choose to do that? How does he feel about it? How do we know?
What else could the county have done about the pool situation?
Does this book contain any heroes? What makes a person heroic?

The Other Side

A terrific comparison book to Freedom Summer is The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, with illustrations by E. B. Lewis. Students can compare the two protagonists of this book (two girls, one white, one black) with the two boys of Freedom Summer.

How were they alike? Different?
How did the children in each book react to the changing times?
What part did adults play in each book?
In The Other Side, Mama says, "Because that's the way things have always been." Is a similar sentiment expressed in Freedom Summer? What evidence is presented in both books that times are now changing?
In The Other Side, what is the fence meant to represent? Is there a similar symbol in Freedom Summer?
Do the books seem to contain the same message?
See the lesson plan at Learning to Give for more activities and extensions. At that same site, another lesson plan on trust also uses The Other Side as a reference.

Below are three more titles you might want to consider as companion books in this discussion of the Civil Rights Movement:

The School is Not White: A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement

In 1965, seven children from one family signed up to attend an all-white school in Mississippi. Although school segregation had been declared illegal eleven years earlier, the schools in Drew, Mississippi were still separated by race, with black schools being far inferior in facilities and supplies.

Unlike the victory in Greensboro which was achieved in less than a year, the ordeal of the Carter family lasted much longer. "Every day, for five years, the children suffered constant humiliations, name-calling, and death threats." Even those white children brave enough to reach out to the Carters were chastised by teachers at the school. Read the story of their unbelievable bravery and ultimate triumph in The School is Not White: A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement, by Doreen Rappaport, with illustrations by Curtis James.

Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights

Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights chronicles the life story of bus #2857 from its birth in the General Motors Corporation factory in Pontiac Michigan to its brush with junkyard oblivion. Author Jo S. Kittinger provides a unique perspective on the oft-told story of Rosa Parks, and the book as a whole explains the Southern way of life circa 1955. Governed by Jim Crow laws, both black and white folks simply resign themselves to the situation, saying "That's just the way things were." Until Rosa, of course, refuses to give up her seat. Simple yet powerful illustrations by Steven Walker.

Download some comprehension questions written by the author herself.

Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

You might want to compare Rosa's Bus to Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. If you're seeking books to help students understand the concepts of boycott and nonviolent resistance, these two are perfect. Use the following questions to help students debrief:

What are the basic facts given in each book?
How does each book present those facts?
Why did the writer and author of each book choose their unique approach?
Where did each book begin? Where did each end?
What message can we take away from each book?
What questions are left unanswered?
Check out the Boycott Blues Teaching Guide at Harper Collins Children's Books.

Teaching Resource

If you're looking for a teacher reference, or a book appropriate for readers in grades 6 and up, I can recommend none more highly than A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968. Well organized by year and event, with plenty of period photographs, this is the book that will help you answer all of your students questions (and your own!) about this tumultuous and important time in our nation's history Author Diane McWhorter provides fact in a beautiful tapestry that reads like a story, full of real-life human beings whose individual stories form the larger transformation that we call The Civil Rights Movement.

Web Links for Exploring the Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement from Discovery Education

Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching

Songs of the Civil Right Movement

Nonviolent Direct Action at Southern Lunch Counters

(some links inactive)

Timeline of the Civil Rights Era

Fatty Legs: A True Story

2011-02-03T01:04:00.003-05:00

Fatty Legs tells the true story of one girl's triumph in the face of oppression and alienation in a foreign environment.

Although the tales eight year-old Olemaun (OO-lee-mawn) hears of the outsiders' school are ominous, she wants nothing more than to learn how to read. When she's finally granted permission to leave her Inuvialuit people and attend the Anglican school, nothing can prepare her for the institution's intentional humiliations, nor the ridicule of her fellow students.

While many students will recognize the bullying behaviors of Olemaun's peers, they'll be shocked to hear of the even greater torment dealt out by The Raven, Olemaun's pale-faced, hook-nosed teacher. The Raven, after all, isn't a storybook villain, but a real-life person. How could an adult charged with the care of a child be so malicious?

In what author Christy Jordan-Fenton calls a "hybrid picture book and chapter book," we are effectively transported to another world which, in reality, is not far from ours either in time or space. The setting and culture are new to readers, but the emotions and themes of the book are universal.

In addition to the book's faithfulness to its narrative, it's also beautifully written. In a scene from the first few pages, for example, we are shown Olemaun's interpretation of a book's event through the eyes of her culture:

"What's a rabbit?" I asked Rosie in our language, Inuvialuktun.

"It's like a hare," she told me, lifting her eyes from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

"Oh. Well, why did Alice follow it down the hole? To hunt it?

She's told that Alice followed the rabbit out of curiosity, but even later, after reading the book for herself and finding that Rosie had told the truth, Olemaun muses, "I would have brought its pelt back for my father."

In a later scene, Olemaun begs her father a final time for permission to attend the school:

"Please," I said again. "Please."

He crouched to my height. He picked up a rock with one of his hands and held it out to me. "Do you see this rock? It was once jagged and full of sharp, jutting points, but the water of the ocean slapped at it, carrying away its angles and edges. Now it is nothing but a small pebble. This is what the outsiders will do to you at the school."

"But Father, the water did not change the stone inside the rock. Besides, I am not a rock. I am a girl. I can move. I am not stuck upon the shore for an eternity."

And true to her word, Olemaun is not worn down by the outsiders, not even by the malicious and vindictive Raven who singles Olemaun out for the most tedious chores. It's this same Raven who requires Olemaun to wear thick, red socks, in sharp contrast to the slender grey socks of the other girls, giving rise to the derisive nickname Fatty Legs.

At some level, this is a book of historical importance, decrying the attempt to wipe out the cultural roots of Native People. At another level, it's a book of social importance, condemning those who would bully and belittle the children whom they're intended to instruct and nurture. But at its highest level, I believe that Fatty Legs is a a book about a willful spirit that can't be broken. In Olemaun's own words:

The Raven thought that she was there to teach me a few things, but in the end, I think it was she who learned a lesson. Be careful what birds you choose to pluck from their nests. A wren can be just as clever as a raven.

I highly recommend this book as a read-aloud. Its characters and images will resonate with children long after you've read it. What's more tragic than bullying is the fact that discussion of it has become almost cliche. Powerful, personal accounts like this one, however, put a face on the victims. At the same time, this book will help the bullied to realize that they're only victims if they choose to be.

As far as history goes, readers should realize that although this story involves the large group of Native People collectively called the Inuit, similar and even harsher programs of "Indian education" took place in the United States. According to Charla Bear in the NPR feature American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many:

The federal government began sending American Indians to off-reservation boarding schools in the 1870s, when the United States was still at war with Indians.

An Army officer, Richard Pratt, founded the first of these schools. He based it on an education program he had developed in an Indian prison. He described his philosophy in a speech he gave in 1892.

"A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one," Pratt said. "In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man."

According to Tsianina Lomawaima, head of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona, the intent was to completely transform people, inside and out. "Language, religion, family structure, economics, the way you make a living, the way you express emotion, everything," The government's objective was to "erase and replace" Indian culture, part of a larger strategy to conquer Indians.

The irony of these Indian schools, and the school described in Fatty Legs, is that in their attempt to indocrinate children in the ways of the White men, they ignored Native wisdoms and skills which were key to survival in their environment. A note in the book, for example, reports that Olemaun could operate her own dogsled team by the time she was ten. A fascinating extension to this book would be The Inuit Thought of It: Amazing Arctic Innovations, which is full of inventions which originated with these Native people, from sunglasses to snowshoes. A Native American Thought of It was featured in an earlier post on Invention.

If you'd like to read more on Native cultures, or if you intend to study them with your class, I'd recommend following Debbie Reese's excellent American Indians in Children's Literature blog. Tribal College Journal had this to say about Debbie's resources:

This premier website compiled by Debbie Reese (Nambe Pueblo) provides plenty of Native perspectives on everything from children’s books to movies and museums. Check out the link to recommended children’s and young adult books. Books are listed by level and genre... You will also find links to Guidelines for Evaluating Websites, resources for research projects, “how to” guides, lesson plans, award winners, bibliographies, links to professional journals, various association statements about mascots, links to Native writer websites, audio and video interviews, and much more. Check this site out, and allow yourself time to browse.

And on a final note, be sure to read author Christy Jordan-Fenton's biography at Annick Press. She's Jack London, Teddy Roosevelt, and Mother Teresa rolled into one! You can also hear a podcast of Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton discussing the true-life story behind the book.

Congratulations to Our Winner!

2011-01-30T23:06:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to Abi from North Dakota, who was chosen by RANDOM.org to receive a copy of Lemony Snicket's 13 Words. You left an awful lot of disappointed people in your wake!

In the coming days, look for the following topics to be posted here at Teach with Picture Books:

Sit Down and Be Counted: Exploring the Civil Rights Through Picture Books
Making Peace with Picture Books
Reasons and Resources for Author Studies
Becoming Art Smart with Picture Books
Tales from the Black Hills (a review of several fantastic titles produced by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press, including The Prairie-Dog Prince)

These long pieces, as well as a few posts dedicated to single titles that deserve attention, will hopefully get us all through the doldrums of February!

Thanks to all who entered the giveaway!

Great Minds Thinking Alike: Sites for Teaching Using Picture Books

2011-01-28T22:54:00.008-05:00

I founded this humble blog for the purpose of sharing picture book teaching ideas with my fellow teachers. I frankly wasn't able to find anything like it on the Internet.

Since that time, many teachers have emailed me to say how much they appreciate the recommendations and resources found here. Many, however, are hungry for more, and invariably ask, "Where can I find other sites like yours?"

To advance the cause of teaching with picture books, I reached out to some of the extremely knowledgeable and talented educators who, like me, not only review children's books, but also provide their readers with teaching ideas and additional resources. I absolutely encourage you to visit their sites, become followers, and share their resources with your colleagues.

In addition, if you know of a fantastic site that I missed (especially if it's yours!) please let me know and I'll be sure to include you here.

The Book Chook
Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers, Anyone Who Loves to Read, Write or Create and Wants to Share that with Kids.

Teachers and parents from all over the world visit The Book Chook to find tips on encouraging kids to read, write and communicate, reviews, letters asking for The Book Chook's advice, articles about using technology to motivate kids' learning, and links to games, activities and online fun.

Susan Stephenson is the face behind The Book Chook, where she shares her passion for children's literacy, literature and learning. Susan taught Kindergarten to Year 6 in Australian primary schools, drama outside school to kids and young teens, and ESL in China.

Currently, as well as pretending to be a chicken on her blog, she writes stories for children, and edits the free magazine for parents, Literacy Lava. It's published four times a year, and available as a downloadable free pdf. Each issue is erupting with practical ideas and strategies to involve children in reading, writing and communicating with creativity. Contributors come from all over the world, but each shares a passion for children's literacy.

Some recommended posts to explore:

Katie's Literature Lounge
Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers, Librarians

In discussing Katie's Literature Lounge, Katie had this to say:

I am an elementary Head Start teacher by day and a reader during any/all free time. Being a teacher I am always looking for children's books to read and use in the classroom.

This blog provides readers with books (mainly picture books for children between the ages of 3-10) and if possible, lesson plans and reading activities to match. Feel free to steal the ideas for your own classroom, reading group, library or children!

Margo Dill's Read These Books and Use Them
Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers, Librarians, Children's Writers

Margo L. Dill is a freelance writer, editor, and teacher, living in Mahomet, Illinois. Her work has appeared in publications such as Grit, Pockets, True Love, Fun for Kidz, Missouri Life, ByLine Magazine, and The Chicago Tribune. She is a columnist, instructor, and contributing editor for WOW! Women On Writing. She is assistant editor for the Sunday Books page in The News-Gazette.

Her first book, Finding My Place, a middle-grade historical novel, will be published by White Mane Kids. She owns her own copyediting business, Editor 911, and is an instructor for the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club and the WOW! Women On Writing Classroom.

In discussing her blog, Read These Books and Use Them, Margo comments:

This blog has gone through many changes in the last two and a half years due to how my life has changed, too! But currently, I feature a book twice a week (picture book, middle-grade, or YA) and provide three activities or discussion points to go with the book. Every once in a while, I host an author, interview him or her, and have a book giveaway. I will also post information for teachers/homeschoolers if I find something really interesting that I think people need to know about to reach children or teach in schools.

In my archives, you'll find posts about books that help children/women around the world, more activities to go with books, lesson plans for preschool to senior high, six plus one traits of writing activities, product reviews, posts about being a mom educator, and more.

When she's not writing, she loves spending time with her husband, stepson, daughter, and two dogs—Chester, a boxer, and Hush Puppy, a basset hound.

Some recommended features to explore at her site:

Use the category list on the sidebar to find authors you like, books appropriate for your children or students, and even books to fit certain categories like books about health.
Click on the tab at the top of Margo’s site to check out some ideas and resources for helping children and teens around the world.

NC Teacher Stuff

Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers

Jeff Barger’s goal with NC Teacher Stuff is to provide resources that will help teachers in the classroom.

While his reviews are mainly picture books, he also reviews iTouch apps and the occasional novel as well. Jeff is a kindergarten teacher in North Carolina.

Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books

Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers

Dawn Little is the author of Teaching Comprehension with Nonfiction Read Alouds: 12 Lessons for Using Newspapers, Magazines, and other Nonfiction Texts to Build Key Comprehension Skills (preview it here; buy it from her blog!).

Dawn's Teaching with Picture Books provides educators, parents, and homeschoolers with picture book models to guide their teaching of reading comprehension strategies and the six traits of writing.

Dawn is a mother of two, former classroom teacher, consultant, and author. She created a literacy consulting company, Links to Literacy, in 2009. Links to Literacy provides parent workshops, educator workshops, and literacy enrichment classes for children. She also blogs at Literacy Toolbox.

Some recommended posts to explore:

SimplyScience
Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers

Shirley Duke is a former science teacher turned children's writer. She holds a bachelor's degree in science and a master's degree in education. She's always loved reading and science and her blog lets her combine them both. SimplyScience combines the pleasure of reading books with a short, simple science activity that can be used to extend an idea from the book.

Shirley started blogging two years ago and found she liked it. Her first book was No Bows!, a picture book. She's written Unthinkable, a YA horror named a Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, and two science books. Her science books are Infections, Infestations, and Diseases and You Can't Wear These Genes. She guest blogs for the NOVA site "Secret Life of Scientists."

Some recommended posts to explore:

Teach Mentor Texts
Audience: Teachers, Parents

In speaking of her inspiration for creating Teach Mentor Texts, Jen Vincent says:

All the professional books I have read and all the research shows that the kids who read more are the kids who do better on reading tests.

I got to thinking about my life as a reader. I want all my students to grow up and be lifelong readers just like me...well, do I read worksheets? Do I fill out reading logs after I finish a chapter or 20 minutes of reading? Do I read a book that is way to hard for me or that doesn't interest me at all? Of course not. I decided that matching my students with authentic, mentor texts was critical to helping them improve as readers. I started blogging at Teach Mentor Texts to share the great mentor texts I come across.

My proudest professional achievement has been to achieve National Board certification this year in early/middle childhood literacy. I am so glad I went through the process because I learned so much about myself as a teacher and further developed my philosophy of teaching. I am currently in my 9th year of teaching. I am a hearing itinerant teacher; I work with K-8 students who hard deaf and hard of hearing in various schools in my district. Outside of school I am a mom to two awesome boys (ages 3 1/2 and 6 months) and wife to a sports-loving hubby.

Some recommended posts to explore:

Teach with Picture Books

Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers, Children's Publishers

Keith Schoch is a classroom teacher of over 20 years presently teaching Sixth Grade Reading/Language Arts in Bedminster, NJ. He started his Teach with Picture Books in an attempt to share his love of using picture books in the upper elementary classroom. Since that time, he's started two other blogs: How to Teach a Novel and Teaching that Sticks. He leads occasional workshops and inservices, and also writes original curriculum and teaching guides, such as his recent teaching guide for Encyclopedia Mythologica: Gods and Heroes (Candlewick Press).

Teach with Picture Books is aimed at teachers of grades 3 and up who want to incoporate picture books in their daily instruction. In the majority of his posts, Keith collects a number of recommended titles sharing similar themes, topics, or traits, and then provides teaching ideas, related resources, and links to interactive activities.

About his most popular blog, Keith says:

I'm often asked my favorite picture book. That's like asking a parent to choose a favorite child. One is there when you need support, another is there to lend a strong hand, another is there to help you with a good cry, and another is there to provide wise counsel. Picture books can serve so many purposes, and pure enjoyment is perhaps the greatest of these.

Some posts to explore:

Books4Learning
Audience: Teachers, Parents, Homeschoolers, Children's Publishers

The purpose of Books4Learning is to highlight quality children's literature as a resource for parents and educators (homeschool or classroom). Blog author Chelanne often offer ideas and links to prompt learning opportunities - literary, interpersonal, and cross-curriculum. Some posts focus on the best books on a specific subject or on a tween/young adult novel which Chelanna has recently read.

Describing herself, Chelanne says

I am a parent who currrently homeschools. I have two education/English related degrees. I have worked as an elementary classroom teacher and a college English instructor. I LOVE reading books, especially picture books. I do library runs (to three different systems) at least twice a week. I love researching and finding everything available on a topic. I started blogging to share my favorites with others.

Explore some of her posts here:

Thanks to all these dedicated bloggers for taking time to share about themselves and their work!

Got a question for these experts? Looking for a book or topic you'd like to explore? Have another site to share? Leave a comment below.

13 Words in One Word: Entertaining

2011-01-26T17:31:00.002-05:00

It's my first picture book giveaway of 2011!

Read on to see how to enter!

So often I expound on such serious matters for picture books: the Holocaust, scientific inquiry, and war. It's nice once in a while to pick up a picture book that's just fun to read, and Lemony Snicket's 13 Words is such a book. 13 Words couples simple words (Bird) with complex (Despondent), and common words (Dog) with uncommon (Panache).

Just last night my seven year-old daughter asked if we could read a book together. From stacks of dozens of picture books on our dining room table, Mackenzie selected this one to read (I think the striking school-bus-yellow cover had much to do with that).

As we began to turn pages, she decided that some were mine to read while others were hers. The page featuring the word Despondent was hers. Dad the teacher, never one to miss ruining the moment, stopped her to ask, "What does despondent mean?"

Mackenzie dutifully replied, "It means very unhappy," and explained why, using the pictures and context sentences to prove her hypothesis. (By the way, there is no difference between hypothesis and absolute-certain-truth in the mind of a seven year-old).

As we continued through the book, often stopping to discuss Maira Kalman's surreal illustrations, we came across the word Panache. Learning its meaning (from the book, mind you, not from Dad), my daughter called to my wife, "Hey, Mom! You have panache!"

Enter Mom. Good thing, too, because we needed some help with Word Number 13: Mezzo-Soprano. My wife offered, "I think that's a soprano that sings really high. Casey would know."

Enter the thirteen year-old, the musical theatre aficionado. Thirteen year-olds know everything, so it was extremely fortuitous that she was available to confirm my wife's conjecture. And with the whole family now gathered, we finished the book.

The book in one word? Crazy (Mackenzie). In two? Pretty Neat (Mom). In three? Kind of Weird (Casey). In four? Completely unique, absolutely original (me).

And that's that. As promised, I won't discuss the book's potential for creative story prompts, vocabulary development, or writing models. I could, and should, but I won't.

Instead, I'll offer you a copy of your very own, courtesy of the folks at Media Masters Publicity, who were kind enough to share the book with me. Simply email me with the words Thirteen Words in the subject line by midnight EST, Saturday, January 29th, 2011. Good luck!

Picture Books in the Secondary Classroom

2011-01-24T22:38:00.002-05:00

About a month ago I was harassing folks to come out and support my proposal for Basic Literacy through Picture Books at the Open Innovation Portal (not too late! you can still be an educational activist!). I posted my (obviously) hand-made video here at Teach with Picture Books and also at the English Companion Ning.

Educator extraordinaire Jenna Gardner was kind enough to respond to my video by sharing a Prezi of her own on Picture Books in the Secondary Classroom, and she's allowed me to post it here as well.

Be sure to click on More in lower right corner of video viewing window to go full screen!

Terrific research snippets supporting the use of picture books with the upper grades! Thanks, Jenna.

Picturebooks in the Secondary Classroom on Prezi

A Nation Divided: Exploring the Civil War Through Picture Books

2011-01-19T23:55:00.020-05:00

The Civil War, or War Between the States, was arguably one of the darkest periods in American history. Over seven hundred thousand lives were lost in the conflict that pitted father against son, brother against brother. If this was such a horrific event, then why study it?

For some teachers, it's a part of their assigned curriculum, but textbooks rarely do justice to the personal perspectives of those who lived through this harrowing time. For other teachers, a common background knowledge of the Civil War is crucial to reading and comprehending Civil War era historical fiction novels such as Charlie Skeddadle, Rifles for Watie, Bull Run, and Soldier's Heart. Even the reader of the tongue-in-cheek misadventures described in the recent Newbery Honor winning The Mostly True Adventures Of Homer P. Figg can benefit from a basic knowledge of Civil War history.

Apart from these pragmatic reasons, though, why should we care about Civil War picture books? First, because the Civil War was the ultimate test of our young country's ability to stand united. Second, because the Civil War is as much a study in human rights as it is in states' rights. And third, because an understanding and appreciation of our existing rights comes only through an examination of the bloody conflict which guaranteed those same freedoms to all citizens.

The Last Brother by Trinka Hakes Nobel serves as an excellent introduction to the external and internal conflicts of the Civil War. (You may recall an earlier post on The American Revolution where I praised Noble's The Scarlet Stockings Spy). In this tale, a young bugler is forced to choose between duty to country and loyalty to a friend; in the end, he is able to honor both. Like The Scarlet Stockings Spy, this book is incredibly well researched, using exacting vocabulary within a context that allows young readers to construct meaning, as well as a sense of time and place, without losing the narrative flow. At the same time, it delivers a compelling story that serves a snapshot of the torn allegiances suffered throughout the entire nation at this time.

In the Author's Note, Trinka Hakes Noble explains that the inspiration for The Last Brother came from her own family history:

Nearly one hundred of my ancestors were in the Civil War, which they called the States War. One large Hakes farming family from upstate New York sent all their sons. The youngest, a fourteen-year-old drummer, was the only one who returned. This tragic loss was not uncommon on both sides...

The Last Brother was written with deep respect and honor, not only for my ancestors, but for all who served in the Civil War.

Robert Papp's realistic paintings dramatically frame each page, providing additional impact to the already emotional tale, while showing equal attention to historical detail and accuracy.

Ted Lewin's Red Legs tells the story of nine year-old Stephen's first foray into battle. The text provides just the right amount of information for young readers, who at book's end discover that Stephen and his soldier father are actually Civil War reenactors, or living historians. "Reenactors do it," explains Lewin, "because they love history and wish to honor the memory of the men and boys on both sides who died so long ago."

The book's endnotes explain that the drummer boy is based on the life of Stephen Benjamin Bartow, a Civil War musician from Brooklyn's 14th Regiment, who not only survived the war, but went on to become a mason who helped to build the Brooklyn Bridge. The large format of this book as well as Lewin's bright and detailed paintings make this an excellent foray into the topic. (Check out a study guide for Red Legs provided by the Brooklyn Public Library).

Pink and Say is Patricia Polacco's true-life tale of two Union soldiers, one white and one black, who are caught behind enemy lines. Finding Say wounded on the battlefield, Pink transports him to the abandoned plantation where Pink's family was once enslaved. While there, the boys compare their experiences as soldiers fighting for the same cause.

When Confederate marauders invade the house and kill Moe Moe Bay (Pink's mother), the two boys are forced to flee North.

The bittersweet ending to this book (I won't give it away) delivers an emotional punch when we discover the author's relationship to one of the book's protagonists. If you want to put a personal face on the tragedies of war, get your hands on this book.

Voices of Gettysburg, like Pink and Say, provides personal perspectives of the conflict. In this case, however, we hear the words of several participants, including General Robert E. Lee, Rachel Cormany (a housewife of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), General George Meade, and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain (once a college professor but now commnader of the Twentieth Maine Infantry).

These and other voices describe for us the anxiety, anger, and anguish surrounding one of the most pivotal battles of the war. If you're asking students to create mock journal entries, then author Sherry Garland has provided some excellent models for you to share.

In 1863, General Lee took the fighting to the North, leading his troops into Pennsylvania. Lincoln mobilized thousand of Union troops to intercept the Rebels. In The Battle of Gettysburg: Would You Lead the Fight? an engaging "you are there" format challenges readers to continually choose between courses of action, given the particulars of an historic situation. Each of the situations is, indeed, taken from history, and succeeding pages reveal the actual courses of action taken by generals and presidents, and the consequences of those actions.

This is the perfect book for students who want to feel that they're a part of history! Photographs, paintings, and battlefield maps round out the easy-to-read text. (Be sure to check out one of the other related titles in this series from Enslow Publishers: Would You Do What Lincoln Did?).

B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet provides a fascinating look at all things Civil War, literally from A (Abraham Lincoln) to Z (Zouave, a brightly dressed soldier whose garb was inspired by African units fighting with the French in North Africa in the 1830s). Each page features a fantastic painting by illustrator David Geister, and poetry and prose by author Patricia Bauer. Students can read as far as they want on each page, as the text "drills down" to more specific topics. The page on Trains, for example, not only discusses their impact on the war, but also points out other innovations (submarines, rifled cannons, photography) which made the Civil War one of the first truly modern wars. If you're looking for a book that reads like a narrative, but acts as a reference, this should be on your classroom shelf.

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Civil War Soldier is from the "You Wouldn't Want to..." series of nonfiction books created by British author David Salariya. The series has since been taken on by several other writers, although the extremely talented David Antram continues to illustrate most titles. In a previous post about Salariya, I mentioned that the Manchester Evening News called this series "a fascinating full-on colour weapon in the battle to get kids to remember historical facts." This title continues in that tradition, sharing facts about army life that are rarely remembered today. The typical lot of the foot soldier on either side was boredom, filth, and hunger, only occasionally punctuated by horrific and bloody battles. This book begs the question, "So why did they do it?" and then answers that question. Again, a great resource for fictional eyewitness accounts, and one of those books that will be read at will in the classroom, especially by your boys.

Hands-On Extensions

For hands-on projects in the classroom, I can recommend no book more highly than Maxine Anderson's Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself. First, this book comes from a long line of excellent resource books for teachers and students from Nomad Press (read a rave about them in an earlier post). Second, the book itself is an incredible source of information about the innovations and technology of the war. You could easily make those topics alone the focus of a related Science unit, and this book would yield enough activities for at least an entire marking period. Ample background about the war and the people who fought it would, in fact, make this an excellent stand-alone "textbook" for any classroom, grades four and up. Third, the activities are easily "doable," and actually pretty cool! I can't say the same for some other hands-on books that I skimmed and quickly dismissed. Few of the projects here require special materials, and most could be made by students with little assistance. Imagine creating a battlefield camera and a telegraph that actually work! (Check out a free resource from this book at their site).

Sites to See and Stuff to Do Online

Harpers Weekly was the primary contemporary source of news about the Civil War. Now you can see all of its archived issues in one place! At Sons of the South you can view the paper by week and year, or study specific battles.

To use the Harpers Weekly resource in class, team students up to research the main facts of a single battle, and then summarize those facts into three to four paragraphs. Using the The Newspaper Clip Generator (pictured) allows students to create a fictitious newspaper article with a realistic look, while at the same time limiting them in both space and word count. This forces them to tell only the most important facts.

The Brooklyn Public Library provides a number of lesson plans and resources about the Civil War, with special focus on Women, Slavery, Soldiers and Daily Life. The downloadable lesson plans take advantage of the interactive resources offered at the site, as well as easily attained picture books, like Ted Lewin's Red Legs, Anne Rockwell's Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth, and Shana Corey's You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! Also available there, an easy to understand glossary which would be the perfect supplement to any Civil War unit.

If you're looking for more interactive-type reviews, check out Mr. Nussbaum's Civil War activities. There you'll find cloze passages, self-checking reading comprehension selections, time lines, word searches, and more.

Along that same line, you'll find several self-checking quizzes, reading resources, and lots of links at Mountain City Elementary's Civil War page. It looks old-school Internet, but I promise you, take the time to look around and you won't be disappointed! Explore the links to discover lots of reading and history integrated projects which are easily adaptable to your classroom.

The PBS companion site to The Civil War, a film by Ken Burns, features not only the expected classroom activities, but also a pretty neat project involving digital storytelling.

You might like what you see there, or that same idea could just as easily be executed using PhotoStory, Movie Maker, VoiceThread, Prezi, and even Power Point.

Note that the movie below, along with filmed interviews, makes extensive use of period photographs to tell its story.

Other resources at other sites include animated battle maps (such as this one of The Battle of Gettysburg), annotated time lines, student sites, short reading selections, and ready-to-go lesson plans created by teachers.

If you can't find what you're looking for anywhere else, or if your students are researching specific topics of the war (such as music, poetry, money, stamps, etc.), then try this comprehensive site from Dakota State University or this annotated outline from Great American History.

I'd love to hear your ideas as well, or to learn about a book or site that I neglected to mention. Leave a comment below!

That's Disgusting! Can You Read It Again?

2011-01-12T13:21:00.004-05:00

The inspiration for this post is Artie Bennett's new picture book, The Butt Book. It's a funny and informative look at one of our least celebrated body parts (read more about it below). But its very subject matter may be a turn-off to some who might ask, "Why share a picture book about the human bottom?"

As parents, teachers, librarians, and tutors, we know that finding the right book is the key to motivating a child to read. And sometimes, for certain kids, that means a book that is naughty or creepy or sometimes downright gross! So check out my suggestions below, and then keep on reading for extensions and recommended sites to take full advantage of what these books have to offer.

The dilemma of just right books is central to the plot of Miss Brooks Loves Books by Barbara Bottner. Miss Brooks, a lover of books, is a librarian who always goes the extra mile, dressing as an elephant to read Babar, a monster to read Where the Wild Things are, and a jack-o-lantern to share Halloween books.

But our diminutive, contrary protagonist is unimpressed. Neither these antics, nor her peers' animated theatrics during Book Week, move Missy to read a book. Books that other children find fascinating are too flowery (fairies), too furry (dogs), too clickety (trains), or too yippity (cowboys) for Missy.

Mother tries to help as well, sharing books that Miss Brooks recommends, but even she reaches wit's end. Mother declares, "You're as stubborn as a wart."

Missy jolts to life. Warts? "I want to read a story with warts!" exclaims Missy. The natural choice for a book? Shrek, of course! Missy loves that Shrek has warts and hairs on his nose, and that he snorts! Miss Brooks is glad that her most reluctant reader has finally discovered a book she loves, and she promises Missy that she's still destined to find many more books that are "funny and fantastic and appalling."

The Butt Book is certainly funny and fantastic, and features a not-at-all-naughty and surprisingly academic tribute to our often overlooked posterior. Its clever rhymes and Mike Lester's bold and beautiful images make it an instant hit!

I happened to preview some of the pages online while sitting in a meeting at school. Another teacher, reading over my shoulder, burst into laughter. "What book is that?" she asked. "It looks hilarious!"

And it is! Its euphemisms, histories, and practical purposes make it a very serious study of human anatomy, and beyond its value as a read-aloud (plan to read it again and again!), I think it has the possibility to spark some interesting extensions in reading, writing, and science.

But, Keith, c'mon! What about its subject matter? What about the very topic of this book?

To respond, let me share a portion of a review by Thurston Dooley III in The Brooklyn Paper:

No doubt, there are parents who will worry that Bennett's endless repetition of the word "butt" in all its myriad forms - tuchas, fanny, bottom, heinie, rear - will encourage the youngsters to scream out "butt cheeks!" at inappropriate moments...

In actuality, The Butt Book will actually help remove the word's lingering shock value. For starters, Bennett plays it all for laughs, suggesting that we, not our keisters, are the ones with the butt problem because we are the ones who have "neglected" the butt.

"Funny and fantastic and appalling" also comes to mind for readers of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Gross Junior Edition. This handy guidebook, perfect for independent readers in grades three and up, features such entries as How to Cope with Nightmare Boogers, How to Tame a Beastly Burp, How to Tell if There's a Mouse in Your House, How to Prevent Pinkeye, and How to Survive a Skunk Encounter. And as they say on television, "But wait! There's more!" The edition concludes with Grossest Human Habits in History and Gross Practical Jokes.

I love that this book doesn't shy away from the gross topics, and actually addresses real-life problems that kids might encounter. But it does it in a fun way, employing nonfiction conventions such as headings, bullets, diagrams, charts, tables, and captions. If we had textbooks this engaging, we'd have a lot more straight A students!

Extension Activities

The Butt Book

I honestly love The Butt Book as a simple read-aloud. It's one of those read-alouds that is its own reward, and it's a book that kids will eagerly read on their own again and again. But if you're looking some extension activities, try these:

Encourage students to work in small groups to write their own books celebrating other body parts (I highly recommend you choose the parts). There are several things to consider, including content, rhyme, and illustrations. You might choose to use Bennett's book as a model for structuring the original projects, noting with students that Bennett includes synonyms, histories, and practical purposes for the butt. If students are stymied for ideas to get started, have them use one of the resources below.
Have students visit Wordsmyth, a handy dictionary and thesaurus, to look up a given body part to learn more about its use in American idioms. The entry word ear, for example, produced not only definitions, but also ear to the ground, play it by ear, wet behind the ears, and dog ear. Students can use these expressions to create a poster, mini-book, or digital application (such as Power Point or Photo Story).

Another terrific way to learn about the use of body names in expressions is to search them using One Look. One Look is a neat dictionary that allows you to search for words and expressions that begin or end with a word. So when I entered the search term * ear, over a hundred results were returned, including bend someone's ear, easy on the ear, can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, cute as a bug's ear, music to my ear, swimmer's ear, and the War of Jenkin's Ear (yes, it involved an actual severed ear). For lower grades, the teacher might pick and choose expressions for student research; in sixth grade I'd send students there to look for themselves.
Famous Quotes and other quotation sites are excellent resources for illustrations incorporating body parts. Students can include these in any of the above projects, or respond to them in writing prompts.
Animal anatomy adapts itself to its environment. Rather than focusing on human anatomy, assign students to research animal anatomy and adaptations. Web sites like ESkeleton even let students compare similarities in anatomy of like species. Using a short, online game is a good way to get students thinking about unique bodily adaptations that help animals survive.

Miss Brooks Loves Books

Miss Brooks Loves Books is full of creative ideas for extension:

Celebrate themed days and weeks, and encourage student participation through costumes, stuffed animals, and related items. I once read aloud at a Barnes and Noble, and encouraged all students attending to bring their teddy bears. They didn't know why, but they all did, and it made the audience-participation version of Going on a Bear Hunt a big hit!
Host a Book Week. While Missy describes it as "truly terrifying," your students could find it amazingly awesome! Michael Emberly's illustrations should provide some ideas.
Share more books about reluctant readers. Check out the list featured at Reading Rockets. Many students are comforted to know that they're not alone in their struggles with reading; these stories will inspire them to continue trying.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Gross Junior Edition

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Gross Junior Edition encourages students to explore the gooey and gross, the smelly and slimy. Encourage student curiosity with these activities:

Assign students a question about human health. Encourage research by providing resources such as KidsHealth. KidsHealth is a highly respected, reliable source for health information, and it features a kids section filled with videos, interactives, and Q&As all designed to answer students' most pressing health questions. KidzWorld is another student-friendly site featuring short articles on vomit and other gross yet necessary bodily functions, plus disgusting animal defenses.
Encourage students to create their own entry for this Handbook. It is, after all, a handbook for surviving life's unexpected "nasties," so students might have their own topics to explore and expound upon. Some of the topics covered in the two sites above, or in sites that follow, may give students inspiration. Require also that they incorporate the same conventions found in The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, including titles, headings, bulleted or numbered lists, tables, diagrams, labels, illustrations, and text boxes.

Explore the wonderful branch of science known as Scatology, or the study of feces. Seriously! Who Pooped is an amazing site which not only lets students solve the mystery of which animal pooped, but also describes (through a video segment) how zoologists use observations of feces to determine an animal's health. Students can even print out a certificate upon completion of the site's tasks.

Into animal studies but want to steer clear of poop? The KidWings website allows students to virtually dissect owl pellets, the undigested masses of fur and bone regurgitated by these raptors. The latest version of this site makes pulling apart and sorting the pellet simple and educational. Interactive instructional pieces plus many teacher resources make this site an instant winner, high on the "cool" scale, low on the actual "gross" scale.

Additional Resources

Be sure to visit The Yuckiest Site on the Internet for both teacher and student oriented explorations into the gross, and check out Scholastic's recommendations for Icky, Creepy, and Just Plain Gross Science Projects.

Do you know of another site, or another book, to explore the disgusting wonders of our world? We would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.

A Picture Book by Any Other Name

2010-12-29T12:03:00.005-05:00

A workshop attendee caught me after one of my sessions, and her comment was all too familiar: "I love picture books and I use them all the time, but I can't convince my school or district to switch over to real literature."

My response? "Stop calling them picture books." I could see she looked hurt (I have a way with people; just ask my wife), so I quickly added, "You and I both know how awesome picture books can be when used effectively, but when others hear 'picture books' they immediately think Clifford the Big Red Dog and Goodnight Moon. There's nothing wrong with those books, in the upper grades we're talking about another whole realm of books, so we simply have to change our language."

Is there something wrong with calling them picture books? Absolutely not, but I'll argue that there are two good reasons to call them by other names. Number one, the terms you use in your classroom to describe selected picture books help you and your students to understand how and why you're reading these texts. Number two, those same terms help other stakeholders (parents, colleagues, board members, administrators, grant funders) understand why you need picture books in your curriculum.

At first glance, reason number two seems superficial, but it's actually quite practical. As a classroom teacher, I wrote numerous grants and curriculum plans which involved getting picture books into students' hands. Yet I wasn't foolish enough to call them picture books. I knew that those who held the purse strings and the pens of approval were unlikely to release funds for picture books. I was correct in my thinking, and never failed to secure funding for classroom library or grade level sets of books. Was I deliberately deceitful in my wording? Absolutely not. I named the books according to their purposes, and the books in turn helped us to achieve our literary objectives.

Below I've provided some terms to use in place of "picture books." I think as you read through the list you'll begin to understand that what you call them determines and clarifies the goals you have in mind for their use.

Trade Books

Trade Book is perhaps the most widely used and recognized terminology for both picture books and chapter books, differentiating them from anthologies and basal readers.

The term trade books is not only familiar, but highly respected. Booksource, for example, offers a free booklet (available as a pdf download), The Impact of Trade Books and Reading Achievement, that outlines recent research on trade books in classroom libraries and demonstrates the importance of making these resources readily available to students. From that source:

Given the high relationship consistently documented between time spent reading and reading achievement, increased effort needs to be made to motivate students to do more reading. Almost 40 years ago, Daniel Fader, author of Hooked on Books: Program and Proof (1968), found that the way to help his students improve their reading ability was to have them read trade books. He determined his students read more when they had access to trade books because trade books were both interesting and meaningful to them. More recently, Gambrell (2001) has used the phrase “blessing a book” to encourage teachers and parents to understand their role as “purveyors of pleasure.”

If you're a grant seeker, this booklet provides all the theory and research you could possibly need to make a case for your funding request.

Wisdom Books

Wisdom Books are those picture books which are used to teach a lesson, most often about character. I've searched the Internet in an attempt to discover who first used this terminology, but it remains a mystery.

Wisdom Books definitely have their place in the classroom as teachers struggle to help students understand (and incorporate) the very abstract notions of responsibility, determination, integrity, cooperation, respect, loyalty, and empathy. Students can draw their own conclusion for what's to be gleaned from books such as Enemy Pie , The Empty Pot , and The Honest to Goodness Truth .

I've personally used these books in teaching character education to my classes, and I've even integrated them into summer camp and Sunday School settings where a good example is worth more than a thousand lectures. For teachers seeking to introduce a character education emphasis, Wisdom Books would be a good moniker to remember.

Theme Books

I'm a huge believer in teaching with themes, even now (especially now!) that I teach sixth grade. A familiar title such as Charlotte's Web is more than the story of friendship between a pig and a spider; instead, it's a tale of acceptance, devotion, loyalty, loss, loneliness, reciprocity, respect, survival, self-awareness, sacrifice, cycles, community, and kindness.

Regardless of the book you choose and its innate merits, you must ask yourself, “What makes this story accessible to everyone? For the student who couldn’t care less about spiders and pigs, what does this story say to him about experiences which we all share in common?” That’s getting to the theme, or the universality, of the book.

Instead of a topic study such as rain forest or penguins, "theme thinking" allows you to expand your thinking to wider concepts of interdependence, balance, and cycles. Why are themes better than topics? They can be studied across the curriculum.

Teachers of upper grades can use picture books to establish theme and foundational knowledge for a novel. Teachers whose curriculum includes titles such as Number the Stars , Devil's Arithmetic, or Night might use a series of picture books to establish a common culture of literacy regarding the events surrounding the Holocaust. In my own classroom I've used Terrible Things: An Allegory Of The Holocaust, The Yellow Star: The Legend Of King Christian X Of Denmark, The Butterfly, and Anne Frank (a wonderful picture book version written by Josephine Poole).

I've met teachers at conferences who've expressed difficulty with teaching Holocaust novels. When I asked what they did to prepare their students for that experience, I often get a blank look. I think if teachers approached it thematically, their results would be much improved.

Mentor Texts

What does a mentor do? A mentor teaches and guides through example. Mentor texts, in the same way, are books which provide students with models for their own writing in the areas of ideas, structure, and craft.

Writing Fix, a site maintained by the Northern Nevada Writing Project, regularly updates its Mentor Texts: Picture Book-Inspired Writing Lessons. Teachers asking themselves, "How do I teach writing?" or those who are seeking to create a repertoire of mini-lessons will find fantastic inspirations here, using such favorites as Grandpa's Teeth, Brave Margaret, and Take Me Out of the Bathtub.

Craft Models

Craft Models are those mentor texts specifically used to help students improve their writing craft.

If you're looking for the very best books in developing writing craft, I can recommend none more highly than Craft Lessons and Nonfiction Craft Lessons: Teaching Information Writing K-8 by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi. Many book distributors such as Booksource carry hand-picked collections of high-interest titles to support the lessons in those books.

Micro-Texts

I first heard Ralph Fletcher use this term when I caught him live at a workshop on writing with kids. By micro-text he meant a book which focused upon one certain skill we'd like children to incorporate in their own writing.

When we ask our students to "write a story," we rarely mean a story with chapters. Why, then, should we have students read only those types of books? Picture books provide succinct models for student writing. Nonfiction picture books also exemplify brevity versus exposition in presenting the facts that the reader needs.

Ralph illustrated that very idea by pointing out that in first grade, children write what they are reading: few words with many pictures. This changes as they move up in grades, however, until by fourth grade students are reading novels that they couldn't ever hope to write, given their existing skills. In other words, (mine, not his), children who have little or no access to micro-texts are being denied accurate, realistic models for their own writing.

As an example, Ralph shared his wonderful picture book Grandpa Never Lies . He then recounted a classroom lesson he had observed about that very book, and how the teacher had used the analogy of a snowball rolling downhill, growing ever larger as it progressed. The recurring line of the book acted in much the same way, growing with importance each time it was repeated.

Such a concept is easy to study in the context of a picture book; so much harder to extrapolate from the noise and confusion of a novel.

Touchstone Texts

Deb Renner Smith talks about Touchstone Texts at her Writing Every Day Works blog, and provides a number of professional reading recommendations for those who'd like to learn more about them. Some great resources there!

Content Area Reference Books

When tackling research projects in the elementary and middle grades, students can find a wealth of information in content area reference books, aka nonfiction picture books. Why tempt students to simply cut and paste online when nonfiction picture books provide so many organizational conventions which they'll need for success with texts in the upper grades? Good content area reference books contain a table of contents, an index, a glossary, headings, captions, illustrations, margin notes, and graphic aids such as tables, charts, and time lines. Familiarity with these text attributes will definitely transfer over to comprehending textbooks later on.

What's also nice about picture books is that the same topic can be accessed on so many different reading levels. Beginning readers will appreciate Usborne Beginners simple Knights while more advanced readers would enjoy The Usborne Book of Castles, complete with all the standard nonfiction conventions listed above, plus Internet links, maps, cut-away diagrams, and a gazetteer.

In Conclusion

If you're writing or mapping curriculum, communicating with parents or administration, or seeking a grant, I hope this list of picture book euphemisms will prove helpful.

Have another I don't know? Leave a comment below.

Basic Literacy Skills Through Picture Books

2010-12-27T21:58:00.005-05:00

I need the support of picture book and children's lit lovers everywhere!

The Department of Education created the Open Innovation Portal which challenges educators to propose innovative solutions to some of education's greatest problems.

I've posted a response to the question, "How can educators help students without basic literacy skills succeed?" and it involves the use of picture books.

You can get the main idea of my proposal from the video below, but I encourage you to read my full proposal and then support that proposal by registering and casting your votes in the areas of Relevance, Affordability, Innovation, and Scalability. I also welcome your comments and questions in order to fine tune my proposal.

I also added a "How to Vote" video below; so many people contacted me and said they found the site a bit confusing to navigate and wanted some help!

Please spread the word to those who you know believe in the potential and promise of picture books!

Long Live Printed Books

2010-12-25T00:24:00.001-05:00

This email I recently received may be the merriest holiday gift of all to would-be writers. As a lover of printed books, I find it quite encouraging as well.

Dear writers, dreamers, and artists,

The market is saturated. Picture books are dead. Publishing is for optimistic fools.
And yet... There are still stories to be told. And we know how to do it.

In the coming year, we’ll be publishing The Forest of Ancestors, an outstanding series of chapter books with a fantasy twist that makes history personal. And we’re getting great early feedback on our upcoming Wormholes series that features parallel universes and bizarre new worlds.

As we approach 2011, I am preparing my list for 2013. I’ll be looking at fiction and non-fiction titles for children of all ages. I would love to hear from you as I consider new series concepts, titles, and submissions.

What stories do our kids need to read? What amazing adventures can we take them on? What wild people can we introduce them to?

So what’s your big dream? What book do you wish you could have read when you were small and full of wonder? How can we work together?

In January I’ll be reviewing concepts and writing samples, so if you have a piece you’ve been working on and would like feedback, now is the time. If an idea has been brewing for a bit and you’re ready to share it, I would love to hear from you.

Thank you!
Can’t wait to hear all your brilliant ideas!

Heidi

PS
Please share this message with anyone who may be interested.

--
Heidi Kellenberger
Editor
Fiction and Trade
Teacher Created Materials
5301 Oceanus Dr.
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
hkellenberger@tcmpub.com
http://www.tcmpub.com

Gods and Heroes: The Giveaway!

2010-05-26T00:48:00.004-04:00

In a previous post I raved about Candlewick's awesome new pop-up book Encyclopedia Mythologica: Gods and Heroes. If you check out the video preview provided at the Candlewick site (be sure to go full screen), I think you'll agree that creators Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda have put together one impressive book!

I was therefore honored when Candlewick approached me to write a teachers' guide for using this book in the classroom. (I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love a publishing company that provides those extra perks for teachers and parents to get the most from their picture books). And in case that teacher's guide doesn't give you enough ideas for putting this book to work for you, I've compiled a list of over a dozen must-see books, sites, and activities that further supplement and extend this book.

But wait; there's more! Candlewick has also generously offered to provide a copy of Gods and Heroes to two lucky readers of this blog. It's been a while since I've announced a giveaway, and this book is literally a big one!

I'll explain later how to enter to win, but first, let me recommend some extensions for exploring and teaching with Gods and Heroes.

Related Titles

A perfect companion book to Gods and Heroes is World Myths and Legends: 25 Projects You Can Build Yourself (Nomad Press). Author Kathy Ceceri includes myths from all around the world, grouping them by continents and cultures, and providing all the cool components that I've come to love in the Nomad titles:

integrated timelines and maps,
Words to Know vocabulary boxes,
Did You Know? fact boxes,
plentiful tables and lists,
a comprehensive glossary and index, and
easy-to-pull-off projects using commonly found objects and tools.

Shawn Braley's illustrations bring life to the myths that Ceceri retells, while providing helpful diagrams and templates for the included projects. Check out some madly enthusiastic reviews, related web sites, and a sample project from the book.

If you're looking to get serious about Greek mythology, Scholastic's All in the Family: A Look-It-Up Guide to the In-Laws, Outlaws, and Offspring of Mythology is an indispensable resource for the classroom (trust me; I had students fighting over this thing!). It's simply a fabulous volume of personal profiles and family, flings, friends, and foes. Illustrated with classic art, cartoons, and photos, it's visually appealing, and the humorous, engaging text will keep students reading. A family tree, glossary, and a constellation map complete this title. Seriously, if your students are doing any kind of research on Greek gods, goddesses, and heroes, one copy of this book is not enough.

And of course, don't forget to check out Candlewick's own Mythology by Lady Hestia Evans. This book is part of the Ologies series, which features its very own site.

From the publisher's site you can download an activity kit with craft and writing ideas, easily adaptable to any myth or grade level, and a teachers' guide of related curriculum activities.

Hands-On Activities

Pop-Ups
As mentioned in the previous post, a great extension activity for students is creating their own pop-ups. Not as easy as it sounds, unless, of course, you have a resource such as Robert Sabuda's own web site which features printable templates for over two dozen pop-ups. These can serve as great presentation formats for seasonal poetry, short stories, or book reports, or for creating cards for a special occasion. (Candlewick has also posted a simple pop-up template on their site).

Roman Shields
My students saw this simple Roman shield idea some time ago and they thought it was pretty cool. I suppose students could each create designs that had some relevance to a particular god or hero.

Mythology in Reading and Language Arts

Writing with Writers: Myth Writing

At Scholastic's wonderful Writing with Writers site, students are guided through the writing process by a famous children's author who writes in a given genre (hence the site's name). The genres, hosted by such writers as Jack Prelutsky and Virginia Hamilton, include Biography, Descriptive, Folktale, Mystery, News, Poetry, Speech, Book Review, and, of course, Myth. The incomparable Jane Yolen begins the process with the telling of an original myth, and then provides step-by-step guidance as children create their own stories.

Scholastic has additional features including Myths from Around the World and an interactive Myth Brainstorming Machine. The Myth Brainstorming Machine is pretty amazing in that it allows students to create a story using pictures and effects, and then translates the chosen visuals into key words and character names, which would then be used to write the tale (note the Idea Outline tab on the image above, at the lower right corner).

Greek Myths: Understanding Word Roots and Meanings
At the US Department of Education's Doing What Works site, you can view an upper grade teacher's take on Greek Myths: Understanding Word Roots and Meanings. If you see what you like, you can download some sample lesson plans.

It's All Greek to Me
If you're interested in teaching students vocabulary through Greek and Latin roots, you'll find some good links to explore on a previous post (at my Teaching that Sticks site) titled It's All Greek to Me.

Recommended Mythology and Ancient Cultures Sites

Winged Sandals

Tops on my list is Winged Sandals, a fun and colorful site focusing on Greek mythology. Here students can hear stories of gods and heroes, play games, create crafts, learn more about Greek history and daily life, and even ask the Oracle to tell their future. A very thorough Who's Who link provides biographies of gods, monsters, and mortals, along with key "stats" and anecdotes. (Your students will also discover cool wallpapers and e-cards in the goodies section). Highly recommended.

Windows to the Universe: Mythology
Windows to the Universe is an original site which describes how the stars, sun, and other celestial bodies have been linked to mythology throughout the ages. Yes, we all know that constellations were named for Greek and Roman gods, but how did Celts, Egyptians, Inca, Navajo, and other cultures tell their stories through the skies? A fascinating site to explore, with many possibilities for research.

Myth Web
Myth Web is a fun place to read about the traditional Roman heroes, since the tales are told with cartoons and the writing's pretty lively. But this site also has an extensive research base, plus some tips and resources for teachers.

Encyclopedia Mythica

Encyclopedia Mythica is an astounding collection of mythology and folklore from every culture imaginable. While it isn't designed to be fun, it's certainly complete!

Men, Myths, and Minds
Men, Myths, and Minds not only tells about some of the more common Greek gods, but also describes how they were archetypes of behaviors, from which listeners of the ancient tales were to learn. Another good site for student research.

Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Fun stuff to do online, related to the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Dress a Roman soldier, design a Greek Pot, print out timelines, etc.

Adventures in Ancient Greece
Although not a lot here about mythology, this site provides an interactive way for students to learn about Greek culture. Cartoon-based and kid-friendly.

Enter to Win!

To enter to win one of two copies of Encyclopedia Mythologica: Gods and Heroes, simply email me, with Gods and Heroes in the subject line by Wednesday, June 2nd, 9:00 PM EST. That's it! No human sacrifices, no consulting the Oracle at Delphi, no Herculean tasks. You can always become a follower of this blog (and keep in touch for future giveaways), but that's not required.

I'll notify winners (drawn at random) on Thursday, and Candlewick will send the book directly to you. Thanks to Candlewick Press and good luck to all entrants!

Building a Passion for Poetry

2010-05-22T11:06:00.001-04:00

No, I haven't misread my calendar; I do know that April, not May, is National Poetry Month. But now that standardized testing is over for most of us, what better way to explore words and language than through some picture books?

While I'm a huge fan of Prelutsky, Viorst, Silverstein, and the other "giants" of poetry, I'd like to share some authors, titles, and series which might be new to you. These are guaranteed to get kids excited about reading and writing poetry!

A great place to start is with the Graphic Poetry series from Brightpoint Literacy. The sixteen books in the series provide a number of components which help students and teachers alike enjoy and analyze the poems with confidence and understanding. In Pat Mora's Same Song/Maestro, for example, each poem is preceded by an introduction which points out important aspects of the poem students are about to read. The poems are first presented line by line with illustrations, and then as a whole. At book's end, both poems and their common theme (in this case, characterization) are discussed in detail, and some questions for discussion are included. A short feature autobiography of the poet rounds out the book.

In this format, poetry is visual, nonintimidating, and comprehensible (finally!). In other words, the graphic format combats all the complaints I've heard from students who claim that they hate poetry.

If you're seeking a resource for older students, I'd suggest Enslow's Poetry Rocks! series, aimed at middle school and up crowd. You can check out an interactive version of Not the End, But the Beginning at Enslow's site. These volumes are specially designed to get older students in touch with the emotion and meaning of classic poems. Discussion questions, author bios, and selected poem titles are included.

Other great poetry resources? The Words Are Categorical series from First Avenue Editions (Lerner Publishing) teaches students about parts of speech through clever, funny, rhyming verse, as well as some cool cat cartoons. In Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally, for example, students learn about adverbs through such lines as

Adverbs sometimes
tell us where,
Like these are here
and those are there.
Often they
will tell us when,
Like this is now and
that was then.
Adverbs sometimes
tell us how,
Like, "Carefully remove this cow."
They let us know
how often too
As in the phrase,
"I seldom chew."

Author Brian Cleary, whose website contains related games and activities, makes parts of speech fun and memorable.

If you're seeking a good teacher-oriented resource for teaching poetry writing, Ralph Fletcher's Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem From the Inside Out helps students move beyond the Humpty-Dumpty rhymes of simple poetry to creating poems that express emotions and capture moments. Although I said it's a resource for teachers, it's actually written in the first person, speaking directly to older students. Some writing clubs and schools have purchased this inexpensive paperback as a student resource. Fletcher's anecdotes, similes for writing, and short exercises make it an enjoyable read. (For a terrific book of poetry models, based on writing topics, check out Fletcher's A Writing Kind Of Day: Poems For Young Poets. Fletcher speaks in a young writer's voice, reflecting upon metaphors, battling writer's block, or connecting one entry to the next).

If you're like me, you love to give students some historical context when teaching literature. The Poetry Basics by Creative Education is a series of hard bound, picture book size titles which provide the history of a specific poetry form. Valerie Bodden's Limericks, for example, traces the form and rhyme scheme all the way back to the 1600s, although the term "limerick" wasn't used until the 1800s. And of course, its most famous proponent, Edward Leer, is given a good bit of ink. The remainder of the book is dedicated to the "how" of the poem, helping students to understand what makes it work. Important literary devices (such as portmanteaus and nonce words) are also discussed. All around, an important series for getting kids into poetry. (Other titles in this series, all written by Valerie Bodden, include Haiku, Concrete Poetry, and Nursery Rhymes).

Recommended Sites

While there are tons of sites about poetry, I'm limiting my recommendations to those which assist students in their own writing.

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.

Once students have entered their responses in the prompts, the push of a button publishes the poem. This poem can then be copied and pasted into a word document and further edited, or combined with a free online illustration program such as Sumo Paint.

Another interesting poetry site, although not nearly as diverse and robust, is Scholastic's Poetry Machine which walks students through four poems types: limerick, haiku, cinquain, and free verse.

ReadWriteThink, a fantastic site created by IRA and NCTE, has a number of poetry creators (writing machines) which walk students through the process step-by-step. Teachers can find fully detailed lesson plans for poetry as well, adapted to several grade levels. Students can choose acrostic, diamante, riddle, and shape poems.

Bruce Lansky and Meadowbrook Press have teamed up to create Giggle Poetry, a site not to be missed! Plenty of chances to read, write, and even rate poetry. PoetryTeachers is the sister site, created just for teachers, tutors, and parents. Tons of ideas!

For more lesson plans, check out Ken Nesbitt's poetry lessons at his Poetry4Kids. At the home page you'll find plenty of other resources including a rhyming dictionary and poetry contests.

Need more ideas? Check out this set of Interactive Poetry Tools and Lesson Plans. Why reinvent the wheel?

Have more poetry sites and books you'd recommend? Leave a comment below, or email me directly.

Combating Summer Slump

2010-05-21T22:15:00.000-04:00

Over at the We Are Teachers blog you'll find a nice set of suggestions for combating "summer slump," that period of time in which children's brain revert to primordial ooze due to lack of use. To help teachers in their efforts, We Are Teachers is offering a contest in conjunction with LeapFrog. Win money, a Flip video cam, or some cool Leap Frog products. (According to the site, it's their largest giveaway to date!).

Equally cool and instantly available to all at this site are some suggestions from LeapFrog Literacy Expert Carolyn Jaynes, PhD., who shares her tips on how to get kids hooked into reading over the summer.

In addition to her tips, I'd offer three tips of my own for combating summer cerebral slumber, gleaned from my students' parents over the years, and certainly worth suggesting to your students' parents as well:

Book Clubs - Boys and girls alike love the idea of getting together with their friends, and choosing a common book to read and discuss together creates a fantastic experience. The mother who shared this idea explained that both the moms and their boys read a couple chapters of the book together ahead of time, and would attend the club together. There'd be a time of discussion, perhaps an activity or trivia quiz, and then food. Afterwards, the boys would play while the moms chatted. The boys in this group got through three novels in a summer! For boys, sure-fire hits include sports novels such as Mike Lupica's Summer Ball, and survivalist science fiction such as Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games (as well as sequels Catching Fire and Mockingjay).
Picture Books - Some kids won't slog through a novel during the summer, but love a pile of high-interest, vocabulary-rich picture books about a favorite topic, be it magic, motorcycles, seals, soldiers, fashion, or food. Picture books are just more inviting for a browse or a quick read. Nonfiction books, especially, with their text boxes, captions, and nonsequential format, make for quick reads.
Bedtime Books - A third mom "tricked" her daughter into reading by putting her "in charge" of read-alouds at night for a younger sibling. The elder daughter earned a later bedtime provided the stories took place nightly. Trips to the library and lots of reading aloud, explaining, and discussing kept the daughter's mind sharp all summer. The experience also helped the younger daughter appreciate literature as well, and made a memory that can't be surpassed! (A book like Laurie Halse Anderson's The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School is not only a colorful and silly read, but it helps alleviate those back-to-school-anxieties which sometimes come creeping in late August).

What are your ideas for keeping kids reading during the summer? Enter that contest, and share your ideas here as well by leaving a comment below, or by emailing me directly.

Exploring Invention with Picture Books

2010-05-18T19:19:00.002-04:00

Recently my sixth graders began researching ancient civilizations, and one topic which seemed to excite them was the inventions created thousands of years ago that we still use today. That's not surprising; children, after all, are born creators. So what better way to end the school year than by giving students opportunities to be artists and inventors?

Recommended Books

The best way to get students excited about invention is to provide loads of fabulously illustrated books on the topic. One of my new favorites is A Native American Thought of It: Amazing Inventions and Innovations, by Rocky Landon and David MacDonald (Annick Press). By now we all know that moccasins, canoes, and snow shoes were invented by Native Americans, but how many of us knew that these amazingly adaptive people also created syringes, diapers, and hockey? This inviting book contains lots of awesome pictures and just enough information to get students hooked.

Equally exciting is the companion book The Inuit Thought of It: Amazing Arctic Innovations by Alootook Ipellie and David MacDonald (Annick Press). In a land where it rarely gets above freezing, and much of each apart of the year is spent in either 24 hour darkness or light, you need to be pretty clever in order to survive with the limited resources nature provides. In addition to being fantastic reads for an invention theme, both of these picture books fit in well with the theme of survival.

Invention, of course, goes beyond rudimentary survival. Later scientists and inventors would seek to improve upon the ways that people live and work. Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Peace Prize, for example, is a short yet intriguing account of the man who invented dynamite. From the inside cover:

Alfred Nobel was born in Sweden in 1833. A quick and curious mind, combined with a love of science and chemistry, drove him to invent numerous technological devices throughout his long life. But he is perhaps most well known for his invention of dynamite.

Intending it to help safely advance road and bridge construction, Nobel saw his most famous invention used in the development of military weaponry. After reading a newspaper headline mistakenly announcing his death, Nobel was inspired to leave a legacy of another sort.

Even middle school students will appreciate how author Kathy-Jo Wargin and illustrator Zachary Pullen capture Nobel's life story in concise picture book format. As an extension activity, students might research a winner of the Peace Prize (all listed in the back of the book) and create a similar picture book format biography. (For other extension ideas, visit the Sleeping Bear Press site for the free, downloadable teaching guide to accompany the book).

Closer to the heart of many children (certainly my own!) would be The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth, written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Greg Couch (Knopf Books for Young Readers). For many years Farnsworth's innovations and discoveries went unheralded, and yet he was truly a pioneer in his field (there's an inside joke there if you've read the book).

In addition to the supplemental materials at the book's end, be sure to check out the teacher's guide for this book, which includes an interview with the author. You might recall that Kathleen Krull is the talented author of Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country); I recommended that title in a post about persuasive writing. She's also the author of four fab titles in the Giants of Science Series: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Sigmund Freud. Yes, we've seen all of these folks written up before, but Krull's approach is a fresh one that makes these "old, dead scientists" come to life for today's students.

Recommended Sites and Activities for Observing and Researching
(Stuff to Read and Discuss)

History of Invention
The History of Invention shows students just how old some of our innovations are! What invention, not pictured at the site, will your students investigate?

PBS Technology at Home
Take an interactive tour through the 20th century to see how technology changed the American home.

Inventive Kids
Cool interactive games to learn about inventors and inventions (lots of women inventors!).

PBS Kids Wayback
At Wayback, Students learn about tech circa 1900. Many fascinating innovations came about at this time!

The Secret Life of Scientists
I recently blogged on The Secret Life of Scientists at my Teaching that Sticks site. Kids will dig learning how modern, real-life scientists are putting their passions to work in the field. By way of example, check out scientist Nate Ball.

New Scientist Video
New Scientist video channel at Youtube features short video features of the latest in scientific advances.

Franklin's Interactive Lifetime
An interactive timeline about Benjamin Franklin's amazing life and inventions. Lots to see and do here!

Franklin Institute
Online and off-line activities for science learning from the Franklin Institute.

Kid Inventors' Day
Kid Inventors' Day is January 17 each year (mark that on your calendar!). This site features some ways to observe it. You can find more neat videos and ideas for this annual event at the Meet Me at the Corner site.

Recommended Sites and Activities for Playing and Learning
(Stuff to Do Online)

Launchball
At Launchball, students learn about the common properties of objects as well as electronics as they attempt to meet the challenge of each level in this addicting, physics based game.

Whizzball
More about play and less about concepts than Launchball, Whizzball encourages students to cause a ball to travel its course in a Mousetrap-like environment. Students can either solve given challenges at many levels, or create their own.

Bloxorz
Addicting to say the least, Bloxorz requires that students manipulate various elements of a levitating path to move a block to its destination. Easier said than done, and twice as fun.

EdHeads
Edheads features cool, interactive, online explorations with simple machines (and some other neat experiments as well).

Invention Playhouse
The Invention Playhouse features cool ideas to explore online.

Recommended Sites and Activities for Doing and Learning
(Stuff to Do Hands-On, Off-Line!)

Instructables
Instructables are easy-to-do, fun experiments, explained through whole-page, full-color cartoons. (Check out the cool Underwater Viewer pictured here).

Whelmers
Whelmers are really cool science activities which require minimum materials to achieve maximum wow effect.

Hunkin's Experiments
Hunkin's Experiments is a one-stop shop for some really cool experiments. Simple cartoons (as fun as the experiments themselves) walk you through the steps.

ADDED 5/24/10:
Surfing Scientist
Surfing Scientist is a popular show and site in Australia, but not as well known here in U.S. Really cool experiments to be done with easy-to-find objects, with full explanations of the scientific principles.

Signed Stories and Online Read-Alouds

2010-05-16T09:35:00.002-04:00

Signed Stories is a colorful, interactive site which allows children to enjoy dozens of high quality picture books online. What makes it special is that in addition to narration, music, and images, all stories are accompanied by British Sign Language.

While its home page allows readers to select a story by theme (by choosing a window or door of the house), stories can also be searched and selected by title, age level, or topic.

Some stories, in addition to the written text, provide questions and comments by the narrator (indicated by red text in the passage) to guide the reading of the book. For example, in Noah’s Ark the narrator makes reference to the food and animals in the ark, and in Chimp and Zee children answer some of the questions posed in the text. This is similar to the questions and think-alouds employed by storytellers, teachers, librarians, and parents as they share books aloud with children, and is a pretty cool addition which I've not seen in other online renditions.

What I particularly love (apart from the fact that this site is free, supported by publishers such as MacMillan, Walker, and Scholastic) is that these stories are "real literature," not simplistic, contrived narratives. Some of my personal favorites on this site include Mr. Wolf's Pancakes, Amazing Grace, Farmer Duck, and Suddenly: A Preston Pig Story.

Note two things: One, British Sign Language differs from American Sign Language. But students will still enjoy seeing that many signs naturally match instinctive actions (for example, rubbing the tummy shows hunger, or "yummy." Two, many stories have British spellings which differ slightly from American spellings (for example, favourite rather than favorite). Again, in no way a problem, but instead an opportunity to discuss similarities and differences between two cultures.

Looking for other online read-alouds? Don't forget the Screen Actors Guild Foundation's superb Storyline Online, which features television and movie stars reading aloud picture books.

Another read-aloud site you may not have seen yet is Mrs. P., which features actress Kathy Kinney reading classic children's literature aloud. While the Magic Library is quite cool, you may experience trouble viewing on slow connections, so you may wish to access only the videos of the books directly from a list. For a behind-the-scenes overview, use the home page.

Using Picture Books to Teach Literary Techniques

2010-05-15T10:10:00.000-04:00

This is one of my short posts where I say, "Hey, I found something cool! Let's go get it."

In this case, the cool thing is a terrific article titled Using Picture Books to Teach Literary Techniques. Written by author and long-time picture book advocate Shutta Crum, this downloadable resource describes ways to use picture books to teach literary devices (aka figurative language) and provides teachers with a nice starter list of books.

Among her other useful articles for teachers you'll find Simple Plot Structures, a must-have for any teacher who wants students to understand traditional, effective constructs of stories.

Be sure to check out Shutta's own books including Thunder Boomer, Bravest of the Brave, and My Mountain Song. (For middle school teachers, also be sure to check out the novel Spitting Image and the related activities).

Her web site provides awesome resources designed for teachers and media specialists, including printable resources for her own picture books. You gotta love an author who takes this extra step! Overall, her site and her books are a gift to lovers and teachers of picture books everywhere.

Be sure to check out my upcoming posts on the topics of Invention, Art, Animal Communities, and the Civil War. Clever titles to come.

Monsters Inked

2010-05-07T22:57:00.001-04:00

I'm not proud to admit it, but I used my own six year-old daughter as a guinea pig to try out I Need My Monster , written by Amanda Noll and illustrated by Howard McWilliam. How would a kindergartener react to a picture book about monsters under the bed just before I sent her off to sleep?

In I Need My Monster, little Ethan looks under his bed for his monster, only to find this note instead: "Gone fishing. Back in a week. Gabe." How can Ethan get to sleep without his monster? Other monsters come to take Gabe's place, but none possess his unique, strangely loveable characteristics. How will Ethan ever get to sleep?

My daughter's reaction? Giggles, and a desire to thoroughly check out each monster in all of its disgusting detail (the illustrations are fabulous!). When we reached the book's end, I asked, "Are there such things as monsters under the bed?"

"No. Just in stories."

"So then why would Ethan want a monster under his bed?"

"He keeps him company. And he reminds Ethan not to get out of bed. Plus Ethan knows he's just a friendly monster."

Well, there you have it. And off she went to bed, quite content with the story's conclusion. And I wasn't surprised in the least; children, after all, have a deep affection for truly loveable monsters. Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and Elmo are proof enough of that.

What I Need My Monster provides is an excellent opportunity for students to use their imaginations (those same imaginations that dream up really scary monsters at night) to create friendly monsters of their own design. Along with other resources for this book at the Flashlight Press web site, teachers and parents will find a downloadable page titled How to Make a Monster. Students can color, cut, and paste body parts to create their own creatures. (I would have students tape this page to a window, and then lay a plain paper on top and trace parts in that way. This method would require a bit of modeling, but would definitely create excellent results).

Multi-Media Monster Makers

I searched online for some interactive monster makers, and here are the best of the bunch:

The Make Your Own Monster site allows you to create a simple little monster which can then be posted to an online gallery. Children pick body parts, select their colors, and connect them as they choose.
Make a Monster is an interactive activity which a teacher designed for use on interactive white boards (IWBs). I'll warn you that some of the sounds linked to the body parts are a little scary, but the activity creator has included some nice lesson plans which integrate simple writing (Flashlight Press also some recommendations and a lesson plan for writing about monsters).

Want to go Old School? Universal Leonardo, a site which celebrates the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, allows young artists to mix and match Leonardo-inspired animal parts (see the illustration here). The Master himself loved to tinker with fantastical beasts! This site provides cool results which can be printed and colored.

Writing About Monsters

In addition to the integrated art and writing ideas above, students may want to check out My Monster, an easy-to-use fill-in-the-blank template created by Jon Ryder. Students enter words or phrases to complete each line (forming some wonderful similes), and then click on the Create button to see their finished poem.

This would be a terrific cross-grade activity! Younger students could dictate information about their monsters to older students, who could enter the words and then cut and paste the finished poem into another application if desired.

A similar cross-grade activity using monster drawings (based on David Devries fabulous book The Monster Engine) can be found at my Teaching that Sticks blog.

My Own Monster

If your child really struggles with the monster issue, then the only solution is for her to get her very own personal monster. At Make My Own Monster your child submits a drawing of an original monster, and the North American Bear Company will render that design as a huggable stuffed animal, one that will scare away all other uninvited monsters.

Other Recommended Reading on Monsters

Everything I Know About Monsters : A Collection of Made-up Facts, Educated Guesses, and Silly Pictures about Creatures of Creepiness is an unconventional field guide of sorts, which removes the scariness of monsters by revealing everything about them, from their horrible hygiene to their hilarious habits. It even includes a handy Monster Avoidance Chart, which may help young readers sleep better!

Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberly is a book of bright, die-cut pages that page by page reveal a monster and then page by page make the scary features disappear. The text concludes with, "And don't come back! Until I say so." It's a clever book that students will want to check out again and again on their own. It also teaches that belief in monsters is a choice.

As Seen on TV! Media Messages Unmasked

2010-05-04T22:51:00.002-04:00

Our students represent a lucrative target audience. Companies bombard them daily with ads through every possible venue, so much so that most advertising is now an integral, barely noticed part of the American landscape.

And there's the rub. Barely noticed, yet there, exerting a powerful influence on how children choose to buy, think, and act.

In previous posts I've discussed persuasive writing (Convince Me: Real-Life Uses for Persuasive Writing and So What’s Your Point? Persuasive Writing Using Picture Books) as well as financial literacy (Dollars and Sense for Students). Now Scholastic has teamed up with the Federal Trade Commission to combine these two ideas, plus the concept of media literacy, to produce the Admongo site and its related teacher resources.

The FTC site explains that

Advertising is a multi-million dollar business. Truthful advertising provides benefits to consumers and competition. It gives consumers the information they need to make better-informed purchasing and product use decisions. It also gives companies an incentive to modify their products to provide features that customers want. By contrast, false advertising interferes with decision-making and hinders competition.

Tweens have their own money to spend, and parents report that children play an important role in family buying decisions. Because kids are an important part of the marketplace, they often are the targets of advertising and marketing programs. The result is that American kids see ads wherever they go.

The four components of the campaign (a game-based website at Admongo.gov, sample ads that can be used in the classroom; a free curriculum, and teacher training videos) are designed to help students learn to ask three key "critical thinking" questions when they encounter advertising:

Who is responsible for the ad?
What is the ad actually saying?
What does the ad want me to do?

While I personally used authentic ads that children know (and strangely love), I appreciate that this program offers fictitious yet genuine-looking ads and videos for classroom discussion. The advantage to the fake ads is that children can't assume they know the product and its merits; students definitely paid closer attention to the details.

So why study advertising? There is perhaps no better real-world use of critical thinking and reading skills than the accurate interpretation of mainstream media. Because so many of our daily thoughts and actions are based upon what we're told to believe, it's imperative that we become more educated and discerning in our media consumption. Media literacy allows students to put discrete reading and writing skills to work as they learn advertising's tricks of the trade.

Additional Recommended Sites

While the Scholastic resources and the Admongo site are impressive and complete in themselves, I also recommend the following resources:

Co-Co's AdverSmarts: An Interactive Unit on Food Marketing on the Web is "an interactive unit designed to help kids between the ages of 5 and 8 recognize the marketing techniques used on commercial web sites that target children." I'd use this site for the younger set (up to fourth grade).
Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is an intelligent and innovative program aimed at helping girls understand that self-image isn't dependent upon media messages. While you're at that site, be sure to check out the teacher resources.
The Ad Council has provided access to many of the campaigns from its 60 years of existence. The quality and impact of their PSAs (Public Service Announcements) is legendary, and students should see that ad techniques can actually be used for good rather than evil. Need an example? Check out this video on Reducing Gun Crime (also embedded below).

Reducing Gun Violence-Babies | Viral/Other | SPIKE.com

Recommended Books

One terrific companion book for the classroom is Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know by Shari Graydon (Annick Press). For older students, this book is a terrific expose of how persuasive writing is used to influence consumers. It's also a pretty cool "idea book" for putting persuasive writing skills to work.

For younger students, Do I Need It? Or Do I Want It? by Jennifer S. Larson (Lerner) is an attractive yet informative choice, allowing opportunities for lots of discussion about what we choose to buy and why. (Be sure to check out other titles in Lerner's Exploring Economics series).

Pretty in Print: Questioning Magazines by Stergios Botzakis, TV Takeover: Questioning TV by Guofang Wan, and Virtually True: Questioning Online Media by Guofang Wan are part of the Media Literacy series published by Capstone Press. All of the titles are organized around five basic questions:

Who made the message and why?
Who is the message for?
How might others view the message differently?
What is left out of the media?
How does the message get and keep my attention?

An easy to read style, plenty of photos and illustrations, and try-it-out activities help students see that advertising isn't entirely about "going over to the dark side." Students instead realize that persuasive media offers many opportunities for creative people who are up to the challenge of getting messages across to audiences in the most effective ways possible.

Explore the World with Soccer

2010-05-02T17:21:00.001-04:00

For some time now, American kids have been crazy about soccer! While the United States seems slow to embrace this sport which is loved worldwide, the first soccer team in this country was actually established back in the 1860s, and the U.S. Soccer Federation was formed in 1913 (joining the world governing body FIFA in that same year). While professional teams and matches still take a back seat to baseball, football, basketball, and even hockey, kids have embraced soccer as one of their favorite pastimes (of the 18 million Americans who play soccer, 78% of them are under the age of eighteen).

So it's only natural that we can use kids' obsession with this sport to get them interested in reading and world culture. Enter Nomad Press's innovative Soccer World Series, beginning with Soccer World: South Africa and Soccer World: Mexico.

The Soccer World Series follows former pro player Ethan Zohn as he visits different countries, learning about diverse cultures as well as the people who live there. A young player in each country introduces Ethan the nation's unique geography, natural wonders, history, customs, traditions, and sites. In context of these explorations are challenges for kids to act on the social and environmental problems of each country.

In addition to the clear and easily accessible text and colorful illustrations, the books in this series also contain key vocabulary, hands-on projects and activities (including recipes!), and a thorough glossary and index. Students can also visit the series' web site to find additional activities and resources, as well as the opportunity to share their own projects with Ethan.

To help get your students psyched about soccer, you might want to encourage some research into its history and rules of play. Kids First Soccer is a great place to start, and World Almanac for Kids offer the latest up-to-date information on teams and the World Cup.

Speaking of the World Cup, this once-every-four-years event is on for 2010, so what better way to get kids psyched? While the FIFA official web site doesn't have a kids' section, you can find some preliminary activities and print-outs at Activity Village. At EFL Club you can find an interesting listening activity involving drawing flags of the 2010 World Cup nations using geometry vocabulary.

Looking for an online game that's all about fun? My number one recommendation is Soccer Smash. This easy, one player game requires the least bit of skill, but is loud and fast-moving, which students seem to enjoy. I often allow students to visit this site if they finish other tech tasks during our lab time.

For dozens of additional links, check out the teacher approved links at the Soccer Section at Edgate. And for lots of free, awesome resources on a number of topics, be sure to visit the Nomad Press site. Read more about their titles and downloadable activities at a previous post here.

Nat'l Picture Book Writing Week

2010-04-30T11:03:00.000-04:00

National Picture Book Writing Week (aka NaPiBoWriWee) 2010 is upon us! Read more about it at event creator Paula Yoo's web site.

During the first week of May, writers will create one picture book per day for seven days. This event is meant to spur those reluctant writers who've always wanted to write for children but have never taken the plunge.

Paula Yoo (author of Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story, Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story , and the YA novel Good Enough) warns prospective writers:

This is NOT to say writing a picture book is easy. On the contrary, it's EXTREMELY difficult and challenging to write a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, an original plotline, and a unique character with a compelling voice for the picture book genre. Every word has to count. Every image and every action has to speak volumes in terms of theme and deeper meaning... while still being kid friendly, fun, and appropriate for the tone of the book (be it a quiet literary picture book or a hilarious, laugh out of loud funny picture book).

When I first heard about this project a year ago, I had strong reservations. But author Daniel Kirk (Library Mouse, Dogs Rule, and Elf Realm: The Low Road) argued convincingly for its merit, and I've since come to realize the value behind NaPiBoWriWe.

So swing over to Paula Yoo's site and see if you're up for the challenge. (She's written posts providing tips for writers all through the month of April).

Who knows? Perhaps in a year I'll be discussing a picture book that you created on this very week!

Violet

2010-04-29T00:03:00.000-04:00

Second Story Press's recently released Violet, written by Tania Duprey Stehlik and illustrated by Vanja Vuleta Jovanovic, looks like a real winner! Check out the book trailer below.

I can see this book being a real asset for discussions and themes on differences and diversity.

Big Changes

2010-04-24T11:08:00.001-04:00

Raina Telgemeier's Smile is about big changes in a young girl's life. No, not those kinds of changes (although as a father to two girls I'll have my share of those awkward moments). We're talking instead about subtler changes, hinted at from the start by the book's cover, which features a brace-clad smiley face. From Scholastic's Booktalk:

Aah, hanging out with your friends. You laugh. You go shopping. You have sleepovers and you always have fun. Well, imagine this: you and your friends are chasing each other one day and you trip. When you fall, you hit the cement. You hit the cement so hard that you knock out your two front teeth! This is exactly what happens to the character of Raina in the graphic novel Smile by Raina Telgemeier.

After an emergency trip to Dr. Golden's office, the dentist glues Raina's teeth back into her mouth. He covers them in gauze that soon becomes soggy and gross. When Raina takes off the gauze, she discovers that the teeth have been inserted too far. Now she looks like a vampire! Going to school looking like a vampire will definitely make boys notice her, but not in a good way.

While the book on its simplest level is the story of Raina's teeth trials, on a much larger level it's the story of a girl who struggles to maintain her own identity while still fitting in. One part I particularly love is when Raina comes to the realization that she has to move on from her former friends, who are acting less and less supportive, to a new circle of friends in high school. These transitions happen in real life, of course, but less often in middle school lit. Too often we're offered a much simpler, pat solution.

I love Smile for a number of reasons:

It fits in with my year-long theme of Survival. While it's not survival in the life-and-death sense of The Devils' Arithmetic, it's as authentic (but not as gritty as) The Outsiders. Personally I'd rather face a multitude of other dangers before ever agreeing to be a middle school girl! Other themes for this book include Identity, Acceptance, Affiliation, Change, Coming of Age, Conflict, Choices, Relationships, Loyalty, Conformity, Belonging, and Differences.
Its autobiographical format makes it more authentic. Truth is absolutely stranger than fiction, and we feel for our protagonist here because she is so true-to-life. (Learn more about Raina at her site).
The narrative flows without gaps. Many graphic novels assume that readers will be able to plug bill holes between frames. At no time, however, does Telgemeier leave us wondering what we missed.
The overall design and illustration are flawless. My six year-old was so taken with the illustrations that she squirreled away with the book for two hours, and "read" it from cover to cover, reading, of course, just those words she could. (She then asked to have it read aloud to her before bed each night). To get a good feel for the book's flow, check out this video trailer from Scholastic.
Scholastic has printed it in standard paperback, rather than oversize, format. This not only allows the book to handled more easily, but avoids the look of a graphic novel. Some students would rather their friends see them with a chapter book than a "comic book." See how cruel middle school can be?
It uses comic conventions. Thus readers who are successful with this book may move on to other graphic novels, which in turn will keep them reading. (Need some suggestions? Check out this previous post on Graphic Novels and New Literacies from this site).
Scholastic has provided a very cool Make Your Own Smile Graphix site (see the screen shot here) where students can manipulate scenes, characters, objects, and speech bubbles to create their own stories.

A conference attendee once asked if I'd use a graphic novel (like Smile) for a classroom study, but I know full well that students would race to the end of their own. But I guess that's a good thing, right? And that's also why my classroom shelves boast a nice supply of these books.

So What's Your Point? Persuasive Writing Using Picture Books

2010-04-19T23:49:00.000-04:00

While few of our students will go on to become best-selling authors, most as adults will use their writing to convince others: to buy, to act, to vote, to choose, to agree. That's why it's so important that we as teachers help our students to develop effective persuasive writing skills.

A fantastic new picture book will help students see that persuasion need not be a totally serious matter. In Lincoln Tells a Joke, authors Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer and illustrator Stacy Innerst help students discover the funny side of Abraham Lincoln. (You can read some rave reviews for yourself at the Houghton Mifflin site)

Although we now hold him in the highest regard, Lincoln for his time was an extremely unpopular president. Yet he used humor to make points, to win people over, to lighten the mood, to gently turn away requests he could not grant, and to relieve the stresses of a difficult office (made all the more difficult by the Civil War). This unique biography is full of Lincoln's more clever sayings, which hold up surprisingly well after more than one hundred years.

My students appreciated that his quotes were printed in a more stylized, flowery font which made them easier to spot. What's more awesome about this book is Stacy Innerst's caricatures. When I asked students why the publisher hadn't chosen an artist with "a more serious, realistic style," they patiently explained to me that the exaggerated pictures added additional humor to the book. And they do!

I prefaced my reading aloud of the book with a short oral quiz on facts about Lincoln:

What number president was he? (Almost everyone knew).
Who was Number 15? (No one knew). Why don't any of us know this? How can we find this out?
What war began shortly after Lincoln took office? (We discussed the Civil War a bit; students were surprised to discover that there were, and are, other civil wars in the world).
What might have made Lincoln unpopular? (Students were surprised that even some Northerners didn't care for him; as a part of that discussion, I mentioned that the Civil War required a draft).
If Lincoln was still president at the end of the war, what did this mean? (It meant that, regardless of his lack of popularity, he was still popular enough to be reelected. Not coincidentally, the Civil War was the first time that soldiers in the field were able to cast ballots).
What happened to Lincoln shortly after the war?

Once the book was over, students had plenty they wanted to discuss; I didn't need any post-reading questions. But one topic I did pursue was, "Why might a speaker use humor in a persuasive speech?" This prompted many excellent reasons, from both the book and students' own experiences.

So what's the connection to persuasive writing?

Online you'll find dozens of templates for organizing persuasive essays, including this varied collection from Greece School District, this single page resource from Steck Vaughn, or this organizer from Scholastic (see the related lesson plan which uses The True Story of the Three Little Pigs).

A best bet, however, is the Persuasion Map from ReadWriteThink (you can also click on the Persuasion Map homepage, which provides several related lessons). This interactive tool walks students through the process of organizing thoughts, and presents them with a mapped outline of the thesis, reasons, and details which can, in turn, be used to generate a formal essay. Students could use those same ideas, however, to create a commercial, advertisement, article, or letter.

After demonstrating the Persuasion Map Tool to my sixth graders, I provided the following prompt for extra credit (and it created quite a stir!):

In an effort to reduce bullying and violence at school, one school has offered “Citizenship Credits” to students who provide information about classmates who break rules, display inappropriate behavior, or use inappropriate language. These Citizenship Credits can be collected and redeemed for grade point increases; in other words, if a student collects enough credits, she can have a grade raised by one or two points on her report card. What is your opinion on this policy? Write a letter to the principal stating your position and offering reasons why our school should, or should not, adopt this policy.

For basic activities related to persuasion, BBC's KS2 Bitesize features an interactive activity (embedded below), a reading selection, an animation, and a short quiz on persuasion techniques used in arguments. Nice for students in grades four and under.

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If you're looking for a more substantial resource for the upper grades, The Language of Advertising Claims breaks down ten techniques which advertisers employ to persuade potential customers. Author Jeffrey Schrank introduces these techniques, saying

Students, and many teachers, are notorious believers in their immunity to advertising. These naive inhabitants of consumerland believe that advertising is childish, dumb, a bunch of lies, and influences only the vast hordes of the less sophisticated. Their own purchases are made purely on the basis of value and desire, with advertising playing only a minor supporting role...

Advertisers know better. Although few people admit to being greatly influenced by ads, surveys and sales figures show that a well-designed advertising campaign has dramatic effects. A logical conclusion is that advertising works below the level of conscious awareness and it works even on those who claim immunity to its message. Ads are designed to have an effect while being laughed at, belittled, and all but ignored.

The ten techniques in The Language of Advertising Claims can be used to either dissect ads which students collect from magazines and the internet, or to create ads for fictitious products.

From LEARN NC, a nicely done learning module on Arts of Persuasion for middle school students features "Strategies for teaching middle school students to think critically, analyze persuasive arguments, and use speaking and writing to persuade others." Many ideas there can be adapted for younger students.

Teachers of middle grades and high school will also appreciate the very cool interactive writing models found at the Holt, Rinehart and Winston Model Bank.

In the center of each model is a formal essay; left hand margin notes detail each part of the essay and, when clicked upon, highlight the exact sentences in that section. Right hand margin notes tell the student what to include in each section, and why. A terrific resource for use on the interactive whiteboard, or as a handy reference when students are working individually.

If your students are having trouble differentiating between arguments, persuasion, and propaganda, the single page resource titled Argument, Persuasion, or Propaganda? from ReadWriteThink would be a great asset.

And finally, another way to study persuasive writing is to look at the copy writing of classic ads. One of my favorites is the Charles Atlas ad which appeared in the comic books of my youth. I discussed that ad at my Teaching that Sticks site, and provided some insight (and references) into why it was so popular and effective. What other ads are now considered classics? What made them so effective? How did their creators use persuasive language to sell ideas and products?

Have a favorite site, tool, or prompt for persuasive writing? Leave a comment below or drop me line!

Picture Books on Teacher Talk Radio

2010-04-17T01:09:00.000-04:00

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to be a guest on Teacher Jen's Teacher Talk Radio.

Check out our discussion on using picture books in the classroom, and be sure to check out Jen's upcoming episodes and archive of previous broadcasts. In addition to listening live, you can also download episodes for free from itunes. If you're on Twitter, follow Jen so you don't miss out on any upcoming guests.

Otto Grows Down

2010-04-09T22:14:00.002-04:00

Today my sixth graders shared their original "What If" stories, based upon Otto Grows Down, written by Michael Sussman and illustrated by Scott Magoon.

These stories were, without a doubt, some of the best we've heard all year. I think some of the credit is due to the organizer I provided for students, but most of it is due to the source book itself. In introducing Otto Grows Down, I told students, "We're using this as a mentor text." We then discussed what that term meant, and this discussion led to students listening to the read-aloud with a very different, very focused goal in mind.

In short, our lesson proceeded in this manner:

We read and discussed the book. We also took some time to compare and contrast it with other time travel books and movies we know. We also discussed what the creators chose to include or leave out, and their possible reasons for that.
We projected the What If... writing form on our interactive whiteboard, and parsed out the story in simpler terms. This "deconstructing" helped students understand the story structure more clearly, in preparation for creating their own.
Students looked over a brief list of What If... prompts, and then chose either one from that list or one of their own.
Students completed the prewriting sheet, and then shared with two partners. Partners helped clarify plot points, and also offered other ideas for inclusion.
Drafting began, and students again paired up and shared and critiqued after about fifteen minutes.
Following another writing session, volunteers read aloud to the class and heard some comments from their peers.

What's great about writing like this is that students who are extremely creative can really take off! Those who struggle not only have periodic check-ins with peers (and with me, whenever needed), but they can also consult the picture book itself. Many students, in fact, reread the book as they were working in order to get a feel for the voice, sentence length, paragraphing, and so on.

So again, I recommend you grab this title for yourself! Joni from South Dakota, however, won't need to: she's our Otto Grows Down giveaway winner! Congrats to Joni! Hope the hand-out helps your students to create some phenomenal stories!

Have other What If... favorites? We'd love to hear about them! Leave a comment below, or email me directly.

UPDATE: Author Michael Sussman checked in to say thanks for the mention. Be sure to check out his Otto Grows Down site; one particularly cool page is Thoughts on Time, which contains a nice poem on time, written by the author.

Writing About "What If" Using Picture Books as Models

2010-04-02T21:13:00.001-04:00

What if we traveled back in time? Not an original thought, by any measure. Time travel tales populate our culture in just about every possible permutation. From the very recent and ridiculous Hot Tub Time Machine to more serious works such as Jane Yolen's Devil's Arithmetic, this device continues to find new narratives and new audiences.

But what happens when a young boy begins to experience time reversal in real time? That very funny premise is at the center of Otto Grows Down, written by Michael Sussman and illustrated by Scott Magoon.

When Otto blows out the candles at his sixth birthday party, he wishes baby sister Anna was never born. Then strange things begin to happen. His candles relight, his watch hand spins in the wrong direction, and he rewraps and returns his gifts to their givers.

Over the next few days, Otto's experiences are equally weird: going up the slide at recess, delivering bags of food to the supermarket, bringing in the garbage, and getting his hair longer at the barber's. In this course of events, Otto's sister is returned to the hospital (we're spared further details of that procedure), and Otto experiences his fifth birthday.

The gross details of time reversal are made crystal clear when Sussman writes, "Otto took baths when he was clean - and they made him dirty. And going to the bathroom was downright disgusting." Think about it. My sixth graders did, and they died laughing. The author and illustrator of this book have their audience pegged!

I won't spoil the ending for you, but in my opinion, this book is a winner. Yes, it tells a funny, heartfelt story, but for my purposes, it's a fantastic writing model for students using the "What If..." premise.

The fact is, thousands of stories are based upon various "what if" scenarios. One of the most common literary motifs is for children to be separated from adults and left to their own devices. It's a device that simply asks, "What if children were removed from the rules, guidance, and nurture of adults? How would they fend for themselves?" We see that motif take center stage in Harry Potter; Lord of the Flies; and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In discussing this motif with my sixth grade classes, we discovered that it likewise occurs in a number of our classroom novels: Holes, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and The Outsiders.

So playing "What If..." not only helps you to identify common themes in reading, it can also help your students generate ideas for their own writing. For example, What if

there were only night?
the world had no numbers?
everyone had a twin?
America had lost the War of Independence?
Earth began to lose its gravity?
our school were divided into four houses like Hogwarts?

Whether these prompts are used for simple poems, reflections on current reading selections, or free creative writing, you'll find that the "What If..." model really opens the doors to some divergent thought. Using a simple picture book model such as Otto Grows Down is a fun way to kick off the writing. This book proves that a short story can contain humor, vivid details, and a plot line that works on multiple levels.

Have you read this far? Terrific! Sterling Publishing has kindly offered a giveaway copy of Otto Grows Down, and it's all set to go! Email me to enter the drawing (just type Otto in the subject line). Deadline is 10:00 PM EST on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Good luck!

What Makes a Good Picture Book?

2010-04-01T00:51:00.000-04:00

Marilyn Singer, who's authored over eighty books for children and young adults, asked a group of authors, editors, and other book people this question: What Makes a Good Young Picture Book?

Their responses appear at her web site, and we can take away several things from the conversation.

Many responders mentioned that picture books must deal with universal themes, which are shared across cultures, genders, and age levels. For example, Harriet Ziefert, author of You Can't See Your Bones With Binoculars, says

I believe there are issues that surface in childhood that continue throughout our lives, and that when we're eighty, we're still negotiating these basic issues: separation, loss, and reunion; dependence vs. independence; insecurity (which includes feelings of jealousy, envy, and rivalry) vs. security; delayed vs. instant gratification.

The stories that have the most powerful effects on both child and adult are ones that deal with at least one of these lifelong struggles. Though a child's experiences are different from a 20-year-old's, and a 30-year-old's are different from a 40-year-old's, the same feelings are at the core.

Many others spoke of the need to take out as carefully as you put in; picture books are meant, after all, to be brief, and not a word can be wasted. Jane Yolen, author of over 600 books including How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? proves this by her very concise response:

Lyrical lines, a recognizable sentiment, compression of story, and a character to love.

And finally, several responders spoke of a picture book's ability to make its own world, no matter how new or foreign to a child, one in which he or she will feel welcome. Luann Toth, Senior Book Review Editor of School Library Journal, states it perfectly when she says

I think that the best books for this audience are the ones that tap directly into a young child's experience, allowing him or her to enter the world the author and illustrator have created, no matter how unusual or fantastical, and to feel at home there. The storytelling should be straightforward and spare and the art needs to be uncluttered and clearly delineated. Repetition and rhymes sharpen the ears and often invite verbal responses. And who can resist opening a closed flap?

Be sure to visit Marilyn's site to read all the responses, and if you're a "book person" of any type, share your thoughts with her as well. Thanks, Marilyn, for this terrific insight into the literary form which we love so dearly!

How about, Book People? In your opinion, what makes a good picture book?