What Are You Doing This Month?

What is your favorite type of book?

I am a big fan of picture books for children or all ages (even adults)!

According to the School Library Journal, a group of authors and illustrators banded together to declare November 2011 as the first Picture Book Month:

Picture Book Month is an international initiative to encourage and celebrate literacy with picture books, says founder Dianne de Las Casas, an author and storyteller, who along with authors/illustrators Katie Davis, Elizabeth O. Dulemba, Wendy Martin, and author Tara Lazar have joined forces to spread the word that picture books are alive and well, especially in this digital age where an unprecedented amount of picture books have been made into ebooks and are on ereading devices such as the iPad, the Nook, and the Kindle.

Since it is Picture Book Month again in 2012:

• I could make an extra long list of my favorite picture book and/or authors of picture book.
• I could develop a list of reasons for teachers to read picture books with their students.
• I could look through my writing resources and provide a list of picture books to use to highlight certain writing skills for students.
• I could approach this from an art perspective to describe the importance of the pictures in picture books.

Look at all these resources (all the sites listed are content partners of Thinkfinity):

Wonderopolis

• #254 Why don’t all books have pictures?
• #340 How many different ways can you read?
• #376 Where is the Hundred Acre Wood?
• #226 How can you become a better reader?
• #210 Who was Mother Goose?
• #150 Who was Theodore Geisel?

ReadWriteThink (I was surprised how many resources I found for middle and high school)

• The Children’s Picture Book Project
• Picture Books as Framing Texts: Research Paper Strategies for Struggling Writers
• Using Picture Books to Explore Identity, Stereotyping, and Discrimination
• Creative Writing Through Wordless Picture Books
• Inclusive Stories: Teaching About Disabilities With Picture Books
• Using Picture Books to Teach Setting Development in Writing Workshop
• Using Children’s Literature to Spark Learning
• Postmodern Picture Books in Middle School
• Females in the Spotlight: Strong Characters in Picture Books
• Comparing and Contrasting: Picturing an Organizational Pattern Using Picture Books as Mentor Texts
• Preparing for the Journey: An Introduction to the Hero Myth Using Picture Books

ArtsEdge 

• Set a Poem to Music:  After exploring a “singable” picture book as a class, each student examines a personally selected poem for rhythm to determine its musical meter. Using previous musical skills, students set the poem to music. As a final reflection, they create a two-page spread of a picture book that contains their “singable” poem.
• Map it Out:  Explore how illustrations contribute to the telling of a story by creating illustrations to accompany text, and then creating text to accompany illustrations. Students will explore picture books (without words) and discuss the specific elements of the illustrations that “tell” the story. They will learn to “read” illustrations as they look at the ways in which pictures reveal information about the characters, setting, and plot of a story.
• Animal Habitats: Pre-readers are introduced to animal habitats through story, song, and dramatic play using children’s picture books. Students use chronological ordering and phonics to reinforce beginning literacy skills. Students explore a non-traditional method of book illustration and create their own story page

Let’s Celebrate Picture Books this month and all year long!!

What are things you can do to celebrate Picture Book Month?

*I created the word cloud by copying and pasting a list of picture book titles using Wordle.net (I used a tilde ~ between words to keep the words in the titles together)

*Title Image created using LetteringDelights.com

Picture Books for All!!

Since November 2011 has been declared Picture Book Month by a group of authors and illustrators (see my previous post: Instructional Resources and Picture Books!! for more information), I want to share a few more things I have found related to picture books!

Here are some great quotes about picture books that I found in Strategies That Work: Teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement by S. Harvey and A. Goudis:

• "There is a picture book for every reader and a reader for every reader."
• "The wide range of themes, issues, words, and ideas reach out into classrooms like tentacles drawing in each member, regardless of the different learning styles, ages, reading levels, or prior experiences."
• "We need to think about all  the students who can benefit from these books." 
• "Picture books offer certain unique advantages when we deliver instruction."
• "Readers are more likely to comprehend material that interests them and that is written in a compelling way."
• According to C.S. Lewis, "No book is worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty."

I found these resources when I did a search for picture book on netTrekker:

• New York Public Library: 100 Picture Books  
  This website, provided by the New York Public Library, alpabetically lists 100 children's picture books that "Everyone should know."
• Picture Book: directory of children's illustrations This website provides resources for the illustrators and publishers of children's books. Here, fans of children's books can view several art portfolios and artists can create and manage their own online galleries.
• Children's Literature in Mathematics  
  Excellent resource for using children's literature in your math lesson. Books are listed by topic groupings and are linked to related resources. 

There is also a hashtag on twitter being used to share great information about picture book month. Check out #picturebookmonth for other great resources related to picture books from all over.

photo source

Instructional Resources and Picture Books !!!

What is your favorite type of book?

I am a big fan of picture books for children or all ages (even adults)!

According to the School Library Journal, a group of authors and illustrators have banded together to declare November 2011 as Picture Book Month:

Picture Book Month is an international initiative to encourage and celebrate literacy with picture books, says founder Dianne de Las Casas, an author and storyteller, who along with authors/illustrators Katie Davis, Elizabeth O. Dulemba, Wendy Martin, and author Tara Lazar have joined forces to spread the word that picture books are alive and well, especially in this digital age where an unprecedented amount of picture books have been made into ebooks and are on ereading devices such as the iPad, the Nook, and the Kindle.

I decided to look at a few of my favorite resources (these are all content partners of Thinkfinity)  to see what they have related to picture books:

Wonderopolis

• #254 Why don't all books have pictures?
• #340 How many different ways can you read?
• #376 Where is the Hundred Acre Wood?
• #226 How can you become a better reader?
• #210 Who was Mother Goose?
• #150 Who was Theodore Geisel?

ReadWriteThink (I was surprised how many resources I found for middle and high school)

• The Children’s Picture Book Project
• Picture Books as Framing Texts: Research Paper Strategies for Struggling Writers 
• Using Picture Books to Explore Identity, Stereotyping, and Discrimination
• Creative Writing Through Wordless Picture Books 
• Inclusive Stories: Teaching About Disabilities With Picture Books
• Using Picture Books to Teach Setting Development in Writing Workshop
• Using Children’s Literature to Spark Learning
• Postmodern Picture Books in Middle School 
• Females in the Spotlight: Strong Characters in Picture Books 
• Comparing and Contrasting: Picturing an Organizational Pattern Using Picture Books as Mentor Texts
• Preparing for the Journey: An Introduction to the Hero Myth Using Picture Books

ArtsEdge

• Set a Poem to Music:  After exploring a “singable” picture book as a class, each student examines a personally selected poem for rhythm to determine its musical meter. Using previous musical skills, students set the poem to music. As a final reflection, they create a two-page spread of a picture book that contains their “singable” poem.
• Map it Out:  Explore how illustrations contribute to the telling of a story by creating illustrations to accompany text, and then creating text to accompany illustrations. Students will explore picture books (without words) and discuss the specific elements of the illustrations that "tell" the story. They will learn to "read" illustrations as they look at the ways in which pictures reveal information about the characters, setting, and plot of a story.
• Animal Habitats: Pre-readers are introduced to animal habitats through story, song, and dramatic play using children’s picture books. Students use chronological ordering and phonics to reinforce beginning literacy skills. Students explore a non-traditional method of book illustration and create their own story page

I was pleasantly delighted with what I was able to find when I went to various instructional resource site and simply searched for "picture books" since there were so many interesting finds! Besides the few sites listed above, here are the search results on Thinkfinity, netTrekker, Shmoop, LEARN NC, and even Learn360!

Let's Celebrate Picture Books this month and all year long!!


*I created the image at the top by copying and pasting a list of picture book title to make a word cloud using Wordle.net (I used a tilde ~ between words to keep the words in the titles together)

Explore Books in 60 Seconds!

Instead of "boring" text-based book reviews, 60second Recap offers teens engaging book summaries in 60 second video segments. Why 60 seconds? If you only have 60 seconds to get your point across, you have to think about whats essential and relevant for the reader to know. The Recaps provide a great way to generate class discussions about books and various literary concepts. What makes 60second Recap valuable?

• The videos are relevant, engaging, and to the point! (60 seconds or less)
  

• The Recaps deepen the meaning of a story in a way the reader can understand

• Videos segments are broken down into categories making it easier to find what you are looking for (an overview, plot, theme, motif, symbols, etc.)

• Their library offers a lengthy collection (including some of my favorites like Night and Animal Farm) to teachers and students
  

• There is a video gallery to help students understand complex literary terms like allegory, satire, motif, and many others
  

• Their "Recap Resource" provides writing resources like "How to write a paper that won't put your teacher to sleep..."

While you are enjoying your summer, take 60 seconds to explore a new book or refresh yourself on a classic. 60second Recap is worth a look!

A Daring Librarian Banishes Book Reports with Twitter

One of my favorite blogs to follow is The Daring Librarian. Gwyneth Jones, also known as The Daring Librarian, is a middle school teacher librarian at Murray Hill Middle School in Laurel, MD. Her award winning blog has been recognized by Edublog and featured on the Wikispaces Blog. This year she was recognized as an innovator by LibraryJournal.com. Gwyneth's blog offers quality resources and ideas that could be adopted by any teacher regardless of their content, which is why its always at the top of the list in my Google Reader.

"Banish the Book Report!" was a presentation I came across on the Murray Hill wiki. The title alone intrigued me. As I continued to read, I came across Gwyneth's idea for a Twitter style book review lesson. Just like with Twitter, students are limited to 140 characters for their reviews. Students can only give a sample of what the book is a about, without giving away too much information. In addition, students will need to rate the books and provide potential readers with a shortened link to the Amazon book listing.

How could this lesson benefit your students? It will challenge your students on a higher level by encouraging them to focus on whats essential for a potential reader to know. Simply put, if you cannot get your point across in a concise message, is it really worth sharing at all? Communicating in a clear and concise manner is not only crucial for this assignment, but its a life skill! The information students share will need to be meaningful.

For written directions and resources on how to implement this lesson, check out Gwyneth's post. For more alternatives to book reports, explore "Alternatives to the Dreaded Book Report."

A Book Treasure Chest

I grew up with a love of reading. I saw my parents reading. I saw books in our house (my dad's office is overflowing with books with folded corners and notes written on pages ... hmmm I just realized that may help explain why most of my books have folded corners and notes written in them). I remember stories being read to me, for some reason I really remember hearing Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst (one of my mom's favorite authors). I enjoy reading and learning about reading and books. I enjoyed teaching reading and writing when I taught 4th grade. I especially enjoyed connected reading and writing as well as helping students make those connections.

Even though I now work in Instructional Technology, I still love learning about reading and finding great children's books (I also have a 5 year daughter who I hope will enjoy reading too). I was delighted on day to find Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac. Each day on her site, a book is presented along with some background of the story and/or the author. Anita Silvey has a nice way of telling just enough to get you interested but not giving away the whole story.

Daily children’s book recommendations and events from Anita Silvey.

Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics . . .

The new books on their way to becoming classics . . .

And events from the world of children’s books—and the world at large.

But there is more to look at that just one story each day! There is always an image of the book/story she is going to focus on the next day. You can also search the book archives by age group, book type, subject, date the book was showcased and more. I decided to look at the book searches and see what I could find!

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo was one of my favorite books to read and study with my 4th grade students (here are a few of the projects they did with this book). In that book, one can find some many opportunities to introduce, practice, assess, and reinforce so many reading and writing skills. (Not only did I enjoy reading it with students, I just enjoy the book too!). You can find this book discussed on Anita Silvey's site by looking for fiction books. You could also find it in the elementary school category.

As someone who likes to say that I try to learn something new each day, I am so glad to have found Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac. Not only does she introduce a book each day, but a reader can find a box on the side with information about other events that happened on that day in history related to books and reading.

Since I wanted to remember to check her site each day since I was sure I would find lots of great information. I wrote to Anita Silvey and got her permission to place the Children's Book-A-Day Almanac's logo on the sidebar of my blog. (I added a picture gadget and then linked it to her site). I am glad she agreed because I love looking at the book treasure chest she is creating ...

Why Not Have Students Write Their Own Book!

Do you feel the urge to write a book? What kind of book would it be? Are you in the mood the write a comedy, suspense thriller or a documentary? Perhaps your life has been interesting enough to write a bibliography or maybe you just want to write a book about your family history. Maybe you or your family just came back from an amazing journey and you would like to write about it. Of course you will need to include pictures of your adventures as well. Why not have your students write a book. This could be an ongoing major project throughout the year or you could have students collaborate. Please remember collaboration and creativity are some of the 21st Century skills that we are trying to inspire in our students. Wherever your passion lies, let your thoughts and/or your students’ thoughts flow. Go to http://www.blurb.com/my/dashboard register and download the software to begin writing your book.
The first step is to customize your front cover, back cover and flaps. However, if you are creating a soft cover book, you won’t have flaps. There are many design options to do this. The next step is to choose a design theme for your book which includes your font, coordinating colors, page backgrounds and other design details. You also have the ability to change the page layout. You can choose from several different designs. You have the capability to select the font attributes on every page which of course includes font type, size, bold, italic, alignment, line spacing, bulleted lists, etc. There is also a spelleng cheker, but who needs that? You can drag and drop photographs stored on your computer or add your photos from iphoto, slurp, Flickr, Picassa or SmugMug. You also have the ability to crop, zoom or rotate each of your pictures. Now, you wouldn’t hang a picture on the wall without a frame would you? Please tell me no! Well, go ahead and add frames around your pictures. The BookSmart software you are working in will inform you of any problems you might have in your book such as an overflow of text or a picture that is too large for the resolution you have chosen. At this point you are nearly done. Print out and proof your book carefully. Once you are completely satisfied with your work, click “order book”. You can have them print as many copies of the book as you would like and send them directly to friends, family or not so good friends. The prices of the books rage from $4.95 to over $100 depending on your book size, design elements and the number of copies you order. These books are printed professionally and look like the books you would buy at the bookstore. Furthermore your book is private by default unless you announce it as public whereby you can sell it in the Blurb Bookstore.
Look for my book on the best seller list. Of course this list most likely will be taped on the refrigerator in my kitchen, but a guy can dream big, can’t he?

Wireless Reading

While looking at one of my favorite sites to buy books, I found an advertisement for Amazon's Wireless Reading Device. Curiosity got the best of me and I clicked on the link to take a tour of their new device called the Kindle 2.

It is about the size of a small paperback book but thin as a credit card and only weighs in at 10.2 ounces. Most of the books I read are a lot heavier than that. Unfortunately for my pocketbook, the cost is just over $35 per ounce. All the controls to turn the pages, go Home or Back, or pull up menus are easily accessible. The full keyboard and 3G wireless access makes it a breeze to order more books, magazines, newspapers or visit blogs. It will hold up to 1500 titles.

Downloads are $9.99 or less and can be done in 60 seconds or less. This is much cheaper than most of the books I buy. One of my favorite authors is Stephen King and most of his books are hundreds of pages long and several inches thick. He has written a book just for Kindle called UR. If you turn the wireless off, the battery could last up to two weeks. Its text-to-speech feature is a big selling point for me because I check out a lot of books on tape from the library so I can "read" while I drive. The Kindle will let you switch back and forth from it "reading to you" or you sitting somewhere and reading from its display with 16 shades of grey and adjustable text size. For those of us that are getting older and may not carry our glasses all the time, this is a great feature. Now most cars don't have a cassette player in them and it's not that easy to find all the books on CD.

Connect the Kindle to your computer and you can download MP3 files to it so you can listen to your favorite music while reading. Since it has wireless, you can even email Word or PDF files. Amazon tries to have every book title available on their site and they have over 230,000 titles available for the Kindle. Whether you like to read books, magazines, newspapers, or blogs, the Kindle will be an asset. I just hope the price for this new and exciting technology comes down soon.

Swap Knowledge

Love to read? Have a personal library of books you’ll never read/refer to again? Want to learn more about instructional technology or increase your computer skills? Try visiting paperbackswap.com for books on the subject of your choice. Costs? Minimal!

How does paperbackswap.com work?

1. Set-up a free account
2. Post the titles of your personal books you are willing to swap (post as often & as many as you like)
3. Browse the millions of free books offered on the site
4. Mail out any books requested from your personal library (using library rate postage)
5. Request a book(s)
6. Wait for the book to arrive in your mailbox!

You may post as many books as you are willing to swap. You may request free books according to the credits you earned (based on the number of books you posted and on the number you have mailed out). The more you post/swap, the more free books you can request.

Happy Reading. Gain knowledge.