It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Jen & Kellee from
Teach Mentor Texts have adapted this to focus on Picture Books to Young Adult Books.
Frindle by Andrew Clements; Illustrated by Brian Selznick (Atheneum Books for Young Readers; 1996) - I missed this years ago, but was thinking about using this for a 3rd grade book club. Definitely a great read and yes, I will be using it for that book club.
Miss Maple's Seeds by Eliza Wheeler (Nancy Paulsen Books, April 4, 2013) - Beautiful story with lovely illustrations. I would pair this with Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney.
This year, I have been working out of our District's Central Office. It has been a big change and though I have learned a lot I miss seeing my students on a regular basis. So, when I had a chance to work on a writing project for part of the year with a class of 5th graders, I jumped at the opportunity. Since the class is made up of 90% English Language Learners, writing tends not to be their favorite activity. It has been fun to find ways to support critical thinking, language, and writing with this great group of students.
Recently, we spent a lot of time looking at and discussing comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels. None of the students knew anything about Babymouse, or Squish, or The Lunch Lady or any of the other wonderful graphic novels out there today. They devoured the books I brought in.
The next step was to try a writing activity where students would write their own comic strip. Here is a peek at what they created.
One of the requirements of this project is that students would work in teams of 2 on their comic strips. For many of the students, English is a second language and I wanted to provide a setting in which students would need to discuss with another person the story that they would be communicating in their comic strip. Initially, it was difficult. Some of the teams were less than thrilled to work together. However, I was extremely excited to see how the teams came together during the week they worked together.
Students had to include 3 basic elements of a story - characters, setting, and plot (or what problem needs to be resolved) in their comic strip. They were given a couple of different blank templates to use for their comic strips. Some of the stories were fairly simple. In the above story, two diamonds steal money from a bank, get caught, and go to jail.
This story had a princess stuck in a tower and wanting a cupcake before a tornado set in. Prince Charming had to rescue not only the princess but the cupcake.
One student gave me a glimpse of his artwork even though his team's comic strip wasn't completed.
Some students moved beyond just one page to create a story. The two students who created the above story about a penguin egg and an adoption by a bear went on to a second page.
My favorite comic strip bordered on becoming a comic book or graphic novel. It was a story about bullying with super mom as the super hero. The two students who worked on the pages above went onto multiple pages (only 3 of the pages are shown above), even labeling some of the pages as chapters. What was more impressive is that both were resistant to working with each other at first. By the end, they not only had worked out an impressive start to a story but also when they presented it, they worked out who would do each character voice.
The classroom teacher has expressed to me numerous times that thanks to the writing projects that we have been working on students seem less hesitant to write. Writing is still a challenge for many of the students but it has been wonderful to watch them grow as writers and for them to feel successful with the various projects.
Jarrett J. Krosoczka, creator of the Lunch Lady Graphic Novels, is encouraging everyone to celebrate and honor our wonderful folks who work in school lunch rooms across the nation.
Check out the following video:
Here is another one celebrating Lunch Lady Superheroes:
Stop by Jarrett's blog for more ideas and ways to celebrate School Lunch Superhero Day.
Don't forget to do something nice for your school's lunch room staff today!!!
As part of the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge,
I try to give a heads up on new releases for the month; however, I am having trouble tracking down nonfiction picture books released this month. Wow! I know they are out there but I need to do some more searching. Here are some of titles
that I found were released in March and April 2013.
March 1, 2013
A Place for Turtles by Melissa Stewart; Illustrated by Higgins Bond (Peachtree Publishers)
To celebrate the debut of Jarrett J. Krosoczka's middle grade mystery - Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked - which comes out on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, Walden Pond Press is hosting a Blog Tour featuring exclusive artwork from the book.
From HarperCollins' website: Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked is the first in a series of zany, action-packed middle-grade mysteries featuring platypus police detectives Rick Zengo and Corey O’Malley.
When a call comes in about a crime down at the docks involving a missing schoolteacher and a duffle bag full of illegal fish, Zengo and O’Malley are going to have to learn to set their differences aside if they want to get to the bottom of this. Especially when the clues all point to Frank Pandini Jr., Kallamazoo’s first son and its most powerful, well-respected businessman.
Fans of Adam Rex, Jon Scieszka, and Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s own Lunch Lady graphic novels will flip for Jarrett’s new series of illustrated middle-grade novels.
Book Description
From the Files of the Platypus Police Squad
Case #1138
Detectives of record: Rick Zengo and Corey O'Malley
Case brief: A local schoolteacher is missing, and the only thing fishier than the circumstances surrounding his disappearance is the smell coming from the bag he left behind. All clues point to billionaire businessman Frank Pandini Jr.—but why would Pandini get his paws into the illegal fish trade?
And now I am excited to reveal several pieces of the finished artwork from Platypus Police Squad:
Zengo's first time with O'Malley in the squad car.
O'Malley's boys get a ride in the squad car.
Zengo and O'Malley checking out suspects' pictures.
Zengo outside of the Roar (owned by Pandini).
The new Kal East Football Stadium.
Doesn't this make you want to read the book? Pick up a copy of Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked by Jarrett J. Krosoczka at your favorite bookstore, and shop Indie whenever possible.
