Mo Willems Kid Art Fun

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

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This week I'm celebrating Mo Willems kid art fun!

*throws confetti*

 

We are Mo Willems fans! We own all the Knuffle Bunny books and many of the Elephant and Piggie books. We've had friends over to act out Elephant and Piggie's stories and we've made our own art using the style Mo Willems uses for his illustrations in Knuffle Bunny. 

This year for holiday gifts for teachers at schools, the kids created more Knuffle Bunny style art. In the thank you cards we got from the teachers, it sounds like the handmade art was a hit. Here's how we created our Mo Willems style art!

We found images of their schools online that we printed out in black and white. Then I cut little rectangles out of pieces of paper and asked the kids to draw their teachers. This was super important because I knew they needed to draw their teachers really small so they would fit on the pictures. I needed to also make sure they didn't draw stick figures because that would be really hard to cut out so I showed them this drawing from cartoonist Ivan Brunetti for the New Yorker. He's known for using simple shapes in his drawings. 

I showed the kids the circles for heads, the rectangles for bodies, arms, and legs, and the triangles for noses and they were off. We started by drawing the outline first in pencil, then we went over the lines with a black flair pen, and finally, they colored it all in with crayons. After they were done with their drawings, I carefully cut them out and we glued them into place on the black and white photo. Then we decided on shout outs for each teacher (or principal) and we decorated those too. The last step was to get them into the frames so they were ready to go. The kids had a lot of fun drawing their teachers. My oldest was really cute, he was trying out colors and deciding which one was a best match for skin tone and hair color. So fun. 

It's always hard to figure out gifts for teachers. I love giving gift cards for a restaurant so they can have a nice meal out on us. But I also love to give something kid-created that hopefully is a bit more meaningful. I'm pretty sure we'll be giving this type of gift every winter now! It was fun for the kids and for me and such a neat way to capture our appreciation for all the hard work the teachers do. I'm already brainstorming different backgrounds for next year...it would be fun to have a picture of their classroom and to put them standing there...lots of options!

In the end, it's about celebrating the teachers who put so much time, energy, and love into helping our kids learn and grow. I hope teachers everywhere feel appreciated. Thank you for all that you do!

Have you ever tried picture book-inspired art?

Or do you have favorite teacher gifts you've given or received?

I'd love to hear about it!

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild Blog Tour Scavenger Hunt! #slice2013

Happy Book Release Day to

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild

by Peter Brown!

Today I'm so excited to be celebrating the release of Peter Brown's book, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild! When I was wandering the exhibit hall at ALA in June, Colby Sharp pointed it out to me. I read it there in the booth, laughing out loud a few times. I fell in love with this book right then and there. Later I took Alyson Beecher over to see the book and to watch her reaction as she read it and giggled and then stood in line with Jen Reed to meet Peter and get a signed copy of the book. As soon as I was home from ALA, I shared it with my family and they thought it was so fun, too. My kids happen to be excellent when it comes to roaring so this book had them roaring right along with Mr. Tiger. 

Jen and Peter Brown with Mr. Tiger Goes Wild at ALA

I shared my review of Mr. Tiger Goes Wild about a month ago. I had so much to say because I absolutely love this book! Today I'm sharing a story about a time in my life when I did something different like Mr. Tiger. It's perfect that today is Tuesday because I still get to share a little Slice of Life!

Almost three years ago, I decided I would go from being a vegetarian (which I had been for six months) to trying to be vegan. I say trying to be vegan because I wasn't sure I could actually do it! Giving up meat wasn't so bad...but cheese and ice cream? That seemed like it was going to be tricky. I gave myself the option to do my best but if it was impossible to find food to eat while I was out with family or friends, then it would be okay to eat something non-vegan. It turned out that it actually wasn't that hard to find things to eat at home or while eating out and if the only thing a restaurant had was steamed veggies and salad, I was okay with that. I like veggies. (It would be really hard to be vegan and not like veggies.)

In Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, the other characters in the book respond to Mr. Tiger and his acts of wildness with varying degrees of judgment. Some are shocked, some are trying to understand what he's doing, others are mad or amused. Whenever I talk to people about being vegan, I seem to get a similar range of responses. Some people think it's so interesting and have lots of questions, curious about what I eat and how I get enough protein or if I ever miss meat or cheese or eggs. A few people have gotten really defensive, telling me I'm only one person and I can't change the world, or animals are meant to be eaten or that even if they had their whole life to live over again, they would always eat animals. And then there are people who act like it's no big deal. 

Being vegan definitely meant an adjustment for not only me but my husband and kids, my extended family and my friends. I'm super lucky to have a great support system. Just over the weekend, I was at a party with friends who asked me before about what they could have for me to eat and made veggie burgers for me. One thing most people want to know is if my husband or kids are also vegan. They aren't, they are definitely omnivores but my husband is more conscious of the foods he eats and tries to buy grass-fed beef or local meats. I shop mainly at Trader Joe's and buy organic food. 

My attitude about being vegan is that it's a choice that I made for myself. I believe it is showing compassion to animals, it's a healthy decision for me and my body and it's also helping reduce the impact I have on the environment. All three of these things influenced my decision to become vegan. It's a choice that I made for myself though, I'm happy to share my story and talk about what I eat how I feel, but ultimately, I believe everyone is allowed to make his or her own decisions about what he or she eats. I prefer that people don't judge me and in turn, I don't judge others. Do I love when people want to try one of my vegan recipes or tell me that they try to do Meatless Mondays? Of course! I am happy to support others who want to flirt with being vegan or go vegan themselves but in the end, it's entirely up to them.  

I love Mr. Tiger's story because he truly follows his dreams. It isn't easy to let out his inner roar, but he does. He has to deal with what others think when he goes wild, but in the end it's okay. He even influences some of them. Doing something different can be scary, but at the same time, if we never do something scary, we never stretch ourselves, we never grow, and I doubt we can make an impact. 

One my strategies for being vegan at parties, is to always bring my own dish to share. I have a few recipes that I love to share with others and then I know I always have at least one thing to eat just in case! Here is a great fruit salad recipe that's super easy, super colorful, and super tasty!

Jen's Go Wild Vegan Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

-2 small bags frozen sliced peaches OR mango chunks

-2 pints fresh raspberries

-1 pound green grapes

-1 cup organic raw blue agave

Directions:

Grab a large bowl, toss the frozen peaches or mangoes in the bowl. Clean raspberries and add to bowl. Clean grapes, slice in half (or leave whole if you don't have much time!) and add to bowl. Pour agave over fruit and stir. Wait a few hours for fruit to thaw, stir again, and enjoy! I usually mix this up before heading out to a party and then by the time we get there and it sits out for a while, it's ready to go. I also eye how much fruit I have and will add more or less depending on if I feel like it's uneven. You can also wait and add the agave after the fruit has thawed and probably use less than one cup. I buy my ingredients at Trader Joe's but you should be able to find everything at your local grocery store.

And finally, to celebrate the release of Peter Brown's Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, we have a blog tour scavenger hunt for you! Visit all the blogs listed below to collect 7 letters/characters. Unscramble the letters/characters to unlock the secret phrase. Each blog is giving away three copies of Mr. Tiger Goes Wild courtesy of Little, Brown Books and I have a Mr. Tiger Goes Wild prize pack to give away!

Jen at Teach Mentor Texts

Aly at Kid Lit Frenzy

Franki at A Year of Reading

Jen at Reederama

Katherine at Read, Write, Reflect

Laura at LibLaura5

Colby at SharpRead 

To learn more about Peter or Mr. Tiger Goes Wild:

Peter's webpage

Little, Brown Books - Mr. Tiger webpage

 Fill out the form below to be entered into the prize pack giveaway. Three lucky winners will receive a Mr. Tiger Goes Wild prize pack including a copy of Mr. Tiger GoesWild, a Mr. Tiger Goes Wild poster, and Mr. Tiger Goes wild temporary tattoos. A big thank you to Peter for providing all of the artwork for our scavenger hunt and Little, Brown Books for providing all of the books and prize packs for us to giveaway.

The Dark

Title: The Dark

Author: Lemony Snicket

Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: April, 2013

Genre/Format: Fantasy/Picture Book

Goodreads Summary: Laszlo is afraid of the dark. 

The dark lives in the same house as Laszlo. Mostly, though, the dark stays in the basement and doesn't come into Lazslo's room. But one night, it does.

This is the story of how Laszlo stops being afraid of the dark. 

With emotional insight and poetic economy, two award-winning talents team up to conquer a universal childhood fear.

What Kellee Thinks: What a great narrative about facing your fears! Jon Klassen's illustrations added a whole new level to the story that only exists because of his talents. The use of color within the illustrations adds tremendously to the mood and really sets the tone for the book. Snicket's story captions the illustrations taking us into Laszlo's mind which is very symbolic of many children's minds when they are dealing with a fear. Though I felt that there was one choppy part in the middle of the book where I wish the text was broken up differently, the book is definitely a wonderful conversation starter to discuss fears and how to overcome them.  The most powerful aspect of this story was the personification of the Dark. It definitely is a phenomenal mentor text for discussing this element of literature and would be a great introduction to more complex text. 

What Jen Thinks: I so enjoy seeing more and more from Jon Klassen! Listening to him talk about his work when he was here for a visit in the fall was amazing. I often think that the artwork in books can get overlooked. Sure, I recognize when artwork is great in a book but I never thought as intensely about illustrations or artwork as I did when I heard John Klassen speak. Listening to Mark Teague and David Small speak about their artwork at the Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfasts also was very eye-opening. There are so many detailed nuances of the artwork that the illustrators take into account that I would never even realize is something they think about. Things like the colors that are chosen, the way the illustrations move through a book like they are progressing towards the right, the use of certain elements that are present throughout a book to demonstrate a passage of time or used as a point of reference for the reader. I think it's easy to take these things for granted as a reader because the illustrator makes the artwork happen so beautifully that we don't even notice. The trick is stopping to notice and to see how the illustrations truly match and enhance the text of a book. It strikes me that we can talk to students about the illustrator's purpose as much as the author's purpose and help them notice how the illustrator has to make very specific and conscious decisions about the artwork much like the author does with the text.
     In this book especially, Klassen has to bring the dark itself to life. It reminds me a little bit of Markus Zusak and how he personifies Death in The Book Thief. Both of these elements seem so dark and foreboding but the books help readers see them in a different light. I love the seemingly dark, creepy mood of this book which I'm starting to link with Klassen more and more. It seems that he relates to Edward Gorey and his work quite a bit and I am seeing this more and more. It just makes Jon Klassen infinitely more intriguing.
     Because we do have a great collection of illustrated (and authored) work by Jon Klassen, I think it would be great to look at his contributions as an artist/illustrator and really compare and contrast his work in different books. Jon also worked on the animated movie of the book Coraline and that book and it's movie could also be discussed. I can see how this would be an amazing discussion to have with older students and to tie into work in analyzing an author/illustrator's work. 

Read Together: Grades K - 3 or Grades 9 - 12

Read Alone: Grades 2 - 5 or Grades 9 - 12

Read With: I Want My Hat Back and This is Not my Hat by Jon Klassen, The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers, The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman, The House Held Up By Trees by Ted Kooser, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gory, Stitches by David Small, The Night Bookmobile and Her Fearful Symmetry (adult) by Audrey Niffenegger

Snatch of Text: "Laszlo was afraid of the dark. The dark lived in the same house as Laszlo, a big place with a creaky roof, smooth, cold windows, and several sets of stairs." (p. 2-5)

Mentor Text for: Mood, Tone, Personification

Writing Prompts: What is something you are afraid of? Have you tried to face this fear? How so? If not, how could you safely face this fear? 

Topics Covered: Fears, Courage, Confidence

We *heart* It:

  and  

Kellee's Favorite 2012 TMT Posts

(In chronological order) 

John Green Week including Defending Intellectual Freedom

Dystopian vs. Post-Apocalyptic Series

Neversink

WRAD & Dr. Seuss

A-OK to Reread in April Series including rereading Molly Lou Melon and Ginny Rorby's books

Wonder Reminds Us that Kindness Makes the World Go Round

 

Reading Along I-94: Marty McGuire and A Monster Calls Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

Two Year Blogiversary Week!

with kick-off, day of, Ginny Rorby interview, Jo Knowles interview, Ellen Potter interview, Jack Ferraiolo interview, and our blog tour stops with all of our friends sharing their favorite mentor texts

Sci-Fi Book List

We Give Books

Kids Comic Revolution Fun, Kids Read Comics 2012, Comic Book Finds

Teachers Write Series

Top Ten Books for Struggling and Reluctant Readers

Novels with Science Context

Novels with Math Context

BBAW- Interview Day

Genre Introductions

Dot Day

Waldo is Awesome!

Banned Book Weeks: I Read Banned Books, Let Them Read Books

Stand Up for Girls

Idioms, Homophones, Homonyms

Jon Klassen: Live from Chicago

Vocabulary Games

Books I am Thankful For

Kellee and Jen's NCTE/ALAN Recaps

Star Challengers: Moonbase Crisis Review and Interview

Pie! Pie! Pie!

25 Days of Holiday Reviews: Jen Loves on Dash & Lily, Classic Short Stories

These are some of my favorite posts though I am partial to thinking they were all wonderful!
What were your favorite posts from this year? 

2012 was a great year and I cannot wait for 2013!

Happy holidays, 

Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers

Title: Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers (Captain Underpants #10)

Author: Dav Pilkey

Illustrator: Dav Pilkey

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: January 15, 2013

Genre/Format: Fantasy-Humor/Illustrated Novel

Goodreads Summary: A world without UNDERPANTS?!!!

     When we last saw our heroes, George and Harold, they had been turned into evil zombie nerds doomed to roam a devastated, postapocalyptic planet for all eternity. But why, you might ask, didn't the amazing Captain Underpants save the boys from this frightening fate? Because Tippy Tinkletrousers and his time-traveling hijinks prevented George and Harold from creating Captain Underpants in the first place! Now, having changed the course of human history forever, they'll have to figure out a way to CHANGE IT BACK. 

     Could this be the end for Captain Underpants?!!

What I Think: If you read my first review of this series, you know that I am a big fan. If you are skeptical right now about the value of these novels, I can promise you that I understand. I figured they were just filled with poop and fart jokes to try to sucker boys into reading. While I was partially right (it is more underwear and booger jokes), the series is so much more than that and as the series keeps growing, the wittiness of each novel grows as well. 

     I think this one is by far the most mature Captain Underpants book. The story line jumps around quite a lot, it deals with historical elements, and, like #9, it is quite long. I think Pilkey is growing with his readers (although his first readers are in their 20s now) and it is really taking the series to a whole new level. 

     I think that part of what makes Pilkey's humor work is that he never talks down to his reader. The humor is intelligent and witty, he uses a high-level of vocabulary and explains if needed, and he makes sure to have his books be as entertaining as possible to keep the reader's attention. It is quite brilliant how he puts these books together and, although this is not my favorite of the series, it is no different. A must read for any fan of the series and for those who have not read any of the series yet, you will not regret it. 

Read Together: Grades 2 to 6

Read Alone: Grades 3 to 7

Read With: Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future by Dav Pilkey, Captain Underpants #1-9, Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy by William Boniface, Time Travel Trio by Jon Scieszka, Frankie Pickle by Eric Wight, Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Snatch of Text: "Unfortunately, I'm sorry to have to tell you that there was no murder at the end of the last book. There wasn't even any blood. What happened at the end of our last story is something called misdirection. It's what happens when you are led to believe that something is true, but in reality it's not true at all. Misdirection happens a lot in real life - especially in politics, history, education, medicine, marketing, science, religion and the Oprah Winfrey Network." (p. 17)

Mentor Text for: Vocabulary Development, Humor, Illustration, Editing (Spelling and Grammar), Making Connections

Writing Prompts: In this novel, Harold, George and a handful of other characters go back in time to try to change the future. What event could you go back in time to try to change?; Rewrite Harold and George's comic correcting the spelling and grammar mistakes.; Ook and Gluk made an appearance in a wordless comic of Harold and George's. Add dialogue so we can see what they are saying. 

Topics Covered: Time Travel, Time Continuum, Cave Paintings, Post-Apocalyptic, History, Cavemen, Big Bang

I *heart* It:

Dot Day

 

Peter H. Reynolds uses his picture books to share with his readers how important creativity and the need to find, nurture and celebrate it. Because creativity is forgotten too often in a world of standardized testing, Fablevision and Peter H. Reynolds came together with educators from around the world to celebrate Dot Day "by making time to encourage their students' creativity." 

Though I had never celebrated Dot Day before this year, when I heard about it last year I knew it was something I had to do. Then when Terry Shay began mentioning the upcoming Dot Day on Twitter, I jumped right in- talking to my colleagues about it, tweeting about it and beginning to plan for my Dot Day. 

At my school, my colleague Caitlin and I teamed up to celebrate Dot Day for the first time at our school. Since Dot Day was on a Saturday this year, Caitlin planned on doing Dot Day on Friday and myself on Monday. I couldn't wait to hear from her how Dot Day went at the end of the day Friday, and this was what I found out from Caitlin: 

I was excited to celebrate Dot Day for the first time ever with my students this year. It was a day that let us stray from everyday schoolwork and allowed my students’ creativity to really shine through.

I told my kids throughout the week that Friday was Dot Day in order to spark their curiosity. They had never heard of Dot Day before so they kept asking questions. I had to keep telling them that they would find out on Friday. When Friday finally came and it was time to celebrate Dot Day, they were so ready to find out what it was all about. I started by telling them that it was a day that was inspired by the book The Dot and it was all about “Making Your Mark.” I then read my students the book and they all thought it was such a cute story. I then asked them to tell me the difference between Vashti in the beginning of the book and Vashti at the end of the book. My students told me that in the beginning she thought she couldn’t draw at all but then at the end she had become an artist. I asked them how it all started and they replied with Vashti making the first dot on her paper. Vashti had found her inspiration through a single small dot on a paper. I told my students not to be so quick in saying that they can’t do something. You never know how good you are at something until you try and who knows who you’ll inspire along the way. I told them that through trying, you may make your mark on the world in some way. Vashti made her mark by moving others with her artwork

Next, I wanted to see how inspired my students were with Vashti and her dots so I allowed my students to make their own masterpieces. They created their dots inside the same frame Vashti’s teacher used for her artwork. I was so impressed with the dots that my students came up with. They created dots with glitter glue, construction paper, pipe cleaners, markers, crayons, colored pencils, and felt. I couldn’t believe how creative all of them were! Some students were inspired by things that looked like dots. For example, I had a student make a clock, one made a peace sign, and another made some planets in the solar system with stars (also as dots). Some students wrote their name with dots and others just covered their whole paper with multicolor dots. When they were finished with their artwork, I allowed them to hang their artwork on my door and on the wall in the hallway for all to see. It gave them the opportunity of showing off their masterpieces. 

All in all, I think it went great! The students were truly inspired with Vashti’s dots. Hopefully they were also inspired to try new things throughout their lives and to “Make Their Mark” on the world, whatever that may be. I definitely plan on celebrating Dot Day with my students again next year.    

  

  

I then piggy backed off of Cailtlin's enthusiasm and celebrated with my students on Monday and I found the same enthusiasm that Caitlin found. I think that many students are so used to being graded all of the time and being stressed that having a chance to just show their creativity was a sigh of relief within their life. I also found that it was an opportunity to talk to students about some really deep issues like never giving up, their future and teaching. It was a great chance to slow down and really chat with my students.

I think one of my students' other favorite parts of Dot Day was being able to see  the map of all of the schools participating as well as all of the Celebri-Dotshttp://www.celebridots.com/ showing them that they were doing something that was happening all around the world with kids and celebrities. Some of the Celebri-Dot highlights for them were Jeff Kinney, Sharon Creech, Carole Hart (Sesame Street is still popular!), Tia Kratter (everyone loves Pixar), Julie Andrews, and Craig Bartlett (Hey Arnold!). Though I think the Celebri-Dot favorites were Ame Dyckman, Renata Liwska, and Chris Barton. We only made it through June 3rd, we'll have to spend some time in the future looking at some more.

The students then used this momentum to create their own masterpieces and I was so happy to post them all for the school to see. Below are all of my students' Dots as well as some of my favorites: 

   

   

  

If you haven't celebrated Dot Day with your students yet, it isn't too late to do so. 

Don't forget to make your mark!