For Teachers

STEM Tuesday — A River Runs Through It– Writing Tips & Resources

By on September 20, 2022   /   Activity Books, Animals, books, Climate Change/Earth Science, Common Core & NGSS, Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, Ecosystems, Field Work, For Parents, For Teachers, Fun!, Homeschool Resource, independent bookstores, Indie Spotlight, Living Seas/Oceans, Living Sustainably, Nonfiction, Oceans, STEM Tuesday, Sustainable Living  

 

 

Margo here, working to keep the (A) in STE(A)M. Science purists might think the (A) is unimportant but I’m here to argue that it is Very Important. and I will present reasons why.

For instance, this month’s theme is “rivers.” This week, I have examples of books about rivers that are superior at delivering content to youngsters because of that (A). I selected these books because they are perfect examples of using (A) – creativity in BOOK DESIGN that makes the content easier to understand and enjoy. Remember the spoonful of sugar? Plus having students make their own books is the perfect way to evaluate their learning and understanding of the subject matter (more on that below).

The first book is World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky, illustrated by Frank Stockton. Take a look at this page. The book designer has made the page speak by using color, type design, and compositional tricks. Let’s back up a bit.

In the study of art, you will find that “art” has three components: subject, form, and content. Subject is, well – what it’s about. Subject in a painting might be an apple, in a book – rivers. Content is deeper meaning – the deeper meaning of the apple might be hunger depending how the apple is portrayed. In the book, content could be environmental impact. And form refers to the physical aspects, such as medium (paint or pencil) or such observable concepts as composition and color. Book design comes under the component of form. I argue that appropriate and creative FORM enhances the subject and content. And that (A) art is an essential ingredient in STE(A)M.

In World Without Fish, the subject is of course fish. The content is what is happening to fish, the impact of fishing, and possible solutions to maintaining the oceans environmentally and economically. Now this might be exciting to read just the text, but to some students, it might not. So the publishing team has taken creativity to the form – the book and type design, the colors, the styles and size – to make a book where the content fairly jumps off the page and engages young readers with energy. It includes a comic series that appears at regular intervals throughout the book. So we have the art of “visual narrative” to further the content and engage all types of learners.

The illustrations and creative use of type all serve to draw the reader in.

 

The next book, Explore Rivers and Ponds, by Carla Mooney, illustrated by Bryan Stone, is an activity book with more examples of creative arrangement of content. The design makes the material easier to understand. It’s almost conversational. It pauses to explain vocabulary and includes activities such as ‘bark rubbing,” which looked like a great active art project for getting kids out into nature and interacting directly with the environment. It’s an activity that requires no “art” experience and can produce some great drawings.

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite activities with students is making books. It offers a creative and very satisfying way for students to “show off” what they have learned. Let the students try their hand at creative book design. A very friendly and ecologically conscious guide to making books with kids is Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord’s Handmade Books for A Healthy Planet. An enthusiastic environmental artist, she offers many ideas for book projects. Visit her website for many free activities or visit her YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/skgaylord.

 

A project I did with university students requires publishing software skills, but it’s a great project that combines research, writing, collaboration, proper citing of sources, and, of course, art, and can be scaled down for younger children. I partnered with Dr, Esther Pearson, a member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe and we produced a coloring book called “Native American Lore.” The students did the research and artwork and had the satisfaction of seeing their work in print. We presented it at an educational symposium and proceeds are donated to a non-profit that provides school expenses for the children of migrant workers in Veracruz, Mexico. The students had an amazing sense of accomplishment to see their research and artwork out in the world. This would be great for science topics and promote teamwork and cooperation. You can still find our book on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

Please don’t think because you are not an artist, you can’t work (A) into STEM projects. You will find your students have a good sense of art and many will be delighted to help plan. There are plenty of resources such as Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord’s book, and you may find you have more (A) in you than you realize.

 

Books can be found here:

World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky, Frank Stockton (Illustrator) ISBN-13: 9780761185000, Publisher: Workman Publishing Company. https://bookshop.org/books?keywords=9780761185000

Explore Rivers and Ponds! Carla Mooney (Author) Bryan Stone (Illustrator) 9781936749805. Nomad Press (VT) https://bookshop.org/books/explore-rivers-and-ponds/9781936749805

Handmade Books for a Healthy Planet – Sixteen Earth-Friendly Projects From Around The World, Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord, ISBN-10: 0984231900, makingbooks.com. https://www.susangaylord.com/store/p7/Handmade_Books_For_A_Healthy_Planet.html

Native American Lore An Educational Coloring Book: Class Research Project Paperback – November 5, 2018 by Dr. Esther Pearson (Author), Margo Lemieux (Author), Riverside Studios Publishing, ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1731183933 . https://www.amazon.com/Native-American-Lore-Educational-Coloring/dp/1731183933/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2N6YKOA8ZYDBD&keywords=Native+American+lore+lemieux&qid=1662756358&sprefix=native+american+lore+lemieux%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-1

Kaleidoscope for Kids https://www.amazon.com/Kaleidoscope-Kids-Magic-Storymakers-Present/dp/B0B3S1Y4XN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PBZG4RAZRH13&keywords=Kaleidoscope+for+Kids+book&qid=1662989345&sprefix=kaleidoscope+for+kids+book%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1

 

 

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Margo Lemieux is professor emerita at Lasell University, former regional advisor for SCBWI New England, and a lifelong learner. Her publishing credits include picture books, poetry, articles, and illustration. Her latest publishing project is an anthology with her writers’ group, the Magic Storymakers, titled Kaleidoscope for Kids.

 

 

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The (Almost) No-Rules Storytelling Project for Middle Graders: “Tell Me a Story”

By on July 22, 2022   /   Articles, For Teachers  

For those of you starting to compile ideas for the new school year, here’s a storytelling project that promotes creativity, engages interest, and can be readily differentiated.

Early fall is a great time for a storytelling activity for middle graders in your ELA classes, library or author workshop, or homeschool sessions. Learners might be eager to employ creativity after summer break, and seeing evidence of student work through storytelling early on can guide your personalized instruction moving forward. Students’ topics might connect with middle grade titles you plan to introduce. And as these early-in-the-year projects might be a little more loosely structured than formal writing assignments later, it’s a nice way to ease into the workload of a new year.

So for an (almost) no-rules storytelling project, consider saying to your Language Arts, homeschool, or library students, “Just tell me a story…”  Then stand back for the flood of questions! “Real, or made up?” “Does it have to have me in it?” And of course, “How long does it have to be?”  For an open-ended storytelling project like this, almost anything goes—fiction or creative non-fiction; almost any genre; set in current times, recent or long-ago past, or the future. Really, once the most basic of guidelines (appropriateness, length or time involved, etc.) are established, set storytellers free to compose and create.

What’s more, an open-ended storytelling project has great flexibility for differentiation. Some, most, or all of a story might be told visually, told aloud, told through song or drama, told with or through a partner or group… and even if the student utilizes minimal or no written words, you can still assess their story sense with categories that might feed your rubric creation:

  • their ability to perceive and comprehend conflict and characters/key figures;
  • their ability to convey setting and passage of time; and
  • their ability to communicate messages, lessons, and themes to others.

Here are some ideas to get your assignment wheels turning in preparation for an (Almost) No-Rules Storytelling project:

1. Try timed brainstorming by categories for idea generation (books read, places visited, fun family times, cool facts, weird tales), then narrow down to potential story topics.

2. Once a writer has an idea, they can think about all the ways in which the story might be told:

  • Graphic/comics-style story – Show some great graphic novel or memoir examples to get storytellers’ wheels going (When Stars Are Scattered, New Kid, El Deafo).
  • Map story – The writer draws a map that includes all the locations important to their story, then briefly summarizes the story’s events in brief phrases or images associated with those micro-settings.
  • PTD story – Story events are summarized or sketched on a traditional Plot Triangle Diagram (or create a plot diagram that is not so traditional!).
  • Drama performance – Write the story in “sides” like Shakespeare used: Each performer holds a list of their lines, each with a bit of the previous line to serve as the cue. A great exercise in listening, reacting, and communication!
  • Musically – Tell the story set to original music or to a known song reset to the student’s story in lyric form; add movement (dance, statues, interpretive movement, etc.) if the storyteller would like.
  • Art series – Tell the story in a series of sketches, paintings, drawings.
  • Photography – Show examples of photo essays or photojournalism; storytellers use a camera and a series of images they photograph to tell a story. (Or, offer class members a series of abstract, unrelated images taken with your camera and challenge each learner to tell a story based on the images.)
  • Oral storytelling – Storytellers use whatever notes they want to suit their comfort level as they tell the story aloud.
  • Group storytelling – Group members add on lines or plot spontaneously to keep a story going; or, group members can generate a story in pieces while working independently, then compile the events in a way that tells a cohesive story.

3. Encourage students to think outside the box, and to feel free to experiment with form, structure, and style. Combine two or more methods of storytelling or invent an original way to tell the story.

4. Ready some resources for inspiration:

Secrets of Storytelling by MUF’s own contributor Natalie Rompella offers ready-made activity sheets, writer tips, and fun story prompts.

Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine – Chapter One is online here and includes starters and advice.

Story cubes are fun for everyone and might especially benefit visual learners and English language learners in the idea generation process.

5. Finally, for inspiration, share some MG titles with learners in which characters’ storytelling is part of the plot:

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin – Twelve-year-old Jason is autistic and often struggles with relationships in a neurotypical world. Thanks to a site where Jason posts original stories, he has the chance to make a friend in a fellow writer named Rebecca—if he can just work up the courage to meet her.

Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero by Kelly J. Baptist – To get by in tough times, young Isaiah looks to his late father’s stories about Isaiah’s inspirational superhero self.

Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen by Kate McGovern – Eleven-year-old Maple loves dictating stories into her recorder—but reading words on the page is difficult due to her dyslexia. When Maple must repeat fifth grade, she uses her storytelling skills to hide the truth from classmates.

Good luck to all educators as you ready your stellar assignments for fall, and thank you for the invaluable work you do for middle graders and all learners.

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Books of Hope for Uvalde’s Kids

By on July 21, 2022   /   Articles, For Librarians, For Teachers, For Writers  

Today’s post features e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Never Counted Out’s  project to provide “600 Books of Hope” for Uvalde children. All of us felt sick to hear of the mass slaughter of children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in May. We wished we could do

something for that traumatized community. San Antonio children’s author, filmmaker, and youth activist e.E. Charlton-Trujillo (www.eecharlton-trujillo.com) felt much the same, but found inspiration after reading about Uvalde public librarian Martha Carreon who decided to continue with story hour scheduled for the day after the shooting.

When Trujillo shared this with children’s author and fellow literacy activist G. Neri, the two discussed how to convert their feelings of hopelessness into something productive. “We could give money, sign petitions, and vent our outrage, but it didn’t feel like enough,” Neri said. “We needed to focus on the kids.”

The IDEA

Through Trujillo’s nonprofit Never Counted Out, they put out an appeal to the children’s book world called #600BooksOfHope. The original goal was to give every child in Robb Elementary School a new book, so they would know others supported them. Soon the goal expanded to an additional 1,300 books, one for every elementary school child in town. As books began to arrive, Never Counted Out expanded their request to included middle grade, YA, board books and graphic novels, hoping to gift every child in the city with at least one book of hope. Because there wasn’t one child who wasn’t impacted by the horrors of that day.

“What you see here is a Wall of Hope!”

THEN. . .

The response has been tremendous! Authors, illustrators, educators, and book lovers from all over the U.S., from Canada, from the UK, and from France have sent children’s books—their own or favorites by others. “This experience has reminded me of the power of what we can do collectively when we might feel we can do so little on our own,” Trujillo said. “Story allows us to seek refuge, to feel seen, to feel inspired – it also provides a way to reclaim our own narrative.” (I hope e.E. included their own children’s books in the collection: her just released picture book LUPE LOPEZ, ROCK STAR RULES; her middle grade novel, prizefighter en mi casa; and her FAT ANGIE Young Adult novels. )

Trujillo’s belief in the power of story and young people was the focus of the award-winning documentary At-Risk Summer which acted as the launching point for founding Never Counted Out. An organization dedicated to access to books and creative mentorship.

There has also been a great response from publishers.  BiblioKids, Candlewick Press, Charlesbridge, Chronicle, Cameron-Kids Abrams, Little Brown, MacMillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, Pesi Publishing, Simon & Schuster, and others have sent numerous cartons of their books for free.

Gia Gordon, COO for Never Counted Out says, “From publishers to partnerships with nonprofits Family Service, Reading Is Fundamental, the educational group Edmentum and others, we are witnessing in real-time the power of what people believe story can do. It’s remarkable.”

AND NOW. . .

Never Counted Out hopes to work with the Uvalde school district and public library to host a day of free author and illustrator visits for school age kids followed by a day for book distribution and author meet and greets. While there are a lot of moving parts, the 600 Books of Hope team is offering, as Trujillo says, “their time in service of the young people. To honor those that were lost at Robb Elementary School and empower those who remain through literacy and tools of storytelling.”

Because children’s books can create hope and healing in the face of all kinds of injustices and disasters. 600 Books of Hope has shown us there is something we can do. If you want to support the efforts of #600BooksOf Hope or would like more information, visit: https://www.eecharlton-trujillo.com/600booksofhope

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e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Gia Gordon are authors and the cofounders of  Never Counted Out, which seeks to empower at-risk youth through  book access and the arts. Never Counted Out has conducted other book donation projects in response to need or disaster such as #KidLitForCampFire in the wake of one of the deadliest fires in California history and Project Pulse after the tragic shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. To learn more about them go to https://belatina.com/combats-pain-through-expression-voice/ Instagram: @nevercountedout_nonprofit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nevercountedoutnonprofit

G. Neri is the Artist Program Coordinator for #600BooksOfHope. He is the Coretta Scott King honor-winner for his  YUMMY:THE LAST DAYS OF A SOUTHSIDE SHORTY and GHETTO COWBOY. GHETTO COWBOY, adapted as “Concrete Cowboy” starring Idris Elba, debuted at #1 on Netflix in 2021.  In 2017, he was awarded the first of two National Science Foundation grants that sent him to Antarctica which has inspired two forth coming books for middle graders.

                                                                –e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

 

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