About the book: "I painted my world, my life, all the things I loved, all the things I dreamed of, all the things I could not say in word...
Looking for accessible nonfiction? Check out my Summer of Nonfiction: Graphic Novels list filled with history and memoirs in a graphic novel format!
I’m adding this segment from tonight’s PBS NewsHour to The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day:
Through Georgia's Eyes "A gorgeous, evocative biography of one of America's most beloved artists. Georgia O'Keeffe saw the world differently from most people. As a child she roamed the prairie with a sketch pad in her hand, struggling to capture on paper what she saw all arou ...
As the year draws to a close, PBS NewsHour staff members suggest some of the books that made them slow down and enjoy reading this year.
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers Publication Date: September 1, 2015 Recommended Grades: 4-6 George loved words. But, he was unable to read or attend school because George was enslaved. Through sh…
As the year draws to a close, PBS NewsHour staff members suggest some of the books that made them slow down and enjoy reading this year.
Come for the books. Stay for the conversations. Introducing Now Read This, a book club from PBS NewsHour and the New York Times.
Summer brings hot and often dry conditions. One thing I learned from my time in Kansas was that even during times of harsh hot and dry conditions, there was
Reading teachers cover a wide variety of genres: realistic fiction, folktales, fairy tales, mysteries, historical fiction, etc. One genre, tall tales, may be considered by most a genre only for lower grades, but there are many wonderful reasons to use tall tales in upper grades as well! Using tall tales to teach reading in upper grades can be fun and beneficial for our students. My Favorite Tall Tale Books There are many wonderful tall tale picture books that are perfect for upper grades. These books contain wonderful stories with rich characters that make perfect read-alouds to model many types of reading lessons. Some of my favorite tall tales for upper grades include Swamp Angel, Thunder Rose, John Henry, Dust Devil, and Dona Flor. Swamp Angel is a tall tale set in the Appalachian Mountains. The main character, Angelica, is larger than life, literally, and encounters many problems. This a fun read-aloud, especially using a Southern accent. Kids love the extreme exaggerations in this story. This book is also great for teaching similes. Thunder Rose is another favorite! The hero, Thunder Rose, is a wonderful wild-west character that upper grade students will love! The main character faces many challenges in the book, and the story is full of exaggerations and wonderful figurative language. This book also makes an excellent story to chart characterization. Dona Flor is probably my all time favorite tall tale and one of my favorite picture books. It is a must read whether you are teaching a unit on tall tales or not! So many lessons can be modeled with this fun book such as character, setting, problem/solution, personification, similes, and of course, characteristics of tall tales. The illustrations in this book are simply beautiful! My students have loved this book every year, and it is such a fun book to read aloud! I can't say enough good things about this book. Just try it! Teaching with Tall Tales Tall Tales, of course, are known for using hyperbole, an extreme exaggeration used for emphasis. The hyperbole is usually written to create a picture that is both impossible and funny. Tall tales are usually filled with other types of figurative language as well. Similes, metaphors, and personification are found in most of these tall tales that I have suggested. This makes these tall tale stories perfect for studying and reviewing figurative language. Tall tales are also excellent for analyzing characters, studying and identifying character traits, finding and identifying problem and solution, and discussing the importance of setting in the story. Because tall tale are about characters who lived in a specific time and place, the setting of the story is generally very important to the story. They are perfect to help your students analyze the importance of the setting. There are many reasons to include a unit on tall tales with your upper grade students. Teaching with tall tales is not only fun, but tall tales provide an opportunity to teach many important reading skills. Tall Tale Packet My Tall Tales Packet is a fun companion to any tall tale book and study. This easy to use packed includes tall tale posters, graphic organizers, and writing prompts that are a great extension to your tall tale study. Use the posters to help your students understand the characteristics of tall tales while decorating your room or bulletin board. The graphic organizers will help your students think about and write about a tall tale, and the writing prompts will be a fun addition to writing stations or centers or use them as a whole group activity. Changing characters, cause and effect, making connections, analyzing the setting, and more are covered in this packet! Try it along with a tall tale or two with your class. They will love it! Have a blessed day! Connect with Me: Blog TpT Store Instagram Facebook Pinterest
Last term at school, Alfie watched a production of The Boy Who Bit Picasso and loved it. The original book was written by Antony Penrose, who is the son of photographer Lee Miller and surrealist Ro…
A librarian's reviews and summaries of the best narrative nonfiction books for children, which are emphasized in the curriculum of the common core from kindergarten through 6th grade.
At the end of last term I introduced the kids to Picasso following a long weekend trip to Sydney to visit the NSW art gallery and the Picasso exhibition. (I was disappointed to find that while I was in Europe last year the Picasso Museum in Paris was closed for renovation- only to find that some of the collection had travelled to Australia while I was in France! So I just had to go and see it in Sydney.) I bought several books for kids while I was at the art gallery several of them focused on Picasso. They were fantastic picture books suitable for introducing this significant modern artist to the children from year one to seven. For the older children I used a book called 'Just Behave Pablo Picasso'by Jonah Winter and another called Picasso and Minou. Both books introduce children to the life of Pablo Picasso and his personality in a readily accessible way in a fun enjoyable story picture book fashion. With the children in rooms 19 and 20 (yr 4/5) I looked at some really simple line drawings of strange faces that Picasso had drawn. I used a book of step by step draw like Picasso for the kids to follow then they had a go at creating some of their own. From those we used the patterns and lines to create potato prints to decorate the surface of a piece of fabric. The children in Rooms 2 and 3 (years 5-7) created collograph prints based on Picasso's cubist portraits these were then printed on paper and then fabric. These prints have been the basis of a textile project for these classes. I made up sewing boxes for each group. Each box had a little pin cushion with a needle for each child each needle had to be returned at the end of each lesson before they could leave the studio - I don't think we lost a single needle!! There were also sets of sewing cards that I had made up showing a variety of embroidery stitches. The children had time to practice and experiment with these stitches on scrap fabric before venturing on to the embellishment of their printed fabric. Most of the children had sewn before in previous years when they made their pencil cases. So apart from a bit of a refresher on knot tying and needle threading techniques the kids were off. I rarely thread needles for kids or tie knots rather I demonstrate each step by step and tend to show a couple of ways for the kids to choose from. Having said that I do make sure that I buy needles with eyes that are of sufficient dimensions to make threading possible at each year level while still ensuring that they will go through the fabric easily so the sewing process is not too tedious. You can see the kids have been working very well with this project, even though it takes time and patience to learn the skill and get used to the fiddly threads. Here's a tip for any other art teachers out there. The kids had difficulty pinning their fabric onto the front of their bags in order to sew it on so I used a few dabs of craft glue (not too much as it makes it difficult to sew through.) to keep the pockets on the front of their bags so they could sew them on more easily.
Need creative ways to teach division? This post has tons of ideas to use to help make teaching division easier and more interesting!
Friends, it’s true: the end of the decade approaches. It’s been a difficult, anxiety-provoking, morally compromised decade, but at least it’s been populated by some damn fine lite…
Do you want to get started with project based learning, but you’re not sure how? Maybe project based learning sounds too complicated, in-depth, and overwhelming to you? That’s how I felt when I first delved into PBL. But now I know there is nothing to be afraid of! In this post, I will give a quick explanation of project-based learning and then give you some tips and ideas to begin to implement it in your own classroom. What is Project Based Learning? Project based learning, simply stated, is an authentic learning experience
A children’s librarian provides thorough reviews of the best narrative nonfiction books for children in grades K–3. She points out special aspects of the books that would be of interest to teachers and parents.
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2 Soul Sister Art Ed is an art education blog that delves into a myriad of topics within the realm of art education and other art-related subjects.
11 year old readers in 6th grade are transitioning into more nonfiction books. Here's a list of nonfiction books perfect for 6th grade.
I'm setting up my room this week and thought I'd share a few pics- these ones are from last year. This year I walked into my room and the whole bulletin board above was taken down and replaced with cabinets! I LOVE the extra storage space, but now I have to reconfigure my room set-up quite a bit- I have only one bulletin board left! Anyways, hopes this helps someone who is struggling to come up with ideas for their art room!
Explore jaime.k's 6807 photos on Flickr!
Fly Brother with Ernnest White II: The journey of a Black traveler who visits his friends around the world & documents the adventures. Starts May 1 on PBS.
Tell Me a Picture Non-fiction Ages 5 and up By Quentin Blake 128 pages Frances Lincoln Limited 2002 Quentin Blake is a British illustrator—he’s well known for his art in Roald Dahl’s …
Learn about music history as a family with these gorgeous children's books about composers!
Meet the artist. Make some art! This engaging Alexander Calder pop-up book does more than teach kids about art: it encourages them to create their own.
Picture Books (Not Necessarily Singable) Which Embrase MUSIC as an Important and Enriching Component of our Lives
Children will learn about some of the most well-recognized artists with these 13 books.
Give me alll the poetry books!
Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake in 2010. Since then the island nation has been re-building. Learn about Haiti through children's books and more!
First and second grade students have been learning about the artist Claude Monet during the second nine weeks of school. Students were introduced to the artist Claude Monet by viewing his paintings…
Yes, there are plenty of picture books for middle school students! This giant list includes books with rich language and content perfect for older kids.
Including folktales, fantasy, and realistic stories of how children live today, these children's books by African authors are must-reads.
