Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2015
Daring To Be Brave
Hello dear reader, and happy Friday.
Today I'm excited to introduce you to a fun new book
that just might help your child understand and conquer a fear or two,
but not before I tell you about my trip to NASA yesterday.
John's supervisor invited me to talk with a few leadership giants
about Fixed and Growth Mindset, so I went to share Carol Dweck's work with a Star Wars spin that I adapted from {here}.
I have it on good authority that they really connected with the Mindset song
I wrote for them and played on the Ukulele.
You are my Padawans, my Mindset Padawans ...
Anyway, so many fun presenting opportunities presenting themselves.
And now, today's book review:
Title: Daredevil Duck
Author & Illustrator: Charlie Alder
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Date: May 12, 2105
Suitable for ages: 3 and up
Fiction
Theme: courage, friendship, fear
Brief synopsis: Daredevil Duck only dreams of being brave. Will he be able to muster up some courage when mole's yellow balloon gets stuck in a tree and he needs Duck's help?
Opening page:
Compare and contrast this Duck tale with another book
Why I like this book: If you've already watched the little clip, you've seen the flip-flap feature that instantly endeared me to this treasure. I love lift-the-flap books, but it's rare to find them beyond the Board Book stage.
Daredevil Duck totally wants courage to be his superpower. He wants do brave stuff, to be a superhero, but time and time again, his fear gets in the way, and he's scared silly. This is super common in younger children, so I predict they'll connect with this beautifully-illustrated Duck tale that has sent my heart soaring.
As an enrichment idea, encourage students to create their own Fear-This Flip-Flap book listing or drawing out things that scare them. Under the flap, they can show ways in which they imagine processing through to conquer that fear. Give them a yellow balloon as a tangible reminder about Duck and his adventure.
Friday, July 10, 2015
Perfectly Imperfect
It's Friday and it just feels like time for a book review.
{Am I the only one who misses PPBF?}
Yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble to pick up a book I'd ordered,
and here's the bonus find that made its way home with me.
(As an aside, I was going to be named James had I been born a boy).
Anyway, this little treasure is packed with valuable gems ready for mining.
Here's my favorite page, where the problem begins:
The beauty is ... this is so so real.
And, just like in real life, the story morphed.
It wasn't that James said she thinks she's perfect.
It's that James said he thinks her artwork is perfect.
But you know how misunderstandings go ... and now ...
they're in a fight ... or at least ...
in our narrator's heart and mind they are.
I see this jewel as the perfect springboard to target and help stop
rumors, gossip, and distrust in their tracks.
The protagonist never does go to the source, to James, to get the truth, which is perfect, because it allows the reader to arrive at that solution by him or herself.
For enrichment, the Telephone Game? What a perfect idea!
Or adapt this lesson and let the glitter represent rumors instead of germs.
You might want to also treat yourself to this intriguing article:
Just for fun.
Get yourself a red balloon and inflate it to show how
quickly rumors grow before they eventually explode.
Then ask your children to draw something perfectly imperfect.
To stretch them.
To nurture their creativity.
And grow their mindset.
Check out this book; I think you'll be perfectly pleased.
Friday, May 29, 2015
PPBF: The Pout-Pout Fish In The Big-Big Dark
Today I'm excited because it was our last Friday of this school year
hook, line, and sinker.
Title: The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark
Author: Deborah Diesen
Illustrator: Dan Hanna
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Date: August 17, 2010
Fiction
Suitable for: ages 3-6
Themes: feelings of fear, courage, friendship
Brief synopsis: Ms. Clam needs help when her little pearl is lost at sea. Can the Pout-Pout Fish conquer his fear of the dark so that he can keep a promise?
Opening page:
A doozie of a drowsy
Made Ms. Clam yawn.
Then a big current whooshed
And her pearl was GONE!
Resources:
Sing along with the Pout-Pout Fish song:
Project-Based Learning: Read the book, research ocean life, then hold an Aquarium Open House. Here's a sneak peek into the sea-life event that Mrs. Martin's Kindergarten learners hosted this afternoon; talk about courageous!
Why I like this book:
Who wouldn't savor this sea-worthy story as we sail in to summer? Cute and clever, this rhyming underwater treat serves up an all-important underlying truth:
We are bigger than the dark.
Mr. Fish knows his strengths, but he's also well-aware of his limitations. And although he wants to help his friend recover what was lost, he realizes that he must first muster up a whole lot of what he doesn't have much of when it comes to the dark: courage!
Courage comes in all shapes and sizes. For Mr. Fish, it's going to come shaped like Miss Shimmer, who works side-by-side with him to keep his promise, face his fears, brave the dark, and recover that pearl. Find out from your little sponges what scares them and let them share their strategies for mastering those
scared feelings.
Check out this book and the other Pout-Pout Fish titles,
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