~a penny and her jots~

Whale shello there! I have some fangs to talk about. Yep! I want to share a few nuggets about a swimmingly spectacular book that will elicit oceans of excitement from any school of kid listeners or readers. I won’t bait you any further, as I’m shore you can’t wait to sea what I’m bubbling about. Yes…it’s

Nugget & Fang

Written by Tammi Sauer

Illustrated by Michael Slack

Harcourt Children’s Books 2013

Ages: 4-8

Themes: Friendship, Fish, Oceans

Synopsis: (from Goodreads) In the deep ocean, tiny Nugget and big, toothy Fang get along swimmingly—until Nugget’s first day of minnow school. There Nugget learns that minnows are supposed to be afraid of sharks! To regain Nugget’s trust, Fang takes desperate (and hilarious) measures. But it’s not until his big sharp teeth save the entire school that minnows learn this shark is no foe. Fantastically stylized artwork adds even more humor to this undersea story of unlikely friendship.

Opening: In the deep, deep ocean lived two best friends.
Nugget and Fang.
They did everything together.
They swam over.
GLUG
They swam under.
GLUG-GLUG
They swam all around.
GLUG-GLUG-GLUG
Life was close to perfect . . .
until it was time for Nugget to go to school.

Resources: HERE is a downloadable reading guide that includes discussion questions for read aloud, and teaching ideas for reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.

Why I Like This Book: Last week, I read this book to a class of kindergartners.  They were hooked on every word and turn page. They pointed out their favorite parts of the illustrations. They laughed at the clever word play and at Fang’s attempts to convince Nugget that a shark and a minnow really could be friends. When I read the ending and closed the book, I could tell that they would’ve happily listened to it again. That pretty much sums up why I like this book! I am just like the kindergartners. Well, there is one difference…they headed off to physical education class with toothy grins…and me? Well, I let my mind float away with a minnow and a shark as I read Nugget and Fang one more time :-)

Susanna Leonard Hill features Perfect Picture Book Friday on her blog. This is a wonderful resource if you are wondering what books to give as gifts, needing material for a lesson, or just looking for a great book to read. Here is a list of books by category. Each book listed has a link to a review, information about that book, and resources for activities. There is also an alphabetical list.

I’m a Texas gal, and since I love me some hot sauce and jalapenos, you can imagine how fired up I got when I found heard about…

Little Red Hot

Written by Eric A. Kimmel

Illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith

Two Lions (Amazon Children’s Publishing) 2013

Ages 4-8

Themes: Fractured Fairy Tales

Synopsis: (from Goodreads) Little Red Hot loves red hot chili peppers. She eats them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When her grandmother catches a cold, Little Red makes her a hot pepper pie that will knock those cold germs right out of her. But before Little Red shares her pie with Grandma, she meets Señor Lobo and the pie comes in very handy when the wily wolf tries to trick her into thinking he’s her grandmother.

Opening: Once upon a time there was a little biddy Texas gal called Little Red Hot. Folks called her that because she loved to eat red hot chili peppers. She ate peppers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She ate pepper ice cream for dessert. She had hot pepper cake for her birthday with jalapeños on top instead of candles. Folks used to say that Little Red Hot could eat fire out of a stove. Little Red Hot would answer, “No, I wouldn’t do that. Fire ain’t hot enough.”

Resources: Read, Write, Think has this great tool for writing fractured fairy tales, HERE. Challenge children to write a fractured fairy tale that uses a food item and include food puns for humor. HERE is a lesson plan from Education World for writing fractured fairy tales.

Why I Like This Book: Fractured fairy tales have always been a favorite of mine. I love that they are based on stories that have been told for generations. Since most children are already familiar with the story line of the tale, I think they tend to relax into the retelling which gives them a chance to enjoy the humor, language, and wordplay even more. As far as fractured fairy tales go, Little Red Hot ranks way up there in my opinion. The story telling is superb and I was immediately drawn to Little Red Hot’s spunkiness. In fact, she has so much spunk that I was confident that Señor Lobo would get his comeuppance, and wondered why he didn’t take one look at that little red cowboy and run howling for the hills. Well, in the end, there is some howling involved, and not just from Señor Lobo. I was howling with laughter!!! So saddle up, ride on down to the library, and bring this delightful book home with you. I’ll bet you a four alarm chili pepper that it will become on of your faves!

Susanna Leonard Hill features Perfect Picture Book Friday on her blog. This is a wonderful resource if you are wondering what books to give as gifts, needing material for a lesson, or just looking for a great book to read. Here is a list of books by category. Each book listed has a link to a review, information about that book, and resources for activities. There is also an alphabetical list.

Did you know that Can’t Sleep Without Sheep by Susanna Leonard Hill is now available in E-book???
Yes! It’s true!
Only $4.99!
In all formats!
Available HERE!

Want the inside scoop? Watch this short video and then go download your copy today!
Warning!!! Singing is involved…and I’m not the quiet sort! Not responsible for damage to hearing or for howling dogs, sheep, hippos, or other creatures within a ten mile radius (and possibly outside of that radius).

This is a contest! With great prizes! Do you think I’d just go about singing off key if prizes weren’t involved? For more information, and to view the other entries, go HERE! Just so you know…you don’t have to sing or write a jingle to get a prize. If you just share about the new Can’t Sleep Without Sheep E-book, you can be entered to win a prize, too. Oh! And there is a contest for the kiddos, also. Again, go HERE to learn about all the ways you can enter and win!!! Has there ever been a better contest…or a better reason to enter and spread the word??? I don’t think so!! Now go!

I did many things to celebrate National Poetry Month. But my favorite thing to come out of April is a page I created on my blog with resources for teaching poetry. I’m not the first one to have a poetry resource page. There are many great ones on the Internet. My focus was to gather sites that I think will be very useful in the classroom. I taught school for 26 years. I did not teach poetry because I taught Physical Education and Computer. I know poetry is a part of every subject. In Physical Education, we learned jump rope rhymes and worked on rhythm. In Computer, we keyed in and formatted poetry in a word processing program. But I didn’t get to really delve into the workings of poetry. After 26 years, I know about teaching. I, also, know how busy teachers are and how teaching poetry intimidates some of them. I hope the resources I have gathered will show them ways to bring poetry to their classrooms in a way that will get students excited, and in a way that both students and teachers will enjoy. You can click on Poetry Resources right at the top of this page, or click HERE.

Liz Steinglass is hosting Poetry Friday this week at her place.

Ollie and Claire

Written by Tiffany Strelitz Haber

Illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Philomel 2013

Ages 3-7

Themes: Friendship

Synopsis: (From publisher’s website) Ollie and Claire are as tight as two friends can be. Every day they picnic together, every day they do yoga together, and every evening they eat dinner together. But when Claire longs to break free from this routine and dreams of traveling the world, she worries that Ollie would never join her. So she takes matters into her own hands and finds a mysterious travel partner when she sees a sign posted on a tree. Who could it be? And how can she ever tell Ollie?

Opening:
Ollie and Claire were a tightly knit pair,
like hot buttered biscuits and jam.
They frolicked by day at the park and the bay,
where they yodeled and yoga’d and swam.

And here is the trailer:

Resources: I didn’t find any on the Internet…probably because Ollie and Clare has just been released. So here are few I came up with.
1) Have students write an acrostic poem, using the letters in their name about a trip. They can write about things to do or places to go.
2) Have students design their own luggage from a shoe box or other small box. Have classmates drop in notes telling that student why they would miss them if they left for an around-the-world trip.
3) Use the luggage from #2 to work with rhyming words. Have the student put a word/s on their “luggage tag”. Have other students drop in words that rhyme with the luggage tag as they think of them. When they get 10 (or whatever number decided  upon), the student will write a poem with the words from inside their luggage.
4) Here is a longer project for older students. Have students plan the round-the-world itinerary for Ollie and Claire. As a whole, have the class decide the best way to travel from place to place-airplane, boat, train, bus, etc. For math, add up the miles they will travel and estimate expenses. Have enough stops so that each student have a location to research. Have them map it. Have them list three things to do while on their stop. Have them find a recipe for food from their location and/or possibly make and bring that food to school for the class to taste. Make a round-the-world recipe book.

Why I Like This Book: Oh the rhyme! Did I mention the rhyme? Well, there is the rhyme! Seriously, Tiffany Strelitz Haber is super skilled at rhyming. She kills it! Spot on meter! Fun wordplay! But what’s great rhyme without a story, right? Never fear…the story’s here! You will be engaged. You will be torn…See below quotes from my mind as I read the book:
“Claire deserves adventure.”
“But, how can she leave Ollie?”
“Claire will be back some day.”
“But how can she leave Ollie.”
And then, you’ll read the ending and your heart will melt.
Matthew Corell’s illustrations are adorable. I’m sure you saw that in the trailer. They just add to the perfection of the book!
Yes, this tale of friendship must be shared with kids everywhere.

Today the 2013 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is spending the day at my place,  ~a penny and her jots~. Yes, it’s my turn to add a line to a poem that is being written
day by day,
line by line,
poet by poet.
Thanks to Irene Latham at Live Your Poem for organizing and hosting this event in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Yesterday, Renée at No Water River added her words. She gave me a nice line to work with as she was hoping to bring our words down to earth. She ended her line with “crowd hush”. Plus, she mentioned Cirque du Soleil in her post. Along the way, other poets have contributed words such as trapeze,  swinging, throw, catch, soaring, exploring, and safety net. I couldn’t help but imagine the whole circus setting as I played with words that could ground our progressive poem as it has already journeyed past many pens, and has more pens in its future. I don’t have to bring our words to earth. I could send them flying back—leave them hanging. But, they don’t call me Pollyanna Penny for nothin’! I like to tidy things up; tie up loose ends; head toward that we’re-all-gonna-live-happily-ever-after ending. So, with my line, I bring us to earth with wonderment as the crowd is amazed at how well we work together as we piggyback our poet pens.

When you listen to your footsteps
the words become music and
the rhythm that you’re rapping gets your fingers tapping, too.
Your pen starts dancing across the page
a private pirouette, a solitary samba until
smiling, you’re beguiling as your love comes shining through.

Pause a moment in your dreaming, hear the whispers
of the words, one dancer to another, saying
Listen, that’s our cue! Mind your meter. Find your rhyme.
Ignore the trepidation while you jitterbug and jive.
Arm in arm, toe to toe, words begin to wiggle and flow
as your heart starts singing let your mind keep swinging

from life’s trapeze, like a clown on the breeze.
Swinging upside down, throw and catch new sounds–
Take a risk, try a trick; break a sweat: safety net?
Don’t check! You’re soaring and exploring,
dangle high, blood rush; spiral down, crowd hush–
limb-by-line-by-limb envision, pyramidic penned precision.

We are back down to earth. Stacked in a perfect, poetic pyramid. The crowd sees our vision because our limbs (our pens) are writing lines, and our pyramid (our poem) is precisely the kind of vision to hush the crowd.  No way we could’ve stacked these lines so beautifully, and with such precision, if we didn’t have a shared vision. We are all in this circus together…yes, performing for the crowd…but mainly wanting to contribute to a finished product where our trust for each other is evident. Just like performers in Cirque du Soleil, our poem is not a solo performance. Our pens, our words, work together. And on April 30th, when we take the final bow, we will know that the last 30 days have been a special performance. We will dance back to the beginning of the poem and follow our footsteps to the end.

Was that Pollyanna-ish enough or what?? By now you’re either throwing up or applauding!!! And, hey, it’s OK if you’re throwing up because sometimes I make myself sick, too! LOL!

I am passing the poem to the our wonderful host Irene Latham.

Here are the scheduled stops for our progressive poem. You can also find the schedule in my sidebar.

April Progressive Poets
1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
2  Joy Acey
3  Matt Forrest Esenwine
4  Jone MacCulloch
5  Doraine Bennett
6  Gayle Krause
7  Janet Fagal
8  Julie Larios
9  Carrie Finison
10  Linda Baie
11  Margaret Simon
12  Linda Kulp
13  Catherine Johnson
14  Heidi Mordhorst
15  Mary Lee Hahn
16  Liz Steinglass
17  Renee LaTulippe
18  Penny Klostermann
19  Irene Latham
20  Buffy Silverman
21  Tabatha Yeatts
22  Laura Shovan
23  Joanna Marple
24  Katya Czaja
25  Diane Mayr
26  Robyn Hood Black
27  Ruth Hersey
28  Laura Purdie Salas
29  Denise Mortensen
30  April Halprin Wayland