A Butterfly is Patient

Posted on June 6, 2012 by carriegelson

The amazing team of Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long deliver another picture book masterpiece with their third book A Butterfly is Patient.

This year we have shared An Egg is Quiet (as part of our learning about birds) and A Seed is Sleepy (to supplement our plants/seeds/gardens learning) With both titles we used a modified version of Adrienne Gear‘s Knew-New Connections from her Non-Fiction Reading Power book to represent our learning.

Students were excited to share this book as many had learned about butterflies or even hatched butterflies in their Kindergarten or Grade 1 years and so they had a lot of prior knowledge to connect to their new learning and they were able to represent all of this background knowledge under “I KNEW this already!”

A butterfly is helpful (fantastic pollinators)

What is lovely about representing our knowledge on a sheet like this is that it is very open ended. It allows students to document their own learning from exactly where they start. There are no “right” answers. Some facts ended up on “This is NEW to me!” and for others, these same facts were included on, “I KNEW this already!” Being familiar with the sheet allowed students to start organizing their thinking as we read. There were comments like, “Wow. I didn’t know that!” or “Hey that is what we learned last year. Remember how we talked about . . . ” When it came time to write, everyone had lots to say!

Describing prior knowledge and new learning.

Another student example of all the new things he learned today.

Some other student examples from “I KNEW this already!”

*Butterflies help plants make new plants (pollinate)

*I knew that some butterflies have spots that look like eyes on their wings

*They molt (shed their skin)

*I knew they started out as an egg

*Butterflies make chrysalises. They don’t make cocoons

Information shared for “This is NEW to me!”

* I found out that they taste with their feet

*I did not know that butterflies can be poisonous

*I didn’t know that a peacock butterfly can make a hissing sound by rubbing its wings

* I discovered that they drink water from mud puddles

* I didn’t know that butterflies could get water from wet soil

The Pirates Next Door starring the Jolley-Rogers

Posted on June 5, 2012 by carriegelson

Our latest BLG book was read by Bill: Jonny Duddle‘s The Pirates Next Door (Starring the Jolley-Rogers)

The little town of Dull-On-Sea has a temporary population blip. Instead of 2222 people residing in this seaside town, for a little while there are 2227. This is what happens when the house that has been for sale forever next to Tilda is occupied by new neighbours. Neighbours who haul their pirate ship into the driveway and unload barrels, treasure chests, cannons and crates. Tilda thinks her new neighbours are just grand! Jim Lad, his little sister Nugget, Grandpa and parents are sure to liven things up! Her Mom and Dad are not so thrilled. Her teacher isn’t at all pleased with Jim Lad’s attire. And the neighbours find plenty to complain about. Oh the gossip. The judgement. The nasty comments. It seems that pirates just won’t do in this little town.

When the pirates leave suddenly in the middle of the night without warning, every lawn has an X over a recently dug hole. Turns out that the pirates have left surprises for all the residents that has them quickly singing a different tune about their temporary neighbours. Funny what a little treasure does to public opinion!

We enjoyed the rhyming verse, the colourful pictures and the pirate antics. A fun book. Students also pored over the family tree poster included on the book jacket.

More fabulous picture books with a Garden theme

Posted on May 31, 2012 by carriegelson

As we continue to learn about plants, seeds and gardens, it feels like there are garden themed books blooming everywhere we look.

See our first list here which includes many more titles.

Ava’s Poppy by Marcus Pfister

We read this book today and students were inspired to create a list of all the great reasons this book should be shared: we can learn how to grow a flower, it teaches us about life cycles, we learn how to take care of a flower, there is lots of information about seeds, and it has important themes of kindness and friendship. Lovely little Ava makes friends with a gorgeous red poppy in a field of green and cares for it in changing weather and over time. When she buries a seed capsule, she has no idea that the next spring her poppy will return to her!

Rosie Sprout’s Time to Shine written by Allison Wortche and illustrated by Patrice Barton

Students loved this story about a little girl who learns about friendship, kindness and surviving competition while tending pea plants in her classroom. Shared in our classroom here.

The Giant Seed by Arthur Geisert

Another wordless book by the brilliant Geisert and a follow up to the equally wonderful Ice (reviewed here) Explore the concept of seed dispersal and how seeds travel in this fantasy story. How the pigs happen to be saved from volcanic disaster is a reason to share this story many times.

And then it’s Spring written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Erin E. Stead

Explore the magic of the transformation from brown and boring to the wonder of green that comes in spring. What treasures lay buried deep waiting for the sun, warm temperatures and the power of spring showers?

Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms written by Julia Rawlinson and illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke

Is that snow in the middle of spring? Fletcher certainly thinks so. But he learns that blossoms can cover the earth in a blanket during the spring just like snow does in the winter. A beautiful celebration of spring.

Rosie Sprout’s Time to Shine

Posted on May 30, 2012 by carriegelson

Rosie Sprout’s Time to Shine, written by Allison Wortche and illustrated by Patrice Barton was our read aloud wonder of the day! Students were completely engaged with the story and had lots to talk about as we read.

I could talk on and on about why this book is a fantastic book to share in the classroom but today, the book love comes from the students. I asked them why a teacher should share this book in the classroom and here is the list we came up with.

* “It teaches lots about gardening.” Isa

* “It shows you that it doesn’t matter if you are the best.” Manny

* “It is an example of forgiveness.” Truman

* “It reminds you that everyone is good at something.” Jacky

* “It has a theme of kindness.” Carmen

* “It also has a theme of courage.” Truman

* “There is a lot about caring – caring for the plant, caring for someone. . .” Catriona

A gem of a book. Set in a classroom, it does explore many important themes relevant in a primary classroom: envy, friendship, forgiveness, competition, desicion making, etc. And perfect to supplement a unit on growing seeds. We made lots of connections to the plants we are growing in our windowsill gardens!

New Spring books from Scholastic

Posted on May 29, 2012 by carriegelson

Our New Books display has had a lot of traffic recently with many students enjoying some recent purchases that I’ve ordered for the class through Scholastic book clubs.

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake written by Michael B. Kaplan and illustrated by Stephane Jorisch (one of my favourite Canadian illustrators) has been a favourite to read and reread especially with a buddy. Betty Bunny is very dramatic and says some very out there stuff like “I am going to marry chocolate cake!” and “I am a handful and I love chocolate cake.” Comments made all the better when read out loud. With huge sighs, gasps and artistic flair. We appreciated Betty’s chocolate cake obsession, loved her spunk and giggled over her decision to keep her cake in her pocket and the resulting brown, goopy mess! Betty Bunny shows us that you shouldn’t mess with a little bunny and her love for chocolate cake. Go Betty!

Another favourite story to read and share during buddy reading (also made a fantastic read aloud) is Huck Runs Amuck! This charming story about a flower obsessed goat is written by Sean Taylor and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Poor Huck is a goat of rather discerning tastes. Yes he will eat run of the mill goat things, which means basically anything, but . . . If he had his way, he would eat flowers all day long. But flowers in his end of the world are also readily enjoyed by other goats and in short supply. Thank goodness Huck is a climbing sensation. He can find flowers in the strangest of places, high up places that seem out of reach. But what happens when his stomach and his morals face off? What will a flower loving goat do? A hilarious fast paced story.

Books by Steve Jenkins never disappoint. Many are favourites in our classroom library. The newest book in our collection is Bones. Not only is it great to look at the illustrations o bones (many of which are actual size) but we also love the comparison of bones from multiples species like all of the skulls pictured in a fantastic pull out page spread. This is also a fun book to fact collect. There is something about learning that a small python has 200 pairs of ribs that makes you want to ask everyone you know: “So how many pairs of ribs do you think a python has?” (Humans have 12 pairs just to give you some perspective) This book frequently has to be coaxed out of someone’s book box to be passed onto the next person who can’t wait to explore it!

We adore Marie-Louise Gay. Stella, Sam, and Caramba are all well loved characters! So, we were very happy to meet Rosyln Rutabaga and read about her plan to dig an enormous hole in the story: Rosyln Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth. Some days you just wake up with a plan. So when Rosyln announces her plan to dig an enormous hole and gets a calm, but positive response from her father, this little bunny begins to dig. Her all day digging brings her many interesting interactions, big piles of dirt and an experience about what it is to follow your determination. Wonderfully imaginative illustrations.

Mammoths

Posted on May 26, 2012 by carriegelson

Our reading group has continued to practice strategies to handle unknown vocabulary in text. See the strategy list that we came up with earlier this month here. We spent part of a few reading classes with this great text: Wooly Mammoth by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom. (A Natural History Museum Selection)

This book reads as an information story book: rhyming text accompanies the large pictures on each two page spread while black and white drawings and information reads in a column down one side of each page. You can read this book as just a storybook, concentrate primarily on the information or focus on both. Students enjoyed the mammoth time line at the end of the book and reviewing what they had learned by quizzing each other on the glossary words.

We then read Kali’s Song by Jeanette Winter.

We started by comparing the covers of Kali’s Song with a Wooly Mammoth. All year we have been talking about the different text features of fiction and non-fiction books. It would be interesting to see what we noticed when looking at Wooly Mammoth because it has both fiction and non-fiction elements (what we like to call an information story book). Students observed that even though both covers had illustrations rather than photographs, the mammoth on the cover of Wooly Mammoth looked more realistic. We talked about fur colour and the shape of the tusks. We also discussed how one mammoth was standing in the snow and another on grass/ground next to a little boy and a dog. “How could they stand so close?” someone wondered.

Before we began reading Kali’s Song, I asked the students, “Even though this is clearly a fiction text, do you think we will be able to link some of our learning from Wooly Mammoth to what we read?” We were ready to look for any text to text connections. Would our sense of the story be enhanced by our newly acquired background knowledge? (schema)

Immediately students were excited to see Kali’s mother painting animals on the cave’s wall. “We learned about how they did that in the other book! In the future some people might discover those paintings to see what animals looked like!”

We also appreciated that a work of fiction had beautiful elements of story telling and images that a non-fiction book wouldn’t have. When Kali plays the bow string, Winter writes: The stars came close to listen. Such a wonderful image that makes the story more powerful. We liked how Kali’s Song challenged our imaginations and had us think about things differently.

Kali’s music lures the mammoths to him and fascinated, all of the other hunters lay down their weapons. Kali must be a shaman they decide. Winter leaves us wondering – do the hunters not kill any of the mammoths? Or do they eventually resume their hunt? In Wooly Mammoth we had learned that the people’s survival depended on the hunt and that they used all parts of the mammoth (meat, fur, tusks, bone) for things that they needed. Our discussion was intense. Kali had the skill to lure the animals and he seemed to love them. But he loved his people. Wouldn’t his skill help the hunt? What would he do? The students decided that Winter left us thinking on purpose. We would have to come to our own decisions.

Because the mammoths seemed so majestic and wonderful we wanted to think they wouldn’t be hunted but now that our knowledge included information about how people who lived thousands of years ago depended on the hunt, we had some different ideas about the outcome. Students were able to make text to text connections and this furthered their thinking.

Kali’s Song is a beautiful book. Highly recommended.

How do you help students make text to text connections? Recognize that their background knowledge influences their thinking?

A Bus Called Heaven

Posted on May 15, 2012 by carriegelson

Our latest BLG treasure: A Bus Called Heaven written and illustrated by Bob Graham, read to us by Bill.

We were excited as soon as we saw that Bill had a Bob Graham book as we are definite fans of Graham’s work. How to Heal a Broken Wing was a book we used during our kindness unit and April and Esme Tooth Fairies was a BLG book from last spring that often makes it back to our classroom via our library book basket.

What happens to a community when an abandoned bus gets parked in its midst? Well . . . People start talking. They do some exploring. They begin to take ownership. Soon that bus is pushed into a front yard. It is cleaned and scrubbed. It gets a paint job. And people begin to congregate. They play and interact. They eat and laugh. The old bus has new life. And when a tow truck arrives to tow the old bus away, the community has new purpose.

This story tells the story of a community coming together and of a little girl with a lot of gumption. We read this book and looked around to see everyone smiling. A feel good story perfect for rereading.

Our student reviewers report:

Truman: I liked the part when Stella won with no goalies and bought the bus back with all the kids who were energetic and the adults who were exhausted!

Carmen: The book started with a girl named Stella. She saw a bus and made a bus be like a house. They had a party and music. One night, guys came and sprayed black paint and wrote Street Ratz!

Bertha and the Frog Choir

Posted on May 13, 2012 by carriegelson

A recent book brought to us by our BLG reader Deborah was Bertha and the Frog Choir written by Luc Foccroulle and illustrated by Annick Masson.

I admit I have a thing for fictional frogs. They have a certain charm and vulnerability that I find myself drawn to. I even blogged about it: Five Fantastic Fictional (Mostly) Frogs So when Deborah brought this book in to class, I was pretty excited! And it had us from the beginning – oh the poor frogs, described as flabby and slimy, not beautiful as so many other animals are. But. . . they redeem themselves with their chorus, their beautiful frog song! So what happens when you are a frog like Bertha who doesn’t exactly produce lovely sounds when she opens her mouth? Or a tiny frog like Lucy who isn’t even allowed to audition for the frog choir because she is so small? Well . . .

Bertha and Lucy sit at the edge of the pond, both sad and rejected. But then they start to get creative. Bertha could cook up a delicious meal to help Lucy grow and Lucy could give singing lessons to Bertha. Unfortunately, the plan does not seem to work. So the two clever frogs come up with a new plan. One that involves a trick. A trick that works perfectly. Perfectly, until both frogs get tired of pretending and decide that their true talents need to be recognized.

A story that reminds us that good friends are as important as being true to yourself.

There is a song at the back if reading this book puts you in the mood to sing. Twice, Deborah asked if we wanted to sing along. Each time the students exclaimed “No!” But each time they sang and the second time even louder and sweeter!

Picture Books to help us explore the complexity of bullying

Posted on May 13, 2012 by carriegelson

Division 5 is currently exploring the theme of bully, bullied, bystander through picture books. We also share books on this topic during our weekly Social Responsibility gatherings. Here are some of the titles we have been reading.

Jungle Bullies written by Steven Kroll and illustrated by Vincent Nguyen

This book has a simple repetetive message important to help children understand that bossy, mean behaviour isn’t okay especially when someone is using their bigger size to be intimidating. As each jungle animal nudges another out of a napping spot, the trend seems like it will never stop until a little monkey decides with the help of his Mama that he wants to stand up to a bully. Children learn: Being a bully isn’t okay. I can stand up to it with some help from others. Let’s focus on sharing and maybe even being friends. Perfect for Pre-K-2.

Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns about Bullies written by Howard Binkow and illustrated by Susan F. Cornelison.

This is one of my favourite Howard B. Wigglebottom books and one that never fails to engage listeners. This book teaches us about the importance of asking for help when bullying doesn’t stop. Howard has a little voice inside his head that tells him Be brave, Be bold, A teacher must be told. But it isn’t always easy to trust our intuition and Howard suffers many unpleasant interactions with the Snorton twins before he finally decides to report their behaviour. Finally, he can sleep easily, knowing that he was brave, he was bold when his teacher was finally told. “I am okay. I am safe.” he assures himself at the end. Such an important book!

Great for K-3

You’re Mean, Lily Jean written by Frieda Wishinsky and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton.

This is a “could be”, “might be”, “kinda is” a bully book but the social dynamics between the children allow it to be a book that is more about making firm expectations for play. Lily Jean is definitely some kind of bossy and quite quite mean. She shows off constantly, says “No!” when asked “Can I play too?” and bosses everyone around when she does allow them to be part of the game. (“You be the cow and I’ll be the cowgirl” kind of thing) But when sisters Sandy and Carly are assertive with Lily Jean and set some limits, Lily Jean is basicallly put in her place with the question, “Can you be nice?” When she agrees, playtime continues and is happy for all involved. A great book to illustrate that children can often solve their own social problems without involving an adult. It also shows us that the power of a bully dissolves quickly when nobody will go along with it.

Ideal for K-3

Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun written by Maria Dismondy and illustrated by Kimberly Shaw-Peterson.

The message of this book is all about courage – courage to stand up for yourself but also courage to forgive and reach out to others. Lucy has been bullied by Ralph in some truly nasty ways. When he gets stuck on the monkey bars, she has the opportunity to get back at him. Instead she realizes, looking at him so full of fear, that just like her Papa Gino told her, Ralph has a heart with feelings. Lucy offers her help, demonstrating courage to do the right thing – treat others the way she wants to be treated. Students learn that sometimes the hard shell of a bully can be softened with a little bit of kindness.

Suitable for Grades 2-4

Say Something written by Peggy Moss and illustrated by Lea Lyon.

What happens when you see bullying all around you? Pushing. Teasing. Name calling. But you don’t participate? You don’t say anything. What happens when one day the bullying happens to you? Those other kids sitting near, the ones saying nothing . . . suddenly the silence feels like something. It feels like it should be different. Saying nothing is the opposite of saying something. Of standing by instead of standing up. A very powerful book that shows us the importance of speaking up.

Suitable for Grades 2-5

We imagined some gardens . . .

Posted on May 10, 2012 by carriegelson

This gorgeous book written by Andrew Larsen and illustrated by Irene Luxbacher was our inspiration for some beautiful flower art. The Imaginary Garden tells a story of grandfather and granddaughter who paint a lush garden mural when a real garden is no longer possible in Poppa’s new apartment.

Just as little Theodora and Poppa created flowers from bright green stems and blobs of paint colour, the students used dabs of paint to create beautiful imagined gardens, each one unique.