Category Archives: Non-Fiction

A Little Book of Sloth

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a-little-book-of-slothFor me, summer reading is all about slowing down, relaxing, and reading for pleasure.  To help you unwind, I’m sharing this irresistible book,  A Little Book of Sloth by Lucy Cooke. Flip through the pages and just try not to squeal at all the sleepy-cute faces and snuggly, furry bellies.

This is a non-fiction picture book about Slothville, a sanctuary for orphaned and injured sloths in Costa Rica. Baby sloths cling to their mothers for the first year of their lives, so little orphans each get a special stuffed animal to hug. All the snuggling and relaxing in the shade and hanging out make me think that I need to spend more time being sloth-like.

Share A Little Book of Sloth with students first for the pure pleasure of learning about these easy-going mammals. Take your time and enjoy the photos and the “who knew?!” facts. You’re hitting the Core Standards of Range of Reading with the age-appropriate non-fiction, and the author’s high-level vocabulary makes this an easy lesson on Craft & Structure (what is a “Xenarthran”? You’ll find out in this book!)

After reading, visit Lucy Cooke’s website www.slothville.com where you can watch videos of the sloths at the sanctuary. My favorite video teaches how caregivers at the sanctuary potty-train baby sloths. Enjoy A Little Book of Sloth and take a page from the sloth’s book: slow down, enjoy hanging out, and spend lots of time hugging.

Readicide

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readicideI’m forgoing the picture book pick this week because I’ve just finished reading Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher and I need to talk about it with my education peeps.

I put off reading Readicide at first because of the subtitle “how schools are killing reading”. I know so many educators pouring every ounce of their energy into our students, and as someone with over 20 years of working with students, I took the title as yet another criticism of teachers. Gallagher, however, is a classroom teacher himself, and his indictment is not of those of us in the trenches so much as a call to reevaluate an educational system that focuses on test scores instead of lifelong learning.

For me, the big “yes!” points were:
1. Our kids need a variety of interesting fiction and nonfiction books, magazines, articles, etc. and time in school to read for enjoyment. We librarians are dedicated to getting great reading material in the hands of kids, so if you have a tough student who doesn’t seem interested in reading anything, call a librarian – we’ll hook you up.

2. Reading is more than just decoding the words on the page – prior knowledge is key to understanding. I consider myself to be good at reading, but put an installation manual for an appliance in front of me and I’m quickly stumped. I know what each word means (I think) and yet I don’t have the experience to get how it all goes together. Our kids need what Gallagher calls “a broad knowledge base” to succeed, and so we need to read aloud historical fiction, science, poetry, etc. and discuss of all kinds of topics. We can bring in lots of “real-world text” like magazines, speeches, essays, editorials, news stories (in paper or electronic form from reliable resources).

3. Just like movies have trailers to draw in audiences, a good booktalk can hook readers who’d otherwise pass up a great book. Simply having the books on my shelves won’t pull in every kid. It’s worth my time to “sell” books to individuals and classes.

The book is packed with facts and practical information but still is a quick read. I highly recommend picking it up this summer. It’s not a light-hearted beach read, but it will inspire you to find new ways to help all our kids love to read. Let me know what the big “yes!” points were for you!

 

My favorite Earth Day book: Wangari’s Trees of Peace

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2010-wangari-trees-of-peace-africaSometimes I fear that I can’t make a real difference in helping the planet, but Wangari’s Trees of Peace: a true story from Africa by Jeanette Winter shows how powerful one person’s actions can be. Wangari Maathai was devastated to see how barren Kenya was after thousands of trees were cleared. Soil was eroding and crops wouldn’t grow. The birds were gone. Women walked for miles to gather firewood. “I can begin to replace some of the lost trees here in my own backyard – one tree at a time.”

Wangari started with nine seedlings, which grew into a nursery. Wangari gave new seedlings to village women for them to plant, and gave them money to keep those trees thriving. When Wangari tried to stop the clearing of old trees, she was beaten and arrested. But her message of caring for the Earth was taking root just like her trees were, and because of her, Kenyan women planted over 30 million trees, saving their land and making life there better.

For Earth Day/Arbor Day/natural resources units/biography units/non-fiction read-alouds that you can finish in one sitting, this is my new go-to book. Just by reading it and discussing it with students, you’re hitting the Common Core Standard of Range of Reading (a biography that teaches science and social studies? Non-fiction score!) Wangari’s Trees of Peace is also excellent for an ecological cause-and-effect lesson, one of the big pieces of Key Ideas and Details. Using the book for reference, students can write and draw the effects of deforestation (crops wouldn’t grow, birds were gone, lack of firewood) and the effects of planting all those trees (women don’t have to walk so far to gather firewood, more birds, crops growing in the soil.) Winter’s picture book doesn’t delve deeply into the science of why a lack of trees leads to soil erosion, so you can share Planting the Trees of Kenya: the story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola if you need to build that knowledge with your students. Use both books as resources for student writing and drawing, and now you’re Integrating Knowledge and Ideas!

If in the past you’ve received more apple-themed coffee mugs than you need as end-of-the-year teacher gifts, you can suggest that in lieu of a present for you, students can give a gift to us all by planting a tree. If you can spring for a seedling or if your parent-teacher organization will chip in, plant a tree with your students and let them help take responsibility for watering it (seeds are cool, but watering a visible seedling is way more exciting than watering a patch of dirt.) Wangari’s Trees of Peace may plant in your students a dedication to care for our planet.

 

Dear Hot Dog

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DearHotDog_COVWhen writing poetry with kids, one of the biggest complaints I hear is “I don’t know what to write about.” I can’t blame them. There are plenty of times when I look at a blank sheet of paper and I don’t know what to write about, either.

That’s one reason why Dear Hot Dog by Mordicai Gerstein is so brilliant: he writes poems about the most ordinary of things, like a hot dog, the summer sun, even the air, all the things we love but sometimes overlook.

Take, for instance, Gerstein’s poem about socks (which is still apropos in April in Michigan):

Socks
I never stop
to think about socks,
and if I get them
for a birthday present
from Aunt Adi,
I’m disappointed.
You can’t play
with socks.
But now,
with wind rattling
the icy windows,
putting on these
soft, thick, red ones
makes me happy
all day.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: poetry is meant to be read aloud. During this month of poetry (or any time of the year), read Dear Hot Dog to your students. (You’ll hit the Common Core Standard of Range of Reading, and if you focus on the poet’s choice of interesting words, you’ll teach Craft & Structure as well!)  Talk about how each poem is an ode of gratitude for an everyday object. Take inspiration from Gerstein and brainstorm with the class all the ordinary stuff we love. A few of Gerstein’s poems have to do with food. In lousy-weather months when we can’t get outside, working food into a lesson will light up your Nature Smart Students. Perhaps everyone can bring in a favorite food as inspiration, to savor as they write their own poems about the taste, texture, smell, general wonderfulness of an everyday thing they love.  Your students may find the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Oh, No! Where Are My Pants? and Other Disasters: Poems

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wherearemypantsPoetry doesn’t have to be “roses are red, violets are blue…” As David Lubar wrote in his young adult novel, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, “There are as many types of poems as there are types of food. As many flavors, you might say. To claim you don’t like poetry because you hate ‘mushy stuff’ or things you don’t immediately understand is like saying you hate food because you don’t like asparagus.”

April is National Poetry Month, but don’t relegate poems to just one month – share all kinds of poetry all year long! (If you do, you can check Range of Reading off your Common Core Standards list!) One of my go-to poetry books is Oh, No! Where Are My Pants? and Other Disasters: Poems edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins with pictures by Wolf Erlbruch. These “disaster” poems range from funny to poignant, and your kids will find at least one to which they can totally relate.

For example, here’s one titled “Oh, No!” by Katie McAllaster Weaver:
“Hello apple!
Shiny red.

CHOMP. CHOMP.

Hello worm.
Where’s your head?”

and here’s part of one called “My Friend is Gone” by Lillian M. Fisher:
“A hug, a tear, and you are gone.
Your swing is missing from the lawn.
Your house is silent, dark and lone.
Your window says no one is home.”

Poetry is meant to be read aloud, so read Oh, No! Where Are My Pants? and Other Disasters: Poems to your class and then choose one or two of your favorite poems to read aloud again. Talk with your students about why you liked that particular poem. Encourage your students either to choose a poem to practice reading or to write a disaster poem of their own. Then, have a disaster poetry slam where you and each of your students read a poem aloud expressively to the class. You can bring a stool for kids to sit on, and a beret to wear, and students can snap for each other instead of clap (I like to teach them phrases like “cool cat” and groovy, man” because it makes me giggle.) Your students will build their reading fluency (another Common Core Standard checked off!) and find that poetry isn’t just mushy love stuff.