The Curious Adventures of Sydney & Symon in: Water Wonders

Hello! I hope your week has been great so far!

The end of the college semester is here and I have tons of projects and exams to complete! Life is hectic, but it just means that I am one step closer to my goal of becoming an elementary teacher! YAY!

This week, I had no idea what to read, so I googled children's chapter books and found this gem! It is called The Curious Adventures of Sydney & Symon in: Water Wonders by Peter H. Reynolds. Based on the front cover of the book, I could quickly tell that it would most likely have something to do with science.

Two mice live with their father and mother in an apartment on the third floor. Their names are Sydney and Symon Starr. They are curious little mice and ask tons of questions! Sydney writes all of her questions down in her "Wonder Journal." At the beginning of the story, they discover that the flowers in their window flower bed are wilting. They had grown tall with all of the spring rain, but now they are wilting under the summer's humidity. The problem gets bigger! Their window will only open just a little bit, and it gets stuck often. They must come up with a solution in which their plants will get water, but they do not have to open their window frequently. Throughout this book, they take the reader on a step-by-step process of how to form a question/make an observation, gather evidence, form a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, report the results, and draw a conclusion. This book teaches students the scientific method in a creative way!

I think that this would be a great book to read before or during the scientific method unit. It teaches the S.T.E.A.M. way of learning. This book also discusses the various forms of water, so it would also be helpful in providing examples of the different states of water. One thing that I also like about this book is the fact that it provides several illustrations of the mice working their way through the scientific process, which makes it much more fun and interesting than just learning through the use of a textbook or worksheet. Also, this book provides a Spanish translation which could potentially be helpful to some ELL learners.

I like the idea of having students create their own Wonder Journals to jot down questions that they think of throughout the day pertaining the school. It would be a great way to keep a dialogue going between students and teachers, as well as the entire class. I highly recommend this book!

Thanks for reading my blog this week,

Ashton Schimmelpfennig

Magic Tree House: Pirates Past Noon

Hello, all! I hope you are doing well! Once again, it is Tuesday, so it is book blog post time.

This past weekend was Easter, so with the busyness of that, I did not get to read a ton, but I did get to enjoy most of the Magic Tree House: Pirates Past Noon book by Mary Pope Osborne. This is the fourth book of the series. Since a couple of my classmates and I have to present at a Young Author's Conference this weekend, I chose to read this book since this is what the theme of our station is going to be.

Magic Tree House books have always been some of my favorite chapter books. As a child, I remember reading these books as though they were candy! I still think that they are great books for elementary students because they not only take the reader on an adventure, but they also give them true facts to learn about history.

In this book, Jack and Annie start out in the tree house, just as usual, but this time, Annie spots a book opened up to a page with an island and a parrot. Annie expresses how she wishes to visit the beach, when BAM, a parrot appears in a tree next to their tree house. Then, they are transported to a tropical island where they spot a ship in the distance. Judging by the flag that is flying high from the ship, they conclude that it must be a pirate ship! Jack reads to Annie from his book that pirates used to rob Spanish ships in the Caribbean Sea, so they hurriedly run towards the tree house. OH NO! Jack remembers that he left his book on the island, so he quickly goes to retrieve it when pirates start chasing him! They catch him and demand to see what is inside of the tree house because the pirates believe that the gold treasure is hiding in there. The pirates hold Jack and Annie hostage on their ship until they agree to help them find the hidden treasure. I am going to stop there, and you will have to read the rest to discover what happens!

I love that Magic Tree House books incorporate both fact and fiction aspects. Not only does it show them the adventures that a book can take you on, but they are also learning true historical facts at the same time. Excerpts from these books would make a great minilesson over fact or fiction statements.

Until next time,

Ashton Schimmelpfennig

A Child's Garden of Verses

Hello, readers! I hope all is going well for you this week!

This past week has been rather hectic for me, as I have three lesson plans due during the same week! To say I am busy and a bit overwhelmed is an understatement, but I guess that is just a day in the life of an aspiring elementary teacher!

For this week's blog, I decided to venture into the world of poetry. I chose to read A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I did not read the entire book, but I chose a few poems from each section. Stevenson lets us into the side of his life that was sad and lonely, as he was ill during most of his childhood years; however, he also lets us in on his adventurous memories of childhood, which gives us a glimpse of a child's imagination. I am going to share two of my favorite poems that I read from this book and discuss them a bit.

"Whole Duty of Children"
A CHILD should always say what’s true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table:
At least as far as he is able.

Stevenson wrote this poem in the section of the book that pertained to the time that he was sick as a child. As a future teacher, I personally related this poem to children with disabilities. As a society, we set standards for children, adolescents, and adults. A child can only perform to his capabilities and should not be expected to perform to a standard that is not reasonable for them. Pertaining to this poem, a child should behave with manners and be respectful to others, but only to the extent that they are able to behave and be respectful. This can be directly related to the classroom, as children with disabilities need to be placed in an environment that is the least restrictive for them. This also applies to different grade levels as well, as we cannot expect a Kindergarten student to behave in the same manner has a fifth-grade student.

"Autumn Fires"
IN the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!
Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The gray smoke towers.
Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

Stevenson wrote this poem simply about the changing seasons. He mentions that during the summer, the flowers bloom, and in the fall, the bonfires blaze. I definitely associate these things with the two seasons discussed in this poem, and it flooded my mind with exciting memories of past summer and fall seasons. This poem mentions, "Sing a song of seasons! Something bright in all!" I interpreted this poem as a reminder that in each season of our life, whether good or bad, we can always find something positive to celebrate. Relating that idea back to the classroom, we can always find something positive in each student to praise them for. Yes, this can be difficult sometimes, but trying to find the good in the situation will always help it turn out for the better!

Though I am not a huge poetry fan, I did enjoy reading Stevenson's poems, and I would encourage you to check them out as well!

Have a great week,

Ashton

A Wrinkle in Time

Hello, all! It is Tuesday again, so we know what that means!

Unfortunately, I did not get to read as much as I would have liked to this week, but I did get to start a new book. I chose to read a science fiction book this week for my 20 Book Challenge. I remember reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle when I was in the fifth grade; however, for whatever reason, I cannot remember a single thing about the book. This probably means that I was uninterested in the book at the time or it was an assigned reading. I specifically remember basically only reading mystery books in fifth grade so I can see why this story would have been unappealing to me.

This time around, I am enjoying the book more than what I had anticipated. Science fiction is still not my genre of choice, but this book is not too shabby so far.

In the first chapter of this book, Meg is sitting in her bedroom in the attic while a violent storm is swishing through the night. She is frightened when a strike of lightning shakes the house. Meg explains that she is not normally frightened by storms, but after the week that she has had, it makes sense why something so trivial would shake her to the core. She goes on to express her feelings of unhappiness with herself in school, her appearance, and even the way that she acts around others. She just feels awkward and out of place majority of the time. Meg, her little brother, Charles Wallace, and her mother, all meet down in the kitchen since they cannot sleep. They enjoy a midnight snack together until their dog, Fortinbras, begins to bark towards the door of her mother's laboratory. Her mother quickly goes into her laboratory, only to find a little old woman named Mrs. Whatsit that Charles Wallace had met a few days prior. She had gotten lost while trying to find her way home during the storm. She lives in a creepy old house in the woods and appears to be quite a peculiar woman. Right before leaving to go home, she mentions to Meg's mother something about a tesseract, which leaves her mother speechless and in awe.

I am so curious as to what a tesseract is in this story, as all I know it to be is a multi-dimensional figure, but I am also curious as to why Meg's mother was in so much shock. I guess I will just have to find out as I continue my journey through this book. I will say, that one of the first things that caught my eye was the descriptive language that the author uses throughout the book. She describes every scene so vividly that it makes it so easy for me, as a reader, to picture what exactly is happening in the story line. I feel that this would be a great book to use to teach upper elementary students about using adjectives and descriptive words. It would provide them with wonderful examples to try to improve the imagery and descriptiveness in their works of writing.

Until next week,

Ashton Schimmelpfennig

Charlotte's Web: Read Like A Writer!

Hello! Once again, it is Tuesday, so it is blog post time!

This week, I chose to read Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, which was one of my all-time favorites as a child. Instead of simply reading this book for pleasure from my point of view, I decided to read this book like a writer. I was curious if there were any writing mini-lessons within this story that I could pull out and teach to an elementary class. To my surprise, there were quite a few, but I will only share one.

First, to give some background information on the book, E.B. White does a phenomenal job at making the animals come to life through their dialogue with one another, not to mention, the underlying theme of friendship, trust, and support that is evident throughout the book. This theme alone is a great reason to read this story to an elementary classroom, as they can learn a valuable lesson from this book, all while enjoying the adventures of the animals on the Zuckerman farm.

A young girl named Fern begs her father to save the little runt piglet from the litter that was just born, and much to her surprise, he chooses to save the piglet if she agrees to take care of him. Fern names the baby pig Wilbur and nourishes him to health until her family sells him to her Uncle Homer. Fern visits Wilbur frequently, but Wilbur becomes very sad when he discovers that Uncle Homer is only being nice to him in order to fatten him up and kill him. Wilbur's other barn friends do not seem to help the cause and continue to worry him, but a little spider named Charlotte, Wilbur's best friend, promises that she will save him. Wilbur becomes a well-known, prize-winning pig, and then returns the favor of friendship to Charlotte at the end of the book. I will let you read the book for yourself to discover just exactly what happens and how their friendship continues forever.

As I mentioned before, E.B. White does a fantastic job of making the animals come to life and have human-like qualities. While reading Charlotte's plan about how to save Wilbur, I had the idea that this would be a great mini-lesson in persuasive writing. I based my idea off of this passage:

"Now, I called this meeting in order to get suggestions. I need new ideas for the web. People are already getting sick of reading the word 'Some Pig!' If anybody can think of another message, or remark, I'll be glad to weave it into the web. Any suggestions for a new slogan?"

In this passage, Charlotte has just written the passage "Some Pig!" in her web, which stunned Mr. Zuckerman and his family. They believed that this was a miraculous sign that Wilbur is a unique pig, and they chose not to kill him. Charlotte is asking for new suggests in order to keep Wilbur alive, as well as keep the Zuckerman's stunned by the "miraculous signs."

Charlotte used a persuasive approach when designing the slogan that saved Wilbur's life. If I were using this text as a read aloud in upper elementary (4th/5th), I would pull in the impact of using persuasive speech to get a viewpoint across to others.

Most students have heard slogans from clothing stores, fast food restaurants, food brands, and much more. I would share many of these ideas with the class and then encourage them to share some others that they know. I would then talk about the power of persuasion in writing, and show them a few short examples of persuasive writing and persuasive letters.

I will tell students that I want them to create a persuasive slogan for Charlotte to weave in her web, and then write a short persuasive letter to Mr. Zuckerman about why he should not kill Wilbur. I may provide a personal example of a slogan for the web and a three-sentence letter to Mr. Zuckerman about saving Wilbur. I would then encourage students to do the same, providing them with lined paper for their letter that also has a spider web at the top to write in their slogan. I think that this would be a challenging but enjoyable activity for the students to do. I know that I would also enjoy reading the slogans that they created.

Until next week,

Ashton Schimmelpfennig

The Secret School

It's Tuesday again, so you know what that means...blog post time!

Unlike last week, I really enjoyed the book that I read this week. I read The Secret School by Avi when I was in elementary. Actually, one of my fifth-grade teachers read this book to my class. I remember loving the journey through this book and immediately begged by parents to buy it for me once we were done reading it in class. Since it had been so long since the last time I had read this story, it was almost like reading a brand new book. I remembered bits and pieces, but overall, it was a fun journey to venture on. I highly recommend this book to others!

In April 1925, in Elk Valley, Colorado, eight children were attending school in a one-room schoolhouse under the direction of Miss Fletcher. Much to the students' dismay, Miss Fletcher's mother had become ill and she had to leave to go stay with her mother. Mr. Jordan, the head of the school board, informed the students that school would be closed for the rest of the year, and it would resume next fall. Those in eighth grade who had to take their exit exams to enter into high school would have to wait another year. This could not be so, thought Ida Bidson, a fourteen-year-old student of the schoolhouse. She was dismayed at this news, but her eighth-grade classmate, Tom, had a better idea - Ida should become the teacher. How could this work? A fourteen-year-old teacher? If all students, including herself, wanted this past school year to count, they would have to continue the school in secret - hence, the start of "the secret school." Thus, Ida Bidson officially became Miss Bidson at the age of fourteen.

Can a fourteen-year-old really teach a whole classroom? Do Tom and Ida make it into high school? I will not spoil the rest of the story so you will have to read to find out if this plan works.

I would love to read this story to my future classroom. I feel that it has the potential to teach students about the value of perseverance and confidence. Sometimes, we have to step out of our comfort zone in order to succeed. There is a poem that is recited throughout this book several times. It states:
"Do what conscience says is right; Do what reason says is best; Do with all your mind and might; Do your duty, and be blest." What a great, encouraging poem! This shows students that if they pursue a dream, of course doing what is right along the way, their chances of pursuing that dream are high.

I hope you take the time to consider reading this book. I truly enjoyed it! Have a wonderful week!

Ashton Schimmelfpennig

The Music of Dolphins

Happy Tuesday!

This week's blog post will not be like my last couple of blog posts. Unfortunately, the book that I chose to read this week for my 20 Book Challenge was not exactly my cup of tea. This was a book that I found at my parents' house from my childhood, and I vividly remember not being very interested in the book when I was younger. After beginning the book this time, I quickly remembered why I did not enjoy it. The idea of a story about a girl raised by dolphins transforming into a human was a good thought, but the story plot did not make this book very interesting. It was rather dry.

The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse is a children's fiction book recommended for grades 6-12. Mila, a teenage girl, was discovered in the ocean by rescuers. Many years prior, Mila, along with her mother and brother, had been on a plane that crashed in this very ocean. Once the rescuers found her, they took her to a hospital where she began to be observed by a few doctors, mainly Dr. Beck and Sandy. They came to realize that Mila was a feral child who had been raised by dolphins. They try to transform Mila into a human by teaching her English, having her listen to music, and helping her develop survival skills so she can live on land. In return, Dr. Beck wishes to learn dolphin language. Mila tries her best to learn about the human way of life, and she does to a degree, but in the end, she returns to missing her dolphin family.

One thing I did like about this story is how the author differentiated the language and font between when Mila could only speak dolphin to when she was relatively fluent in English, much like a human. At the beginning, when Mila still longs for her dolphin family, the language is very broken English and the font size is large. As the book progresses and Mila becomes more fluent in English and accustomed to human life, the font size gradually decreases and becomes complete sentences. At the end, when she again wishes to return to her dolphin family and is tired of human life, the font becomes large again, also returning to broken English. This was a neat way to be able to establish where Mila was in her progress of adapting to human life.

Another aspect that I liked about the book was the fact that it emphasized the same theme as Ralph S. Mouse did in last week's post - Your family will always be there through thick and thin. "They will not leave, they will not turn. I know them. They are my family." This quote stood out to me the most as the theme of the book. Even though I disliked the book, I feel that the author did a good job at showing how no matter where life takes us, there will be no place like home and no people like our family.

Maybe this book seems interesting to you, maybe not? Though I expressed that I did not like this book, I tried not to be overly biased in telling you about this story. If you choose to read this book, let me know what you think!

Have a great week,

Ashton Schimmelpfennig