How Robin Saved Spring

How Robin Saved Spring by Debbie Ouellet (Author), Nicoletta Ceccoli (Illustrator) begins…

Long ago in a cottage, there lived two sisters, Lady Winter and Sister Spring. The day came, as it had every year since the beginning of time, for Lady Winter to step aside. Soon Sister Spring would wake from her nine-month sleep to cover the world in every shade of green.

Sentence Fluency Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to add another animal to this story. Read the alternate versions aloud to hear how the sentences flow (and rewrite as needed.)

Poetry Month Blog | Inservice Clock Hours | Virtual Author Visits
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Nonfiction Monday: Fabulous Fishes

Fabulous Fishes by Susan Stockdale is an aquarium in a book!

Round fish,
clownfish,
fish that like to hide.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Use this book as a model for students as they write about something they see or do at school. Which fish are in your class aquarium? What’s inside your desk? What did you do in P.E. today? Use the Describing Wheel graphic organizer to make a list of words and then write a short poem…and send it to my Poetry Month Blog. I’ll be publishing one student poem a day during the month of April!

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at Tales from the Rushmore Kid.

Poetry Month Blog | Inservice Clock Hours | Virtual Author Visits
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Poetry Friday: Gobble Gobble Crash!

In Gobble Gobble Crash! A Barnyard Counting Bash by Julie Stiegemeyer (Author) and Valeri Gorbachev (Illustrator) the turkeys make a noisy mess…

Gobble-Gobble-Crash! Turkeys landed with a thump
In the middle of the barnyard, right beside the water pump.

Word Choice Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own “noisy” poem. Use the Describing Wheel graphic organizer to make a list of noisy words before writing.

 This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by The Drift Record.

Poetry Month Blog | Inservice Clock Hours | Virtual Author Visits
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Little Britches and the Rattlers

Little Britches and the Rattlers by Eric A. Kimmel (Author) and Vincent Nguyen (Illustrator) is a trickster tale…

“Little Britch-ch-ch-es, I’m gonna s-s-swaller you up!” the rattler hissed.

Voice Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write their own trickster tale. Will they use the “I” voice, the (first person point-of-view) when the character speaks? (The rest of this story is written in the third person point-of-view.)

Poetry Month Blog | Inservice Clock Hours | Virtual Author Visits
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Timothy And The Strong Pajamas

In Timothy And The Strong Pajamas by Viviane Schwarz, Timothy’s mother fixes his pajamas and then Timothy has superpowers!

Timothy tried his strength out
very carefully.
He was really,
extremely,
mightily,
amazingly
STRONG.

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Some parts of of this book are written as a comic. Students can make their own “superhero comic” with ReadWriteThink’s Comic Creator.

Before they go to the web to create the comic, ask students to make a practice comic strip. What will their character do? What will he say?

BONUS! For more Superhero books, see 5 Great Books About Superheroes.

Poetry Month Blog | Inservice Clock Hours
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Don’t Wake Up the Bear!

In Don’t Wake Up the Bear! by Marjorie Dennis Murray (Author) and Patricia Wittmann (Illustrator) one by one the animals join Bear in his warm cozy cave…

A hare came thumping by. “My ears are so cold,” she said. “I wish I could snuggle up with that big, soft, warm bear.”

Conventions Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Ask students to write a “winter turning to spring” story. Remind students to check their stories to make sure they added quotation marks to the dialogue.

BONUS! Don’t Wake Up the Bear! is also a board book!

Poetry Month Blog | Inservice Clock Hours
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Nonfiction Monday: Have You Ever Seen a Duck in a Raincoat?

Have You Ever Seen a Duck in a Raincoat? by Etta Kaner (Author) and Jeff Szue (Illustrator) is a question and answer book…

I wear a raincoat to keep dry. What do ducks do?

Organization Mini-lesson
Primary: Use this book as a model for students as they write a class question and answer book. Use the KWL Chart graphic organizer to gather facts as students research the answers to a science question.

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at MotherReader.

Poetry Month Blog | Inservice Clock Hours
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Poetry Month Student Blog

I’m the author of Pencil Talk and Other School Poems.

For Poetry Month 2009 I invite K-12 students to write their own school poems and send them to me so I can post them on my new Poetry Month blog, Pencil Talk – School Poems.

Please spread the word!

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Wild Rose Reader.

Learn how to write a children’s book.
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Footprints in the Snow

In Footprints in the Snow by Mei Matsuoka, Wolf is reading stories…

“I think it’s time somebody wrote a story about a NICE wolf,” he said.

Conventions Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: When people talk to one another, the dialogue has quotation marks. Ask students to check their own “nice wolf” stories to make sure they added quotation marks to the dialogue.

Learn how to write a children’s book.
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Mighty Max

In Mighty Max by Harriet Ziefert (Author) and Elliot Kreloff (Illustrator), Max wants to be a superhero! This book uses speech bubbles like a comic.

I am…
MIGHTY MAX!

Ideas Mini-lesson
Primary/Intermediate: Students can make their own comics with ReadWriteThink’s Comic Creator.

Before they go to the web to create the comic, ask students to make a practice comic strip. What will their character do? What will he say?

Learn how to write a children’s book.
Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.