The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

After the attacks of September 11 there was a movement to try and explain the events to young children in the format of picture books.  The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Moricai Gerstein is one of those books; however, it does not focus on the fate of the Twin Towers.  Rather, it focuses on a time when the Towers brought a sense of wonder to the world!

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers won the Caldecott Medal in 2004.  You know it is a good book when it wins the Caldecott!  The story is based on a true event!  In 1974 Philippe Petit, a French aerialist, decided he had to tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.  He asked the Towers' owners for permission, but he was denied.  However, this was not enough to stop him.  He disguised himself as a construction worker and climbed his way to the top of the Towers.  After reaching the top, he strung wire between the Towers and began his amazing feet!  

This is a joyful story about the Twin Towers.  Your child will be amazed this is a true story!  

This is a great book to work on building schema (background knowledge) and creating inferences.  Many children have heard of the Twin Towers and know they were destroyed, but many do not know the excitement the Towers created when they were being built.  This book provides readers the opportunity to share in the magic of the Twin Towers.  This is also a great book for creating inferences.  To make an inference, the reader must take his/her own background knowledge and pair it with clues from the text.  There are many opportunities in this story to predict what might happen next!

Some questions to guide your thinking conversation:

1.  Read the first page of text.  Stop and ask your child:  How tall do you think the buildings were?  Use some landmarks your child might be familiar with to help them understand how tall the Towers were.  


2.  Read to  "Maybe if I dressed as a construction worker..."  and ask your child:  What do you predict is going to happen next?


3.  Read to "Then they carried everything up one hundred and eighty stairs to the roof" and stay to your child: Wow!  That is a lot of steps!  Do you think you could climb 180 stairs and carry 440 pounds?  What does this say about Phillippe?


4.  Read to "It was seven-eighths of an inch thick" and ask your child: How big do you think seven-eighths of an inch is?  Put your index finger and middle finger together and show you child what an inch looks like?  Would you walk on a rope that skinny so high up in the air?  How do you think Pillippe feels?  


5.  Read to "Police Saw it, too." and ask your child:  What would you have done if you were there?


6.  Read to the end of the story and ask your child:  Why do you think the author wrote this book?

Where in the Wild?

Where in the Wild? by David Schwartz and Yael Schy has to be one of the coolest books I have come across in a long while! I just know your child will love this book.

Where in the Wild is jam packed with learning.  It combines thought provoking poetry, beautiful photography and easy to read non-fiction text about ten different animals. The poems offers context clues about the identity of each animal as well as it's location in the picture.  The animals are camouflaged on the corresponding page.  When you think you have spotted an animal, just lift the page.  The animal is highlighted against the photo's background.  Well written informational text is provided for each animal.

This book is great because you cannot read it without creating inferences. The context clues within the poems, plus your child's background knowledge will help your chid infer the name of the hidden animal.   Your child will love guessing what animal the authors are describing. 

When you read this book to your child, I suggest  you cover up the photo while you are reading the poem.  Make your child rely on the text and the context clues to try and figure out the name of the animal.  After reading and discussing the poem, show your child the picture and see if they can find the camouflaged animal!  

Start with the title of the poem.  Read it and ask your child:  What could this title mean?  After reading each poem have your child complete the following stem:  My guess is.... or I predict....  Be sure to share your thinking too.  You can point out different parts of the poem that offer up clues to the animal's identity.  

If you cover up the picture, you can also practice visualizing with your child.  The descriptive language used in the poetry is perfect to practice visualizing!  Encourage your child to use the following stems when reading the poems:  I can imagine.... and I am picturing....

This is also a great book to work on determining importance.  When you read the informational text about each animal, you and your child can determine what information you think is important to remember. Have your child complete the following stem after reading about each animal:  I want to remember...  

I told you this book is jam packed with learning.  

Let me know your thoughts on the book!

A Walk in New York

Have you ever been to New York City?  The first time I visited NYC I was overwhelmed.  I remember coming up from the subway and seeing Times Square.  I had never seen anything like it.  Salvatore Rubbino does a great job of sharing the magic of NYC in his book A Walk In New York.  


Pickup the book and you will tour Grand Central Station,  New York Public Library, Empire State Building, and The Statue of Liberty.  The premise of the story is quiet simple: a young boy and his father take a day trip to Manhattan. The father shows his son all the wonderful sights of the city. Rubbino does a great job of highlighting some of the most interesting places in Manhattan. Rubbino shows Manhattan through a child's view, and he also includes interesting facts about each landmark.

This is a great book for building background knowledge.  Every reader brings their own experiences and knowledge when interacting with a text.  If your child has visited NYC they will have a lot of background knowledge to apply to this book.  However, if your child has never been to NYC their background knowledge might be limited.  This book (and your conversations) will help build their knowledge base!  

Before reading the book, pull out a map of the United States.  Find where you live and then find NYC on the map.  This will give your child an idea where NYC is in relation to where they live.  As you read the story be sure to make connections.  You will easily be able to make text-to-self connections and text-to-world connections.   

When you are reading with your child, be sure to model you thinking and make some connections.  You can use the following thinking stems when making connections:

• That reminds me of...
• I can relate to _____ because..

After modeling your connections, be sure to ask your child if they have a connection.

This is also a good book for determining importance. There is just too much information to remember it all!  After each place you visit in the book you can ask your child:  What do you want to remember about _______?

After reading A Walk in New York, your child will have new knowledge of NYC!

There are several extensions you and your child can do with this book!

1. Take a virtual tour of NYC.  Visit all of NYC famous landmarks and read tons of interesting information about each landmark.
2. Explore your city and create your own book.  Take pictures of your favorite parks, restaurants, libraries, theaters, stores, etc.  Find out some interesting information about each place and write your own story! 
3. The story shares an interesting fact about the Empire State Building.  It has 1,860 steps!  That is a lot!  However, most children have a hard time realizing just how many steps that is!  Have your child climb 100 stairs.  I bet they will be tuckered out.  Tell them they would have to do that 19 times to reach the top of the Empire State Building!

Mistakes that Worked

Summer break is just around the corner.  For a lot of kids that means reading will be neglected for a few months.  It is essential you keep reading and sharing books with your child during the summer months!  Did you know children can lose up to two years of reading skills over the course of summer break?


I highly encourage you to make reading a priority.  Since kids are going to be in a play mindset, you are going to have to work a little harder to keep their attention.  Over the next month I am going to share some books I think will keep your child's attention.  I will also share some follow-up activities you can do with your child to keep their mind sharp and fresh.


The first book I want to share is  Mistakes That Worked by Charlotte Foltz Jones.  Kids LOVE this book. This book shares mistakes that turned into great inventions.  Did you know the chocolate chip cookie was a mistake?  So was the slinky and the waffle cone!  Your child will love finding out how some of their favorite toys and food were invented by mistakes!

This is a book you do not have to read cover to cover.  It is a great opportunity to talk about how to use a table of contents! Read through the table of contents with your child and decide what mistake you want to learn about first! Each of the mistakes discussed in the book are only one or two pages long.  Since each story is short your child's attention will not wander.  This book is great for practicing the comprehension strategies of asking questions and determining importance.

Good readers are constantly asking questions about what they read.  They ask questions before reading, during reading and after reading.  When readers ask questions, it shows they are engaged with the story.  Kids love when one of their questions are answered in the text of a story! Sometimes questions are not answered.  However, this just keeps the reader thinking and encourages the reader to do more research to find the answers. Mistakes That Worked encourages kids to question.

Some thinking stems you can use with your child to get them asking questions are:

• I wonder...  
• Why...
• How could....
• What if...

As you read each mistake that worked, be sure to model asking questions.  This will encourage your child to ask questions. Ask genuine questions you have. For example, when I first read about the chocolate chip cookie said, "What if the chocolate chip cookie would have never been invented?  I wonder what Ruth thought the first time she tried the chocolate chip cookie." 

This book is also great for determining importance.  Each story will present a lot of neat information, but what is really important to remember? After reading each story be sure to talk with your child what one thing they want to remember about the invention.  This is also a great way to summarize!  

You can use some of the following thinking stems to help your child determine what is important.

• I want to remember...
• One thing we should notice...
• It's interesting that.

There are lots of way to extend your child's learning beyond the book. 

1. Make or purchase one of the mistakes that worked and explore it with your own hands! Who wouldn't love playing with a slinky after reading about it?  Or making their own waffle cone?  
2. Pick your favorite mistake that worked and do some research about it to learn more. 
3. Visit the United States Patent of Trademark Office Kids' Pages and learn all about past inventions and patents!  Your child can even do a search for patents!
4. Work with your child and create your own invention.  Kids often come up with some of the best ideas!
5. Visit the Invent Now Museum in Akron, Ohio.  It is FREE!  I have never been so I cannot give a review on it.  
6. Sign your child up for a Camp Invention close to your home!

Tops & Bottoms

Spring is a time for planting gardens.  If it would just quit raining, I would be able to start working on my garden!  Tops & Bottoms  by Janet Stevens is a great book to read with your child during gardening season!  


It is such a cute story about a lazy Bear who sleeps through every planting season. He strikes up a deal with a clever Hare.  The deal is that Hare and his family will plant and harvest the crops on Bear's land and in return they get half of the crops.  Hare asks Bear if he wants the top half or the bottom half of the crop.  You will have to read the story to find out why Hare is so clever!

I LOVE this book for many reasons.  One reason is for the illustrations.  They illustrations really help hold the reader's attention.  The book is actually opens vertically and not horizontally. This grabs children right away!

The story also teaches a great lesson and it provides an opportunity for children to practice determining importance.  Children need to use higher level thinking skills  to understand the lesson the story is trying to teach.  It is also a great story to work on inferencing (another high level thinking strategy)!  When we infer we take our background knowledge and combine it with text clues.  

This book is a great springboard for studying plants!  It is garden planting season, so get out and plant some vegetables.  As you plant different vegetables you can talk about how they grow and what section (the top, bottom or middle) is the yummy part!  Children are naturally curious and love learning about how things grow.  If you cannot plant a garden you can always visit a local farmer's market and have the same conversations.  

Some questions to guide your conversation:

1.  Read to "He had lost a risky bet with a tortoise and had sold all of his land to Bear to pay off the debt."  Ask your child:  Do you know a story about a tortoise and a hare?  What happened in that story?

2.  Read to "It's a done deal, Bear" and ask your child:  Why do you think Hare is willing to do all the work and split the profits?  Do you think he might have a trick up his sleeve?  What might it be?

3.  Read to "Hare plucked off all the tops, tossed the into a pile for Bear and put the bottoms aside for himself" and ask your child: Predict how you think Bear is going to react to his part of the crops?   How did Hare trick Bear?  

4.  Read to "It's a done deal, Bear" and ask your child: What trick do you think Hare has up his sleeve this time? 

5.  Read to "It's only fair that you get both tops and bottoms this time" and ask your child:  Why would Hare give agree to give Bear the tops and bottoms? What crop do you think he might plant this time?  

6.  Read to "They never became business partners again" and ask your child:  What is the lesson we are supposed to learn from this story?  Have your child complete the following sentence starter:  I want to remember....

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway of Janet Stevens newest book!

Odd Boy Out Young Albert Einstein

One of my favorite genres of children's literature is the biography.  I especially love picture book biographies. Even as and adult,  I learn so much when I read a picture book biography.  Biographies share rich stories about people who have helped shape our world.   

Odd Boy Out by Don Brown is an interesting biographical story about Albert Einstein.  Einstein is such a fascinating person to study.  Children love learning about the eccentric scientist with the big hair!  Brown does a super job of showing the reader Einstein was human. This particular biography does not spend much time on Einstein's theory of relativity.  Instead, the reader learns about Einstein's childhood and the events that shaped his scientific mind.  

Biographies tend to share a lot of information with the reader --too much information to remember!  When readers are presented with a lot of information they need to determine what is important to keep in their brain files.  Determining importance is often a challenging skill for kids.  They want to remember it all.  Before children can determine what information they need to remember and what information they can discard, they need to know their purpose for reading.  For example, are they looking for new facts? Seeking answers to questions?  Learning how to complete a task?  Once children identify their purpose of reading, they can decide what type of information that are going to try and remember.

Before reading Odd Boy Out, take a moment and activate your child's schema (background knowledge).  Ask your child what they already know about Albert Einstein.  You can share what you know about Einstein too!  After sharing, set your purpose for reading by asking your child what they hope to learn about Einstein.

As you read the story about Einstein, prompt your chid with the following thinking stems:

• I want to remember...
• It's interesting that...
• One thing we should notice is...

You can also use the above stems to model your thinking for your child. Not only is the book good for working on determining importance, but it is also good for making text-to-self connections.  As you read the story, you will see Einstein was often the "odd boy" in society.  See if your child can make any connections between Einstein and their own life.  

Once you are finished reading the story (be sure to read the author's note at the end!), ask your child what is the most important thing they want to remember about Einstein.  

Now & Ben

I love picture books that not only tell a story, but also share historical information with the reader!  Now & Ben The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta is one of those books.  Not only does this book share the many inventions of Benjamin Franklin, but it also shows the reader how the invention has evolved in today's society.  This story deepens one's appreciation for one of the most influential figures in American History.

It is important your child have some schema (background knowledge) about Ben Franklin before reading this story.  The story talks about his inventions and how they helped shape present day society, but it does not go into much detail about his life.  If your child does not have much schema about Ben Franklin take some time to read the book jacket with your child and talk about the words etched in the cobblestone on the cover (printer, statesman, writer, humorist, etc).

Since this story is full of information about Ben Franklin's inventions, this is a great story determine importance. When we read a text we accumulate lots of information, but our brains cannot remember every detail.  Good readers need to learn how to remember and discuss important ideas and concepts.When determining what is important in a text the reader should always be thinking about what matters most in the story.

When you share this book with your child you can use some of the following sentence stems to help your child determine importance.

• I want to remember....
• What's important here....
• Wow!  I think it is interesting that Ben...
• The most important thing I learned about Ben Franklin is....

Enjoy the story!  When you spring your clocks forward on March 12th be sure to say a thank you to Benjamin Franklin!  

Thunder Cake

This morning I was awoken by claps of thunder and strikes of lightening.  I am not a big fan of thunderstorms.  There is just something about them that scares me.  Do you have a child who does not like thunderstorms?   If so, you have to read Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco!

Thunder Cake is a touching story about the relationship between Patricia Polacco and her Grandmother.  Patricia loves spending her summer days at her Grandma's farm in Michigan, but she is scared of thunderstorms.  The sound of thunder scares her more than anything.  Patricia's Grandma helps her overcome her fear of thunder by distracting her during a storm.  They wander outside and gather the ingredients to bake a Thunder Cake!  When the cake is in the oven Patricia's Grandma shares how brave  Patricia is by recounting the events of the day.  As the storm rolls in, Grandma and child share a nice slice of Thunder Cake.

This story is just full of teaching ideas!  It is great for making text-to-self connections to help build schema (background knowledge).  If your child is afraid of thunderstorms, or has been in the past, they will easily make connections.  The story also explores the relationship between grandmother and grandchild.  Many kids will be able to make connections to the relationship Patricia has with her grandmother.  You and your child will also easily make predictions when you are reading this story.  You will want to know what happens next and will use your background knowledge and text clues to make educated guesses about the upcoming events.  At the end of the story you will determine importance by coming up with the big idea of the story.

A few questions to guide your conversation:

1.  Read to "Looks like a storm coming to me."  Ask your child:  What do you think a Thunder Cake might be?


2.  Read to "It's only thunder you're hearing."  Ask your child:  Why do you think the child is under the bed? Have you ever been afraid of a thunderstorm?    


3.  Read to "It scared me a lot, but I kept walking with Grandma" Ask your child:  Patricia has been scared to gather the eggs, collect the milk and walk to get the dry ingredients.  Do you think she will be able to gather the courage to finish making the cake?  What makes you think this?  How does her Grandma help her?


4.  Read to "We've got everything but the secret ingredient".  Ask your child: What do you predict might be the secret ingredient?  Make sure you share your prediction with your child!

5.  Read to "Only a very brave person could have done all them things!"  Ask your child: Patricia was very brave.  Even though she was scared of the thunder, she went outside and gathered supplies for the thunder cake.  Can you think of a time when you did something that was brave?   If your child has a hard time thinking of an example, you can share a time when you noticed he or she was brave.

6.  Read to "From that time on, I never feared the voice of thunder again."  Ask your child:  What do you think Patricia will do the next time their a thunderstorm?


7.  Ask your child:  What lesson is the story trying to teach us?

You cannot read Thunder Cake without actually making the cake - that is the BEST part of the story.  The recipe for Thunder Cake is in the back of most versions of the book.  However, I am sharing it below just to make sure you have it.

How to Make a Thunder Cake

Cream together, one at a time the following ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, separated ~Blend yolks in. Beat whites until they are stiff and then fold in)
1 cup cold water
1/3 cup pureed tomatoes

Sift together the following ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dry cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Mix dry mixture into the creamy mixture.  Bake in two greased and floured 8 1/2 inch round pans at 350 degrees for 35 -40 minutes.  Frost with chocolate frosting and top with strawberries!

Yummy!  This is a really good cake!  I have made it several times and have never been disappointed.  Making the cake with your child is really a great extension to the story!  It helps your child make real world connections (text-to-world).

Let me know if you make the yummy cake!

Bartholomew and the Oobleck

Do you like to celebrate birthdays?  I do!  I love any excuse for cake and ice-cream.  March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Take a few minutes and celebrate by reading aloud one of his books.

One of my favorites to share with kids is Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  It was first published in 1949 and the message it shares is just as important today as it was sixty years ago!    King Derwin loves to look at the sky, but he tires of seeing only snow, fog, rain and sunshine.   He calls upon his magicians to create something new to fall from the sky that no other kingdom has seen before.  His royal magicians create oobleck - a green, gooey substance that ends up creating disaster throughout the kingdom.  Bartholomew, the king's page boy, tries to help out, but in the end the king needs to mutter three simple (yet magic) words: "I am sorry."  


The story is so much fun to read aloud; however, it is a rather long picture book.  Be prepared to take about twenty minutes to share this one!  It is a great book to help kids determine importance.  Determining importance is really just deciding what matters most-- finding the big idea.  The story also lends itself to creating inferences.


A few questions to help boost you conversation about the story.


1.  Read to "But, Your Majesty, I still think that you may be very sorry."  Ask your child: What do you predict is going to happen?


2.  Read to "He poked his head  out through the little trap door."  Share what you think is going to happen.  Start with the following thinking stem to share your prediction: It could be that...


3.  Read to "I'll blow the loudest alarm that's ever been heard in the Kingdom of Didd!"  Ask your child: What do you think is going to happen when the royal trumpeter blows on his horn? 

4.  Read to "Shaking his head sadly, he stepped back inside."  As your child:  How would you feel if you lived in the Kingdom of Didd?  What would you do if you were Bartholomew?


5.  At the end of the story as your child:  What is one thing we should remember about this story?  If your child has trouble coming up with a big idea, you can say I want to remember.....

Half the fun of sharing this book is making your own oobleck!  It is really easy and I guarantee your child will LOVE it!  Making and investigating the oobleck is a great science experiment.  To make oobleck you just need the following ingredients: 1 cup of water, 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch (maybe a bit more) and a few drops of food coloring.   Mix all the ingredients together and prepare to get messy! 


Enjoy celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd! I cannot wait to hear your oobleck experiences.


Today is the last day to enter into the giveaway!   

What is Comprehension?

Comprehension is simply making meaning of text. Reading is an interactive process between the words on the page and the reader.  Children need to understand what the words and sentences mean in order to make sense of a story. Comprehension is all about thinking and it is the key to reading.

Good readers constantly interact with a text using one of six strategies that aid in understanding.

1. Visualizing: Creating mental images as one reads through the five senses.
2. Using Schema (Background Knowledge): Making connections and retrieving prior knowledge before during and after reading.
3. Inferring: Drawing conclusions, making predictions and forming interpretations by using prior knowledge and information read in the text.
4. Questioning:  Generating questions about text before, during and after reading.
5. Determining Importance: Identifying the theme of a text and distinguishing between important and unimportant information
6. Synthesizing: Continually changing thinking as one reads through the text.

In this blog I will share some of my favorite stories from children's literature.  Along with each story, I will post guiding questions for you to ask your child.  Each story's questions will focus on one or two reading strategies.  Remember, reading with your child is a fun experience.  Do not focus too much on the questions.  They are just meant to help guide a conversation between you and your child!