The Carle

If you ever get a chance to visit The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, do it!  This is not a children's museum, but a museum that features exhibits of art by illustrators of children's literature.

This is the 50th anniversary of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I was able to view the exhibit that includes the artwork by Eric Carle for that book.  Of course, I love Eric Carle's work, but this was such a special opportunity to get to see all of the artwork for this book.  The picture below is of the original brown bear.  I was fortunate to get to see it -- it has been restored and is on display for the first time.

Get your book out and compare this to the brown bear from later editions of the book.

Our "dot" painting after reading THE DOT by Peter Reynolds

Here's a picture of the "dot" on canvas.  I love this collection of dots that my students made.

Nana in the City

Nana in the City



Author/illustrator: Lauren Castillo
Genre: realistic fiction
Awards: Caldecott Honor (2015); ALA Notable Children's Book (2015)
Grade level: PK-3

A little boy goes to visit his grandmother (Nana) in the city where she lives, but he is afraid of the city with all the noises and people.  He doesn't think this is a good place for his Nana to live. However, that night while he sleeps, his Nana makes him a cape to wear.  He puts it on before going out into the city and he is able to be brave and overcome the fears of the place where his Nana lives. He realizes that the city is different, but still a good place to live.

The illustrations in this picturebook are beautiful watercolors that depict the way the young boy views the city, both when he is frightened and when he is able to see the good.

Young students could discuss how the boy's feelings about the city change and why they change. Students can discuss how things that are not familiar can be scary at first and what can be done to allay those fears.

Let's get started on this blogging thing!

Greetings, readers!

If you have found your way here, congratulations!  I will be posting reviews of what I'm reading on this blog.

You need to set up your own blog via blogger.  For a video walk-through, go to freetech4teachers.com and search for the "Creating Blogs and Websites" page.  When you get to that page, there is a video of "How to Create a Blog on Blogger."  There are also two other videos you can watch about managing the settings on your blog.

Once you have set up your blog, you will need to register your blog with me.  To do this, you will go to BB assignments and submit the following information:

1.  Blog name/title of your blog

2.  Your name as you are known in your blog (YOUR blog identity)

3.  Your blog address which will look like this:  http://insertname.blogspot.com

You must do this!  If you do not complete this, I will not give you credit for creating a blog.