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Sunday

Great AAPI Kids Books

Great AAPI kids Books 




What a time we are living through:The pandemic, Black Lives Matter and the AAPI movement.  It's so important we talk about these topics with our students to give them context and different viewpoints.  This week's focus: AAPI.

Let's talk about Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki and Dom Lee.  This book is about Shorty, whose life gets turned upside down when his family is put into an internment camp during WW2.  To create some type of normalcy during this difficult time his father decides to start a baseball team.  To give my students some context, I've organized field trips to the Japanese American National Museum here in Los Angeles.  At this time, JANM is offering virtual tours!  The tours there are led by people who were interned and can offer unique insight to the experience.  They've taught my students Taiko drumming and origami too.  Check them out,

Eyes That Kiss In The Corners by Joanna Ho and illustrated by Dung Ho.  In this story, a young girl notices that her eyes are different from her peers.  She realizes she has eyes like her family. "They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future."  The illustrations are bright and beautiful.  Check out The Teaching Books Blog where they interviewed Joanna Ho!!

Finally, A Different Pond by acclaimed poet Bao Phi and illustrated by Thi Phi.  This is a beautiful book about a father son relationship. Bao and his father go fish for food.  While they fish, his father talks about another pond in Vietnam. Beautifully told books with fantastic illustrations.  This quiet read has won so many awards and is a great read for social justice.  Here is a YouTube link to a reading. 


I love picture books but as an upper grade teacher, I also read chapter books so I need to address that too!

Diamond in the Desert is by Kathryn Fitzmaurice.  It's about 12 year old Tetsu and what his family goes through when they are interned.  As you can infer by the title, baseball has a big part in the book but it also abut family and responsibility.  The author actually did a Skype visit with my students about the book.  She was so sweet.  Here is a link to her website.  I do a close reading unit with my students which can be found here.

One I have not read to my class yet but I plan to is Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling.  This story is about the intersection of the lives of Sylvia Mendez and Aki Munemitsu.  Sylvia's family was at the heart of the Mendez vs. Westminster School District case which desegregated California schools for Latino families.  Aki's family was sent to an internment camp and Sylvia's family rents their farm while they are being interned.  The real Sylvia and Aki were on a podcast together.  Take a listen.

Last is Inside Out and Back Again (not pictured) by Thannha Lai.  I've read this book every year to my kids since I've discovered it.  It won the National Book award and it is written in free verse so it is more accessible to our growing readers.  The story follows Ha as she moves from Saigon, to Guam to Alabama and how she deals with everything coming down on her.  If you need a close reading guide, find one here!

You can find me on these platforms (as well as my blog!)
  
How can I make your job easier this year?  Let me know in the comments.  If I use your ideas for a blog post, you will win $10 to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Even better, if I use your ideas to make a resource in my store, LisaTeachR's Classroom, I'll send you a free copy of that resource! 

Picture Books for Growth Mindset

Picture Books for
Growth Mindset




Growth mindset is HUGE in my class and here are some of my favorite picture books along with some tips on how to use them in your classroom.

First up, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by JoAnn Deak and illustrated by Sarah Ackerley. This is a great place to start because kids need to know that their brains can stretch and grow.  It helps the understanding that your brain can grow and you can become smarter.  I'm assuming you've heard of Getepic.com?  I've used it a lot since we've been teaching online. This story is on there if you don't have a physical copy.

My next recommendation is The Dot by Peter Reynolds.  Fablevision learning has some great resources for teachers.  Check them out.  I'm sure you've heard of International Dot Day...that happens on September 15th and it's where kids all over the world unleash their creativity.  You can sign your class up and get some ideas here.

Finally, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires is a great addition to your library.  This story teaches kids that we face challenges but the important thing is to persevere.  I like to use the "Somebody Wanted But So Then" frame with my kids to summarize.  The little girl (somebody) wanted to build the most magnificent thing  but she couldn't figure it out so she kept trying then she was able to create something magnificent. There is even a short film on Amazon Prime narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. This book is also on GetEpic.com. 

Katie, from A Basket Full of Apples, and I talk about picture books on Tuesdays at 4:30 PST on Clubhouse.  Are you on Clubhouse?  It's an app for the iPhone and you need to be invited to join.  I learn so much on Clubhouse every time I listen.  Come join us to share your favorite books for growth mindset!  We'd love to bring you on stage to share.

Check out these educational blogs with some great insight into teaching.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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You can find me on these platforms (as well as my blog!)
  

How can I make your job easier this year?  Let me know in the comments.  If I use your ideas for a blog post, you will win $10 to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Even better, if I use your ideas to make a resource in my store, LisaTeachR's Classroom, I'll send you a free copy of that resource! 

Saturday

STEM ** STEAM ** DREAMS: Let's talk picture books


Picture Books for
STEM ** STEAM ** DREAMS




Let's talk picture books for STEM...STEAM...DREAMS...ok whatever acronym you use, it means science, tech and math. Here are some of my favorites.

Ada Twist Scientist by Andrea Beatty. I love her books because I find them easy for the kids to put themselves into the characters. Are your kids questioneers? If you want to learn about the scientific method, follow Ada Twist! This is a great book to have kids start thinking of themselves as scientists. It's not someone else, it's you!! If you are reading some Andrea Beatty's other books, check out her website. It's a fantastic site.

My kids loooove How to Code a Sandcastle by Josh Funk. This is a great book to have kids learn all the coding vocab in an easy relatable way. Sequence, loops, conditions, all of it! Then I would take littles to kodable and older kids to code.org to put that vocabulary into use.

Last but not least is Computer Decoder: Dorothy Vaughan, Computer Scientist by Andi Diehn. This is a beautiful full-color picture book biography about Dorothy Vaughan. She was one of NASA’s first African American managers and one of the groundbreakers on the front line of electronic computing. Best part is that this book includes hands-on STEM activities for an introduction to coding. You want something to do now? Try making a coding bracelet. I use cereal like froot loops and yarn. They make a repeating pattern to show a code sequence. Red, blue, yellow, yellow, repeat, repeat, repeat. An easy way to connect the concepts with a hands on activity.

You can find me on these platforms (as well as my blog!)
  

How can I make your job easier this year?  Let me know in the comments.  If I use your ideas for a blog post, you will win $10 to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Even better, if I use your ideas to make a resource in my store, LisaTeachR's Classroom, I'll send you a free copy of that resource! 

Sunday

Perfect Picture Books for Women's Herstory!

Perfect Picture Books for Women's Herstory!

Picture books

The first title I chose to speak on: Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World (Vashti Harrison). I was sooo lucky to read about a Virtual field trip for World Read Aloud Day hosted by Flipgrid. They called it a "Flipgrid Virtual Field Trip: Celebrate World Read Aloud Day with Beloved and Bestselling Creator Vashti Harrison author of LITTLE LEADERS: BOLD WOMEN IN BLACK HISTORY." It was amazing. She spoke and even taught the kids to do her art! Always keep an eye out on Twitter for cool opportunities.

Another beauty: Be Bold! Be Brave! : 11 Latinas who made U.S. History (English and Spanish Edition) Written by Naibe Reynoso and illustrated Jone Leal. So I read this to my Second graders who absolutely loved it. Then I used some of the vocabulary to create games for them on educandy. Have you tried this site? I wasn't crazy about the quiz function because I like to do it with the kids and all the kids had different quiz orders. But my kids especially liked the word function. As a teacher, you put in the words. I used journalist, performer, activist etc... Then the site gives you a link with three games your kids can play: word searches, Spell it (like Hangman) and Anagrams. The word search gives the kids the words. The others do not so I put them in the chat to help them out!

Image from NYTimes.com

Last but not least, Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Parker and Jessica Curry, illustrated by Brittany Jackson. This beautiful girl was starstruck when she came upon the image of the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sweet story about the power of art. I can see having an art lesson after this book where the colors really pop just like Amy Sheffield.


You can find me on these platforms (as well as my blog!)
  
How can I make your job easier this year?  Let me know in the comments.  If I use your ideas for a blog post, you will win $10 to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Even better, if I use your ideas to make a resource in my store, LisaTeachR's Classroom, I'll send you a free copy of that resource! 

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