four&twenty

It was a dark and stormy night...

And so begins Madeleine L’Engle’s most memorable classic tale, A Wrinkle In Time. A story about the life-changing journey of three children, their epic battle against darkness and the cosmic power of love.

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Wrinkle. Interestingly, we might have never heard of Meg Murray or Charles Wallace as L’Engle’s manuscript was initially rejected by 26 publishers before editors at Farrar, Straus & Giroux read it and enthusiastically accepted it. It went on to win the John Newbery Medal as the best children’s book of 1963 and has so far sold eight million copies. It is now in its 69th printing. Now that's a lesson in perseverance!

As the author of over sixty books, Madeleine L’Engle’s rich legacy includes poetry, plays, writings on faith and four additional stories about the Murray’s adventures. “Why does anybody tell a story?” she once asked, even though she knew the answer. “It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

The thing about fantasy literature is that it has the ability to inspire our imaginations and our souls to believe in that which seems impossible. We all want to know that there is a bigger purpose to our lives. We want to see that those who are “regular” can overcome their ordinariness and achieve greatness, make a difference—even save the universe!

To explore more, visit: www.madeleinelengle.com

In addition to A Wrinkle In Time, the following fantasy guides are available from Blackbird & Company:
Level 1 - The Iron Giant & My Father's Dragon
Level 2 - City of Ember, Half Magic, The Magician's Nephew, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
Level 3 - The White Mountains & The Thief Lord

Gathering Descriptive Words

Taking notes is a foundational skill that will accompany your student throughout their entire educational journey, and beyond. Even though there is no “right” way of taking notes, it is important to learn how to extract relevant and pertinent information from a text in a neatly organized, concise manner. This takes practice. When students are encouraged to practice note taking, and engage in the work of capturing the most important facts from their reading, they will begin to recognize how all the parts of a story fit into a larger picture. Learning to take notes helps to lay the foundation for rich, clear, and organized writing.

When readers observe character development, trace a setting, and watch a plot thicken, they are learning more than just the skill of recording facts, they are actually beginning to realize the potential of storytelling. Teaching students to dig into a story, to do the “work” of reading for meaning, enables them to discover how language has the power to communicate significance.

Consider what is gained as students learn to infer abstract traits and values from literal details embedded in great stories.

curious, wise, boastful
shy, witty
arrogant, reliable,
courageous
devout, outlandish
stable, tricky, vain

List poem?

No! This list is a portion of the lexicon that develops over time as readers dig into the work of thinking deeply about fictional characters.

As students reach for just the right descriptive adjective to assign to a character's unique personality they simultaneously expand their vocabulary, recognize the profound specificity of language, engage with the story at hand on a deeper level, and  gain deep understanding of abstract real-life concepts from a make-believe situations.

The sample page above is student work in response to Leo Lionni's It's Mine, a simple fable about the blessings of sharing. Our Earlybird literature guides provide your youngest students with the opportunity to share classic read-alouds with you, while exploring simple literary concepts like characterization and plot. Find all of our Earlybird guides here!

Mystery Solved

In all my years of teaching literature, I've never met a reader, regardless of reluctancy, who has not been drawn delightedly into the The Westing Game's intrigue. The plot is complex and captivating. Upper elementary and middle school readers enjoy every twist and turn. Beyond the fact that I am thrilled to have a mystery that is age appropriate for this audience, the theme of embracing true identity and resisting the urge to be what others want us to be, is an added bonus. In the story, characters often behave a certain way based on perceived expectations from other characters and situations, in the real world we call this peer pressure! And we all know, when peer pressure is present, appearances are deceiving. The Westing Game is a terrific reminder.

So the plot goes, one of 16 people will win Westing's $200 million fortune if they solve a mystery involving word clues. For the past three weeks, Søren and his literature buddies have been collecting clues as they read. Compounding the tension for this specific group is that all of the participants have older siblings who have read the book. Can you say, “Spoiler alert?”

Last night, just as the house was beginning to settle, I heard the roar of a surprise party, Liam and Søren were at it again! I marched to the scene where my two youngest boys were laughing hysterically. “What happened?” I asked.

The thing is, I can't tell you their response because it would spoil the mystery! What I can say is that I was completely taken aback. My boys had settled down for the evening, were reading quietly until Søren reached the end of the book where the mystery is solved. Both he and Liam delighted together at last.

In the end, like every great mystery, nothing is as it seems but all the pieces are in place!

– Kim

Boys and Books

Q: What do readers like best about Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder?
A: The FOOD!

Last week I celebrated the end of an era, read the last pages of Farmer Boy with my youngest son, Søren and his literature circle buddies. This was the second time that I read the book with an all boy group, the second time I was surprised by the level of boy-enthusiasm for the reading. These boys were fascinated by the history, intrigued by the real responsibilities that Almanzo tackled each day, but mostly, they were amazed by how much Almanzo could eat!

The group enjoyed sharing their projects inspired by the book during a culminating feast of Almanzo's favorites—apples and onions, cornbread, ham, and, of course, stacked pancakes!

"Ten pancakes cooked on the smoking griddle, and as fast as they were done Mother added another cake to each stack and buttered it lavishly and covered it with maple sugar. Butter and sugar melted together and soaked the fluffly pancakes and dripped all down their crisp edges. That was stacked pancakes. Almanzo liked them better than any other kind of pancakes."

Cast your votes for four&twenty!

The polls are open for a few more days in The Homeschool Post's 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards. Quite honestly every one of the blogs competing deserves an award! I am so blessed by the wealth of information, encouragement and inspiration out there and now realize how much focus and time blogging takes. The writing, the research, the photography, the technical aspects...wow, I admire every mom giving of her self and her family to share with us!

So peruse the many wonderful blogs in the running, spread the word, and please cast your vote for us! You can find us in category #5, Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog! Thank you in advance!

– Tracey

Yes They Can!

This past week my students completed reading the first book of the year, The Family Under the Bridge. I was delighted that my youngest son not only knew what to do but dove into the work headfirst! He began by removing all the sandwich bags from their box in the drawer, piling tape, glue, scissors, colored pencils and a plethora of art paper on the kitchen table. I watched him move from idea to finished product as I washed dishes and prepared dinner. In the end he smiled with satisfaction and proclaimed joyfully, “Tomorrow I will write a report to go with my diorama.” My son just turned 10! Not only is he self-motivated, he is delighted to do the work. Why? Routine. 

No matter the subject, establishing a routine is a painstaking process, but once rooted, students thrive. Our literature products are developed with this truth in mind, providing students with the framework to guide them through the discovery process in a consistent manner that will, over time, develop the disciplined routine that leads to self-motivation.

With our approach, each book is read and explored over the course of four weeks. During the fifth week, students develop a creative culminating project with options that provide a variety of ways for them to demonstrate deep understanding of the book. Students not only get a chance to demonstrate their originality, organization, clarity of purpose, and critical thinking skills, more importantly this culminating endeavor will allow them to show off what they have learned in their own, uniquely creative way.

Whether you are using our literature discovery guides in an individual mentoring situation or in a group setting, students really love sharing their culminating thoughts about great stories. Encouraging readers to create final projects with a high level of execution teaches them that their ideas are valuable and builds integrity into their work habits. Connecting your students with other students and the work produced in response to great stories is motivating and raises the bar on the end product. For this reason, we have created a Flickr group where students can share visuals of how great stories spark creativity. We encourage you to join this group, to add your own work samples, and to visit often!

No Rules Animal Poetry

Douglas Florian is a poet and artist extraordinaire!

Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and recipient of an ALA Notable Children’s Book Award, he is the author and illustrator of many delightful children’s books.

Douglas Florian believes there is only one rule when it comes to poetry, that there are no rules.

Your youngest students can explore scientific and silly facts about creatures of all kinds with our Douglas Florian Earlybird Guide, and even try their hand at writing their own animal poetry. The results are fantastic!

 
Shark

Ate a thousand fish

In the white bathtub

In the night when the people were sleeping

To grow as big as the house

- Jedd, age 5

 

Whale

Jumped and did a back flip

Under blue and white water

At snack time

To have fun

- Cameron, age 6

 

Seahorse

Met a friend

At the light blue drop off

Early in dark morning

To not have to wait as long

- Maddie, age 6

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Wonder & Delight - Language Arts

I am so excited for fall! It's true, I am actually excited for the first day of school! While I love teaching all subjects. Language arts is near and dear to my heart.

When our children are young, we teach them to decode (read) and to encode (write) language. This work, in fact, is a complicated task that spans at least three years of our child’s education.

We teach the child that letters—abstract strokes on a page—represent sounds. String those sounds together and you get words. Place words in just the right order on that same page and, well, now you’re talking.

From here the child learns to define, punctuate, to structurally order words on the page according to the rules of grammar. The child might not be able to define exactly why, but soon will discover that words strung together just right are delightful!

Remember Mother Goose?

Blow, wind, blow! And go, mill, go!
That the miller may grind his corn;
That the baker may take it,
And into rolls make it,
And send us some hot in the morn.

And Robert Loius Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses?

When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore. 

My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up, 
Till it could come no more.

Remember when syntax was a wonder before it was a chore? We crush wonder when we belabor rules at the expense of discovery. Reading and writing is so much more than decoding and encoding.

How do we encourage our children to care about the work of reading?

How do we encourage our children to care about the work writing?

We encourage them to be curious. We encourage them to care about their ideas.

Many years ago, curiouser and curiouser, I had an idea.

How could I teach my children the valuable “HOW TOs” of reading while simultaneously encouraging their curiosity? How could I teach them the valuable “HOW TOs” of writing while simultaneously allowing them to shape their big ideas?

This quest has developed into an extended family passion—Blackbird & Company Educational Press!

I have found that books are terrific mentors, but I have a support team too. Following are some of them:

For phonics I use Explode the Code and a fun new online version.

With my older children I use, Vocabulary from the Classical Roots.

I love Easy Grammar (have used it for dozens of years).

When we teach our children that reading and writing is not a chore but an opportunity, we empower our children to delight.

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Running to Somewhere

A great story has something for everyone.

As a kid, I was jealous of Claudia. I mean what girl wouldn't want to stowaway in an art museum? And not just any art museum, we're talking the Met! 

“Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away. That is, running away in the heat of anger with a knapsack on her pack. She didn't like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes. Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere.”

This is the precise passage that captured my imagination as a young reader, and if I am being honest, it still intrigues me. In fact, I spend my days encouraging my students to grab hold of this concept of “running to somewhere.”

When we mentor with books, great characters, like Claudia, give young readers a reason to press into their imagination.

“Some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up and touch everything. If you never let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you.”  — E.L. Konigsburg   

This past year, I explored The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler again with my 5th grade reading circle—five boys. It was fun to watch them connect with different aspects of the story. While they unanimously disliked Claudia (she's a girl after all), they identified with Jamie. My youngest son Søren had this to say, “I liked the mysterious statue. Remember when Claudia and Jaime snuck a peak of the angel? I liked that part mom.”

I could not help but smile when my budding artist decided to sculpt an angel in the style of Michelangelo for his culminating project. Søren's imagination was not sparked in the same way that mine was as a child and this is a good thing, is precisely what I love about great stories. 

So Søren dove into what inspired him, found a Michelangelo(ish) image on his own to fashion his sculpture after. I did not have the heart to tell him that it is not a Michaelangelo in the midst of his creative process. I am glad that he discovered this on his own when he decided to do some research on the angel like Claudia and Jamie who went before him.

Now I know there is bias here, but in the end, I believe Soren's original work of art made of aluminum foil and paper towels surpasses the work being studied!

Søren's buddies thought his angel a masterful work of art. They even checked the base of his statue, just to make sure it was not a Michelangelo!

– Kim

Clothespin Characters

Every journey through a Blackbird & Company literature discovery guide ends with a final project for the student to create and present. It's usually everyone's favorite activity and it gives them an opportunity to extend their time with a story after finishing the reading of it—to make connections and create and think deeper about what a story might be saying or teaching them. A list of possible projects are provided in each guide with options to help build making, research and presentation skills. For The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, Soren was inspired to create clothespin characters. In his words...

"For my project I made 12 different clothespin dolls. I chose to do this because Aunt Pretty had a clothespin doll collection and it sounded exciting trying to make my own. This was a difficult but fun task....The best part of making them is probably getting to use them afterwards!"

You can also see more projects from most of our titles by visiting out Flickr group. Get inspired, and join the group so we can see what you and your kids are up to.

The Book as Mentor

If we dig deep enough into the heart of a story, dig to its very core, I believe we will always spark curiosity. And when we press into that curiosity, we often discover a treasure to inform our own life. A good mentor leads us by the hand on an exploration of discovery that will make us a richer person.

As I am passing out the books and discovery guides, I introduce them to the story, “Allegra Leah Shapiro has been selected as a finalist in a prestigious violin competition and this stirs up all sorts of inner conflict.” 

Why does summer have to be so hectic? 

What does it mean to be half Jewish and half gentile? 

Why is soprano, Diedre, crying?

How can I be a twelve-year-old a violinist and have time to be a friend?

Why is my brother so annoying?

How has Mr. Trouble lost his song?

What is this gift from Bubbe Raisa?

And what of this great-grandmother I’ve been named after?

Will I be able to dig deep enough for Mozart?

Can I undo what has been done?

“The Mozart Season,” I tell them, “is a quiet story, one filled with resounding music that just might change your life.” I leave it there, hand them the book and tell them I am looking forward to what will unfold.

Five months later, I gather my group together to congratulate our writing and visual art students who were recognized regionally by Scholastic Alliance for Young Artists & Writers this year, plus two high school students who had work published in an international online literary journal.          

As I am handing out the awards, it dawns on me that four of the award winning projects began with the writers and artists responding to The Mozart Season and blossomed into something imaginatively original.

A great book can be a mentor.

Here you can view a short film inspired by the book as well as a beautiful piece of writing by a 6th grade student.

 

Gurgle gurgle, trickle trickle, swish swish swish, everything is music. The bubbling fountain sings a heart shattering song while the wind hums a chilling melody. Rain jolts in, dancing on its stony stage.  He stares into the shame of another day, where bold shapes of towering buildings blot out the rising sun. Glass windows taunt the morning dew. The dense noise of honking horns and blaring radios submerge as the day grows old, life in the city. It’s all a blur--work, school, play, eat, sleep--never ending cycle. Those who can’t keep up are thrown to the side. There are no second chances in the city. Money is what matters, money money money. Without money you can’t survive, no need for creativity in the city. So he has no purpose, The man, his music, and a violin.

ead the entire story by clickng here: Download The Green Violinist

Want to inspire your students to dig deeper? Consider exploring The Mozart Season (grades 5-8) using our Blackbird & Company Literature Discovery Guide.

Perloo the Bold

When my youngest son, Søren, and his literature circle buddies began reading Perloo the Bold, by AVI his imagination was captured. Perloo, the protagonist, is a peaceful, fairly introverted scholar much like my son. I think they hit it off from the get go.

So in this story, Perloo has been chosen to succeed Jolaine as leader of the furry underground creatures called Montmers. When Jolaine dies and her evil son seizes control of the burrow, Perloo must step up to the plate.

During the second week of thinking deeply about the story, my quiet, unassuming son slipped under the loft where we keep our overflow art supplies and came into the study arms loaded with a box of assorted Fimo clay. He got to work conquering his idea.

When I asked him about the project he told me he was making a claymation film of Perloo the Bold. Søren spent many hours cleverly crafting characters and posing them in one position, then another using his camera to capture the motion.

Midway in his movie making he set the project aside, went back to the art cabinet, this time for paper and colored pencils and began work on a set of original proverbs complete with ornately illuminated letters.

With this task complete, Søren resumed progress on his little film. When the filming was complete, he enlisted his older brother, Taylor to compose original music for his piece. He was so proud when Taylor was done and his movie was complete. When I made one last suggestion, that Søren make a title slide, he knew just what to do, “I will make the title fade in, Perloo… the Bold. Yes, that’s it.” In a matter of seconds the slide was complete. Most fascinating of all, at least to me, was the strategic placement of the slide that was seemingly intuitive. He did not put the slide up front, but a couple frames into the movie to line up with a significant change in the rhythm of the music. Fantastic!

 

Søren’s creative response to this book not only demonstrates his deep understanding, but that his critical creative thinking skills are alive and well.

Sometimes it is the quiet, unassuming creatures that save the kingdom. Pondering this possibility, no doubt, inspired my son.

– Kim

Spring Into Poetry

This time in the school year can be particularly difficult—a sort of doldrums. Everyone has been working hard for many months and summer still feels quite a ways off. You're starting to feel the pressure of all that you haven't accomplished...or wanted to. Standardized testing may be looming. The weather around Southern California becomes a confusing mix of sweater days and t-shirt days and at least for me, the urge to purge kicks in strong with garage sale season right around the corner.

With April being National Poetry Month, why not infuse your last weeks of school with a focus on the wonder of words. Poetry is at the same time economical and extravagant. It has the power to unlock a child's voice and encourage writing skills in ways that prose and essay writing simply cannot. My own daughter has a stunning gift for poetry that would never have been unearthed had we not delved into reading and writing poems at a young age. Don't be intimidated, jump in, be creative and have fun. Try to incorporate a little something into everyday.

• Revisit past four&twenty posts for some ideas. A personal favorite uses chocolate bars as inspiration for writing poems about place and taste!   

• Participate in Poem In Your Pocket Day on April 14. I love the idea of having a poem on hand to sponatneously share with family and friends throughout the day.

• Great Poems to Teach lists important poems, some with audio readings. Poetry 180 also has a compiled list of poems geared towards high school students—one for every day of the school year. Both are helpful for getting to know famous poets and various forms.

• Start a book club with friends using our poetry-focused, litertaure discovery guides. Younger students can explore animal poetry with our Douglas Florian guide while Love That Dog and Locomotion both tell profound stories through the use of verse.

• Use technology to share poetry with the world! Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, PowerPoint, Flickr, iMovie, digital cameras....the possibilities are endless.

• Here are some really creative ideas for word play from The Crafty Crow. Click through to Austin Kleon's inventive newspaper blackout poems. What a great exercise in eliminating words to find the poem that was hiding there all along.

• Embark on our Exploring Poetry unit. Read about it here from a blogger-mom who did!

• For a creative lesson idea, read The Poetry of Words recently written by Kim for Heart of the Matter.

• Plant a PoeTree.

Most of all, enjoy learning, exploring, discovering, and creating with words!

– Tracey