The fifth book in our Earlybird thematic Spring Discovery Guide is a Blackbird & Company favorite, Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco is in our top ten favorite children’s books of all times! Beautifully illustrated this wonderfully told tale will introduce your student to the amazing art of Ukrainian Pysanky egg decorating.
This has been a yearly tradition at our house during Springtime. All the supplies you need can be found online. And if you can find a copy, be sure to watch Reading Rainbow (season 10 ,episode 4) to see Patricia herself creating a beautiful painted goose egg. ...Magical!
April is just around the corner. It's time to think poetry.
When is a flounder like a dish?
Who reads the Newt News?
How many lumps on the Bactrian's back?
How many words rhyme with weevil?
What does the hawk remind the reader to be thankful for?
In our Earlybird Douglas Florian Discovery unit, students will explore beautifully illustrated collections of 21 poems. Each poem is pure silly fun blending science and whimsy to teach the reader about life in the sea, scaly slimy creatures, mammals, spiders, insects, and our fine-feathered friends.
Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and recipient of an ALA Notable Children’s Book Award, Douglas Florian is the author and illustrator of many children’s books. He believes there is only one rule when it comes to poetry: There are no rules. Douglas Florian gives credit to his father as his first art teacher, who taught him to love nature. He begins his poems with research of the real thing and then uses that information to create an imaginary poem. Douglas Florian lives in New York City with his wife and five children.
Your 1st and 2nd grade students will not only write and illustrate poems inspired by the Florian poems, they will explore the traits of characters, acquire new words, and practice making sentences. More importantly, they will enjoy exploring the art of poetry.
To begin this project, go the the library and gather a collection of shark-picture-books. Read and enjoy at a safe distance. Sharks have sharp teeth.
Next, write a sentence or two about a shark incorporating some true facts and some not-so-true facts (after all, this is poetry). Be sure to include a simile (use the word "like" or "as" to compare the shark to something).
Sketch a few simple shark shapes, no details, just the outer contour. Choose a favorite to enlarge. Using light pencil draw the shark on a sheet of watercolor paper. Trace the light pencil drawing with black Sharpee.
Now write the shark sentences around the shark shape in, once again, very light pencil. When the sentence is spaced and spelled well, trace the words in black Sharpee.
Finally, the fun part... Mix up some deep-sea-watercolor blue and wash it right over the whole thing. Swish, swash, that's right!
And when your shark poem is dry, beware of the blur that is caused when it swims right off the page as all good poems should.
A collection of five Douglas Florian illustrated thematic books of poetry.
Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and recipient of an ALA Notable Children’s Book Award, Douglas Florian is the author and illustrator of many children’s books. He believes there is only one rule when it comes to poetry, that there are no rules. Douglas Florian gives credit to his father as his first art teacher, who taught him to love nature. He begins his poems with research of the real thing and then uses that information to create an imaginary poem. Douglas Florian lives in New York City with his wife and five children.
Meet Jack, who tells his story with a little help from some paper, a pencil, his teacher, and a dog named Sky.
Although this guide includes many of the same elements as the other Level 1 guides, such as vocabulary and comprehension, the format is unique.Each week, your student will be encouraged and guided to write poems in the style of each poet being introduced in the story.
When Lonnie Collins Motion - Locomotion - was seven years old, his life changed forever.
Now he's eleven, and his life is about to change again. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper. And suddenly, Lonnie has a whole new way to tell the world about his life, his friends, his little sister Lili, and even his foster mom, Miss Edna, who started out crabby but isn't so bad after all
This gripping story, written in sparse first-person, free-verse poems, is the compelling tale of Billie Jo's struggle to survive during the dust bowl years of the Depression. With stoic courage, she learns to cope with the loss of her mother and her grieving father's slow deterioration. But, there is hope at the end.
This guide will help you discover the craft of writing poems and the delight of reading poetry. Over the course of seven weeks you will be introduced to some of the basic techniques used by poets, explore excellent poetry, and practice writing original poems. Each section is designed to be completed in about two, one hour sittings.
From there, with a bit of imagining, we were able to construct a singular sentence: Imagine you are a butterfly... What do you see? What do you sense? What do you wonder? What are you glad about?
Each sentence was thoughtfully considered. Each word matters in a tiny poem! I find that offering little phrases such as, "Butterfly, you..." or "My wings flutter..." or "I am flitting..." (and I'm sure you will come up with a few of your own...), help students overcome the "I Can't" road block. Thing is, they CAN! Most often the sentence starters disappear, over taken by the unique creativity of each writer's unique voice.
Next, we traced a simple butterfly shape and set it free from sheets of watercolor paper. We used only shades of blue—blue watercolor, blue colored pencil, blue pipe cleaners.
Claude Monet, leader of the Impressionist movement, was a masterful gardener. Yes, that's right, gardener. I've been to Monet's garden in France. This artist's garden bursts to life in spring. Spectacular is a small word to describe the grounds. You can read about it in the delightful book, Linnea in Monet's Garden. But you can also experience it through his paintings.
So, on this first day of spring, why not plan a visit to Monet's garden via a "close reading and rendering" of one of his garden paintings? You can learn so much about the art of painting by copying the work of a master. Here is how we did it:
Here's how to paint this painting in two three-hour-sessions:
Session 1
To begin, cover your canvas with a light hue from the painting. While the paint is still very wet, use a clean brush to draw the shapes you see. Let this stage dry completely before proceeding.
Next, mix up a a limited palette of colors in jars that can be sealed so the acrylic paint will not dry out. When mixing colors to match this painting, you will not only mix primary pigments to find the secondary and tertiary colors (red and blue make purple, yellow and blue make green, orange with a hint of red is red-orange and so on), but you will need to experiment with adding a dash of compliments to discover the subtle complexities of Monet's palette. When you add a touch of orange to its opposite, blue, you will discover a lovely iteration of blue. For Monet colors, once you have the hue, you will add white to each color to achieve the lovely pales familiar to this artist. When you have your palette, seal it up for Session 2.
Session 2
Start with laying down the dark blue-green in the negative spaces. Then, while the background is drying, begin to add detail to the lily pads and blossoms with the medium values, loading your brush with different hues and unloading them onto the canvas. Rinse your brush in between color changes. When the background dries (and acrylic dries fairly fast), give it a second coat, allowing the subject of the painting to dry a bit. Continue painting in this manner, paining the light values last. You may need to step back from the paintings to discover missing details. Be careful not to mix colors on canvas while paint is wet or the lovely colors will turn to mud.
It's spring. Take a moment to smell the flowers blooming and be inspired by the fragrance. You never know what you might learn. "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers," said Claude Monet.
Celebrate spring with your students! Blackbird and Company's Early Bird Spring Stories Thematic Unitwill help do just that! You’ll have 5 weeks of great reading and writing and projects at your finger tips.
First book in the line up is, It’s Spring by Linda Glaser. The cut paper illustrations are so adorable! It’s quite a fun project to paint a wide selection of colorful papers with tempera paint then after they dry use them to cut out a spring scene. Think of all the colors of spring like blues and greens and browns for trees and animals. Use the illustrations in the book as inspiration for your collage. It is easy to learn how to make a collage these days.
We are so pleased to announce the arrival of our Hatchling Discovery Guides! This integrated, multi-sensory approach encourages Kindergarten through 2nd Grade learners to discover the complex connections between reading and writing the fun way.
Our Hatchling unit is designed to be paced over the course of two years as a comprehensive language arts program that introduces all the skills necessary to read fluently and write fluidly. Over the course of 52 weeks (2 school years), your little ones will discover the joys of reading and writing, delighting in the process.
Each year the phonics of reading and writing is introduced in a logical progression from initial sounds to more complex patterns in three concise student journals. Our teacher guide is designed to help you mentor and inspire your students through their individual important work. There are no lessons to prepare, but rather time to come alongside.
Each week students will:
Learn and practice phonics using miniature objects and colorful didactic flashcards
Utilize a moveable alphabet and the sand tray to reinforce learning
Read, write, and acquire sight vocabulary
Read exceptional literature
Create meaningful journal entries
Engage in line-work activities that strengthen developing fine motor skills
For second year students in 1st or 2nd grade, we've added an element that teaches the four types of sentences and offers an opportunity to practice the art of sentence crafting using the miniature objects. Mazes, too, are a fun addition at this level, further developing fine motor skills and logic.
And, in line with all our offerings, we've tied writing to great stories. What better to spark the child's imagination than an endearing tale?
All this, plus "just right" readers along the way, enables your students to practice phonics as it is being introduced.
We believe the best kind of learning is happy learning . Hatchlings will open the door to the wonder and potential of language, inspiring curiosity and independence along the way. Both Volume 1 and Volume 2 will be available for pre-order at blackbirdandcompany.com April 1st. Hatchlings will begin shipping early June to those who place early orders. Stay tuned for more details.
The next time your student gets tackled in the I CAN'T zone, share a story of your own.
Yesterday I was shopping at Trader Joes, contemplating an almond milk purchase when a good friend approached me and said quite simply: "Why don’t you make your own?”
This suggestion set off a cascading thought process in me that went way beyond the situation at hand. All in a millisecond I thought about the many times I had thought about making my own, the videos I had watched, and the numerous blog posts I had read. Still I had never “pulled the trigger” so to speak. Now, I’m smart enough to know we all have “stuck” areas in our lives. There are things we aspire to in life, but we often get overwhelmed OR SOMETHING and are stopped in our tracks. Who knows all the things that hold us back. I suspect the problem has myriad roots.
Anyway, back to Trader Jones, what happened this time is that my friend continued: “Just soak 1 cup nuts (any nuts) overnight in water and in the morning drain the nuts, add 3 cups of water in the blender, and blend to liquify."
There was something in that moment. I think it might be that the process was presented so simply to me that I thought: "Okay it’s time to do this. I have almonds. I have water. I CAN do this...!"
And so I did. I added a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla too. And the result was delicious—you don’t even have to strain it if you don’t want too! There were no additives so MY almond milk tasted so good!
I think sometimes the moment becomes right to make a move into the stuck zone. It’s so easy to over complicate things in our minds, to Pinterest an idea to death! In the case of almond milk, you know, make it all pretty with mason jars and ribbon and chalkboard labels,etc,etc, etc. when the true beauty is in the MAKING (and consuming) of the scrumptious drink itself.
It felt SO good to FINALLY just do it! And the icing on the cake? This is going to save me a ton of money!
So back to education... What if I had failed? Would I have learned something? YES! and I would have had strengthened my tenacity to try in the process. I would have learned some right and wrong strategies. I would have been learning.
Thing is, a growth mindset is NOT always easy. Students are NOT always successful when they try, but they ALWAYS learn something that is useful. Something that will help them in the future when they are faced with something new to learn. So the next time your student shrinks into the "I CAN'T" zone, share a story of your own, hum Dory's song, and just keep swimming!
PS By the way, my friend said the roasted unsalted hazelnuts from Oregon at Trader Joes makes an incredibly good milk. No fixed mindset here... I'm making some!!
Zinnia’s Flower Garden by Monica Wellington leads off week two in our Earlybird Spring Stories Thematic Unit. This is a great week to plant some flower seeds for your summer garden. There are excellent instructions at the back of the book on how to begin. Get a little notebook and keep a garden journal noting what you planted and how long each seed took to sprout. Take photos too! Wouldn’t it be fun to press the flowers come summer when they bloom. Here are some flower presses or you can make your own.
When you plant your flowers consider planting these five flower species that really help the Monarch butterfly survive on it’s long migration. Spider Milkweed (zones 5-9) blooms May-July, Chives (zones4-9) bloom April-June, Siberian Wallflower (zones 3-9) blooms March-May, May Night Salvia (zones3-9) blooms March-May and Common Milkweed (zones4-9) blooms June- August.
You will be richly rewarded with Monarchs in your yard and your children will be able to watch the lifecycle of thee amazing animals up close and personal.
Of course when I am wishing for cozy weather, my favorite quilt stories come to mind: The Keeping Quilt, by Patricia Polacco, Stitchen' and Pullin' by Patricia C. McKissack, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson, Luka's Quilt by Gerogia Guback.
And when I think about picture books, I think of all the simple crafts I enjoyed with my little ones, crafts that helped them to delight in the potential of language. So read a book and quilt a Q with your little one and embark on a literary tradition.
Rickettsia is a Monera that is transmitted by Arthropods such as fleas, lice, and tics and can cause harmful diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. This. This particular class of Monera was as named after pathologist Howard Taylor Ricketts.
But what is Rickettsia? And why is it a Monera?
If you are working through our 8-week unit Taxonomy of Living Things: The Five Kingdoms, the week #4 lesson is all about Monera. In fact, during the last 5 weeks of the unit, students will explore the characteristics of each kingdom and then be set free to do some independent research of a representative species. Included in each week's research is the opportunity to practice close observation.
Close observation is not about developing art skills as much as it is about developing the concentrated skill of looking. The keys to close, scientific observations are to look purposefully, slow down, and keep going. Not everyone can draw like Leonardo, but everyone can draw.
To begin, the more materials at hand the better. Use a variety of pencils and pens, and always use more than one color. The more details the better. Think line, texture, value, shape, color and always notice the relationship between the five.
And if getting started is difficult, look to someone else and ask, "What did they do?" Take a few minutes to look at Marlo's Rickettsia. What do you notice? What types of lines do you see? And what is the quality of those lines (thick to think straight, curved, jagged, dotted)? How does she make use of color? Texture? Value? Shape? And so on. Make a list and incorporate those qualities in your drawing. Be sure to label all parts and make notes as necessary.
I hope, in the end, you are noticing all the questions involved in doing research. Science, after all, is an adventure that begins with a question and culminates in a quest.
When I saw this vegetable ate the market, I stopped to ogle. It was fun to learn that it is sometimes called Romanesco cauliflower, sometimes Romansch broccoli. Either way, I was not thinking of the thing as food, only sheer math!
Can you see it?
Whoa.
Fibonacci.
And then I thought to myself, "This is math my students can get behind." So I pulled out a book:
And later I stirred up some soup and called my family to dinner.
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