Category Archives: Self Smart

Toys 100 Years Ago

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It is only Day 3 of summer vacation, and already I’m hearing the words guaranteed to make a parent go bonkers: “I’m bored!” I point out the oodles of toys, many of them electronic and almost all of them plastic, that litter my house and yet, my child still insists that “there’s nothing to do”. Before I threaten my precious darling with a list of chores that could keep him occupied miserably for the next three months, I gently sit him down beside me to read this book.

Toys 100 Years Ago by Allison Lassieur is one of those wonderful nonfiction books that doesn’t read like a dry encyclopedia entry. The sepia photos of children from 100 years ago playing with Tinker Toys and Erector sets make me want to build something. Toys 100 Years Ago is an early reader book, so the words are simple enough for even young ones to understand. I love the section that talks about “homemade fun” and describes how kids used to make their own toys by cutting paper dolls, building model airplanes, and swinging on rope swings.

After reading this book, my child and I can discuss how it truly is possible to have fun without batteries, plastic, or electricity. In a classroom, I’d make a “Then and Now” chart with my students, and I’d share other books from the 100 Years Ago series, on topics like food, clothes, and school. At home or in the classroom, kids can use newspapers and magazines, popsicle sticks and crayons, string and clay to make their own kites, airplanes, dollhouses – anything they can imagine – just like the kids who, 100 years ago, dared to whine to their parents, “I’m bored!”

“The Purple Balloon” for all who miss Kenley

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Our community is mourning the loss of Kenley, a bright-eyed, curious toddler who died this weekend in a tragic accident. How do we, as grown-ups who are heartbroken and confused, make sense of any of this for our children or give them comfort as we grieve for this little girl?  Many books written for children about death and dying focus on the loss of a pet, or an elderly grandparent. The loss in these books is often made easier to bear by describing the long, happy life that came before death. When a child dies, there is little comfort to be found and no easy answers. Here are two books that you can share with children that offer gentle reassurance no matter what your faith is.

The Purple Balloon by Chris Raschka is a very simple picture book that can be shared even with very young children who are grieving. Raschka writes, “There is only one thing harder to talk about than someone old dying – someone young dying.” What  can help, he explains, are family members and friends, doctors and nurses, neighbors and classmates and teachers “all listening or talking, sitting or holding, being noisy or being quiet. Good help makes dying less hard.” Raschka draws people as balloons, because health care professionals have found that terminally ill children, when asked to “draw their feelings”, often draw a purple or blue balloon floating free.

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: a story of life for all ages by Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D.  is a longer picture book. There is a great deal of beautiful language that can be abbreviated for younger listeners. Freddie sees his fellow leaves change colors and fall, and he is afraid. His wise friend Daniel explains that all living things grow and change and eventually die, and that life with all its beauty is a great mystery to be embraced. Finally it is Freddie’s time, “and as he fell, he saw the whole tree for the first time. How strong and firm it was! He was sure that it would live for a long time and he knew that he had been a part of its life and it made him proud.” This book can be a springboard to talk with your children about your personal beliefs and faith.

Grieving is so difficult, especially for a child, but some solace can be found in the arms of people who love you. Cuddle your little ones close. Share a book. Talk about feelings. Draw or write if it helps. Know that in time the pain will ease.

Just a Second: a different way to look at time

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How many times do you think a hummingbird beats its wings in just one second? 10? 20? Steve Jenkins makes math irresistible  in Just a Second: a different way to look at time. In one second, a hummingbird beats its wings 50 times. In one minute, a grizzly bear can charge one half-mile.  Just a Second is full of information that fits well into units on time, measurement, and estimation, plus it’s visually captivating with Jenkins’ signature cut-paper art. His process in making the collages for his book is really cool, and you can see a video of how his books come together on his website: stevejenkinsbooks.com.

Before reading Just a Second, make some predictions with your students, like how many breaths do you think an adult takes in one hour? (900!) After reading the book and checking your predictions, make and test some new predictions about time. How many jumping jacks can you do in one minute? How long will it take you to flap your arms 50 times like a hummingbird? Can you sit perfectly still and quiet for a full minute? You can compare students’ results on charts or a graph. You can even make a pictograph of your classroom results, and let students make cool representations for themselves with cut-paper art. It may take a bit longer than “just a second”, but it will be time well spent.

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!

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Baseball season is here, and while Detroiters are cheering on Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, many kids are going (pea)nuts over Sandy Koufax. Never heard of him? I hadn’t either, until I read You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter and Andre Carrilho. This picture book biography hits it out of the park. It has a conversational writing style, slick illustrations, cool statistics that sports fans love, and a subject you can’t help but admire. Sandy Koufax was a teenager from Brooklyn playing for the Dodgers back when there weren’t many Jews in professional baseball. His career took more twists than a curve ball, going from the dubious honor of throwing the most wild pitches in 1958 to becoming “the greatest lefty who ever pitched”. He struck out Mickey Mantle, Willie Stargell, even Willie Mays. Koufax was supposed to pitch the first game of the 1965 World Series, but he sat the game out – it was a Jewish High Holy Day, and he honored his religious beliefs by not working that day.

I love biographies that show how long and bumpy the road to success is. Sandy Koufax threw his uniform in the trash after one awful season, basically quit the team. He returned the next season, not to instant success, but to more struggles which he had to work through in order to become the great player we now know. Reading You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! can inspire a wonderful “self smart” discussion with your kids. When have you felt the urge to give up? What did you do to get past that feeling? What are you really good at? What do you struggle with? What do you wish you were better at, and what could you do to improve? Andre Carrilho created some super-cool art for this book (the cover looks like it’s moving!) including some pieces that look like baseball cards. Have your students make a “baseball” card of themselves, a card that shows them as successful adults. Kids can draw themselves on the front in action (playing a sport, making art, doing what they love to do) and they can include statistics on the back like “2020: first author to win both the Caldecott and the Newbery for the same book”. (OK, that statistic is on my future dream card, but I’ll let others borrow it.) Kids can keep these cards as inspiration to get them through the slumps, and who knows? One day, those statistics they created might come true!

For more information, visit Andre Carrilho’s website: andrecarrilho.com

 

Use Silver Seeds to plant poems

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This is one of my go-to books I use every April to celebrate Poetry Month. Silver Seeds by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer with paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher is simply beautiful. The poems are all about nature, and they’re all written in a form many kids recognize. When I show the first poem,
“Down goes the moon
And up comes the sun,
Welcoming the
New Day”
lots of hands wave in the air, “It’s an acrostic!” Yes, these poems have a word as the topic of the poem written from top to bottom on the page, and each letter starts a line of the poem. When we teach our kids to begin writing poetry, it’s an easy form to follow. I love that the poems  in this book aren’t just one word per letter, but you can show kids how to write acrostic poems using either one word to make a descriptive list, or several words per line to paint a broader picture.

Silver Seeds is a great poetry book to hit the Common Core State Standard of Range of Reading (RL. 10 if you’re keeping score) in the elementary grades, but it’s also a cool writing activity to get kids to use the dictionary. I model for the students how to write an acrostic poem about myself using my first name. I ask, “What could I put for K?” Krazy, Kool, Kitten, and Kid are usually suggested, but none of these really works for me. How can I find a K word that I think describes me? I open up the dictionary and begin to browse. Perhaps I am kaput (there are days when this is too accurate!), or keen, or kissable.  I decide that I am Kindly, and we can go on to brainstorming and looking for  R words. Using the dictionary to find words to describe themselves is a fun way to use the resource and you’ll be thrilled at some of the new adjectives your students learn. A love of language, a love of poetry, planted with Silver Seeds.

For more information, visit johnson&fancher.com