Disneynature: Bears

 

I admit I am a fan of bears. They are fascinating and majestic.  Several months ago, I discovered that there was going to be a documentary on a mother bear and her cubs produced by Disneynature.  I literally marked my calendar so that I would be able to see it when it came out.  On Friday, April 18th, it opened in theaters, and I dragged a friend with me to go see it.  Of course, I loved it. 

If you love bears, or the Alaskan wilderness or just want to see a fun film about some really cute animals, check out "Bears" or any of the Disneynature films. 

About the movie:
In an epic story of breathtaking scale, Disneynature’s new True Life Adventure “Bears” showcases a year in the life of a bear family as two impressionable young cubs are taught life’s most important lessons. Set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, their journey begins as winter comes to an end and the bears emerge from hibernation to face the bitter cold. The world outside is exciting—but risky—as the cubs’ playful descent down the mountain carries with it a looming threat of avalanches. As the season changes from spring to summer, the brown bears must work hard to find food—ultimately feasting at a plentiful salmon run—while staying safe from rival male bears and predators, including an ever-present wolf pack. “Bears” captures the fast-moving action and suspense of life in one of the planet’s last great wildernesses—Alaska! Directed by Alastair Fothergill (“Earth,” “African Cats” and “Chimpanzee”) and Keith Scholey (“African Cats”), “Bears” arrives in theaters April 18, 2014, to celebrate Earth Day.  Rated: G

Official Movie Trailer:




Beyond the Trailer Bears 2014 Interview with Jane Goodall and the Directors of the movie:




Olivia Holt - Carry On (From Disneynature Bears) - theme song from "Bears":




My favorite scene from "Bears":



Check out the Disneynature Bears website for more videos, images, and information.  Also find Disneynature: facebook | twitter | YouTube | Pinterest

To download a free educator's guide click here

Celebrate this Week - 4/19/14


This year, I am trying to increase my awareness of the many good things that happen, which are frequently overlooked by me.  To help me, I am joining Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week.

Here's what I am thankful for this week...

April has been an extremely busy month.  I really should look at the full calendar when planning things.  Despite how busy it has been, this past week was filled with some great things.  


1. The Los Angeles Times Book Festival - This year I was an honorary bookseller for the weekend (April 12-13, 2014). What a marvelous experience.  Check out my wrap-up post.


2. Author Event: Tomie dePaola - When I heard that author/illustrator Tomie dePaola was coming out for the LA Times Festival of Books and then doing an event at Once Upon a Time, I knew I had to meet him.  Tomie's newest book is one he illustrated for Lin Oliver's poems.  Tomie was so wonderful and good with all of the children and teachers and librarians and parents who came out to see him.
 

3.  Distinguished Schools Visitation Team - This week I had the opportunity to serve on a Distinguished Schools Visitation Team. What a fabulous experience!  I loved learning more about the process, visiting classrooms, hearing parents and students and staff talk about their school.  It was definitely worth doing.  I also loved the emphasis on writing and student writing was evident everywhere. 



4. Open Mic Poetry Event - We held our first joint activity between the schools and the library and celebrated National Poetry Month with an Open Mic Poetry Event. It was smaller than we had hoped but the energy was good and everyone is talking about seeing this happen annually. I blogged about it here.


5.  First Graders and Writing - I have been continuing my pilot writing and comprehension project and expanding it to a couple of additional classes.  Can't wait to share more. I love watching first graders as they figure things out.

So, what are you celebrating?

Poetry Friday - Open Mic Event

 

Last night, I had an opportunity to experience poetry as only middle schoolers can perform it.  A few months ago, I pitched an idea to the Coordinator or my District's After School program (LEARNS) and to a friend, Jane Gov, who is the Teen Librarian at the Pasadena Public Library.  I have wanted the schools to partner more with the public library.  With Poetry Month coming up, I thought it would be a great way to try doing an event together. 

At all of our Middle Schools, the LEARNS program staff worked on a writing class called The Spoken Word.  As part of the class students worked on writing original poetry. Some students added interpretive dance to their poetry and others performed their poetry to rap music. No matter which format a student used, the poetry was authentic and powerful.


The LEARNS Program staff also brought student created art to display in the room. I was in awe of their work.



This young lady danced before reading her poem.


One of the staff encouraged her son to join in and he read an original poem about bullying. I tried videotaping it but unfortunately, the sound did not come out clear enough.


There were several girls who performed poems that were very personal and touching.


And there was even a group of boys who learned that lyrics are really just poems in disguise.  They performed biographical poems as Rap Songs.


The energy before, during, and after the event was incredible. Family and friends watched and celebrated with their poets. And at the end, everyone celebrated with pizza. 

In the end, the unanimous sentiment was that this should be an annual event.  I was thrilled that my idea could find feet and wings with the support of talented staff, who helped see it through.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Wrap-Up



This past weekend, Los Angeles Times held it's annual Festival of Books. For the past few years, it has been held at the University of Southern California Campus.  In the past, I attended as a regular participant.  I would attend panels or stop by the Children's Stage or the YA Stage and listen to various authors. However, this year, I had a chance to see the Festival from a different perspective.



I became an honorary bookseller and volunteered my time with Once Upon a Bookstore in Montrose. Owner, Maureen Palacios, and bookseller, Kris Vreeland have been fantastic in supporting literacy efforts in the schools that I work with. The least I could do was give some of my time to helping them out. The picture above was taken really early on Saturday morning.  We still had lots of energy at that time. 



When bookstores participate in the Festival, they basically have to set-up a store away from their brick and mortar location.  This meant a full-day of preparation the day before the event so that we could be ready bright and early on Saturday.



In addition to Once Upon a Time, the booth was sponsored by the following publishers - Simon & Schuster, and Scholastic.  With their great support, we had a full line-up of authors scheduled to sign books.



Even Clifford came to visit us and greet young fans.


My job for the weekend was to help with the author signings.  The awesome James Howe (Bunnicula, The Misfits) kicked-off the author signings for us.


One of my favorite authors, Doreen Cronin (above with bookseller Kris Vreeland) signed her new book Chicken Squad.


James Swanson (Chasing Lincoln's Killer) and David Shannon (No David) came in to sign books.


And yes, that is the fabulous Laurie Halse Anderson (The Impossible Knife of Memory) of chatting with the vibrant, Angela DiTerlizzi (Some Bugs).


On Sunday morning, I stopped by the Penguin Truck and had a chance to get behind the wheel. Thanks Amy Comito (Penguin Rep) for inviting me over.


While I was there, I ran into one of my favorite Penguin Children's reps - Nicole White and her daughter.


Before things became too crazy, I also had a chance to chat with Ronna Mandel (Good Reads with Ronna), who was sporting A Girl Called Fearless T-shirt in honor of debut author, Catherine Linka.


Laurie Halse Anderson came back on Sunday to kick-off the morning signing and yes, that is teacher and Nerdy Book Club buddy, Cathy Blacker sharing a photo-op.


I actually got a copy of Doll Bones signed by the adorable, Eliza Wheeler.  Eliza did the illustrations for the book. Now I just need Holly Black's signature and I will be all set.


We had a great trio of authors signing mid-morning with (left to right) Anna Shinoda, Carrie Arcos, and Shannon Messenger.

Sadly, there were some times when I was so busy that I did not have a chance to take a picture of the talented and friendly authors that came by to sign.  I also heard that author, John Green signed for four hours somewhere at the Festival.


Though the Festival ended on Sunday evening, I had an opportunity to continue it into Monday evening by helping out at Once Upon a Time while they hosted Lin Oliver and Tomie de Paola.  I have used so many of Tomie's books in lessons so this was a special treat.  And what a super fantastic experience it was to hear Tomie speak.


Lin and Tomie signed their new book, Little Poems for Tiny Ears (Nancy Paulsen Books, February 2014).


And my highlight - getting my picture taken with Tomie.

Though my experience this year was so different than previous years, I still had a blast.  The staff of Once Upon a Time are super friendly and passionate about what they do and I was honored to spend so much time with them.