One aspect of summer that I just truly love is having the
time to sit and enjoy picture books.
Notice I didn’t write “read” picture books. I am not simply reading the books. It’s so much more than that. This summer I have happily checked out dozens of picture
books from the library at a time and then reveled in being able to just sit and
page through the books as I read them, marveling over their illustrations,
frequently get a good chuckle, and then reflecting on how I can share them with
my students. As mentioned in an
earlier post, I like to use picture books to not only share my love of reading
but also as springboards into mini lessons for both reader’s and writer’s
workshop. Here are few of my
recent finds:
It’s a Book by Lane Smith
This book is about the exasperation one friend feels as he
tries to describe what a book is to his friend, a donkey. Donkey is all about high tech so he has
some trouble understanding the concept of reading a book, something with no
bells, whistles, cords, passwords, etc, for the shear pleasure of falling into
the book.
After reading this book (and I LOVED it) I read about the
controversy over the use of a certain word in the story. Sorry, but this book made me laugh out
loud and we all need that. If
anyone finds the word offensive or questionable just say “bleep” when you come
to it and let the kids use their imagination.
Mentor text: I
will be using this book at the beginning of the year to help
explain/demonstrate to my students how I feel about books and reading.
Bluffton by Matt Phelan
This is a historical fiction graphic novel of one boy’s
experience when vaudeville performers came to spend summers in his town on the
shore of Lake Michigan in the early 1900’s. Henry gets to know the fun loving actors and finds a summer
best friend in a young vaudevillian his own age, Buster Keaton. The boys enjoy their summer days to the
fullest, each finding aspects of the other’s life more interesting/exciting
than their own.
Historical fiction fascinates me and this book did not
disappoint. Living so close to Michigan
(actually grew up on the Wisconsin of the Lake) I had never heard of Bluffton
or the vaudeville summer retreat so I immediately took to Google to find out
more. Isn’t this what we hope our
students will do? I was excited to
find that the author actually includes some factual historical information
about the real Actors’ Colony in Bluffton and the famous people that summered
there.
Mentor text:
There are so many possibilities for this book! It would be great as a mentor text for a unit on
inquiry. Besides the historical
aspect, the book brings up the issue of the problem of child labor in the
1900’s. (Is there really a Gerry Society?) How about the contraptions that Buster designs? Possibly a springboard into a science
unit? Finally, this book will be a
wonderful mentor text for teaching inference. As with many graphic novels, much of the story is told
through the illustrations rather than the text. Through careful examination of the pictures students will
learn much more of the story and gain valuable insights to the characters.
14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy
I first learned about this book last week when attending a Donalyn
Miller seminar. My first thought
after her book talk? Why hadn’t I
ever heard of this book before? Immediately
after the seminar I went to the library and checked the book out. It left me
speechless. The story is about a
remote village in Kenya and a Maasai tribe. They learn of the 9/11 tragedy in America and they are so
moved they want to do something to help.
This book touched my heart.
Mentor text: I
will be using this book to promote discussion on 9/11 this year. As sixth graders the majority of my
students were not even alive when the attacks occurred, yet I know they will be
curious and have many questions.
This book gives a new and touching perspective of how a different
culture thousands of miles away reacted to the tragedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment