Picture Book of the Day

Nonfiction Monday: Astronauts Handbook

asuen — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:33:50 +0000

Astronauts Handbook by Meghan McCarthy begins…

Welcome to astronaut school! Soon you will be boarding a space shuttle and BLASTING into outer space.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write about what they would like to do in astronaut school. Use the Story Map 3 graphic organizer to help students talk out their story ideas before writing.

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at In Need of Chocolate.

Literacy Links

The Dumpster Diver

asuen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:56:01 +0000

The Dumpster Diver by Janet S. Wong (author) and David Roberts (illustrator) begins…

Anyone knows you can
dive for treasure
in the ocean,
but our neighbor
Steve the Electrician
dives for
buried treasure
RIGHT
SMACK
HERE
in our backstreet alley.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own “recycling” tale (without going in a real dumpster.) What can they “reuse” at school or a home? Use the Idea Wheel graphic organizer to think of ideas.

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup.

Literacy Links

The Mighty Pigeon Club

asuen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:21:04 +0000

In The Mighty Pigeon Club by Daniel San Souci, the clubhouse kids admire Arthur’s pigeons. After Arthur becomes allergic to feathers they step in to save the day…

With some chicken wire and scrap wood we turned the clubhouse into a pigeon coop. The next day we filled it with pigeons and became “The Mighty Pigeon Club.”

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Use this “one thing leads to another” story as a model for students to write their own clubhouse story.

Literacy Links

My Big Rig

asuen — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:11:39 +0000

In My Big Rig by Jonathan London (author) and Viviana Garofoli (illustrator) a small boy imagines…

My big rig rolls through the city…across a bridge…and out into the country.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary: Ask students to write their own summer travel story. Use the Story Map 3 graphic organizer to help students talk out their story ideas before writing.

For more books for young readers, subscribe to my 5 Great Books blog.

Literacy Links

Mr. Pusskins: A Love Story

asuen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:08:28 +0000

In Mr. Pusskins: A Love Story by Sam Lloyd, Emily loved her cat.

But Mr. Pusskins never listened. The girl’s constant babbling, “Blah-de-blah, blah, blah,” bored his whiskers off. He wanted more than this dull life.

Sentence Fluency Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own “runaway pet” story. During the editing process, they can read it aloud to a peer editor to test the sentence fluency (and rewrite as needed.)

Literacy Links

Nonfiction Monday: Man on the Moon

asuen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:26:31 +0000

Illustrated by Benrei Huang, my picture book Man on the Moon begins…

Moon,
do you remember
your first visitors?

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: There are many ways to tell a story. I used short poetic sentences to retell the Apollo 11 moon landing. Ask students to watch the first moon landing and write their own version of the story. June 20th is the 40th anniversary of this historic mission!

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub Blog.

Literacy Links

COMING NEXT WEEK at ALA:

Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks for Reluctant Readers
Sunday, July 12, 10:30 am to 12:00 pm
Convention Center Room W181 (Level 1 of the West Building.)

18 authors will “booktalk” their latest books!
(You can see the booktalks on our wiki.)

A Porc In New York

asuen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:50:57 +0000

In A Porc In New York by Catherine Stock a French farmer discovers his animals have used the airplane tickets they ordered to fly across the Atlantic to New York City! His dog Cabot finds a clue…

Cabot, snuffling around the straw, suddenly unearthed a mysterious list:

NEW YORK
1. Blooming Dells
2. Boat trip
3. Central Park

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: The farmer and his dog use this list to help them find the missing animals. Use this “list” story as a model for students to write their own “vacation” story.

Literacy Links

Hurry! Hurry!

asuen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:48:14 +0000

In Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting (author) and Jeff Mack (illustrator), it’s a big day at the farm. Chicken calls out:

HURRY! HURRY!

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: This book has 2 or 3 words a page, making it just right to guide young readers as they learn to write stories of their own. Use the Story Map 3 graphic organizer to help students talk out their story ideas before writing.

For more books for young readers, subscribe to my 5 Great Books blog.

Literacy Links

Brave Bitsy and the Bear

asuen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:45:35 +0000

Brave Bitsy and the Bear by Angela McAllister (author) and Tiphanie Beeke (illustrator) begins with a problem…

“Little Bitsy fell out of her girl’s pocket in the woods one autumn afternoon.”

Sentence Fluency Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own “character with a problem” story. During the editing process, they can read it aloud to a peer editor to test the sentence fluency (and rewrite as needed.)

Literacy Links

Nonfiction Monday: Unite or Die

asuen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:43:28 +0000

In Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation by Jacqueline Jules (Author) and Jef Czekaj (Illustrator), a class play teaches the facts.

On September 13, 1783, The Treaty of Paris
was signed, officially ending the American Revolution.
Thirteen colonies had won their independence from England.
A new country was born.

Conventions Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own “history” play. What will each character say? Remind students to check their play for punctuation clues, so the actors know when to pause (for a comma) and when to stop (for a period).

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at Book Aunt.

Literacy Links