Mary Quattlebaum's Blog, page 19

LIBRARIES RULE!

guest post by Sue Fliess
Not that you needed a good reason to talk about the importance of libraries, but just in case you were looking for one… Books for Me! is the rhyming story of a young Hippo girl and her Dad going on an outing to their local library to find great books. This book is the third adventure with our young Hippo, illustrated once again by Mike Laughead. In Shoes for Me!, she makes a trip to the shoe store with Mom to pick out a pair of new shoes. In A Dress for Me!, she gets to choose a new dress. When I do school visits, I always get a plethora of wonderful suggestions for more “for me” adventures for Hippo. See what your class comes up with…I’d love to hear them!
Books for Me! is about the joy of discovering all kinds of books—adventure, science fiction, mystery, history, folktales, non-fiction—and how a library is the perfect place to do it. It’s an opportunity to talk to kids about fiction versus non-fiction, the different sections of the library, and what a librarian does. Get them thinking about what kinds of books they are drawn to—help them discover their favorite genre. 
Another fun activity you can do with your students as you read this book to them is to talk about rhyme. Ask them to help you finish the sentence and talk about the rhyme they hear at the end of the stanzas. For example: “Lots of choices I can see. Will I find some books for me?”
Have your students help you write a rhyming poem. I usually have kids fill in the last word of the alternating line or lines. Here’s an example:
Winter is cold, but snow is fun. Summer is hot from the yellow _____.
In addition, you could have your students try their hand at their own poem, rhyming or otherwise. The idea is to get them thinking of their own stories and writing them down.
See if your class can identify some of the books that have been worked into the illustrations and the text, such as “Books on mittens (The Mitten by Jan Brett), broken chairs, mice and moons (Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown) and puzzled bears (The Three Bears).” They will likely recognize many. If possible, have these books on-hand also, so they can see how the covers were included in Books for Me!
Questions you can ask:  What is rhyme? Can you give an example of some rhyming word pairs? What’s your favorite book/story? Is it fiction or non-fiction? Name one thing you learned from a book this year.What’s your favorite part about the library?Why do we go to the library? (no wrong answer here J)
If we can help kids see now that libraries are windows to the big world they’re in, they’ll develop a lifelong love of reading.  
Bio: Sue Fliess ("fleece") is the author of eighteen children's books (published or forthcoming) including Tons of Trucks, Robots, Robots Everywhere!, How to Be a Superhero, and most recently, The Hug Book and Books for Me! Her background is in copywriting, public relations, marketing, and event planning, and her articles and essays have appeared in O,the Oprah Magazine, Huffington Post, Writer's Digest, Education.com, Daily Candy Kids, Travelmuse.com, and more. Fliess's picture books have received honors from the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and have been used as curriculum teaching tools in elementary school classrooms as well as children's educational programs in museums. She's an active member of SCBWI, the Children’s Book Guild of D.C. and The Author’s Guild. Sue lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, two boys, and a Labrador puppy named Charlie. Visit her online at www.suefliess.com

Writing Ideas for President's Day

by Karen Leggett Abouraya
Pick a president’s name, any American president. Write the name vertically, down the paper. You are ready to write an acrostic poem, with each letter beginning a new line of the poem. Students working as a whole class, pairs or individuals can be as imaginative or fantastic as they wish, but each line should have something to do with the chosen president.  As poet educator Jack Collom advises, “…it can be some weird or hard-to-see connection…you don’t have to rhyme…don’t be afraid to sound crazy; it often means you’ve come up with new ideas.”  (More of Collom’s ideas on teaching poetry in schools here.)
Ask your school librarian to identify books about the presidents, including some that are not straight biographies but offer different views or aspects of the man’s life (so far – they’re all men!).  Good examples would be Master George’s People: George Washington, His Slaves and His Revolutionary Transformation by Marfé Ferguson Delano and Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library by Barbara Rosenstock. 
If students read far enough in Master George, they might decide to use “Wheatley” to begin their “W” line, because the West African-born slave and poet Phyllis Wheatley wrote and mailed a poem to the general which he praised for its “elegant lines” and “genius.”  That poem contributed to General Washington’s changing attitude toward African Americans.
A close look at Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library could lead to “fire” for one of the “F” words. Fire destroyed the library in Jefferson’s parents’ home and the Library of Congress itself, prompting Jefferson to sell the library more than 6,000 of his own books.
Share the poems along with any stories that explain the presidential connection.
http://childrensbookguild.org/karen-leggett-abouraya

MACHINE DREAMS

by Alison Ashley Formento
Machines are an important part of our lives and they are usually built using rocks and minerals, as I learned in researching my book These Rocks Count! We use computers, phones, and televisions on a daily basis. Doctors and dentists use machines to help keep us healthy. Cars, buses, planes, and trains are machines to help us get where we need to go each day. In winter, we rely on snowplows to help keep our roads and highways clean of snow and ice. Early snowplows were wooden and attached to horse drawn wagons to help push snow aside. In the early 1900’s, engineers wanted a way to help New Yorkers in the winter and designed a shovel type blade, strong and wide enough to clear city streets.

Most great inventions, like the snowplow began with an idea. Some ideas start as drawings scribbled on paper. Many inventions are the result of careful planning and experimentation, like the light bulb. A machine is usually useful, but it is often fun, too, like a giant roller coaster.

Machine Dreams: Writing Prompt

What machine do you wish existed? What if there was a machine to brush your teeth or make your bed? Or one to bring you ice cream just by thinking of your favorite flavor? Use your imagination to write about the machine of your dreams.

• What machine would help you in your daily life?

• Draw a sketch of the machine you imagine building.

• Name your machine.

• What exactly does your machine do?

• Write a description of your machine. Is it made of metal or plastic? Or some other material? Is it a particular color? Does it have many pieces to make it run?

• How does your machine operate? Does it have buttons, levers, or a keypad?

• Is your machine useful for everyone or only something you will use?

• How will your machine help you and others who use it?

www.alisonashleyformento.com

CELEBRATE DIVERSITY ON MCCBD DAY

by Jacqueline Jules
“El barrio is a shimmering cold hydrant spray on a hot summer day, vegetable gardens instead of lawns, and bright colored houses that look like villages.”
In Debbi Chocolate’s El Barrio a little boy describes the people and sights of his vibrant city neighborhood accompanied by colorful illustrations by David Diaz.
“El barrio is silver-streaked tenements, neon city streets, storefront churches, and bodegas that never sleep.”
Read El Barrio to your students. Admire the lyrical language and all the culturally rich details. The discussion could naturally lead to a conversation about different kinds of communities and the fun of learning words from other countries, such as the ones listed in the glossary at the back of El Barrio.
Using El Barrio as a model, ask your students to write about the beauty in their own neighborhoods. If time, let them illustrate their work, too.
This exercise provides a great opportunity to celebrate the diversity in your classroom and gives students the chance to share something about their lives.
Multicultural Children’s BookDay will be celebrated this week on January 27th. 


This national event was created to raise awareness for the kids’ books that celebrate diversity and to get more of these books into classrooms and libraries. To read about this exciting endeavor and how you can help, please visit their website.

If you'd like some book recommendations, visit this link for a list of resources to use on Multicultural Children’s Book Day 
Happy Multicultural Children’s Book Day!
www.jacquelinejules.com

MOCK CALDECOTT IDEAS

by Joan Waites
It’s that time of year when librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators and picture book lovers feel the excitement building for the “Oscars” of the children’s book world; the announcement of the winners of this year’s many prestigious children’s book awards from the American LibraryAssociation:
For the following classroom activity, we’ll focus on the Caldecott medal, awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children, although a similar activity could be done for any/all of the medals awarded. The Randolph Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, and awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children.
One way to engage your students in the excitement of book award season is to host a mock Caldecott award contest in the classroom. Depending on time, resources, and the age level of your students, pick 5-20 picture book titles that were released in 2014 to read with the class. Some of the top contenders for the award this year, (but by no means an all-inclusive list):

The Farmer and the ClownNana in the CityMama Built a Little NestEmily's Blue PeriodSam and Dave Dig a HoleIridescence of BirdsDance Like StarlightThe Right Word: Roget and His ThesaurusHave You Seen My Dragon?Bad Bye, Good Bye
Specific judging criteria used by the ALA committee can be found on the ALA website:
To simplify the judging criteria for students, discuss the illustrations in each of the chosen books focusing on the illustration style, medium used, how the pictures work with the text (or don’t), and the overall reaction to each picture book. What makes the art unique from other picture books? Students can be placed into committees to discuss titles and cast mock votes, or each individual student can cast their own. Pick one winner and two-three honorable mentions. Prior to the announcements, reveal the winner of the class vote. If possible for your time zone and start of the school day, you can then tune in to the official announcement via the ALA website.
The announcement of the 2015 Youth Media Awards will take place at 8:00 a.m. Central time on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibition in Chicago.
Join us for a live webcast of the press conference or follow I Love Libraries on Twitter and Facebook to be among the first to know the 2015 winners. The official hashtag for the 2015 Youth Media Awards is  #ALAyma. 


If possible, host a small celebration in the class with refreshments to conclude the award announcements, presenting a handmade Caldecott medal to the group or individual coming closest with their predictions. Who will this year’s winners be? 

www.joanwaites.com

Writing Connections with Origami Yoda

by Mary Quattlebaum
Three childhood passions—drawing, origami and writing—come together for author/illustrator Tom Angleberger in his Origami Yoda series.  I had a chance to talk with Tom recently about the wildly popular seven-book series. These books make strong models for classroom writing and can jumpstart playful exercises.  Tom shared his thoughts and process, and below I offer a few writing exercises connected to the last book in the series, Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus (Abrams, 2014, ages 8-12).  As Origami Yoda, the wise finger puppet, might say:  “Write you must.”
*  MAKING UP WORDS:  The middle-school characters in Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus use a made-up word, “stooky,” which means “cool” or “awesome.”  Classroom Writing:  Have students separate into five or so groups.  Each group must make up three words, with one meaning “cool,” the second, “stupid,” and the third, “angry.”  How might the made-up words sound like what it means?  Or reflect something that seems representative of that word?  (For example, the made-up word “volnormous” might mean “very angry.”  Ask students to write their made-up words in a sentence or paragraph and/or use it conversation at some point during the day or at home.  What was their listeners’ reactions?   
*  PERCEPTION AND VOICE: The book is a wonderful example of multi-voiced narration.  Many young characters contribute and each voice is different.  Tom says that each book presents it own challenges and that a particular challenge for him with Origami Yoda was crafting girl voices.  “I had never worked with girl narrators before,” he said.  “I had to work hard to make their voices and thoughts seem believable.”
Classroom Discussion:  Ask students to look carefully at a few simultaneous chapters.  How does each character see a certain situation differently?  Also, what makes Tommy sound like Tommy?  Or Sara like Sara?  What makes each voice unique?  (Students might look at vocabulary, sentence structure, words frequently used by that character, character’s overall attitude towards things.)
Classroom Writing:  Have students put Harvey and Tommy (or Harvey and Sara) in a museum they have visited.  How does Harvey look at this thing (a sculpture, a dinosaur model, a historic airplane)?  Now, describe it in Harvey’s voice.  How about Tommy or Sara?
* SNACK FOOD FIGURES:  In the book, the characters make Star Wars figures from snack foods.  Students might do this for homework, take a photo, and post it on Tom’s origamiyoda.com website.  Or they might eat their creation, as Dwight does with his fruit roll-up creation Fruitigami Yoda.
* MORE “STOOKY” DETAILS ABOUT TOM:  Click here for my interview in KidsPost section of the Washington Post.
www.maryquattlebaum.com

WINTER WRITING IDEAS

by Karen Leggett Abouraya

Bundling up for an outdoor walk may be time consuming, but it can be worth the hassle, whether you take a field trip to a nearby park or refuge  or just wander the playground or school neighborhood.  Get ready for a winter observation walk by reading Amy S. Hansen’s Bugs and Bugsicles: Insects in the Winter. Youngsters will learn about winter habitats for monarchs, ladybugs and dragonflies but also how Amy creates words like “bugsicles” to describe a woolly bear caterpillar in winter:


“She’s getting ready to perform an amazing trick. She will freeze in the winter, thaw out in the spring, and start all over. Woolly Bear won’t need to breathe while she’s frozen. She isn’t dead. She isn’t really asleep. She’s a bugsicle.”
Now make sure each child has a journal and a good, soft pencil and head outside. Give each child or pair of children a small area to investigate – just a few square yards, like the children in the photo outside the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Fergus Falls, MN. (Check the link to see samples of student writing!)
Ask students to use descriptive words to write about their area – what colors do they see? Is there concrete or grass, mud or snow? What do any trees or plants look like?
Are there signs of wildlife? Ask children to imagine where an animal or insect could live in the space they are investigating. Under a log? In a frozen pond? Wrapped in a dry leaf? In the crack in the sidewalk?  
Encourage children to write just single words or phrases that can be turned into poems or prose when everyone is back indoors, where they can also add artwork or research.  There are also several ways to expand this activity:
·       Return in the spring so children can write about changes in the area they observed in the winter. This can be a good “compare and contrast” exercise.
·       Have children write poems about their observations to enter in the River of Words contest. Here is a SAMPLE from Whittlesey National Wildlife Refuge, WI.
·       Partner with a park or refuge to have children write and publish a guidebook, like Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (NM) Through the Eyes of Children.

 http://childrensbookguild.org/karen-leggett-abouraya

A COOL CONCEPT & COLORFUL WRITING

guest post by Hena Khan
I never realized that writing a concept book would feel like solving a puzzle. When I sat down to write Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors, I first brainstormed objects to represent each of the colors I wanted to include. Some were obvious choices, like brown dates or orange henna designs, but most of the others were not. Next I had to come up with something to say about each object using the formula I had created:
“Gold is the dome of the mosque, big and grand,Beside it two towering minarets stand”
I continued with “Blue is…”, “Red is…”, “Green is…”, and so on, writing rhyming couplets. After arranging them into an order that made sense, I concluded with a summary page that tied everything together.
I’m going through the process again these days, this time working on a shape concept book. I’ve asked my own children to help me with the process of selecting objects and coming up with rhymes, and they have great ideas even as it often turns into silliness. I’ve realized that working on a concept book of poetry can make for both a fun group and individual writing exercise.
I picked Islam to introduce the topic to young kids, but your students can pick any theme that is special to them, like basketball, the backyard, the music room, or dance. They can choose to focus on colors, shapes, or numbers and use the same formula I do, starting each section with either “Red is . . .” “Square is . . .” or  “One is . . .”
For younger children, it might be enough of an activity to have them write a line about each object and illustrate their books. But it would be fun to challenge older kids to come up with rhyming couplets of their own and see what kind of puzzles they can piece together. At the end of the activity, there should be an opportunity to share a variety of creative concepts.  
Hena Khan is a picture book and middle grade author from Rockville, MD. Her most recent picture book, Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns (Chronicle Books, 2012) is a 2013 ALA Notable Book and a 2013 Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year. Night Of The Moon(Chronicle, 2008) was a Booklist 2009 Top 10 Religion Book for Youth. Hena has written two middle grade choose-your-own-adventure style novels, Worst Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Mars(Chronicle, 2011) and Amazon(Chronicle, 2012); Mars received the 2012 Eleanor Cameron Golden Duck Award for Middle Grade Science Fiction. www.henakhan.com

A COOL CONCEPTS & COLORFUL WRITING

guest post by Hena Khan
I never realized that writing a concept book would feel like solving a puzzle. When I sat down to write Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors, I first brainstormed objects to represent each of the colors I wanted to include. Some were obvious choices, like brown dates or orange henna designs, but most of the others were not. Next I had to come up with something to say about each object using the formula I had created:
“Gold is the dome of the mosque, big and grand,Beside it two towering minarets stand”
I continued with “Blue is…”, “Red is…”, “Green is…”, and so on, writing rhyming couplets. After arranging them into an order that made sense, I concluded with a summary page that tied everything together.
I’m going through the process again these days, this time working on a shape concept book. I’ve asked my own children to help me with the process of selecting objects and coming up with rhymes, and they have great ideas even as it often turns into silliness. I’ve realized that working on a concept book of poetry can make for both a fun group and individual writing exercise.
I picked Islam to introduce the topic to young kids, but your students can pick any theme that is special to them, like basketball, the backyard, the music room, or dance. They can choose to focus on colors, shapes, or numbers and use the same formula I do, starting each section with either “Red is . . .” “Square is . . .” or  “One is . . .”
For younger children, it might be enough of an activity to have them write a line about each object and illustrate their books. But it would be fun to challenge older kids to come up with rhyming couplets of their own and see what kind of puzzles they can piece together. At the end of the activity, there should be an opportunity to share a variety of creative concepts.  
Hena Khan is a picture book and middle grade author from Rockville, MD. Her most recent picture book, Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns (Chronicle Books, 2012) is a 2013 ALA Notable Book and a 2013 Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year. Night Of The Moon(Chronicle, 2008) was a Booklist 2009 Top 10 Religion Book for Youth. Hena has written two middle grade choose-your-own-adventure style novels, Worst Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Mars(Chronicle, 2011) and Amazon(Chronicle, 2012); Mars received the 2012 Eleanor Cameron Golden Duck Award for Middle Grade Science Fiction. www.henakhan.com

Holiday Writing Ideas

by Alison Ashley Formento
Have you put up any holiday decorations? There are people like Story Trimming1)     Write one page about a gift you hope to receive this year.2)     Include six to ten reasons you want this item and add details why this gift is so special. Example: I want a new bicycle because I’ve grown taller and my old bike is too small for me. I want a bright yellow bicycle so it shines when I ride on a sunny day.3)   Trim your page down to half a page (about two paragraphs). Choose which reasons and details you most want to share about this special gift.4)   Finally, trim your shiny story to only one sentence. This sentence is the “star” of your story and should show the main idea or theme of what you most want to share about this gift. It may be the very first detail you thought of, or it may be something newly discovered as you’ve trimmed and revised your page about this special gift.
Whatever gifts you receive this year, Pencil Tips Writing Workshop wishes you all the happiest of holidays!
http://www.alisonashleyformento.com