CYCLE OF RICE, CYCLE OF LIFE: A STORY OF SUSTAINABLE FARMING- JAN REYNOLDS

Review copy provided by LEE AND LOW BOOKS

On her website, Jan Reynolds describes herself as "a writer and photographer who just can’t get far enough away from it all." She says her favorite thing is "to escape to an extreme environment, and hang with the locals to learn about their culture and their point of view. And if she gets a chance to ski and climb, she’s really happy." Reynolds' adventures have taken her, among other places, across the Sahara on a camel, to the top of Mount Everest, and cross country skiing in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.

Like many of us (ok, many of us old folks), Jan cut her reading teeth on Dick, Jane, and Sally. As a children's author, however, she wants to write books that present children with rich content about a variety of cultures. She wants her readers to understand that although we come from very different places, we are more alike than different, e.g. though people may eat and drink different things, we all eat and drink. "The sooner we can capture a young mind and show them the breadth of culture in the world," says Reynolds, "the more acceptance they will have and better they will work with other  people." In her VANISHING CULTURE series, Reynolds has used the genre of photo essays to take her young readers to places like Mongolia, the Sahara, and Nepal. 

In addition to being a world traveler and adventurer, Reynolds is also an environmentalist. About ten years ago, she decided she wanted to write a book about sustainability in a way that children would understand. Another children's author, Molly Bang, suggested that rice farming might be an example that children would understand.  Jan Reynolds discusses the issue of sustainability in an interview here.

Reynolds did some research and found that one of the best examples of sustainability had occurred on the small Indonesian island of Bali, where farmers have been growing rice for more than ONE THOUSAND years. Reynolds spent approximately three months on the island, and her photo essay captures the intricacy of this system which begins with a deep gratitude to Dewi Demu, the goddess of water. The Balinese have built a complex irrigation system, which provides freshwater to every single part of the island. Balinese farmers use ducks for fertilization and natural pest control.  Children will especially enjoy footage of the ducks on these three videos about rice farming in Bali. In the back of the book, they will find additional resources, including a map , a glossary, and a list of interesting websites. The author's website has many helpful links, including the duck videos, and also study guides for use with different books. I learned today, via email, that Reynolds is currently at work on a book about how the Masai are changing the herding patterns of their goats and cows to preserve their land.

There is much to love about this book. CYCLE OF RICE, CYCLE OF LIFE approaches sustainability in a way that is easy for children as young as first or second grade to understand. Second, I love the theme of reverence for the Earth and of being grateful for water. Finally, and maybe most importantly, I love the theme of cooperation and caring for one another.  The Balinese farmers get together at the beginning of the growing season, and decide exactly how they will let the water out into the fields. The farmers who live higher on the mountain are responsible for allowing the water to run down stream to their neighbors. If they don't use the water responsibly, it impacts the farmers below them. Somehow that seems an apt metaphor for what goes on in America every day…

CYCLE OF RICE Blog Tour

April 22- Paper Tigers

April 23- A Wrung Sponge

April 27- Carol's Corner

April 30- Lori Calabrese Writes

May 5- Write for a Reader

May 8- Into the Wardrobe

May 14- Bees Knees Reads

WORD FUN SERIES

Teachers at my school have focused on writing this year, and our hard work is beginning to show. Students are demonstrating more focus, specificity, and voice. They are still struggling however, with conventions and spelling. I attended a district work session on writing earlier this week, and it appears that students all over our district are having difficulties in this area. 

I believe conventions are important. Kids need to understand that writing is about expressing ideas clearly and conventionally. They need to know that writers worry about getting their thoughts down on paper, but then about cleaning them up so that others can read their writing easily. They need to understand that people judge you based on your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. When I talk to kids about conventions, I generally refer to them in terms of how conventions impact the reader. We talk a lot about conventions as "using your writers' manners."

Yesterday, I came across a really fun series for helping kids understand/remember conventions and parts of speech. The WORD FUN series, published by PICTURE WINDOW BOOKS, has books on many grammar related topics:

• DIFFERENT KINDS OF WORDS- contraction, compound word, homonym, synonym, antonym
  
• PUNCTUATION MARK- period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma, quotation marks, apostrophe
  
• PARTS OF SPEECH- noun, verb, adjective, adverb, conjunction, preposition, pronoun, interjection
  
• MISCELLANEOUS- prefix, suffix, palindrome, onomatopeia, alliteration

All of the books are titled, IF YOU WERE A…. 

I bought two- IF YOU WERE A QUESTION MARK and IF YOU WERE A SUFFIX. Each of these books appears to have kind of a "dual text" format. The pictures, done in collage, tell a story. IF YOU WERE A QUESTION MARK, for instance, is about a skunk, dog, duck, koala, and an owl who are having a birthday party. The dog, Sophie, discovers that her strawberry cupcake is missing and they have to call a detective. The animals ask lots of questions, e.g.:

• Who could help us solve this mystery?
  
• Are you worried the thief will steal your cupcake too?
• Sam only likes chocolate?
• Is that strawberry frosting on Jasper's nose?

The animals' questions are kind of embedded in the illustrations.

There is a whole other text, however, done in a different font, that teaches kids some of the rules about the function and uses of question marks, e.g. here are the ones that match the questions listed above:

• If you were a question mark, you would replace a period at the end of a sentence that asks a question.
• If you were a question mark, you could ask how people are feeling.
• If you were a question mark, you could make it clear that a statement is really asking for information. 
• If you were a question mark, you could ask the really important questions. 

IF YOU WERE A SUFFIX addresses the meaning of different suffixes, e.g. -ing, -ed, -er, -est, -ed, -ful, -less. The story line in this book is not quite as clever; each picture stands alone, instead of telling a connected story. Even so, I think kids will love the collage illustrations, and might even want to make some of their own. 

I believe that kids need information presented in lots of different ways. Sometimes, they need explicit information about the rules of using a particular convention. Other times, they need to see a teacher or student modeling how the convention is used in his/her own writing. Sometimes, it's helpful to look at the convention in the context of a much loved mentor text. And still other times, books like, IF YOU WERE A… velcro the information into children's heads. This series gives me one more tool I can use to help my students become better writers…

POETRY FRIDAY

From the mom of two frog princes…

I am a single mom to two teenage boys. They are really good guys and I adore being their mom. At the same time, growing up is hard, hard work, and being a mom is hard, hard work, and lots of weeks are just plain hard for all three of us. I need to post this poem in about a hundred places in my house, so I remember it…

How to Change a Frog Into a Prince

by Anna Denise

Start with the underwear. Sit him down. 

Hopping one one leg may stir unpleasant memories.

If he gets his tights on, even backwards, praise him.

Fingers, formerly webbed, struggle over buttons.

Arms and legs, lengthened out of proportion, wait, 

as you do, for the rest of him to catch up. 

The rest of the poem is here.

POETRY FRIDAY is at Lisa Chellman's Under the Covers. 

MICHAEL RECYCLE MEETS LITTERBUG DOUG

AUTHOR: Ellie Bethel

ILLUSTRATOR:  Alexandra Colombo

Review copy provided by publisher

Earth Day is Wednesday. The teachers and kids at my school are making big plans to pick up trash, plant flowers, and beautify our school grounds. And me? Well, I'm sure I will be out helping with the cleanup, but I've got other plans too. I've got a fun new read aloud and I'm looking forward to sharing it. Just listen to the first page…

In a beautiful valley,

in the shade of a hill

was a clean little town,

that was full of goodwill.

But the quaint little town

had a problem to face

for on top of the hill

stood a mountain of waste!

And who was

the culprit?

Who was the thug?

It was lonely and lazy boned…

LITTERBUG DOUG!

Doug is a complete and total slob. He and his two tabby cats, along with one hundred rats, live at the top of an enormous and stinky pile of trash. Doug is  perfectly content with his life until the day he meets the famous green-caped crusader, Michael Recycle…

I know kids are going to love the sing-songy HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS rhyme style of this book. I also think they will love the detailed, cartoonish illustrations, which are kind of a cross between MEAN JEAN, THE RECESS QUEEN and a sophisticated version of the  RUGRATS. The book also has a couple of really interesting appendixes- one full of fascinating statistics about trash (did you know that in 2007 the average American threw away five pounds of trash per day, or 1600 pounds over the course of the year?) There is another appendix about how kids can recycle. 

Happy Earth Day!

POETRY FRIDAY

I decided to try Tricia's poetry writing challenge this week…

"FASCINATION" 

I am a 

first year teacher.

We get one 

field trip

a year.

Principal and colleagues

give me advice.

If you do it right

they say,

you can

do the museum

in the morning

have lunch 

at City Park

then take in an

IMAX show

in the afternoon. 

I am all about 

doing it right.

That day

my six-year-olds,

marvel over

enormous dinosaur skeletons

google glowing crystals

wander through the digestive system

at the museum

They gobble pbj's 

run relays

blow bubbles

and splash

in  City Park Fountain.

They romp with dolphins

face off against sharks

try deep sea fishing

and nap a little

in the dark IMAX theater. 

Back at school

my world travelers

write or draw 

about their favorite part

of our special day. 

They loved

peering through

the museum's

ancient heat grates

at their friends

on the floor 

below. 

Carol Wilcox

POETRY FRIDAY is here.

BIG QUESTION

I am dashing into school after a meeting this morning when one of my first grade friends stops me in the hall. "Ms. Carol," he says, "you know how we have been talking about cumulative stories?" I do know, but I am surprised at his question, because we actually talked about cumulative stories several months ago. 

While I get my bearings in the conversation my first grade friend continues, "Well you know how in cumulative stories, things get more and more and more? Yesterday, we read the Eric Carle study about the rooster off to see the world. And things get less and less and less. So what is that called?"

It's a great question. I can think of stories like TEN IN THE BED and FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS where that happens, but I truly don't know what it's called. I promise T that I will try to find out and go on my merry way through a very hectic day, promptly forgetting my promise. After school, T approaches me on the playground. "So did you find out?" he asks. I tell him that I haven't yet, but I will work on it tonight. 

T looks a little dubious, "Well if you don't know," he says, squinting up at me, "Do you think you could ask a fifth grade teacher?"  I assure him that I will, and after school I go and ask Rob, who teaches fifth grade, and is probably much smarter than I am. Unfortunately,  he doesn't know either. I also put it out on Twitter. And now I'm posting it here. Does anyone know the answer? What do you call a story where things get less and less and less?

He is Risen!

Happy Easter!

Dash  over to gottabook and read Nikki Grimes' beautiful Easter poem!