Of Jellyfish and Happiness

I went to a workshop all day today about teaching kids writing. As much as I love to write and as much as I love to teach kids how to write, I never get tired of adding another tool to my toolbox. Amanda Donnelly, of IRN, was there. We broke down the three domains (Composing, Written Expression, Usage and Mechanics) that Virginia’s students have to be able to master in their writing. We did a practice writing prompt, and I realized I haven’t mastered those domains either.


Something I learned in the Writing Project many years ago: we really don’t know how much we expect of kids in their writing until we try it ourselves. Writing teachers need to write themselves. We tried a writing prompt today. It was about the happiest memory. I make a list of possible happy memories to write about. I picked my favorite, then brainstormed some more about one particular trip. All things were going well….

THEN…I began to write my rough draft. Two pages into it, I realized something dreadful. I didn’t write to the prompt at all!!! I wrote about spearing jellyfish. Yes, a morbid, graphic, fictionalized tale. It was interesting. It had roots in reality, but it was fiction. It had some figurative language. It had some vivid verbs. It even had a central idea. It just wasn’t the central idea I was supposed to write about.

Author’s Share time came along. We were supposed to volunteer to share our writing. Now, we had been working on it for a whole 15 minutes. I am not a big fan of sharing writing immediately after it is written. It’s like eating bread dough before you’ve given it a chance to rise and bake. It just isn’t for eating. I was NOT getting up to share my OFF-TOPIC two page story beginning. First of all, it wasn’t a whole piece. It wasn’t on topic. And it certainly wasn’t happy. I shared among my small group, made up of people I know. They were so nice to me. They thought it was terrific. But it was off-topic.

As I thought about my dilemma, I realized how common this is for kids. How dreadful to realize you really like the story you are telling, but it isn’t the one you are SUPPOSE to be telling. A lesson learned for me.

I can’t change the state’s prompt. I can’t even change the fact that they will have to write to a prompt, but I CAN teach them what to do when this thing happens to them. I plan to tell them my experience, show them my writing, and brainstorm ideas with them on how to solve this problem.

By the way, I don’t plan to write anymore about the happy memory because frankly happiness and perfectness make very boring stories. I am planning to keep going with this story about the jellyfish maimer and find out what he plans to do next. He’s an interesting fellow.

Nonfiction Monday: Two Tales of Ben

Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions for Benjamin Franklin
Written and illustrated by Gene Barretta
Henry Holt, 2006





How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning
Written and illustrated by Rosalyn Schanzer
Harper Collins, 2003


Recently I wrote about another book I used in my electricity unit in fourth grade science. In Virginia, fourth graders have to know about Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Michael Faraday and their contributions to electricity. I have been using Schanzer’s book for a few years, but this year I discovered a new book about Ben Franklin.

Both of these books cover what my students really have to know: 1) that Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was really electricity in his kite experiment, and 2) that he invented the lightning rod which protected buildings from damage and fires from lightning.

Now and Ben talks about how things we use today are things that Ben Franklin invented. So many things we use today began with Ben. Barretta sets up the book by saying “Now…” (insert one of the inventions we use today) and “Ben” (insert how Ben Franklin created this). The text is simple and short, but still goes through many of the inventions and contributions that we know Franklin for.

How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning actually covers some of the same material, but it spends a little more time on Franklin and his experiments with electricity. Schanzer goes into detail about the kite experiment, the lightning rod, but also the way that people used to perform electrifying tricks—actually shocking people.

Both books are very light in tone. They are humorous to read and are nothing like reading a textbook. They present the information in a very interesting way.

This would be another great pair of books to use with kids to do “Text-to-Text Connections.”

Nonfiction Monday roundup is over at Anastasia Suen's Picture Book of the Day.

Mosaic of Thought

This past semester at school I have been part of a Teachers as Readers group reading Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmerman. It has really changed the way I think about reading and the way I plan for reading. I have been doing a series of lessons on Making Connections (text to self, text to text, and text to world). During that time, I compiled books that I used in my literature circles and in guided reading groups. I used these books with fourth graders, but keep in mind, you could adapt them to any grade level. I have posted the lists on the menu bar to the right. Each list is a PDF file, so they will be easy to download and open.

Word Play

As a teacher, I often use Brian Cleary and Ruth Heller’s work to introduce parts of speech. Brian Cleary has two new books—one on Adverbs and one about word play. Another book about antonyms is now out in paperback.

The Laugh Stand: Adventures in Humor
By Brian P. Cleary
Illustrations by J. P. Sandy
Millbrook Press, 2008

Do you know a kid (or kids) who love word play? Do they love to think about words, play with words, manipulate, postulate, invent, subvert words? Then you need to get this book. It’s clever. Cleary has clearly spent a lot of time messing with words. Here are some the fun games he plays with words in this book:

Anagrams—rearranging words to create other words.
Example: saint, satin, stain
He takes letters and makes multiple words out of the same letters, but he also takes letters, makes multiple words, and strings them together in funny sentences.

Curl Up and Diagram—he writes rhyming poetry using as many parts of speech as he can, color-coding the words by part of speech.

Tom Swifties—these are fun puns that include adverbs.
Example: “Stop! Thief!” Tom said arrestingly.

Obfuscation Station—Underneath a wordy sentence, there is a simple, rhyming statement. Can you translate them?
Example: “The mongrel canine descended on the back of his hip that form the fleshy part of his backside.”
Translation: “The mutt fell on his butt.”

And there are more word games: math poetry, musical coded words, daffynitions and more. Brian Cleary is amazing at creating these gems that make our language so entertaining. This book would be a great addition to a teacher’s personal collection or as a gift for kid who loves word puzzles.

The back of the book includes answer keys to the puzzles, a list of books for further reading and a list of websites with more word play puzzles.

Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasily: More about Adverbs
By Brian P. Cleary
Illustrated by Brian Gable
Millbrook Press, 2008

This book is part of the Words are CATegorical series that Brian Cleary has written about words (mostly books on parts of speech).

In this book he plays with adverbs. He gives lots of examples of all types of adverbs. It is written in a rhythmic fashion that causes the words to roll off the reader’s tongue. However, to really absorb all of the examples and explanations that are in this book, you must slow down, reread and think about everything that is packed into this little book.

Stop and Go, Yes and No: What is an Antonym?
By Brian P. Cleary
Illustrated by Brian Gable
Millbrook Press, 2006

This antonym book follows the same style and rhythm of other books in the “Words are CATegorical” series. However, this book is different than most antonym concept books. Most books with synonyms or antonyms are concept books meant for the very young child—to introduce them to these ideas for the very first time. This book takes antonyms a few steps further. Cleary talks about how prefixes can change the meanings of words and create opposites. He also uses bigger words that might require further inquiry, even from older readers like “hefty and diminutive”. Another great book in this series for teachers!