About carriegelson

Elementary teacher passionate about all things literacy.

Those Darn Squirrels Fly South

Posted on November 17, 2012 by carriegelson

Our BLG reader Maria brought in a very funny book this week! Those Darn Squirrels Fly South written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri had the perfect mix of silly, absurd and clever to keep us entertained through every page! A few years ago we enjoyed another Those Darn Squirrels story: Those Darn Squirrels and the Cat Next Door.

I love a book that is funny beyond the “shy smile as you listen funny” and moves right into the “laugh out loud, giggle and snicker” category of funny. This book registered high on the silly meter! We laughed a lot!

In this third book about Mr. Fookwire, his beloved birds and the pesky squirrels who irritate him, we witness a change of seasons. The birds begin to fly south and Fookwire will soon be without the colourful feathered creatures that are his inspiration. He will be left alone with “those darn squirrels.” Or will he? It turns out that the squirrels have been putting their advanced knowledge of aerodynamic engineering (who knew?) to use and have fashioned numerous flying devices to help them too “fly” south!

“Great googley-moogley!” exclaims Fookwire when he sees a flock of squirrels in the air! (Yes, he really does say this! And yes they really do fly!)

When the squirrels land in Santa Vaca they place a collect call to Old Man Fookwire. Their loud chattering inspires him to drive (at 12 m.p.h. in his rarely used convertible) down to meet them. Down south is heavenly – he can paint to his heart’s content. Too bad he forgets about sunscreen, shade and frequent hydration. When Fookwire decides to head back north, the squirrels choose to join him, taking over his car and eventually the wheel! Those Darn Squirrels!

A lot to love in this story. Fookwire’s expressions. The crazy names of the birds. The antics of the squirrels. The Fookwire/squirrels hug. And of course Fookwire’s nose. Handsome devil that Fookwire!

Student reviewers respond:

Grace: My favourite part is when Fookwire had a car that goes 12 m.p.h. Why do the squirrels eat flowers? Why is Fookwire so mean? I liked when he got a sunburn!

Shereese: I liked when the squirrels were eating the mango.

Ethan: I liked when the old man drived 12 m.p.h. When the squirrels drived, it was funny!

Giovanni: I liked the squirrels lying on the beach. Why were the squirrels jumping on the man?

Andrew: My favourite part was when Fookwire drives 12 m.p.h. Fookwire missed the squirrels. I thought the book was funny. Does Fookwire’s sunburn stop?

Vicky: My favourite part was when the squirrels drive the car. Why does the man have a weird name?

Ava: I liked when the squirrels drived the car. He got a sunburn from the sun. The book was nice.

Brian: When he and the squirrels became friends was my favourite part. He said Those Darn Squirrels all the time. How can a squirrel drive 12 miles per hour back home?

The New York Times has a wonderful review of this book. Read here.

Graffiti Gone!

Posted on November 17, 2012 by carriegelson

When you are little, it sometimes feels difficult to have a big voice. But when you share your thoughts and feelings about things that happen in your community, and that community shares those words in a bigger way, all of a sudden it seems like little voices do matter and become bigger as they make a difference. Thank you to Out to Lunch Catering for sharing the sentiments of the Grade 2 and 3 students from Seymour Elementary and for helping them learn the lesson that speaking out about something you feel strongly about is important. And has impact. (Thanks also for the delicious cookies shared when we came by to visit!)

What are we celebrating? Big news in our school community! The graffiti covering the beautiful mural on the wall at Out to Lunch Catering (located just a block and a half from our school) has been washed off! While some traces of the graffiti can still be noticed up close, the mural we love can be seen again. And . . . a little “sign” leans up against one corner of the wall. On this wooden display hang our blog posts (read here and here to catch up on this story) featuring student thoughts and writing about the spray paint that covered this very wall in graffiti just over a month ago. The blog posts covered in plastic to protect them from the rain seem to stand guard in front of this newly clean wall.

Students were thrilled to see their work! Excited voices shared wonder at how great the mural looked again and pride at having our classroom’s voices shared. Students carefully examined the mural and chattered to each other about how fantastic it looked.

After the excitement toned down, we talked about what we noticed, what we felt and why we thought OTL Catering had shared our words. Many students agreed that they felt happy, excited and relieved that the mural could be saved. Some felt proud to have their thoughts displayed. One child commented,”If people see what we wrote, they will know that kids are upset and sad and they might care more to not make any more graffiti. People don’t like to make kids sad.” Many said that we helped the wall be more powerful.

One little guy whispered to me earnestly, “I know who did that graffiti. It was the bad guys.” We were happy to join forces with the “good guys” who cleaned the wall to take a stand against graffiti.

Below are some pretty happy “anti-graffiti” superheroes!

Back in class we decided to write about this subject one more time. We had a big discussion about possible titles for our reaction. “Let’s call it Graffiti x 0 because now there is no graffiti!” “We should call it Graffiti All Gone.” “I’m going to call mine Graffiti Keep Away!“

Ava shared, “My title is Graffiti Wipeout because the graffiti has been wiped off and this makes we feel awesome! I hope our writing protects the wall.”

The children had lots to share. What came through loud and clear was how much joy they felt that the mural was back to the way it should be! Kelvin writes “I saw the graffiti had no paint on the mural anymore. We put up a sign. We are glad that the graffiti is off. We put up a sign to protect it from bad guys who wanted to paint it.”

Our words offering protection against future graffiti was a big theme.

Yes, this story got its happy ending in the form of a cleaned up mural. But beyond this, we learned that we can be part of the stories that surround us. That is definitely a lesson worth learning.

Frank N Stan

Posted on November 13, 2012 by carriegelson

When we met the book Frank N Stan by M.P. Robertson, we met a “new to us” but very experienced BLG reader, Magnus. Before we get into how wonderful this book is, we have to spend a few minutes to explore just how interesting it was that Magnus chose this book. You see, this book is about a robot of very large proportions. He towers over his creator in the most magnificent of ways! Magnus, it just so happens, does a little towering too. He is 6 foot 9! This did not go unnoticed from the seven and eight year olds amongst us! There were questions and comments and then some. Magnus handled them all with honesty, candor and lots of patient politeness! Kids don’t hold back . . .

“How come your feet are so big?” “How did you get so tall?” “Where do you get your clothes?” “Do you have a 6 pack?” “How many pounds are you?”

Once we knew everything about Magnus, we were ready to begin the story.

And what a wonderful story . . .

Frank would love a younger sibling but when his Mom said, “We’ll see” to his request, he decided to make his own brother. He built a robot and named him Stan. Stan was fashioned out of junk yard parts, sprockets, sockets and a battery. When Stan had an oil leak, one child commented quite seriously, “A robot’s blood is oil.” This robot was unusual, but we accepted him as part of the family! And the family appreciated him for all of his help. This robot vacuums and folds the laundry. “He is being helpful like a Mom,” somebody noted.

Most importantly, Frank loved all of the fun he and Stan had! There was noise and mess and more noise! What could be better? But then a baby girl came into the family. When the story mentioned that she might be a little smelly, students had a lot to say!

“Babies do smell.” “They poo and they pee.” “No, they have diapers!” “They still smell.”

Little baby Mary liked Stan and as she grew, she could do more and more with Frank. Stan began to feel left out and finally decided to leave the family. He trudged out into the snowy landscape, sad and alone. Students were quite upset!

“Oh no, what if he cries?” “He might cry oil!” “The oil tears will go down and make him rusty!”

Poor Stan. eventually he conked out and lost all of his power, slumped down in the snow. Back at Frank’s house, Stan was missed. Frank went searching for him. For a few moments, our room was quiet, intently listening to see if Frank found Stan out in the snowy woods. Was he found? Well . . . Let’s just say our room erupted in applause at the end!

And (spoiler alert) little sister Mary said her first word when she was reunited with Stan. What was it? “Stan!” of course. (Reminded me of the ending of Knuffle Bunny :-))

M .P. Robertson has detailed, creative illustrations that make his books perfect for multiple rereads and quiet exploration. I think this is fast on its way to being one of our class favourites!

Student reviewers respond:

Kelvin: My favourite part was the basement. Stan was sad because they didn’t like him. So he travelled. I was hoping that they would save him.

Pheonix: That was cool! So cool I want to faint. For real. I’m not joking.

Andrew: My favourite part was when Frank built Stan. Stan came alive. I was thinking Stan looks weird. What if Stan gets all rusty?

Arianne: I like him building a robot. I like at the end, it was happy.

Vicky: My favourite part was when Mary said, “Stan!” I have a question for Magnus: Can you touch the ceiling?

Heman: I like when Frank built Stan in the basement. Frank was sad because Stan went away.

Ashley: Why was he a brother and a robot? I like the title because it is a funny title. I like the book!

Grace: Why did Frank want a robot brother? I like the title because it sounds like Frankenstein.

Monday November 12th, 2012

Posted on November 12, 2012 by carriegelson

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Join Kellee and Jen’s meme to share all of your reading from picture books to young adult selections! It is always a wonderful way to learn about new titles!

In this past week, I read a number of books on the theme of war and peace. Some I shared with my class as read alouds. Others I read as I worked on a book recommendations page on this theme (peace and war).

When I grow Up, I will win the Nobel Peace Prize by Isabel Pin

A very interesting read. The message is very clear: peace begins with each tiny step that is right in front of us and around us always. The time to begin is now if we are really going to change the world.

The Silver Path by Christine Harris and illustrated by Helen Ong

This book is written as a letter from Niko to his penpal Penny. Niko tells Penny about what is going on in his world after he has fled his village in an unidentified land from a conflict not named. A very powerful little story that reminds us that children in many parts of the world do not experience peace like children somewhere else might. Lots of unanswered questions make it an ideal story to discuss. A springboard to talk about what war steals from children: their families, their security, their right to play and sometimes, their ability to go to school.

Feathers and Fools written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Nicholas Wilton

Really a book for older children but could be done with younger primary students with lots of guided discussion. Raises questions about how battles start and that the wish to hate and the feeling of being threatened is something that is created more than something that is natural. Rich colours in the illustrations and serious text.

The Conquerors by David McKee

This is a new favourite of mine. A modern fable that points to the ridiculous nature of war in the most clever of ways. A general marches his army about conquering every country around. Eventually, there is just one small country left. When the soldiers arrive to once again conquer a people, this little nation offers no resistance. They welcome the soldiers to their tables, to play their games, to sing their songs and to listen to their stories. When the soldiers return to their own ruling nation, they continue singing the songs, cooking the food and telling the stories of this little nation. Just who had conquered who?

Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace by James Proimos

Is it possible for a child to achieve world peace? Yes, if he realizes his world is all around him and simply starts to perform acts of kindness both random/deliberate and simple or creative. Imagine if everyone set out each day to be kind, compassionate and loving? We can all model peaceful ways and make a difference. I love the idea of this book more than the book itself. When I read it aloud I found the casualness of some of the humour took away slightly from the book’s message. Still, I like the discussions it sparks.

Other picture books I enjoyed this week:

Frank ‘n’ Stan by M.P. Robertson

I think books by M.P. Robertson are brilliant often just because of the detailed and creative illustrations. This title has more humour than his usual titles and when it was shared in my class by a guest reader, the children were hooked. Frank wishes for a sibling and when it seems like there will be no little brother or sister in his near future, he sets out to build one. Stan is a robot: huge, helpful and lots of fun. Children loved how he had to plug in and get his oil topped up frequently. When a new little sister really does come on the scene, Stan begins to feel unloved and leaves. The rescue scene when Stan is found in the freezing snow, uncharged and alone is both touching and exhilarating (imagine travelling down snowy hills on a robot’s shoulder). One of the most unique new sibling stories out there – a touch of fantasy, humour, invention and robot building! This is going to be my new go to gift book for young children who love adventure.

The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Renata Liwska

I first heard about this book last week on another Monday Reads post and was thrilled to come across it. Gentle images of the holiday season full of all of the emotions children experience: anticipation, joy, excitement, wonder . . . Perfect for cozy reads in front of a fireplace surrounded by family and happiness. I want my own copy of this book for our holiday collection.

I did not get a lot of time to read any novels this week but am about a third of the way into Sharon Creech‘s The Great Unexpected. Oh, this book. So many wonderful words and quirky characters. A book to slowly savour except you cannot help rushing through it. Perhaps a future read aloud . . . I think reading a lot of the names of people and places aloud would tickle my tongue. Really enjoying this story.

Monday November 5th, 2012

Posted on November 5, 2012 by carriegelson

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? On Halloween night there was torrential rain in Vancouver that prevented a lovely tick or treat scene like this one below (from Muth‘s Zen Ghosts). Still it was a cozy week for lots of seasonal reads!

Join Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts with their weekly meme that highlights what everyone has been reading from picture books to young adult novels. It is a fantastic way to learn about new books and share favourites with others.

In my reading world . . .

New classroom picture books:

Night Song written by Ari Berk and illustrated by Loren Long. Long’s illustrations make this an absolutely stunning book about a little bat’s first solo journey. Guided by his “good sense” little Chiro is able to both explore the world and then find his way home. While this book does not use the word echolocation, this is clearly the good sense being referred to and there is lots of text that helps the reader to talk about the concept. I found children wanted to study the pictures individually after the story was read aloud because it was just so gorgeous with the black as pitch pages.

Chester the Brave written by Audrey Penn and illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson. This is another story in the Kissing Hand series that explores being brave and demonstrating courage. Sweet but I find I like the illustrations more than the story with these books.

Dog in Charge written by K.L. Going and illustrated by Dan Santat. I ordered this through Scholastic when I saw Santat‘s signature illustrations. It is a very funny little story about a dog left in charge of a bunch of cats that get into everything! When it all just seems like too much, Dog compulsively devours a bag of cat treats and takes a nap. The cats, who love Dog, decide to clean up their messes and the family are none the wiser when they return from their outing. So . . . I’m wondering where does one find housekeeper cats? Those are some pets I could have a lot of!

New to me Halloween Stories read to my class or my own children (often both):

The Monsters’ Monster by Patrick McDonnell I am a huge fan of Patrick McDonnell and found this story to be absolutely delightful. This was our BLG book of the week and you can read more on the blog here. The best part of this book is the quirky little wanna be monsters with some of the best character names I have seen in a while: Grouch, Grump and little Gloom ‘n’ Doom. The final scene on the beach is all about the little moments of happy we all need to savour. Highly recommended.

Zen Ghosts by Jon J. Muth For those who know Muth’s Zen . . . stories, this is another that will quickly become a favourite. I love that it is a story within a story. After everyone goes trick or treating, Stillwater the Panda tells the children a story based on a koan from The Gateless Gate that forces the reader/listener to question what is real and not real. And then just to sit and be fine with not really being sure. So much to explore within this book makes it a story that children of many ages can investigate. The illustrations, as in all Muth books, are exquisite.

Creepy Carrots written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown. I was very excited to get my hands on this book because I am such a Peter Brown fan. His illustrations are fantastic and accompany a story told by Reynolds that is actually quite sophisticated. This book on the surface is about a little rabbit being terrorized by some menacing carrots even thought nobody will believe him. What looks like a creepy carrot in the shadows of the night is often revealed to be something else entirely when a parent arrives and turns on a light. But are the creepy carrots really just a figment of Jasper, the rabbit’s overactive imagination? To be safe, Jasper builds a huge fence around the carrot patch to contain these orange vegetables that haunt him. In the end, the source of his fear is revealed. Do those creepy carrots really exist? Read this story that explores fear that just can’t be reasoned away in a totally clever and humorous manner. Loved this book!

The Perfect Pumpkin Pie by Denys Cazet This book has been in our library for a few years but I had yet to read it or share it with a class. Wow, had I been missing out!! This book is certainly a perfect spooky Halloween read featuring a ghost that rises out of the pumpkin patch threatening to haunt the residents of the nearby house if they don’t provide him with the perfect pumpkin pie. Yet while it seems like it might even be too scary for a primary read aloud, it is actually more full of humour, rhyme and pumpkin pie spices than anything else. And a very spunky Grandma who I adored. The illustrations are completely bizarre and unique to make this one of my new Halloween favourites.

Novels read:

Between Shades of Gray written by Ruta Sepetys This is a harrowing read. The images are disturbing and the violations against all basic human rights and human spirit are intense. In Lithuania, in June of 1941, fifteen year old Lina is forced from her home along with her Mother and younger brother by the Soviet Secret Police. They travel by train to a work camp in Siberia and eventually farther north to the Arctic Circle. Survival is based on luck and perseverance that does not seem possible. Many, many die. Lina is compelled to share her experiences through her art and her drawings recount terrible experiences suffered by her family and those of the other Lithuanian people around her. This story gives us a sense of the horror that happened to so many under Stalin’s rule. Many details were new to me. Ruta Sepetys brings voice to many who were completely silenced by death or extreme fear. A very important young adult read.

Shooting Kabul written by N.H. Senzai. This book has been on my “to read” pile for over a year and I found that once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. I finished it in just over twenty-four hours. This book begins in Afghanistan in 2001 with a family fleeing across the border to Pakistan to then travel on to America. During the dramatic escape, six year old Mariam is left behind and her family is all tortured by their guilt and their extreme sadness at not being able to locate her from their new home in the U.S. Fadi, Mariam’s older brother hears about a photography contest that comes with a winner’s prize of a plane ticket to India. He becomes convinced that he can win and get back to Pakistan to rescue his younger sister. Meanwhile, the events of 9/11 happen and the family has to deal with racism, prejudice and attacks on their neighbours while they continue to grieve for their missing daughter. A book that speaks to the strength of family and of the faith of the Afghan people in a peace yet to come. Highly recommended.

Tonight I begin the novel Beneath my Mother’s Feet written by Amjed Qamer.

Let’s talk!

Posted on November 2, 2012 by carriegelson

There is nothing more exciting for me than watching students really talk about their learning. I love the debate, the encouragement, the giggles, and the interrupting. I love watching one student really listen to another and then jump in to share ideas. These type of exchanges happen more and more during our morning reading group. Especially when we have informative non-fiction texts in hand!

This week I pulled out a selection of non-fiction titles from the Ready to Read series including Dangerous Dinos, Slithering Snakes, Sharks and Bugs. All written by Sarah Creese. (I purchased these titles through Scholastic)

Students were asked to read the book aloud with their partner and to note down cool facts they learned and list any questions they had as they read. We had done this in two small groups (led by me and my teaching partner) the week before so the students were familiar with this process. Today though, they were in charge of the way this process would roll out.

Students took turns reading the text aloud. Some pairs wrote questions and facts as they read. Others read and then came back to the text for a second read through.

The rich discussions came out of deciding what questions were important and which facts should be noted down. Two boys reading about dinosaurs couldn’t stop laughing about one sentence that stated that a T-Rex had such short little arms that it couldn’t touch its nose. They included this as a cool fact and then went on to write a question about what use T-Rex’s short little arms had.

There was a lot of “Listen to this!” “Should we write that?” “Did you know . . . ?” I also heard “Look for the page that says . . .” “Can you read that again?” Lots of rereading and checking for understanding.

Many went on to add pictures to their chart paper. As they drew, the talking continued, using the vocabulary that they had just been reading about. “Look I’m drawing a shark swimming in the shallows.” “Do you think these scales look real?” “I made the sharks jaws open so we could see the rows of teeth.”

Question lists were interesting and gave me a basis to start conversations with each group.

The best thing about this activity? Lots of discussion, reading and writing all managed by the students themselves. My role was to circulate and enjoy the conversations I joined and to do a little learning too! (Did you know some snakes can eat an entire deer? Eew!)

The Monsters’ Monster

Posted on November 2, 2012 by carriegelson

We were so pleased to welcome our long time BLG reader, Bill back on Halloween day! He bravely sat amongst the dragons, dinosaurs, witches and other creatures and read us the very entertaining book The Monsters’ Monster by Patrick McDonnell.

The main characters of this story are wanna be monsters who celebrate crashing and bashing, huffing and puffing and the shouting of the word, “NO!” They spend endless days arguing over who is the biggest and baddest amongst them. I must admit I think they are all quite charming and adorable, but thank goodness they don’t know that. Students also did quite a bit of tittering at their antics. Finally, Grouch, Grump and little Gloom ‘n’ Doom decide that they will together make the most terrible of all monsters. They fashion him out of various things including tacks, staples, gauze, gunk and a smelly old shoe. And then they hoist this monster creation into the stormy sky where he gets hit by a lightning bolt!

Bill is a fantastic reader and on the lightening bolt page he used a dramatic pause followed by a surprising boom and crash. There were some jumpers in the audience. “I wasn’t scared,” announced the child that jumped the most. Of course not. 🙂

This monster, newly alive, is big and has a deep booming voice. He is everything these little “monsters” could ever have hoped for when they schemed him up. The only thing is that this big, bad monster is actually sweet, polite and charming. Instead of wanting to terrorize villagers, he wants to appreciate the fresh air and express his gratitude for life.

But even though, this big monster seems a disappointment to the little monsters three, he ends up offering them some positive inspiration. And . . . freshly baked jelly donuts.

McDonnell charms us all with this story and the children loved chatting about who their favourite monster actually was in the story. A book that will be read often and cherished in our library!

Student reviewer’s report:

Andrew: My favourite part is when the lightning hit the Monster and went BAM! The monster came alive. The monster will be bad? I wonder does the monster like light?

Kelvin: My favourite part was the hoist cause it looks awesome! They created a monster, it was a big monster. I will create my own monster. A vampire!

Gorgeous Pumpkin Patch

Posted on November 1, 2012 by carriegelson

I love Halloween art but I don’t love that it looks outdated November 1st. When I saw these starlit pumpkins on the blog Deep Space Sparkle, I knew I had found the perfect art activity for the short lived Halloween season that could extend as a beautiful fall display.

This was a fun two day project. The highlights? The mixing of paint right on the page and the smudging of chalk pastel. The muckier one gets one’s hands, the better it seems to be!

I give full credit to the step by step instructions on Deep Space Sparkle for allowing my class to have such fun and such success with this project! Here are our step by step instructions with photographs.

Step 1: Draw pumpkins and leaves (using black oil pastel) on a large construction weight light coloured paper. Hint: draw an oval first and lines that extend from that. We had a “live” pumpkin in the room to examine for interesting stem shapes and textures and to feel the ridges.

Step 2: Students received brushes and paint colours (yellow, orange, blue) and created orange pumpkins and green leaves by mixing colours wet on wet while painting. Well, you can imagine how exciting it was to have yellow and red turn to orange and blue topped with yellow to transform into green. This was magic in the making!

Add some yellow paint . . .

Top it with red and blend into . . . orange!

Blue and yellow really do make green! And everyone got different shades 🙂

Step 3: On Day 2, cut out pumpkins and leaves and then glue to black paper.

Step 4: We handed each child a brown, green and white piece of chalk pastel. They started by colouring in the stems and adding white highlights to the pumpkin. Using the green, students drew vines and added highlights to their leaves.

Step 5: Draw a full moon and stars with the white chalk. Smudge your moon to give a hazy effect (fun part!)

Then admire your work! And show it off! (Even if it is bigger than you!)

These were lovely calm projects to do on Halloween afternoon before spooky stories and Halloween centres!

Happy Halloween! (And for November – art that can still stay up on the walls!)

Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth

Posted on October 31, 2012 by carriegelson

Deborah has returned as one of our beloved BLG readers! This week she shared Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth with us. This informative little book was written by Amy MacDonald and illustrated by Sarah Fox-Davies.

Little Beaver is very upset. He won’t even come out to play with his friends. The source of his worries? One of his big front teeth was loose. If it fell out, would he still be a beaver?

He stared at his reflection for a long time and then it came to him. Maybe he wasn’t a beaver at all! Perhaps he was a woodchuck! He went to find woodchuck to ask. Woodchuck explained that he could not be a woodchuck because he lived in a mud house not a hole. Well Little Beaver knew that muskrats lived in mud houses, so maybe he was a muskrat. But Muskrat explained that muskrats eat fish. Beaver ate bark. He couldn’t be a muskrat. So maybe he was a porcupine! Porcupines eat bark!

Well! This was quite alarming to the students! “No way!” “He has no spikes!” “What!?” One student knew prcupine’s answer, “Porcupines live in trees!” Poor Little Beaver was quite confused. He decided to ask Wise Old Beaver. Wise Old Beaver lived in a mud house the text read. This line prompted a big debate.

“He doesn’t live in mud, he lives in sticks.”

“No, it’s a den.”

“Bears live in dens. He isn’t a bear.”

Finally Deborah was able to read on about the discussion Little Beaver had with Wise Old Beaver about why he could not be any of the other animals that he had visited. Wise Old Beaver tells Little Beaver some interesting facts about beaver teeth and Little Beaver realizes that he might be young and foolish, but . . . he is definitely a beaver!

Students enjoyed learning about the other animals in this story and joined in with parts where information repeated. This was Deborah’s first book with us of the 2012/2013 year. She handled our eager and active listeners very well, taking all comments and questions in stride! My favourite?

Student: “What if the beaver doesn’t have a reflection? Because if he doesn’t then he is a vampire.”

Deborah: “Oh, I never knew that.”

Student reviewers report:

Kelvin: My favourite part was the mud house because it have protection. I think if I was the beaver, I will pull my tooth.

Andrew: I like when he ask the porcupine. He asked Wise Old Beaver.Old Beaver told him his tooth will grow back. I think Wise Old Beaver was right. But when does Little Beaver’s tooth grow back?

Monday October 29th, 2012

Posted on October 29, 2012 by carriegelson

It’s Monday! What are you reading? Join in with Kellee and Jen’s meme and share all the pages you have been turning in the past week in picture books through to young adult reads!

Fantastic Read alouds this week:

Too Tall Houses by Gianna Marino This is probably my favourite discovery of the week, I read this at our primary gathering to fifty plus little listeners and we were all delighted with it. The pictures are stunning and do things that illustrations typically don’t do like . . . suggest that they are leaving the Earth. Amazing. And fun to twist and turn the book around to see what is happening. Owl and Rabbit live next to each other atop a hill. Rabbit enjoys the sun to grow fresh vegetables. Owl likes the view to watch the forest. When rabbit’s vegetables begin to obstruct Owl’s view, their relationship gets inconsiderate and competitive as they race to build their houses ever taller than the other. Eventually they discover that when alone, they have nothing but together . . . Well read and find out but I bet you get the idea 🙂 Highly recommended!

The Runaway Pumpkin written by Kevin Lewis and illustrated by S.D. Schindler This was one of my leading up to Halloween reads. It isn’t new for me but I haven’t read it to a class for quite a few years. I love the rhythm of the story and can’t read it aloud without tapping my feet and getting very hungry for all of the imagined pumpkin treats that Granny might bake!

The Teeny Tiny Ghost written by Kay Winters and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger Another Halloween read with some great repetitive language for a “join in” feel to the read aloud. We also had an active discussion about whether it was possible for ghosts to really be scared. Since I don’t know any ghosts. . .

Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth written by Sarah Fox and illustrated bySarah Fox-Davies The class really enjoyed this book read by our BLG reading volunteer this week. I will be sharing the student’s reactions on the blog this week. Poor little beaver has a loose tooth and begins to doubt he really is a beaver because isn’t it those big teeth that make a beaver a beaver? As he searches for his answer we meet many other forest animals. Adorable.

Other picture books I enjoyed this week:

Don’t Worry Bear by Greg Foley Bear worries as caterpillar builds a cocoon. He worries at night, in the wind, in the rain and when it snows. He especially worries when caterpillar seems to be gone. But a beautiful silk moth flutters by and lets Bear know that his friend is right there with him. Simple text and illustrations leave lots of room for questions and discussion.

The Butterfly House by Eve Bunting, illustrations by Greg Shed. I love the lyrical text and the glowing illustrations in this book. Most of all I love how it asks us to mix up science and what seems to be magic, to suspend our disbelief and trust that a butterflies’ migratory instinct might extend to an individual person. As I love to plant flowers in my garden that are supposed to attract butterflies, I am very intrigued by the suggestions in this story. Every time a monarch lands on a flower, I believe in magic and wonder and the beauty of nature. This book celebrates just that. Now I want my own copy!

And speaking of magic . . .

I finished The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater This is definitely a young adult read. This book was so full of magic and mystery, I kind of believe that it conjured up a bad flu to send me to bed to make sure I would have hours to just read and fall into the world of prophecy, desperate searches for magic, a place of real and unreal and twists and turns every few pages. And the characters. . . Wow. So happy this is a trilogy so I don’t have to say goodbye to these characters yet. Adding myself to the impatient group waiting for Book 2.