Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books Has Moved

Please find me at my new address:  Picture This!  Teaching with Picture Books at Wordpress.  Please follow me there or subscribe there!  Coming next month:  Using Nonfiction Picture Books in the Classroom!    



©2009 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is no additional cost to you.

Blog Remodel!

Ha!  So, I thought I could quickly remodel my blog with no problems at all!  I'm hoping to get things back up and running tonight!  Please bear with these changes until then. 

Thanks!!   

©2009 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is no additional cost to you.

Night in the Country

November Theme:  Cynthia Rylant picture books Six Traits: Organization (Varied Endings)

Surprise Endings

What does night in the country sound like?  As people fall asleep inside, the animals wake up outside and begin their night. 

Another touchstone text in my classroom was Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant.   I used this book to teach both sensory details and surprise endings.  Rylant lyrically describes how the animals wake up and what they do at night.  “And toward morning, one small bird will be the first to tell everyone that night in the country is nearly over.”  What happens when night becomes morning?  How will the book end?     

Lesson idea: Gather 5-10 books that are models of different endings and have students analyze the endings.  Have students analyze several books that have surprise endings.  Have them practice writing surprise endings in their own writing. 

Over the next month, I will review additional Cynthia Rylant books that have different types of endings.   What books do you use to teach writers’ craft?  Do you have any touchstone texts or touchstone authors? 

©2009 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books.

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

November Theme:  Cynthia Rylant picture books

Six Traits: Organization (Varied Endings)

What is a touchstone text?  A touchstone text is a text you can turn to again and again for various teaching points.  A touchstone text is a book you and your students know very well.  There are several authors who I turned to again and again when teaching.  One of these authors is Cynthia Rylant. 

Moving Endings

Inspired by Cynthia Rylant's childhood spent with her grandparents in the mountains of West Virginia, Rylant lyrically describes the simplicity of living in the country using the phrase, "When I was young in the mountains. . .".

This week When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant is the focus of my review.  I actually reviewed this book this time last year.  My focus then was on brainstorming topics.  Since this was a touchstone text in my classroom, I also used it to teach moving endings.  I don’t want to give away the ending, but the author evokes emotion as she describes how the mountains were always enough for her. . . she never wanted anything more.

Lesson idea: Gather 5-10 books that are models of different endings and have students analyze the endings.

Over the next month, I will review additional Cynthia Rylant books that have different types of endings.   What books do you use to teach writers’ craft?  Do you have any touchstone texts or touchstone authors that you turn to again and again? 

Apologies and Updates

I apologize for being remiss in posting new picture book reviews! I had the opportunity to attend KidLitCon09, well about two hours of it -- and then my husband called to inform me that my three year old had a fever of 103.6. Needless to say, I had to leave to attend to my sick daughter! A total bummer for me, because I was learning a lot and was looking forward to learning so much more. In any event, I have decided to revamp my blog a bit. I'm still going to post picture book reviews and ways they can be used in the classroom or for home schoolers, but I'm going to create a bit more organization -- more on my end anyway! I'm hoping to post books based on monthly themes, either content related, strategy related, or traits related.

In addition, I've started another blog -- Literacy Tool Box -- that I'm planning to use as a place to post tips and tools for parents and educators related to literacy. Check it out -- it should be up and running soon.

I hope you will check back in for the kick off of the "new" Teaching with Picture Books on November 1st!