What is in the Bag?

My cherished alphabet bag always accompanies me on a visit to the Red Balloon Bookshop. It ended up fuller than I expected it to be. With items for school and personal items, it was also heavier than usual, so I was grateful to my husband for carrying it back to the car (and stopping for a piece of truffle framboise cheesecake at Cafe Latte).

In addition to the bowtie penguin puppet (Folkmanis), the school items included

2 copies of Press Here by Herve Tullet

2 copies of Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka

1 copy of Skippyjon Jones, Class Action by Judy Schachner

1 copy of In Front of My House by Marianne Dubuc

1 copy of Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

The personal items included

2 copies of Happy Birthday Hamster! by Cynthia Lord, personalized on the spot by illustrator Derek Anderson for two children who have birthdays in the coming weeks

1 Mom's Family Calendar 2012, created by Sandra Boynton and perfect for 5 people to use

1 copy of You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman (a bargain book I could not resist saving for a reading family I love

1 copy of Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert in board book form for a soon-to-be-born baby

1 copy of Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, also in board book form for that baby

1 copy of Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

After unloading the personal books, I spent the afternoon on the window seat, reading the words and images in Wonderstruck, feeling much of the same magic I experienced when I brought home The Invention of Hugo Cabret almost 5 years ago.

Mrs. Meany's Cornfield

When classes come to the library, my teaching partner and I greet them and teach them proper social responses and questions. For example,

"Good morning, Mrs. _____'s class."

"Good morning, Mrs. ______."

"How are you all this morning?"

"We are fine. And how are you?"

"I am doing well. Has anything wonderful happened today?"

Today, one third grader responded to the last question with this:

"Well, I just can't wait to hear the next chapters in The SOS File!"

Her classmates agreed, and we read three chapters, the last of which was "Mrs. Meany". It's about a boy whose goat gets out of the fence and ventures across the road into Mrs. Meany's cornfield. While looking for the goat, the boy mutters something about staying away from the old hag, and suddenly she appears through the corn stalks! There was much laughter then, when the boy fainted, and when he regained consciousness to hear her talking about giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

More Wonderings

One of my colleagues went through the National Board certification process the same year I did it, so when she asked if I was willing to co-teach an inquiry unit with her, I eagerly agreed. Not every person can collaborate with another, but I hoped our styles were similar enough to work well together. To say I was fairly dancing with excitement in her classroom today is an understatement.

It was my task to demonstrate how building background knowledge helps us better understand what we already know, what we learn, and what we want to learn. I used a book entitled The Canada Goose for my example, first listing things I thought I knew (they migrate, they are herbivores, the mate for life, they appear to get food by sticking their necks in the water, they hiss when they feel threatened). Then I demonstrated how the text supported many of my background knowledge facts and how I learned additional things. When my co-teacher said, "I cannot help but wonder more things as you read and share your information," I was ecstatic. It was the perfect way to share my own desire to record my wonderings as I read about the geese. Teaching and learning together is so rewarding.

The children eagerly expressed their own wonderings (and sent me their list via email). I still need to find out whey double rainbows display colors the opposite direction. This rainbow was double for a short while, but by the time we could stop on Going to the Sun Road, the second one had faded.

Drawing From Memory

On the Glacier National Park vacation, I kept copious notes in my travel journal about the lakes, mountains, history, wildflowers, and hikes. Though I have always wished to be good at drawing (or painting or using pastels), my skill level is rudimentary at best. Still, I tried to draw things from memory, like the view looking down on the lakes from Swiftcurrent Pass.

Allen Say's latest book displays his incredible drawing skills and also demonstrates how the images and people in one's memory can be brought forth and organized to tell a story. In this case, it is his story. I love the format of this book. From the outside, it appears to be a picture book autobiography (though at 63 pages, it stretches the typical page limit). Inside the cover it is a wonderful conglomeration of comics, graphic novel, sketches, photographs, snippets of texts, Japanese characters, historical explanations, and narrative. All those things are woven together in an honest telling of his life story and artistic career.

It could easily be shared with readers in the context of biographies and autobiographies, but I especially look forward to showing them how real-life events so completely influenced his writing and art. Take time to savor this book - and record some of your own memories in words or images.

Welcome to a Fine, Fine School

This week's library read-aloud title is Sharon Creech's A Fine, Fine School. Last week's word-of-the-week came from the book (principal), so students have seen the cover on morning announcements.

With each decision by Mr. Keene, the school's principal, to add more days to the fine, fine school, I heard sharp intakes of breath from the children on the story steps. They knew adding more school days could only result in negative consequences. They giggled at the post-it notes that plastered a child's suitcase (which was an upgrade from the backpack she carried earlier) - all reminding about upcoming tests. Mostly, though, their faces and bodies registered relief when Mr. Keene realizes his fine, fine school will stay fine by sticking to a typical school year.

At our fine, fine school we love reading fine, fine books and celebrating fine, fine words.

Desire for Tulips

Needing a book for a sunny read-walk today, I grabbed Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire. Knowing I would be purchasing flowers later in the day for a friend's birthday tea and wishing those could be tulips, I revisited the chapter about tulips. Subtitled "A Plant's-Eye View of the World," the book discusses apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes and how those plants became essential to human society. Various evolutionary changes have shaped each of their developments, ensuring their longevity and necessity.

Apples are desired for their sweetness. Marijuana is desired for its intoxicating powers. Potatoes are desired for the gardener's ability to control their growth. Tulips, though, are desired for their beauty alone. Pollan tells of their history in the world and how eventually the Dutch demand for them was so incredible that people paid exorbitant prices for tulip bulbs...or even pieces of paper that claimed a share. He waxes for several pages about the Queen of Night tulip on his desk, noting all its parts and how each functions. The tulip I photographed in spring has those same six petals (3 inner, 3 outer), the six stamens, the single style/pedestal, and the three lips on that style. Biological variations occur, of course.

The Botany of Desire taught me so much about plant history, a topic I admittedly would never have professed to enjoy. It is another book that makes me look at the world differently.

A is for

A is for another world...where I was today in a friend's book (currently in draft form).

A is for asleep...how I spent some of my day due to the early morning whistling and yelling a neighbor did for his dog.

A is for always wishing...I could be in London (where I took this A photo outside Westminster Abbey) again to see things I missed the first time.

A is for anticipated dessert...which is the Primrose Cake I made earlier today for this evening's guests.

A is for Alphabet Forest...which is packed away and waiting for 2012.

A is for amazement...that feeling I get when I marvel that a week of school has already passed. It was a long one, despite being a four-day week, and I need to keep a positive Attitude!