Library Treasure: In the Garden with Dr. Carver

This activity can be used to address the following Next Generation Science Standards 

K-ESS2-1.	Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time

K-ESS2-2.	Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

In the Garden with Dr. Carver is a book that that will benefit any child, or adult for that matter.

In this piece of historical fiction, aka "pretend biography" as my children described it, a fictional girl named Sally interacts with the Dr. George Washington Carver as he travels the Alabama country side teaching agriculture.

Susan Grigsby portrays Dr. Carver so vividly that the reader gets excited about gardening and inventing with items from the dump.  She gives us all an opportunity to be impacted by the character of this great man.

After we read the book the first time, my son spent an hour watching and sketching the wild life in our front yard.  He asked me if he can teach gardening like Dr. Carver.

I am thrilled that he has deepened his interest in nature and inventing, and that he has found a hero in Dr. George Washington Carver.

Our own "Dumb Soldiers": Robert Louis Stevenson project

This activity can be used to address the following Next Generation Science Standards 

K-ESS2-1.	Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time

K-ESS2-2.	Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

April is poetry month, and we are doing a few simple poetry projects.  Poetry has always been one of my favorite subjects.

Last week, we read A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

We started by reading "The Dumb Soldier", a poem about a toy soldier left purposely in the yard so that he could report on the goings on there.   I pointed out how Stevenson chose words that paint a beautiful picture.  We went over a few terms that I expected to be tricky, like "dumb".  We talked about what was meant by "sea" of grass, and whether the soldier could actually see.

T-Rex and the Pony Artist created their own soldiers from our store of clean trash and a few other craft supplies. Before they started, we discussed what types of material would do well outside in the rain.

Here are the finished soldiers!

They found stations for their soldiers in the yard where they felt they would be safe.

All week we enjoyed more selections from A Child's Garden of Verses. T-Rex  and Pony Artist enjoyed their own yard and the spring weather.  On Friday, they were eager to bring in their soldiers and write their own tales.

Thank-you to Christy of Christy's House of Chaos for inspiring our poetry studies.  She wrote a fascinating post on Christina Rossetti  includes some great extension activities. You can check it out at http://housefulofchaos.com/christina-rossetti/.

Happy April Fools!  In honor of the holiday, I purposely included some misinformation in this post. Can you guess what it is?

Library Treasures: A Home for Bird

A Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead is the inspiring story of a frog who dedicates himself to helping a lost bird find his way home.   My pre-schooler was attracted to the colorful pictures.  The engaging narrative interested us again and again through out the week.   I hope that my kids will dedicate them selves to helping others, particularly the voiceless, in the way that Frog was dedicated to Bird.   

What values have you found in your literature this week?

Library Treasures: I Columbus, My Journal

Today, I found in the children's section of our library, a copy of Christopher Columbus's journal of his first trip to the Americas.  Fortunately for my four-year-old and me, Robert H. Fuson translated Columbus's memoir into modern day English.  This book was edited by Peter and Connie Roop.  It is no surprise to learn that they are both accomplished teachers.

What does surprise me is that this work was never required reading for me.  It will not need to be required reading for my son.  We finished the whole thing this afternoon.  Several times, he urged me to keep reading.  When land was sighted, he literally jumped up and started clapping.  He was especially captivated by the illustrations, done by Peter E. Hanson.  At this point, he does understand that Columbus's venture was a key event in the history of what was to become our country, although he misses the philosophical shading of the memoir.  When he is ready to consider the more nuanced cultural and historical implications of the migration of Europeans to the Americas, this would be a perfect starting point.

Typically, I add the books I find in the library to my wish lists, but I  I, Columbus: My Journal went straight to my cart.  It is definitely a book I want to read, and to encourage my children to read again.

Library Treasure: Moonshot

Moonshot: the Flight of Apollo 11  is a wonderful combination of history, science, art and poetry.  Brian Floca clearly tells the story of man's first flight to the moon using clever verses and beautiful illustrations.   This book captures the romance of the space program in a form that my preschoolers can enjoy.  No wonder my son now says every morning, "Look Mom, There's the moon!"


If you have recently found a treasure at your library, please share!

Library Treasure: Go Bugs Go!

This week's treasure was my son's find.  The scenes in Go Bugs Go! Jessica Spanyol are  attractive to kids.  Apparently the her son helped develop some of the characters and scenarios.  It features of physical action and intriguing little details.  There are also some nice repetitions of phonetically simple words  The result was that my children each sat and "read" this book to themselves many times.  I suspect we may see this one again.

Have you found a great book at the library recently?  Please share!





Linked to: Mum's Make Lists, Reading Link-up

Library Treasures: Camping Day

Camping Day  by Patricia Lakin, illustrated by Scott Nash

This was our first week at the library in our new town.  Happily, this town lets you pay for a library card if you cannot qualify by presenting your address.  

This was also my four-year-old son's first time to visit the library in a few months, since my daughter and I have been going while he was at preschool.  He was happy to be there, and this book was his pick.  It has camping and dinosaurs in one book!  Yes, those are alligators, but dinosaurs make an appearance.  He thinks the story is hilarious.

I have to say, I like it too.  This is a great early reader book with lots of simple words and repetition.  Much of the print is large, which makes it easy to ask my children to fill in the sight words they recognize as we read.    Usually, my son is bored by the content in early reader books, but I have observed him "reading" this one to himself and to his sister more than once.  

Do you have a library treasure to share?  Please leave it in the comments!

Previous Library Treasures: The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

                                             Franklin is Messy

Linked to: 

Library Treasures: The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Here is a book every teacher, every parent, every politician, and every one who cares anything about education should read.  I found this treasure on the "for parents" shelf.  I picked it up at random with another less helpful volume. Part way through the first chapter I realized that The Read Aloud Handbook was one I wanted to own.   My copy arrived just in time, so on our cross country road trip this weekend I read it in bits to my husband.

As a teacher

Several years ago, in another life, I was a young science teacher with a problem.  My students could not read well.  I had completed a degree in physics, taken education courses, and even student taught under some excellent mentor teachers.  I knew how to teach science. I taught it with all my might. I promise you, my students knew physics.  The problem was that in order to graduate high school in the great state of Texas, you need to pass a written test, and my kids were struggling readers.  For six years I have wondered, "how could I learn to improve reading skills in my future students?"  Jim Trelease answered my question!  It makes sense, it's doable, research backed, and cheap!  I just can not believe no one pointed his work out to me earlier.

As a parent

In my current life, my thoughts are occupied with the welfare of two precious pre-school children.  I want to give them every advantage.  My parents handed me a tradition of reading aloud, and I am trying to pass it on to my children.  Here is one more affirmation that this is a critical ingredient to student success.

Trelease covers so much more.  He covers parenting in the modern age, examples of how to mend socio-economic disparities, how to read a book well, what to do when the parent can not read and when the child does not want to read.   If you are interested enough to read this little post, you will want to read this book!

Oh, and a statistic he mentions: 98% of kids who have a high interest in books in kindergarten are taken to the library.  Guess where I plan to be tomorrow?

If you have found a treasure in the library lately, would you share it in the comments?

Library Treasures: Franklin is Messy

Every week I have this urge to write about one, or even more, of the great books we find at the local library. Starting this week, I'm going to unleash my inner bookworm and follow the urge.  I will try to just pick one book.  The rest are going on my Amazon wish lists, because it annoys me to no end to be unable to find that "great book we read once."

This week we found Franklin is Messy by Paulette Bourgeos and illustrated by Brenda Clark.  My three-year-old has been crazy about Franklin ever since the Chik-fil-a promotional a few months ago.  I dutifully pulled a few titles today.

As we read through this book tonight, at the request of my four-year-old, I became excited.  We have been trying to instill the value of neatness, which is the theme of the book.  I could feel my son sympathizing with Franklin's struggles.  At the end I asked, "Why did Franklin lose his things?"  He does not know tonight, but I think maybe by the end of the week he will.

This is also going to be a great opportunity to work on Core Standard RL K.1. With prompting and support, as and answer questions about key details in a text.

Have you found a treasure at the library recently?  Please share in the comments!