Family Reunion Picture Books – Teaching Resources

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Now that travel and gatherings are becoming safer for folks, it’s likely that many families will be planning holiday reunions for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.  If you’d like to tap into the excitement (or trepidation) that students might be feeling about that, you can’t go wrong with these four picture books:

Going Down Home with Daddy – written by Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by Daniel Minter

In this Caldecott honor book, Lil Alan looks forward to the annual family reunion at the farm where Daddy grew up, but everyone is supposed to share something special and Alan worries about arriving with empty hands.  As he goes on a tractor ride, enjoys family meals, attends church services, and listens to his relatives share memories, he realizes he can use the gifts of their land to pay tribute to his family’s roots and strength.  Lyons use of imagery and metaphor keep the language lively, and Minter’s illustrations are awash with pattern and symbolism that reinforce the idea of family values and traditions.  There is so much to notice and ponder in this beautiful book, you’ll want to allow plenty of time for discussion after you share it.

Teacher’s Guide from Peachtree Publishers – we all know that some teacher’s guides are kind of lame (summary, superficial discussion questions, coloring sheet) but this one is PACKED with thinking questions, cross-curricular activities, and links to additional resources.  And don’t miss the information about the Adinkra symbols used by Minter in the illustrations!

 Enjoy a video read-aloud performed by the author

Author Website for Kelly Starling Lyons (includes a page of activities for kids)

Visit The Brown Bookshelf which was cofounded by Lyons and celebrates black authors and illustrators

Illustrator Website for Daniel Minter – enjoy his beautiful fine art, and see page spreads from his other books

The Relatives Came – written by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Stephen Gammell

“Early one morning the relatives pile into their rainbow station wagon and drive down the twisty mountain roads to spend the summer with their relatives. The weeks that follow are filled with hugging and laughing and eating and sleeping and enjoying one another, until it’s time for the trip back home.”  This is one of my all-time favorite books ever, in large part because of the happy marriage between the poignant text and the exuberant illustrations that make me grin every time I look at them.  (The station wagon hitting the mailbox

 

Ruby’s Reunion Day Dinner – written by Angela Dalton, illustrated by Jestenia Southerland

“Everyone coming to the reunion is bringing a signature dish, and Ruby wants to contribute something too.  How discouraging that everyone tells her she’s too small to work in the kitchen!  What can she prepare that is special enough to share and simple enough for her to make?”  For the listeners who really look forward to the family feast (and really, who among us doesn’t?) this book is a love letter to down-home cooking, and the emphasizes the importance of food in family traditions.  Dalton’s descriptive language will have your mouth watering as you read: “The crack and sizzle of chicken and catfish frying up…the slow babbling of collard greens simmering…the zing of Aunt Lena’s pickled okra that crunch when you bite them…”  Delicious!

Enjoy a read aloud video performed by the author and illustrator, courtesy of TeachingBooks

Author Website for Angela Dalton

Illustrator website for Jestenia Southerland

Family Reunion – written by Chad and Dad Richardson, illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin

Not all kids get excited about attending family reunions, and this book (written by a father and son) acknowledges that reluctance.  Aaron is sure it will be boring, and he’d rather stay home and play video games, but from the first welcoming hug from PopPop he’s drawn into the spirit of the gathering.  As Aaron participates in the the dance party, the church service, and the family stories, he realizes how enjoyable – and meaningful –  family get-togethers are.  Bonus: The whole book is written in haiku format!


Enjoy the book trailer!

View some page spreads from the book

Hear from the authors about their inspiration for the story, and see photos of them and their family

Illustrator page for Ashleigh Corrin


Do you have other family reunion books you like to share with students?  Can you recommend other resources or activities for these books?  Please leave a comment and tell us about them!

 

 

 

Pajama Day Read-In

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Our school hosted a Pajama Day Read-In to celebrate Read Across America Day, and boy did our kids have fun!  Everyone in grades K-5 (and teachers and staff, too!) wore their pajamas to school, brought in a pillow and/or blanket, and spent the morning reading together.  Here are some of the highlights!

 

And Now a Word From Our Students

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World-Read-Aloud-Day-2014For week 2 of the World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) blogging challenge, bloggers were asked to answer the following questions individually and with a child or children:

1. I think everyone in the world should read…

2. If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me it would be…

3. When I read aloud, my favorite character to impersonate is…

4. The genre or author that takes up the most room on my bookshelf (or e-reader) is…

5. My favorite part about reading aloud or being read to is…

I decided to open up two of these questions to the students at my school, and I created Padlet walls where they could post their answers.  Here are our results!


Click here to view our 3rd Grade Wall

 

 

 

 



Click here to view our 4th Grade Wall

 

 

 

 

 

Our students were excited about the opportunity to share their opinions with the world, and I think some of our teachers will begin using Padlet as a class brain-storming tool.   Win-win!

 

Read for the Record with Ladybug Girl

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This is the email I sent the teachers at my school announcing Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Event coming up this week:

“I hope that you will plan to participate in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record on Thursday, Oct 4, by reading Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad by Jacky Davis and David Soman to your students!  (Some of you may remember reading Llama Llama Mad at Mama last year, as well as other books in other years.)

Once again the online version of this year’s book is available from We Give Books, which is a wonderful site packed with e-versions of books for young readers.  And the best part is, every time you share one of these great e-books with your students, you enable the Pearson Foundation to send physical books to organizations that support early childhood literacy.  They have already donated over one million books to programs around the world!

Be sure to take the pledge to read so your students can be counted among those who participated in the big event!”

Is your school participating in Read for the Record?  I’d love to hear about anything special you are doing!

 Edited Oct 1:  I’ve realized that what we need is to have Ladybug Girl visit our school on Thursday to read aloud in the classrooms.  Watch for pictures!
 
 

WWW – We Give Books

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This Week’s WWW (Weekly Wednesday Website) is…

We Give Books

 

 

 

 We Give Books is a website that allows you to read books online for free!   This amazing website has 150 books available to read right on your computer! 

And to make it even better, each time you read one of these eBooks, the Pearson Foundation will donate a book to a charity that provides free books for needy kids!

You’ll find some of your favorite picture book characters here, like Skippyjon Jones, Corduroy, Spot, and Ladybug Girl.  There are also some non-fiction books to enjoy about big cats, caterpillars and butterflies, volcanoes, tornadoes, animal families, and more.

BONUS:  This year’s Read for the Record book is Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, and you can read it online at the We Give Books website.  More than 2 million people will be reading to children on October 6 in order to draw attention to the need for quality early education.  I hope you will take the pledge to share Llama Llama Red Pajama with your students on October 6! 

p.s. You will find lots of additional resources at the Llama Llama Red Pajama website!

 

As always, a link to this website is posted at http://www.netvibes.com/weeklyweb, along with all of the previous WWW websites.

Vote for The Reading Express

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The South Carolina Center for Children’s Books and Literacy needs your help.  They have entered their Reading Express project in the Pepsi Refresh competition in hopes of winning $50,000 in funding.  You can help by clicking on this link and voting for The Reading Express.  The goals of the program are to:

  • Break the cycle of illiteracy through education and outreach
  • Give books to approximately 7,000 school children in 35 schools
  • Provide literacy kits for 1,200 families
  • Educate families about the importance of reading at home
  • Empower families by giving them tools to raise life-long readers

You will need to register with the Pepsi site and be sure you sign in before you vote.  If you click the “Vote” button and then sign in, your vote will not be counted unless you click “Vote” again.  You can vote once a day throughout the month of November.

If The Reading Express is one of the top ten vote-getters, they the children of South Carolina win!

Summer Reading

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Our annual Flip Flop Book Swap began today in the ADE Library, and the students have been flocking in to participate!  Kids have the opportunity to bring in any books from home that they don’t read anymore (making sure it’s okay with parents, of course) and trade them for books someone else brings in so that everybody gets something “new” and different to read this summer.  We also sell books from the swap tables for just 25 or 50 cents each, for those who don’t have any books at home to trade. 
 
I’m also sharing information with students this week about summer reading programs going on at the Sumter County Library, the McElveen Library at Shaw AFB, and Borders (Waldenbooks) in the mall here.  (By the way, Barnes and Noble does a summer reading promotion, too, but we don’t have one here.)  Everyone who brings me proof that they participated in a summer reading program (a reading log or certificate) will be invited to an ice cream sundae party in August when school starts back.
 
Students will also be taking home a Summer Reading Fun brochure that I created to help parents understand the importance of encouraging their children to keep reading over the summer.  It includes lists of recommended reading, including next year’s South Carolina Children’s Book Award nominees. 
I’m determined to help our students beat the summer slide!  Have some other great summer resources to share?  Leave a comment!