SOLC # 23/31 - Blogging and Reading, too

                Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

        Day Twenty-Three of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.   Tweet at #SOL15

        Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey. 

Link up with Jen at TeachMentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders. and Sheila at Book Journeys.  Come visit, and tweet at #IMWAYR. Thanks to Jen, Kellee, and Ricki for hosting!

         Here's more than one book that will help you look at things in different ways:

Apples & Oranges, going bananas with pairs - written and illustrated by Sara Pinto

              This will send the younger students laughing so much they’ll fall off their chairs. Sara Pinto has crafted some wonderful pairs, but the expectation will surprise everyone. Once they get going, who knows what the children will guess! There are lovely brightly-colored drawings, for example, of a cupcake and an ice cream cone. The author asks, “How are a cupcake and an ice cream cone alike?” And of course, one might say, they’re both sweet, or desserts, or ? But when the page is turned, the answer, and funny picture, is “They both don’t scuba dive.” Very cute, will start lots of comparing conversations about all the pairs and what they "don't" do.

The Sandal Artist - written by Kathleen T. Pelley (whom I saw present at the CCIRA conference) and illustrated by Lois Rosio Sprague

          Roberto, a young artist, strolls through his village with his paints, going to paint “only beautiful things”, he tells everyone. He ignores the ragged children out playing, Benito with his donkey and cart carrying wood, and the beggar woman on the steps of the village church. One day he has to take his sandals to the cobbler’s shop to be mended. He is given a pair of sandals to wear until his own are done. The magic that plays out in the story is sweet, and Roberto, the young artist, begins to realize what really is beautiful. It seems to me that learning to really “see” can be shared with all ages from this picture book. The illustrations are gorgeous, full-color paintings.

Red, A Crayon’s Story - written and illustrated by Michael Hall

             Uh-oh, here comes an unusual tale that makes its point so cleverly, one gets pulled into the tale immediately. Poor red has its troubles, and when you read about the struggle, you’ll begin cheering for success. Terrific story, with an old message made new and wonderful. A must read and see!  

If You Plant A Seed - written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

            This is another wonderfully illustrated book by Kadir Nelson. It's not his usual topic for older students, cute instead of majestic, and a true celebration of spring.  But wait, along with the planting of garden seeds, there’s another kind of planting that this nearly wordless picture book suggests, planting the seeds of kindness. The story told in pictures sometimes surprises, and at the end, inspires.

Next Reading - I am in the middle of The Martian, by Andy Weir, a kind of survival book that many of my students insisted I had to read. It’s good, and has lots of science explanations in it, very interesting, helping my understanding of what the main character is trying to do in order to keep himself alive on Mars. You see, his crewmates thought he was dead, so left him behind when they took off for Earth. Now he must stay alive until rescue comes, a long, long time.