Simple Gifts

Yesterday's literature connection lesson for third through sixth grade students came together serendipitously. The week before, I found a PDF for making a hot-dog booklet of the words to Simple Gifts to commemorate the inauguration of Barack Obama. I showed it to Mrs. Tarelton, and she got excited about bringing out the xylophones to let the children play the melody. I did some research on the Shakers, the religious community from which the song emerged; she did some research on the song itself. This is how the lesson came together:

• First, students made their own hot-dog booklet. They practiced following step-by step directions using math vocabulary such as horizontal, vertical, and fractions. Even though this seems like a simple process, it is more difficult than it looks for some students. Students who had never made a hot-dog booklet before said, "This is tight!"

• Second, I explained who the Shakers were and are and put the song in context. If you want to learn more, visit the website for a documentary about the Shakers by Ken Burns.
  

• Third, we read the words of the song aloud from the booklet and discussed why this song might have been chosen for the inauguration. The students had some very good thoughts about the mention of freedom and simplicity in the song. One student thought that the words "turn" and "turning" signaled how President Obama would like to "turn" the country around through his leadership and through a rise in civic responsibility. We also asked what it means that the 160 year old words and song are still relevant to us today and shed a unique light on our society at this time.

• Fourth, Mrs. Tarleton presented a music lesson on the song. She discussed three composers: Joseph Brackett, the Shaker elder who originally wrote the song in 1848, Aaron Copland who set the melody in Appalachian Springs, and John Williams who recently used the theme in his Air and Simple Gifts (YouTube video) for the inauguration.
  

• Fifth, we listened to a five minute excerpt of Copland's Appalachian Springs. When the string basses come in, my eyes always fill up with tears (four times yesterday!) What a "simple gift" it was to listen to this familiar music with children and see signs on their faces that their souls are also moved. Some students were motivated to want to dance when the trumpets and trombones make their regal entrance. Some students took their xylophone mallets and conducted the entire piece from their chair.

• Sixth, Mrs. T. led a discussion about the musical elements in the Copland excerpt and how the composer changed the melody with different instruments, tempo, embellishments, and dynamics.

• Finally, the children learned to play a portion of the melody on the xylophones. Those who can read music, had the music to read. Those who could not read music were able to follow Mrs. Tarleton's wonderful instructions.

Many elements combined to make our 50 minute lesson on Simple Gifts "tight." We integrated history, current events, music theory, music appreciation, literature, book making, and creative thinking. Simple Gifts is such a memorable tune. I hope that when the students hear it in the future, they will remember some of what they learned about it at St. Therese.

To close this post out, the photo collage below is a collection of classroom work about the inauguration from Ms. Devenney's first graders and Ms. Bentley's fourth graders.

What simple gifts will we share with each other as we move forward in this country during these uncertain, yet hopeful, times?

Illustrating our dreams

January is a time for dreaming. It is the beginning of the new year. It is the month in which we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and re-read his "I Have a Dream" speech.

First and second grade students did some dreaming on Tuesday. First, we looked at how different illustrators had imagined and created drawings/paintings/collages to depict different parts of Dr. King's speech. Then, we took some time to close our eyes, and look inside at our own dreams for what we want to do with our lives. Through pantomime, the students shared their dreams with the rest of the class and used their bodies to make their dreams concrete. Finally, with crayons and pencils, we illustrated our dreams.

At St. Therese, we have future moms, cheerleaders, firemen, police officers, presidents, navy men and women, doctors, and dancers. We will make a difference in the world, won't we?

Hard Work

What do these two photos have in common?

The first one shows a group of first graders reading Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator by Sarah Campbell. The second one shows a first grader reading Dr. Seuss's beloved The Cat in the Hat.

Today, Wolfsnail won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award for distinguished children's book for beginning readers. "Dr. Seuss " is the pen name for Theodor Geisel. The author of Wolfsnail, Sarah Campbell, visited third through sixth graders in the fall of 2008 and lives in Jackson, Mississippi. We have her book in our library. It is autographed by her and wishes St. Therese students the joy of discovering God's natural world around them.

This is a HUGE honor for Sarah Campbell. Out of all of the children's books published in 2008 (thousands and thousands), only a handful won honors like this today. Knowing Sarah and listening to her talk about her book, I know much time, hard work, imagination, and dedication went into creating it.

Wolfsnail is art. With simple words and detailed, close-up photography, she reveals to the reader small moments in this enormous universe that might otherwise go overlooked.

It is hard work learning how to read. It is also hard work to write a book that engages children (and adults) and tempts us to read and learn more. What an honor for Sarah Campbell. What a joy that she shared the lives of these amazing creatures with us.

Book Awards

The American Library Association will announce its book awards in Denver at it's Midwinter meeting on Monday, January 26th, at 7:45 am Mountain Time.

Please see:

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2008/december2008/youthmediaawardsannouncement.cfm

This site has more information including a link for a live webcast of the event and links to an event page on Facebook and Twitter!

Do you have a favorite book from 2008? What would you recommend for the best picture book (Caldecott Award) or the best chapter book (Newbery Award)? I have some favorites in both categories. I wonder if they will win? There are so many wonderful book from which to choose.

Luckily, we are all winners when we read good books!

Poetry and Pantomime

We spent a lot of time talking about history this week. We discussed big concepts such as civil disobedience, equality, freedom, nonviolence, peace, and love. We marveled at the words and songs from the inauguration.

In Reader's Theater Club on Thursday, we combined techniques from reader's theater and pantomime to make the images from Elizabeth Alexander's Inaugural Poem come alive for us. Many who know me know that I love poetry, and I love using poetry with children.

"Praise Song for the Day" carries many concrete images about our history and about where we may be going. Some of the lines from the poem were easy to put to movement such as:

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

Other sections were more difficult such as:

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

We all put our creative minds to the task together. Full of energy and full of passion, the students moved poetically to match the words of Alexander's poem with their hands, facial expressions, and bodies.

Friday Quotes

When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young. ~ Maya Angelou ~

When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.
~ Rita Mae Brown ~

In a very real sense, people who have read good literature
have lived more than people who cannot or will not read.
It is not true that we have only one life to lead; if we can read,
we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.
~ S. I. Hayakawa ~

Our Big Words

Words are so important. Whether we write them, hear them, read them, or sign them, they are central to our lives, our work, our play, and our dreams.

With the first and second grade students, I shared the book Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier. (This is my favorite book about MLK). We discussed how Dr. King loved learning and using language and how his "big words" changed the world. The students made their own books of Big Words by listening to the story and choosing words that seemed important to them. Finally, we sat together on the carpet and shared our word choices with each other. Some of the words the students chose were:

Peace
Love
War
Bible
Together
Equal
Freedom
Hate
Movement
Rights
Marching

I think they understood the lesson.

So Much Going On

Looking at the photo above, you might think it's a collage of photos of children reading. In itself, this is amazing. But, having been with these children all day long, I see many different things going on. I see solitary, individual, comfortable reading on the floor. I see a Kindergarten student reading a book to her classmates-- playing librarian. I see two pre-K students sharing a book together-- reading even though they don't really know how to read-- making up their own words to the illustrations. I see two third graders trying to decide which two books of the same series they will check out and read simultaneously. I see two girls reading a magazine together-- reading magazines is one of the best ways to get children reading. I see groups of children reading on their own-- trying to focus on the words on the page and not the sounds in the room. I see a boy who could tune out a tornado if the book is good enough. I see groups of children with smiles on their faces, ideas popping in their brains, and questions formulating. So much is going on.

Celebrating Reading

Last night in Arkansas, my niece read Green Eggs and Ham to my sister and brother-in-law. At the same time, my son read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to me. My son and niece are both relatively new readers, so every word, and every book is special. Welcome to the world of reading!

Later that night, I started reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis's third book of the Narnia series, to my nine-year-old daughter. Many parents stop reading to their children when they begin reading fluently to themselves, but I want to encourage the act of reading-out-loud and sharing books together to all ages! My daughter might not read this book on her own because of the difficult vocabulary and sentence structure, but she is ready to hear it and can comprehend and enjoy the story. I explain vocabulary as we go along, and this increases her ability to read something more difficult on her own the next time. Besides, I want to read the Narnia series again! It is such a magical story that will keep us occupied for many afternoons and nights to come.

During literature connection yesterday, third through sixth graders checked out books for the new year and worked in small groups on creating a timeline of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life. Different books about Dr. King were also available on the tables. For a generation of children who did not live during the time of Dr. King's life, these books are windows into his life and the world that was. For a generation of children who are now reading and learning, these books may touch their lives in ways that we will not know for years to come.

Reading is such a hopeful part of life, and I hope that you celebrate it every day!

Random Acts of Reading

From today at St. Therese. . . Happy New Year. . . Happy New Reading!

MLK and Inauguration Websites

A great resource for learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is:

http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/index.php

I was looking for a full text of the "Dream" speech and discovered that and so much more.

Here is another Dr. King website:

http://www.thekingcenter.org/

With the presidential inauguration approaching on January 20, 2009, I found this wonderful online resource from the Library of Congress for learning about past inaugurations. Check out this site for lots of information!

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/inaug/inaug.html