A Little Talk About the Birds and the Bees

Yes…yes…we start them early at my school! :) This week, we have been all into plants! We even discussed…dare I say it…reproduction! Sorry parents…hope that didn’t begin any continuing conversations/questions! Ha! Seriously though, plants have been a lot of fun!

We planted a few seeds two weeks ago and the kids have been recording plant episodes (journals) on the iPad! They wear special glasses and everything {they are kind of a big deal} so that they can look just like a real scientist! They totally play the part as they describe the life cycle that they are observing! We will put our clips into final episodes once our plants have completed the entire life cycle! This was a nice change from written journals and the kids are loving it!

Then, yesterday (after our talk about the birds and the bees) we learned about how the color/smell of plants attracts insects, birds, and other animals which is essential in the reproduction of seeds. To nail down this concept, we did a little lesson on pollination (thanks to one of my sweet parents)!

(You call this disgusting…we call it pollination!)

The kids each began the lesson with a flower di-cut, juice box, and Cheetos on their desk.  Of course, the flowers’ color and smell attracted the students. Once the students “landed” on their flower, they drank a little bit of nectar (juice box).

  

As they were drinking, pollen just happened to find it’s way onto their fingers. For this part, the students were instructed to eat their Cheetos without wiping their hands. The cheese dust = pollen!

After they finished their juice box, they flew around the room to other flowers. When they landed on other flowers, (a.k.a. wiped their hands on another flower) they saw the power of pollination!

I’d say the concept stuck! ;)

Today we began plant adaptations. We watched a few videos and did a little notebooking! Here is the chart that we completed. If you would like a copy, click on the pictures below!

I am hoping to be back tomorrow to share all of the writing that we have been working on over the past two weeks! Have a great Wednesday!

A Dog...A Home

If you think about it, people tend to use the terms house and home interchangeably.  To me a house is the structure, the building.  What's inside, the people, the feeling of hospitality, warmth, and love, are what make it a home.

When a piece is forever lost from a home, those left feel the emptiness until the spot can be filled.  In her debut book, Sarah Lean, deftly weaves a story of a family's loss in  A Dog Called Homeless.  Searching for a new normal is never easy.

My name is Cally Louise Fisher, and I haven't spoken for thirty-one days.

Cally has just seen her Mom but no one will believe her.  The family is gathered graveside to honor the one year anniversary of her death; the same day as her Dad's birthday.  Scolding Cally for having an overactive imagination does no good because she knows her Mom has something to tell them.

Glued to his computer screen, trying to top the best score on a video game during every spare moment, her 13-year-old brother, Luke views her as more pest than sister.  Plopping down on the sofa, watching one detective show after another, when home from work, her Dad seems to have no time to spend with her.  Feeling frustrated for the lack of conversation at home about her Mom, Cally has become too talkative, disruptive, at school.

Everyone at home and at school, classmates, teacher and special needs counselor, are therefore surprised when Cally volunteers for a day of sponsored silence to raise money for a children's hospice; needing to prove to one and all she is better than they believe she is.  Seeing her Mom again, this time with an Irish wolfhound at her side, gets Cally into further trouble.  In town to run errands with her Dad and brother, she offers help to a homeless juggler, Jed.  When Jed walks away, her Mom appears at his side.

On the day her Dad tells Luke and Cally their home has been sold and they're moving into the top floor of an apartment, Cally sees Jed again...with the dog.  Even though her self-imposed quiet has passed Cally has chosen to not speak, her silence saying volumes if only someone would understand.  Someone does understand.  On the first floor of their new home lives Sam, blind and nearly deaf, with his Mom.

Sam and Cally...Sam, Cally and the dog Cally has named Homeless...Sam, Cally, Homeless and Jed...Sam, Cally, Homeless, Jed and Cally's Mom are all tied together with heart and promises, with love.  The strength Cally and Sam find in their friendship sustains each as they face what no child should have to face.  One event after another builds to an ending (not without those breath-holding moments) which surprises but offers hope, hope for healing.

Even now, when rereading a single sentence, paragraphs, pages, even whole chapters, the writing of Sarah Lean continues to speak in a language as powerful as it was the first time.  Each character's role, whether big or small, their dialogue and interactions, is integral to the story.  Her vivid descriptions of place bring you into the story, side by side with the characters.

Here is a sampling of her writing from this title. (This is one of those porcupine books; so many sticky note markers for good spots.)

So I said, "Dad? What if I can't help it and I say something?
He squeezed me.
"I won't mind.  You'll be doing your best."
He went off in a dream, opened the curtains, sent the dust fairies into the shadows.
So that was it.  My best didn't sound like much.  He was just the same as all the others who didn't think I could do it.
"I'll mind," I whispered to the invisible spinning dust.  And those were my final words.

Just then I made my one and only rule for not speaking.  I was allowed to laugh.  Because laughing isn't words.  Nobody knows what you are saying, but everyone knows what you mean.  Even a dog.


Having been moved to tears more than once, it is my belief this story will resonate with every single reader.  A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean envelopes you until the final page, lingering, finding a spot in your mind and soul.

Sarah Lean has a website completely devoted to this title.  (Link here)  An excerpt from the beginning is provided along with further reading about topics touched upon within the story.  There is an outstanding downloadable PDF resource for discussion with activities.

El Lugar Tranquilo

Up until college I never had to make new friends or be in unfamiliar surroundings.  After graduation seeking a position lead to moving more than once; four new school districts, communities, neighborhoods, colleagues and friends.  As an adult I had to abandon my shyness letting my passion for what I do take over.  Knowing this I can understand how hard it must be for someone coming into a new country, a strange culture and learning another language when they are young.

How a child adjusts to new circumstances is dependent on support of family, their new school environment, teachers and classmates and, in some instances, the power of imagination.  At times they (we) may dream of a more comfortable spot.  In the newest collaboration by Sarah Stewart and David Small, The Quiet Place, a little girl creates her own kind of beauty in her new home.

It is mid-spring in the year 1957.  Isabel, her older brother, Chavo, with her Mother and Father have left Mexico for the United States to live in a city near Lake Michigan.  In a series of letters, so she can practice her English, she writes back home to her Aunt Lupita, a school teacher.

She recounts the landscape in her journey, of making snow angels in a late winter snow and how speaking and reading Spanish makes her feel safe. Understandably she is shy at school and although her teacher does not speak her language, she welcomes Isabel with a smile.  Something wonderful happens, too.

Her Father buys a refrigerator and gives Isabel the box; her own sanctuary for writing letters and keeping her books.  Even a sudden rain storm cannot discourage her quest for boxes. Every time her mother cooks for children's birthday parties is a new opportunity to bring home one of those cozy cubbies.

Her supportive family helps and allows her creativity to flower; a single room grows to many.  Each celebration leads to another until it is Isabel's special day.  Gifts of words, the practice of writing, paint, paper, pencil and perseverance are reflected in Isabel's joyful one-of-a-kind quiet place.


Twelve letters sent to Mexico, concise, conversational thoughts filled with emotion, convey to readers the true ups and downs felt by a child trying to fit into one life while longing for her old one.  We journey with her seeing a blending of the two worlds, past with the present.  Sarah Stewart writes as if her heart is the heart of this young girl.

Words are carefully chosen, as if done by a person learning to think, write and read in another language. A single sentence tells us Chavo has a way with words, Father is thinking how to help his daughter adapt and Mother is understanding in so many ways.  We readers feel compassion and admiration for Isabel because of Stewart's ability to say much with little.

Here are a couple of her sentences from this story.

Chavo said, "We left a sea of blue at our feet and entered an ocean of blue over our heads."

Writing to you is easier than speaking to all the new people in my life. That is because I know you love me.


David Small begins and ends this story on the book's endpapers.  His impressive ink drawings are further brought to life with watercolor and pastel chalk wonderfully evoking a captured moment.  His altered perspectives are a ready invitation; the green landscape of the Mexican village nestled beneath the mountains with a close-up looking into the back of the retreating car, Isabel squatting elbows to knees gazing at the snow angel or looking into the newly acquired refrigerator box with the house, delivery men and truck in the background.

His attention to those tiny, poignant details adds much to his two page spreads throughout the book.  At the Mexican border we see Isabel extending her arm out the car window, teddy bear in hand so he can see what everyone else is seeing, or at the diner counter (1950s formica pattern) Chavo is reading an edition of Life magazine or when we see the created quiet place, a doll is wearing the same dress as Auntie Lupita in the farewell scene.  Isabel's teddy bear can be found in nearly every illustration.

Four illustrations, in addition to the endpapers and title spread are without text but they continue the story beautifully.  The four page fold-out near the book's end is a stunner.  Isabel's quiet place is revealed in all it's colorful, imaginative glory.  It's a tribute to her Mexican culture, her resilience and joyful spirit.


The Quiet Place written by Sarah Stewart with illustrations by David Small is a gentle, graceful, story about coming to a new country, starting over surrounded by a loving family who embrace their heritage and their new community.  I love everything about this book; absolutely everything.

If you follow this link to Macmillan  there is a mini-slide show of illustrations.  This link  to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast shows the illustrative process David Small used for this title. There are some gorgeous drawings.

These are links to interviews given by Sarah Stewart and David Small prior to the release of this title.
To get to their main website follow the link embedded in David Small's name at the beginning of this post.