About carriegelson

Elementary teacher passionate about all things literacy.

An Egg is Quiet and so Much More

Posted on January 16, 2012 by carriegelson

We are studying birds but I am very mindful of student interest as we decide on what to learn more about. Last week we read a book about birds and their nests and students were fascinated by the stunning blue of a robin’s egg. Most students wrote about it when asked to write about something new they had learned. So. . . I decided that Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long‘s exquisite book An Egg is Quiet was a must read.

Students were fascinated to learn many new things about eggs – including that many creatures hatch out of an egg, not just birds (reptiles, insects, fish, etc). Sylvia Long’s gorgeous illustrations had everyone mesmerized. With many pages we just gazed at the pictures and chatted to our neighbour about our observations and questions. Sharing was fascinating and we all learned to look at eggs a little differently from each other.

Colours, specks, stripes! Eggs can be so different! We saw eggs that looked like chocolate (a paradise riflebird), eggs that looked like they were covered with sand (a scarlet tanager), eggs that shone (Atlantic salmon) & eggs that looked to be entwined in vines (a common murre). Then . . . fossilized eggs and tubular eggs and eggs that are perfectly round (Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle).

After sharing the book together, students completed a modified sheet from Adrienne Gear‘s Reading Power Non-Fiction book: connecting new learning to what they already knew (New-Knew Connections)

This is Catriona‘s completed sheet:

Carmen shared what she already knew.

Markus shared his new learning:

What I love about this activity is that sharing on the Knew/New sheet allows students to honour prior knowledge, acknowledge new knowledge and start from anywhere. There are no right answers or essential facts – just a sharing of a knowledge base being extended. We spent over an hour with this book and doing our writing and everyone was very engaged. Later, I saw students reading the sheets posted up on the bulletin board and talking about what other students had chosen to highlight. An exciting afternoon learning about how unique, beautiful and fascinating eggs can be!

A wall of learning shared!

Calvin Can’t Fly

Posted on January 15, 2012 by carriegelson

Our BLG reader this week was Maria. She read the charming Calvin Can’t Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie – written by Jennifer Berne and illustrated by Keith Bendis.

Calvin is a little black starling who is born with a passion for . . . books! He immerses himself into the world of adventures, legends, space, and drama. Places that he could never travel to in flight. And, there was one other small problem when it came to flying: having spent so much time with his “beak in a book,” Calvin actually had never learned to fly! When the group of little starlings were working on swooping and hovering and flying, Calvin was at the library! His starling cousins were not very understanding – he was called a “nerdy birdie,” a “geeky beaky” and a “bookworm.” Being a bird, Calvin took special offence at being called a worm!

When it was time to head south, Calvin was grounded. His flock was not about to abandon him however and he was carried along literally (by strings around his middle) on the starlings’ journey south. On route, Calvin saved the flock with his knowledge about hurricanes derived from a book about weather. In his excitement while celebrating his life saving heroics, Calvin begins to jump and hop and flap. And . . . yep, you guessed it! Calvin began to fly!

We love how reading and literacy are celebrated and that knowledge turns out to be the hero!

Ermines? Huh? What are they?

Posted on January 15, 2012 by carriegelson

Our reading group has continued to work on interacting with non-fiction text, making meaning together and determining importance. What this means? Talking, listening, sharing ideas, extending a thought, making and defending a position, and did we mention talking and listening? Because those things turn out to be the most important and most challenging skills we are working on!

Today our task looked like this:

Step 1: List what we can predict about an ermine (Huh? A what? We had no idea what an ermine was!!) based on the limited information Ms. Gelson gave us: 1. Their fur is different colours depending on the time of year 2. They have very sharp claws 3. They live in the northern parts of the world.

The interesting thing about the discussion from the group that produced this chart above was their debate on whether or not questions could be predictions. In the end, it was decided that yes they could because they were linked to what information we were going to find out and made us want to read more. We were going to verify both predictions and answers to questions. Great thinking!

Step 2: Read the article in Chickadee Magazine about Ermines together

A chart we made together to help us determine what might be important when learning about a living thing

Step 3: Keeping in mind the chart we created (see above) decide on what are the 5 most important facts about ermines your group wants to include on your chart.

Important facts about Ermines

Not all groups included the same facts but all groups used the chart we made to help them make decisions.

Another list of 5 important facts

At this point, this task does require some guidance from adults (Thanks to my patient and encouraging volunteers Miles and Nicole!) but our role is always listening, reflecting back what we hear and refocussing the group. Students are making excellent progress on developing these skills! We just started on activities like this in late December. We are well on our way!

As a teacher, what I love about these sessions, is that it is students interacting with text and each other to determine what is important.

Little Black Crow

Posted on January 11, 2012 by carriegelson

We were very inspired by the gentle repetitive text and muted art in Chris Raschka‘s book Little Black Crow. This book begins with the question Little Black Crow, Where do you Go? and goes on to ask 26 more questions all inspired by the wondering of a little boy who spies a crow up in the sky. Simple, engaging, lovely to read again and again.

We took pencil to paper and practiced making crows in Raschka’s style and went on to create art pieces and added our own “mini poems” also borrowed from Rashka’s style of wondering verse. Finished pieces look gorgeous.

Below is Sergio‘s poem.

Some students, like Khai, chose to use bright colours as a background.

Others were inspired by the paler colour scheme Raschka used in his book.

Truman really captured the loose lines that come together to create a charming crow in Raschka’s style.

Those Shoes

Posted on January 10, 2012 by carriegelson

We have started reading and discussing picture books with a theme of kindness. Those Shoes written by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones was an ideal book with which to start.

This book helped us to explore the difference between our needs and our wants and how to come to terms with the understanding that sometimes we have to give up something we really want when it just doesn’t make sense despite our strong feelings. Jeremy wants those shoes –the shoes he sees advertised on a billboard and walking around him everywhere he looks. Black high tops with two white stripes. Perfection. He wants them especially a lot when his own shoes wear out and the guidance counsellor roots around in a box to find him shoes that fit. Blue velcro shoes with a cartoon animal on the side. Nothing like those shoes he dreams about. Shoes he needs but doesn’t want.

Grandma invites Jeremy to go check out the shoes, those shoes, at the store. She has a little bit of money set aside. But at the store, she discovers the price.

When she sees it, she sits down heavy.

Silence in our class. Students had just commented how kind Grandma was being to take Jeremy shopping for the shoes he really wanted. Now what? I asked, “Can we only show kindness if we have money to buy something?” Well no, of course not but we all had to sit there and feel Jeremy’s disappointment for a while. What next? Jeremy suggests they go looking in the thrift stores for those shoes and in Lucky Store # 3, he finds them. However, squished toes and held breath tell us that these shoes are too small. Still Jeremy buys them because he wants them that much.

Jeremy’s new shoes are unbearable and unwearable. One day he notices a classmate’s shoes are taped up – worn out. Antonio seems to have smaller feet than him. The thought that he might have in his possession shoes that could fit Antonio, those shoes, eats at Jeremy.

I’m not going to do it.

He repeats this thought in his head and out loud. No way. No how. But after a sleepless night, Jeremy runs his shoes, those shoes over to Antonio’s door and leaves them there for him. Jeremy is not fully happy – when he looks down at his own blue shoes that aren’t those shoes he feels upset but Antonio’s face brings him joy.

“He gave up those shoes from the kindness of his heart,” commented Shae-Lynn.

“And he’ll get kindness back,” said Catriona.

Jeremy learned a lot in this book. Sometimes kindness wins but it isn’t completely easy. Our emotions can be mixed. Sometimes we learn that when we have what we need (new snowboots thanks to Grandma) we can appreciate other things (a new snow day). Sometimes our wants bring us unhappiness and giving them up is where we grow. Sometimes kindness is simply giving other people what they need. So much to discuss in this gem of a picture book.

Some snippets of written responses:

Truman: Jeremy gave kindness to Antonio by giving his too small shoes to Antonio.

Khai: Jeremy saw Antonio’s shoes and they were broken. Jeremy wondered and wondered and went to Antonio’s house and left the shoes on the porch. Jeremy did it even though he got nothing back.

Markus: The Grandma was nice in the story. She tried to get shoes for her grandson.

Purity: Jeremy gave the shoes to Antonio even though he really liked them. They didn’t fit Jeremy so he gave them to Antonio because Antonio needed them.

Viorst and Smith bring much needed humour to our January!

Posted on January 7, 2012 by carriegelson

Our latest read aloud is Lulu and The Brontosaurus written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Lane Smith.

Why I know we are going to love this book?

# 1 I read it to my own children and it was a huge success Read my review here.

#2 Throw yourself on the floor tantrums, calling Lulu a pain in the . . . butt, snake squeezing, tiger taming What more could you ask for?

#3 There is a very catchy song repeated throughout:

I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, gonna get A bronto-bronto-bronto Brontosaurua for a pet. I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, gonna get A bronto-bronto-bronto Brontosaurua for a pet.

#4 Judith Viorst!

#5 Lane Smith!

Enough said, but in case you are not an absolute fan of either Viorst or Smith, let me help you out . . .

Who doesn’t love Viorst‘s Alexander’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day?

A book that is such a classic to teach connecting because it is so appealing and comforting for those of us that have days that could just be better.

I just read Lane Smith‘s Grandpa Green today.What an exquisite book!

The simple colour scheme – lush greens, black and white and speckled this and that hinted at here and there . . . Honouring gardens, a lifetime of memories shared across generations. Read and savour.

Three by the Sea

Posted on January 6, 2012 by carriegelson

Our BLG reader this week was Bill. He brought us a quirky little book by author/illustrator Mini Grey called Three by the Sea.

We were intrigued by this book but it left us a little puzzled. The consensus was that it needed further exploring, maybe even another read out loud session but that we definitely like this story. But perhaps like Mouse’s fancy cheeses, this book gets better with age (or read agains!). I took this book home and shared it with my own children and same phenomenon. We read it, discussed it and then my daughter took it off to her room to read it again and examine the pictures in more detail. This book definitely needs to be given time and we are excited that it has come into our classroom! Thanks BLG!

Three friends, Cat, Mouse and Dog live in a beach hut by the sea. Happily residing together? Perhaps not. When a stranger arrives bringing mystery and gifts from the Winds of Change Trading Company, everything begins to change. The stranger plants little seeds of doubt with each friend. He asks Mouse if he approves of Dog’s gardening style. Only planting bones? What about flowers, vegetables, herbs? He questions Cat’s dedication to cleaning and Mouse’s ability to cook with variety. Soon the animals are all miserable with each other – full of criticism, accusations, doubt . . . A desperate event pulls the friends back together and when they return home, the Stranger is gone leaving behind a note and packets of seeds. Life is changed in the beach hut by the sea. The animals continue their duties: gardening, cleaning, cooking but now they share these tasks and more happiness and a faint scent of herbs fill the air.

So did this stranger bring peace or turmoil? Was he an agent of change or were his intentions less than positive? Read this book a time or two and decide for yourself.

If you become an instant fan of Mini Grey, as I did, read more about her books here.

I also found this lovely tour of the Mini Grey Universe in The Guardian’s Children’s Books.

Everything in words

Posted on January 5, 2012 by carriegelson

Words, words, words. So much of school is words. Directions, instructions, conclusions, questions . . . Sometimes it is lovely to just celebrate word play. This January we are eeking out small moments to savour the poetry of Shel Silverstein and his poems in the book Every Thing on It.

There is simplicity in the complicated and quirky nature of verse. And these poems allow for some small moments of smiles, wonder and reflection. With Silverstein’s words, we can just sit back and absorb. Take a break from our words to enjoy his. Lovely.

Dusted off treasures

Posted on January 1, 2012 by carriegelson

When I think about the tangible things I value, books top the list hands down. My whole house can be disorganized, but my books never are. I consider books to be treasures. They each have a story, an experience and many memories attached. I looked through my picture books last night and selected ten little treasures to dust off and share. These are some of many books that line my family book shelf that I adore – books that often have sat there for quite some time and bring inevitable joy in being reread and shared. Nobody loves new books more than me, but this is about honouring beautiful books that have been with me for some time. Their stories tell mine.

Ten treasures that line my shelves: (in no particular order)

The Tale of Urso Brunov written by Brian Jacques and illustrated by Alexi Natchev

This book was a gift from me to my son about four years ago when he was 5 years old and ready for the longer picture book. Urso Brunov is the Little Father of All Bears, a Brunov Bear only the size of your thumb but wiser and stronger than all living creatures. During the time of the long winter sleep, four tiny bears go missing and it is up to Urso Brunov to find them and bring them home. Such a dramatic and beautiful adventure story full of clever heroics.

Hunwick’s Egg written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Pamela Lofts

When my children were toddlers and we lived in the land of picture books, Mem Fox was easily one of our very favourite authors. We read many of her books countless times. Hunwick’s Egg came into our lives later than other of Fox’s stories. We were already expert on many of her captivating Australian animals and fell hard for Hunwick, the little bandicoot who happened upon a very curious egg and fell quickly in love. Hunwick’s egg never hatched although it provided him with companionship, faith and an important secret. Yes, he realized his egg was not an egg at all but a perfectly shaped stone and he loved it all the more. This book is beyond endearing and my heart lifts just pulling it off the shelf.

Oscar and Hoo written by Theo and illustrated by Michael Dudok De Wit

Oscar and Hoo was sent to us by a dear friend who frequently gifts us with beautiful books. This is a book of comfort about a little boy Oscar who gets lost and is befriended by a lone little cloud Hoo who has also lost his flock. These two lone creatures tell stories, share dreams and give new meaning to the phrase “head in the clouds.”

The Cozy Book written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Betty Fraser

I discovered this lovely book of verse about all things cozy at the public library and swiftly special ordered multiple copies – one for us and many to gift as this book is the perfect gift for anyone who has the honour to snuggle into a cozy corner and read to a child. Beautiful illustrations by Betty Fraser take me back to a simpler time of childhood. Relish in all that is cozy by the rhyming master Mary Ann Hoberman:

Calm Unhurried Smooth Unworried

Fine and dandy tried and true

Lovey-dovey Hunky-dory

Cozy feelings Felt by you.

Plantpet written and illustrated by Elise Primavera

This book came into my life when my husband to be scoured old book stores and discovered treasures, purchased them for me and hid them in funny places – under my pillow, in the bathtub, in the oven. This book has been mine for many years and I still delight in sharing it or just savouring it all for myself. Bertie lives all on his own in a junkyard up on a hill. He discovers Plantpet in a cage and vows to care for it. What he thought was a plant confuses him – is it a pet? It walks and digs and grows. What Plantpet does most though is tend to the long-neglected junk yard garden. But when Plantpet’s digging seems to have no end, Bertie banishes him to a corner of the yard and soon finds himself all alone. When he recognizes how much he misses his friend, Bertie races to find him only to discover a withered little green being. The two revive their friendship in the most beautiful of ways.

Our King has Horns! written by Richard Pevear and illustrated by Robert Rayevsky

This book also came into my life back in the days of the hidden books around my apartment by my husband to be that realized he was always going to have to compete with my love of books! How I have loved this book based on an old Georgian folktale. It has found its way into many read aloud situations with various children over the years and nobody ever tires of this very relevant story about the persistent nature of truth. What happens when we are forced to keep secrets too dramatic to hold? Is there freedom in revealing the truth? Such a clever story.

The Bear Under the Stairs written and illustrated by Helen Cooper

Poor little William thought he saw a bear under the stairs. Don’t bears want to eat boys for lunch? Not if they are well fed deduces William and places many food offerings in the space under the stairs where the bear resided. William’s Mom soon sniffs out the smell wafting sourly from under the stairs and together she and William brace themselves to battle that scary bear. But all that they find is an old furry rug and a broken chair. No scary bear. This book was big in our lives when sleep was frequently disturbed by upsetting nightmares and we read and reread it, finding solace in its honouring of the scary places of dark and shadows.

The Three Golden Keys written and illustrated by Peter Sis

Peter Sis brings the legend and magic of his childhood home alive in this story set in Prague. A man in a hot air balloon is blown off course and finds himself in the city of his childhood. But his old house is dark and there are three rusty padlocks on the door. Can he find the lost keys to let him in? We join in with his search through Prague’s beautiful streets and buildings. Steeped in magic, history and wonder, this book leads us through time and mystery. This book was gifted to me by friends who knew I treasure my time teaching in what was then the country of Czechoslovakia and that Prague holds a special place in my heart and memory – part real, part magic still.

Waiting for Gregory written by Kimberly Willis Holt and illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska

This book was a gift from me to my husband when our children were small. It captures the wonder of a child waiting for the arrival of a baby cousin – when will that baby come to be and how long can she possibly wait? She states: “Waiting for a baby is like waiting for a show to begin.” So much to anticipate and waiting and waiting and waiting. A beautiful book – the prose and the paintings both thoughtful and gorgeous. Because we waited first long and then anxiously for our babies, this book has significant meaning in our world.

The Hello, Goodbye Window written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Chris Raschka

This book has special meaning to me. I grew up with grandparents far away and my children have been blessed with grandparents, two sets even, close at hand and very involved. This book celebrates the unique bond of grandparent and child told in quirky observations and Raschka’s joyous full colour stories that explode off the page. Childhood simplicity. Intergenerational love. Gardens. “Oh Susannah.” Oatmeal and raisins. Peek-a-boo. And the wonderful line that we still repeat in our house, “Hello, World! What have you got for us today?” Love to love this book.

Books are treasures. Treasures to be shared.

Enjoyment guaranteed

Posted on December 30, 2011 by carriegelson

I love picking up a book at the library by an author/illustrator I know and love. Based on past interactions with the artist’s books, enjoyment is pretty much guaranteed. It’s like knowing you will love a wrapped present before opening it. It is all about settling into the book and preparing to be pleased. These three books I just found at the public library yesterday prove my point.

Wolf Won’t Bite by Emily Gravett

Three pesky (and very well dressed) pigs have captured a wild wolf! And no matter what they do to him: dress him in bows, make him dance a jig, shoot him through the air (yes, in a cannon!) he just won’t bite. Aren’t they clever? Aren’t they brilliant? Aren’t they trusting? But if it all seems a little farfetched . . . (poor wolf reminds me of the dog I had when I was 5 years old who loved to play dress up with me 🙂 Not! ) Well, let’s just say in the end, the pigs need to more than clever and brilliant. They need to be fast! There is a chase, and it doesn’t take much to guess who is chasing who!

You’re Finally Here by Melanie Watt

I love how this book celebrates the relationship between reader and character and the interactions between the two. A book is nothing without its reader and the reader nothing without books. Oh how we depend on each other! Melanie Watt knows how to make us laugh out loud, snicker knowingly and read and reread because her books withstand multiple readings and just become more fun! Yes, little rabbit we are happy to be your readers and yes, you certainly entertained us! Are you sticking around or what?

Caramba and Henry by Marie Louise Gay

Be careful what you wish for Caramba. Little brothers of your dreams are very different from little brothers of reality. Dream little brothers cooperate, participate and share secrets. Real little brothers named Henry yell and howl and . . . maybe, fly? Caramba is the only cat that can’t fly and now that Henry is here and learning to do something that Caramba wants to do desperately, how could it be any worse? Yet, Caramba realizes that to be happy Henry needs to fly and in a very BIG big brotherly fashion, Caramba encourages Henry to learn this important skill. Caramba and Henry build their sibling relationship through trials, tribulations, encouragement and love.