Rain, Rain Go Away...Gone!

My husband's degree is in meterology but he is far from a weatherman.  He looks at the same radars as you do to check out to see if it's ok to ride his bike or hang clothes on the line.  Yesterday I didn't need to check with him about the weather.  All I had to do was look out the window to see it pouring.

Today, I see some blue sky.  I just checked my phone app and it looks like it will be dry for days.  I have to tell you, though, the rain did not stop me from taking my daily walk.  I donned a raincoat. Put my hood up. Opened the umbrella and marched on. I might have even leaped into a puddle or two.

My favorite rain book is Float by Daniel Miyares.  That book arrived in my Junior Library Guild book box in the fall of 2015 and I fell hard immediately.  I wrote him a gushing email and the rest is history.  He visited us for our gala in 2017 and with every new book, he continues to perfect his craft. Coincident or not, today he has a book birthday!

This book looks gorgeous and has received three starred reviews! It's a  biography about Ramanujan, a boy in India in the late 1800s who reinvented mathematics as we know it today.  STEM friends-Add this one to your list!

Back to Float, which can also be combined with STEM activities like these:

If you read enough of Daniel's books, you will see that yellow pop out everywhere.  I love it.  How could YELLOW not make you smile? I mentioned this to Daniel once and this is what he said about it:

Want to know a fun, crazy fact? Daniel illustrated Kwame Alexander's 2016 picture book, Surf's Up! I know, right?  My worlds totally, positively, colliding! Here's a coloring page (and more ideas) to help you dream of sunny, hot summer:

Like many of my illustrator friends, Daniel is posting art videos on Instagram. His videos might be more suited for older kids, or not. Anyone interested, really. Here is one where he draws a house by the water.  To me, one thing that always stands out in Daniel's work is how he draws shadows.  What do you think?

Subscribe to Daniel's YouTube channel or Instagram so you can watch and draw or paint along to all his videos.

Oh, one last thing--related (because I wanted an inside workout since it was raining, and we are talking about rain...) or, maybe not really. Mr. Biehler shared on his Twitter a new app  he downloaded, Home Court. I checked it out and it is so much fun! It can be used any day and time:  inside (the next rainy day we have) OR outside.  I plan to play with it daily! 

Check out this tweet BY the company.  You rock, Mr. Biehler!

Teamwork makes the dream work 🏀💪 ⠀
⠀@coachbiehler and family shows us how to get it done - who will you tag team today? Mention us at @homecourtai for a chance to be featured.⠀
⠀#stayinthegame #homecourtai #inthistogether #familytime #teamworkmakesthedreamwork⠀ pic.twitter.com/hu1vkBSCSY

— HomeCourtai (@HomeCourtai) April 14, 2020

And not nearly as cute as the Biehlers, but I'll share anyway--my first attempt last night.  Yes, this is before we figured out I should go find an inside ball (tennis?). But there are way more workouts on here than just ball handling.  Rainy day or not, I challenge you to try it out! You won't be disappointed!

Daniel Miyares Part II

The Prologue

Funny how today is also a "rainy day in upstate NY."  The perfect day to share about our day with Daniel last week.  But that right there is the very first email I ever sent to Daniel (including the typos and not the best grammar--proof that it's authentic).  There you have it.  Almost exactly 1 1/2 years later, Daniel walked the halls of Castleton. Wow.

The Day

Author-Illustrator visits with me are extreme.  Breakfast, Announcements, Assemblies, Classroom Visits, Lunch, Book Signings and, if you're lucky, a gala in your honor.  That was Daniel's day in a nutshell.  Exhausting for him. Exhausting for me and anyone else involved but so worth it!

Breakfast with Reading Ambassadors

We had a luau/Surf's Up themed breakfast with the fifth grade Reading Ambassadors.  Pineapple, pineapple turnover cake, coconut maccaroons, etc.

Assemblies

I love to celebrate book birthdays with authors and illustrators so this day was no exception.  Not only did Daniel share That Neighbor Kid and grinned as we sang Happy Book Birthday but he also gave us a little insight on how pictures help tell a story.  How can you give two thumbs up to a story with  these three sentences? 

It was a nice day.  Lou went for a walk. Lou made some new friends.

Daniel could tell you!

Class Visits

Not every author or illustrator will agree to visit classrooms (it's a lot!) but I'm so glad Daniel did!  It made his time with us even more special.  Knowing they only had 5-10 minutes of their time, the classes were prepared with questions and welcome signs before we even walked in the door!

 

Lunch with Dewey Duty

Happy Book Birthday, That Neighbor Kid!

We tried to serve "friendship" food: mac AND cheese, Reeses PB cups (peanut butter AND chocolate), pretzels, juice boxes (that's in the book), cheese AND crackers, oreos (chocolate cookies AND cream filling), etc. No one went hungry!

Fifth Grade

A few months ago, Daniel made a short introductory video for our fifth graders about his process of book making and especially how he illustrates someone else's work.  It was hard to believe that this day was here and he was about to view all of their artwork and poetry matched together.  We all squeezed together in the art room for a unique experience lead by Daniel.

The Gala

People are still talking about the Gala.  The artwork. Daniel. The poetry.  Daniel. The food.  The music.  Daniel. How lovely and sweet Daniel was. What a sport he was for taking pictures with everyone.  How the library was packed with 200 people.  It was a night to remember.  

I just figured out how to make a movie using Google Photos.  I don't like how it limits you to 50 photos so I tried to choose ones that give the best flavor of the evening.  Note that some were shot by my Dewey Duty helpers using iPads.

Student Reflections

Mr. Reischer had the fifth graders write their thoughts on the Gala and the project as a whole.  Some of them were quite insightful and intuitive.  They all loved the food (especially the meatballs and cupcakes) and Daniel cutting the ribbon with the big scissors. They were very appreciative of the event and loved the opportunity to be fancy. They noticed the fourth grade servers and the MS jazz band and thought those were nice touches to the evening.

"It was fun to dress up and see my artwork and poem on the boards...It was exciting to see what other people turned my poem into and to see how the poets reacted to my drawing."

"I can't stop thinking that I, took a photo with famous Daniel Miyares...My all time favorite though was the big scissors.  I felt as if I was in a movie."

"It was great because we spent so long on this project and so many people came just for us.  I also loved how seriously everyone took this and how many people dressed up."

"I liked how I could express my feeling on the paper! I loved to mix the tempera paints to make this pretty color! I liked to see what the poem turned into! I loved meeting Daniel and seeing him cut the ribbon with huge scissors!"

"When I saw the artwork of the person who got my poem, it wasn't how I would have done it. But, I still liked it.  It showed that you can draw things more than one way."

"I liked seeing everyone's art work and how they explained your poem.  I also liked how hard everyone worked to get this far!"

"Overall, I thought that the event, and the process of the project were awesome and an amazing idea!"

"Since our minds work differently, I loved to see how the person that illustrated my poem illustrated it in a unique way.  I think that people have unique ways of thinking and it was fun to see what other people do with your poem."

And finally..."You guys need a vacation for all you did!"  

Daniel with fifth grade boys

Daniel with Mr. Chevrier (future Superintendent) and his son, Brody

Daniel with two of my 4th grade Dewey Duty helpers who "worked" the gala hence the black and white attire

Daniel with Principal Derby

And Principal Derby's son

Leaping with Mrs. Champigny, decorator extraordinaire, and her daughters

A final leap with Daniel.  From all the students, faculty and families in Castleton...

Thank you!

Daniel Miyares Part 1

Leaping with Daniel last night

I promised myself earlier this evening that I would blog tonight.  Tonight, per se, is almost over but it still counts.

Almost two years ago (really a year and a half, but almost two years sounds better), I opened my Junior Library Guild box and found a gorgeous book inside.  I read it, shared it, read it again, told everyone about it and even emailed the author.  That book was Float by Daniel Miyares.  I fell hard for it then and still love it today.

Then a crazy thing happened.  My eyes caught something on a poster I had for Kwame's new book, Surf's Up.  Daniel was the illustrator! How could this be?  So we all got more excited.  We threw a "Please Come to CES" party with everyone dressed in Hawaiian attire and sent all the videos to Daniel.  We were on a serious mission to bring him to Castleton, if not for Surf's Up, for something else soon.

Since then we celebrated another book birthday for him in June: Bring Me a Rock and performed a rendition of that book at a monthly morning assembly in November because...

...we had made a date with Daniel to come in May! MAY?!  Yes! THIS MAY! May 9 on the book birthday of his newest book, That Neighbor Kid. That's just hours away!!!

We love everything about this book and 4th graders have taken upon themselves to post hashtags about it all over school:

 #everyfriendshipbeginswithHi 

#dontspillyourjuice

#hammerandnails #blueprints

Mrs. Warland (Doe) with Daniel and her granddaughter, Emma

Daniel's signature grey early in the book becomes mixed with vibrant hues of red, orange and yellow as the friendship and teamwork between the boy and the girl flourishes.  After hard work and determination, their treehouse is complete and how better to celebrate this accomplishment than with a box of juice?

The most talented Daniel is here in my zipcode and we are thrilled to honor him all day as we sing our praises (and Happy Birthday) on the book birthday of That Neighbor Kid and have a gala in his honor in the evening.

ps-When you get your own copy, don't forget to check under case cover.  More surprise beauty lies secretly hidden there.

With Mrs. Harris

With our art teacher, Mrs. Pazienza.  More on our collaboration tomorrow!

Upcoming New and Newish Books A-Z

Yes, I was nervous. I don't like getting up in front of adults. Give me a gymnasium filled with 400+ 5-10 year olds and I'm fine but a room full of colleagues and peers, I'll pass.  Then make it the day after I have 32 people squeezed in my home for a seder and I feel like toast.  Haha.  That's pretty funny.  Get it? Toast. Seder. Ok...moving on...

In any case, I was honored and pleased today to present new books for the K-5 set today at Capital Region BOCES, followed by the most amazing Alicia Abdul, who spoke about YA books. You need to check out Alicia's blog and website.  She is sugar sweet candy to me.  She recommends books that sound SOOOO good that I go out and read them when I should be completely engaged in the Middle Grade that I love so much (which I really do).

I prefaced my whole workshop with the fact that my collection, although it certainly is a reflection of my students, is definitely influenced by my likes and dislikes and the authors that I have come to love and befriend.  As long as I admit that, isn't that ok?  And as much as I can promote these authors and books, I will. No collection is perfect and mine is no exception.  I just strive to make my students (and faculty) as happy as can be.

At the bottom, I've attached the list I handed out to participants.  Some of the books I talked about aren't on there and others that are I didn't get to.  But it's a starting point for anyone.  My brain isn't thinking Newbery, Sibert, Geisel or any other award but certainly  many of these books are contenders. I also did a triple threat shout out for local author/illustrators, James Preller, Nancy Castaldo and Elizabeth Zunon.  I like to think I might have drummed up some business for them. Happy Reading and please let me know your favorites.

Sample Slides