April Pulley Sayre's Blog, page 10

Dig, Wait, Listen: A Desert Toad's Tale Resource

Just found this great account of folks looking for various species of toads in the Sonoran Desert.

 

Vegetable Cookery For Kids

I picked up a copy of a magazine called Chop Chop "The fun cooking magazine for families" at a local New Balance shoe store. I have to say the magazine looks great. High quality content. It would be a great place to go after reading Rah, Rah, Radishes: a Vegetable Chant and the upcoming Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant. So kids' veggie and fruit enthusiasm can move into the kitchen. Here's Chop Chop magazine's site:  http://www.chopchopmag.org/

How about a monkey storytime?

Reviewer Meribeth Shank did a roundup of monkey books in Miami Family Magazine and the reviews are also available on her website here: http://meribeths.blogspot.com/

November Animal Surprise

Look who came to my book signing! This tortoise lives outdoors on the grounds of the education area of the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. Someone left the door open during my signing and the tortoise walked in and up to my signing table. No joke!

Lesson Plan for One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab

I'm speaking at the Indiana state conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics on Sunday and Monday. Here's a lesson plan created by educator Margaret Goldsmith, who is co-presenting with me. She'll cover the lesson plan at the end of my session talk.

Click here to download the lesson plan: One Is A Snail.

Thank you to Margaret for sharing. We met because she was teaching workshops on the book. She's so creative as an educator. I'm her fan and it's because of her math enthusiasm that I attended my first NCTM conference earlier this year. Love the vibe of the math education world. Just zaps my brain cells and makes me think, smile, and create.

Gardening Books for Kids

Saw this post on INK and it might be useful to those of you needing gardening books. Apparently, there's an award list created by the American Horticultural Society.

Travels and Rah, Rah, Radishes Extensions

Erika Thulin Dawes, Ed.D of Lesley University wrote about some terrific extension ideas for Rah, Rah, Radishes: A Vegetable Chant over at  The Classroom Bookshelf . Lots of helpful links, too. HUGELY useful information.

Jeff and I just returned from a 4,600 mile roadtrip to research at desert sites (White Sands, Painted Desert, Meteor Crater). I gave two programs at the spectacular Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. I also spoke at a conference for early childhood teachers coordinated by Jennifer Haggart of the Early Childhood Consortium of the Omaha Area. Rockin' awesome folks in Omaha and I learned a lot from Isabel Baker and Peg Callahan, who were  presenting all sorts of new young books. Thanks to M. Susan McWilliams of the Omaha Literacy Partnership, University of Nebraska, who helped provide support and facilities.

Meanwhile, I have finished the photos for Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant. (Due out May 2012) and the layouts I'm seeing are scrumptious.

 

October Animal

Time for some desert animals. Jeff and I drove all the way to Phoenix so I could give talks at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. LOVE this place. Full of plants. Wild birds, butterflies, squirrels, and bunnies wander freely. These Gambell's Quail strut around, then dash, dash, dash when startled.

See You in Phoenix, Omaha, or Indy!

Had a great weekend speaking at the Elizabeth York Children's Literature Festival. Hope to see you at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden October 8th. My first two presentations have sold out but they may be adding another and I'll be there for signings/wandering and wondering. I'll be in Omaha, NE to present at the 2011 ECCOA Early Literacy Conference Oct 15th. November 6,7th I'll be presenting at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Indiana Conference. Let's connect!

September Animal

[image error]This is a moth on our window. It was attracted to the kitchen light. What a beauty. I don't know the species. Photographing through the glass is a tad tricky. Still working on capturing their fluffy loveliness.