I Wish You More

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is one of my favorite authors.  Yesterday, in honor of #MOREforAKR, I went to my local bookstore and bought this book...

It was 1 of 3 books by her in the store and it was pre-owned...which made it only $5.37 (I would have paid full price for it though!)

In honor of #MOREforAKR I bought a handful of other books to hand out to some of my library students on Tuesday.  I bought an umbrella stamp and yellow paint so I can put the official Amy Krouse Rosenthal stamp of approval on them.  I plan to pass on the give of reading in honor of her.

This book is on my list for Day 3 of my #bookaday Challenge.  It is simple yet very powerful.  I plan to read it in library on Tuesday and hope that my students enjoy it as much as I did.  

On a side note, my son has discovered a new series that he loves (he read 3 chapter books today) and would like to start a blog of his own.  Stay tuned for more information ;)

Radiant Child #bookaday Challenge, Day 2

Today I read Radiant Child:  The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiet. 

Winner of both the 2017 Randolph Caldecott Medal and the 2017 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, this is the story of a young boy who overcame obstacles to become a radiant artist.  I loved the illustrations and how they told the story through his art.  It is a story of hope and perseverance.  Jean-Michel had a dream and he made it come true.  

I was sad to read that he passed away at such a young age.  I am thankful to author/illustrator Javaka Steptoe for sharing Jean-Michel Basquiat story with the world.

My #bookaday Challenge

I went to a conference yesterday and learned about the #bookaday challenge.

I took this little blurb about the challenge from Donalyn Miller's Blog.  

The #bookaday guidelines are simple:

• You set your own start date and end date.
• Read one book per day for each day of summer vacation. This is an average, so if you read three books in one day and none the next two, it still counts.
• Any book qualifies including picture books, nonfiction, professional books, audio books, graphic novels, poetry anthologies, or fiction—children’s, youth, or adult titles.
• Keep a list of the books you read and share them often via a social networking site like goodreads or Twitter (post using the #bookaday hashtag), a blog, or Facebook page. You do not have to post reviews, but you can if you wish. Titles will do.

I am going to start today, and read a #bookaday for the next 365 days (I will get to read a ton of new books AND become a better blogger at the same time!)  and then you can read about them on my blog :)  Here is the post for day 1.  Happy reading!

If You Plant a Seed

Today in class I read, "If You Plant a Seed" by Kadir Nelson.  If you haven't read his books or seen his illustrations, you are missing out on something amazing!

The paintings are beautiful and the message is powerful.  Spread kindness and it will come back to you many times over (and you may make a few friends along the way!)

This is book 1 of my #bookaday challenge.  

Lois Ehlert - Part 2

While celebrating Lois Ehlert, we read Snowballs (see my blog post about it here) and Oodles of Animals.

After reading the book, my students created animals using torn paper.  I just love what they came up with!!

Lois Ehlert - Part 1

https://theeducatorsspinonit.com/2012/09/lois-ehlert-author-study-virtual-book.html

The Author Spotlight was on Lois Ehlert during the month of November.  She turned 82 years old on November 9, 2016.  She is the author of numerous books, most of which lend themselves beautifully to the creation of art in our library.  We read The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life.  My students and I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about Lois Ehlert and the style in which she creates her art.  I highly recommend this book!

In the past I have had students create art using the book Eating the Alphabet but this year we used Snowball and Oodles of Animals.

This is how we made our snowmen after reading Snowballs...

Each student got to choose 3 torn "snowballs".  

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I used a chip and dip tray to organize the supplies.  There were feathers, buttons, noodles, black beans, scraps of fleece, pom poms, and ribbon.

Supplies, paper and glue all set up for a Pre-K class.  They weren't good at writing their names yet, so I wrote their names on the paper and had them look for their name :)  

Some of the finished products...

       

          

      

Blizzard

I wasn't alive during the Blizzard of '78 but my parents were and since it was only 3 years before I was born, I grew up hearing a lot about this infamous weather event!

Before we read this story in class, I shared some facts about blizzards and had them guess which Chickadee book we were reading in class.  It didn't take very long for them to guess which book we were reading!

I really enjoyed John Rocco's account of the Blizzard of '78!  I also loved the very creative ways in which he showed the passing of the days on each page.

There is a really neat fold out map that shows his journey through the neighborhood on his way to the store.  We took a detailed look at that map and then the students drew maps of their own neighborhoods.  It was really neat to see what about their neighborhood was important to them and also to see how many (or few) details each student included.  Here are a few examples of the maps that my students drew...

 

Dragon's Extraordinary Egg

This was an amazing book!

I loved it, my students loved it and my 6 year old son loved it!  What more can I say?  Here is what we did in library...

In 3rd and 4th grade we made origami penguins

    Origami Penguin display with Non-Fiction and Fiction penguin books.

 While my group did origami, the other group of students watched a video from the author/illustrator, Debi Gliori.

In 1st/2nd Grade, the student wrote penguin facts and drew pictures to go along with their fact.

In my Pre-K/Kindergarten class, we drew penguins and made a winter display to show off our handiwork :)

Back to School

I know this is not the right time of year, but I am transferring some things from my old blog to my new blog...so, back to school we go (at nearly the end of the year!)

It's that time of year again!  I have been back to school and busy getting my new library space freshened up!  It is the first time that I have had my own classroom in many, many years and I have had so much fun decorating!

This year I am going to start an Author Spotlight bulletin board.

I have not finished it yet, but my first author in the spotlight will be Roald Dahl.  He is such a fun author and we will be celebrating his 100th birthday this month!  I downloaded the 100th birthday Party Pack here.  Yesterday I picked up this fabulous dictionary, too!

My 7 year old son has had a blast reading this book!

Here are some other shots of my library...

I've added labels to help kids find their way around our new library

The Cat in the Hat sits next to our Dr. Seuss books.

Dewey numbers on the wall and L is for Library alphabet above. If you look down in the far side of the picture, you can see my portrait, "Pigeon on Canvas"

Let's Draw the Pigeon

Go ahead and google, "let's draw the pigeon"...or just click here.  What will you find?  Step by step directions on how to draw the Mo Willems' Pigeon!  Pretty cool, huh?

After reading, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" we drew the Pigeon, step by step, as a class.  Class #2, pick a different Pigeon book and ask for "wisdom" from your students.  (here is the blog post about wisdom)  I usually talk about wisdom as being advice, like you might get from an adult in your life.

Pigeon + Wisdom = instant cuteness.  Here are a couple of examples...

           
                                            

"Pigeon Wisdom" from little ones...

Recently, in the younger grades, we have read some of Mo Willem's Pigeon books.

 

My favorite part of these books are their interactive nature.  That, and the fact that they are hilarious and make kids laugh!  Along with these books, we talk about "wisdom" or advice that they might get from parents or teachers.   I'm going to share some of the wisdom from my Pre-K and Kindergarten classes...which I have dubbed, "Pigeon Wisdom"

~ "Don’t let me go into a pile of dirt."

~ "Don’t let horses poop on you."

~ "Don’t let the squirrels come in your house and get in the trash         

can."

~"Don't turn yourself into a dog."

Tune in soon to see the final product...hand drawn pigeons along with their "Pigeon Wisdom."  You want to miss them!!!

Read Across America

Read Across America!

Schools across America celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss in many ways!  This year I celebrated by dressing up as a Seuss character and "wearing my words".  My son participated in silly sock day, PJ day and he also dressed up as a Guff.  The other thing you find during Read Across America week is kids reading, reading, reading!!!  In library we read Seuss books, created Suess inspired books, and learned Suess facts.  I read a book that I picked and then let them choose from 5 other books to decide which other book they wanted to hear.

Here are some our creations fashioned after, "There's a Wocket in my Pocket"

                                            

I also gave the students Dr. Seuss Bookmarks that I created in Microsoft Word.

Here is the link if you would like to use them in your own classroom or library!   Dr. Seuss Bookmarks 

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time, I met Ryan T. Higgins.  He is a hilariously funny author/illustrator/vegetarian!  He visited my library promoting his book, "This Book Does Not Have Words."

             

The kids were like, "what kind of book has no words?  How will you read it to us?"  The book does have words...very funny words!

My son was so inspired, that he took time to illustrate his own version of, "This Book Does Not Have Words."  Here are a few of my Ryan's versions..

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The inspiration for this post is that I discovered that Ryan T. Higgins has a new book!  I'm going to buy it immediately.  I'm sure I will love, "Mother Bruce" but I will let you know for sure as soon as I can get my hands on a copy!