'Trouble for Trumpets'

Before our Spring break I started reading to grades 1-3 'Trouble for Trumpets' with illustrations by Peter Cross and story by Peter Dallas-Smith. It is full of cheerful creatures called Trumpets who live in a land of warmth and sunshine. Their life is filled with gentle activities-like picking berries and listening to flower music-until their sworn enemies, the Grumpets, launch an invasion from their frozen wasteland.

A delightful story that has the students attention and interest.

Paul Dear

Literacy Paraprofessional at GR Montessori

Congress Elementary is celebrating biographies this week with Roberto Clemente, Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates, by Jonah Winter

In our third week of March is Reading Month, Congress students are learning about and reading biographies.  This week we read Roberto Clemente, Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates , by Jonah Winter, a picture book biography with illustrations by Raúl Colón.  

This is the story of of a great Puerto Rican, baseball Athlete who charmed the United States and also shared or introduced his Latino culture to many.  The book covers, in a beautiful verse and prose style, his early life in Puerto Rico, where he fell in love with baseball, to his life as one of the best Major League Right Fielders baseball players and the world have ever seen.  

Students enjoyed this book immensely and had a lot of questions.  We could also connect the text to place, to Grand Rapids, because we have a Roberto Clemente Park right here in Grand Rapids!

Aberdeen Reads... The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

Choosing a book to read aloud to fifth graders can sometimes be a tricky task.  We don't always have the time to start a chapter book, and many picture books don't keep their attention.  At the same time, even though they are close to the middle school years, they still love to be read to.  This book has been a great solution, and the fifth graders loved it.  The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, is a collection of short stories based on beloved fairy tales.  

My favorite is "The Really Ugly Duckling", who is an ugly duckling who grows up to be just a really ugly duck.  The stories are funny and engaging.  Many of the jokes would be over a lower elementary student's head, but are just right for our older students who know the original fairy tales well.

MLK students read "Rosie Revere, Engineer"

Second graders at MLK Academy enjoyed listening to Rosie Revere, Engineer, a fun rhyming book that introduces young students to engineering.

In the story, which is written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts, young Rosie Revere loves creating things and dreams of being a great engineer, but is discouraged when her inventions get laughed at.

"And that's how it went until one autumn day.
Her oldest relation showed up for a stay.
Her great-great-aunt Rose was a true dynamo
who'd worked building airplanes a long time ago.
She told Rosie tales of the things she had done
and goals she had checked off her list one by one."

The pictures lead us to believe that Aunt Rose was actually Rosie the Riveter, and the older woman ends up being a great inspiration to little Rosie! Make sure to check this book out and see how it ends!

-Rachel Tommy

Image credit: www.thelearningorchard.com

East Leonard is reading..."The Honest-to-Goodness Truth!" By: Patricia C. McKissack

Libby got caught in a lie and her mama told her she needed to tell the truth. Libby started telling only the truth and the whole world seemed to be mad at her. Children relate to Libby as she struggles to figure out that even though it is always wrong to tell a lie, there's is a right and a wrong way to tell the truth. Children will come to understand that telling the truth is sometimes not so simple especially if the truth is hurtful to another.

Congress Elementary is Reading Non-Fiction this week! Ships, A Pop-Up Book, by Robert Crowther

Congress Elementary is continuing its Genre Challenge for March Is Reading Month this week.  This week dedicated volunteer, Ms. Ann, read non-fiction to our super students.  Ms. Ann read Ships, A Pop-Up Book, by Robert Crowther, to teach students about the many different kinds of ships past and present.  It was a surprisingly great topic! The children LOVED it and were very engaged.  They learned about early vessels of Egypt and Rome, sailing vessels of of the Explorers, steam ships, fighting vessels and modern cruise, cargo and tanker ships.  The pop-ups are very detailed.  Thanks Ms. Ann!  It was an enjoyable and creative way to explore non-fiction.

I Am Regina by Sally M. Keehn / Sibley

Based on a true story, Sally Keehn captures the drama of a young girl torn from her home and forced to learn  an alien way of life. Her home   is attacked by the Indians and burned to the ground. She is separated from her family.At the time, she is 11 years old and begins a new life. She learns to fish, dance the Indian dance, speak the native language. She has hope that someday she will meet with her mother.                       This is a captivating story with a happy ending. Geared more for middle school age students, but a good read for all!!~ Mary Jo

Half-Pint Pete the Pirate by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Come check out the half-adventures of Pete the Pirate. What could complete Pete's halves? Read this swashbuckling story to see.

~ Deb, Stocking School

Aberdeen Loves Funny Poems!

I love to read funny poems to our Aberdeen students.  The title alone caught my attention for this week's pick.  Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Other Stories You're Sure to Like Because They're All About Monsters, and Some of Them are Also About Food.  You Like Food, Don't You? Well, All Right Then (yep!  That's the whole title!), by Adam Rex is full of hilarious poems.

The vocabulary and rhyming are very engaging.  The illustrations are full of detail and refer to other monsters, creatures from Greek mythology, and folktales.  These details kept my fifth grade audience engaged.  My favorite poem from the collection is The Invisible Man Gets a Haircut. Students spotted Medusa and the Headless Horseman in the same barber shop.

I read selected poems to our fourth and fifth grade students, and now they are fighting for the chance to check this book out themselves!

Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth/ Sibley

  A little girl who lives in a run down building notices the trashy courtyard and  ugly writing on the walls. When she walks to school, she notices other unattractive sights. She learns the word"beautiful" in school, which is "something that when you have it, your heart is happy."  When she encounters others on her way home, she asks them if they have something beautiful.  The little girl hears all kind of things that are beautiful: tasting fried fish sandwiches, a jump rope, beads, a smooth stone. When she arrives at her building she decides to do what she can to make her surroundings beautiful.  
    This is a great story, a fast read, with a meaningful message.~Mary Jo

Campus Elementary - Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

At Campus Elementary we recently read the book "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" by John Steptoe in library. The subtitle is "An African Tale", and the notes inside the book indicate that the author's inspiration for the story was a folktale from the book "Kaffir Folktales", a collection of folk-lore stories compiled by G.M. Theal. The text in question was first published in 1895, and it is now in the public domain. This means anyone can read it for free. The entire text can be read on the web at this link:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/xft/

It appears that the specific folktale that was the primary inspiration for "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" was "The Story of Five Heads". It is interesting to compare the Steptoe version to the original folktale: many elements are retained, but overall the story's tone and plot has been altered, probably to make it more appealing to a modern Western audience and to the sensibilities of young children.

Cultural note: "Kaffir" is an old and pejorative term for the ethnic group most commonly known today as the Xhosa people, the ethnic group to which both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu belong.

I like this book because it is a very enjoyable moralistic fairy tale that is accessible to elementary school kids of all levels. The illustrations are also wonderful, and make the story come to life. I also appreciate the fact that this book's text and illustrations create a very positive and affirmative portrayal of a part of the world that is too often portrayed in mostly negative and non-affirming ways.

- Dennis De Boer

Students at Congress Elementary are reading Poetry this week for a March Is Reading Month genre challenge!



For March Is Reading Month (MIRM), Congress Elementary library is having students read from four different genres, a different one for each week of March. One week they can read a non-fiction book, the next a biography, then poetry and, finally, a book of fiction, such as historical, realistic, a fable or folktale.  If they read from all four genres and write a little about each, they can choose four different toppings for a sundae celebration at the end of March Is Reading Month.

To celebrate MIRM this week during library story time, we read from the genre of poetry.
We read the magical and majestic Sequoia, a picture book poem, by Tony Johnston, with paintings by Wendell Minor.  This is a must see and read book because the words and images are stunning with colorful images of nature and animals at dawn, day, sunset and eve.  Images are full of detail in closeups and landscapes; the rich language captures the amazing juxtapositions of natural moments between trees, animals and the elements.  A very beautiful book!

  

~Georgine Bello