Over the past few weeks, I’ve been talking about the importance of looking at the standards horizontally as well as vertically, and in this final installment in the series, I’m going to do just that as I walk you through what effective close reading questioning can look like, unpacking one strand at a time using texts of varying complexities.  Last up:

READING STANDARDS FOR INFORMATIONAL TEXT K-3, Craft and Structure, Strand 5

In Kindergarten, the strand reads:  Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

Example text:  Living in an Igloo by Jan Reynolds

genre: informational text

Strand-specific questions:

• Point to the front cover of the book.  What information can you find on the front cover of the book?  Why is that information important?
• Point to the back cover of the book.  What information can you find on the back cover of the book?  Why is that information important?
• Point to the title page of the book.  What information can you find on the title page of the book?  Why is that information important?
• **Point to the text.  Who writes the words in a book?
• **Point to the pictures.  Who creates the pictures for a book?  Are these pictures illustrations or photographs?  How do you know?
• **Point to the map.  What information does the map give you?

In First Grade, the strand reads:  Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.

Example text:  Vanishing Cultures: Frozen Land by Jan Reynolds

genre: informational text

Strand-specific questions:

• According to the text, what causes ridges in the snow and ice?  Point to the place in the text where you found your answer.
• What does an igloo look like at night?  How do you know?  What parts of the book did you use to find your answer?
• Where do the Inuit live?  How do you know?  Locate two parts of the book that provide the reader with this information.

In Second Grade, the strand reads:  Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

Example text:  Puffling Patrol by Ted and Betsy Lewin

genre: narrative nonfiction

Strand-specific questions:

• Where are the puffin cliffs located?  How many of them are identified in the text?  How do you know?  Where in the text did you find this information?
• Define the following words:  burrow, fissure, ecosystem, erupt, incubate.  What parts of the book can I use to figure out what these words mean?
• Suppose you wanted to know more about puffins.  What websites do the authors suggest you check out?  Where can you find this information in the text?  What is that section called?
• Cite three facts about puffins that the authors did not mention in the main body of the text.  Where did you find this information?  How was this information organized?

In Third Grade, the strand reads:   Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

Example text:  Everglades Forever by Trish Marx

genre: informational text

Strand-specific questions:

• What is an artificial marsh? How does the historic flow of water compare to the current flow of water? How does the  current flow of water compare to the restored flow?  Where in the text did you find this information?
• Define the following words:  periphyton, thermoregulate, aquifer, invertebrate, lichen, porous.  What parts of the book can I use to figure out what these words mean?
• Who wrote the book Life in a Wetland?  How do you know?  Where can I find that information in the text?
• Why does Jackie Stone teach her students about the Everglades? What is the message she hopes to leave with her students?  How do you know? Where in the text did you find this information?

 Further Reading:

• Unpacking the Common Core Standards, Part 1: Thinking Horizontally 
• Unpacking the Common Core Standards, Part 2: Thinking Horizontally
• Unpacking the Common Core Standards, Part 3: Thinking Horizontally
• What is close reading?
• What does close reading look like in Kindergarten?
• What does close reading look like in First Grade?
• What does close reading look like in Second Grade?
• What does close reading look like in Third Grade?

She was kind enough to share a few photographs from her own travels that inspired the art for How Far Do You Love Me?. Enjoy!

Ladakh, Himalaya mountain range, Kashmir, India

Serengeti Plain, Tanzania

Machu Picchu, Andes mountain range, Peru

Mekong River, Vietnam

My son is five and he’s (obviously) a boy. That means he finds slapstick humor absolutely jaw-droppingly hilarious. Tom and Jerry make him laugh so hard that he will literally fall out of his chair. My husband has (mostly) outgrown that style of humor, however, and tends to laugh at more intellectual Eddie Izzard-style jokes. That’s the great thing about humor-it’s not all one-size-fits all. Different things make different people laugh. So how do you write a funny story to appeal to more than just yourself?

First off, know your audience. While not everyone is the same (thank goodness), there are some pretty major differences between a 45-year-old stock broker and a twelve year old girl. Humor has to be relatable and include elements that are recognizable for the intended audience.

This might seem obvious, but it can be hard. I’m mumble-something-mumble years old. I was a teen in the 80′s (you can do the math if you like). A joke about parachute pants might fly with me (or, it would have back then-I mean, come on, how were those ever considered cool?) but today’s teens would have no idea what I was talking about (I hope). In fact, that 45-year-old stockbroker would get more of a giggle out of it. Make your humor relevant for the audience you’re writing for.

And be specific. The more specific you are, the funnier things are, partly because it makes it easier for people to imagine what’s going on. If you say “yappy Yorkshire Terrier wearing a studded leather collar and a Yo Mamma! doggy t-shirt,” that’s funnier than “little dog.”

But for heaven’s sake, don’t force a joke or over complicate things. If it takes pages and pages to set up the payoff, chances are your readers are going to give up or forget what was going on before they get there. Or they will figure out the punch line before you have a chance to deliver it, robbing your words of their impact. Let the humor come naturally out of the situation or plot twist or character. In Cat Girl’s Day Off, I had an easy time of it – there’s something intrinsically funny (to most people) about a talking pink cat with attitude named Rufus Brutus the Third.

At the same time, you don’t want to shove your reader’s face into your storytelling pie (that’s the kind of thing that’s funny to watch but not so pleasant to experience). There’s nothing less funny than someone telling you how funny they are and telling, telling, telling you instead of showing you. Huh-hey, that old “show don’t tell” thing works for so many different things in writing, doesn’t it?

And that brings me to my final point -the biggest secret to successful humor writing is…surprise. Yep, that’s right. The unexpected will get them every time. When you open that door and the reader expects one thing and gets another…you’ve got them. Charlie Chaplin knew that. Heck, even Aristotle knew it.

Learn more about Cat Girl’s Day Off and read the first three chapters.

Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators. 

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been talking talked the importance of looking at the standards horizontally as well as vertically, and in today’s post, I’m going to do just that as I walk you through what effective close reading questioning can look like, unpacking one strand at a time using texts of varying complexities.  On the docket for today:

Reading Standards for Literature K-3, Craft and Structure, Strand 4

In Kindergarten, the strand reads:  Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Example text: Pencil Talk and Other School Poems by Anastasia Suen & illustrated by Susie Lee Jin

genre: poetry

Strand-specific questions:

• Look at the poem “Pencil Talk.” Which words were tricky for you to sound out?  Did you come across any words where you weren’t sure what they meant?***What does the word scratch mean? Bonus:  What does the poet mean when she writes “Pencils can talk…but we can’t!“
• Look at the poem “Sink or Float?”. What does the word “sink” mean?  What does the word “float” mean?  What clues does the illustrator give us?

***One thing that’s important to point out to Kindergarteners, especially struggling readers, is that even adults have the experience of coming across words that they either need to work a bit harder to pronounce, or need to read around to try to infer the meaning.  My students LOVED when I showed them examples of when this happened to me in my adult reading, and were in turn more confident sharing when they were confused, as well as sharing the word-solving strategies they used to fix their problem.

In First Grade, the strand reads:  Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

Example text:  Poems to Dream Together/Poemas para soñar juntos by Francisco X. Alarcón & illustrated by Paula S. Barragán

genre: poetry

Strand-specific questions:

• Turn to the poem “One Happy Onion.”  Talk about onions.  What do you picture when you picture an onion?  How is the poet using what we know about onions to help us understand his poem?  Use examples from the poem to explain your thinking.
• Turn to the poem “My Grandma is Like a Flowering Cactus.”  What are some of the words and phrases the poet used that helped you picture the poem with your five senses?    What are some of the words and phrases the poet used that showed you how Grandma was feeling?  About how the poet felt about prickly pears?  Use examples from the poem to explain your thinking.

In Second Grade, the strand reads:   Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Example text: When the Horses Ride By:  Children in the Times of War by Eloise Greenfield, illustrations by Jan Spivey Gilchrist

genre: poetry

Strand-specific questions:

• Turn to the poem “I Imagine.”  Where does the poet use rhyming words in the poem?  How do the rhyming words affect how you read the poem out loud?  What are some examples of alliteration?  Why do poets use alliteration?  What phrase does the poet repeat?  Why does she repeat this phrase?

In Third Grade, the strand reads:  Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

Example text: In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall:  African Americans Celebrating Fathers by a collection of various poets, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe

genre: poetry

Strand-specific questions:

• Turn to the poem “The Farmer.”  Is the phrase “His backbone is forged/of African iron/and red Georgia clay” an example of literal or descriptive language?  Why?  What is the purpose of this image in the poem?
• Turn to the poem “Seeds.”  What did the poet mean when he said “I listened and ate these words you said/to grow up strong“?  Is this an example of literal language or of nonliteral language?  What does the last sentence in the poem mean?  What is the author talking about?  How do you know?

Rainbow Stew, our colorful spring picture book by award-winning author/illustrator Cathryn Falwell, is out today! This one is definitely up there among our top 10 picture books in terms of sheer adorableness, I think. Exhibit A:

Readers will delight in the vibrant colors of this rainy day adventure, which Kirkus Reviews called “a story that positively revels in family togetherness and good food.”

To celebrate its release, we’re sharing Cathryn Falwell’s recipe from the back of the book so you can make your very own Rainbow Stew! It’s a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure kind of recipe, so you can make it lots of different ways depending on your own tastes.

Recipe for Rainbow Stew

How to Make Rainbow Stew

You can make your own delicious Rainbow Stew with lots of colorful vegetables. This recipe makes about 4 cups of stew and takes about 40 minutes to cook. (note: if you’re a kid, be sure to have an adult help you.)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 teaspoon each of three dried herbs (choose from basil, cilantro, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and thyme)

1/2 teaspoon salt and dash of pepper

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

2 cups chopped sturdy vegetables (see choices below)

1 cup liquid (broth, tomato juice, or water)

2 cups chopped tender vegetables (see choices below)

Sturdy Vegetables: bell peppers, broccoli stems, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, green beans, parsnips, potatoes, turnips, winter squash

Tender Vegetables: broccoli tops, kale, peas, spinach, summer squash, tomatoes, zucchini

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over low heat. Add onion and stir for 2 minutes.

2. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute.

3. Add herbs, salt, pepper, water, and vinegar. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

4. Add sturdy vegetables. Stir and cook for 2 minutes.

5. Carefully pour in liquid and stir. Cover pot and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

6. Add tender vegetables. Stir, cover pot, and cook for 15 minutes. Check occasionally and stir gently to keep vegetables from sticking to bottom of pot. Add more liquid if stew starts to stick or gets too thick

7. Test vegetables for tenderness with a fork. For softer vegetables, cook another few minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed.

8. Ladle stew into serving bowls and enjoy!

*Optional Ingredients

Cook all optional ingredients separately. Add them last and cook stew a few more minutes until they are heated through. Add more liquid, if needed.

• Barley, lentils, noodles, pasta, rice, or split peas

• Black beans, cannellini beans, garbanzos (chickpeas), or kidney beans

• Beef, chicken, fish, or pork (cut into bite-size pieces)

Cathryn Falwell’s Version of Rainbow Stew

More book-related recipes:

Angelo Sosa’s Chilled Edamame and Spring Pea Soup

Mama’s Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

A Lo Family Mapo Tofu Recipe

First Book’s mission to make books accessible to low-income families is very close to my heart. It fills me with joy to hear that such an organization exists. Books are more than important, they fill a basic need in low-income communities—the need to connect to the world. Books for children of poverty represent hope.

As a young girl, I loved books. Books were my friends. They took me places I knew I would never be able to visit because we were poor. After my mother passed away, my father couldn’t leave town to work anymore, so he had to settle for working in Eagle Pass. He did odd jobs, put in a toilet for a friend and got a few bucks. Sometimes he got lucky and someone needed him to take out the flooring on their mobile home and put in a new one; then he had enough money to pay the bills for the month and buy a few groceries. We didn’t have money for anything other than food and bills.

The library at school fed my mind. I was able to borrow as many books as I could ever read, and I read a lot. I wanted to own books too; I wanted to hold them in my hand and never let them go. But books were luxuries we couldn’t afford. Even though there was a Waldenbooks in the mall, I couldn’t buy a book even if I wanted to. I used to watch other people pull out money and pay for books that I could only touch and admire when I was brave enough to walk into the bookstore, take in the scent of new books, and run my fingers over them, longing to take them home.

There was only one way I could own a book as a child. Once a month, the public library would have a books sale. Old, tattered paperbacks were a quarter, and if you bought four, you got one free. It used to pain me to ask my father for money for books; there was so little of it to go around. But my father always found a way to get a few dollars into my hands so I could have my books and travel the world in my mind. I learned so much from those books. They shaped me, molded me, made me strong.

As an author, I try to pay it forward by writing stories that feed young people’s minds and strengthen their spirits. I wrote Summer of the Mariposas to fill a gap. I wanted my Hispanic female students to see themselves as wise, courageous, and strong enough to go on a quest of their own; I wanted them to be brave and become the heroes of their own lives. I wanted to empower them, to give them hope for a better future, to open up the world to them. I am so glad First Books is there to distribute books like Summer of the Mariposas to young women who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them.

As an English teacher, I know how important reading is to a child’s development, how directly connected reading is to their success in school. If they can’t read, they won’t be able to have success in any other class or understand any other subject. Reading can either break them or make them. Putting books in the hands of children of low-income families, helping them find that one book that will make them fall in love with reading, will open doors for them. Books will help needy children reach their fullest potential. Books can provide the hope they have been looking for—the gift that will never be forgotten.

Further Reading:

Further Reading:

Pat Mora on reading in English and Spanish

Tony Medina on growing up without books

Joseph Bruchac on the only book in the house

Reblogged from Vamos a Leer:

• 

Under the Mesquite
Written by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Published by Lee & Low Books, 2011
ISBN:   9781600604294
Age Level: Grades 4 and Up

Description (From GoodReads):

Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother’s battle with cancer in this young adult novel in verse.

Read more… 1,193 more words

For all you Shana groupies out there, her schedule is below. Whether or not you’ve picked up Hammer of Witches yet, stop by the following blogs for some thoughtful conversation:

Tuesday, May 7: The Reading Zone – Shana on Being a Reviewer and Being Reviewed – Read her guest post here.

Wednesday, May 8: Finding Wonderland – Writing About Rape. Should Writers Do It? – Read her guest post here.

Monday, May 13: The Book Cellar – How to Research Like A Pro – Read her guest post here.

Thursday, May 16: Margo Dill’s Read These Books and Use Them! – Q & A with Shana Mlawski – Read the full interview here.

And, in case you missed it, here’s Shana Mlawski on John Scalzi’s Whatever Blog on rethinking the “quest” fantasy novel

Still can’t get enough of Shana? Check out her blog, follow her on Twitter, and read her posts on Overthinking It.

Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.  

Last week, I talked about the importance of looking at the standards horizontally as well as vertically, and over the next few weeks, I’m going to do just that as I walk you through what effective close reading questioning can look like, unpacking one strand at a time using texts of varying complexities.  Next up:

Reading Standards for Literature K-3, Craft and Structure, Strand 6

In Kindergarten, the strand reads:  With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

Example text:  Elizabeti’s Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and illustrated by Christy Hale

genre: realistic fiction

Strand-specific questions:

• Who was the author of this story?  What part of the book did the author create?  
• Who was the illustrator? How did she help us picture what was happening?  How did she help the author tell her story?  
• What were some important parts of the story that the author told us with her words?  What were some important parts of the story that the illustrator showed us with her pictures?

In First Grade, the strand reads:  Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

Example text:  DeShawn Days by Tony Medina and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

genre: narrative poetry

Strand-specific questions:

• In each poem, identify the speaker. Who is the narrator? What’s the difference between a narrator and a character?
• Who are the characters in these poems? How do you know?

In Second Grade, the strand reads:  Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

Example text:  Nine-in-One, Grr! Grr! by Blia Xiong and Cathy Spagnoli and illustrated by Nancy Hom

genre: folktale

Strand-specific questions:

• What does Tiger want?  What does Bird want?  What does Tiger do to try to get her way?  What does Bird do to try to get her way?
• Read the story with your students in a variety of ways (ex: popcorn, readers’ theatre, etc).  Decide how each character should sound and why they should sound that way.  Look for clues in the text.  Give students a chance to read some of or all of the parts aloud.

In Third Grade, the strand reads:  Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

Example text:  First Come the Zebra by Lynne Barasch

genre:  realistic fiction

Strand-specific questions:

• Who is the narrator?  Who are the characters?  What do the Maasai value?  What is Abaani’s perspective in the story?  What do the Kikuyu value? What is Haki’s perspective in the story?  How do you know?
• How do you see the Maasai and the Kikuyu?  Abaani and Haki? What’s your perspective on their conflict?  How is your perspective different than Abaani and Haki’s?

Further Reading:

• Unpacking the Common Core Standards, Part 1: Thinking Horizontally 
• What is close reading?
• What does close reading look like in Kindergarten?
• What does close reading look like in First Grade?
• What does close reading look like in Second Grade?
• What does close reading look like in Third Grade?

Happy Friday, friends! Perhaps some of you have seen that this week (May 1-7) began NaPiBoWriWee, or National Picture Book Writing Week. Author Paula Yoo started NaPiBoWriWee back in 2009 to celebrate the release of her picture book Shining Star:

I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to write 7 picture books in 7 days. I had been procrastinating writing another new picture book draft for the longest time. So I thought, “What if I force myself to try and write 7 different picture book manuscripts in one week?” Sure, the drafts would be sloppy rough drafts. But at least I’d have 7 FINISHED drafts to choose from when it came to serious revisions and possible submission to my book agent.

To my surprise, HUNDREDS of people from all over the world (including places as far away as Hong Kong, Egypt, and Australia) participated. It led to the creation of a NaPiBoWriWee Souvenir store and to a wonderful community of writers who bonded as future friends and joined SCBWI (Society of Children Book Writers & Illustrators). Some participants even won writing contests with the drafts they had created from this event!

Now, 5 years later, aspiring picture book authors from all over the world participate by writing furiously for a whole week and sharing inspiration. Happy 5-year anniversary to NaPiBoWriWee! If you’re an aspiring picture book author participating this year (or thinking about participating) here’s some advice from around the web by authors and editors to help you get started:

Official 2013 NaPiBoWriWee 2013 FAQs, by Paula Yoo

Invisible Playmates: Pre-Writing, by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Breaking the Storytelling Mold, by Laura Backes

Twenty Tips for Writing Picture Books, by Pat Mora

The Voice that Speaks Best, by Elaine Marie Alphin

500+ Things That Kids Like, by Tara Lazar

Is it a story? Knowing When Your Manuscript Is Ready, by the Lee & Low editors

and, finally, when it is ready:

The Submission Process: A Demystification, by the Lee & Low Editors

Good luck, and please do let us know how you’re faring! If you have any additional resources, leave ‘em in the comments below and we’ll add them to the list.