Pesky Words

I walked into a first grade classroom to pick up one of my students for speech and another child, who’d graduated from my program the year before, hurried over and said, “When do I get to go back to speech?”

“You don’t need my help any longer—you sound great!”

He’d met all of his goals the year before and his only remaining error was with the “r” sound. His speech was typical for a child of his age so I dismissed him from speech therapy in his kindergarten year.

“But I need help with the word, ‘bugga’.”

Oh, oh—I couldn’t understand him. “With what?” (Maybe he did need help.)

“Bugga.”

He didn’t give me additional cues, just that one pesky word.

“You mean burger?” I asked. “Like a hamburger?”

“No. You know, ‘bugga’.” And to help me out, he stuck his finger up his nose.

“Oh, I see. The “r” is giving you trouble.” I’d hate for him to go through life unable to pronounce that word!

He’s a little bit young to start working on “r” sounds, but it never hurts to bombard him with the correct pronunciation, especially when he gets to hear it in a story. I recently read a book that is a perfect match for him. 

It has “r” sounds on every page. Here is a small sample,

            In the jungle, toucans snooze.

            Also sloths and cockatoos.

            Ignoring snoring striped hyenas,

            Monkeys dream they’re ballerinas.

                        But not Fred.

(The “r” is not enlarged in the book.)

EVERYBODY SLEEPS (BUT NOT FRED), written and illustrated by Josh Schneider will make a nice addition to his classroom as well as my own.

My students worked enthusiastically on one of the early Common Core State Standards (CCSS): “recognize and produce rhyming words” (Reading: Foundational Skills K.2) as they listened to the text and tried creating a few rhymes of their own. They worked on another CCSS when they “describe(d) the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (Reading: Literature K.7).

The illustrations captivated them—pigs nodding off “in stinky rows” and sheep lying “in a wooly heap,” but their favorite was the anteater with his long probing tongue.

They came up with ideas for that tongue I would never have thought of, but my student who struggled with his “r” sounds would have appreciated their insights! They were certain that tongue would come in handy to get rid of . . . well, I’d rather not say but think of that pesky word above.

Read Across America & Take a Wild Ride With a Book

Books are flying off the shelves at Redwood Elementary this week. My speech students are so hungry for books that I’ve created a checkout system in the speech room so they can enjoy my personal collection. Read Across America is having its impact!

Our librarian, Kelly Sutton, has brought readers in from around our school and community to read stories to our students. The kids loved having our secretaries, nurse, and principal read with them and imagine their excitement when a local police officer took a turn in the reader’s chair! One special reader was Kelly’s own father.

The classroom teachers have been busy with Dr. Seuss activities; Lorie Wardlaw’s first grade class mixed up a delicious batch of green eggs and ham.

while Marcia Douglas’s first graders created green smoothies.  

  

I missed the final product but the kids assured me, when this fruit went into the blender and they added kale, they had a lovely green drink. 

Kathleen Murray’s kindergarteners lined our hallway with their Seuss inspired artwork.

   

           

I see future illustrators in this group!

On Wednesday, I had a chance to read to Ms. Kafin’s kindergarteners.

Mrs. Kafin getting into the spirit of things

I found a perfect book for the occasion: Surf’s Up by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Daniel Miyares.

When a book can hold a surfing dude captive and keep him from riding the waves, you know it has power. And that is just what happens in this story. Two frogs named Bro and Dude, head to the beach with a book and board – a surfboard that is. As Bro reads, he can’t contain his excitement, crying “Wowie Kazowie” and “Booyah! They found the whale again.” His enthusiasm pulls Dude right into the story of Moby Dick and they ride this adventure like they ride the ocean waves. The kids were captivated by this riotous adventure and I must admit, I was too.

I hope Read Across America was a success in schools and libraries around our country, and I hope children everywhere experience the wild ride a good book can offer.

The Ghostly Night in the Speech Room

You may have noticed I haven’t been posting much for the past year. Instead, I’ve been busy working on other writing projects. I was nudged to get back to my blog when I received a digital review copy of the book I featured in my last post. Thank you, Marissa, for sending Calling All Cars my way! I’d forgotten how much I enjoy posting about books and engaging my students in the process.

Now that the review bug has bitten me again, I’ll be on the lookout for new books to share with my students and I’ll pass along our recommendations. While I wait for the next batch to roll in I thought I’d introduce one of my own that is frequently requested by my students, The Ghostly Night, written and illustrated by myself, Jeanette W. Stickel.

I wrote this story to give my students an engaging way to practice their “g” sounds. I had no idea how successful it would be. The kids continue to ask for this book even after mastering their “g” sounds.

In The Ghostly Night Kristy can’t get to sleep.

“The wind rattled her window. The full moon threw grasping shadows across her bedroom wall. They swayed with the rhythm of the wind.”

Before long, Kristy calls her mother,

“Mom!” she cried. “There’s a   g  -  g   -  g   ghost in my room.”

She calls again when the wind howls, when a branch scrapes her bedroom window, and when she sees her curtains move. Each time, the kids join in “reading” the repeated line, “There’s a   g  -   g   -  g   ghost in my room.” They can’t seem to help themselves. That makes for a lot of practice with the “g” sound. It also gives them an understanding of the sound the letter represents, a phonemic awareness skill that fits right in with the Common Core State Standards (especially RF.K.3a where students are expected to “Demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or most frequent sound for each consonant.”)

One teacher told me her whole class erupted in clapping when the tables turned on the Mother at the end of the story. You can imagine how pleased I was to hear that report—almost as pleased as I will be to introduce more stories to my students in the coming months.

I look forward to finding those special books to enrich the lives of my students and my readers.

CALLING ALL CARS for the 100th Day of School

It is hard to believe but this week we celebrated the 100^th day of school. That special day ranks right up there with Valentine’s Day around our campus. Most teachers asked their students to bring in 100 items of their choice. Take a look at their clever ideas.

One of my speech students asked if we could read 100 books in honor of the day but we’ll have to make that a long-term goal. After all, we don’t want to rush through a good story.

And speaking of a good story, I was able to share a new book with a kindergarten class this week. They were thrilled to be part of a review team for Calling All Cars by Sue Fliess, illustrated by Sarah Beise.

      Big cars,
           Small cars,

        Let’s call

        All cars!

They loved the zippy text and, I must admit, I loved reading it to them. I couldn’t help but match my speed to the speed of the racing cars then slow for the climb over the mountain.

       Zip through tunnels,

       Make no stops,

       Climb up over

       Mountaintops.

The kids poured over the bright, eye-popping colors and giggled at the illustrations of a long-necked giraffe in a tiny convertible, a car with elevator wheels and adorable animals on every page. They each picked a favorite scene and their choices were as varied as the clever text and illustrations.

The students thought this was a great story for the 100^th day of school because there were at least 100 cars in the book.

I’d say it was a good choice because their enthusiasm hit a full 100%!

HOW TO SPEAK DOLPHIN

It has been quite awhile since I last posted but my writing time has been well spent. I completed a middle grade novel, and now, before I start working on the next one, I thought I’d check in on my blog. Thank you all who continued to visit while I was away. I expected to find the number of views had plummeted, but what a surprise—they kept growing. I appreciate those of you who dropped by.

School is out and I’m on summer vacation so I won’t have many student stories to share but I do have a fabulous book to bring to your attention. My first read of the summer was HOW TO SPEAK DOLPHIN by Ginny Rorby, published by Scholastic Press.

I was drawn to this book for several reasons: first, I’ve enjoyed Ms. Rorby’s previous novels and assumed her writing would be as engaging as ever (I was right); second, Ginny Rorby is a friend of mine and I wanted to know what she has been up to in her writing life; third, Ms. Rorby did substantial research for this book in the autism class at the school where I work—with MY STUDENTS.

The narrator of this story, Lily, is big sister to Adam, a young child on the autism spectrum. You can’t help but root for this loyal, loving sister, whose family-life revolves around her half-brother. Her life takes a twist when her oncologist, step-dad, Don, is called in to assist in treating a young dolphin with cancer. Don brings Adam along, and when he meets Nori, a rescued bottlenose dolphin, a bond forms between them that crosses the communication boundaries inherent in Adam’s disability.

Adam is soon enrolled in a Dolphin Assisted Therapy program in hopes that his communication skills will improve. But when Lily sees how confining the environment is for the young dolphin, and realizes Nori may have to live in a chain-linked pen at the back of a pool for the next 37 years, she struggles between her loyalty to Adam and her desire to see this young dolphin freed from captivity.

Since several of my students are on the autism spectrum, I read the book with a critical eye to Ms. Rorby’s depiction of such a child. She did a brilliant job. Not only did she paint an accurate picture of Adam, she clearly depicted the family struggles surrounding a child with Adam’s particular cluster of autistic behaviors.

This story draws compassion from its readers—compassion for those with disabilities, their families, and for animals held in captivity.

I may not have shared stories about my students in this post, but Ginny did a fine job doing so. The main character in her book, Adam, is fictional, but his name and many of his characteristics are not. I work with the real Adam and with others in his class who exhibit the behaviors Ginny so accurately described.

When school rolls around in the fall, I’m glad I will have HOW TO SPEAK DOLPHIN on hand to share with my students, especially those animal-loving girls at our middle school. Perhaps their insights and our future discussions will make their way to this blog. I’ll keep you posted.

Students Interview Jim Averbeck

Welcome back, Jim Averbeck. Our Redwood students had such fun participating in an interview with you back in December of 2012—we’re overdue for a second one. Your book, The Market Bowl, was a hit with the kids and they’re full of questions for you.

FROM THE SPEECH ROOM:

Olivya: How long did it take you to write this book?

Jim: It took me probably 2 years all together. Even though it was very short, I wanted to make it perfect, so I re-wrote it many times. Plus I had to do all the art, which took about 9 months.

Riley: Did you use paint or crayons to make the pictures?

Jim: I used paint and also paper. I scanned everything into my computer and assembled the pieces there.

Ariel likes paints and paintbrushes and crayons and pencils and she likes to knit. She wondered if the blankets in the picture at the market were knitted.

Jim: Those things for sale at the market are called pagnes (pronounced pah-nyah). They are lengths of cloth that people in Cameroon wear either by wrapping them around their bodies or by sewing dresses and pants and other clothing from them. They have a kind of shirt they make from them called a boubou (pronounced booboo)

Maddie: Do you like writing stories?

Jim: I don’t like writing stories… I LOVE writing them.

Jacob doesn’t have any questions but he wants you to know he likes the part where Yoyo makes the yucky stew. He really loves the flies.

Jim: I liked the flies too. Poor Yoyo!  No one liked her first stew except the goats.

Zayde: Why didn’t Brother Coin wear a shirt?

Jim: It can sometimes be very hot in Cameroon. In the part of Cameroon where THE MARKET BOWL is set, there is a traditional outfit the men wear which consists of a length of colorful cloth wrapped around the waist.  It’s comfortable for them.

Skyler: Why did Yoyo make stew—why didn’t she cook brown eggs?

Jim: Mama and Yoyo did not have enough money to own chickens to lay any eggs. But the leaves for Ndolé grow wild in the rainforest, so they didn’t need to buy them.

FROM MS. MILLER & MS. JACKSON’S SECOND GRADE CLASS:

Allisyn: How does it feel to be an author?

Jim: Scary because I never know if anyone will buy my book. Like Yoyo and Mama, I depend on what I make to give me money for food and clothes and stuff. I wish I could get a blessing on MY market bowl.

The kids would bless your bowl if they could. But since they can’t do that, they’ve promised to spread the word about your book. They’re sure it will sell well.

Diego: When you were in school, did you do a lot of writing and drawing?

Jim: I liked to draw when I was little but I started writing stories because I loved to read, and I wanted to make stories like the authors I admired.

Kiara: Could you write a castle story?

Jim: I can start one. Maybe you can finish it. Here goes:
Eliana had a secret. Inside the left bottom drawer of the desk in her bedroom she kept a tiny castle. Not a toy castle, but a real one, with a tiny king and a tiny queen, who ruled all the people who lived inside the drawer. Eliana never opened the drawer all the way. She didn’t want to scare the tiny people, to whom she was a giant. But one day she had to open the drawer because…

If you could have seen the wide-eyed looks on the kids’ faces as I read Eliana’s secret, you would have had a hard time stopping but I’m glad you did. The beginning inspired the whole class and they are working together to finish the story.

Santiago: “How did you learn to be an artist?”

Jim: By doing art. I still struggle every day. It is hard because I see a picture in my head, but I can never draw or paint it as well as I see it in my head. But every time I try to make a piece of art, I learn something and I get better. Maybe I will be a really great artist someday.

The kids think you already are a great artist.

Sean: What is Yoyo’s dog’s name?

Jim: Ebobolo.  (all the o’s are pronounced like the word “oh”)

Diego: Why does Brother Coin live in a cave?

Jim: Brother Coin is an ancient spirit. He has been around since before there were houses. He has a very elaborate and fancy cave with all the things he likes best, so he has never taken to houses, after they were invented.

Byron: Does Brother Coin have a brother?

Jim: He has a brother named Poverty and he also has a pet bull and a pet bear.

Santiago: How did you think of these ideas for the story?

Jim: Different ideas come from different places. Sometimes I dream them. Sometimes I write a word on the page and then think about things that are opposite of that word and how I might make a story out of opposite words. Sometimes I listen to things kids say and it makes me think of a good story idea.

Aubree: I like the story. Are there giraffes where Yoyo lives?

Jim: There are giraffes close to where Yoyo lives. She lives in the forest. The giraffes live on a grassy plain a long drive to the north of her.

Daniel: Do the people, where Yoyo lives, eat anything besides bitterleaf stew?

Jim: Yes- they eat lots of things. They eat some things that you and I might eat- spaghetti with tomatoes, peanut butter, and sweet potatoes. But they also eat crocodile, monkey and termites. I’ve eaten fried termites too. They are crunchy and salty like popcorn.

“Eewe!” That was the response from several of the students but others were hoping to try a few termites. We had quite a discussion about how people of other cultures might like some of the foods we eat.

Dmitri really liked the story and he said he learned a good lesson. He likes to sell his old stuff and he decided he will never again, refuse a fair price, even if it is just a quarter.

Jim: Just as long as he gets a fair price, he should do okay with that strategy.

I hadn’t intended to mention the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) during this interview but Dmitri’s comment nudged me to do so. The third Reading Standard for Literature asks second-grade students to “Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.”  I think Dmitri is on his way to meeting this one. Thank you for supplying us with an appropriate CCSS literature text, even if it wasn’t your motivation for writing it.

Jim: No problem. I am looking at my novel A HITCH AT THE FAIRMONT and making a CCSS guide for it. Maybe I should make one for MARKET BOWL too.

If you did, I know of several teachers who would put it to good use. That brings me to a question of my own, now that forty-five states have adopted the standards, will that influence what you write?

Jim: Not really. I quit a lucrative job to become a writer because I wanted to tell stories that delight me. I write for myself and have just been very blessed that people will pay me a little for my stories.  I wouldn’t change that for CCSS. That said-- I will create and include more “informational text” as either auxiliary materials or as author notes in the actual book, to help teachers more easily access the research I’ve done to meet some of the standards and to give them a way to reach the fiction/nonfiction percentage mixes in one nice package. And I will create guides that give ideas for how to use the book to meet specific standards.

Wonderful! I’m sure your stories are delightful because they delight you. The CCSS guides will be useful but from my perspective, an engaging story has the most value of all.

To wrap up our interview, do you have any advice for young writers?

Jim: Just to remember that when they write something, if it isn’t the best they can do the first time, they can write it again and again until they are satisfied that it is as good as they can make it.

Great advice! I couldn’t agree more. Thank you, Jim Averbeck.

Mrs. Jackson’s class art project—Market Bowls sitting over flames: