Check It Out

I am working with a second grade teacher in collaboration on a unit about poetry writing, clouds, and science.  It is for Entry 1 of the national boards; “Instructional Collaboration”.  It is the way library classes should be held.  There are days, many days, that the 30 minute time frame does not work for me.  My convictions have only grown stronger through this national board process this year.

When I started with the second grade class, many did not know was meant by the word: poem.  The teacher and I did lessons about poems.  We shared poems and then the students drew their shoes and wrote poems for their shoes.  Here are a few, unfortunately I cannot share the drawings:

Soccer Shoes

Oh my shoes come untied all the time.

They are made in Vietnam.

Kick

Really hard

Guard the goal

My shoes have

Zig Zags on the side

They are Adidda’s.
Allison

   My Shoes

My Shoes Make Me Feel Good.

My shoes have cool spiders.

My shoes always come untied.

They light up.

They are made in China

My shoes rock!
By Brenton

  Black Leather Boots

Boots made out of leather.

They make me feel

happy and proud.

They are made in Chinas

You will never expect karate

Boots!
By Lacey

Pretty Shoes

My shoes are pink and white

And they have spots

And holes

They even have hearts too

And they are sneakers

And air breathers

They make me magical.
By Lisa

Second Best Shoes

Riding on

Wheels

On soft leather.

So much fun to ride.

My shoes are made

In China.

My shoes are

Fun to walk.

My shoes been in a movie

Theatre.

My shoes are the second best shoes.
By Dorian

The poems and the illustrations are fantastic.  The teacher will be putting the collection into a book and will then donate the book into the library.  I have several student generated books but the donations have fallen off in the past few years. It’s exciting to see someone revitalizing thie student author collection and giving voice and purpose for writing.

I hope you visit Writing and Ruminating who is hosting Poetry Friday.

I finished Eat Pray Love last night and will begin Copper Sun this weekend.  The author, Sharon Draper, will be in our district for a  “One Book, One Community” this spring.  Copper Sun will be the books she talks about at that forum.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

It is “Nonfiction Monday.” My nonfiction is all about the nonfiction writing I am doing for the National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards.  After March 25, 2008, which is a month from now, I will have my box sent off and will only have the test prep to do for April or May.

I spent the weekend revising the entry entitled, “Fostering an Appreciation for Literature”.  This entry is actually cleverly disguised as a reading lesson.  I must show a connection to literature, demonstrate that students are inferring, have a curriculum aspect connected to the classroom and show it on a 15 minute tape.  A 2 minute video pan of the library with narration is also required.  Yesterday I was I school for more than 2 hours taping the pan. But it is completed. Hooray.

I am feeling a bit like the princess in Rumpelstiltskin these days.  Two of four entries are near completion but there remains more straw to spin into gold.  My last two entries are “integrating technology” and “collaboration with another teacher”.  I have been collaborating with a second grade teacher.  It has been  great to tie in the science of clouds with poetry.   The teacher said we could continue with the unit on animals later this spring.  This is where I feel so fortunate that my school is small enough that I can work with interested staff beyond the weekly 30 minute requirement.

The prompt at One Deep Breath was “ink”.  My haiku for that reflects my life over the last few weeks:

keys click, thoughts race
printer spits another draft
out, revision

entry completed
more straw in the mind waits to
become golden words

Have a great Monday. If you are interested in terrific nonfiction books, visit Picture Book of the Day. 

Happy Reading.

MsMac

I knew that my Poetry Thursday group would be over the moon about today being Valentine’s Day. In fact, several wanted to know if we were still meeting today because it was Valentine’s Day. So I decided for fun and taking a suggestion from last week, we did not write in our journals today.

I gave students a couple of those candy conversation hearts.  They had to come up with a sentence that included the words on the hearts.  They could work together with their friends.  When the sentence was created, it was added to the list:

A Valentine Poem 

New love
You want me to do good
Love me, don’t let us kiss
New heart as well as you know me
It’s true
Have a wonderful day, Valentine
You are all mine
We dream up cloud nine, it is love
I hope for real love
I smile on Valentine’s Day
Hearts and love the symbol
I can be your Valentine friend
Dear one, let’s sweet talk
I am dreaming a beautiful read heart
Be good. Love me. Please do, love bird.
You are too good, my sunshine
Today is a day of love
Hearts all day
A day of thought
Always love.     

   –by the Poetry Thursday Poets

  Sometimes a day to be silly and have fun is needed.

Preparing for April: National Poetry Month.

Would you like to be part of a  postcard poem exchange during the month of April? Please let me know.  Our project for National Poetry Month Project will be to send poems on postcards.  I am hoping that those who get a postcard would send a postcard in return with a favorite poem on it or an orginal poem.  I need to start gathering interested participants.  So if you are interested, please let me know.  I will be addressing the postcards so students will not have access to addresses.

The Poetry Friday Round-up is at Hip Mama Writer.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

I love Valentine’s Day. As a child whose birthday was so close to Valentine’s Day, my mother often made me a heart shaped cake. Then there were the giving and receiving of Valentines as school and the excitement leading up to it. That has not changed at school, students have been wild with excitement this week. A kindergartener told me “Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving!”she was so filled with anticipation. Her classmates quickly corrected her.

So today here are two other reasons my heart sings:

It is my 16th wedding anniversary. You might have thought my anniversary was two days ago. I arrived home to a wonderful bouquet of roses. I was told that he was worried they would run out of them. I think maybe he caught the some of the kindergartener’s anticipation.

Today the CYBILS Awards were announced. These are the top books in children’s and young adult literature as determined by a dedicated community of kidlitosphere bloggers.  I sat on the poetry committee for the second year. I do not know if this is  true in all categories but in the poetry category, the quality level was incredible this year. But This is Just to Sayby Joyce Sidman was truly an amazing adventure and collection of poems. I hope you will run out and buy it immediately.

So capture that child like spirit and let your heart sing today. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Reading.

MsMac

And that was the inspiration for yesterday’s Poetry Thursday group.  Using a portion of Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Sonnet #43, Songs from the Portuguese, I demonstrated starting a poems with the opening line:

“How do I love thee? Let count the ways…”

This is Sabrina’s take on it:

Library

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways

As much as the books that fillt it

As much as the people that come together,

Too much to count.

Your imagination flows

Your mind blows

What a great feeling

Library, how I love thee.

                          –Sabrina, 4th grade

Love it. 

I am having a bit of a dilemma with the Poetry Thursday group.  It has become quite social.  This is not bad but I am finding the concentration is less.  If you have any ideas, I welcome them. 

Poetry Friday Roundup awaits us here: AmoXcalli.

Happy reading.

MsMac

I posed the question whether you could live without a full time librarian in a school back in August.  

After three moms from Spokane, WA (where the cuts were made) were told by their school board chair to “swim upstream to Olympia”, they formed the Washington Coalition for School Libraries and Instructional Technology (WCSLit).  They launched a state-wide petition to ensure that Washington students have “Full-time access to libraries and a certified librarian to provide a competitive education in information technology and literacy.”  To date, they have 4500 signatures and that is growing daily.

A rally, lots of emails to politicians, and grassroots efforts have kept the potential of a line item for school libraries in the budget alive.  and the grassroots efforts is spreading because som parents from Oregon(where I live) were at the rally and will be spearheading an Oregon effort to get libraries funded again in Oregon (libraries  and librarians practically went extinct in OR due to lack of funding in the 1990’s).

Here are two great places to find out more:

Fund Our Future

and their blog: Fund Our Future Blog

The cool tee shirt.  These moms have been existing on a shoe string.  But you can buy this totally cool tee shirt Cafe Press. Love them!!  I will be back to show you mine when it comes.

Well, I am off to write about why we should be funded during this legislative session.

Happy Reading.
MsMac

Anastasia Suen of the  “Picture Book of the Day” blog has established “Non-fiction Monday”.  What a fabulous idea. 

The day came this past fall when it seem that packages and boxes of preview books were appearing at lest once a month.  I remember a year ago someone said that once review books arrive, it can get out of hand and before you know there are more than you could possibly review.  It felt that way last fall especially since I am up to my eyebrows in national board certification work.

Well,  George Washington Carverby Tonya Bolden appeared on my doorstep and it has been in my review basket.  It is a perfect book for “Non-Fiction Monday”. 

Tonya Bolden has combined black and white photographs of Carver along with his scientific drawings and sketches into a book that tells the story of a boy with curiosity and drive to learn as much as he could. 

Turned down by Highland University, “We take Indians here, but no Negroes”, according to a Highland Official, Carver did not give up and ended up at Simpson College in September 1890.  Throughout his life, George Washington Carver made astonishing advances in the horticulture, particularly in with peanuts and yams.

What makes Bolden’s book a wonderful addition to any collection is the rich photos of the time combined with Carver’s illustrations as well as other illustrations.  It brings  a visual reality to what life was like over a century ago.  The text grabs and engages the reader immediately.

A traveling exhibit featuring George Washington Carver’s work has begun at the Chicago Field House Museum and will make its way around the country.  (I wonder how I can get to Chicago again to see this) The book is published in association with the Field Museum.

Please visit and discover other great non-fiction books here.

Happy reading.

MsMac

 I just have to share this today for Poetry Friday.  Yesterday, I talked about elaborating and trying out comparisons.  Jenna chose to revise a poem she wrote earlier this month.  I love this!

This is Jenna’s earlier poem: 

My dog-toy poodle
Black fur loves snow
Loves me licking my
Face like crazy            
–Jenna, 2^nd grade

Revision:
Savannah

My dog
As black as night
wet nose
Cute smile
loves me  
licks my
face like crazy
Toy poodle
She loves me.
       –Jenna, 2^nd grade
       January 31, 2008

Happy Poetry Friday.  Poetry Friday is here.
Happy reading.

msmac