Book Awards Presentation

Click below to listen to Mrs. Sheaffer's Book Awards Presentation:

Mod. 8 Informational Book Review: Notable Notebooks

For students:

Students: if you don't like taking notes, you must read this book! It will provide many examples of how important people in science have taken notes and how it helped them succeed. Note taking should be helpful, not torture! From sketching pictures of plants and animals, to designing, to recording facts and details, science notebooks are important to research and history. Did you know Leonardo Da Vinci wrote in his notebooks backwards so they could only be read with a mirror? Notable Notebooks even shows students how to create their own notebook in 4 easy steps.

For teachers:

Notable Notebooks: Scientists and their Writings is an excellent addition to any classroom or school library. Written in a rhyming format, students will learn about a variety of important people in history and how their notebooks were vital to their discoveries and research. Rich with illustrations and photographs, students will be able to make a connection between their science notebook and why it is important to take notes.

ISBN: 9781681403793

Reference:

Fries-Gaither, J. (2016). Notable Notebooks: Scientists and their writings.
          Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.

Look at what I found:  Story Time from Space!

Mod. 7 Fantasy Book Read Aloud: Not Quite Narwhal

Click below to hear Mrs. Sheaffer read 

Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima.

Reference

Sima, J. (2018). Not quite narwhal. New York, NY: Scholastic.

ISBN: 9781481469098

Mod. 6 Historical Fiction Written Review: Full of Beans

For students:

Do you have a nickname?  If yes, do you know the story behind it?  Beans is a young man with a unique nickname who has a lot of interesting ideas.  In fact most of the children and adults in Key West have unusual nicknames.  Considered the man of the house while his father is away looking for work, he struggles with making good choices.   Have you ever had a had a hard time making the right decision?  Or maybe you regret making a bad decision, and later realized that you wanted to try and fix the mistake?  Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm is an intriguing historical fiction novel about a community's struggle to survive during the Depression in the 1930s.  Though he is certainly not perfect, Beans has a large role in helping to pull the community of Key West together.

For teachers:

Full of Beans is a whimsical depression era story of a young boy's struggle between doing what's right and surviving.  The setting of Key West, Florida, is a stark contrast to the one we know of current times.  The story depicts the government's involvement in revitalizing Key West as a tourist attraction under president Roosevelt's New Deal after the Great Depression hit the United States.  When Bean's illicit behavior results in positive accolades, he works to right the wrong he has perpetrated on his community and ends up pulling the community closer toward a common goal with a positive result.  Warning:  includes several quaint phrases students are sure to think are hilarious (for example:  bungy for rear end).

ISBN: 9780553510393

Reference:

Holm, J. L. (2016). Full of beans. New York: Random House Childrens
          Books.

Historical Fiction & Nonfiction Display Collaboration

This was so much fun!  Click for full size image.  

My only expenses were $3 in props from the Dollar Store.  

All books from the Fresno County Library.  

Collaboration with kinder teacher for President's Day.

Poetry Pinterest Board

Click for Mrs. Sheaffer's Poetry Board on Pinterest

Mod. 5 Contemporary Realistic Fiction Review: Louisiana's Way Home

For students:

If you have read Because of Winn Dixie, or Raymie Nightingale you may be familiar with realistic fiction author Kate DiCamillo.  Her new book, Louisiana's Way Home, is one you will start reading and not want to put down until the end!

Louisiana is the quirky main character from Florida who narrates the story.  Her grandmother, an even quirkier lady, first uproots Louisiana from the home she has known for two years, and then abandons her in Georgia because of a long-held family curse.  After being deserted, Louisiana learns an life altering secret about herself and that her family background was not as she previously thought.  Louisiana is upset, but makes the most of her situation, and relies on the kindness of those around her to persevere in her situation as she makes sense of the new information she has learned.  You will empathize with her as she struggles with needing to be wanted and cared for.  Read Louisiana's Way Home today!


For teachers:

A great read to cover themes of a young girl's survival, family, love, wanting to belong and have a home, and forgiving.  Narrated by Louisiana, a lovable, unique, character, the ending is a happy conclusion to her tumultuous life. Target age is 10+, but enjoyable for both students and adults.  This book would benefit from culturally diverse characters, but the characters themselves are so distinctive (Granny, who gets all her teeth pulled, Bernice who perpetually keeps her hair in rollers, and Burke, a boy with a pet crow named Clarence to name a few) that cultural background is not a necessary value added feature to be included.  Louisiana's Way Home is rich with vocabulary and symbolism.  Titlewave.com includes a discussion and teacher's guide for the novel.

ISBN: 9780763694630

Reference:

DiCamillo, K. (2018). Louisiana's way home. Candlewick Press.

Mod. 4 Poetry Book Read Aloud/Written Review: Tan to Tamarind

Children's Poetry Book Review:  

For Students:

Hello students! I have a fabulous poetry book to share with you all today.  It is called Tan to Tamarind: poems about the color brown and is written by Malathi Michelle Iyengar and illustrated by Jamel Akib.   This book of poems is all about the same topic: the color brown.   Did you know the color brown comes in many shades?  Have you ever compared the shades of brown to different foods or items in your life?  Close your eyes and imagine the color tan, sienna, topaz, bay, sepia, cocoa, ocher, beige, sandalwood, coffee, adobe, tamarind, spruce, and nutmeg.  I bet you have not even heard of some of those shades of brown!

Tan to Tamarind shows how meaningful the names of shades of the color brown are to people of different cultures.  This is part of what makes us so unique!  The poem at the end of the book recognizes all of the shades together, and celebrates our differences as something to be proud of.

For Teachers:

Tan to Tamarind is an excellent book about the color brown and how it relates to cultural differences.  Students of different backgrounds and diverse family lives will relate to the wonderful poems shared by author Malathi Michelle Iyengar.  An excellent idea is to collect as many of the colors depicted in the book as visual examples or tangible objects that students can touch and feel, even taste in order to build context.  Don't have a piece of topaz?  Find a picture of a topaz ring.  Have you every seen or eaten tamarind yourself? Ground nutmeg versus a nutmeg seed?  This series of poems about the color brown allows for an awesome learning experience.

Reference:

Iyengar, M. M. (2009). Tan to tamarind: Poems about the color brown. 

          San Francisco, CA: Childrens Book Press.

ISBN:  9780892392278

Want to hear Mrs. Sheaffer read a few of the poems?  Click below.