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Let's Inquire Together!

31/7/2017

Students at HKA are wonderful inquirers; they always have lots of wonderings and questions and I love when I get a chance to be part of their finding answers to these questions during inquiry circles. I know that the questions and wonderings don’t stop during the holidays; so how about doing some inquiries together? Record your questions and wonderings and what you think you already know about the topic. Then explore available resources (books, websites, people knowledgeable about the topic, your own experiments and observations) to find answers to your questions.

And here are, as always, a few books you might enjoy reading in connection with the theme of inquiring.

A few picture books around inquiring
Ada Twist, Scientist (Andrea Beaty)
Because of an Acorn (Lola M. Scaefer)
Goodnight Spaceman (Michelle Robinson)
Professor Astrocat’s Atomic Adventure (Dominic Walliman)
Wilfred Gordon MacDonald Partridge (Mem Fox)

A few chapter books and middle grade novels around inquiring
Sky Hawk (Gill Lewis)
Beetle Boy (M.G. Leonard)
Frank Einstein series (Jon Scieszka)
George’s Secret Key to the Universe (Lucy and Stephen Hawking)
The Wheel on the School (Meindert DeJong)

A few picture biographies about famous inquirers and scientists
Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian (Margarita Engle)
Star Stuff (Stephanie Sisson)
Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine (Laurie Wallmark)
On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein (Jennifer Berne)
Me... Jane (Patrick McDonnell)

A few more nonfiction books to make you curious
The Everything Kids’ Science Experiments Book (Tom Robinson)
The Way Things Work (David Macaulay)
Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes (Nicola Davies)
The ABC Book of Rockets, Planets and Outer Space (Helen Martin)
Jake’s Bones (Jake McGowan-Lowe)

Have a great week!

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Let's Cook Together!

24/7/2017

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Having lots of time to share a meal with family and friends is something else I treasure during the summer, even more so when the meal was prepared together. I love being in the kitchen with my family, chatting while we are cooking. I encourage you to explore cookbooks/cooking websites (for example Kids Cooking Activities), choose and plan for a particular recipe, buy the ingredients and cook together to enjoy a very special meal. You might even consider inviting relatives and/or friends to join you. Make sure to choose a special place to enjoy your meal as well.

Here are a few special reading suggestions connected to cooking and food:

A few food-themed picture books
Make an Apple Pie and Travel the World (Marjorie Priceman)
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Judi Barrett)
Cora Cooks Pancit (Dorina K. Lao Gilmore)
The Boy Who Wanted to Cook (Gloria Whelan)
Everybody Loves Dim Sum; The Ugly Vegetables (Grace Lin)
Boy Dumpling; The Runaway Wok (Ying Chang Compestine)

A few food-themed chapter books
Recipe for Adventure series (Giada De Laurentiis)
Granny Torelli Cooks Soup (Sharon Creech)
Phoebe G. Green: A Passport to Pastries (Veera Hiranandani)
Pie (Sarah Weeks)
The Candymakers (Wendy Mass)

Have a wonderful week!

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Let's Write Together!

16/7/2017

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Are you ready for another week of Summer Reading Fun? Here we go :)

We have inquired about many authors this year across the Primary school grades and I noticed that our students’ questions and wonderings are often connected to the actual writing process. In our Skype visit with Rob Buyea, the author commended our fifth graders for the many great questions about writing, for wanting to learn more about it from a published author. But also our youngest students are already enthusiastic bookmakers. So, student writers, share some of your writing and book making expertise with your parents this week.

Some writing activities and prompts you might enjoy:

Write about a favourite summer day or other memory.
Go to a park or sit in a café and observe the people around you. Make up a story about one of the people you notice.
Ponder about one of the following questions and write down your answer: What would happen if children ruled the world? If you could invent anything, what would it be and why? If you could meet a famous person, who would it be and why?
Organise a special “author afternoon tea” during which everyone gets to share some of their writing.

I am writing too, participating for the third summer in the Teachers Write camp, organized by kidlit and yalit authors Kate Messner, Jo Knowles and Gae Polisner. It's a wonderful opportunity for me to meet new authors, discover great stories and learn more about the writing process. I love the writing prompts, trying out the strategies published authors use in creating their stories.

Here are some title suggestions of books around writing you might enjoy reading and get inspired by:

Picture books
I Am A Story (Dan Yaccarino)
Also an Octopus (Maggie Tokuda-Hall)
Little Red Writing (Jean Holub)
Ralph Tells a Story (Abby Hanlon)
How This Book Was Made (Mac Barnett)

Chapter books and novels for the middle grades
Words With Wings (Nikki Grimes)
Dear Mr. Henshaw (Beverly Cleary)
Tofu Quilt (Ching Yeung Russell)
Love That Dog and Hate That Cat (Sharon Creech)
Brown Girl Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson)

Picture book biographies about authors
John Ronald’s Dragons: The Story of J.R.R. Tolkien (Caroline McAlister)
Some Writer: The Story of E.B. White (Melissa Sweet)
Beatrix Potter and her Paint Box (David MacPhail)
Enormous Smallness: A Story of E.E. Cummings (Matthew Burgess)
Louisa May’s Battle: How the Civil War Led to Little Women (Kathleen Krull)

Have a great week!

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Let's Be Creative Together!

13/7/2017

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Apologies for the delay in updating the blog this week. I had trouble logging into my Weebly account. Fortunately, the wonderful Weebly team just fixed the issue and here I am again :)

When I was a child, art classes worried me. I always thought that I could not draw and consequently would never be good at art. I wish I had known then what I know now; there is so much more to art than drawing, there are so many different ways to be creative, using all kinds of media, from colored pencils to recycled materials; there is a way for everyone to be creative, express ideas and have fun at the same time. Be creative and have fun with whatever materials you have available where you are right now and enjoy experimenting.

Here are some ideas of what you might enjoy doing:

Create art together, using all kinds of tools, media and materials (you might find inspiration here: Out of the Box by Jemma Westing)
Illustrate a favorite story
Make a comic book
Visit an art gallery together
Read together about art, artists and being creative! Below are a few suggestions:

A few picture books around art and being creative:

Nico Draws a Feeling (Bob Raczka)
The Book of Mistakes (Corinna Luyken)
Swatch – The Girl Who Loved Colors (Julia Denos)
The Dot - and other picture books by Peter H. Reynolds
Beautiful Oops (Barney Saltzberg)
Brush of Gods; Polka Dotted Penguin Pottery (Lenore Look)

A few picture book biographies about artists:

Henri’s Scissors (Jeanette Winter)
Frida (Jonah Winter)
Sandy’s Circus (Tanya Lee Stone)
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (Michelle Markel)
Roy’s House (Susan Goldman Rubin)

A few chapter books/middle grade novels about art and being creative:

Bettina Valentino and the Picasso Club (Niki Daly)
Henry and the Chalk Dragon (Jennifer Trafton)
Bea Garcia series (Deborah Zemke)
Meeting Cezanne (Michael Morpurgo)
Masterpiece (Elise Broach)

A few graphic novels:

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea (Ben Clanton)
Hippopotamister (John Patrick Green)
Hilda and the Stone Forest (Luke Pearson)
Ghosts (Raina Telgemeier)
Roller Girl (Victoria Jamieson)

... and for our younger readers:
Toon Books like
Benny & Penny (Geoffrey Hayes),
Something’s Fishy (Kevin McCloseky)
Little Mouse Gets Ready (Jeff Smith)

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Let's Travel and Explore Together!

2/7/2017

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How is the summer going for you? I hope you are all having a good time!

I know that many of you travel during the break, a wonderful opportunity to discover new places, meet new people and/or catch up with family and friends. Here are some activities you might enjoy doing during your travels this summer:

Visit a museum to find out more about the history of your surroundings.
Find out more about your family’s history by talking to family members.
Read about the city/country you are visiting.
Inquire about what travelling was like before modern means of transportation were invented.

My mum and I looked through some family photo albums in which I then discovered baby pictures of my parents amongst others. Some of these pictures are almost 80 years old and yet, I had no trouble recognising the people in them. Such treasures!

Here are some title suggestions of books around traveling and exploring:

A few picture books about traveling
The Airport Book (Lisa Brown)
Are We There Yet? (Dan Santat)
Journey (Aaron Becker)
Oh the Places You’ll Go! (Dr. Seuss)
Once There Was a Boy (Oliver Jeffers)

A few chapter books and middle grade novels about journeys
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Kate DiCamillo) Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Grace Lin)
Journey to the River Sea (Eva Ibbotson)
Kensuke’s Kingdom (Michael Morpurgo)
The Magic Tree House series (Mary Pope Osborne)

A few nonfiction books around travelling and exploring
Hello World! A Celebration of Languages and Curiosities (Jonathan Litton)
The Quest for Z: The True Story of Explorer Percy Fawcett and a Lost City in the Amazon (Greg Pizzoli)
Shackleton’s Journey (William Grill)
The Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa (Don Brown)
A Voyage in the Clouds (Matthew Olshan)
‘This is the World’ series (Miroslav Sasek)
Leap & Hop travel books for kids (Isabelle Demenge)
Lonely Planet ‘Not For Parents’ series

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Let's Inquire Together!

Let's Cook Together!

Let's Write Together!

Let's Be Creative Together!

Let's Travel and Explore Together!

Tanja's bookshelf: read

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