Ish

I wanted to add at least one book about Art, especially now that so many of these important programs are getting cut from our school districts. Peter H Reynolds (The Dot and The North Star) writes about a young boy named Ramon who continues to try and try at his career as an Artist in the story Ish. After several months, Ramon decides to give up on his artwork as nothing really looks the way that he had expected to. I saw a theme of perfection and expectations, that I see so many kids get down on themselves for. Later, his sister Marisol steals one of his crumpled up drawings, and in trying to retrieve it back from her he chases her up to her room, only to find that most of his art work was decorating her room. The title Ish came about as they would describe his art work. The  flowers weren't put into any kind of perfect vase, but they were placed in something vase-ish. They renamed most of his art work with an -ish suffix, and as they learn to appreciate the individual art work, Ramon becomes more passionate for creating art, moving on to abstract art with emotions.

This book calls on a theme of having an individual expectation, and being let down when things don't turn out how we may expect them. This art lesson could also teach a social story as art can be very expressive and relaxing, and what makes it great is the connection that we all can have with the art. Before reading this book, I would allow students to think of something that makes them happy, and then have them paint it. After painting, they could read this story and share their art work with a peer, and they could tell them what they like about it. If the artist doesn't like their work, they could re-create it to see if they can make something better with the support of their peers and the freedom in their spirit. After creating the art work, they could make a small blurb about the art that makes them happy, and then reflect on the process to see how creating something as an individual and putting your own personal touch on things is what makes art. This read is targeted towards k-2nd grade learners, and if I am ever lucky enough to teach in those grade levels, I would definitely use this book somewhere in the curriculum! :)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?

I had to put at least one Eric Carl  (and Bill Martin!) book in here, and I chose Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you See? because I have so frequently used it in the last few years where I have had the opportunity to work closely with students who  have special needs. The story is easy, and it is about a brown bear who looks to another animal asks what they see. The book goes on in this pattern for about 10 or different animals, and I like this book because you can teach sequencing, colors, animals, etc. and kids love all of the bright colors and the simplicity of the text that ends up becoming very memorable.

Since this book can be used for early pre-school to about Kindergarten leveled students, this might be a chance to create a fun group activity for the little ones. First they could complete a puzzle that goes along with the story as a pre-activity, and then after reading the story for practice, they could each draw a picture of the different animals, reciting the lines of each page until they get to the end with the children and the teacher. It may even be fun to have them make a little costume out of construction paper and have them each stand up in sequential order when it is their turn in the story to recite their lines.

The Paper Bag Princess

This book cracks me up! What a smart little girl Elizabeth is in the story of The Paper Bag Princess, written by the infamous Robert Munsch. The story tells a take about this young Princess Elizabeth, who loses her prince by a fire-breathing dragon. Cleverly, Elizabeth goes to visit the dragon and she has him show her all of his tricks, like blowing away 500 forests with one breath, and flying around the world in a very short amount of time. I won't tell anymore of the story because I don't want to give it away, but the ending...is quite hilarious. :)

I really like the sense of making- do, and the bravery that the character of Elizabeth shows.Michael Martchenco uses pencil and color to portray the brave Paper Bag Princess and all of her adventures along the way, and the drawings were very fun! We always hear about princesses who can't get dirty or who continues to be the damsel in distress, and in this story the roles are reversed. It would be a great book for character education or teaching a lesson of bravery, and standing up for yourself. For a pre-lesson, I would have the students think of a time that they were truly afraid of something, and to write it down. After the lesson, the students could pass their fears around, allowing different children to solve the problem in a brave, and courageous way (as long as it was safe), writing a small creative story for ways that their peers could solve their problems. Way cute book!

Boomer Goes to School

This is a wicked cute book about a dog who gets to school with his kid owner as the show-and tell presentation. Boomer is a crazy dog who gets into everything and anything at school, and bringing him into school to represent the boy's show and tell was probably a lot more difficult than he had anticipated.

Eventually down the road I would like to write children's books, but one thing I have started recently was a series of more comedic tales of my dog Lucy's crazy, almost human-priveledged life. I grew up with a yellow laboradoar, who was just a part of our family as any one of us, and people sometimes overlook the relationships that can be developed with animals and their owners. They need us just as much as we need them, and I wish more animals could feel the love that our pets do when they are welcomed into a home--granted that it be a good and loving home.

For teachable moments, this story provides a great conflict-solution theme, where as a pre-activity, students could talk about what might occur if they brought their pets to school. After reading the book, the students could come up with a new plan to bring Boomer to school, with a better and more organized plan that could keep him out of most of the trouble he had gotten into. :) This was an adorable book, another library keeper :)

The Runaway Bunny

The Runaway Bunny is a little story about a son bunny who continues to challenge his mother, saying he wants to run away from her. Why he wanted to run away is beyond me, and the Mother seemed as thought she would always be there for him from the retort that she always had prepared when he explains what he'll do or become when he does run. I felt a more human connection as the animals sort of became personified as the bunny child became more creative as the story progressed. It made me think of how children grow, and how each time we think they are ready for more independence, their mothers still remind them of the direction that they had before, and the direction that they will still get from the love of a family. Another theme I saw was one of family, and how you can run away from anything in this world, but you really can't divorce yourself from family, or the ones who care about you the most. 

I would use this story for sequencing, and teaching on the theme of companionship. I would as a pre-activity collect a few different stories based on companionship, and then add this one to the mix. Later the students could see the different ways people show love, and they could come up with a creative story or poetry to emulate how they would show companionship to friends family or any other loved ones.

Margaret Wise Brown also wrote Goodnight Moon, another classic that winds up in almost every child's night stand at one point or another. She has a simple yet effective way of writing, and her stories have a really classic feel to them. 

Come on Rain!

Come on Rain by Karen Hesse, was another book I received last year for my birthday, this time from my sister. The book has a sort old-fashioned feel to it, with the main character Tess bored with the heat and wanting the rain alongside her friends as a playmate. It had that good-old days feeling, before kids became glued to their DS systems and flat screen  T.V.s. The story itself is told in a folky, sharable way with plenty of dialogue and character development. Tess is impressive because she very clearly embraces the simple pleasures in life, and the illustrator Jon J Murth creates beautiful watercolor pictures to give us a better idea of this hot southern town that just wants a little bit of rain. :)

As a pre-activity, I would allow the students to picture walk the book and piece together what they think happens as the conclusion to the story. This book permits an open opportunity for learners to create their own dialogue, which could be the post activity, sharing it with a small group of peers or a partner. This is a great and relaxing read that is suitable for 1st-3rd graders. There is also a multicultural piece woven in, where time period collides with friendships in children of different races. I enjoy how that plays almost no factor in this story, especially in the south, and though later on in the illustrations you see how the mothers were somewhat separated by race with their daughters, they didn't seem to be afraid or upset to all be in the same place, enjoying one of life's great pleasures of simplicity.

The Listening Walk

I used this book with this week a student who I work with who has special needs. The Listening Walk by Paul Showers, is about a little girl who loves to walk with her father and hear all of the different sounds that are coming from her surroundings. She pays attention to each and every detail, and you get a feel for her environment when she is using her mind to create memories with use of sound and visuals. It was a neat book, and after I read the book with my student, we went outside on a nature walk and tried to listen to different sounds which come from our school environment. Aliki illustrated very simple but fitting pictures for the book which almost allowed the kids to see what sounds look like.

This is a fictitious book with a realistic perspective, and could be used for very non-fiction themes when teaching about environment sounds. I think to some effect it also could be turned into a lesson of paying close attention to fine details when writing and describing any kind of noun. As a pre-activity, students could simply listen to what they hear in the classroom at that given moment, and then write down 5 things that they heard. Later after reading the book, they could go out for a walk to hear all different sounds, making a checklist of things that the little girl in the story heard, and drawing connections to see if the students saw and heard the same things she did on their walk. I think this book is well fit for Kindergarten through 2nd grade learners, and it could be used for Special needs students when developing themes of describing in detail. Cute book. :)

Dear Mrs. LaRue

This is another book I absolutely adore...Mark Teague, author and illustrator of the endearing little story of Ike the dog, wrote the story about Ike and his owner Mrs. LaRue, who has shipped him off to obedience school to improve upon his somewhat naughty dog behavior. Dear Mrs. LaRue is composed of mostly letters written from Ike to his beloved owner whom he misses dearly. I love this book for the multitude of literary elements, including persuasive writing, mood and tone, character development, plot and sequencing. The illustrations are really neat, and on each page you see the darker side, of what Ike is portraying in his persuasive letters and how he tries to go home with exaggerations of how bad it is at the obedience school. Those pictures are in gray scale, while the reality of the situation at the obedience school is in color, and not nearly as bad as Ike makes it out to be. Awesome book, really.

I used this story to teach persuasive writing, and there are elements and language readily available within the story for students to pull out while learning about the unit of persuasion. The kids loved this book! As a pre-activity we read this story, and then afterwards we worked together to find persuasive and figurative language that Ike used to get himself home and back into the arms of his owner. Then we had a discussion on why we persuade, especially when writing letters and trying to get our view points across. Finally we had a post-activity of discovering other methods of persuasion through lyrical music, commercials and advertisements, pod casts, etc. to explore the many reasons why we persuade, and how to be effective persuasive writers. This story is one I found most fit for 4th graders, but in range probably as early as 2nd grade for a read aloud, and up to 5th grade for the underlying elements.

If you Give a Pig a Pancake

Laura  Numeroff and Felicia Bond have created the wonderful series of books that are framed by personification and sequencing. Other titles including If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, If you Give a Cat a Cupcake, and If you Give a Moose a Muffin, as well as several other enjoyable stories in the line. I really love If you Give a Pig a Pancake because of the friendship that this young girl has with the pig, and most of the stories in this line have a young child who complies with the animal and all of their associated requests. Simply I love it because these characters carry on as though building a tree fort with a pig is completely normal, and I think children usually very often make wonderful friends of pets and animals.

The frame work also includes aspects of cause and effect, alongside personification and sequential ordering. With all of these stories, re-telling for a comprehension would be effective, but more importantly I think as you correlate the cause and effect that comes from the plot line, students could rebuild the story with sequencing. I am thinking in terms of puzzle pieces, and for a pre-activity they could share with a friend what their predictions of the story's outcome...what will happen if you give a pig a pancake? As the book is a simple read, I would allow students to continue to work in pairs to read the book together, and as a post activity they could create a time table, ordering the events of the story from 1-10 or 15, and piecing the cause-and effect elements together. These books are all very accessible for younger readers, I would say Kindergarten or 1st grade through 3rd grade.

Feast for 10

A simpler read, Feast for 10 by Catherine Falwell is an easy counting book that shows a warm family working together to create a family dinner. I could see this used as a book for Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten students who are learning to count. Each page illustrates the number of items that is discussed in the writing, allowing children to count in a read-aloud or with a buddy. I also like the idea of helping and sharing the tasks at home, and working together to make everyone happy.

I could see this book being re-told, and readily accessible for younger students or students with special needs. As a pre-activity, we could ask the students if there was a time when they worked together with their families to complete a task. I would then read the book aloud to the students, counting different people or items in the story until we reach 10, and then count backwards. As a post activity, students could match numbers with sequencing cards to create the path of the story, as well as using math components with counting.

The Mitten

The Mitten is another classic that just had to be posted in my blog, and I think I have seen it used in almost every classroom I have ever taught in classrooms from Kindergarten to 3rd grade. Beyond the intricate illustrations, Jan Brett, who has been creating stories since she was a little girl, wrote this special story about a boy who loses his mitten, and the adventures of the animals who all try to use the mitten for shelter on a cold winter day. The imagination she uses is absolutely fascinating to children, and this is probably one of my favorite stories to read during our wonderful winter season in Syracuse.

I could see this being a resource for Special needs children. The Speech teacher that I work with does a lesson with The Mitten each year, and every time I've seen her carry the unit out she adds something new to do to help students build upon their reading and literacy skills. As a pre-activity, students could picture walk and make predictions, and as a post-activity, have the students re-tell the story creating puppets, and displaying the actions of what happens in the story ( especially when the mitten rips, that could be a lot of fun!). She has also had the students work with sequencing with puzzle pieces that describe different parts of the story, and for students with Special needs the tangible resources are always a necessity. Originally is a well known Ukrainian folktale, and I'm thankful for Jan Brett's rendition that is so accessible for young learners.

A House is a House for Me

One thing that I am seeing, and that I had noticed before but it probably isn't brought up enough, is that children's books can fall under many categories of learning, especially as the students begin to enter different subject areas in school that are individualized. A House is a House for Me is a little tale about items and living things that simply go together. A glove is a house for a hand, and a house is a house for me...the story has perfect little rhyming schemes to keep it catchy and memorable and this is another story that is so loaded with teachable activities. The author, Mary Ann Hoberman , and seemed to find a home for almost everything and anything.

I used this book when I was student teaching in an inclusive Kindergarten classroom. For the pre-activity, I asked the kids about where they live, and they all agreed that they lived in a home or an apartment. Yes that topic can get sticky, but that's another time. Later we had the students each take an item or a living thing, and then it's corresponding home. We played a game where the object or thing had to "go home" to practice making the associations. For the post-activity, the students simply had to draw a line to match pictures with their individual homes. Here I saw a combination of Science, Social Studies and ELA components, it's impressive! I would say the reading levels are appropriate for a younger audience, Kindergarten to 2nd grade. All in all, I  enjoyed the story was so carefully put together, and it was perfect for my unit. :)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Oh yea. This book had to make it to the blogs, it's such a classic. First off, I don't know any book that could define Fiction any better. Judi and Ron Barret pair up to make this insane little town of chewandswallow, which is seemingly wonderful with food falling from the sky at every meal, however like an over-kill of any kind of resource, it eventually becomes a mess, and a start over is quite necessary. I think of our Federal spending and how too much of it made a big mess of our country as well :) . This is definitely a leisurely, favorite bed time type of story that eventually became a movie due to it's overwhelming popularity.

I do think there are teachable moments that come from the story, like how with fictitious stories we can add lots of elaboration and embellishments to make our stories more rich and exciting. I also think theres a subliminal message of resources and the notion of too much of anything is never a good thing. I think as a pre-activity I would ask the students what they thought this story would be about, and then after reading it I would allow them to recreate the story, but making it better and with a different solution. For example, in the story the townspeople simply move away and build bread houses. Why couldn't they have created giant barrels to catch each kind of food, and ship out what they didn't need to people who were starving? I would turn the book into a more critical thinking piece, and maybe touch on some elements of health as raining hot dogs ( or in my case, not dogs) may seem fantastic, but what is a healthier food that could be raining from the sky? Food for thought :p

Old Bear

Kevin Henkes is a Newbury Honor writer as well as  Caldecott Book Award winner, and he writes for primary ages through young adult novel. I'm not quite sure of the illustrator of this book as it went unlisted, but if it were him I would be even more impressed with him! This is a very simple tale fit for a younger, primary aged audience about a bear who dreams of all of the seasons that he experienced when he was young, and how especially long the winter is, which leads into a science theme of hibernation. As Old Bear travels through his seasons, emotions and colors are painted in the story, and for that I think the book also touches on the different seasons and how we can sort them by not only physical changes but the emotions that you feel within those seasons.

I would read this book to Kindergarten students, and then by First grade allow most readers to take this upon their own as it is a very simple read with rich beautiful pictures. For a pre-activity, students could guess what the word hibernation means, and how it relates to seasons of the year. After we read the book, I would ask the students to define hibernation, explain how it works with seasons with a visual aide, and then maybe research other animals who hibernate, and discuss what they may do before they go in for their long sleep.
I really loved this book, my mother bought it for me for my birthday last year when I had requested strictly children's books to build up my library, and I could definitely see how I could use this particularly for younger students.

Imagine

Alison Lester wrote this adorable dreamy story of what seems to be a brother and a sister, and all of the imagination that they could possibly possess. They turn their kitchen into an ocean, their snowy backyard into the arctic, their Lego set into a farm in the countryside, and well I'd go on but I can't give away all of the adventures! What I like about the book is that once they reach their imagination destination, bordering the illustrations are all of the words of objects that you can find in the artwork, kind of like an eye spy. I read this book one night while doing some other graduate work and hanging out with my boyfriend, and we had fun searching for all of the little words and trying to figure out the names of some of the exotic animals within the illustrations. More than anything, Alison showed how something so simple could become so vibrant with life with just a little imagginnattionnn. :)

So, on to how this book could be used for teaching: creative writing all the way. This book reminds me of art class, when Mrs. W.P. would give us a squiggle with black marker on a piece of paper and we had to create something spectacular from it. She would give us that task whenever we had finished early, and it now reminds me of writing, and how you can take a simple idea and expand it's complexities to make something awesome. A pre-activity could be having the kids find something small in the classroom like a pencil sharpener, a notebook, the flag, etc. From there they could tell an elaborate story with intricate details, making a simpler object into something much more. As a post-activity, they could share their stories with the class, or put them in the hallway for other students to read up on. Sounds like fun to me :)

Coraline

Eeek...yes I am a little behind and that is probably an understatement...but that's life and it gets busy. If I stay as busy as I currently am in the future, I fear that I won't be as good at this blogging thing as I would like to be. Anyways, in class last week we were asked to pick a graphic novel for our reading groups, and due to the fact that Coraline was out at just about every library in the county, it would probably be a good investment and addition to my own library. Anyways, I really enjoyed the book, and I finished it in two sittings. Obviously the nice thing about graphic novels is that they are all visual and so it's quick, also I am much more of a visual learner so it was easy for me to connect the different plot points. I brought it to work to get some reading in during my lunch break, and the student I work with grabbed it out of my purse and took it to his lunchtime with him. He loved looking at the pictures, and he is a reader as well so he was definitely entertained by it. When that happened I realized that graphic novels could be a really useful tool with students who have special needs--I mean anyone could enjoy it but especially students who learn in the more non-traditional ways. 


 The storyline itself has a creepy feel with interesting little twists in the story. Neil Gaiman, the author of the graphic novel Coraline, wrote This fictitious suspense story which intrigued my student who is 7, though the book is thought to fit readers of 8 years or older. I don't think it is scary necessarily...the plot is based on this family who moves to new town in an old house, and Coraline is the curious, and bored only child. She decided to explore one day, and found herself further away from her parents in her own home than she could ever imagine. Okay, I guess the characters such as the "Other Mother", who wants to sew buttons into Coraline's eyes could star in a few of my own nightmares, but the story was written in a way that was very suspenseful, the characters were well developed and the book kept you wanting to know what was coming next.


As far as using the story in the classroom, I would use it with an older audience, maybe 3rd or 4th graders, but mainly for leisurely reading as it is a graphic novel. Also, for students at lower level learning in 3rd grade or above, I would allow the students to use the book for comprehension purposes if they could get more from the graphics in comparison to the text. There is much to take from the visuals as well, and P. Craig Russel uses different color schemes to create an ambiance to each page of the novel. As a pre-activity, the students could think about what it would feel like to move into a new town, and a new home. They could use creative writing to imagine as though tomorrow their families were moving, and what kind of changes would they feel in the moving process. Later they could portray Coraline's story and what she had imagined with what things went right and what things went wrong They could reflect on the graphic novel through summarizing, painting a symbolic picture or story mapping the events.