Tuesday, April 14, 2020

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!







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!









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