About carriegelson

Elementary teacher passionate about all things literacy.

Diverse Children’s Books: Water in our world

Posted on April 16, 2016 by carriegelson

My students and I are currently learning more about water in our world. Beyond, how essential water is to life, we are talking about access to water and more specifically, children’s roles in gathering water in places in the world where water is scarce or doesn’t flow from indoor taps.

Here are two books we have read together in the past week:

Hope Springs written by Eric Walters and illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes (Tundra Books 2014)

Based on a true story of drought and water shortages in Kenya and what it takes to secure fresh water for a community. This book is about worry and fear. Kindness and forgiveness. In the back of the book are actual photos of the community and people that inspired the book.

Anna Carries Water written by Olive Senior and illustrated by Laura James (Tradewind Books 2014)

Set in the Caribbean, this is the story of young Anna who strives to master the task of carrying water on her head. Children related to the desire to learn a physical skill and had discussions about the need to have to fetch water every day instead of just turning on the faucet. This story is beautifully illustrated and is, more than anything, a story of childhood: wanting to be grown up, wanting to be able to do what older siblings can do, wanting to face a fear.

Diverse Children’s Books is a brand new book-sharing meme designed to promote the reading and writing of children’s books that feature diverse characters. This community embraces all kinds of diversity including (and certainly not limited to) diverse, inclusive, multicultural, and global books for children of all backgrounds.

We encourage everyone who shares to support this blogging community by visiting and leaving comments for at least three others. Please also consider following the hosts on at least one of their social media outlets. Spread the word using #diversekidlit and/or adding our button to your site and your diverse posts.

We hope this community will grow into a great resource for parents, teachers, librarians, publishers, and authors! Our next linkup will be Saturday, May 7th and will continue on the first and third Saturdays of each month.

Most Clicked Post from Last Time

The diverse post that received the most clicks from the last #diversekidlit is … Diverse Children’s Book Celebrating Cultural Traditions by Adrienne at Reading Power Gear. She shares seven great picture books focusing on different cultural traditions including Divali, Chinese New Year, and more!

Hosted By:

Katie @ The Logonauts
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Beth @ Pages and Margins
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Carrie @ There’s a Book for That
Blog / TwitterCrystal @ Reading Through Life and co-blogger @ Rich in Color
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Gayle Swift, Author of ABC, Adoption & Me
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Marjorie @ Mirrors Windows Doors
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Mia @ Pragmatic Mom
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Myra @ Gathering Books< Blog / Twitter / Facebook

Interested in joining as a host or an occasional co-host? Contact Katie at 1logonaut (gmail).

Want to be notified when the next #diversekidlit linkup goes live? Click here to subscribe for notification emails.

If you want to share a favourite or recently read diverse title, please leave a comment with the link (current link up technical difficulties) and then head over to Katie’s blog to share your link on the link up. Happy reading!

Monday April 11th, 2016

Posted on April 10, 2016 by carriegelson

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Each week I share a reading photo of the week This week I am celebrating the Frog and Toad love! These girls are getting everyone in our class excited about reading Frog and Toad titles! The power of a reading community!

For our #classroombookaday, The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School led the way. Who wouldn’t want hair like this?

Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. It’s the best way to discover what to read next.

On the blog:

Monday by Numbers for a Slice of Life

For Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: One Day on our Blue Planet . . . in the Antarctic

Must Read in 2016: Spring Update

Books I enjoyed:

Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer

Simply the perfect mentor text for poetry writing. Enough said.

The Night Gardener by the Fan brothers

This is just a wow title. It has so much of what I love in a picture book – some surprises, a intergenerational connection, a sense of wonder, lots of creativity . . . Divine.

I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien

What a wonderful title to communicate all of the confusion and nervous feelings of a student new to a classroom community from another country.

Listen to Our World written by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Melissa Sweet’s illustrations are as usual, beautiful. Lyrical, poetic, repetitive text showcasing different animal habitats. Page orientation changes making this a wonderful read aloud.

One Day on our Blue Planet . . . In the Antarctic by Ella Bailey

I featured this lovely little book this week for nonfiction picture book Wednesday.

Written and Drawn by Henrietta by Liniers

What a fantastic Toon tale! ideal for Writer’s Workshop!

When I am Happiest by Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson

The third young novel in this series. Exploring friendship, family and strong emotions.

Reading Progress updates:

2016 Chapter Book Challenge: 14/75 complete

Goodreads Challenge: 107/400 books read

#MustReadin2016: 12/30 complete

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 16/100 titles

Diverse Books in 2016: 13/50 books read

Up next? I am almost finished Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys Our family read aloud is Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Must Read in 2016 Spring update

Posted on April 7, 2016 by carriegelson

It’s time for our first #MustReadin2016 update! How are you doing with your list? Making progress? Only read a few? Enjoying other titles? Please share!

This is my list of 30 titles and my thinking back in January:

“My goal is to try and get to most of these. Including them here guarantees they remain on my radar because as I made this list, I had very good reason for placing them on it. If the reasons remain, the book will be read. That’s usually how it works.”

I seem to be on a reading roll with this list so the reasons must have been excellent! I have read 12 titles so far, which is 40% of my list 4 months into the year. And . . . I am in the middle of 2 more of these books.

Titles I finished (listed in the order I read them):

Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm

Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart

Stand Off by Andrew Smith

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Paper Hearts by Meg Wivott

This is the Story of You by Beth Kephart

I gave each of these titles a 4 or 5 stars and at this point, I can’t really pick a favourite. All of them are well worth reading. If I had to select a few to do a little extra raving about, it would be these titles:

Stand Off by Andrew Smith (YA)

The main character in this novel (sequel to Winger) is a character everyone needs to meet. I will always have such a soft spot in my heart for Ryan Dean West. Start with Winger if you haven’t read it!

Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart (MG)

This really was some kind of courage depicted in this title. Full of adventure and still incredibly character driven. An excellent middle grade novel – wonderful as a read alone or a read aloud.

This is the Story of You by Beth Kephart 9YA)

I adore Beth Kephart‘s writing. I truly get lost in her words and images and begin to view the world differently. More beautifully. If you have yet to read a Kephart novel, this is a lovely read.

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (YA)

I read this aloud to my family (2 thirteen year olds and my husband). We all were hooked very quickly. I wept reading the final pages. A MUST for high school libraries.

If you have been participating in #MustReadin2016 and written an update post, please share using the #MustReadin2016 hashtag!

Leave your link in the comments if you have written a post. Please try to visit a few of the other #MustReadin2016 bloggers/readers and get inspired! And of course, everyone loves comments to know that you have visited!

Want to know more about #MustReadin2016? Read here This post also includes links to all of the bloggers who wrote Must Read lists.

Next update will be on September 1st 2016!

HAPPY READING

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: One Day on our Blue Planet . . . In the Antarctic

Posted on April 6, 2016 by carriegelson

If you shouldn’t fall in love with a book by its cover . . . how about its end pages? Because these are truly stunning! The front pages feature all of the animals you might find above the ice in Antarctica and the final end pages reveal many of the creatures who live below the Antarctic waters.

One Day on our Blue Planet . . . In the Antarctic by Ella Bailey (Flying Eye Books 2016)

Wander (or waddle) through the day of an Adélie penguin chick in her Antarctic home. Through the story of her day we are introduced to elements of the Antarctic landscape, penguin habits, their predators and the creatures who share their home.

Perfect for younger listeners, this is a beautiful read aloud to introduce children to the continent of Antarctica and it is sure to spark further reading and research. This would also be a wonderful mentor text for older readers to share their research on an animal as a “day in the life” format.

This book begs you to consider art projects. It is stunning on every page. Like all Flying Eye Books, the pages are high quality and the colour palette, so attractive.

Pair this title with these titles about Antarctica:

Sophie Scott Goes South by Alison Lester (published in 2012)

Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill, a stunning Flying Eye book published in 2014.

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2016. Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction books you need to read!

nfpb2016logo

Monday by numbers: Slice of Life

Posted on April 4, 2016 by carriegelson

Monday was . . .

1 favourite scarf

2 long walks

3 cups of coffee

4 tiny oranges

5 conferences in Reading Workshop

6 times I was asked if I think Mary (Dory’s monster friend in Dory and the Real True Friend) is real or not

7 hands held

8 minutes of mindful breathing

9 times I said these words, “We don’t lie down at the carpet.”

10 minutes of after dinner dishes

11 times I considered doing laundry and didn’t

12 classroom plants watered

13 minutes reading our novel in the morning

14 minutes reading our novel in the afternoon

15 giggles over Dory antics before I lost count

16 students in attendance today

17 emails I am ignoring until tomorrow

18 cherry blossoms collected on our afternoon walk

19 minutes past three before every student was where they needed to be

20 books put away from the book return bin

21 minutes to finish a blog post

Monday was.

Bad Irony: Slice of Life

Slice of Life is hosted by Two Writing Teachers. I thank them for the community they provide. Read more slices here.

Monday April 4th, 2016

Posted on April 3, 2016 by carriegelson

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Each week I share a reading photo of the week This is taken during Reading Workshop. It kind of speaks for itself don’t you think? These two on the bench organized themselves into a little reading partnership, “Let’s each read a page.” I also love the message on the board that a child wrote. It captured the feel in the room – happy readers everywhere.

Our #classroombookaday titles this week were especially lovely.

On the blog:

I finished up my Slice of Writing challenge for the month of March. 31 days of published writing on the blog! Phew.

Night Before Thinking Musing about back to work after a break

Inspired by student poetry writing and When Green Becomes Tomatoes Poems for All Seasons (listed below) I wrote my own poem about writing spring poems today we picked spring

Words A Slice of Life post about being grateful that words find me

My first post with the meme Diverse Children’s Books featuring the book: My Two Blankets (pictured below)

Books I enjoyed:

This week it was alll about the picture books!

Where’s the Elephant? by Barroux

Sometimes on this blog I insist that a book must be purchased so it can be shared again and again. Well, okay, sometimes seems like a rare occurrence. I just might do it often. But, take my word for it, I won’t steer you wrong! This book is one of those books. It is beyond a search and find which it seems to be just a few pages in. Not at all. It is a statement about development encroaching on habitat. Of what this means to our world and the animals in it. Powerful. So, powerful. The perfect book to introduce environmental studies. To begin conversations. To worry about. And maybe to inspire change.

When Green Becomes Tomatoes Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Julie Morstad

This book of poetry is kind of pure perfection. Julie Morstad’s illustrations. Julie Fogliano‘s beautiful images. I can’t pick a favourite poem. But I have many a favourite line.

A Hungry Lion or a dwindling assortment of animals by Lucy Ruth Cummins

This book is very funny. It requires that wonderful page flipping back and forth phenomenon – “Did that really happen?” I don’t want to give anything away but will say the surprises delighted me. Can’t wait to read this to a group of children.

Before I Leave by Jessixa Bagley

Such a sweet (but not at all over the top) story of what it is to move away and leave a friend. Bagley tackles emotions so beautifully.

My Two Blankets written by Irena Kobald and illustrated by Freya Blackwood

I wrote about this book in this post. Themes of immigration, new friendships, learning a language, adjusting to a new culture and new place.

Always Remember by Cece Meng and illustrated by Jago

This is a story of loss, of what it is to lose a loved one and remember. Full of hope and emotion and the illustrations are STUNNING.

My Heart Fills with Happiness written by Monique Gray Smith and illustrated by Julie Flett

I bought this for our board book collection. A book about finding joy! Illustrations by Flett are beautiful. I love that this title features Indigenous children and families. This book is perfect for my classroom.

Snappsy the Alligator Did Not Ask to Be in This Book! written by Julie Falatko and illustrated by Tim Miller

Oh so very clever! The under-enthused and annoyed main character, the irritating narrator, the dynamic between the two of them. What an amusing little book!

The Fun Book of Scary Stuff written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Hyewon Yum

This book! A little guy talks about his fears with a dog and the conversations are SO hilarious. I couldn’t leave the book store without this one.

Thelma the Unicorn by Aaron Blabey

Thelma is a pony with unicorn aspirations. When a unicorn transformation happens to her (this is a great scene) life seems grand. But is fame and attention really a wonderful thing?

Reading Progress updates:

2016 Chapter Book Challenge: 14/75 complete

Goodreads Challenge: 97/400 books read

#MustReadin2016: 12/30 complete

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 15/100 titles

Diverse Books in 2016: 12/50 books read

Up next? I continue with Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys Our family read aloud is Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Diverse Children’s Books: My Two Blankets

Posted on April 2, 2016 by carriegelson

I teach in a small school located in the downtown east side of Vancouver. It is a multicultural school with many different languages and cultures represented. My students are thrilled when a new student arrives at our school. They are excited to welcome a new friend and enthused about learning something new from someone new. As the teacher in the room, I am aware of how rich the learning is when a child from another country arrives. When this child has limited or no English skills, the learning is almost the most rich. It is then that we must be the most gracious, the most open, the most creative. Everything becomes about communication and connection.

This beautiful book – My Two Blankets written by Irena Kobald and illustrated by Freya Blackwood (published in Australia in 2014 by Little Hare Books and in North America in 2015 by HMH books for Young Readers) – portrays the reality of moving to a new country from the perspective of a young girl brand new to a place of strange words and new experiences.

Cartwheel comes to a new country with her Auntie. They have come to be safe but everything is different. She doesn’t understand the strange words spoken or many of the things she observes. She wraps herself in a metaphorical blanket of home, of comfort, of known. When a little girl reaches out in friendship, Cartwheel is drawn to her smile and her persistent offerings of language and friendship. Soon the new strange language sounds softer and full of possibility.

In the story, where Cartwheel has moved from and where she arrives is never clarified. This could be the story of any child moving to a new place to escape war or conflict. It becomes a story for all of us.

I love the illustrations of Freya Blackwood – the loose lines, the strong imagery, her use of colour. Author Irena Kobald was inspired to write this book because of a friendship between her own daughter and a Sudanese child. Both author and illustrator live in Australia.

This would be a fantastic read aloud in primary/early intermediate classrooms.

Interested in joining as a host or an occasional co-host? Contact Katie at 1logonaut (gmail).

We hope this community will grow into a great resource for parents, teachers, librarians, publishers, and authors! Our next linkup will be Saturday, April 16th.

Hosted By:

Katie @ The Logonauts

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Myra @ Gathering Books
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Mia @ Pragmatic Mom
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram

Crystal @ Reading Through Life and co-blogger @ Rich in Color
Blog / Twitter / Google+

Carrie @ There’s a Book for That
Blog / Twitter

(Never participated in a linkup before? Please click here for a more detailed step-by-step.)

Words: Slice of Life #31

Posted on March 30, 2016 by carriegelson

This is the final post in a month of writing. Do I need some especially meaningful words to share? Probably. But what I have today is really just a simple gratitude. I am grateful for words. Grateful that words are kind to me. Grateful that words are close by. That I can find them when I need them. Eventually. Words are a safe place. They do not scare me.

It’s not a perfect relationship. I am not always happy with what I write. Sometimes it is terrible. I can write pages and tear it all apart. I can doubt that the words I have placed on the page are the right ones to convey what I mean. I can wonder about the very idea itself. I drag words about and attempt to arrange them just so. Is it even worth their time?

But the act of writing – marks into letters into words into phrases into pieces into stories into communication – I can do this. I can put words on a page and make meaning. That’s a lucky thing. I feel lucky.

I sat with one of my students today during a writing block. We had just read Robo-sauce written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri and he wanted to write about the kind of robot he would be and the special powers he would have. He would be a ninja robot, with a black mask and woven material covering his metal armour. He would be stealthy and be able to breathe out air that would freeze anything it came into contact with. He would be frightening.

I know all of this because it is what I helped him to tell me. He didn’t have the vocabulary. He couldn’t paint a picture with his words, even spoken words. As soon as he told me a second detail he forgot the first. I remembered for him. He had a picture in his mind that he didn’t have words to describe. I helped him find some.

Me: “Tell me about the metal armour. What’s it like?”

Him: “Smooth.”

Me: “Like a tin can with no wrapper?”

Him, shaking head, “No, like, like, like, . . . ” and then pointing to some knitted sleeves he had on, “like this!”

Me: “Do you know what that is called? What material it is?”

Him: “No.”

Me, “Well, it’s wool or yarn. His armour would be made of wool? Do you want to write that?”

Yes he did. But he couldn’t get past the “w” We stretched the sounds out and managed the word. I reminded him about the mask. “What could you write?” Smiles but no response. “Could you write that he has a black mask?” Nodding. I nodded back. Nothing. “What’s the sound at the beginning?” I began and we stretched out the words again. “How do you make a “k” again?” he asked. “Line down, kick in, kick out,” I demonstrated. “Remember?” He nodded while forming a careful “k”

His robot would be stealthy. He doesn’t know that word. It took prompts and lots of questions to get the word sneaky which is the word he used. “Freezing power” is what he wrote to explain that his robot would be able to turn you to ice with his breath. I know about the breath because he told me but nowhere did it say anything about breath or breathing on his page. We didn’t get to the frightening part. There were no sentences or even longer phrases. It made a list of ideas. One at a time. With lots of help. Each word stretched to hear the sounds. Each sound checked with hopeful glances. Correct or close enough was confirmed by me with reassuring nods. It took a long time. A long, long time. At the end he was tired. Smiling, but tired.

Beginning writing is hard work. It stays that way for many students. They can’t spell the words they want to use. They can’t find words for the images in their minds. They can’t sequence or organize. Developing ideas is hard. Words don’t float within reach to be grabbed easily as ideas flow.

There are many challenges to a month of daily writing. Daily published writing. In a busy life. But I am grateful that I can do it. That I did do it. That I will continue. I am lucky to know words. Lucky that they trust me to use them to tell my stories.

Thank you to this community of “Slicers” who are lucky along with me.

I am participating in the Slice of Life challenge to write and publish a post every day in March.

Slice of Life is hosted by Two Writing Teachers. I thank them for the community they provide. Read more slices here.

today we picked spring: Slice of Life #30

Posted on March 29, 2016 by carriegelson

march 29

today we picked spring

we went walking to be in it and there it was

we gathered and collected

words, images

and pieces of the world we happened by

there was the sun- warm and everywhere

clouds dusted the sky

“like spirits of someone that knew us,” said one boy

“they’re just white,” said another

the sky that we see is the bluest of blue

we all said that

some trees have white blossoms and some have pink

flowers in the trees and flowers on the ground

“why is that anyway?” we wondered

there were dandelions and daisies

and someone to teach us how to weave daisy chains

we wore them as braclets or twisted into our hair

we found tulips so red

but nobody found roses

even though we wanted them in our poems

(some put them there anyway)

(because you can imagine too)

the grass is so green

not like always

today we are poets and it glows for us

soft wind

sweet air

cold mountains

loud crows

words line up

two by two

and the trees sing

as we race beneath them

*I bought When Green Becomes Tomatoes Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Julie Morstad This poem is inspired by about two minutes of skimming through that beautiful, beautiful book (can’t wait to sit and savour each poem in more detail) and an afternoon of gathering up spring and writing simple spring poems with my students. I placed many of their images into this poem about our walk and writing experience.

We used a frame and a two by two format so finished poems were just 9 words long.

A few samples:

Grateful for

cold wind

hot sun

seeds grow

spring

by Khalid

Grateful for

blue sky

chirping birds

breezy air

spring

By Noah

Grateful for

Daisy gardens

wind dances

trees sing

spring

By Amira

Grateful for

muddy dirt

wind storms

soaking rain

spring

By Sahara

I am participating in the Slice of Life challenge to write and publish a post every day in March.

Slice of Life is hosted by Two Writing Teachers. I thank them for the community they provide. Read more slices here.

Night before thinking: Slice of Life #29

Posted on March 28, 2016 by carriegelson

Tizzy. I kind of like this word. The way it sounds. I don’t so much like the way it feels. It is always attached to so much anxiety: “all in a tizzy.” It is about too much to do, not enough time to do it, feeling unprepared, circling around accomplishing nothing. One might as well spin in circles because when “in a tizzy” feelings descend, we can’t really do anything right.

Often this feeling comes the night before back to school. After a break. Not summer break as there has been a gearing up. The excitement that Septemberr brings. But after winter and spring breaks, teachers begin to panic. What will I do with the students? What did I leave prepared? What will they be ready to do? (Which is actually a not bad question) Is it really starting again tomorrow?

Tonight, I don’t want to panic. I don’t want to enter any tizzy-like state. I want to embrace the possibility, smile in advance at the getting reacquainted. Be ready to grow our community.

This morning I came across the 2003 documentary Children Full of Life about Toshiro Kanamori and his 4th grade class in the city of Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo. Follow this link to watch if you haven’t seen it. Give yourself the better part of an hour. A lot of time to watch. Some time to pause and be teary.

As I watched this video, I kept thinking. This is what teaching is. This! This! The possibility of everything. Teaching is so brave, so vital. Our impact is absolutely huge. We can make it count or waste so much time filling the time with things that just don’t matter.

This is teaching for life, not for a school day. Giving students opportunities to be part of an empathetic, accountable, humble community where there is so much respect. Imagine telling your students we are here together to learn about being happy. To be happy together.

Mr. Kanamori has his students write daily notebook letters and some students read aloud each day. Everybody listens. They talk about deep feelings, about character, about virtues. I was in awe.

I want to watch this video countless times. It was so absolutely beautiful.

The fussy stuff about back to school, that tizzy inducing fussy stuff, it doesn’t even matter. Tomorrow I return to see my students. Our community. To be and learn together.

The possibility of everything.

I am participating in the Slice of Life challenge to write and publish a post every day in March.

Slice of Life is hosted by Two Writing Teachers. I thank them for the community they provide. Read more slices here.