Carolee Dean's Blog, page 4

Authentic Writing Experience for September - Museum Fun

Consider the literacy impact of field trips. Whether you are a teacher, a homeschooler, or simply a parent looking for something to do when school is not in session. Why not check out your local museum? This month's Authentic Writing Experience is all about museum fun. Museums are perfect for both family adventure and class field trips. Your city or town probably has some type of museum. The less well-known it is, the more unique it may be to your location. A trip to a museum may even inspire creativity! The two museums below influenced the setting of my new book, The Raven Remix: A Mashup of Poe Titles.

The image on the left is The Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore.  In 1832, Poe moved into this house with his aunt, Maria Clemm, his grandmother, Elizabeth Cairnes, and his first cousin, Virginia, who later became his wife. This house where Poe got his start as a short story writer is now a museum open to the public. 

The image on the right is the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA. Poe lived in Richmond with the Allan family for most of his early life. Although he did not live in this particular house, it was around at that time and likely a place he visited. It is the oldest house still standing in Richmond and contains items from places that Poe did live such as his writing desk, a bed, and a staircase. I first visited the Richmond location two years ago when my daughter started graduate school at VCU. I returned this past May when I was there for her graduation. Chris Semtner, the curator and the artist who created the raven painting in the photo, took me on a personal tour where I learned fascinating details about Poe's life and his strange death. The cause is still a mystery. In October, in celebration of Halloween and the Day of the Dead, I will explore a new theory about how Poe died each week. Thanks to the two museums above for allowing me to use photos of their locations in my book.
Although my setting for The Raven Remix is fictitious, it takes place in an old house that has become the Ed A.P. Bookstop, Pet Shop, Inn & Grill. A boy stops by for a visit and meets the host - Ed. When he opens a mysterious book with a raven on the cover, animals appear from various stories by Poe. You can find five of them on the cover. The ebook version of The Raven Remix is currently available for preorder. The paperback and hardcover are coming May 15.
It has been quite a year for museums. While on the East Coast, my husband and I also went to Washington D.C. and visited several Smithsonian Museums, including the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, and the Museum of the American Indian. I spent a long time going through the Wright Brothers exhibit below.

While attending the ALA conference in June, we visited the USS Midway. It's a museum inside of an aircraft carrier. 

Most museums now have self-guided audio tours in many languages. This is a great example of how Universal Design, which strives to make things accessible for those with disabilities, is beneficial for everyone. A student with a reading disability can listen to the audio tour rather than reading long passages of information posted next to displays. 
For this month's Authentic Writing Experience, I suggest having students create a photo tour of a museum. They can take just a few photos or several. Then, they may generate a caption to go with each photo. It can be a few words or a description of several sentences. It's a great way to practice summarizing a lot of information into a few key sentences.
PHOTO TOUR
1. Ask if it is permissible to take photos of the exhibits. Some information may be copyright protected, and flash bulbs may damage artwork, so ask first.
2. Take a self-guided audio tour of the museum. 
3. When you come to a display that is of interest, pause the Audio.
4. Open the NOTES section of your phone and take a photograph.
5. Turn on your microphone and record a short summary of what interests you about the display.
6. Turn the audio tour back on and continue the tour, stopping to take photographs and make notes along the way.
7. Compare your photos with those of family members or classmates. It is surprising to see what catches the attention of different people. You may have seen things that no one else noticed.
Below is an example from my tour of the USS Midway. 

This photograph shows the uniforms of the servicemen.  

This is the sick bay. During a battle, men sometimes had to be treated 

in the mess deck where the food was served  

Six people shared this tiny bunk space.   

They kept their personal possessions in a drawer 

underneath the mattress.   

Museums will often offer scavenger hunts for kids. If you turn in the one for the USS Midway, you get a free pair of wings at the end of your tour.

Have fun visiting museums this school year. They are very context-rich environments and allow kids to explore special interests. If you can't take a physical tour of a museum, consider sending students on a virtual tour. 
Be sure to return to my blog each week in October to learn theories about Poe's mysterious death.
Sign up for my newsletter HERE and receive a free copy of my first decodable book, No Gift for Man. Don't miss any of the fun-filled activities coming up for A Year of AWE: Authentic Writing Experiences.

Free Structured Literacy Symposium

Renowned speaker Barbara Wilson is giving a FREE 90-minute Virtual Structured Literacy Symposium this Saturday, September 14, at 9:00am Mountain Time. The event is being organized in a historic collaboration between seven branches of the International Dyslexia Association. The purpose is to reach everyone in our expansive Western Region, covering Arizona, Utah, Rocky Mountains (Colorado & Wyoming), Southwest (New Mexico & El Paso), Austin, Houston, and Dallas (including Oklahoma). But it doesn't end there - The Western Region invites people nationwide to participate, so please help spread the word. We have many rural areas where educators don't always have access to such high-quality presentations. 

If you are wondering about the meaning of terms like "Science of Reading" and "Structured Literacy," come on Saturday and find out more.

The Why, Who, What, and How of a Structured Literacy Approach (Barbara Wilson)

EVENT DETAILS

·   Date: Saturday, September 14th

·  Time:  9 AM MST, 10AM CT, 11AM EST 

·   Duration: 90 minutes + 15 minutes Q&A

·   Platform: Zoom Meetings   

·  Admission: Free to attend; registration is required 

·  ➡️ REGISTER HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtc--qrjgpGdYUN8DR1jfkjp0OfRPM9mI_#/registration

 

The Gods and Gifts Activity Book is Available Now

My Gods and Gifts Activity Book is available now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You may also order it from your favorite local bookstore. Your school librarian can find it at Ingram. The Activity Book accompanies my decodable chapter book Gods and Gifts: Three Greek Myths Retold.

The 218-page resource was created to provide all the tools an educator needs for a complete structured literacy lesson and additional written applications for the general education classroom. In addition, there are 16 different activities SLPs can use to work on the sounds for R, S, L. 

Here's what people are saying: 

"This is the most comprehensive set of literacy activities I have seen in one book!”  - Dannah Fritz Co-Owner of Jacksonville Tutoring Specialists, Advanced Certified in Barton & Accredited IEW Instructor

“As an SLP, I highly recommend Dean's HOT ROD Activity Books to my colleagues! I love these books because they simultaneously target articulation, oral language, and literacy skills. It's a comprehensive tool that not only improves speech but also supports overall language development! This is a must-have for any SLP!” - Ellen Cieszkiewicz Rigg, M.A. CCC-SLP, A/OGA

What a powerful tool for anyone supporting learners! The Comprehension section includes practical strategies to assist learners as they explore texts. Students’ comprehension will be supported by using the PAGES framework to help them think critically about the text they’re reading. This chapter also gives learners signal words and practice paragraphs to help determine what type of text they’re reading. Dean’s story “Bats and Their Amazing Skills” is followed by comprehension questions and the opportunity to cite and explain an answer using the RACE framework. Students' skills and confidence will grow if they utilize these strategies.”    -Jolene Gutierrez, M.L.S., author of Too Much! An Overwhelming Day, teacher/librarian at Denver Academy, a school for neurodivergent learners including those with dyslexia.

The Activity Book includes 50+ Activities to work on the following skills: 
*DECODING – Work on reading short vowel words and closed syllables at the word and sentence level. Includes initial and final consonant blends*ARTICULATION: Explore /s/ and /r/ sounds, initial blends for both, and final blends including /s/.*PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS:  Work on sound and syllable deletion. Develop awareness of rhyme, alliteration, rhythm, and stress.*COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY: Sort words by phonological and semantic features.*MORPHOLOGY: Explore Prefix PRO, Suffixes -S, -NESS, -LESS, -FUL, -EN. *STRUCTURED WORD INQUIRY: Use a Matrix to build Word Sums for the base elements REST, HELP, SPECT*ETYMOLOGY:  Use etymology and character names (Prometheus, Epimetheus, Pandora) to generate words for PRO, EPI, and PAN.*VOCABULARY: Explore words before, during, and after reading. Build strategies for using context to derive word meaning. Create vocabulary foldables. Play games with definitions and multiple-meaning words.*SENTENCE AWARENESS & CONSTRUCTION: Combine short sentences using coordinating conjunctions. Answer WH- questions to build sentences. Determine if sentences are complete or incomplete. Decide if a subject or predicate is missing. Determine if multiple-meaning words function within a sentence as nouns, verbs, or adjectives.*PLOT STRUCTURE: Use the storyboard for story retells and summaries.*GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS: Support writing at all levels. Create compare/contrast essays.*COMPREHENSION:  Use the PAGES Strategy. Use signal words to determine text type. Practice answering questions using the RACE format.*CREATE: Brainstorm funny titles for Zeus' hobby books. Create a list poem to go inside Pandora’s Lunch Box 

Link to a Preview of my Boom Cards Connect 4 Game to practice words with short vowel sounds- HERE. 

Sign up for my newsletter HERE and receive a free PDF copy of my first decodable book, No Gift for Man, in full color. It is also the first chapter of my black and white decodable book for older kids - Gods and Gifts: Three Greek Myths Retold. Don't miss any of the fun-filled activities I will be sharing in celebration of my new books along with free activities for A Year of AWE: Authentic Writing Experiences.

Authentic Writing Experience for August - Letter to the Author

The situation that highlighted for me the importance of authentic writing experiences was a letter to the author activity. I was collaborating with an English teacher in a class of high school sophomores with severe reading disabilities. We were reading the graphic novel version of Tantalize: Kieran's Story based on Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I was going to see Cynthia at a writer's conference and asked her if she would have time to answer letters from my students. She was thrilled to do so.  
What resulted was one of the most engaging writing activities I've ever conducted. The reason it was so successful was because my students knew their letters were going to a real person. This was not just a random writing exercise. For this reason, they were eager to edit and improve their material. Some even brought special stationery from home. I included specific requirements in the project to address specific writing objectives such as describing a character or a scene from the book and asking pertinent questions, but it was still an actual letter to a live person.

Why not start the school year by dynamically engaging students with reading by choosing a book they will love and enhancing the literacy experience by writing to the author? See my suggestions below for how to get the most out of this activity.
Finding a Book and an Author
1. Choose a book you know will grab your students' attention.2. Contact the author and ask if they can answer letters from your students. This may take a while, so plan accordingly. Don't tell students about the author's involvement until you confirm their availability. There is usually a contact page if an author has a website. If that doesn't work, contact their publisher. If you know the town where they live, contact the local SCBWI branch (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). This organization can be a great place to find local authors willing to visit your classroom and/or write to your students. You may have a celebrity living in your own backyard.3. If you cannot contact the author, find someone else connected to the book or the subject matter. For instance, if you are reading a book about deadly diseases, a local doctor, physician's assistant, or even your school nurse may be willing to answer letters and perhaps come to your school and talk to your class. In the background material of my new book The Raven Remix: A Mashup of Poe Stories (coming in October), I discuss many of the deadly diseases that were rampant during the time of Poe. I also list children's books that delve into those topics.4. If your students are reading any of my books which you will find listed on this blog, feel free to have them write letters to me. Decodable chapter books for grades 4-9 are listed HERE. Young adult novels for ages 14+ are HERE. You may contact me via my website at info@wordtravelpress.com. I'd love to hear from your students and answer their questions. My new book, Gods and Gifts: Three Greek Myths Retold is a retelling of the Greek Creation story in three parts, but it also contains information about other creation stories and examples of early forms of writing. It just came out this month and is available through Amazon. Read more about it HERE.

5. Read through the letters your students write and create a cover letter to the author listing the questions and consolidating any repetition of questions. This way, the author can scan the letters without missing any important details and respond with one letter to everyone, answering all questions simultaneously.6. Mail the letters to the author or scan them and send them electronically.7. When the author responds, give each student a copy of the response and read it to the class.
Tips for Letter Content
1. Depending on your students' ages and ability levels, determine the number of paragraphs you will assign to them.2. Decide what skill you want them to work on and incorporate that into the assignment. Is the focus on describing a character or favorite scene from the book, creating a short summary, or identifying a theme?3. A format might look something like this:    A. Paragraph 1 - The students tell about themselves and mention the title of the book they read.    B. Paragraph 2 - Focus on the writing skill such as describing or summarizing.    C. Paragraph 3 - Wrap up and end with a question.4. The above can be completed in pairs or as a class for young or struggling students. 
Tips for Editing
1. Editing is where students typically lose enthusiasm but where the real magic happens in the letter-writing process. They want them to shine because they know their letters are going to a real person. Have students exchange letters to proofread. Unlike proofreading and correcting random sentences as an editing exercise, they proofread something authentic. Students often have difficulty seeing errors in their own writing and may be better at making suggestions for the work of others. 2. If the letter writing was a group project, the editing can occur as a group, in pairs, or individually. Be sure to leave some mistakes for them to find if you were compiling the letter.3. Students revise their original letters for punctuation and grammar. 4. Rewrite the letters on special stationery.
If this process works well for you and your students, consider repeating it with different books and authors throughout the year. Consider following the I Do, We Do, You Do philosophy and the Gradual Release of Responsibility using the steps below.
Gradual Release of Responsibility
1. Read a book and write a letter as a group. The teacher takes the lead with input from the class for content. She may make suggestions about content and phrasing.2. Read a different book. The teacher still takes the lead but shifts more responsibility to the class. They collaboratively make suggestions for content.3. Read a third book. Students work in pairs or small groups to decide what goes into the letter.4. Read a fourth book. When ready, students can work independently to create content for the letter. Some may still need more direct assistance. 
Parts of the above activity were taken from my book, Story Frames for Teaching Literacy: Enhancing Student Learning Through the Power of Storytelling.
Sign up for my newsletter HERE and receive a free copy of my first decodable book, No Gift for Man. Don't miss any of the fun-filled activities in A Year of AWE: Authentic Writing Experiences.

Gods and Gifts Has Arrived

 

Gods and Gifts: Three Greek Myths Retold has arrived just in time for the start of the school year! It is available on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats. It will soon be available for purchase through your local bookstore and Ingrams. Watch this blog for details and for information about the audio and activity book release.

When Zeus asks Prometheus and his brother, Epimetheus, to fill the world with living creatures, Epimetheus gives all the gifts to the animals. Unfortunately, there is no gift left for man. Prometheus wants something special for the humans, so he sneaks up to Mount Olympus to steal fire from the gods! Zeus gets his revenge on Prometheus by chaining him to a rock. Then he sets out to punish humans for accepting the forbidden gift. 

This humorous version of the Greek creation myth is told in three parts and features the first three stories of Level 1 of the HOT ROD series of decodable books: No Gift for Man, The Bandit, and The Box. For younger children, check out these full-color illustrated picture books on the website.

Gods and Gifts incorporates these three picture books as chapters of a larger story for older children with black and white illustrations. Because it is designed for grades 4-9, the book also includes background information about early humans and their use of fire as well as a comparison to the creation stories of the Classical Maya and other indigenous people. The background information may be read independently by students in sixth grade and up. It may be read aloud to younger students and struggling readers to provide context and background knowledge. Using the strategy of Pair and Share reading, young and struggling students have more access to rich vocabulary, complex sentence structure, and higher-level concepts.

Each chapter of Gods and Gifts is written at Level 1 of the HOT ROD Scope and Sequence. What makes these chapters decodable is the strict focus on phonics concepts, syllable patterns, and vowel sounds that the student has already learned. Although HOT ROD books may be used with any reading program, they are designed to align with Orton-Gillingham instruction based on the Science of Reading.

Level 1 addresses closed syllables (short vowel sounds). Initial (frog, spin, drop) and final (past, last) consonant blends are also used. Long words following this pattern are also incorporated, but have been broken down into syllables (fan-tas-tic). Read more about the Scope and Sequence of the series on my website for https://www.wordtravelpress.com/. Go to the TAB for resources and scroll down to Scope and Sequence. While on the website, check out my Level 2 book - Hank the Tank. The Hank Activity Book was recently named a Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist.  

Be sure to explore the numerous FREE activities on my COR Instruction page. It's a preview for some of the many engaging activities you will find in my Gods and Gifts Activity Book coming later this month.  If you enjoy Gods and Gifts, please leave a review on Amazon.

Sign up for my newsletter HERE and receive a free PDF copy of my first decodable book, No Gift for Man. Don't miss any of the fun-filled activities coming up for A Year of AWE: Authentic Writing Experiences.

Authentic Writing Experiences for July - Fun at the Fair

Summer and fall are the time for local fairs to pop up all around the country. Whether or not you are attending a real fair, consider reading Mr. Ferris and His Wheel written by Kathyrn Gibbs Davis and illustrated by Gilbert Ford. It's a picture book for all ages about the engineering and construction behind the first Ferris Wheel. It was first designed by engineer George Ferris as part of a competition to create something entirely new for the featured attraction for the Chicago World's Fair. 

George Ferris originally got his idea for this unique amusement park ride as he studied the water wheel near the home where he grew up.  He imagined something on a much larger scale that could carry people instead of water. 

If you do go to the fair, be sure to visit the Expo tent. This is the area where entrepreneurs demonstrate new products. Some will be things you've never seen before. When I was young, my parents didn't want to spend money on tickets for the rides, so we spent all of our time at the free exhibits. This can be a place where kids get bored, but you can make it fun by asking them questions about the products they see. Stimulate their imagination. Many of the gadgets have practical uses. You may even inspire your young person to invent the next new household cleaning aid or fly swatter.

Great inventions often begin with observing the world around us and imagining ordinary things repurposed in a brand-new way. Imagine how the following might be turned into an amusement park attraction: a slippy slide, a tree house, a gopher tunnel, a pinwheel, a whirligig, or even a flying seed.

Building on last month's idea of a nature journal, encourage kids to observe everyday things in the world around them and reimagine them for different uses. They could make a list in their nature journal or start a brand new journal for invention ideas. They might even build a design for their own unique amusement park attraction and create a 3D model with a paragraph describing it. 

Sign up for my newsletter HERE and receive a free copy of my first decodable book, No Gift for Man. Don't miss any of the fun-filled activities coming up for A Year of AWE: Authentic Writing Experiences.

My 2024 Conference Presentations

Texas Region 10 Summer Dyslexia Institute - Plano, TX July 23-24

July 23 - Title: The Goldilocks Effect: Finding "Just Right" Books for Struggling Readers - Fairview Room 

10:15-11:30 & 1:00-2:15 - Fairview Room

July 24 - Title: Using Narratives as a Bridge to Informational Text - Fairview Room 

10:15-11:30 & 1:00-2:15 - Sunny Slope

I will give a keynote address and a breakout session at the Wasatch Reading Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah October 3-4. Watch for details coming soon.


National Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference - November 21-24 - Boston, MAI will be part of an author/educator panel. Watch for details coming soon!

ASHA (American-Speech-Language-Hearing) Seattle Conference Center -  December 5-7

Session Number: 1238
Title: The Write Stuff: Creating Narrative-Based Interventions for Articulation, Vocabulary, Decoding, and More 
Day: Thursday, December 5, 2024
Time: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Gods and Gifts Coming in August

Set 1, Book 4: Gods and Gifts: Three Greek Myths Retold – (coming August 2024) The same three stories below that make up books 1-3 of the HOT ROD series are told in this chapter book version with black and white illustrations for older students and adults. Background information about the discovery of fire, additional creation myths, and other topics such as ancient writing systems and how we got our alphabet are included. Watch for details coming in August. A 200-page Activity Book will follow!

Level 1 – Closed syllables and consonant blends.

About Set 1: This set includes three colorful picture books that together form the Greek Creation Myth. They are separate books but work best as a set. Book 4 above will be a black-and-white version of the three stories for older students written as a chapter book. The decodable portion is the same as in Books 1-3 but Book 4 includes extensive background information. 

Set 1, Book 1: No Gift for Man – Zeus asks Prometheus and his brother to fill the world with living creatures. Prometheus makes man. Epimetheus creates the animals and gives them all sorts of interesting gifts, but when man comes around for his gift, there is nothing left. The story is available in paperback and e-book formats at Amazon. You may get a sneak peak PDF download for FREE if you sign up for my newsletter HERE. 

Set 1, Book 2: The Bandit - Prometheus steals fire from Mount Olympus to give to the humans and suffers the wrath of Zeus. Available as an ebook, paperback, or hardcover on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. You may also order books from your favorite local bookstore.

Set 1, Book 3: The Box – Zeus gets revenge on mankind for accepting the gift of fire. The gods create Pandora, giving her many talents and charms. Then they send her to Epimetheus as a bride and give the couple a mysterious box they are told to never open. Available on Amazon.

Sign up for my newsletter HERE and receive a free copy of my first decodable book, No Gift for Man. Don't miss any of the fun-filled activities coming up for A Year of AWE: Authentic Writing Experiences.

Communication Community Interview

While I was at the ASHA conference last November in Boston, I met the two lovely SLPs who run the Communication Community - Kristi Stearns and Becca Sylvia. They were my booth neighbors and asked to interview me at a future date for one of their Office Hour podcasts. That date has come. I recently joined them to discuss my journey as a Speech-Language Pathologist and what inspired me to write decodable books. The link to the interview and information about their online community may be found at Communication Community. 

ALA 2024 Conference Highlights

I got to sign my Hank the Tank books, talk about decodables, and share the wonderful work of Teach My Kid to Read at The 2024 American Library Association Conference in San Diego last weekend. I'm pictured above at the IBPA booth for the Independent Book Publishers Association. I talked with many librarians about resources for struggling readers. The man above is author Ryan Van Cleave who has compiled works by famous poets in beautifully illustrated books for children. I'll be talking more about his Edgar Allan Poe collection in October when my Level 3 decodable book, The Raven Remix: A Mashup of Poe Titles, is released. His publisher is Bushel and Peck. They had a fun book display just across the aisle from IBPA.

When I wasn't signing books, I helped out at the IBPA booth with other delightful volunteers, including Kathyrn Sparks from the American Academy of Pediatrics publishing department. In the photo below we just realized we were wearing the same navy blue pants from Betabrand. If you aren't familiar with their products, you must look them up. I won't share our fashion secrets here. (Hint: It involves the word "yoga.")

I ended the conference talking with librarians about my Hank the Tank Activity Book which recently was named a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Award over at the booth for Headline Books. Cathy Teets, owner of Headline Books invited the award winners to sign books at her booth. She made these amazing signs and hosted podcast interviews which will be available later this month. Watch for the link to my interview coming soon.

Sign up for my newsletter HERE and receive a free copy of my first decodable book, No Gift for Man. Don't miss any of the fun-filled activities coming up for A Year of AWE: Authentic Writing Experiences.