Poetry Friday - Special Words

Laura Shovan hosts today sharing some poems from her poet-in-residence experience with third graders writing about food and pockets! You can find her here. Thanks, Laura.



I'm leaving for the beach Saturday morning, will be sketching & writing & soaking it all up, days I look forward to every year. I'll read all your posts in the next few days! My family joins me later in the week.

I promised my granddaughter Ingrid that I would post her end-of-year poem she wrote in her class. Her teacher wanted students to write who they are NOW, at this end of the year. They read them aloud to the audience of parents, bringing tears, I'm sure.


         I like to call Ingrid and her younger sister, Imogene, "mighty girls". Both are athletic, now Ingrid playing softball this summer while Imi continues in gymnastics. They recently completed a rock-climbing series of lessons, hope to continue later in the summer. It's great to see them learning how strong they can be in their chosen sports. Here's Ingrid's baseball pic.

Where I’m From Poem

By: Ingrid Krahling

I am from softballs coming down the field

from Adidas and Patagonia

I am from the neighborhood kids playing on bikes

enjoying, interesting as we walk through the streets we hear dogs barking and birds chirping

I am from trees

the amazing tall nature thing

I’m from Christmas at grandma's and compassion from Krahling and Baie

I’m from the weekends in winter and where we go skiing and summers at the beach

From if you don’t have nothing nice to say don’t say nothing at all and get the thing done that you need to get done and then have fun.

I’m from courage. being brave

I’m from Denver Colorado French, Dutch, Norwegian

pasta, bread

from my dad getting an award and hanging it up.

Non-Fiction Picture Books Widen Our World

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  Thanks to her hosting and sharing and those who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!  I always learn from these books, am happy that they are more and more available today for children, for everyone!

         I picked this book up at the library because my youngest granddaughter loves dinosaurs. Little did I know how very wonderful it is! 
         Of course, it is a story of discovery, a recent one, and one that is told in the text, with the "real" pictures and explanation of terms and process placed with the story, page by page. The story is of the biggest titanosaur found (later discovered to be a new species of titanosaur as well), hence a huge picture book is needed to include all the information. The comparison given is it was as large as ten 7-ton elephants. 
         Scholastic and the American Museum of Natural History collaborated to create this fabulous new book. It's written by the paleontologists who led the dig and illustrated by Florencia Gigena in beautiful pages, sometimes double-page spreads. The titanosaur's new scientific name, Patagotitan mayorum, includes the name of the country where found, Patagonia, ranch owner on whose land it was found, Mayo. 
        Added back matter includes a glossary and extra information, more photographs from the dig, and an inside jacket poster of the Titanosaur. If studying dinosaurs and paleontology, this will please a wide variety of readers.
         

a picture of the model created from the bones discovered

         

comparing the size of only the femur bone with a grown man

It's Monday - All About "Hope"

Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who post their favorites. 
         
     Some weeks I find connections among the books I share. This time, each book centers around "hope", something everyone can use more of. 

     FYI - I shared Stonewall last Wednesday here in celebration of #PrideMonth!

        Eleven-year-old December has landed in her umpteenth foster home with bird lover and taxidermist Eleanor, certainly not a person to trust. Eleanor might see that December is really a bird, lure her and eventually stuff her. Meeting December in a tree, ready to jump to see if her wings will emerge from the scar on her back so she could fly away took me into a child's hopes hard to imagine. For such a young person to have experienced the trauma she had is heartbreaking. Sandy Stark-McGinnis shows the powerful truth of December's strong methods of survival. The one thing from her mother is a bird guide inscribed with "In flight is where you'll find me." Stark-McGinnis shows how hard is December's journey to release her dream, to realize that trusting Eleanor might bring a 'home' instead of another 'house'.  Though December's thoughts rarely waver; she WILL fly away someday! Slowly, a few cracks appear as December begins a new kind of journey. The scenes at her new school show also the heartbreak of bullying but a strong trans girl who becomes December's ally shows December that she can be one, too. There are many moments where I held my breath wishing that the truth shown was never so harsh for a child. I am reminded of these words: "Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle you know nothing about." For teachers and those who work with children and for children who might recognize themselves in this story and find new ways to be, this is the book.

      I could read every one of Matthew Cordell's books over and over.  This one is special to me, a grandchild's and a grandparent's message for each other.

      Diana Murray's rollicking rhymes celebrate this special day (for unicorns) with Luke Flowers' spectacular bright and bold colors and faces expressing all the feelings of a celebration, but then one where something is not.quite.right. It's a happy story that comes to a surprising stop. Oh no! The unexpected happens, and children will cheer when the problem is happily solved. This will be a good low-key way to introduce the idea that everyone can be included, no matter that they are different.