Gazing at the Stars

Our Ashaway School fourth graders have been eager readers of the Rhode Island Children's Book Award Nominees!

As I was updating our "Rooster Poster" will all the new stars the fourth graders earned recently, I found myself thinking about what a wonderful activity this is.  As I broke into yet another fresh pack of stars, I thought about the fact that the reason I've needed to open so many new packages is because I keep running out of the gold ones!  I'm sure that the goal of qualifying for the Rooster Games has been a huge motivator for the students, and it's just so gratifying to know that the students have been exposed to such a variety of high-quality literature.


After the students earn a star for a book they read, they get to tell me which color star they would award the book: gold = "I loved it!", silver = "I thought it was good, you should read it", red = "It was okay", and blue = "I didn't like it".  Today when I asked one student what color star she would give to the book Wish she gushed, "A gold star isn't high enough! What's above a gold star?!"





It's so fabulous to hear their enthusiasm about books, especially since I know most of them never would have picked up these titles on their own.  I love this program!!

Animals Should Definitely NOT Borrow Library Books!

As a culminating activity for our unit on taking care of books and library procedures, my first grade classes created their own version of Judi and Ron Barrett’s Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing. 


This classic story shows some of the troubles animals would have if they wore clothes.  It’s a really fun read-aloud, and it was the perfect springboard into discussing book care.  After all, if we let animals borrow books it wouldn’t be the animals that suffered the worse hardships.  It would be the books!  The students loved imagining all of the silly situations that would happen if these critters were given borrowing privileges!  They acted suitably horrified by all the sorrowful situations that might befall their beloved library books, and they enjoyed taking on the roll of Book Care Experts who know better!

Pages from the original book -- Click image to enlarge!

Before we began writing the text of the story, I opened up the "Sad Bag" of hurt books to remind them of behaviors that might result in a book getting damaged.  Each student selected an animal to write about and then created an illustration.  The students were thrilled to see their work put together into a book that will be on display in the library for all to read and enjoy.   

 

Isabella - 1D

 



Nora - 1B

Mackenzie - 1D

Austin - 1B

 

Lainey - 1D

 

Alyson - 1B

 

 

Max - 1D

 

I wanted them all to be able to share their creations with their families, so I imported their illustrations into PhotoStory and gave them each a chance to read their pages aloud.  I recorded their voices and created a video that you can watch right now!  Enjoy!

 

Mrs. Breault’s class video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/QjgocdeAv8k

 

Mrs. Dicocco’s class video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/1GgYVVHQfwc

 

Rhode Island Children's Book Festival 2017!

Another truly wonderful Rhode Island Children's Book Festival has come and gone, and as always I'm left with more happy memories than I could ever cover in a single blog post!  Oh my goodness...where to start??

Ashaway students with author Charise Mericle Harper

My day started in the book room where I volunteered for a couple hours.  Not only did I have plenty of time to explore all the wonderful titles on display (while straightening up of course!), but I also enjoyed the opportunity to chat with some of the enthusiastic visitors.  One of my favorite ways of striking up a conversation was when I'd approach parents to ask permission to post pictures I'd taken of their children.  This always developed into a chat about how much they loved the book festival, praise for the encouragement of reading, and an all-around book love-fest.  What a lovely way to begin my day!

Baby's first book festival!!

I am always delighted when I see some Ashaway faces in the crowd, and this year I was not disappointed!  Not only did I get to see some of my students, but I also ran into two of my former student teachers!  Miss Hurley -- now Mrs. Tetreault! -- introduced her daughter to the festival.  (Yes, that's a Hogwart's t-shirt peaking out of Kairi's jacket.  Nice job, Mom!)

Of course, the BEST thing about the festival is meeting the authors and illustrators and getting to listen to their presentations!  I learned so much! Here's a list of my Top 10:

#1 - Alan Katz has always had a terrific sense of humor.  He wrote his own version of "Jack and the Beanstalk" when he was in grade school, and it's adorable. 

Alan Katz, author of Ashaway favorite "Take Me Out of the Bathtub"

     Once upon a time there was a boy name Jack.  He lived with his mom and their cow in a 10^th floor one room apartment.  One day, Mom said, “Jack please be a good boy and bring the cow to market and trade her for vegetables and other good foods.”

     Jack said, “But Mom, can’t we keep her?  She is a good friend and she moos me to sleep every night.”

     But mom said no and so he went to market and traded the cow for beans which he thought were beans to eat but were really magic beans instead.  Then he traded the magic beans for what he really wanted – a color TV. 

     When he got home his mother was mad.  She said, “You can’t eat a color TV.”

     And Jack said, “No, but you can’t watch vegetables.”

     Jack was sent to his room for 3 weeks but he didn’t mind because the color TV was in there too.

#2 - Charise Mericle Harper created a studio out of a renovated food truck.  She calls it "The Noodle".

The Noodle is tiny!  It's only 4.5 feet wide and 15 feet long!   On the outside she's hung a solar-powered sign that spells out "YAY".  She can see it lit up at night when she looks out the window of her house and, she says, "It makes me super happy!"

(I really, really want one of my own now.)

#3 - She also has a dog that looks like Yoda.

#4 - She had trouble coming up with a way of making the drawings for her "Sasquatch" series look different from her other books.  Then she came up with a clever solution: she's right-handed, so she switched to using her left hand!

Drawing her character "Just Grace", right-handed then left-handed

She wanted her characters in the Sasquatch books to appear "rougher".  Can you see the differences between the two?

#5 - Marc Brown has a goat named Hillary Rodham Clinton.

(Hillary is the brown goat on the left.)  Apparently Marc actually enjoyed a visit by Mrs. Clinton at his home, and he had the opportunity to introduce them.  The original Hillary was not as impressed as he had hoped!  

 #6 - Barbara McClintock is left-handed, and so are both of her parents!

Barbara shared this picture of her working in her studio

Back in the day, children were discouraged from writing with their left hands.  Barbara's father struggled to write with his right hand for decades and had terrible penmanship as a result.  Then, in his 40's, he decided that there was no reason to continue struggling and he happily switched back to using his left hand!


#7 - Barbara McClintock got advice from Maurice Sendak after looking up his number in the phone book and giving him a call! 

She knew she wanted to be an illustrator but wasn't sure how to get started.  They lived hundreds of miles away from each other but she figured it didn't hurt to try.  Not only did he answer the phone, but he took the time to explain how to put together a dummy book and a portfolio.  He discouraged her from going to art school and she followed his advice; she is completely self-taught!


#8 - The inspiration for Rain Reign came to Ann M. Martin after she took her dog Sadie for a walk after Hurricane Irene.  

She recalled how devastating the storm had been in some areas; whole towns were ruined and people were stranded by flooding.  As she walked her dog through her affected neighborhood she wondered what would happen if Sadie got away from her and how she might find her if they got separated. 


#9 - The Baby-sitters Club series was only supposed to consist of four books!

When asked what she loved most about working on the series, she replied that she liked writing for those characters because she felt that she got to know them over time.  What she liked least is that it limited her ability to create new characters which is something she loves to do. 

She is very excited about Raina Telgemeier's new graphic novels based on the books.  When asked how that project started, Ann explained that it was Raina's idea!  She had loved the books when she was growing up!  Ann said that Raina retold the stories in a way that was very true to the originals, but Raina had a way of replacing a lot of the text with her incredible illustrations.  Ann was amazed by how just the look on a character's face could "tell a whole page of text"!



#10 - Amina Weinberg is absolutely adorable beyond reason.

One of the many photos of Jon Scieszka's granddaughter that were sprinkled throughout the presentation!

One of Jon's graphs! (click to enlarge)

I have seen Jon Scieszka present at a previous Rhode Island Book Festival, but this year he co-presented with his son-in-law, author/illustrator Steven Weinberg.  As one would expect the session was hilarious, but there were almost as many "Awwwwwww!"s as there were laughs.  To hear them tell it, Steven had access to the slide show after Jon had completed it, and the proud new father inserted the pics on the sly.  (Of course if that were true, I would wonder why Steven didn't take the opportunity to delete the slides that picked on him for not having sold as many books as his father-in-law!)  

As always, the whole day was so much fun!  There are lots more memories that I could recall, but instead I'll encourage you to go to the next one!  

Thanks so much to Meagan Lenihan and all the organizers who made this event happen!  We are all so grateful!!!

p.s.  I've always taken advantage of an opportunity to get a picture taken with Jon Scieszka at an event because I never know what hilarious face he'll make each time.  This year I took a chance and asked if he wouldn't mind taking a whole bunch of selfies so I could create a collage, and I was not disappointed!  (THANKS, JON!)  And so now I have my most favorite book festival souvenir ever!  May I proudly present:

Seven Silly Scieszka Selfies!

Summer Reading at Hopkinton Rec!

This summer marked the eighth consecutive year of the Hopkinton Recreation Summer Read Aloud Program!  The program invites Chariho staff members to volunteer an hour of their time to read aloud to the camp's participants.  (The reading program also took place in Charlestown!)  The students get so excited when they know one of the people who has shown up to read to them!

We were joined the first week by Mrs. Potter, 5th grade teacher at CMS, and Ms. Sorensen, PE teacher at Ashaway and Hope Valley

 

guest reader Mrs. Allen, 5th grade teacher at CMS

guest reader Mr. Scanapieco, principal at Ashaway School

guest reader Mrs. Pierce, teacher assistant at CMS

guest reader Mrs. Bliven, 3rd grade teacher at Ashaway School

Like last year, I started off the first session by introducing the children to the available books with a short "book talk".  Then each child was allowed to select which reading group to join.  In the past we split them up by grade, but we've decided that it's even better to offer them a choice.  Not only did that increase their excitement, but it also introduced them to titles that they might decide to pick up and read on their own!
  

This year's chapter book selections from the list of RICBA nominees!

All three came from a list of books nominated for the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA).  During the school year, students are encouraged to read at least three of the books from the list in order to vote for the winner.  In addition, several of the schools (including Ashaway) hold competitions called the Rooster Games based these nominees.  By selecting books from this list, the children participating in HopRec will already have one of these books completed by the end of the summer or, at least, will have gotten an extended preview!

In addition to our "chapter book" groups, I also bring along a bin of picture books with related activities for the younger kids. Miss Lindsey, one of the HopRec counselors, did an awesome job presenting these and I'm grateful to her for always being willing to jump right in!

Miss Lindsey leading an extension activity for Caps for Sale

No matter which group a child joined, every one of them spent an hour each week interacting with some excellent books.  It truly is a wonderful program, and I'm very proud to be a part of it.  My sincerest thanks go out to the fabulous staff at the camp who were so accommodating in order to make it all possible and to the staff members who volunteered to participate! 

4th Annual Poetry Slam!

Tuesday night I had the great pleasure of attending Chariho's 4th Annual Elementary Poetry Slam!  This year 79 students from the district participated, and 16 of them were from Ashaway!  I loved listening to the wide variety of poems that the students had prepared.  Some were long and some were short, some were funny and some were unbelievably touching.  It was a wonderful evening of children showcasing their work and taking pride in a job well done. 

When a Day Goes Wrong 

By David, Grade 2

When things go wrong

The day seems long

But I hold my head up

Like a lion I’m strong

I stand with no fear

And with that I must say

There’s always tomorrow

And tomorrow’s a new day

The Crow

By Alyvia, Grade 3

The crow sat on my windowsill,

One night when everything was still,

He just sat there, frozen, still

The crow that was on my windowsill.

 

 Doggy

By Fiona and Julia, Grade 4

Jumping, pouncing, running around

It is so much fun

I am a puppy that came from a pound

I am a number one

I bark every time you come through the door

And you say stop, stop, stop

Even though you say this I know every day you love me more

Every night on my bed I plop

And then I start to sleep

And then I start to have good dreams

And all night through I don’t say a peep

And every morning I wake up to say

“Bark bark” it’s a brand new day!

  

Hip hip hooray

It’s doggy day!

Caribbean

by Paige, Grade 3

Welcome to the Caribbean,

Where the ocean is as blue as the sky.

Where apple kale ice cream is served,

instead of rocky road.

Where beautiful fish rome the crystal clear waters.

Where dolphins glide through the water at sunrise.

Where tarpon dart toward underwater lights at dark.

Where sun sets are are pink, purple, yellow  orange, and gold, like the end of the rainbow.

Where everything is amazingly beautiful,

Welcome to the Caribbean!

Enjoy your time while you have it,

Cause it will fly by fast………….

Welcome back home, back to reality.

  

Summer Activities

By Julianne and Hayleigh, Grade 4

Surfing, body surfing

And paddle boarding

At the beach

Licking, slurping

And dripping

At the ice cream parlor

Skateboarding, rollerblading

And biking

In the park

Softball, soccer

And basketball

At the sports field

Summer is so much fun

When you spend it

Doing activities you love!

 

It was a truly special event and my thanks go out to all who helped to make it happen!!