Sitting on the sofa, my dog Lucy on one side of me, my cat Noodles on the other.
Watching a rerun of Blue Bloods.
Drinking a cup of tea.
Feeling relaxed and thankful that it’s almost Friday.
Wondering if we will have a snow day tomorrow.
Thinking about my mother’s upcoming 80th birthday party.
Mustering up the energy to clean the kitchen.
Knitting a fuzzy mohair scarf.
Later, I’ll be…
Reading Birds, Art, Love: A Year of Observation, by Kyo Maclear or See You in the Cosmos, by Jack Cheng.
Reflecting about a new reading unit a teacher and I are writing.
Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Last weekend, like many of you, I was heartbroken to read Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s devastating essay in the New York Times, “You May Want to Marry My Husband.” Amy is dying of ovarian cancer, and this essay is a love letter to her husband and her wish for his future.
I am a longtime fan of Rosenthal’s wildly creative and imaginative picture books, including Duck, Rabbit and Exclamation Mark (!). Amy’s wisdom and humor are on full display in her TED talks and short videos. I love them all, but I think “Book-Filled House” and “Kindness Thought Bubble” are my favorites.
In “Thought Bubble: Kindness,” Amy asks viewers, “What have you filled the world with?” She reminds us that “more positive human interactions is central to a meaningful life.” It’s a reminder worth repeating and sharing.
With these words in my mind, I went searching for my copy of the completely charming Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons (HarperCollins, 2006). These lessons arise out of the steps of making and sharing a batch of cookies. Every negative impulse is balanced by a positive response, and in the end readers are filled up with love and wisdom.
And so it was that this book was sitting on my desk this morning when a first grade student arrived in my room with a very long face. He has struggled and made slow progress since the beginning of the year. “What’s wrong?” I asked. He explained that he’d had a run in with another student during P.E, and had gotten in trouble. I knew my lesson would be wasted if I just went ahead. So I pulled out Cookies and began reading. By the time we got to this page, he was smiling and agreed it would be better to be optimistic than pessimistic.
We finished the book and he was ready to learn. He worked hard and had fun reading the poem and book I had chosen for the day. A serving of kindness was just what he needed.
Thank you, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, for this and all your lovely book, and thank you for filling the world with your love and light.
Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
What does the moon do all day and all night? Laura Purdie Salas answers this question in her enchanting new picture book, If You Were the Moon. Cheerfully personified, the moon, spends its days and nights engaged in many familiar activities of childhood and displays many familiar moods. A spirited moon plays “dodgeball with space rocks” and peak-a-boo with Earth. The moon is helpful when it “lights a pathway to the sea” for sea turtle hatchlings. Salas also casts the moon as joyous, inspiring, and loving. When the moon sings “Earth a silver lullaby,” children will want to climb into bed to hear its song.
Millbrook Press, 2017
Jaime Kim’s whimsical illustrations capture these different moods by creating a wonderfully expressive moon. The magical quality of the book is enhanced by a scattering of what could be stardust over every page.
For all its playfulness, If You Were the Moon is grounded in facts. On each page, Salas included informational paragraphs, written in clear, child-friendly language to describe the moon’s phases and tidal effects, theories about how the moon was formed, and more. There is a brief glossary, as well as suggestions for further reading.
This book is a must-have for any PreK or early elementary classroom. The spare, poetic text is a perfect mentor for children’s writing, and the factual portions of the book will generate many questions. A comprehensive Educators Guide is available here, and a treasure-trove of other goodies can be found here. If You Were the Moon will spark the imaginations of all who read it.
Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts. Also, please be sure to visit Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers for more book recommendations.
“Now is the time to understand more, so we may fear less.” Marie Curie
I was seven when I bought my first book with money I earned. My mother gave me a quarter every week for making my bed and picking my toys up each day. This precious coin always burned a hole in my pocket. I could hardly wait until our next trip to Hart’s Five and Dime.
This store was a mecca for me when I was a kid. I loved the bell that jingled when you opened the door. The air had a distinctive scent which might have been dust mingled with the comings and goings of a few shoppers. It was never crowded. The shelves were stocked with an eclectic assortment of household necessities: light bulbs, extension cords, dish towels, and soap. One aisle was devoted to yarn and needlework supplies. There was a candy aisle. And of course, a toy aisle. My sister always made a bee line for the Breyer horse models. I always went right to the books.
Near the back of the store, among rows of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, was a rack of Junior Golden Guides. These little books were almost square, about the size of a slice of bread. There was a Junior Golden Guide for what seemed to me like every imaginable subject. The first one I paid for with my hard-earned allowance was Seashells.
As soon as I got home, I raced to my room and assembled my collection of shells so I could use my prized new book to identify each specimen. I must have read that book a hundred times. Eventually I bought other titles from the series. Cats and Coins are the two that stand out in my memory. And so my life-long book buying spree began. I go through phases when I swear I’m not going to buy another book, ever, because I’ll never read all the books I already have. But then a favorite author publishes a new novel, or a new professional book comes out that I must read.
By Jessie Willcox Smith [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
This trip down memory lane began because of a statement made by Katie Wood Ray at the New England Reading Association’s conference last spring. I have always been a huge fan of Ray’s work. Her book, Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom changed my teaching. Her words have been front and center in my thinking ever since:
“We have to make ourselves as smart as we can be about our work so we can be articulate about our beliefs.”
There are many ways we can “make ourselves smart.” Being observant and reflective as we spend our days with children is critical. So is reading the latest research from respected leaders in education, people like Katie Wood Ray and Vicki Vinton, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. Reading the blogs of teachers from around the country, including many of us taking part in this writing challenge, is also key. These posts give us insight into how other teachers handle and react to the problems and issues we face in our own classrooms. When we realize we are not alone in our dilemmas, when we gather ideas and suggestions from other experienced educators, we feel more empowered to deal with the challenges confronting us.
Identifying my shells in my treasured Junior Golden Guide may not have been a milestone in world history, but it laid a cornerstone for a life of trying to make myself smart, a life of seeking to understand so I can do my part to make the world a better place.
Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
This post is part of “DigiLit Sunday,” hosted by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. This week’s topic is Real V. Fake News. Please be sure to visit Margaret’s blog to read more Digilit Sunday contributions.
When I taught third grade, learning about our solar system was part of the curriculum. My students researched a planet to learn about its distance from the sun, length of year, etc. It wasn’t very sophisticated according to Blooms Taxonomy or Webb’s DOK, but at that time, it was the first “academic” experience my students had with research. I remember they were surprised to discover discrepancies in information. One book (yes, in the late 1990s, we used mostly books) said X, another said Y, and a third said Z. This was a good introduction for them into the importance of checking multiple resources and using trusted sources.
In my current role as Literacy Specialist, I spend most of my time with first graders who are finding it hard to remember the difference between short i and short e, so the topic of fake news hasn’t come up too much.
But the other part of my job does involve working with teachers to develop and improve curriculum. The Common Core State Standards clearly addresses the issue of valid and accurate sources:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.8
Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility
and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
Which means that being alert to “fake news” has been embedded into our curriculum for a number of years, and was even before the CCSS came out with these explicit standards.
But, as Thomas Friedman points out in his column, “Online and Scared,” we have reached a “tipping point” where “a critical mass of our interactions have moved to a realm where we’re all connected but no one’s in charge.”
Wow. That is scary. Friedman goes on to quote Alan S. Cohen calling for a “new social compact”that will help reign in the wild west feel to cyberspace. Freidman states “work on that compact has to start with every school teaching children digital civics.” Not only do students “need to bring skepticism and critical thinking to everything they read,” a “basic civic decency” has to underlie “everything they write.”
This is a huge responsibility, but really not so different from how the school where I teach has operated for many years. Still, I feel I need more information and additional resources. A Google search for “teaching the difference between real and fake news” yielded “about 58,600,000 results (0.36 seconds).”
Where to begin? Right away, I started to filter these links using what I know about the “credibility of each source.” An NPR story from November about students’ inability to tell the difference between real and fake news was the top story, and the page included links to articles from PBS and the Wall Street Journal.
Stony Brook University School of Journalism’s Center for News Literacy’s website has extensive resources, including articles on News Literacy, a Digital Resource Center, and an online course. Both of these resources, and more like them, are worth investigating.
The concept of fake news isn’t new. Clearly, its more pervasive and we are more aware of it. For these reasons, we have to be vigilant that our students have the tools they need to be informed consumers of news and information.
Back to those first graders. I’m not going to start incorporating information about real and fake news into my lessons. I do, however think it’s important to help children develop a sense of perspective, which is related to this issue, as early as possible. To help them with this, I am going to share Brendan Wenzel’s brilliant They All Saw a Cat (Chronicle Books, 2016). Helping them understand that everyone sees things just a little differently doesn’t mean that a person is wrong. There is a difference between making stories up (otherwise known as fiction) and looking at an issue from many points of view.In fact, being open to the experiences of others makes our own view of the world richer. There’s nothing fake about that.
Last January, a colleague and I decided to challenge our students to make Reading Resolutions. A few other teachers in our building adopted our idea. Although I don’t have statistics about our outcomes, getting kids to talk about and read books they wouldn’t have otherwise considered can be counted as a success. (By the way, I finished the Very Famous Book last February.)
We are making Reading Resolutions again this year. Here are our suggested reading resolutions for 2017, adapted from Scholastic’s “100 New Year’s Reading Resolutions”.
We’re encouraging kids to pick books from at least two categories, but there are so many books I want to read, I didn’t have any trouble choosing a book for each category.
A book written by someone from Connecticut–Connecticut author and poet Leslie Bulion’s The Universe of Fair (Peachtree, 2012)—Leslie visited our school last fall and gave us a copy of this book, which was inspired by the Durham Fair. Other teachers have read it to their students, but I haven’t gotten ahold of it yet.
Best friend’s favorite book— This was hard. My dearest friend and I read many of the same books, and I’ve already read her very favorite book, Little Women. While we were talking about something else, she mentioned The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk, by Paul Gallico. Anything about World War II is always interesting to me, so this was an easy choice.
A book of poetry/novel in verse—I will probably read dozens of books in this category this year. I finished Jeannine Atkins lovely Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science yesterday, and have One Last Word (Bloomsbury, 2017), by Nikki Grimes on my desk. Maybe I should modify this to be one book from this category every week.
A book set in a country where I do not live—There are so many possibilities for this category. I haven’t read Symphony for the City of the Dead, (Candlewick, 2015) M.T. Anderson’s book about Dimitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. Given my penchant for books about WWII, this seems like a good choice.
A book published the year I was born—Somehow I never read The Cricket in Times Square, written by George Selden and illustrated by Garth Williams, even though I still have the copy I bought at the book fair when I was in 4th grade!
A graphic novel or comic book—Another category with so many worthy choices. I love Matt Phelan’s work, and his reimagining of Snow White (Candlewick, 2016) set in Manhattan during the Depression intrigues me.
A nonfiction book about a topic I know nothing about—Last summer I heard Ed Yong speak about his book I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life (Ecco, 2016). I read about half the book in August, but was distracted once school started. I resolve to get back to it and finish it.
Newbery Award or honor book—I’ve read all the recent medal winners, but there are many honor books I’d like to read. I will definitely read whatever wins this year if I haven’t already. Stay tuned.
A book written this year—As I skimmed through the January/February issue of The Horn Book, Iquickly came up with at least half a dozen titles for this category. I want to read Isaac the Alchemist: Secrets of Isaac Newton, Reveal’d (Candlewick) by Mary Losure, coming out in Feburary. Then there’s Rachel Vail’s Well, That Was Awkward (Viking), or Me and Marvin Gardens (Levine/Scholastic), which are both also out in February.
A book in a genre I’ve never read before—How about a genre I don’t like? Horror is probably my least favorite genre, but I don’t read too much science fiction either. I have an ARC of Fuzzy, by Tom Angleberger and Paul Dellinger, so for now, that’s my choice.
What books are you resolving to read this year? Please be sure to visit Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers for more book recommendations.
At the risk of being late to the party for these books about love and kindness, I want to share them here because, let’s face it, the world needs all love and kindness we can give.
Last August I had a terrible time choosing a theme for my Picture Book 10 for 10 list. I had two or three ideas, and over thirty books to choose from. One that didn’t make my list of books that feed our imaginations was Best Frints in the Whole Universe (Roaring Brook Press) by Antoinette Portis. This book is on Betsy Bird’s list of “The Best Picture Books of 2016” and was chosen as a Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2016. Last summer their reviewer called it “cosmically delightful” and I whole-heartedly agree.
“Yelfred and Omek have been best frints since they were little blobbies.” But, as anyone who’s ever had a best frint knows, the course of true friendship, like love, never does run smooth. Of course Yelfred and Omek work out their difficulties and discover that “best frints are the best thing of all.”
Portis’s joyfully wacky planet Boborp language will entertain all PreK-first grade readers, but why should they have all the fun? I’d share this book with second grade and beyond both for pure enjoyment and for the theme.
A Hat for Mrs. Goldman: A Story About Knitting and Love (Schwartz & Wade, 2016) by Michelle Edwards and illustrated by G. Brian Karas stole my heart. This book is also on Betsy Bird’s list, and I would have included this on the list of knitting books I shared early in December, except I hadn’t read it yet. Mrs. Goldman knits hats for “the tiniest babies” and“Hats for small, medium, and large friends and neighbors.” Her young friend Sophia makes pom-poms for all of these hats. One day, while they’re walking Mrs. Goldman’s dog, Sophia notices and worries about Mrs. Goldman’s bare head. She decides to “make Mrs. Goldman the most special hat in the world.” What follows is as much a story of perseverance and inspiration as it about love and friendship.
This story of intergenerational friendship reminded me of Eileen Spinelli’s Sophie’s Masterpiece and A Gift for Tia Rosa, by Karen T. Taha.Be warned that reading Edwards’s heartwarming tale may inspire young knitters to try their hand at creating their own “Sophia Hat”. Thankfully, Edwards and knitter Theresa Gaffney have teamed up to design a pattern that novice knitters should be able to knit without too much trouble.
The arrival of a new baby brings joy and always inspires me to break out my knitting needles. So it was this past weekend when my niece and her husband welcomed their third child, Vera. As I was putting the finishing touches on a frilly hat, I began thinking about picture books that spread the happiness a hand-knit gift brings.
Shall I Knit You a Hat (Macmillan, 2004) by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise begins with Mother Rabbit hearing the news of “a blizzard moving this way.” She immediately knits a hat to keep Little Rabbit’s ears warm. Kind-hearted Little Rabbit loves his hat so much he asks Mother Rabbit to make hats for all their friends.
The theme of spreading love and warmth through hand-knitted hats is extended to sweaters for all, including animals, houses, and trees, in Mac Barnett’s Extra Yarn (Blazer + Bray, 2012). Hidden in the simplicity of this Caldecott Honor book, illustrated by Jon Klassen, are deep ideas about generosity and the true worth of a loving spirit.
Much to the dismay of his captain, Ned, the Knitting Pirate, by Diana Murray and illustrated by Leslie Lammle (Macmillan, 2016), loves to knit. But when an sea monster attacks their ship, Ned’s hand-knit “blanket with the jolly roger crest” comforts the angry beast and saves the day.
These books share a sense of love and comfort that we sorely need right now. They are perfect read-alouds for inspiring generosity in young children.
My knitting also inspired this #haikuforhealing, part of Mary Lee Hahn’s December haiku project.
loops of spun softness
slip off quicksilver needles
cozy hat blossoms
“The purpose of knowledge is to appreciate wonders even more.” Richard Feynman
(A few weeks ago, the theme of Margaret Simon’s #Digilit Sunday was PURPOSE. Since then, I’ve been jotting ideas and working to clearly articulate my thoughts around this topic.)
In the Prologue of The Search for Delicious, Natalie Babbitt refers to “those commonplace marvels which [the world] spreads so carelessly before us everyday.” When I taught third grade, I read this book to my students every year. Babbitt’s magical tale of mythical creatures and human folly was a perennial favorite. The story of Galen’s quest for the elusive definition of delicious is nothing less than a metaphor for the quest for knowledge of any kind.
Helping children be attuned to these marvels and to be filled with a sense of wonder about the world has always been at the heart of my teaching. I want to help my students learn to be enchanted with the world around them. In my classroom, as often as possible, routines are woven into our days that nurture this ability. Such seemingly prosaic objects as dried sunflower heads, birds’ nests, and seashells become treasures to marvel over. I want my students to understand that they are explorers, and that the world is full of mysteries waiting to be uncovered.
So every book I read, every lesson or activity I teach is chosen or designed to lay out these wonders and enchant students. Enchant them so they grow a love of the world and become better stewards of our planet. I want them to look at the moon and see a peach nodding off, its eye at half-mast. Or hear music in the rattle of dried out bamboo as a woodpecker prospects for his breakfast.
I want to enchant them so they grow a love of words, and come alive as readers and writers. I want them to read and write with joy, in a way that allows them to deepen their understanding of themselves. I want them to find a book that holds up a mirror and lets them know they’re not alone. Someone else understands them and loves them, warts and all. I want them to read books that will open windows and help them discover truths about others, and the world around them. I want them to set out each day searching for, finding, and loving the possibilities in themselves and in one another.
That is my purpose. That is my passion.
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge once reminded “clever young poets” that poetry is “the best words in the best order.” Joyce Sidman’s poetry embodies this advice. In her latest book, Before Morning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Sidman has chosen just sixty-six words and crafted them into a lyrical incantation full of love and longing.
A hallmark of Sidman’s poetry is her unexpected metaphors and images, and Before Morning is true to form. We’re instantly lured into “the deep woolen dark” where “the earth turns to sugar/and all that is heavy/turns light.”A deceptively simple rhyme scheme is almost “hidden from sight,” but adds to this book’s rhythm and beauty.
Beth Krommes‘s scratchboard and watercolor illustrations give a marvelous depth to Sidman’s poem and resonate in unexpected ways. Sidman herself has said that the illustrations were “a complete surprise.” Krommes, who has illustrated two of Joyce’s earlier books, Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006)and Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), provides a setting that is instantly recognizable to readers: the hustle and bustle of daily life. Children will want to pore over the details of this family’s life and will find surprises on every page.
In her author’s note, Joyce explains that Before Morning is “an invocation—a poem that invites something to happen.” She goes on to encourage readers to think about their own wishes and find the best words for them.
I tried to find the best words I could to express how much I love this book. My wish is for Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes to continue collaborating and creating stunning picture books like Before Morning.
![By Jessie Willcox Smith [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/wilcox.jpg?w=240&h=367)
Reading to the Core 