Caldecott Award Winner

During the library bookstore assignment I got a chance to read some of the other Caldecott award winning books and I stumbled upon this picture book written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro. The book was interesting to me because it discussed the question of which came first the chicken or the egg, and then went into the different creations of a variety of animals. The book seemed like it could be controversial because of so many religions, however I found it to be informative and well illustrated for children. 

Quick, Fun, and Challenging Activities in the Classroom!

Hey Everyone!
In one of my teaching classes my professor passed around two books that were filled with lots of different kinds of quick activities that anyone can do with children. The cool part is that she was the one who wrote the books and got them published. I know as teachers and especially when substitute teaching, we are looking for quick, fun, and challenging activities to fill "dead" spots in our time in the classroom. These two books are great resources to have as a teacher and you can find both on Amazon. Here are the titles:
"Early Learning Skill Builders"
"Shape, Sizes, and More Surprises"
Both are by: Mary Tomczyk

Snowflakes

This weekend, at a family gathering, my aunt (who is a teacher) and I were talking about the kids that she teaches and the different lesson plans she has. We got to talking about me taking this TE class and she was telling me how she tries to relate books to the seasons and incorporate a project with them to show the kids how reading can be fun. She said that the last few years she has read a storybook to them about snowflakes with a theme that everyone is different and special, just like no two snowflakes are alike. She said that she then has them do an art project of making 3D snowflakes to hang around the classroom and to make at home to help decorate their houses. 

How to make a 3D snowflake

I thought this was an interesting lesson idea for the winter time. 

"To leave or not to leave"

So I was really fortunate to have taken this class semester while at the same time in my TE291A course I tutored refugee students at the Refugee Development Center as well as assisted in teaching a Special Education course at MacDonald Middle School. I didn't really find the opportunity to bring these things up in class other than during our group discussions but I took it upon myself to read 2 of the books to my kids at the schools and read excerpts of them from the larger books. On average the kids really liked the books and they really loved "Where the Wild Things Are" (probably because they are always so imaginative and energitic). I've actually had a few of my older students in the 8th and 7th grade read to their younger siblings or cousins and they seemed to love the stories even more then. The one book I seemed to have trouble getting them to like was Uglies. I'm assuming it was the book was a little ahead of the age targeted for the majority of my students but they told me it was pretty boring and would liked to have heard about more action and fighting! Either way Ms. Walker thank you for brining your insight into this class. I really enjoyed coming to class and looking at books that I enjoyed as a child in a new and more developed way. Next semester, I suggest doing more activites and watching more realted movies to the things that are read... those were the days that were the best and it gives everyone a chance to go back and re-visit having fun with books as a kid. Thanks again.

A look into the artistic side of Children's Lit!

On November 13, 2008 I was fortunate to have renowned author and illustrator Kadir Nelson come to my very own local neighborhood library. Only 4 short blocks away from my house, he visited the Eastwood branch library of the Kalamazoo public library system.

When I first arrived at the library I was able to speak with a few of the children who had spoken with Kadir previously. They were very excited about their opportunity to speak with an author and illustrator since it is not an everyday occurrence. One child attempted to entertain me by telling me some of the information he had learned about Kadir.

As Kadir started his seminar, I noticed he seemed somewhat shy. But after a while his presentation began to flow smoothly. The show was formatted to display how Kadir over time grew as an artist. Beginning with his drawings from age 3 he mentioned that he had a strong memory of his childhood. I noticed the children in the seminar were drawn in by these earlier drawings. With Kadir’s strong sense of childhood he was able to connect with the youth and captivate them and as well as the audience as a whole.

Kadir continued with his sequential array of drawings. The drawings from him at age 5 appeared to be very detailed and complete. They contained the same warm feeling you can get from reading one of his recently illustrated books. He went on to mention that he took frequent trips to the library to check out how to draw books. If pictures presented a problem for him he would trace them. Once this was said I was reminded of my elementary school years when my friends and I would check out several how to draw books on every trip. If the images were too hard to draw we would trace, but we challenged each other not to.

As he grew older he would draw everyday. His favorite people/ characters to draw were Michael Jordan and Mickey Mouse. He even showed us drawing of when he mixed the two of them together. The crowd thought that was humorous and laughed. He soon started exploring other artists like Ernie Barnes who would draw long visuals. The long visuals had a great way of communicating emotions.

He later went on to mention some very great advice that had once inspired him from Duke Ellington. This was that beauty denies negativity. Essentially this provoked the thought of feeling good from creating beauty. From this Kadir adopted this theme for his art in hopes to pass along good energy instead of bad energy in his work.

While in college Kadir became very depressed from painting the same way over and over. He then began to research other artist who helped him to regain an interest in art. Some of the artist he researched included Thomas Blackshear, Norman Rockwell, Picasso, and Michelangelo. But he never copied artwork, merely ideas to evolve his understanding as artistic style.

After his fours years at a private institution studying illustrations Kadir wanted to help with movie production. He briefly gave an explanation of why it is important to go to college for the youth in the crowd. He talked about a poster in a childhood classroom of his that had a prominent proverb which read “Wish Upon a Star, But Do Your Homework Too!” From that he was able to express how important it is to dream big, but we have to be willing to put in the effort as well as handle our daily responsibilities like being a good student.

After college he gained a position at DreamWorks working on movies. As an illustrator his job was to illustrator key scenes for movies to convince them to make the movie. He then got the opportunity to make scenes for the movie Amistad to convince Steven Spielberg to direct and produce the movie. He showed us the images he created for the movie in comparison to clips of the movie. They looked very similar. I was very pleased to see this side of movie making through illustration. Soon after, he completed more jobs making scenes for other movies. He made it clear that this is how he learned to tell stories with his artwork.

Then he talked about when he began illustrating books. He said when received a manuscript he would draw the sketches right on the manuscript. He then explained how he looks at books as if they are silent films. He feels you should not need words if the illustrations are good.

After his brief intro to illustration he talked about all the research that is necessary when illustrating a book, especially historical fiction. One story he illustrated was set in the past where the characters were working on a southern cotton plantation. In doing his research he visited an old plantation so he could draw in his illustrations. Also, he had to research small details from what tools were used at the time to facts such as what fish populated the nearby streams. I was amazed by this aspect of art that you would never know about from just looking at a picture. He explain how some critics and authors of his books and illustrations key into these details.

Overall I feel I learned a great deal of knowledge about Kadir Nelson, Illustrators, and the options of being an artist. Kadir informed us of many life lessons as well as helping us to remember how fun drawing still is. As a former novice artist and future teacher I felt that this experienced change the way I look at art and illustrations. Hearing his perspective opened a new way of viewing children’s literature. I now know that a children’s book is more than just a book. It is fundamentally a brilliant work of researched art.

Loved This Class

I thought this class was very important for anyone going into teaching to take. Literature is a very important tool to use in the classroom and it should be studied by all teachers. I feel like through taking this class I have learned lots of new things that I will be able to incorporate into my future classroom. I would reccomend this class to anyone going into teaching, or anyone that is even interested in literature!

Fever 1793

Earlier this semester I read a book called Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson for my TE401 social studies class. I thought this would be a great book to share with all of you since most of you want to be teachers and I believe most of you have not yet taken 401. The book is a fictional book about a girl named Mattie and her experiences with Yellow Fever. She never gets Yellow Fever herself but she is surrounded by many people who do, including her mother. The story is a story that keeps you wanting to read so that you can find out what happens next. It's also a story that makes you attached to Mattie and at times you feel terrible for her and want to help her (at least I did). I don't want to give away the book, but I think that it does a great job of keeping you entertained while teaching about the lifestyle in the 1700s and also about the Yellow Fever epidemic that was a big issue in 1793. It's also a great book because althought it is fiction, a lot of the information is based on nonfiction. Some of the characters are fictional characters, but things that occur are facts and some of the characters are based on the lives of true people as well. Overall I thought it was a great book and would be wonderful for a teacher to use in a classroom. I would guess it would be best for about 5th grade. Has anyone else read this book? What do you think about it?