Read Across the Ocean -- Virtual Storytime for the Students at Kiwimbi School in Kenya

 

Carol reads EarthDance by Joanne Ryder to the students of Kiwimbi School Kenya. If you want to have a reading that shows close ups of the book, you can find it here.

Possible follow ups:

Book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer – the true story of a boy from Malawi, who, when a drought threatened his village, used books found in a library to learn to build a windmill from scraps. Read Aloud : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieSIhow18kU

Kids can make their own pinwheels - directions You can meet him "in person" here: Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba story 6 min. interview His first TED Talk (2009) William KamKwamba: How I harnessed the wind Updated with TED Talk (2018) (after he studied engineering at Dartmouth University!!) Catching up with inventor William Kamkwamba | William Kamkwamba Interview with Chris Anderson (Also now a full-length Netflix film: "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/03/incredible-adventures-boy-who-harnessed.html – has more ideas for this title. Another innovative real-life solution to a problem of lack of power:

The Soccket, an energy-generating soccer ball that turns into a lamp

More books that celebrate African inventors:

Book: One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul tells how plastic bag trash was becoming a terrible problem in a village – even killing the goats – until a clever and enterprising woman and her friends figured out how to take this trash and make it into useful purses that could be sold for income. Reading with music available here Instructions to make them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r354rs7aYzI Related videos: Young woman is recycling plastic into building bricks: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/recycling-plastic-waste-to-make-bricks-that-are-stronger-than-concrete https://mymodernmet.com/gjenge-makers-recycled-plastic-bricks/

Book: Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams tells the story of a young child who uses scraps of wire to create his own toy. Reading Rainbow: Galimoto book starts around 2:50.

Book: Masai and I by Virginia Kroll offers a child's perspective comparing the daily lives of a child in a U.S. city and a Maasai child in Kenya. Musical reading

Book: 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy Maasai tribal members, after hearing the story of the September 11th attacks from a young Massai who was in New York on that day, decide to present the American people with fourteen sacred cows as a healing gift. Reading Author interview: My favorite follow up is Tom Chapin's beautiful song "This Pretty Planet" (with beautiful pictures) or Children doing it as a round with Tom Chapin Many more ideas -- and other books I could read -- are here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/mothers-fathers-of-invention-if-at.html

Here are some of my favorite booklists from "What Do We Do All Day" 

INSPIRING PICTURE BOOKS:

These are picture book lists that will inspire kids to create, dream and spread kindness in their community.

• Books to Inspire Kids to Change the World 
• Books to Teach Kindness
• Books to Inspire Kids to Follow Their Dreams
• Books to Inspire Artistic Creativity
• Books to Inspire Inventors and Engineers
• Picture books about the Theater
• Books Celebrating Screen-Free Life
• Funny Picture Books
• Books about Trying New Things
• Picture Books about Peace
• Growth Mindset Picture Books
• Picture Books about Observation and Perspective
• Nature Picture Books
• Books about New Beginnings

PICTURE BOOKS ABOUT INTEGRITY & EMOTIONS:

• Picture Books that Teach Meaningful Values
• Picture Books to Support Emotional Intelligence
• Picture Books about Mindfulness and Meditation
• Books that Teach Empathy
• Books about Anger, Frustration and General Crankiness
• Books about Fear and Courage
• Picture Books about Perseverance and Determination
• Children’s Books about Happiness
• Picture Books about Lying and Honesty
• Picture Books to Teach Responsible Citizenship
• Picture Books about Friendship
• Picture Books about Communities Coming Together 
  • Picture books about global social justice
  • Picture Books about Refugees
  • 30 Days of Diverse Picture Books for K-1st Grade
  • 30 days of diverse books for 2nd and 3rd grade
  • Picture Books about Diversity and Multiculturalism
  • Read Your Way Around the World: 50 books set in different countries

School Age Storytime: Earth Day Heroes

Earth Day Heroes: A non-fiction “un-common core”  K-3rd grade storytime featuring inspiring stories of diverse people who have made a difference to our planet. Introduces American and global environmental history and issues, non-violent change agents, along with songs, and sign language and gorgeous images (visual and literary) of our planet,.

Book: The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks by Barb Rosenstock (The true story of how a camping trip in California with John Muir inspired Teddy Roosevelt to preserve America’s natural wilderness.)  Followed by showing the gorgeous illustrations from John Muir: America’s Naturalist by Thomas Locker and booktalking: Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers by Kathi Appelt (President’s wife’s advocacy led to the beautification of America’s highways.)  and  Redwoods by Jason Chin (A boy is transported through the pages of a book into a forest of these magnificent trees.)  (Mention they can see a sequoia/redwood tree in nearby Buck Gardens.)

Book/Song: This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
or Song: “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands” (traditional – optional props/puppets: world globe ball, brothers/sisters, bird, fish – lyrics below.)

Book: Wangari’s Tree’s of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter (The inspiring story of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner who spear-headed the reforestation of Kenya despite threats and jail time.)  (Mention “biography” – non-fiction about a person)

Book: I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson (Dan Lipow’s photographs are “eye candy” – a splendid look at the earth’s gorgeous diversity.)
Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children” from Tom Chapin’s Album Some Assembly Required.  Lyrics here: http://www.tomchapin.com/docs/lwtw.html

Book: Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers by Sarah Warren (Earth Day goes beyond caring for the planet to caring for the people who harvest the food we eat…wonderfully-written story of a teacher who became an activist who followed Martin Luther King’s non-violent ideals and organized real change.)  Booktalk: Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Song: “Monday’s Child” by Fred Penner (song on his album “Happy Feet," lyrics below) (I had the lyrics printed out and we sang it through three times – the first all together, the second with the boys singing the first half of each line and the girls the second half, the third with the boys’ & girls’ parts reversed.)

Action Book: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder (Kids stood up and acted out this poetic tribute to our earth. Touches on the ideas of earth science, gravity, seasons, and planetary rotation)
Lyrics:
We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands – traditional

We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got our mamas and our daddies…
We've got our brothers and our sisters…
We've got a little bitty baby…
We've got the birds in the air…
We've got whales in the sea…
We’ve got you and we’ve got me…
Monday’s Child / Help Me to Grow  (UNICEF SONG)
Song on Fred Penner’s album “Happy Feet”

(boys)                       (girls)
Help me to grow… One drop of water
Healthy and Strong …One piece of bread
Teach me to read …One life of learning
Take me along … The long road ahead
I have a mind – I’m full of questions
I have a voice -- I love to sing
(together)
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything.
(girls)                     (boys)
Help me to grow… One drop of water
Healthy and Strong …One piece of bread
Teach me to read …One life of learning
Take me along … The long road ahead
I have a mind – I’m full of questions
I have a voice -- I love to sing
(together)
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything!

Bedm. 4/15
Add Greta Thunberg book next time

School Age Storytime: Dinosaurs Galore

 

Kindergarten – 3rd Grade program -- Taking a trip back in time -- mixing non-fiction & fantasy, science & math, biographies of the girl who first discovered dinosaurs, and the very important concept that we are always learning new things about what we thought we knew!

Time Train -- Paul Fleischman (PicBk FLE) (Asked kids to look closely at the pictures…what is happening here?   Civil War Uniforms, mastadons, etc….traveling back in time)


Prehistoric Actual Size  (J560 JENKINS) Steve Jenkins' wonderful collage pictures depict creatures from 450 to 3 millions years ago -- long before humans! -- 2 ft. long dragonflies and 3 ft. long millipedes, huge teeth and claws, great back-matter.  Speaking of scale, booktalked: If Dogs Were Dinosaurs (513.24 SCH)  More math: How High Can a Dinosaur Count? & Other Math Mysteries (PicBk FISHER) – more math ideas: http://bedtimemath.org/?s=dinosaur

Fossil Girl – Catherine Brighton (Graphic novel  = comic) Vocabulary: "fossil" = "stone bones", "intriqued" = "fascinated" 1st dinosaur bones found by a 12 year old girl 200 years ago! --> Mary Anning became a great fossil finder and her finds helped lead to Darwin's Origin of Species. (Common Core – compare with other versions: e.g. Mary Anning & the Sea Dragon --  Jeannine Atkins, Stone Girl, Bone Girl – Laurence Anholt, Rare Treasure – Don Brown, Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter -- Sally Walker, Fossil Hunter - Cheryl Blackford  (all JBiog.  ANNING))

Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! (J567.9 KUDLINSKI) (dinosaur detection, warm bloodedness? feathers & fur? what caused their demise...knowledge always changing with new scientific discoveries…docent at Natural History Museum…major changes every 3 years!) 

Puppet/Song/Story: “There’s a Dinosaur Knocking at my Door” – from album Happiness Cake by Linda Arnold (lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/02/preschool-storytime-dinosaur-roar.html)   -- did this earlier in the program for kindergartners.

Kdg: Can I Have a Stegosaurus, Mom? Can I Please? -- Lois Grambling (PicBk GRA) (..what would they do with a T-Rex - encouraged them to write the sequel...) or (1st-3rd: Dad's Dinosaur Day -- Diane Dawson Hearn (PicBk HEARN) (encouraged them to write "Mom's Dinosaur Day") 

Booktalked:  Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs – Mo Willems (PicBk WILLEMS) fun fractured fairy tale, Miss Smith Reads Again – Michael Garland,  Chalk (Pic Bk THOMSON)...magical chalk...what would they draw?



Additional great read-aloud non-fiction:
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins (J567.90228 KER) ...investors dining in model head of a dinosaur, pieces of giant dino models buried under Central Park! Did Dinosaurs have feathers? J568.22 ZOE, Did Dinosaurs Eat Pizza? Mysteries Science Hasn’t Solved J567.9 HOR
Next year? If I Had a Triceratops - George O'Connor (2015)


http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/dinosaurs/dino-mummies.html
Bedm. 1/07,1/10, 3/12, 3/15

School Age Storytime: Penguin Parade

 

This informative K-3rd grade storytime combines animal science, math and poetry
-- lots of fun facts and great vocabulary as well.

The Emperor Lays an Egg by Brenda Z. Guiberson (598.47 GUI) Delightful pictures and fact-packed story-text make this a great introduction to penguin life.  Used slightly-simpler, collage-illustrated A Penguin’s World by Caroline Arnold (598.47 ARNOLD) with kindergarten classes (check last page for fascinating penguin facts) .  The stunningly-illustrated Antarctica by Helen Cowcher is another good choice.

Mentioned the film March of the Penguins. Booktalk companion book (598.47 MAR)

Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle Another delightful wordless friendship duet by last year’s author/illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Flora and Flamingo.

Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems by Judy Sierra (811.54 SIE) A collection of informative and vocabulary-rich (regurgitate, procrastinate, predator) poems on penguin habits – also available as a delightful musical 32 minute DVD from Weston Woods (PPR) and Scholastic (home use version). (I skipped “Be My Penguin”)

Guessing Game Song / Movement Activity : “Look There Daddy, Do You See” (Used flannel pieces with kindergarten but had older classes figure it out with just words and action clues.)

Look There Daddy, Do You See? (also known as The Horse in Striped Pajamas) from the old TV show "Captain Kangaroo".  (Tune and various versions available on the internet by searching: "look there daddy do you see lyrics")

Look There Daddy, Do You See?
Look there Daddy do you see?
There's a horse in striped pajamas.
   No that's not what it is at all,
   That's an animal people call a zebra.
I see -- but it still looks like a horse in striped pajamas to me.
2. There's a bird in its tuxedo  …. penguin
3. There's a bird wearing a rainbow… parrot
4. There's a bird wearing eyeglasses….owl
5. There's a mouse with great big wings on…bat
6. There's a bird with his umbrella… peacock
7. There’s a teddy with two black eyes … panda

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell True story of how two male penguins in New York’s Central Park Zoo hatched and raised a baby penguin and/or Filbert Flies by Karl Ruhmann  Fantasy in which a seal reassures a penguin he can do anything he puts his mind to.

Learning extensions:

http://bedtimemath.org/?s=penguins

http://wonderopolis.org/?post_type=wonder&s=penguins&x=0&y=0

 

Other read-aloud possibilities:

365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental   Lots of great math possibilities here!
Here is Antarctica by Madeleine Dunphy (919.89 DUN) An Antarctic version of The House that Jack Built.
About Penguins by Cathryn Sill (598.47 SIL) Simply written non-fiction
A Mother’s Journey by Sandra Markle (598.47 MAR)
Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World  by Margret Rey Clever but long.

Optional additional song for Kindergarten “Boom, Boom, Ain’t it Great to Be Crazy?” 

Other ideas here: http://www.susanmdailey.com/penguins.htm

 

Bedm 1/15

Flannel (for preschool?) Pippa’s Penguin

School Age Storytime: On this Spot: New York City & The Empire State Building–A Trip Through Time

On this Spot: NYC & The Empire State Building–

A Trip Through Time with a Dash of Math & Fantasy Too

These titles are perfect examples of the “Uncommon Core”
Complementary fiction & non-fiction titles which explore history, geography,
mathematics & science in an eye-opening, mind-expanding, and fun fashion!

 
Top Job – Elizabeth Cody Kimmel (After other students in the class brag about their parents’ professions, narrator explains about her father’s job – changing the lightbulb on the top of the Empire State Building! --  Lots of math problem possibilities – fun to work out how tall the building is. Final surprise image with the Statue of Liberty. Lots of good non-fiction books to tie in on both Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty.   Trivia: Please Touch Museum image of  Statue of Liberty Torch made from toys!)  (9/2017)  Story about a real person who does this job

Trying to infuse some more math into your daily routine? – check out bedtimemath.org which offers a new math challenge (with three or four levels of difficulty) every day – also available as an app.  Here’s a problem related to the Empire State Building: http://bedtimemath.org/trying-to-be-the-tallest/  


Sky Boys – Deborah Hopkinson (Going back in time 80+ years to see the amazing story of how the “Sky Boys” built the Empire State Building – lots more math here (e.g. translating tons into pounds yields an enormous number!) Fabulous figurative language (“river of trucks in concrete canyon”) and building details (the riveting process is riveting!) Can also talk about the Depression, mention bread line sculpture by George Segal at Grounds for Sculpture & Roosevelt Memorial, Liberty Science Center “skyscrapers” exhibit and competition for highest building – the secret nighttime raising of the antenna)   (9/2017)

Sector 7 – David Wiesner (Sky Boys painted pictures with words – figurative language – this one uses visual storytelling -- telling a story without words. Wiesner is an author/illustrator local boy, grew up in Bridgewater NJ, Caldecott Medal winner, fun wordless fantasy of a boy who goes on an adventure with a cloud and makes quite a stir at the cloud factory.  Did you know there really is a cloud machine? Here’s a video.)  – mentioned they can find this and other books by this talented illustrator  in the Picture Book section. (9/2017)

America the Beautiful – Robert Sabuda illustrates the classic song with extraordinary pop-ups of national images and icons. Many of the kids were eager to make their own pop-ups – here is one explanation: http://ohhappyday.com/2011/05/diy-pop-up-cards/  Google: How to make pop up cards (or books) if you want other ideas.

9/2017 – no time for these – may do them in October:

On this Spot: An Expedition Back Through Time J574.71 Goodman (Non-Fiction – uncommon core!) --  A brilliant tour-de-force tracing NYC from the present back in time 540 million years…lots of mathematical comparisons (e.g.if all the 8 million people in NYC today were laid end to end would reach to California and back, 350 years ago New Amsterdam had 1500 people = about the population of 3 schools today), fascinating historical trivia (e.g. pigs and chickens roamed NYC streets 175 years ago, the Lenape path to winter grounds is now today’s Broadway) and scientific information (the rise and fall of mammoths, ice age glaciers*, dinosaurs, lakes, mountains, and seas).   Text is long but can be paraphrased for younger classes.)  *mentioned our gorgeous local Buck Garden was carved by a mile high glacier.



Ding Dong Ding Dong – Margie Palatini (clever re-imagining of King Kong, who is just a simple Gorilla representative for Ape-On cosmetics trying to get ahead in the business world…full of puns and other wordplay! -- only had time to read in some classes but this one is great fun!)

 

The Book of Gold by Bob Staake  Isaac Gutenberg isn't a curious boy . . . that is, until he meets an old shopkeeper who tells him about The Book of Gold. This special book, hidden somewhere in the world, holds all the answers to every question and turns to solid gold when opened….

Other NYC titles:
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers -- Mordecai Gerstein
A Picnic in October – Eve Bunting
Old Penn Station – 974.71 LOW
Fireboat -- Kalman
Liberty’s Journey – Dipucchio
Under New York – Linda Oatman High
Building Manhattan – 074.71 Vila
Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of NYC – 598.944 SCHULMAN
The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story – Jeanette Winter
City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male – Meghan McCarthy
Twenty One Elephants & Still Standing – April Jones Prince
Twenty One Elephants – Phil Bildner
This Land is Your Land – Pete Seeger
Bedm 5/08, 10/14, 9/17


Reading Rainbow: Sea to Shining Sea -- shows restoration of Statue of Liberty

UnCommon Core -- Youth Services Forum 2014 –Slides

For a TERRIFIC post  about using picture book biographies as mentor texts at any grade level, check out: http://teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/heroes-of-history.html




Carol Simon Levin is a Youth Services Librarian at the Bridgewater Branch of the Somerset County Library.  She is a passionate fan of great non-fiction and biography, particularly those titles that spark the imagination of young readers.

Dr. Ellen Pozzi is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the School Library Media Program at William Paterson University. She has been on the Garden State Children Books Awards committee for over a decade, and is a past president of the Children’s Services Section. Ellen enjoys reading nonfiction books for readers of all ages.

A complete copy of this presentation, book & resource lists  can be found here:
http://guides.wpunj.edu/content.php?pid=631942&sid=5228723

Nonfiction Blogs – courtesy of Ellen Pozzi:
•The Uncommon Core
•Nonfiction Monday
•The Nonfiction Detectives
•Great Common Core Nonfiction for YAs
•INK Nonfiction Minute
•The Classroom Bookshelf
•Common Core Exemplar Texts

AASL has two GREAT resources:

1. http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslissues/toolkits/CCSSActionToolkit_2014.pdf Common Core State Standards Action Toolkit for Public Librarians (11 pg. doc)
   
2. http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/ccss101 The Common Core and the Public Librarian: Reaching Patrons and Students (1 hr. Webinar)

Here's the link to the Prezi Ellen and Arlen Kimmelman did at NJLA 2014. It's  "public" and "reusable"  http://prezi.com/ur5gah-zj8ao/teaming-up-to-support-common-core/

In the Prezi, slide  #23 lists what public librarians already do to support Common Core:

• award winning titles
• connections to non-fiction audiobooks
• story times & book clubs
• highlighting primary sources
• navigating the shelves
• topic displays
• lists of matching fiction to nonfiction

That is also the type of information that is in the AASL Toolkit mentioned above.

Here is the link to our bibliography for the presentation:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12C2agjp1l0leBStZsnO5Tn1cR8F2dyyNAAD2Tnn3Vco/edit?usp=sharing

--Mrs. Arlen Kimmelman, Librarian

National Board Certified Teacher

President-Elect, New Jersey Association of School Librarians

Clearview Regional High School, Mullica Hill, NJ 08062

http://clearviewregional.edu/docs/hs/libra/HomePage/Index.html

"Saying you don't need a Librarian because you have the Internet is like saying you don't need a Math Teacher because you have a calculator."  ~Don Reynolds, TLA

Great reviews of "un-common" science picture books: http://www.smartbooksforsmartkids.com/20-best-science-books-children-2014/  (site has great reviews & author interviews in general)

Another good resource:

Picturing the World: Informational Picture Books for Children 

by Kathleen T. Isaacs