Kidlit Conference Jeopardy
The answer is:
Sara Zarr, Story of a Girl
Kirby Larson, Hattie Big Sky
Alma Alexander, Worldweavers series
Laini Taylor, Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer
Matt Holm, Babymouse
Anastasia Suen, Main Street School series
Adrienne Furness, Helping Homeschoolers in the Library
Carmen T. Bernier-Grand: Frida: Viva La Vida! Long Live Life!
Jen Robinson, “Growing Bookworms Newsletter”, guest blogger at PBS
Betsy Bird, School Library Journal book blog
“Who has registered for the Second Annual Kidlitosphere Conference, September 27, 2008?” is the question.
Will you be attending? Have you registered yet? Visit Kidlit08 for more details. If you register before August 1, 2008, you will receive a complimentary raffle ticket for the dinner raffle.
Happy Reading,
MsMac
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Top 10 Reasons to Visit Portland, Oregon
Top 10 Reasons to Visit Portland, Oregon
10. Voodoo Doughnuts where your can get married and eat your doughnut too.
9. We do not have sales tax.
8. Looking for leprechauns? They been seen at the “World’s Smallest Park”: Mill Ends Park (24 inches in size) on Naito Parkway.
7. Portland also has the largest forested city wilderness in the nation: Forest Park, 5, 000 acres in size.
6. Mt Tabor, an extinct volcano. Portland is one of two cities in the US with and extinct volcano within the city. The other one is in Bend, Oregon.
5. Portland is also known as “Beervana” for being the epicenter of micro brewing.
4. Cupcake Jones Nirvana! I will have some available at the conference.
3. Stumptown Coffee
2. Powell’s City of Books Plan to meet here on Friday night and then head to a local microbrewery for dinner
However, the Number One reason to visit Portland is:
THE SECOND ANNUAL KIDLITOSPHERE BLOGGING CONFERENCE:
“Bridging the Worlds of Books and Blogs”.
Great discussions about books and blogs! Great networking! Great fun!
For more information visit Kidlit 2008 or contact me at “macrush53 at yahoo dot com”.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Uncategorized | Comments (2)Poetry Friday: Photos and Poems from After School Poetry Club
Bars
Bars so slippery they always give me blisters
But I still always do it anyway
I think they’re fun
I see warm and cool colors
Like blue and yellow.
by Trinity, 3rd Grade
Flowers in the garden
Flowers in the garden dancing in the sun
Oh how I love to see the pretty flowers in the garden
Bush leaves shake when the wind blows
Pink and blue flowers and green grass sways.
by Brooklyn, 1st grade
Playground
The swings go swinging
The slide goes dripping
The basket ball so lonely
Just going
Drip drop drip drop
by Sarah, 1st grade
Pretty Tulips
Pretty tulips in the garden
Little hearts hidden in the flower
If you look very closely you will see love
by Jaegan, 1st grade
Rain
Small green buds
Dragonfly heart beats
A slick of rain falls
Tulips shine.
by Clare, 2nd grade
Tulips look like fruit
Like juicy apples and peaches
The stems like leaves on a tree
by Ember, 1st grade
In a forest
Blue violet bells hang
Softly misted
by Tasha, 5th grade
These students (and some others) have been meeting after school to do photography and poetry. These were their entries for the school art show. Poetry Friday is being hosted at Becky’s Book Review. Hop on over and see what others are sharing.
Will you be in Portland, Oregon, September 27, 2008? Look here for more details.
Heading out for the weekend. Enjoy!
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Kidlitosphere, Libraries, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comments (3)Bellatrix, Butterflies, and Bear Claws: Laini Taylor Visits Silver Star
Quick: Besides Blackbringer and Harry Potter, where can you find “Bellatrix”?
Look to the night sky and find the constellation Orion. Bellatrix is the blue star of the left shoulder in the constellation. Bellatrix is Latin for “warrior woman”.
Quick: Who can taste with their feet? I know I can’t. Butterflies can. And moths? They have amazing tongues, some as long as 11 inches!
Bear claws do not hold a candle to the talons of a Harpy Eagle, an animal strong enough to crush a human skull. Intrigued?
Fourth and fifth graders certainly were as Laini Taylor talked about her life and her love of research for her books. She also combined a lot of fun; pulling pink wigs from a secret blue case that five students bravely wore so that she would feel so alone with her pink hair.
Laini created a fabulous slide presentation with hands on props such as the Mysterious Box of Claws and Talons and butterfly specimens (no animals were hurt: claws are museum quality replicas and the butterflies died naturally in a Butterfly Zoo).
Her slides not only showed her family members but explained the main points of Blackbringer, her book as well. Students also saw examples of the revision process on her upcoming book, Silksinger.
What I loved most was the way in which Laini combined facts about science (and math) into her imaginary world. Her slide presentation also did this. Students saw some pretty incredible slides of the natural world: Harpy Eagles, Grizzly Bears, moths, butterflies, and my favorite, dragonflies.
I loved this modeling for the students. I am hopeful that perhaps one of them will look at science in a new way. Perhaps the student who doesn’t see the point of science, will have a new found purpose: to make his or her writing even better. The other thing I loved was the playfulness that my students showed after her visit. I saw fifth grade girls pretending to be faeries and begging Laini to bring them home. Fifth graders usually are way to cool; it was refreshing to see.
This summer I will re-read Blackbringer with a totally new eye for how the names and ideas were created. I am looking forward to reading Silksinger as well. (comes out in 09). This summer when I am at Bryce National Park and I will look at the night sky with a renewed enthusiasm for the stars.
For the moment I need to re-read the essays of students who want a signed copy of Blackbringer. It is going to be difficult to choose.
If you are looking for a dynamic author for your school, Laini Taylor is some one you need to contact.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Kidlitosphere, Libraries, School, Uncategorized | Comment (0)Poetry Friday: A Ring, A Drum, and A Blanket Poem
Last month Elaine at Wild Rose Reader suggested writing a poem with the words “blanket, drum, and ring” as a result of an interview with Janet Wong. It was an assignment given by the late Myra Cohn Livingston to her students (JW was one of them) in a master poetry class at UCLA.
This poetry prompt eluded me all month! I left a comment on Elaine’s blog and Janet Wong responded with a suggestion to have the students draw before writing. So I did with Mrs. Fisher’s 4th grade class two weeks ago. I brought in my mother’s Navajo story ring which she gave me months before her passing, a swatch of a Pendleton wool blanket and my father’s drumsticks as a visuals. They drew and wrote.
This week, rather than me play editor, I took the class to the computer lab and they played with the line breaks. Samples are here and others are on Mrs. Fisher’s Class Page.
I have to point out Kymberlee’s poem. She sat for most of the time and felt stuck, “I don’t know what to write”. We chatted and then she wrote. Wow!
Outside a thin
Blanket
Of snow
Lays upon
The ground.
I look at my ring.
The snow so cold,
My ring looking so warm.
Then I look at the pattern
in the snow
then the pattern on my ring
so alike almost the exact same.
I couldn’t keep it off my
Mind until
My mom’s homemade soup
The same golden color as my ring.
By: Alicia
Loud drums beating
in the park awaking
people with every beat. But
there is no drummer to this
drum. It is the spirit of the
tribes long ago.
People hear the drummer but
there is no site to see.
by Jacey
Heard in the distant,
The drum gets louder
And louder
get closer to the drum beat
When I get to it.
It was my
Heart that is making
The drum beat.
by Kymberlee
Ring of fire surrounds the valley,
a black angel rises from the ground,
a white angel comes from the glistening heavens, and a voice as loud as 100 bombs exploding shouts go get him, Zinkof,
and the 2 angels start fighting.
Zinkof gets hurt
but has enough strength
to overcome his enemy.
by Tim
Personally, I still haven’t captured the poem for this prompt. But wow, wow, wow to these fourth graders. Wow to the experience of bringing them into the computer lab and having them play with the line breaks.
Poetry Friday Roundup can be found at writer2b.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Kidlitosphere, Poetry, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comments (4)Poetry Friday: Poem Postcard, Anyone?
I am getting finished poem postcards from students. If you would like to receive one, please contact me via email: jmaccull at egreen d0t wednet dot edu.
The students have been having fun with these. From a first grader, who did this as “homework”:
Flip Flop, Hop Frog
Flippity flop
Did the frog hop?
Hop, hop the frog
did a big hop.
He hopped over a
frog. He played leap
frog all day long.
–Brooklyn, 1st grade
Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect is rounding up Poetry Friday today.
Poetry, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comment (1)Poetry Friday: “This is Just to Say”
I love the William Carlos Williams poem, “This is Just to Say”. I was thrilled to have Joyce Sidman’s boook This is Just to Say win the 2007 CYBILS Award for poetry.
In honor of poetry month, my 4th and 5th graders have been using it as a model to write a poem for next Thursday’s “Poem in Your Pocket” Day.
Here are some selections:
This is Just to Say
I have eaten
All the chocolates
That were in
Your room
And which
You were probably
Saving them for
Mother’s Day.
Please forgive me
They were
So rich and creamy
It was the best chocolate ever.
–Megan, 3rd grade
This is just to say
I’m sorry for being a dork.
Please forgive me, I was just
Trying to get a laugh
I have realized now that
You were trying to teach
A lesson and my dorkness
Ruined it.
That was not okay, it was
Actually downright disrespectful
Of me.
And which your lesson you
Were probably saving a prize
if we did good and I
Jinxed everyone’s chances.
Forgive me, the urge was
Just irresistible.
–Kenese
This is Just to Say
I have eaten all
Your strawberries
That were in the
Refrigerator
And which
You were probably saving
For dinner
Forgive me
They were juicy
And scrumptious
By the way
Go buy more.
–Gabriela, 4th grade
This is Just to Say
I have taken
Your 10 lb. block of chocolate
Please forgive me. I ate
The whole thing but please
Don’t hide your chocolate
Under your bed.
I had to fight a dirty
Sock to get it.
–Delaney, 5th grade
This is Just to Say
I have stolen all the candy
That was in the candy jar.
And which you were
Probably saving for my
Birthday.
Forgive me.
They were the best.
But now I got
A stomach ache.
–Madeline, 3rd grade
This is Just to Say
I have stolen your love
That was in your heart
Which you probably
Were saving for me
Forgive me, it was everything
I wanted
It was beautiful and comforting.
–Yana, 5th grade
There are more fabulous poems here.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Poetry, School, Uncategorized | Comments (9)Poetry Friday: It is National Poetry Month
My last day of spring break here in the northwest. Returned from New Jersey last night. I love it there; my parents hail from there, therefore I have cousins and an aunt whom I visited.
My offering for the 1st Friday of National Poetry Month, from the Academy of American Poets:
I carried my life,like a stone,
in a ragged pocket, but I
had a true weaving song, a sly
way with rhythm, a healing tone.
–Jay Wright
This may be of interest: April 17, 2008 is the “Poem in Your Pocket Day”. The Academy of American Poets has been encouraging “poem in your pocket day” for the last five years.
For more information head here: poets.org/pocket.
I am writing a poem a day for the NaPoWriMo and will feature those at Deo Writer. My students will be putting their own poems on postcards and sending them throughout the world. Want to receive one? Please email me at jmaccull at egreen dot wednet dot edu with your contact information.
From ore Poetry Friday, please visit Becky’s Book Reviews.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Poetry Friday: A Cloudy Day
Having second graders write poems about clouds was part of the collaboration unit I just finished integrating science and literacy. These are a few treasures. Terran’s is significant because he hates to write. I love his repetition.
Cumulonimbus
Cumulonimbus
Rain cloud
Thunderhead
Lightening will make a
Big boom!
It is really dark.
–Makenna, 2nd grade
Cumulus, cumulus
You are big
Cumulus, cumulus
Whit cumulus
Puffy on top
Cumulus, cumulus
You have a flat bottom
–Terran, 2nd grade
Stratus
Stratus are soft
They are like a blanket
They are
Cool, tight, best
They are gray
–Oscar, 2nd grade
Unseeable
Calm
Wispy
Like
A
Wave
A little
Rain drizzle
Seems restless
Like
It’s
Always
There.
–Tailor, 2nd grade
Stratus
Soft like a blanket
So wispy
So gray
Low in the sky
See in the morning
Wiggly line
–Adam, 2nd grade
Counting down until I mail my national board box with my 4 portfolio entries.
Mailing date: March 27, 2008.
More wonderful poetry can be found at Wild Rose Reader.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Kidlitosphere, Poetry, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comment (1)Recent Family Library Nights/Meme: Passion Quilt
You know you are on overload when you fail to notice that you were tagged a week ago for a meme. This one is called “Passion Quilt”.
- Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
- Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
- Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
- Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.
I am passionate about bringing families into the library on a regular basis. We recently had two fun events: the first a night of cupstacking. Our PE teacher, that’s her in the coral zippered sweater introduced this in her classes. My assistant has gotten involved and we have cups to stack in the library. It builds great eye-coordination, crosses the midline, and builds confidence in students.
The other night is our annual tribute to Dr. Seuss. This year the hall were packed as students and families came to hear their favorite teacher read a story. We had guest readers as well; our local public librarian and a volunteer from the local Humane Society attended. The night ended with cake and little stuffed Cat in the Hats going home with all children.
I love Family Library Nights because it provides time for families to come to school, choose a book together and read. Students can check out an extra book during the evening.
This is just one of the many things I am passionate about in teaching. What do you love about your job? Thank you Miss Rumphius for tagging me. If you would like to join in, please do.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Family Library Night, Kidlitosphere, School, Uncategorized | Comment (1)