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Have you ever wanted to take a trip to the cloud forest? Explore the Andes of Ecuador? Discover a new species? Well, you’re in luck.
With¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito from A to Z! travel to the unique world of the cloud forest and discover the bounty of plants, animals, and other organisms that live there as you help a zoologist look for the elusive olinguito, the first new mammal species identified in the Americas since 1978.
But the adventure doesn’t stop there. Anyone can learn to be an explorer in their own backyard with the FREEOlinguito Activity Kitand Teacher’s Guide. Learn more about the cloud forest and other ecosystems, including all of the important animals and the adaptations that help them survive in their environment with the many interdisciplinary ideas, projects, and engaging activities.
Content themes and subjects covered:
ecosystems and habitats
biodiversity
animal classification and adaptation
vertebrates and invertebrates
competition and predation
world geography
Here’s a preview of the types of engaging projects and activities you can find in the Olinguito Activity Kit and Teacher’s Guide:
Observe an Ecosystem!
You will need:
a notebook
a pen or pencil
a camera
a thick, old paperback book
Make note of the time of day you are making your observations. Is it morning, afternoon, or night?
Record all the plants and organisms you see, including trees, shrubs, bushes, grasses, ferns, mosses, and lichens.
Record all the animals you see in the area, including insects, arachnids, mollusks, reptiles, birds and mammals.
Gather fresh leaves of different shapes from trees and shrubs and put each separately between two pages of the paperback book. You may also gather small, colorful flowers or flower petals and put them between pages of the book.
Take photos of any animals you see.
Once you are back inside, place the paperback book under a pile of heavy books for a week or two to let you pressed leaves and flowers dry.
Design a Cloud Forest Travel Brochure!
Have students research cloud forests in the Andes and create an informative and persuasive travel brochure. Include headings, subheadings, pictures, maps, and informative captions.
Where are the cloud forests located?
What plants and animals live there?
Why are cloud forests valued or important?
What is the climate like?
What will people see there?
What environmental and human threats do they face?
Why should someone make the cloud forest his or her next vacation destination?
Create a Cloud Forest Alphabet or Glossary Book:
card stock
hole puncher
string or twine
art decorating supplies (crayons, colored pencils, markers. etc.)
Alphabet Book: include the featured letter, a picture or drawing of the featured plant or animal, and the name of the plant or animal.
Plant/Animal Glossary Book: include the name of the plant or animal, a picture or drawing of the featured plant or animal, and an informative description of the plant or animal: where does it live? what does it eat? how is it classified (plant or animal, vertebrate or invertebrate, etc.)?
For more fun and exciting activity ideas, including I-Spy Fun and learning to create you own pressed leaf print, check out and download the FREE Olinguito Activity Kit and Teacher’s Guide.
You can purchase a copy of ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito, from A to Z! : Descubriendo el bosque nublado / Unveiling the Cloud Forest on our website here.
Veronicahas a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking or hanging out with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
0 Comments on How to Be an Explorer in Your Own Backyard: The Olinguito Activity Kit and Teacher’s Guide as of 1/1/1900
If you're a teacher, and you live somewhere in the general vicinity of the northeast United States, you may be reading this from underneath a giant pile of blankets, cocoa in hand, enjoying at least one unexpected day off from school. And if you're reading this, then you may be browsing for what to do when school is back in session, because your kiddos' focus will most likely still be on the gigantic piles of snow outside, and not on whatever you originally had planned. Second graders who are still marveling at the biggest snowstorm of their little lifetimes might have a good time writing about snow: Specifically, writing about how to build a snowman. So, here is a set of plans you might like to use, focusing on temporal words and how-to writing. Some technical notes:
These plans use only pages 1-5 and 17-18 of the packet, but feel free to adjust and tweak as you like.
The plans are aligned with Pennsylvania Common Core standards, but you can easily adapt to the standards in use in your state.
The plans are for second grade. However, they can be easily adapted for first and third grade - just adjust your core standards and tweak the plans accordingly to fit.
The plans use the book below as an anchor text. (But if you don't have it and are pressed for time, any book about snowmen, or ideally, building a snowman, should do):
Title: Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy (Nature)
Author and photographer: Carl R. Sams II, Jean Stoick
Pages: 48
Reading Level: Ages 5 and up
Publisher and Date: Carl R. Sams Photography, November 1999
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Published In: United States
Price: $16.52
ISBN-10:0967174805
ISBN-13:978-0967174808
And finally, the plans:
Clicking the link below will take you to the shared Google Doc, and you can download it from there.
When my picture book Brave Little Monster came out, in addition to being a book that makes young and old laugh, many parents and teachers liked how it could be used to help young children deal with both real and imaginary fears. To help with that effort I created a fun puppet-making activity that can be used in the home and classroom to further help teachers and parents talk to kids about their fears and help them learn how to deal with them. Check it out and make your own "Be Brave" puppet.
So, you've written a story with an exciting or awesome plot, but for some reason your readers fail to connect with it or they quickly lose interest in reading it. It could be your characters' fault. Unless you have created engaging characters, it won't matter how interesting your plot is. Here's a short writing tip video on how to create engaging characters for the stories you write.
Even though the video targets young writers, the concepts it teaches applies to writers of all ages. It's also great for teachers who want to supplement creative writing lesson plans. Enjoy!
0 Comments on Writing Tip: How to Create Engaging Characters as of 5/12/2015 5:02:00 PM
"We are pressed for time, so we multitask. You might be eating breakfast while you’re reading Bookology, or doing laundry, or both. “Killing two birds with one stone” or “hatching two birds from the same egg”—integrated teaching—is the best way to fit everything in, especially in the K-5 classroom." (read the whole article here)
1) helping pressed-for-time teachers and librarians teach poetry while meeting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the Texas TEKS for English Language Arts (ELA)/Poetry and Science & Technology,
and
2) including a “Take 5!” mini-lesson with every poem in their collection for librarians, teachers, and parents with instructions for sharing, picture book pairings, and curriculum connections.
And in their NEW collection Janet and Sylvia have added another bonus: each of the 156 poems in this newest book appears in both English and Spanish--WOWEE!
As JoAnne writes: I’m thrilled to be one of 115 poets (and 3 Teaching Authors!) whose poems are featured in the brand-new Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations!
I'm thrilled that they've included two of my poems. This one's for National Thrift Shop Day (who knew?)
(Click to enlarge )
Have a fabulous Poetry Friday...and consider donating to a thrift shop today and then shopping in one, too ~
And...please stop by my poetry blog where all Poetry Month long I'm posting PPPs--Previously Published Poems--from anthologies, Cricket Magazine and my novel in poems.
Writing Instruction Video for Teachers and Aspiring Writers
Want to know the basics of plot? Need a simple and entertaining way to learn or teach plot development? This short video can supplement teacher's lesson plans on plot basics. It provides step-by-step instruction and examples of plot diagram elements, including plot introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Enjoy!
Sometimes beginning writers struggle to engage and maintain the reader's interest in their stories. Sometimes this happens because the protagonist solves plot conflicts too easily or too early in the story. Sometimes it happens because the opposite occurs, that it seems to take forever for the hero to solve the problem. This video demonstrates a writing technique that helps writers strike just the right balance in order to raise plot tension, thereby engaging and maintaining the reader's interest.
For teachers interested in using this video as part of creative writing lessons, the instruction video along with slide handouts that can be used to review the raising tension technique can be found at www.kenbakerbooks.com/raising-plot-tension.html.
0 Comments on Writing Tip: Raising Plot Tension as of 8/28/2014 5:13:00 PM
As I have worked with various beginning picture book authors, a common problem that a lot of them run into is difficulty in conveying what their story is really about or going off in to many directions. Creative writing instructors in school may run into a similar problem when they assign students to write short stories. This writing instruction video on picture book plot addresses this issue.
If you enjoyed or found this writing instruction video useful, please share it with others. Thanks.
0 Comments on Why Plot Focus is Important in Picture Books and Short Stories as of 8/21/2014 1:31:00 PM
I just posted a new lesson plan on my website called "Recognizing Patterns in Music and Children’s Literature". It's designed to help students meet music education standards for identifying similar and dissimilar phrases presented aurally in a piece of music and identifying musical phrases in a song presented aurally. The lesson plan accomplishes this by allowing students to explore and learn about patterns in music, including verse/refrain form. It teaches them and gives them the opportunity to practice echoing simple melodic phrases and singing developmentally appropriate songs.
Oh, and it also uses my picture book Old MacDonald had a Dragon. Check it out.
If you’ve never seen the shadow art of Tim Noble and Sue Webster you’re missing out. They literally shine light onto piles of junk and produce shadow images of people. You can check out their website here but do it from home and not the classroom. There are a few inappropriate words and images.
Meanwhile, if you are like me (and most art teachers) you already have a box of junk in your classroom. I have used mine box of junk by having the students create Rube Goldberg contraptions. The sculpture teacher at our school uses the box for recycled art projects. After viewing Tim and Sue’s work, I knew exactly what i wanted to do with that junk... Have my students create shadow art.
There really is little planning that can be done with such a project. It’s isn’t like other art projects where you can search for references or create sketches. You literally need to get your hands on the junk, hold it up to a light source and see what shadows form.
To acquire enough light sources that I could afford, I had to think a little outside the box. LCD projectors would be perfect but they are expensive. then it hit me. Our media center was storing a bunch of old slide projectors that nobody was using. When I inquired about checking them out, they asked me if i wanted them. They were happy for me to take them off their hands.
To start the lesson, I introduced my students to several shadow artists through a Powerpoint presentation. I showed the work of Tim Noble and Sue Webster as well as Kumi Yamashita and street artist Ellis Gallagher. Then I explained the project.
I explained to my students that they would be working in teams, manipulating junk to create shadow art on the wall. I left everything else... what they wanted to create, the theme of their art, even where they would project the light... up to them. They had one class period, 90 minutes, to accomplish their task. I kept them up to speed on the amount of time left in class so they wouldn’t finish to early not not finish in time.
The interesting thing about this type of project is there is no actual project. It is solely up to the photographer to capture the moment. At the end of class, the projectors would be put away, the piles of trash disassembled, and the box refilled with junk.
0 Comments on Creating Art with Shadows as of 9/12/2012 8:24:00 PM
For interested teachers planning the upcoming school year, I just posted on my website a lesson plan that they can use to help them introduce and teach some core curriculum concepts of narrative writing (story creation) through the use of characters, setting, and plot. It also helps teachers teach the skills needed to meet language arts reading and writing core curriculum standards that require the ability to describe characters, settings, and major events in a story.
The lesson plan is called "Narrative Writing & Reading Core Skills Lesson Plan -Story Creation Magic: Character, Setting and Plot". Okay, I know that's a mouthful, but if you want you can just call it "Story Creation Magic"
Sarah Albee--yay, Sarah (who's an amazing author--check out her website)! Here's Sarah's Beautiful Oops: My oops moment happened when I was a very junior editor at Sesame Street. I was editing my first big book, a SS songbook (because I was the only editor in my dept who could read music and play piano). I went over to Jeff Moss's house (composer of Rubber Duckie) to show him some song arrangements, and when we got to People In Your Neighborhood (his song) we both stared at the composer credit, which read Joe Raposo (his long-time rival and writer of Bein' Green, among many others). Jeff was notoriously curmudgeonly, and I knew there was a good chance he would flip, even though of course it was just galleys and there would be plenty of opportunity to change it. So I quickly made a joke about it (along the lines of how interchangeable he and Joe were, whatevs). After five tense seconds, he grinned broadly. And we became fast friends.
I am so PSYCHED to win Barney's book! Although my anecdote contains more parenthetical clauses than any paragraph has any business containing. Anyway thanks so much and loooove the poem!
Hi April, I also agree with the comments noted above. Being is a kind of winning. Sitting under the shade of a tree is beautiful enough as it is. I wish I could win that prize too - been so busy/hectic lately. :)
April, I love your poem on winning and the exercise. Thank you for the tiara. Every Princess needs a collection. You've added to mine. Happy Poetry Friday. Blessings.
I LOVE your poem, April, and the tiara too. Just this week someone sent me a link on how to make your own "Downton Abbey" tiara. Go to this page and scroll down: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/25/downton-abbey-make-your-own-tiara
Sarah, Katya, Linda at teacherdance (I think of “teacherdance” as your last name...) thanks for stopping by!
Joy—I love that you're the Princess of Poetry! And I can see how your poem would work well if the subject were poetry, too...in fact, it's kind of a one-size-fits-all poem, with the substitution of just one word. For example, I'd substitute the word, “whipped cream”...(Have you invented a whole new genre of poems? One-size-fits-all poems?)
And Laura (aka, Author Amok), Yes...the poem came out of that memory of when I used to write just to...well, write. For the love of writing. Fun. Relaxing. No end or goal in sight.
Tara-who-is-wearing-the-tiara—what a great idea to wear it while teaching!
Carmela—I'm not that impressed with the aluminum foil tiara...but I love the series Downton Abbey!
April, you're right. I wrote a generic poem. I thought of making a writing exercise with it,so you could substitute what ever word you wanted--but I didn't that that was terribly creative.
And yes teaching with a tiara works wonderfully well in keeping the children's attention. I've tried it several times and I love sharing the idea with children that there are lots of princes and princesses--but only one king and queen. So all of the subjects are responsible for helping the prince or princess to be the best that they can be, because some day they may become king or queen and they need the practice to become a good king or queen. Each person can become a good king or queen if every day they try to be even better than the day before. This even works for my poetry. Each day I try to become a little better than the day before, but I need the help of everyone to make me better.
Hey, and if you need crowns for all your princes and princesses--Burger King often is willing to help.
I think the problem is not with winning/losing but with the false importance that we give to these things rather than just considering ourselves lucky. One could say:
Even the wind picks winners, even the trees, even the sky. You thought you were sitting and doing nothing. Wrong. The proof, your trophy: a perfect plum.
I was fiddling and with dactyls and double dactyls this week. A dactyl contains three syllables: one stressed followed by two unstressed (/ - - ). So, for example, the word marmalade (MAR-ma-lade), which we say with a stress on the first syllable, is a dactylic word. The phrase, "Talk to me!" is also a dactyl.
The rhythm of a dactyl makes you want to dance. It's light and suits playful topics.
Dactyls remind me of pterodactyls. But that's not where I went. Instead, I took out a handy can of Play Doh and opened it. WOWZA!
Play Doh, invented by Joseph McVicker, is putty that's squishy and spongy and soft and supple and yielding and malleable colors-- its bouquet bewitches, it lingers, it wafts
across much of our planet-- over two billion sold! There's even a fragrance (and who wouldn't want it?) a perfume in honor (it's fifty years old!)
The recipe's classified-- water and flour, and a sprinkling of salt? I can fiddle with Play Doh for hour after hour and if I'm not writing, it's McVicker's fault!
poem (c) 2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved
What a playful poem! I love the repetitive sound of O in the title, too. Funny, I was reading about dactyls, also. In Rules for the Dance, Mary Oliver says their music can mute the sound of the poem's subject if dactyls are used as a pattern, but as variants, they are useful.
Thanks for your comments, Carmela, Linda, Mary Lee and Joyce Ray!
Yes, Linda and Mary Lee--this would definitely be a fun getting-to-know-you exercise. It would be fun if you took before and after photos of each creature, too.
And thanks, Joyce Ray, for giving us food for thought from Mary Oliver regarding dactyls ~
I am writing this as we wait in the airport for our return flight from our summer vacation in...Fiji! The best part of this time away from our real lives was the incredible beauty...and slooooowing down. No internet. No texting. No telephone. No multitasking. I woke up and made my bed without turning on NPR. I poured hot water over ground coffee beans without simultaneously calling my mother to see how she was feeling.
I'm embarrassed to say that at first it was hard to have fun, even though, intellectually, I knew that lying on the deck of Bruce Balan's trimaran was fun...snorkeling was fun, being with my family was fun.
It took a few days to wipe the seriousness, the purposefulness, the To-Do list from my brain. And then, one day, I was there. I was snorkeling in turquoise water over neon tetras and parrot fish and all the fish you see in those wonder-filled tanks at the pet store. I was hiking to the waterfall slides on a red dirt trail. I was biting into an orange paw paw (papaya), or a passion fruit, or a soursop (which looks like a prickly green dinosaur egg and tastes heavenly--sort of strawberry-pineapple-sour-citrus-creamy-banana-y.)
A man biting into a yummy soursop.
I devoured a mystery series, gobbling each book like potato chips. I wrote a poem each day, as always.
So let's keep summer's sense of fun in our writing. Let's pass it on to our students. I'm teaching my summer class at UCLA Extension again. It's the one I call my no-homework-for-the-students-no-homework-for-the-teacher class...but its official title is: The Children's Picture Book Writers' Bag of Tricks: A Six-Week Workshop. The key to this class is to create writing games and prompts which get these adult students out of their chairs, doing spirited hands-on activities before they settle down to write.
WRITING WORKOUT ~ Here's an ice-breaker writing exercise I use in the first class.
Collect keys. Keys of all kinds—house keys, hotel card keys, skeleton keys, car keys, skate keys (remember those?), boat keys, storage shed keys, jewelry box and diary keys.
If you're a teacher and don't have a stash of keys, ask eac
7 Comments on Put on your mask: I've found the KEY to Poetry Friday!, last added: 7/29/2011
What a great writing prompt for kids and for adults! I use a similar one with boxes, because, well, I have a lot of small boxes that suggest very different personalities. Hope you won't mind if I add keys to go along with my boxes.
It really is a great exercise, Clara and Laura. And it was my college son who suggested I ask students to bring in keys if I didn't have enough (but I did--I had his old key collection!)
Thank you for the wonderful exercise, I can use this when I visit classrooms as well as with the RIF staff! And thank you for sharing your vacation with us...lovely!
Welcome back, April! I love this key exercise and will definitely give it a try with my next class. I happen to have a number of keys lying around that no one knows what they belong to. :-)
This is a lovely exercise that I can share with my teacher-students here in Singapore. The prompts are bound to produce .. interesting results. =) The poem you shared is lovely too. =)
Wow--so glad you hope to use this exercise in your classrooms, Rasco, Carmela and Myra! Do let us know how it works, and if you get any poetic gems, please share them!
As Mary Ann mentioned on Monday, today we're sharing part 2 of our answer to an Ask the TeachingAuthors question posted by Sandra Stiles regarding resources for teaching young writers. But first, I'd like to congratulate all the writers who tackled NaNoWriMo in November. Whether or not you managed to produce 50,000 words, I commend you for attempting the Herculean feat. I'm still in the midst of the pseudo-NaNoWriMo project that I blogged about last month. So far, I've added about 23,000 words to my work-in-progress. That's 3,000 words short of where I'd hoped to be by now, but I still have a couple of weeks until my December 15 deadline. Wish me luck!
Now, back to answering Sandra Stiles's Ask the TeachingAuthors question. She asked for help in planning her after-school writing class. On Monday, Mary Ann mentioned some books with activities to inspire young writers. Today I'd like to share websites with lesson plans and other resources. Here are six, in no particular order:
ReadWriteThink contains lots of classroom resources, including lesson plans by grade level and interactive activities.
Thanks for mentioning S is for Story, Marti, and for sharing news about the Teacher Guidelines Sleeping Bear Press provided. (Obviously, we Teaching Authors need to talk to each other more often and inbetween our posts!) :) I also offer Young Writer Extras for S is for Story on my website - www.estherhershenhorn.com/write.
Whether your school year started weeks ago or only yesterday (as in the Chicago Public School system), we thought this would be a good time to kick off a series of posts featuring back-to-school getting-to-know-you writing activities especially for teachers, librarians, and homeschooling parents. And, as an added incentive to try our Writing Workouts with your students, we're offering a special giveaway contest exclusively for teachers, librarians, and homeschooling groups. (If you're not qualified to enter yourself, please tell all the teachers, librarians, and homeschoolers you know about this great opportunity!)
The prize? Your choice of:
A) a 30-minute Skype author visit from one of the TeachingAuthors OR B) a prize package containing six autographed TeachingAuthor books.
What do you have to do to win? Below, you'll find a Writing Workout on using six-word memoirs as a getting-to-know-you activity. To enter our contest, you need to try the Workout with your students some time in the next few weeks. Then come back and post a comment about the experience to this blog entry by 11 pm (CST) Monday, Oct. 4, 2010. Be sure to also read through to the end of this post for complete entry rules and instructions on how to qualify for a second, bonus entry. (If you've never posted a comment to a blog before and need some help, you can email me via my website.)
About the activity: I first wrote about using six-word memoirs in the classroom a year ago. It's an activity students enjoy that can be adapted for all ages. I tried it over the summer with my writing camp students, and they had so much fun, they didn't want to stop--they wrote one memoir after another! I hope you'll give the following lesson a try and then enter our contest. And if you're not a teacher or librarian, why not write some six-word memoirs for yourself? You can visit the Six-Word Memoirs website for inspiration. The site even provides a box where you can type in your memoir and the computer automatically counts your words!
Writing Workout Getting to Know Me Back-to-School Activity: Writing Six-Word Memoirs
7 Comments on Win a Skype Author Visit with this Back-to-School Writing Activity, last added: 9/11/2010
What a great way to start the year off. I teach 2nd graders and during Writers Workshop we are working on small moments in ones life. We had a slow start, very slow but once they got out of their comfort zone it was a beautiful moment. I even had some teachers join in the fun. Thanks for the challenge and we would love to have you visit our classroom via skype. What a moment that would be to write about. Exciting. My librarian sent the link out to the entire school even though I am already on your blog it was great. contact: [email protected] 2nd grade teacher Six Word Memior by students WOW, I love being at Wesley Panic, my dog is now lost Look at me, I can do it Brother he is my best friend I love my mom and dad
Thanks for the report, and for sharing your student memoirs. I can especially feel the emotion in this one: >>Panic, my dog is now lost<< I hope the dog is now found! Congratulations--you are our first official entry. Other teachers at your school are welcome to enter as well. Good luck! Carmela
Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford said, on 9/11/2010 8:37:00 AM
These six-word memoirs are awesome! Thank you so much for sharing.
No matter how you came to this blog post today, by chance,
by intention,
or simply by Good Luck,
may I be the first to wish you Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day!
Yes, you read that right: February 17 is Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day.
Not to worry if you didn’t know this fact.
I know I didn’t, until I turned to today’s date in my copy of Eileen and Jerry Spinelli’s newest book, today I will (Knopf, 2009).
I’d been savoring the moment (translate: assigned blog posting date and subject matter) to kindly share this newly-published small but useful and inspiring book with TeachingAuthors readers and writers.
Today’s post became that random moment.
How perfect is that!
I ardently believe in Paying Kindness Forward.
I practice it daily.
I believe in Good Karma.
So consider this introduction to the Spinellis’ book my February 17 Act of Kindness.
FYI: February 15 through 20 has been designated Random Acts of Kindness Week! Googling left me thinking the Acts of Kindness Foundation was behind the designation. No matter the Who, though, or even the How: I’m smiling and paying kindness forward to you.
I’d purchased the Spinellis’ book fully intending to use it as a journal-writing tool with my Young Writers. The review blurb highlighted the book’s simplicity. In a single page entry for each day of the year, the Spinellis (1) share a quote from a children’s book, referencing the title and author; (2) reflect meaningfully on the quote; (3) make a “today I will….” promise that relates to that reflection. The February 17th quote?
4 Comments on Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day!, last added: 2/17/2010
Esther--I hadn't heard of the Spinelli's book, so I plan to check into it immediately. I know from experience that random acts of kindness (either given or received) turn your day on it's ear, and lead you to unexpected places in your mind. I have to take my daughter to DMV this afternoon for her learner's permit. What a perfect place to practice random kindness!
What a fantastic post! I told my daughter before she went to school about this special day and encouraged her to practice random acts of kindness at school. I hope she remembers. :)
As for favorite quotes - my favorite comes from my dad. I grew up on a farm, where there was little racial diversity and a lot of prejudice. He always told me, "It's not the color of someone's skin that matters. It's the color of their heart."
I've lived these wise words every day of my life. Even though he's not an author, he's a farmer and tax accountant, I hold that as one of my favorite quotes of all time. :)
Good luck at the DMV today, Mary Ann. Great quote, Michelle. Esther, I didn't know about Random Acts of Kindness Day until I read your post. I was actually the recipient of a random act of kindness yesterday, by way of my husband. He stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up a few things and they were giving away bouquets of red roses, as in FREE! I smile each time I look at the dozen roses sitting on my kitchen table. My way of "paying it forward" today: I've shared your post on Facebook. :-)
Oh, I'm so glad this post is connecting with readers! Thanks for sharing. My standard response, when someone thanks me for shared time, advice, guidance, direction, or even a Kind Word: simply do as I'm doing and pay it forward! Michelle's father's insightful words bring to mind a Richard Peck/Grandma Dowdel quote the Spinellis included: "She had eyes in the back of her heart!"
This is a gentle reminder about those goals you set for the New Year in conjunction with the contest to win my book, NEW YEAR AT THE PIER. Remember that post? Remember your goals?
We’re expecting you to report back to us during the first two weeks in January. If you didn't win the book last time, you'll have another chance in January when you report on your progress. How did you do? Who or what helped you? Who or what hindered you?
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
I asked my nephew Josh, who’s a high school science teacher, how I could introduce this week’s topic of food and fiction.
“Well, you could have them write a poem in ketchup,” he said. That’s Josh for you. (Wouldn’t you love to be in one of his science classes?)
Message written in ketchup
And actually, that was a very good place to begin, because I’m quite comfortable writing in food.
The night before anyone in our family has a birthday, I sneak down to the kitchen and write “Happy Birthday” in raisins. It’s tradition. I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up to a raisin birthday card, really?
You guessed it...raisins!
I told Josh this. He said, “Then you could write a poem about what happens to it when the birds come.”
Wow.
I thought about my best friend, author Bruce Balan who’s sailing around the world on a catamaran. (To be specific, he just left the Minerva Reef - a ring of coral less than 3 miles across, 250 miles southwest of Tonga – heading 800 miles to New Zealand.)
And I wrote this poem:
BIRD DAY CARD
by April Halprin Wayland
You’re at sea.
I’m on land.
6 Comments on Adding Flavor . . .Food Into Fiction, last added: 12/3/2009
Did Josh write "I love you" in ketchup or was that you?! Great idea. At the farmers market Wed. I got 2 lamb chops from lambs raised in Dixon, about 8 miles from us. I hadn't intended to buy lamb from the very nice guy who raised them, Martin Emigh, but we got to talking.... My first local lamb cooking is happening right now. At first I was going to make plain lamb stew, but I remembered that Indian lamb dishes can taste mighty good. So I'm doing an easy version of lamb with onions. It's on the stove right now; cumin, hot green peppers & garam marsala make it nicely Indian. And the whole thing is a love note to my husband. (Maybe a raisin note, too.) He loves my cooking & tells me all the time. This is for you, AJ. No leftovers tonight!
Do you remember in kindergarten when we made special food for a Thanksgiving meal to be shared by the two classes? We dressed up as pilgrims and Indians too. Half of us were pilgrims, and churned butter, the others were Indians and crayoned on their Dad's old shirts to make buckskin clothes. I think they made popcorn. I remember us all sitting down to share this wonderful feast, and of course, we were learning to write in food by making a meal with special foods that carried a meaning, like words.
Many years later I went to a wonderful meal made by a Spanish artist who created a feast that looked like a well cared for garden on the table, but the flowerpots were loaves of bread and the dirt was chocolate and the flowers were carved fruits and vegetables. We ate from the flowerpots with tiny trowels and drank from small watering cans. Her message was written in food and a little harder to understand, but we had so much fun!
April, you never made macaroni pictures? Where on earth did you grow up? Couldn't have been the U.S. I didn't think ANY of us escaped without making multitudes of macaroni pix. Ha!
Love your poem. I think the whole change in tone is actually what makes it! Thanks for the laugh on the start of a stressful day. I needed it.
But first, as the West Coast representative of TeachingAuthors, I have an announcement to make. Something miraculous happened yesterday: it rained! Real “I’d better hide my book under my sweatshirt as I sprint to the car” rain! Usually when rain is predicted in Southern California, we roll our eyes and put on sandals, because by the time the storm comes panting down the coast to LA, it’s spent. All it has left is one pathetic cough of drizzle.
The last time I actually remember it raining substantially was February.
I just had to share that because the rain is gone now and though the sky is sparkling blue and the streets are scrubbed clean, I wonder if it really rained here or if I imagined it. I have it nail it down in words to know it happened.
Okay, back to our topic. I’ve written a poem to post on the National Gallery of Writing. You can, too. In fact, there’s another one of TeachingAuthors’ famous Writing Workouts below to get your juices going.
As Carmela wrote in the last post, the National Day on Writing, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English, is meant to celebrate all forms of writing. In conjunction with the event, NCTE has created a National Gallery of Writing, a digital archive of writing samples showing how and why Americans are writing every day. The Gallery will be unveiled on Tuesday, October 20th.
Teaching Authors will join other Kidlitosphere bloggers by submitting our posts to the Gallery called A Lifetime of Reading, curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, two teachers who blog at A Year of Reading. The details about their gallery and the process for submitting a piece of writing can be found in this post on their blog: http://tinyurl.com/nc4zga
TeachingAuthors offer no prizes if you post a comment on our blog this week, but we really, really want to hear that you’ve gone to the links above and hung up your own work of art—your own writing—in a gallery. Report in!
* * * * *
Years ago, when my golden boy was young, I went to pick him up from kindergarten and found the teacher and a few children reading a book under a tree. That’s when I took a lovely deep breath and s-l-o-w-e-d down.
Then I took out my notebook.
I found the rough draft of the poem I wrote and today I reworked it. Here it is. For you. For the National Day of Writing. For being outside. For yesterday’s blessed rain. For the holy goddesses of reading. For all of it.
1) Look at the ideas that Mary Lee and Franki of A Year of Readinglisted to get our juices flowing:
~ an anecdote from childhood,
~ a recent experience around books or reading,
~ a memory from school (good or bad),
~ a vignette about learning to read,
~ the impact of a particular book,
~ your life as a reader.
If the list doesn’t bring up anything, observe children reading or someone reading to them. Take notes.
2) Now—circle the topic that opens you up, that pulls you in.
3) Go outside or find a cozy spot and write as many ideas as you can about that topic. Cover the page. Write for ten minutes. Or more. Free associate. Keep your pen moving. Include vivid images, smells, textures—all five senses.
4) This is your compost, as Mary Ann calls it. Your rich soil.
5) Go now—work in your garden. See what grows.
April
drawings by April Halprin Wayland
2 Comments on Joy, joy, joy! Writing about reading ~, last added: 10/18/2009
What a lovely, evocative poem. I submitted to the Gallery, too---a blog post about reading books as a way to watch other writers at work---but I never thought to submit a poem. I hope you inspire many more poetic uploads to the Gallery!
Hooray--it’s Poetry Friday! Today’s poem and lesson plan are at the end of this post.
I’ve always felt that that if nothing else, I’m good at being a portal.A conduit between what someone wants and how they can get it.That's what has given me the to courage to teach Writing Picture Books for Children through UCLA Extension’s Writer’s Program for over a decade.This class is for newbie children’s book writers--not for those who have read a lot, taken classes, submitted stories, or joined organizations.
To these toe-in-the-water beginners I assign two books. The first is
This is a comprehensive, down-to-earth guide—worth reading cover-to-cover and easy to dip into as a reference. It presents a broad overview of the field but also gives specifics. As with all Idiot Guides, it's easy to browse and packed with extras like "Vocabulary Lists," which explain terms in the children's publishing industry; "Class Rules," which detail warnings and cautions; "Can You Keep a Secret?" which include tips and resources to help a children's writer or illustrator present him or herself as a pro; and my favorite, "Playground Stories," which are anecdotes from and profiles of children's authors and publishers, giving an insiders view of the children's publishing world.
Teaching AuthorsJeanne Marie and Mary Ann have both talked about Bird by Bird...and I’m going to talk about again.Because yes, it’s that good.
My favorite chapter is the one on jealousy, which changed my life. I read it at least once a year to quell my burning heart.
Though I happily celebrate most friends' successes, some colleagues' successes cause me great agony and confusion. Several years ago, someone gently suggested that perhaps I shouldn't read the book review section right before I went to sleep. She was right. When I'd see certain names, I'd toss and turn all night, feeling like I'd lost a race I didn't even know I was in.
I am a mean and tiny person with tight fists and a black heart.
This is really embarrassing to admit.
I've been more loving to myself about this in the last few years, and Anne Lamott's BIrd by Bird is a big reason why. She writes: “But if you continue to write, you are probably going to have to deal with [jealousy], because some wonderful dazzling successes are going to happen for some of the most awful, angry undeserving writers you know—people who are, in other words, not you."
and later,
"It can wreak just the tiniest bit of havoc with your self-esteem to find that you are hoping for small bad things to happen to this friend--for, say, her head to blow up."
Who, me?
She writes about seeing a documentary on AIDS:
"You could see the amazing fortitude of people going through horror with grace...seeing that this is what you've got, this disease, or maybe even this jealousy. So you do as well as you can with it. And this ravaged body or wounded psyche...should...be cared for as softly and tenderly as possble."
Lamott has shown me that yes, I have this tendency to be jealous, yes, I have this green spot on my heart…and though I try each year to make it smaller, I may have to live with that little green spot, be amused by that part of me and love myself anyway.
I’m human.What a surprise.
Writing Workout / Lesson Plan—
Metaphor—Getting a Handle on a Really Uncomfortable Feeling
For ages 7 through adult (or younger, with individual help.) Objective: This lesson reminds us how writing can help us when we feel awful.(And if the feeling doesn’t go away, at least we’ve got a poem out of it!)
Instructions:
1. Think of someone or something that fills you with envy (or another awful feeling).
2. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.
3. Feel this feeling in your stomach, in your bloodstream, filling every bone in your body.
4. Or instead, think about what helps drive this emotion from your body. Feel the relief as itleaves through the top of your head, through your finger tips, through the bottoms of your feet.
5. Brainstorm at least five metaphors for jealousy or for what makes jealousy go away.Are you a leaf and is your jealousy a worm chewing on you? Is your jealousy a ring in the bathtub being scrubbed clean with Ajax cleanser?
6. Write a poem using one of your metaphors.
7. Write honestly—even if it embarrasses you.
ANYTHING I CAN DO YOU CAN DO BETTER
or
CAN OF WORMS
by April Halprin Wayland
Varda once told us
that we were all cans on a shelf.
Cans of chili, kidney beans, split pea soup.
I decided that I was a can of apricot halves.
She said that the shelf was only one can deep
but that it stretched out forever
so there’s always room
for one more.
“You don’t have to be afraid that adding another can means there isn’t enough room for you,”she said.
Lamott's idea that writing is like driving with the headlights on(you only can see ten feet ahead, but you can arrive at your destination) has gotten me through many a firt draft.
Thank you for posting honestly about jealousy. There is always room for one more - sometimes you just want it to be yours! Just love you for that generosity.
I'm always looking for more examples of "show-don't tell" for my students. Thanks for the exercises and the beautiful poem. Aunt Cissy must be looking down on you with pride!
Thanks so much for your kind and enthusiastic comments, Mary Jo, Linda, Larissa and Jama. I was worried that attaching my feelings about my aunt to a lesson plan was exploiting her memory. But I think now that she's laughing, enjoying it all...
This is the second in our series of six posts featuring back-to-school Writing Workouts especially for teachers and homeschoolers. But all you writers out there, don't touch that dial--today's Writing Workout is for you, too.On Monday, Mary Ann shared an alternative to the all-too-familiar "What I did over my summer vacation" assignment. Today, I'd like to suggest a writing activity that will not
3 Comments on Getting to Know Me--Six-Word Memoir, last added: 8/13/2009
Thanks for the feedback, Sarah. BTW, are your first two sentences intentionally six words each?<br /><br />Michelle, your daughter's memoir is terrific! She may turn out to be an author-illustrator. :-) Thanks so much for sharing it.
Happy New Year! As any student will tell you, the new year doesn't begin January 1; it's the first day of school. Today it's heading toward another 95 degree day here in Atlanta, but it's "the new year"; the first day of school.If you've read First Grade Stinks, which is based on my daughter's struggles to adjust to a new teacher, you might guess that "Happy New Year" is not the way we greet the
2 Comments on Happy New Year!, last added: 8/13/2009
I'm so sorry about your Uncle James!<br /><br />Thanks so much for the great lesson plan! Many of my students are reluctant writers so I'm going to give it a try.
I'm sorry about your Uncle's death. He is one of the Greatest American Heroes. But even though they have left this world, we will never forget them, for they did not forget us...Pam<br /><br />PS: My grandfather fought in the Battle of the Bulge and my Uncle was a fighter pilot and is still living.
Happy Poetry Friday! Today's poem and a Writing Workout/Lesson Plan on writing a holiday story are at the bottom of this post.There’s always so much to do to launch a book. So much more than I’ll ever do. I have a file called “PR opportunities” which exhausts me just to scroll through. Nap time!Luckily, NEW YEAR AT THE PIER--A Rosh
5 Comments on Open Heart Surgery—Writing a Holiday Story, last added: 8/1/2009
As always, I love your writing, April-- the narrative about your process, the sweet cartoons, and your perfect poem. And of course you know I love NEW YEAR AT THE PIER so much and wish you mazeltov and many years in print! <br />Sylvia
So glad for all your comments--they fuel me! I'm really, really happy to have found a way to draw again...I've missed doodling all these computer years.<br />xxx,<br />a
can find in the Olinguito Activity Kit and Teacher’s Guide:
Veronica has a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking or hanging out with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
Hi, April. I like this version of "winning" -- just being, with no goal or drive. It's the kind of break we all need once in a while!
I am so PSYCHED to win Barney's book! Although my anecdote contains more parenthetical clauses than any paragraph has any business containing. Anyway thanks so much and loooove the poem!
Thanks for the tiara -- I've always wanted one.
The winning poem is great.
Being present in the moment is a kind of winning, so thanks for the thought and the possibility of an idea.
Hi April, I also agree with the comments noted above. Being is a kind of winning. Sitting under the shade of a tree is beautiful enough as it is. I wish I could win that prize too - been so busy/hectic lately. :)
April, I love your poem on winning and the exercise.
Thank you for the tiara. Every Princess needs a collection. You've added to mine.
Happy Poetry Friday.
Blessings.
Joy Acey
Princess of Poetry
Hey April, I did the exercise (but I cheated a little) I revised one of my own poems about poetry and changed it to winning.
WINNING
makes my toes
tap,tap,tap.
It makes my legs
want to
kick,kick,kick.
My knees want to bend
and my bum
wants to
shimmy, shimmy, shake.
My body wants to sway.
My blood pulses.
My fingers
snap, snap, snap.
Winning makes me
want to throw
back my shoulders,
throw up my arms
into the air,
and shout
Wahoo, Wahoo!
I hope winning
makes you feel
this way too.
April, may I link to your poem and exercise on my blog?
What a wonderfully relaxed view of wining...and I love the tiara, especially the idea of wearing it to teach!
I LOVE your poem, April, and the tiara too. Just this week someone sent me a link on how to make your own "Downton Abbey" tiara. Go to this page and scroll down:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/25/downton-abbey-make-your-own-tiara
Sarah, Katya, Linda at teacherdance (I think of “teacherdance” as your last name...) thanks for stopping by!
Joy—I love that you're the Princess of Poetry! And I can see how your poem would work well if the subject were poetry, too...in fact, it's kind of a one-size-fits-all poem, with the substitution of just one word. For example, I'd substitute the word, “whipped cream”...(Have you invented a whole new genre of poems? One-size-fits-all poems?)
And Laura (aka, Author Amok), Yes...the poem came out of that memory of when I used to write just to...well, write. For the love of writing. Fun. Relaxing. No end or goal in sight.
Tara-who-is-wearing-the-tiara—what a great idea to wear it while teaching!
Carmela—I'm not that impressed with the aluminum foil tiara...but I love the series Downton Abbey!
Myra, remember to breathe.
Joy--you may ABSOLUTELY link to my poem and exercise on your blog! ALWAYS! (I'm flattered. I feel as if I've just won!)
April, you're right. I wrote a generic poem. I thought of making a writing exercise with it,so you could substitute what ever word you wanted--but I didn't that that was terribly creative.
And yes teaching with a tiara works wonderfully well in keeping the children's attention. I've tried it several times and I love sharing the idea with children that there are lots of princes and princesses--but only one king and queen. So all of the subjects are responsible for helping the prince or princess to be the best that they can be, because some day they may become king or queen and they need the practice to become a good king or queen.
Each person can become a good king or queen if every day they try to be even better than the day before.
This even works for my poetry. Each day I try to become a little better than the day before, but I need the help of everyone to make me better.
Hey, and if you need crowns for all your princes and princesses--Burger King often is willing to help.
"Write as if you're finger painting."
LOVE that!
I think the problem is not with winning/losing but with the false importance that we give to these things rather than just considering ourselves lucky. One could say:
Even the wind picks winners,
even the trees, even the sky.
You thought you were sitting
and doing nothing.
Wrong.
The proof, your trophy:
a perfect plum.
Dear Mary Lee--I'm glad you liked the finger painting image. That may be one of the most Zen things I did as a child...!
Janet--that's exactly what I was trying to say in my poem. You said it so well!