Tag Archives: fiction

The Ice Bear

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This past week, Bill read us The Ice Bear by Jackie Morris. The illustrations in this book beg to be looked at over and over. Absolutely gorgeous! When Bill showed the first picture there was a collective “Whoa!’ and Hajhare exclaimed, “Now that’s what you call Art!”

This book begins with a mother polar bear and her two cubs. They snuggle close to keep out the icy cold. Then trickster raven steals one cub and leaves him in a bundle of white fur for a hunter to find. When the hunter unwraps the bundle, he and his wife discover a baby boy. They were a childless couple who had longed for a baby and they treasured this child, a gift found in the snow. Raven always kept a close watch from above. At the end of the boy’s seventh year, he was lured away from home by a trail of shining amber in the snow. He thought the amber pieces were fallen stars and followed them until he was lost and alone. He was discovered by a group of polar bears who carried him to the mother bear who had once lost a cub. This boy was her stolen son. The curious idea of the boy/bear appealed to the students and they were hard pressed to think of where this boy should truly belong. A loved little boy with his heart pulled in two directions. In the end, he makes a decision that seems exactly right. Jackie Morris pulled us into this magical Arctic world – what a beautiful journey.

Student reviewers report:

Annie: It was sad when the baby bear got caught by the raven.

Hajhare: I like this book because it is interesting. This book is great! I like it because it is one of those books that are fantasy. I like fantasy books because they always have beautiful pictures.

Josiah: I liked this book and it was kind of an Aboriginal story. It was cool how the polar bear turned to a boy.

Scott: I have a question. How did the bear turn to a human? This book is the best. I love the drawings.

So Many Days

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Sometimes I read a book and I don’t know what to do. Sigh and savour? Read it again instantly? Pack it into my school bag to share? Just stop and think . . .?

So Many Days by Alison McGhee and illustrated by Taeeun Yoo is exactly that book.

I want to read it again. But I might cry. Or maybe not. Maybe I will just smile. This book is all about potential. Possibilities. Choosing a path and following it. Being loved. Succeeding. Falling flat. Who will you be and where will you go?

I found this book at the library. But I think I need to own it. A book to give as a gift. To someone graduating from something. Someone on the eve of parenthood. Someone who needs to be reminded: You are loved more than you know.

Lovely.

Argus

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Maria, our BLG reader this week, brought in Argus written by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Andrea Wesson. When Maria sat down, holding the book to her, students spied the back cover and started oooing and oh, oh, oh – ing! They had spotted a picture of 3 little chicks crawling around a classroom floor. “Maria we have chicks! 3 of them! Just like the picture!”

This is a story about Sally and her charge, a “little” egg that was supposed to be a fluffy little chick but turns out to be a green scaly dragon. Right from the beginning when Mrs. Henshaw hands out eggs to all of the children to begin their science projects, Sally’s egg looks different. The children kept the eggs in their desk top incubators. Little beaks begin to poke through the cracked shells. But Sally’s egg splits open to reveal a scaly green back. Mrs. Henshaw keeps assuring Sally that some chicks look a little different but Sally wasn’t so sure. She tries to go along with it, names her “chick” Argus and begins to document his growth and development in graphs and pictures just like all of the other children. Our students kept grinning big knowing smiles – they had also weighed and measured and charted our little chickens and their growth. So much connecting!

Sally needs to be an active guardian of Argus. The other chicks peck for seeds or beetles and Argus tries to eat the other chicks! This behaviour ended when he grew bigger and attempted to eat the children instead! Sally worries that her “chick” is not working out. She is envious of the others who can pet the heads of their little chicks. She can’t even reach Argus’ head unless he is lying down. Then Argus goes missing. Sally panicked and then stopped herself. Wasn’t this a good thing maybe? Now she could share another chick and stop being so different. She should be happy, she thought. But happiness never reahed her. Sadness did. And worry. And anxiety. Where could Argus be? Ricky suggested he might have gone to a meat store! Soon Sally could contain her emotions no longer and her classmates help her search for Argus.

This story has a very lovely ending and the students were glued to the final few pages. Then somebody looked over at our little chicks who were snuggled together in their brooder, asleep. “It’s a bedtime story for the chicks!”

A wonderful story about accepting diversity and celebrating friendship even with things big and green.

Our student reviewers report:

Scott: I have a connection when we have three chicks just like the book. I like this book because I really like the dragon.

Jena: I like this book because Sally lost Argus which is a dragon. But everybody else had chickens. When Argus is gone, Sally thinks she will share a chicken. But really she misses Argus.

Alyson: I like this book because it was funny and sad. It was the best book ever!

Hajhare: I like this book. It connects to this book called Clifford where a girl loses her huge dog and her friends help her find it. I like this book because it’s about chicks and we have chicks!

Eddy: Why did the teacher think Argus the dragon was a chick?

Josiah: I like BLG. No!! I LOVE them. I liked Argus and I felt sad for him because he didn’t fit in with the chicks. How can he eat a whole block of grass?

The Lion’s Share

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One of our read aloud stories this week was The Lion’s Share – A Tale of Halving Cake and Eating it, too written and illustrated by Matthew McElligott

A little ant is invited to a special dinner hosted by lion and she wants to make a great impression. She is appalled by the manners and behaviour of the other guests who all arrived late and ate their way sloppily through the meal. After dinner, lion brings out a large iced cake and tells his guests to help themselves.

Students were suspicious. “He is just going to fatten them up and then he’ll eat them all,” suggested Jeremiah. Ricky agreed but added, “He will need a pack to bring down that elephant!”

The animals each took half of the cake and passed it on. The pieces became smaller and smaller (1/2 became 1/4 then 1/8 etc.) until the ant received her piece and crumbled it while attempting to slice the tiny sliver into two. The animals all appeared offended, accusing the ant of not sharing. The ant, wanting to make up for her supposed transgression, offered to bake a special cake for the lion. Well . . . none of the other animals wanted to be outdone by the ant and begin to promise cakes as well – each offering to bake twice as many as the last offer.

“Wow! This is like math!” exclaimed Jenny as students began doubling the numbers to predict what the next offer would be. After each animal had made his or her offer, we added all of the promised cakes together using a variety of addition strategies. 511 cakes! (1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 128 + 256)

“Why was each animal promising to bake twice as many?” someone asked. (It’s great when students get to use math vocabulary in a meaningful context as it is often the language and not the operations which throw them with word problems)

Students answered. “To show off.” “To beat the others.” “They are competing.”

“But the ant was just calm.” said Scott.

“The rest rushed it and the ant’s cake was the best.” observed Kevin.

“The ant wanted to make it special but the rest were competing.” Jena agreed. We had a great conversation about quality vs. quantity.

Then the math thinking just began to flow. Alyson noted, “511 cakes would take more than a year to eat if you ate one cake a day.”

“But less than 2 years,” said Ricky. “Because if you double 365 and you get 300 and 300 – that’s 600 so you already know it is more than 511.”

A lovely read aloud that led to some spontaneous math thinking. Fractions. Doubling. Addition. And some pointers on table manners! What could be better?

Highly recommended.


Sophie Simon Solves Them All

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Ms. Gelson is currently reading Sophie Simon Solves Them All, a novel by Lisa Graff. Illustrated by Jason Beene.

Our class has been quite intrigued by the character, Sophie Simon. Her parents absolutely do not understand her and keep calling her strange food names as terms of endearment. Her classmates who try to befriend her, baffle her. All she wants is an expensive ($100) graphing calculator and for everyone to leave her to her thick textbooks on calculus or civil disobedience. When her classmates, who are also hopelessly misunderstood by their parents, ask for her help, she agrees. She will help if they pay her – she really wants that graphing calculator. Her plan seems foolproof. One that will help everyone get what they want. But . . . things, as they often do, turn out a little differently.

Sophie’s plans involve a hilarious sit in at a ballet recital, an observant student journalist and a ring tailed lemur who (with Sophie’s help) destroys a birthday party (a poolside adventure involving diving boards, salt water taffy and grasshoppers).

Lots of laughing in this book. Especially at adults and their ridiculous ways. Sophie’s teacher, Mr. St. Cupid,  has more rules than you can possibly imagine and is constantly adding to his list. (No sighing! No reading books fatter than your head! No dropping three things at once!) Parents also come across as clueless. But when you are 6-9 years old (the intended audience of this book), this is pretty cool.

A short read. Perfect for June! But also perfect for students wanting a great book to kick off their summer reading. Themes of resourcefulness, teamwork and friendship.

Gunner, Football Hero

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Our BLG reader this week, Deborah, read us Gunner, Football Hero written and illustrated by James E. Ransome.

Gunner, Football Hero

A gorgeously illustrated story about an unlikely hero – rotund little Gunner with an amazing arm makes the cut for the football team – as third string quarterback. At first Gunner happily warms the bench but then, when injuries take out the first two quarterbacks on the team, Gunner gets to play! Does the game work out? Does his team win? Does it really matter? A book about sportsmanship, great attitudes and the twists and turns of team play. Read this little gem carefully – the ending might surprise you!

Our student reviewers report:

Josiah: I liked Gunner because when he wasn’t on for a while, he was still happy and he got two touch downs!

Kevin: Gunner loves football. He always played football at the field and he “leaved”very late!

The Raft

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This week we read The Raft by Jim LaMarche and practiced asking deep thinking questions vs. quick questions (inspired by Adrienne Gear‘s Reading Power). We know that a quick question is quick to ask and usually we find the answer in the text. With deep thinking questions, we are often inspired to ask new questions and our thinking goes on long after we have closed the book.

the raft

The Raft tells the story of Nicky who has come to spend the summer with his grandmother. He isn’t very eager to do this (bemoaning being away from television and any kids all summer) but it doesn’t take long before Nicky finds himself fascinated by his summer locale. A raft covered in leaves and branches floats up and bumps against the dock Nicky is fishing on. It is covered in drawings of animals and it completely captures Nicky’s imagination. Where did it come from? Who painted the animals? What does it mean? Soon he and his grandmother are spending lazy days poling down the river. An array of animals keep Nicky company – foxes following him along the shore, birds hitching a ride, a great blue heron snacking on crayfish. Nicky often takes the raft out alone and sketches all of the animals he sees. Somehow the raft seems to draw the creatures to him.

The students noticed the changes in Nicky.

Miami: “He’s been transformed. He was so grumpy when he came to his Grandma’s and now he’s not.”

Hajhare: “I think he was set up. Do you know what I mean Ms. Gelson? His Dad tricked him into liking his summer. His Dad knew he was going to like it all along.”

Finally,  Nicky adds his own animal to the raft for a very special reason. Students were lulled by the beauty and magic of this book and eagerly wrote down questions as I read.

I then gave the students a task: Choose 2-5 of your deep thinking questions and list them in your notebook. Choose one and try to answer it (You will need to infer)

Kevin put his hand up. “But I can’t just put 5. Each question leads to another question so I’ll need to write 10. I “inferenced” as I thought them so I included them when I did my writing.” (Yippee! Learning!)

Some samples of student thinking.

Jena: Are all of the drawings adventures of how people saved animals? Maybe yes and the raft was made and passed on from generation to generation.

Lisa: One of my questions before was that are the animals from the raft going to come alive. Maybe if Nicky visualizes, they will come alive to him.

Ricky: Who drew all of these animals on the raft? Why is Nicky’s Grandma called a river rat? Did she also save an animal on the river? Maybe a rat? Is Grandma part of nature?

At the end of the book, Scott sat back and said, “That book was awesome.” When I asked him why, Eddy piped up. “It’s really making me think thinking stuff.”

I think this should be our new measure of success when we judge a reading experience – did we think thinking stuff? Does book really inspire our thinking voice? The Raft did and then some. It left us talking with each other, following a question into an inference and going back into the story to try and find clues, having “but what if. . . ” discussions all around the room. A wonderful book.

Those Darn Squirrels and the Cat Next Door

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Bill, our BLG reader this week, brought in a very amusing book – Those Darn Squirrels and the Cat Next Door. This book is written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri who collaborated on an earlier title Those Darn Squirrels.

cat

 

This book starts out with Old Man Fookwire, a grumpy bird enthusiast who is sitting in his living room waiting for winter to pass so he can get out into his garden and paint the beautiful birds that visit his yard. He is harassed by a group of pesky, but extremely clever squirrels who sneak into his house, eat his food and generally annoy him. When a new neighbour moves in next door (Little Old Lady Hu) with her cat Muffins, it seems that things may change in the neighbourhood. Squirrels may be champions of the forest but perhaps in Muffins, they have met their match.

My confession? I’m rooting for the cat! Is that terrible? I was silently cheering when the squirrels got ambushed. I was more than amused when Muffins gave them wedgies (you need the illustration to understand the wrapped around and twisted tails) But, I have good reason. My backyard is inhabitated by a bunch of squirrels – they chase away birds, fight in my flowers and try heroic gymnastics to leap onto the bird-feeders and eat my expensive seed. I don’t like these squirrels.  At all.  So basically I don’t like squirrels in general. In this book, I was really hoping that Muffins would show them who was boss. But let’s just say that the squirrel brain power was more of a factor in this story than I had hoped it to be . . .

Adam Rubin tells a very funny tale (check out his interesting blog Tickling the Brain) and the illustrations by Salmieri are hilarious. Old Man Fookwire’s nose, a soggy Muffins the cat, squirrels with wedgies . . . Daniel Salmieri engages his viewers with clever details. The perfect book to read when you need to laugh a few times over.

Our student reviewers report:

Hajhare: I liked this book because it reminds me of Chester the Cat. This cat in this book is really funny!

**Hajhare is referring to Melanie Watt’s fictitious feline.

Alyson: I like the part when the cat got karma and H2O spilled on him.

Ricky: This was a very funny book. It made me laugh out loud in myself. Bill what made you read this book? I really liked it.

Kevin: There was karma in that book that Bill read because the cat always scared the squirrels away. One day they decided to make a plan to get rid of the cat. They used yarn and tied it on to the birds. They used really cold water and put it in a bucket and put it on three branches and tied it onto the bucket. The next day the cat came to the birds and scared them. The cold water spilled on the cat and the cat turned wet, soggy, skinny, scared and mad. The cat went home and never came back. I liked that book!

Rainbow Bird

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Sometimes, in a busy week, students will do some writing about a book we’ve read or an activity we’ve done and I don’t get a chance to read it that same day. When I open up the Response and Ideas books a few days later, I sometimes find absolute undiscovered treasures. The same feeling like when I find money in my pocket. It was there all along; I just hadn’t uncovered it. And when I do, wow! This writing has been hidden away in notebooks for a week and now must be shared!

Today, I began reading student responses to Rainbow Bird – An Aboriginal Folktale from Northern Australia by Eric Maddern and vibrantly illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway. Thank you to our Teacher Librarian, Ms. Sheperd-Dynes for recommending this title.

Rainbow Bird is a “pourquoi” tale explaining how humans acquired fire.

Long ago, Crocodile Man had fire and refused to share it with any of the other creatures. Bird Woman was able to trick Crocodile Man and steal fire from him. Proudly, she asserts, “Now I shall give Fire to the people.” She flew around the country putting fire into the heart of every tree. From this day onward, people could make fire using dry sticks and logs from a tree.

Students in our reading group loved this dramatic story and were eager to write and draw about it.

A few samples:

Gary is in Grade 2. His writing shows that he has learned to summarize stories using specific and descriptive language.

“Crocodile Man could blow fire. He said he is the boss of fire. The animals begged for fire but he won’t give them fire. Bird Woman asked Crocodile Man for fire but he still won’t give her fire. Then crocodile man went to sleep. Bird Woman took the fire and shared it. She put fire on herself and became Rainbow Bird. Now Crocodile Man is stuck in the swamp forever.”

Truman is a Grade 1 student who has delighted in learning idioms. These idioms snake their way into his writing and show that he understands their meaning very clearly. I laughed out loud reading this!

“Crocodile Man says he is the boss of fire. It was the time of dreams. Bird Woman is cold at night because she doesn’t have fire. One day, Crocodile Man was dog tired. Then Crocodile Man was green with envy because Bird Woman took his fire stick. Now Bird Woman is happy as a clam. She put fire in the heart of trees. Now Crocodile Man lives in the swamp forever. Bird Woman said, “If you come up here, you will die!”

Catriona is a confident thinker and writer in Grade 1. I love how she shares her predictions and questions in her response. It is evident that Catriona utilizes all of the reading powers when she reads or listens to a story.

“I predicted that Rainbow Bird would steal Crocodile Man’s fire and I was right. But Rainbow Bird wasn’t always Rainbow Bird. She used to be Bird Woman. I am still wondering if that story could be true if they took all the fiction out and replaced it with real life stuff. Then, where would Rainbow Bird put the fire?”

All such different responses to the same story shared together. I am delighted by them all!

Sunday Musings

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Sunday afternoons, for teachers, are often a bit of a place of limbo. It is still the weekend and there is time for relaxation and family but a little place in the back of our brains starts asking “What about Monday morning. . . ?” For me, part of the Sunday routine is often filling up my school bag with recent treasures from the library that I am excited to share with my students. Often there are more books than my schedule will allow but it is always a priority to find a place for books.

Why?

I believe that the two most powerful things I can do in my classroom each day are reading aloud to my students and providing time for them to read independently. Nothing else exposes them to new vocabulary, new ideas or new perspectives as quickly, as easily and as powerfully as a book. Reading aloud to a class pulls all of us into a magical place, an intimate learning community where words and visual images help us make meaning of our world. We discover something new. We think differently about something. We question ideas. We find support for a perspective. We are changed, often dramatically, by a few pages. Our interactions with these books shape us, constantly. How lovely that I can have this experience be part of my life daily just by reading to children?

Sometimes, it is hard to remember that not everyone shares this philosophy. In educational climates that measure student learning in test scores vs. engagement, reading aloud has no place in the everyday of classroom life. I came across this article on read aloud champion, Jim Trelease’s site. Seems impossible to imagine! More fuel to support the argument that an educational system characterized by high stake’s testing has no place in B.C.’s schools.

Read Aloud Handbook

My copy of The Read Aloud Handbook, discovered in a used book store is probably the book, of all the books I own, that I have read and reread most often. I quote sections of it to anyone sitting near me. I shake my head as study after study and story after story is described that makes the book’s main point again and again:

Reading aloud to a child is the single most important factor in raising a reader.

And it doesn’t stop when they can read by themselves!

Why doesn’t everyone know this!??

An ode to books, to libraries, to reading. A must read for every parent and every teacher. Jim Trelease‘s website contains a lot of interesting information. But owning his book for constant reference is a must.

But back to Sunday. And my pile of books. Because it is always all about the books . . .

Books that might make their way to school with me this week:

The Purple Kangaroo is written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Peter Brown. This book is narrated by a clever monkey that asserts he can read minds – your mind, dear reader, in fact. And he is pretty sure that you are thinking about a purple kangaroo. If you weren’t thinking about a purple kangaroo, you certainly will be by the time this book is finished. One that blows rainbow bubble gum out of his nose. A delightful journey with a book that you can’t help but interact with.

I imagine some very noisy listening to this story. Possibly some shouting! A lot of giggles.

The first line of this book says so much: The skin I’m in is just a covering. It cannot tell my story.

But with this book, every line is a line to read, savour and repeat. How about this one:

Be with me inside the me of me, all made up of stories present, past, future . . .

Skin Again by Bell Hooks is brilliant. And Chris Raschka illustrates! Perfection.

My Favourite Thing (According to Alberta) is written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone. This book is all about Alberta, a little girl of particular tastes. She has some very specific opinions. Her favourite ice-cream? Peppermint. Favourite vegetable? Potato chip. 🙂 And you must read to the end to find out exactly what her actual favourite thing is. This book goes on my must use as a springboard for writing list. I have big plans for this book.

I picked this book off the library shelves because it is illustrated by one of my new very favourite illustrators Peter Catalanotto. He doesn’t illustrate books, he paints amazing scenes which accompany text. Then I saw that it was written by Cynthia Rylant. This book just had to be great. An Angel for Solomon Singer did not disappoint.

A book about dreams. About yearning. About finding comfort in a big bustling city. Finding happiness when things are not really the way they ought to be.

A small treasure to inspire big discussion.

So as I move from Sunday, into Monday I take the cozy comfort of reading and books with me and keep it all through the week. It’s all about the books . . .