February Carnival is UP!

The February Carnival of Children's Literature is up over at Anastasia Suen's place, Picture Book of the Day. Since it's Leap Day, hop on over and see what she's put toegther so we can all leap into a book!

Poetry Friday - An Early Bluebird

I have spring on the brain, as I'm sure many of you do. Growing up in western New York, the robin was always the harbinger of spring. I would turn cartwheels upon seeing the first one of the season, because I knew it signaled the end of winter. Now that I live in Virginia, I see robins all winter. Who now brings the promise of spring? The bluebird.

An Early Bluebird
by Maurice Thompson

Leap to the highest height of spring,
   And trill thy sweetest note,
Bird of the heavenly plumes and twinkling wing
   And silver-toned throat!

Sing, while the maple’s deepest root
   Thrills with a pulse of fire
That lights its buds. Blow, blow thy tender flute,
   Thy reed of rich desire!

Breathe in thy syrinx Freedom’s breath,
   Quaver the fresh and true,
Dispel this lingering wintry mist of death
   And charm the world anew!

Thou first sky-dipped spring-bud of song,
   Whose heavenly ecstasy
Foretells the May while yet March winds are strong,
   Fresh faith appears with thee!

How sweet, how magically rich,
   Through filmy splendor blown,
Thy hopeful voice set to the promise-pitch
   Of melody yet unknown!

O land of mine (where hope can grow
   And send a deeper root
With every spring), hear, heed the free bird blow
   Hope’s charmed flute!

Ah! who will hear, and who will care,
   And who will heed thy song,
As prophecy, as hope, as promise rare,
   Budding to bloom ere long?

From swelling bulbs and sprouting seed,
   Sweet sap and fragrant dew,
And human hearts, grown doubly warm at need,
   Leaps answer strong and true:

We see, we hear (thou liberty-loving thing,
   That down spring winds doth float),
The promise of thine empyrean wing,
   The hope that floods thy throat!

Puzzled by syrinx? I was too, until I pulled out the Oxford English Dictionary. A syrinx is (1) an ancient musical instrument (pan pipe) or (2) the organ of voice in birds.

The round up this week is being hosted by Kelly Fineman over at Writing and Ruminating. On this fair leap day, do be sure to stop by and take in all the wonderful poetry being shared. Before you go, don't miss this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday, all!

Poetry Stretch Results - Apostrophe

This week's challenge was to write a poem that directly addressed someone or something. Here's what was shared.

Noah the Great addressed the sea in Interviewing the Ocean.

Tiel Aisha Ansari at Knocking From Inside is back (we've missed you!) with To Whomever Abandoned a Pot of Zinnia Seedlings on Our Porch Steps.

cloudscome at a wrung sponge wrote a lovely sonnet for her grandmother.

Diane Davis was thinking politics when she wrote Election Race.

Daisybug at Things that make me say... addresses that thing attempting to take over her garden in Exiled Wisteria.

Mad Kane is in with an apostrophe in the form of a limerick, called Ode to a New York City Walk Signal.

Marianne Neilsen at Doing the Wrie Thing! gives us a poem entitled To My Self-Motivation.

sister AE at Having Writ is thinking of her spreadsheet in her poem, Caged.

Laura Purdie Salas is also thinking computers and gives us To My Backup Disk.

Speaking of Laura, I couldn't get the image from this week's 15 words or less challenge out of my head, so my poem is to that tree, and the one like it in my front yard.

To the Winter Tree
Pardon me
oh giant one,
with your bony limbs
stretched skyward.

I stop
beneath your boughs
each day,
hungry for
a sign,
just a hint
of change.

Tell me,
please!
When will you
throw off
the mantle
of winter
and embrace
the gown of spring?

It's not too late to play. Write your own apostrophe and leave me a comment. Then I'll add your piece to the list.

Leaping Into Books About Frogs (And Other Amphibians)

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has declared 2008 as the Year of the Frog. (You can learn more about this at Leap Into the Year of the Frog.) In honor of all things amphibian, I thought it might be fun to explore some books and poems for learning about frogs, toads and other amphibians. I have grouped these selections into nonfiction, poetry and fiction. Since the frog life cycle is usually a very big topic in the early elementary classroom, this selection of books will be particularly useful for these units of study.

Nonfiction

• Nic Bishop Frogs by Nic Bishop - This engaging text is accompanied by gorgeous photographs of frogs in their natural habitats. Readers will learn an amazing array of facts, both scientific and quirky. (You can read my review.)

• All About Frogs by Jim Arnosky - Accompanied by beautiful acrylics, this book introduces amphibians and then discusses the characteristics, habitats, life cycle, diet, and more about frogs.

• Frogs by Gail Gibbons - In steady Gibbons' style, full-color illustrations show readers the life cycles of frogs, exploring the stages from tadpole to adulthood. One helpful feature is the presentation of scientific terms in phonetic form. If you download the teacher's guide from her web site, there are two pages devoted to this book.

• What's In the Pond? by Anne Hunter - This volume in the Hidden Life series looks at the frogs, tadpole, painted turtle, red-winged blackbird and more. On 10 double-page spreads, readers are presented with information on the left and illustrations on the right. Each section of text describes the physical features and behavior of each animal.
  

• Frog Heaven: Ecology of a Vernal Pool by Doug Wechsler - Vernal pools are temporary wetlands that dry each summer, then refill during the fall, winter and spring. This book examines the changes in a vernal pool in the woods of Delaware and describes the creatures that live there.

• From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer - This book in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series introduces readers to the life cycle of frogs.

• Red-eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley - Accompanied by the amazing photographs of Nic Bishop, this book describes the life of the Central American red-eyed tree frog.

• The Moon of the Salamanders by Jean Craighead George - One of the books in the 13 moons series, this title describes the emergence of a spotted salamander from his winter hibernation.

• The Frog by Sally Tagholm - Part of the Animal Lives series, this book focuses on the common frog (European) and describes its life cycle in rich detail.

• Pond Life by Barbara Taylor - A title in the Look Closer series, this book uses amazing photographs and snippets of text to describe newts, jelly babies (frogs from egg to tadpole), adult frogs, and other pond inhabitants.

• At the Frog Pond by Tilde Michels - Originally published in Germany, this English translation begins, "Did you ever wonder how a tadpole turns into a frog?/Did you ever stumble onto a secluded spot where you could hear and see the wondrous ways of nature--a clearing, a marsh--or a small frog pond?" From here, readers discover the ecology of a frog pond.
  

Poetry

• Toad by the Road: A Year in the Life of These Amazing Amphibians by Joanne Ryder - Grouped by season, readers learn about the life cycle of the toad in pages that include a poem, illustration and brief bit of informational text. Read Elaine's terrific review and sample a few of the poems.
  

• Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs by Douglas Florian - In 21 poems, brilliantly illustrated, Florian introduces readers to all manner of amphibians and reptiles, including polliwogs, the midwife toad, glass frog, wood frog, red-eyed tree frog, bullfrog, poison-dart frog, and spring peepers.

• Pollywog Fishing in Water Pennies and Other Poems by N. M. Bodecker - This book contains poems about a variety of pond creatures. This one begins:
  

  Pollywoggle-wiggle,
  polly woggle-woe
  pollywoggle
  oops!
  splash!
  --where did Polly go?

• Don't I Look Delicious? in Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman - This concrete poem describes a toad.
  

• Listen for Me in Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman - The first poem in this book describes spring peepers waking from their winter hibernation. It begins:
  

  Listen for me on a spring night,
  on a wet night,
  on a rainy night.
  Listen for me on a still night,
  for in the night, I sing.
  

Fiction

• It's a Frog's Life: My Story of Life in a Pond by Steve Parker - Written in journal format and accompanied by illustrations in different styles, a frog describes his life in spring when he wakes from hibernation, to winter, where he prepares for another long sleep.

• Tuesday by David Wiesner - This Caldecott medal winner is a wordless picture book (almost!) in frogs riding lily pads like magic carpets sail over the countryside and into an unsuspecting town for an evening of fun.
  

• The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka - We all know the story that ends when the princess kisses the frog, but do you know what happens next? This humorous tale lets readers know that they did NOT live happily ever after. Here's a lesson related to the book called Slimy Advertising and a Wicked Resume.

• Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel - This is my favorite of the books that describes the adventures of two friends. Also in the series are Frog and Toad Are Friends, Frog and Toad All Year, and Days with Frog and Toad.

• A Toad for Tuesday by Russell Erickson - This is the story of an unlikely friendship between an owl and the toad he intends to eat for his birthday dinner. Read Puss Reboots review of the book.
  

• A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson - A frog in a bog, sitting on a log, eats nearly everything in sight, from 1 tick to 5 snails. Now that he's fat from his meal, imagine his surprise when the log he is sitting on turns out to be alive!
  

Finally, and just for fun, you can download directions on folding an origami frog from the New Zealand Frogs site. You can also try this origami math lesson which includes a "fabulous frog" reproducible. Thanks to everyone who suggested titles on my original post. If I've missed a favorite of yours, please let me know and I'll add it to the list.

**Updated on 2/29/08** - Elaine at Wild Rose Reader has written a fabulous post called Leaping Lizards! It's the year of the Frog. In it she presents an original poem and highlights a number of outstanding poetry titles for studying frogs, toads and other amphibians.

Leap Into the Year of the Frog

Did you know that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is highlighting 2008 as the Year of the Frog? In an effort to raise awareness and mark a major conservation effort to address the amphibian extinction crisis, the AZA has created a series of educational activities and resources.

Starting February 29th (Leap Day), more than 70 members of the AZA will be holding fun, family-friendly events and programs to educate people about amphibian conservation. Zoo and aquarium visitors can take part in a variety of activities including leapfrog contests, frog calling, zookeepers and aquarist talks, amphibian scavenger hunts, investigating salamander habitat, and close encounters with our colorful frog friends! Learn more about events near you.

In support of Year of the Frog, National Environmental Education Week has developed a section on amphibians and reptiles for its EE Week Curricula Library.

This year we'll not only be jumping into froggy activities, but reading these froggy titles.

• All About Frogs by Jim Arnosky
• Tuesday by David Wiesner
• Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
• A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson
• From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer
• Toad by the Road: A Year in the Life of These Amazing Amphibians by Joanne Ryder
  

What are you doing for leap day?

Dime Store Novels and Boys Reading

Today in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University tackles the question of what boys should read. In it, he mentions the iPulp Fiction Library, a site that offers free online fiction in the dime-novel tradition. He writes:

Books of any kind compete with so many digital diversions that just about any fiction that encourages long reading hours is worth a look — pulp or sports or Western or murder mystery or classic novel. Reading researchers believe that sheer volume of reading plays a large role in the acquisition of basic literacy skills and vocabulary, and that print matter of even child-oriented books can be more verbally challenging than some of the best television shows.

It's an interesting piece. Do read the article and the comments, and when you get a chance, stop by the iPulp Fiction Library and check it out. There are titles by Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game), Bruce Coville (Wizard's Boy) and more.

Books By Mail (E-Mail, That Is)

Today in the Guardian, Graeme Allister writes about Dailylit.com, and the notion of receiving books in daily installments through e-mail. He writes:

Despite this flexibility, there's a certain sterility in reading in ready-sized portions. Perhaps it's a little too reminiscent of homework. Then there's the problem of reading a screen, a sensation which, in my opinion, doesn't really lend itself to fiction.

I have been receiving and rereading Little Women for the last few months. It is in 227 installments, and I am somewhere in the eighties. I must admit that there are days when I want to read more, but I am trying to be patient. As someone who receives close to 200 e-mail messages a day (some of it junk), this snippet of a book is like a little piece of sunshine in my mailbox. I look forward to finding it in my list and catching up with Jo.

What do you think about this idea? Head on over to read The Book is Dead ... Long Live Inboxed Gobbets! Feel free to leave a comment here or there.

Counting Book Podcast #8

A new counting book podcast is up over at Open Wide, Look Inside.

Today's podcast highlights Joyce Dunbar's book, Ten Little Mice.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Apostrophe

There are many days when I want to talk to someone who isn't here, to ask questions, to wonder. I've been mulling this over for a while now and think it's time we wrote some apostrophe. An apostrophe is a poem which directly addresses a person or thing that is generally absent. Here are some beginning lines from poems that use this form.

Edgar Allen Poe - To Science
Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?

Percy Bysshe Shelley - Ode to the West Wind
O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being
Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

John Pierpont - The Fugitive Slave’s Apostrophe to the North Star
Star of the North! though night winds drift
The fleecy drapery of the sky
Between thy lamp and me, I lift,
Yea, lift with hope, my sleepless eye
To the blue heights wherein thou dwellest,
And of a land of freedom tellest.

William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.

Now that you've read a few examples for inspiration, who or what will you write to for your apostrophe? Leave me a comment about your poem and I will post the results here later this week.

Counting Book Podcast #7

A new counting book podcast is up over at Open Wide, Look Inside.

Today's podcast highlights Barbara Barbieri McGrath's book, The M&M's Count to One Hundred Book.

The Art of a Child

William spent the last four weeks attending Saturday Art School at a local University known for its outstanding art program. Taught by students in the undergraduate and graduate art education programs, he had two glorious hours each week to explore art beyond the boundaries of regular classroom instruction. He created artwork with natural pigments (foods, minerals, plants), worked with tissue paper in warm and cool colors to create stained glass images, and made mixed media artwork along with many other projects. Most work centered on themes of the natural world. On their last day, students studied van Gogh's self-portraits and created their own. At the end of the session they held an exhibition where all student artwork was displayed. The teachers told us about each project and the goals for instruction, then the children got to talk about their work.

Here is William's natural pigment piece, created with charcoal, grape juice and "something green."
Here is his pastel piece on the food chain. If shows a snake, meerkat and scorpion. (Yes, we're faithful Meerkat Manor watchers!)
Here is his final piece, the self-portrait.
William has always been highly engaged in looking deeply and reflectively at the art in the picture books he reads, commenting on the aspects that appeal most to him. This experience has given him additional tools with which to look at art, and given him a new appreciation for the work that illustrators do.

Counting Book Podcast #6

A new counting book podcast is up over at Open Wide, Look Inside.

Today's podcast highlights Dan Andreason's book, The Baker's Dozen: A Counting Book.

Counting Book Podcast #5

A new counting book podcast is up over at Open Wide, Look Inside.

Today's podcast highlights Barbara Barbieri McGrath's book, The M&M's Brand Counting Book.

New Blogs and Fun Stuff

New Blogs
One of the things I love about Poetry Friday is that we often have new people join us, and when they do, I learn about new blogs. Today I found my way to these two blogs that I'll be keeping a close eye on and visiting regularly.

Paper Doll - Lara, this blog's author, worked at one of the oldest literary agencies in the country for nearly 3 years, and before that interned at an educational publisher and was an independent contractor for a well-known children's publisher. She is willing to answer questions about agents, submissions, or children's publishing in general if you e-mail her. I predict lots of mail in her future.
Oh, and by the way, her mother is this amazing writer!

Audiobooker - Mary, this blog's author, is a middle school teacher-librarian, audiobook addict, and author of Book Link Magazine's audiobook column "Voices in My Head." Her post today highlights the book Blues Journey, by Walter Dean Myers and his son, Christopher. It includes an audio sample that is simply lovely. I must have this book in both print and audio format!

Fun Stuff
Horton Hears a Who - Teachers can register to receive a free animated e-book for this year's Read Across America event. This looks like great fun. (Thanks to Audiobooker for the link.)

Poetry Friday - Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was born on this day in 1892. In honor of her birthday, here are two poems of hers I particularly enjoy.

I will put Chaos into fourteen lines

I will put Chaos into fourteen lines
And keep him there; and let him thence escape
If he be lucky; let him twist, and ape
Flood, fire, and demon --- his adroit designs
Will strain to nothing in the strict confines
Of this sweet order, where, in pious rape,
I hold his essence and amorphous shape,
Till he with Order mingles and combines.
Past are the hours, the years of our duress,
His arrogance, our awful servitude:
I have him. He is nothing more nor less
Than something simple not yet understood;
I shall not even force him to confess;
Or answer. I will only make him good.


Afternoon on a Hill

I will be the gladdest thing
   Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
   And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
   With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
   And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show
   Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
   And then start down!

The round up today is being hosted by Kelly over at Big A little a. Please stop by and check out all the great poetry being shared today. Before you go, be sure to have a look at this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday, all!

Counting Book Podcast #4

A new counting book podcast is up over at Open Wide, Look Inside.

Today's podcast highlights Peggy Rathmann's book, 10 Minutes Till Bedtime.

Poetry Stretch Results - Rhyming Chant

This week I challenged folks to write rhyming chants. What fun! Here's what has been shared so far.

Mary Lee at A Year of Reading (the creator of this challenge) gives us a chant about home, entitled The Solace of Open Places or It's Not the End of the Earth, But You Can See it From Here.

You know I love any post that includes the words "a poem for Miss Rumphius." Sam Riddleburger is in with an Empire Strikes Back poem (just for me!).

Diane Davis was not only thinking lines and meter, but lines, color, shape and more in her poem, An Art Lesson.

Madelyn Ruth joins us with a tribute to the Carter family. (Now I must go dig out some CDs and listen!)

Daisybug at Things That make me say ... basks in the glow of a day off and gives us a rhyming chant called Snow Day.

sister AE at Having Writ went to the kitchen for inspiration and gives us Searching My Spice Rack.

Beth at Endless Books joins us for the first time with a chant inspired by Harry Potter.

I've been working on several different chants. This one highlights some of my favorite animals. When you say it (sing it?) think in the rhythm of the William Tell overture (not too fast and with feeling). Here we go.

African Mammal Chant
Elephant, rhinocerous
pygmy hippopotamus
mongoose, leopard, impala
mountain gorilla

Eland, puku, bontebok
zebra, cheetah, bat-eared fox
ring-tailed lemur, bushbaby
kudu and lechwe

Antelope, red hartebeest
serval, camel, wildebeest
baboon, eland, tsessebe
colobus monkey

Meerkat, gemsbok, nyala
giraffe, warthog, hyena
aardvark, aardwolf, pangolin
oribi and lion

On safari, at the zoo,
in some books you'll find them too.
Every color, shape and size,
beauties before your eyes.

If you haven't heard of some of these animals, you can learn more about them at the Southern African Mammals Guide.

It's not too late if you still want to play. Write your rhyming chant and leave me a comment, then I'll add your poem to the list.

Everyone is Talking Reading These Days

Everywhere I look (read) these days, people are writing and talking about reading. In Sunday's Washington Post, Howard Garnder wrote a piece entitled The End of Literacy? Don't Stop Reading. In it he says:

But now, at the start of the 21st century, there's a dizzying set of literacies available -- written languages, graphic displays and notations. And there's an even broader array of media -- analog, digital, electronic, hand-held, tangible and virtual -- from which to pick and choose. There will inevitably be a sorting-out process. Few media are likely to disappear completely; rather, the idiosyncratic genius and peculiar limitations of each medium will become increasingly clear. Fewer people will write notes or letters by hand, but the elegant handwritten note to mark a special occasion will endure.

I don't worry for a nanosecond that reading and writing will disappear. Even in the new digital media, it's essential to be able to read and write fluently and, if you want to capture people's attention, to write well. Of course, what it means to "write well" changes: Virginia Woolf didn't write the same way that Jane Austen did, and Arianna Huffington's blog won't be confused with Walter Lippmann's columns. But the imaginative spheres and real-world needs that all those written words address remain.

Then, in today's New York Times OpEd column, Timothy Egan writes about Book Lust. In it he says:

Reading is something else, an engagement of the imagination with life experience. It’s fad-resistant, precisely because human beings are hard-wired for story, and intrinsically curious. Reading is not about product.

For most of my lifetime, I’ve heard that reading is dead. In that time, disco has died, drive-in movies have nearly died, and something called The Clapper has come and gone through bedrooms across the nation.

But reading? This year, about 400 million books will be sold in the United States. Overall, business is up 1 percent — not bad, in a rough economy, for a $15 billion industry still populated by people whose idea of how to sell books dates to Bartleby the Scrivener.

Add to this mix the LeGuin article I talked about here and here, and you have a veritable stampede of folks reflecting on the place of books and reading in our society.

More NCLB News - Impact on Subjects Beyond Reading and Math

The Center on Education Policy just released the results of a study that indicate some school districts increased math and reading time by as much as 150 minutes a week, while cutting time for social studies, science, music and art by one-third. This survey of 349 school districts nationwide shows that more teaching time is being devoted to math and science while time is cut for social studies, science, music and art. Here are some highlights.

• In the six years that the No Child Left Behind law has been in effect, 62 percent of the school districts surveyed had increased the amount of time spent in elementary schools on reading/English language arts and/or math. Those districts, on average, added 141 minutes a week to reading, while others added 89 minutes a week, on average, to math.

• About 44 percent of the districts increased time for reading and/or math while cutting time spent for elementary school science, social studies, art and music, physical education, lunch or recess. On average, time spent in those subjects was cut by 32 percent.

• The average time for social studies decreased by 76 minutes per week, 57 minutes per week in art/music, 50 minutes per week in recess and 40 minutes per week in physical education.

While I'm all for enhanced instruction in reading and math, I don't value it at the expense of other areas of instruction. You can download the full report, entitled Instructional Time in Elementary Schools: A Closer Look at Changes for Specific Subjects.

Counting Book Podcast #3

A new counting book podcast is up over at Open Wide, Look Inside.

Today's podcast highlights Ellen Stoll Walsh's book, Mouse Count.