It's "Jersey Day" for Spirit Week. When my son wakes up, I am going to find one of his New York Giants jerseys or shirts and proudly parade around it in all over the house. Maybe I haven't been a true Giants fan for too long but after listening daily to the Big Blue Kickoff Live podcast during the football season and staying for all four quarters in steady sheets of rain this fall, I think I can can call myself one now. I can even contribute to a conversation about some old greats like Bill Parcells, LT and Tiki Barber.
To be honest, I was all set to write today's post about football. But, when I finished a meeting with my fourth grade "Pastries and Prose" group and we read Dan Gutman's story from Guys Read Sports about the 1986 World Series Game 6 I decided to pinch hit and throw in a post about baseball instead.Now 1986 is a year I remember. I was a Mets fan and a senior in HS. My brother was 8 years old, a formative time to be a baseball fan and watch your team make it to the World Series. To this day, he and his wife will travel to the city from Vermont and spend the weekend at Citi Field. I, on the other hand as you know, prefer theatre. It was still exciting in 1986. So exciting, that my friend and I skipped school to watch the Ticker Tape Parade in Manhattan and Keith Hernandez winked at me.
My husband and I have a friend from Rhode Island who is a die hard Red Sox fan. You can't even bring up this series without him wincing. "1-9-8-6," he would say with a sigh and then change the subject immediately. Granted, when we were hanging out with him, it was the mid '90s and the Red Sox still had a losing streak.
Today I am an Angels and Tigers fan. Angels because in 2002 I was VERY pregnant the whole month of October (Tari's birthday is October 30) so I sat on the couch and watched the Angels win and win and win and the fans hit the thunder sticks over and over again. Tigers because I went to Michigan twice this summer and even went to a Tigers game. Loved it, plain and simple. Then stocked up on Tigers swag at the local Target.
Back to today. I think I found my "Pastries" book for every week now. Bam! No more figuring out the book 10 minutes before the hangout! There are some great authors in this one including Anne Ursu (we loved her The Lost Girl this year for Newbery), Adirondack story teller, Joe Bruchac and the incomparable Jackie Woodson (will she ever pick up Kwame's phone call during his Instagram live?). If you get the book, Harper Collins has a discussion guide. I'm already looking forward to next Thursday morning.
And just speaking of Dan Gutman (yes, we were), he is reading a My Weird School book live on Facebook every weekday at 2pm. If you are into those hilarious books, this website has a bunch of activities to go with them.
Matt Tavares
Matt Tavares has written and illustrated a bunch of baseball biographies, beautiful Christmas-ish themed books (I bought Mrs. Golden a Red and Lulu clock for Christmas this year not even knowing she loves cardinals!), and other fascinating biographies. You need to check out his website for more. If you check out the baseball books, here's a lesson guide from the publisher. Some ideas that stand out are:- Research the 1915, 1916 and 1918 World Series, especially the role that Babe Ruth played. Write an opinion piece stating whether you think the Red Sox would have won if Babe Ruth hadn't been on the team.
- How does knowing how to play all the positions in baseball make you a better player?
- Research the Civil Rights movement. What role did Jackie Robinson play in desegregation? (By the way, there is a great Brainpop video on Jackie Robinson.)
- Research the different types of pitches. What do pitchers have to do in order to throw the different types?
Matt draws live on Facebook every Monday at 10 am. Here he is from a few days ago:
Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY and...
For today--
For grade 5 and up: at 2:45 pm Eastern Time today (Thursday, April 2), the Hall of Fame will be hosting an educational program, "Civil Rights: Before You Could Say Jackie Robinson." It's a program centered on baseball and civil rights, spanning from the post Civil War yeas to the 1960s. We'll be talking not only about Robinson, but about pioneers like Bud Fowler, Moses Fleetwood Walker, Rube Foster, and Effa Manley.
This is completely FREE. If you'd like to participate, click on this link to register. If you can't make it, they will archive it on YouTube.
Casey at the Bat
It is National Poetry Month so I have to include a rendition of "Casey at the Bat."Casey at the Bat | Casey at the Bat | Ernest Lawrence Thayer | Lit2Go ETC
Here's a Reader's Theatre edition that your whole family can perform together. Maybe stray away from traditional RT and bring some props and costumes into, have fun and video tape yourselves for prosperity. Send it to me, if you do! I need some kind of sports to watch these days!
Extra Innings
Oh, man. There are SO many great baseball books out there! If this was baseball, we didn't even get to the first out in the top of the first inning. I will be blogging more on this topic for sure! Until then, grab your peanuts, popcorn and cracker jacks and root, root, root for your next book! xoPS-I dedicate this post to my friend, Garrett, who is missing his final season on the University of Rochester baseball team. The good news is he got into med school. Yay, Garrett! 😊
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