Literacy Now

by Peggy Coyne

Teachers have known for years that students learn differently. The latest research in the neurosciences is confirming this through the ability of neuroscientists to capture images of brain activity as we engage in learning new tasks. The evidence from these pictures is clear that no two brains learn the same way. The way each of us learns is as different as our fingerprints. So it makes sense that a one-size-fits-all curriculum made for “average” learners will not yield the results we want. There are no average learners. Learner variability is the norm. How can we as teachers, who have anywhere from 18-38 students in our classrooms address this challenge? How can we design lessons that address learner variability, that maximize learning for all students, from those who struggle to those who excel? These are some of the questions that teachers from the Bronx, NY addressed during a two-week workshop where they learned how to apply Universal Design for Learning framework to their literacy practices. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an educational framework based on the neurosciences, holds as a core belief that learner variability is the given. UDL at a Glance is a short video that provides an overview and explains the connections between neuroscience and how the UDL Guidelines are helping teachers address learner variability.

Monee Perkins, a teacher at Bronx Math Prep, attended the UDL workshop. Here are some of her reflections and new ideas she will integrate into her classrooms this year as a result of that work:

“I often hear my administrators say, ‘You have to teach to the whole child,’ and I would say to myself, ‘Oh no, I cannot create 90 individual lessons for my students, I have a life.’ However, UDL helped me realize that is not what my administrators meant. UDL and my administration team are suggesting that I create one lesson, and in the design of that lesson make sure I minimize the barriers so every student can walk away with the big ideas through a variety of lessons and projects. Using the UDL Guidelines, I can allow learning to be fun through Multiple Means of Engagement; support and scaffold the ways students learn through Multiple Means of Action and Expression; and provide Multiple Means of Representation by presenting content in different ways. What I find amusing is the fact that teachers already do many of the things included in the UDL Guidelines, especially in special education. But now I realize that by designing lessons using the UDL Guidelines we can maximize learning for all students, including the ‘average student’ from the beginning. As a result of my work with UDL, I intend on incorporating more media in my lessons, giving students choice, and implementing more resources such as ADOBE Reader, Wall Wisher, BookBuilder, and Voice Thread to help me address the variability of learners in my classroom. I look forward to updating you in a few months to let you know how things went.” 

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

 

 

by Clarissa Hardcastle

The question of how to reform education always comes around to teachers: how to train them, how to assess them, how to pay them, how to keep them—and the list goes on.

The United States isn’t alone in grappling with these issues. Education ministers throughout the world are faced with these same questions. Because of this, education leaders came together to share ideas and best practices at the International Summit on the Teaching Profession.

Delegations comprised of education ministers, leaders of national teachers' organizations, and other teacher leaders from countries and regions with high-performing and rapidly improving education systems gathered in New York City in March 2012.

This year's theme, Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders, examined how to improve teacher preparation and school leader development to better address the needs of 21st century learning environments and changing expectations.

Participating countries and regions included Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, the People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

A webcast of the opening and closing events can be viewed online. Also available are PDF files of the 2011 and 2012 International Summit Reports, an article about the first Summit’s ideals and motivation as seen by the world’s leaders in education, and a two-part summary (Part 1; Part 2) of the Summit’s conclusions as written by Vivien Stewart, Asia Society's Senior Advisor for Education and author of A World-Class Education: Learning from International Models of Excellence and Innovation.

Asia Society was a partner on this event along with the U.S. Department of Education, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Education International (EI) the global federation of teacher unions, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), National Education Association (NEA), and public broadcaster WNET.

Clarissa Hardcastle is a strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

International Reading Association Annual Convention

My first job after college was at a public television station in New Orleans. I had no experience, so I wrote a letter to the station manager and said I was willing to do anything. Anything. I got what was generally considered the worst job in the shop: transcribing interviews. This meant when a producer went out in the field to do an interview, he or she would bring the tapes back to me and I would sit with headphones and a typewriter (yes, a typewriter) and transcribe every single word.

Sounds boring? It was. But it was helpful, too. For one thing, I learned how to type really fast, which is a useful skill for any aspiring writer.

I also learned how to listen. I was surprised to hear how often people don’t answer the questions they’re asked. This was confirmed later when I began reporting for PEOPLE magazine. People often dance around difficult questions. We—because I include myself here—avoid uncomfortable truths and try to turn conversations in other directions. But in the process, we often step right in it and reveal the very thing we’re trying to hide.

From my hours spent transcribing interviews, I learned that a conversation between two people can be powerful and dramatic, especially when there’s an underlying tension between the people talking.

So here’s a trick to use when starting a piece of fiction writing: Transcribe a conversation between two or more characters. It doesn’t have to be a fight, but the conversation should reflect a conflict, either clearly defined or mysteriously vague. Maybe the characters are talking about one thing, but they’re really talking about something else.

This is how I kicked off my new book, HOMESICK:

MOM (yelling): What in God’s name are you doing?
DAD: Shh. You’ll wake up Benny.
MOM: No, I won’t. He’s sound asleep.
[ME: Wrong. I was wide awake and listening from my room like I always did when my mom and dad fought. It was the soundtrack of my childhood.]
DAD: Let me just unload the truck.
MOM: I told you to clean up your crap, and now you’re bringing home more crap?

There’s more to this conversation, but do you see how the characters are really talking about their relationship? Does the fact that the narrator is listening from the safety of his bedroom tell us something about him? Even the mother’s use of the word “crap”—a word I don’t typically use—reveals something about the family dynamic.

Try using the transcript writing exercise with your students and see if this trick works for you. Getting rid of all those he saids and she saids might help them discover who their characters are and what their conflict is. It’s also a great way to jump right into the heat of a story.

When they revise, your students will probably want to put the dialogue in paragraph form, but maybe not. I ended up liking the transcript format so much, I used it in my book.

I hope that practicing writing transcripts will help your students land their first jobs. They probably don’t want to be transcriptionists, though. But if they can learn to hear what people are saying between the lines, and then weave a story out of those truths and lies and hopes and fears, they just might be the kind of writers whose books we want to read.

Kate Klise is the author of 23 books, including DYING TO MEET YOU, GROUNDED, and HOMESICK. For more information, visit www.kateklise.com.

This week members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) share recent books all around the theme of math. Each title takes a different mathematical perspective from counting, adding, subtraction, graphing to multiplication. Building math skills through literature can create confidence and make learning fun. Literature could be used as a way to introduce new math concepts, review math theories and/or have students independently explore math ideas.

GRADES K-3

Armstrong-Ellis, Carey F. (2012). Ten creepy monsters. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers.

This fiendishly clever counting book features characters not typically found in books introducing math concepts—monsters. The endpapers are covered in spider webs with spiders dangling from the threads, and the book opens with an oceanside graveyard scene in which monsters are rising from their burial mounds. One of them clutches a bag filled with something. After all, it is Halloween night. Ten different  monsters—a ghost, a witch, a zombie, a werewolf, and a vampire among them—gather together on the first pages of this book written in rhyming text, before setting out on their journey. But before they can wreak any havoc, one by one, bad things happen to them. By the end of the night, only one monster remains, and his identity will surprise some young readers. The acrylic illustrations showing the expressions on the monsters' faces as they lurch toward town add another layer of hilarity to the story. The illustration of a zombie clutching the foot he lost along the way and the artistic depiction of a swamp brew-splashed toad wearing a witch's hat and glasses are hilarious. A perfect Halloween read-aloud but a great way to relieve malaise on any day, this picture book also helps young readers learn to count as the monsters fall by the wayside in gruesome fashion. 

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Brown, Margaret Wise. (2012). Count to 10 with a mouse. Illus. by Kirsten Richards. Bath, UK: Parragon.

From the author of Good Night Moon (2005) and Runway Bunny (2005) comes another engaging book that is filled with adventure, rhyme, and fun. Children may even forget that they are learning to count while reading this title.  The book opens with the rhyme, “There was a little mouse no bigger than a mole, who lived in a round place that he called a hole” (unpaged). This particular small grey mouse is very friendly and familiar, inviting readers to turn the page to see what happens. The mouse does everything with style. He finds a book with one hole, and then runs inside the hole in order to see the different creatures on the pages. His adventures become exciting when he discovers fish, monkeys, butterflies and other creatures, but they take a dangerous turn when he meets six pussycats. Thankfully, they are busy untangling themselves, and the mouse escapes. Phew! After the mouse encounters a clock, the author reminds readers of the nursery rhyme, “Hickory, Dickory, Dock,” before nimbly moving the story back to its original focus. Readers will enjoy finding out what happens when the mouse reaches the number ten. Perfect for reading aloud, this title provides a place to begin conversations about numbers. The book would also be useful as a mentor text to teach writing to older students.

- Rani Iyer, Washington State University, Pullman

Formento, Alison. (2012). These bees count! Illus. by Sarah Snow. New York: Albert Whitman.

This is a counting book and so much more. Mr. Tate takes his class on a field trip to visit Busy Bee Farm. Farmer Ellen is ready to give his class a tour of the farm and gives each student beekeeping gear so they are safely protected to take a close look at the bees and all the activity surrounding the hives. As the children approach the bees and hives the counting begins. The author has included a detailed note at the end providing even more information about the lives of bees and the work they do. Detailed teacher’s guide, book trailer and resources at the publisher’s website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Gershator, Phillis and Mim Green. (2012). Time for a hug. Illus. by David Walker. New York: Sterling Children’s Books.

Any time is time for a hug. Watching the clock throughout the day, two little bunnies go through a typical day for any young child. Starting at 8:00 in the morning the bunnies wash their faces, get dressed, brush their teeth, play with puppets, read books, ride bikes, climb trees until it is time for bed. With clocks on every page indicating the passing hours, each hour has time for a hug. Be ready for National Hug Day on January 21. Also visit the author’s website or use the “Draw a Math Story” lesson from ReadWriteThink.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Holub, Joan. (2012). Pumpkin countdown. Illus. by Jan Smith. New York: Albert Whitman.

Farmer Mixenmatch is giving a tour of his farm and especially the pumpkin patch to Ms. Blue’s first grade class. He shows the children his petting zoo, gives them a ride on the tractor, shows them the corn make and also the education center at the farm. Holub has used rhyming verse to travel around the farm and have readers count things on each page that they discover on the farm. Answers are upside down at the bottom of the page. Her countdown actually starts and 20 and works the numbers down as children explore the farm and readers explore for answers. The endpapers of the book have many more facts about pumpkins. This will be a fun book to use before any fall field trips. Teachers will find a math related lesson plan idea entitled “Exploring Sets through Math-Related Book Pairs” at ReadWriteThink.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Holub, Joan. (2012). Zero the hero: A book about nothing. Illus. by Tom Lichtenheld. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Although this is a book literally about nothing, it’s a book dealing with a very important mathematical concept. The book’s focus is Zero, the place holder in our numbering system. But despite the other numbers’ disparaging remarks about his value, Zero is much more than a place holder, and this book tells why. Although Zero is sure he has value, the other numbers taunt him because he is useless when it comes to counting. Knowing that he has heroic characteristics, Zero develops a self-identity crisis since he only acquires value when placed next to another number, say a “1,” to make a “10.” He’s also frequently mistaken for other round objects such as the “6” or even a doughnut or the letter “O” and is useless when it comes to addition, subtraction, and division. Once the other numbers recognize that multiplying themselves by Zero makes them equal to nothing, they flee from him, and in shame, Zero rolls away and hides. After some challenging story problems and a round-off game make them miss their friend, the numbers become distracted and are captured by Roman numerals. Zero saves them with his ability to reduce anything to nothing through multiplication. As in last year’s E-Mergency!, the book brims with delightful word play and ink, pastel, and colored pencil illustrations that provide distinct personalities for each numeral. Math never has been so much fun.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University, Pullman

Long, Ethan. (2012). The wing wing brothers math spectacular! New York: Holiday House.

The Wing Wing Brothers, five hilarious duck brothers, present a circus-like show that has fun with math concepts. In three acts, the brothers try to outdo each other with their laugh-inducing tricks like spinning plates, juggling and throwing pies. Each acts presents a different math concept including greater than and less than, addition and subtraction while creating math problems within the reading circus acts. The final act includes a disappearance the readers will have to ponder and figure out the solution. This book offers such a fun approach to not only these math concepts the story problems to be solved. Teachers will appreciate the page at the end that relates Common Core State Standards to this book.  “Writing and Math with Shopping Lists” can be found at ReadWriteThink. The author’s blog/website is filled with fun for young readers.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Marzollo, Jean. (2012). Help me learn subtraction. Photographs by Chad Phillips. New York: Holiday House.

Marzollo’s popular “I Spy” books are favorites among children. She has turned that same style of book making to the math arena and this is the third book in the Help Me Learn Math series. Chad Phillips’ photographs add the actively visual appeal of this book and each math problem as a wide variety of real objects displayed to create the math problem written in rhymed text. For each subtraction problem the author has created the vertical and horizontal setup of the math problem and in some cases a basic little word problem presented as dramatic play. Explore some “Math Center Activities” at ReadWriteThink. The author discusses why she wrote this book on her website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Menotti, Andrea. (2012). How many jelly beans? A giant book of giant numbers. Illus. by Yancey Labat. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

Learning about big numbers should be portrayed in a big book and the oversize format of How Many Jelly Beans does just that. Aidan and Emma are offered some jellybean and so Emma says she will take 10. Aidan quickly comes back with his response that he wants 20 … and the jellybean battle begins. Each child asks for more and more jumping their requests by hundreds and thousands until they are realizing really big numbers! Emma challenges Aiden with the questions, “You can’t eat five hundred jelly beans.” This prompts the concept of dividing into so many per day and how many over a year’s span. The exaggerated fun spins off ending the book with a huge fold out page depicting a million jellybeans. This will be a great companion book to use with “Lucky Beans” by Becky Birtha to give this introduction to counting jellybeans a context. Teacher resources for this book are available at the publisher’s website. ReadWriteThink offers the lesson plan, “Giant Story Problems: Reading Comprehension through Math Problems.”

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Weill, Cynthia. (2012). Count me in: A parade of Mexican folk art numbers in English and Spanish. Figures by Guillermina, Josefina, Concepción and Irene Aguilar. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Told in English and Spanish, this beautiful counting book celebrates the Mexican July festival, Guelaguetza. The Aguilar sisters have used their craft to illustrated this book in the traditional folk arts of Oaxaca, Mexico. Balloons, firecrackers, musicians, and giants are all part of the festivities depicted in the figurines crafted to bring this festival of sharing to the printed page for both English and Spanish readers. Learn more about the world famous women artists, The Aguilar sisters. For a little deeper look into Mexican folk art, visit the Deep Space Sparkle website or another lesson idea comes from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Zullo, Germano. (2012). Sky high. Illus. by Albertine. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

Keeping up with the Joneses is taken to extreme heights in this clever book about greed and proportion. With very little text, this title tells the story of two competitive neighbors who embellish their already attractive abodes in an attempt to outdo each other. The respective two-story houses of Agenor-Agobar Poirier des Chapelles and Willigis Kittycly Junior are impressive enough on the book’s opening pages. But what they have is not enough, and page by page, they add embellishments to their dwelling places. One adds a solid gold door, and the other counters with a Carrara marble column inlaid with diamonds. After that, the competition is on, and each one hires highly-priced architects who create mosaics fashioned from emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, design billiard rooms and rooms that can accommodate 8,000 guests, even attaching an antiques gallery, a wave pool, and a tennis court. Glimpses of what’s being brought into the inside of the houses—a stuffed Bengal tiger and a library of rare books, for instance—reveals even more of their excess to readers. Eventually, enough is enough, and once both buildings tower into the air at 4,025 feet—a line on the side of the right-hand page indicates this height—one structure topples since it can’t support all the rooms at its top. Although the other building still towers into the sky, its owner isn’t necessarily the victor since even the simple act of having a pizza delivered ends up being impossibly complicated. Readers will shake their heads at the two men’s greed and consider this an adult game of Jenga, the tumbling block game. The very black and white illustrations are exquisitely detailed and fascinating to examine.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

GRADES 3-6

Adler, David A. (2012). Perimeter, area, and volume: A monster book of dimensions. Illus. by Edward Miller. New York: Holiday House.

A cast of monsters set out of their 3-D movie to invite the little monsters in the audience on an explanation of the movie set and several math concepts along the way. The monster characters measure each other demonstrating their height and weight. They measure the movie screen and talk about perimeter. They even measure the volume in the popcorn box. A detailed teaching guide/lesson plan is available at the publisher’s website. Read more about this prolific author on his website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Beaumont, Holly. (2012). Multiplication made fun. New York: DK Publishing.

When children need to learn their times tables this beginner’s guide with a wise owl calculator will help make multiplication fun. The book begins with a basic review of what numbers are and discusses the importance of counting. Then it moves into the difference between addition and multiplication, showing how we can count larger amounts by multiplying. Next, the book explains each number two through twelve on individual pages sharing the different multiplication problems. If children get stuck with a multiplication problem they can spin the wheels till the numbers appear in the owl’s eyes and the answer shows in the beak. Throughout the book are tips for grown-ups with suggestions about helping children. This would make a great addition for teachers and families.

- Deanna Day, Washington State University Vancouver

Kelly, Jamie/ Jim Benton. (2012). School, hasn’t this gone on long enough? New York: Scholastic.  

Jamie hates math and writes all about this hatred in her diary. Her best friend, Isabella, is good at math and is willing to help her and in exchange Jamie can help Isabella with language arts. Summer school is threatening on the horizon if Jamie does not bring up those math grades and Isabella’s house is getting a pool! Check out the author’s website for more on The Dumb Diary series including the book trailer for this new Year 2 series. 

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Mahaney, Ian F. (2012). The math of baseball. New York: Powerkids Press/Rosen Publishing.

This is part of the series Sports Math from Powerkids Press. Read aloud or individually various aspects of the sport of baseball are explained through the use of mathematics. From the dimensions of a baseball field, to batting averages, hitting distances, strikeouts, scores and statistics the entire sport is covered with figures that deal with addition, subtraction, measurement, percentages and more. Photographs, charts and diagrams add to the appeal of the book and bring a real-life use of math to young readers. Find more math and baseball ideas at The Teachers’ Corner.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Morrisette, Sharon. (2012). Toads and tessellations: A math adventure. Illus. by Philomena O’Neill. San Franscisco, CA: Charlesbridge Publishing.

Set in Renaissance Italy, young Enzo is a hoping to become a magician like his father. The cruel castle housekeeper approaches Tessel, the local shoemaker that she needs 12 pairs of dancing shoes for the princesses in the castle and demands the shoes must be made from a single piece of leather. Tessel turns to Enzo for help. His father is away so Enzo must step up to help his friend but his magic goes awry when he turns Tessel into a toad. With Tessel’s daughter Aida for help, they discover a mathematical way to geometrically cut the 12 pair of shoes from one piece of leather. Notes at the end of the book provide some history of mathematics and tessalations. Over twenty tessellations are sprinkled throughout the book for young readers to discover. 

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Slade, Suzanne. (2011). Multiply on the fly. Illus. by Erin E. Hunter. Mt. Pleasant, SC: Sylvan Dell Publishing.

Even in nature numbers are an important part of our world. This picture book combines insects and multiplication together to make learning much more exciting. Each double page spread shares a rhyming multiplication story with a new insect. For example, “Five lonely grasshoppers / sound their mating song. / Each strums two shiny wings. / How many play along?” Then the mathematical equation is shared with a question mark inviting students to figure out the answer. Other insects highlighted include fireflies, luna moths, dragonflies, soldier ants, honey bees, ladybugs, pirate bugs, walking sticks, monarch butterflies and spittlebugs. The back matter includes information about insect body parts, the life cycle of insects, information about comparing and contrasting insects, and a multiplication table.

- Deanna Day, Washington State University Vancouver

GRADES 9-12

McKellar, Danica. (2012). Girls get curves: Geometry takes shape. New York: Hudson Street Press/Penguin.

Danica McKellar, actress and mathematician, has written her fourth book for girls. Her earlier books, Math doesn’t suck, Kiss my math, and Hot X: Algebra exposed worked at removing the math “nerd” stereotype for smart girls. Her latest book deals with geometry. NPR interviews author Danica McKellar in addition to the website devoted to this book.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

SKY COLOR (Candlewick, 2012)
Written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Pre-K through Grade 3

SKY COLOR describes the thought process of a child named Marisol when she is faced with a dilemma of painting the sky in a school mural. Marisol, as well as the people around her, considers herself to be a true artist. In the fashion of an artist, she wants everything to be just perfect in her works of art. She also encourages others to explore their artistic side as well.

Marisol is excited when her class is allowed to paint the mural in the school’s library. Everything is going well as the students work together to brainstorm, design, and draw out the concept of the mural. The trouble begins when Marisol cannot find the color of the sky that she feels is most accurate—blue. Over the next pages, Marisol’s thought process is modeled through her riding the bus home, thinking on the porch, dreaming, and waking up to a rainy day. She finds the true sky color and is able to finish her portion of the mural with great success.

This book will be great to introduce critical thinking and thinking outside the proverbial box. Students should be encouraged to think about the world beyond their comfort zone and consider other possibilities.

Cross-curricular connections: Science, Art, Math

Ideas for Classroom Use:

Color Mixing

The purpose of this activity is to review or teach the primary and secondary colors. Marisol was set on using blue for her sky color and could not figure out a way to get blue. Before reading the story, have students try mixing various colors of finger paint or tempera paint to see if they can create new colors. Encourage creative thinking of ways to mix colors and chart what blends result in different colors. Is there more than one blend of colors to make a certain color? Have students determine which colors could never be created by mixing other colors. Then show and discuss the colors wheel in reference to primary and secondary colors.

Read SKY COLOR to the students after the color mixing and discuss the colors Marisol mixed and created and see if any of her colors matched the student’s creations. Then, encourage them to use their newly created colors to create a picture. Have them dictate/write the description of their picture and why they chose the color to paint with. Encourage creative thinking and use of colors.

Tree Changes

The purpose of this activity is to foster creativity in looking at the world around the school/home and thinking beyond the present. As a group, read the story SKY COLOR. Ask students to focus on the things that are different than expected in the story. Discuss what was different than their expectations through the book. For instance, when I read this story to my classroom, they were fully expecting Marisol to have discovered a way to make the color blue for the sky. When I turned to the final page, they were all amazed.

Children should be able to pick up on this difference without much direction. Discuss the fact that items can appear different at different times of the day, such as the sky, and at different times of the year.

Have students brainstorm, as a group for young children or in small groups for older grades, a list of things that change their appearance. Encourage children to accept all answers even if they don’t agree with them. Discuss the lists and allow children to justify their thoughts. Fall, in most areas, is a perfect time to observe these changes quite easily in the color changes of a tree.

As a follow up project, have students create a drawing, story, or painting or a tree without using the traditional colors of brown and green. Have students dictate/write their reasoning for the colors they chose for their tree. Students can showcase their creations in an art gallery like Marisol did and collect feedback from other students.

Sky Graph

The purpose of this activity is to introduce/study changes in the sky, and introduce the concept of graphing to young students and review graphing with older students. Read SKY COLOR to the students and discuss the changes in the sky Marisol was looking at. These observations can be done over a series of days or weeks. Have students keep a log, journal, or chart of the sky color over an assigned amount of time. For younger students, this may be best done once each day during school time, and once each evening with parents over the course of a week. Have students record the color of the sky at each of those intervals.

As a group, in pairs, or individually, depending on the age of the students, transfer the observation information into graphs. Each student’s graph may be a bit different depending on the times they observed the sky. Determine with students if there is a color that is more prevalent than the others. What is sky color?

Create a definition as a class of what sky color is based on the observations and graphs made. Write a poem or short story with illustration of “sky color.” Each child should be encouraged to express their own thoughts as the sky looks different through each set of eyes. Dictate/Write the stories and display along with illustrations in an art gallery (bulletin board) display for other classes to see as well.

Additional Resources and Activities:

A Classroom Guide for Sky Color
This PDF guide contains activities suggested by Peter Reynolds for use with his book, SKY COLOR. The file has ideas for classroom use, as well as a little background information on how the book was created. The author has also included a couple printables for use with his activities.

Why Leaves Change Color
This website provides background information about why leaves change colors in the fall. The US Department of Agriculture details how weather affects trees, what creates the colors, the best places to see fall colors, and how the leaves help to enrich the soil after they fall. This is easy to read background information to accompany the “Tree Changes” project.

Catch a Rainbow
This website provides an easy to complete science project showing the process of color mixing. The materials for the project are easily accessible and inexpensive. The page gives the directions, ingredients list, a printable sheet for marking observations, and a link to an easy to read and follow color wheel. The color wheel is printable as well to serve as a guide for the color mixing project.

Kathy Prater is a Reading Specialist who works with students with dyslexia, an Adjunct Professor at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, Mississippi, and a full time pre-kindergarten teacher at Starkville Academy in Starkville, Mississippi. Her passions include reading, writing, tending her flock of 15 chickens, and helping students at all levels to find motivation for lifelong reading and learning. She believes that every child can become a successful reader if given the right tools and encouragement.

WANT TO WRITE FOR ENGAGE? Send your name, the grade level(s) you teach, the title of book that you put to work, and a line or two about how you use it in your classroom to engage-membership@/.


© 2012 Kathy Prater. Please do not reproduce in any form, electronic or otherwise.