Author Archives: Lana

Fantastic Fun with Bump, Nosey and Tickle

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I have had the BEST time in the library this week putting up new displays to match the amazing sofas that our Seniors finished painting in June. Our three sided sofa has artwork inspired by Dr. Seuss, Roger Hargreaves and Eric Carle after a competition in the Elementary School where students submitted drawings of illustrations by their favorite authors. The sofa is such a colorful centrepiece in a lovely bright space and we are thrilled with the finished product; two years of hard work by more than a dozen students.

As I was preparing a workshop for teachers on how to rejuvenate their classroom libraries, I enjoyed gathering the books by the above authors and putting them on display for the presentation, and of course for the students. It was SO MUCH FUN working on the Roger Hargreaves display as I kept trying to strategically place each book based on their character… Mr Tall up the top… Mr Mischief hiding behind the table…Mr Silly upside down.

However the display came to life once I introduced it to the students today…. Wow, we went crazy… Mr Strong holding Mr Silly…Mr Small under the table with Mr Slow who just couldn’t make it up the top…Mr Nosey poking his nose into everyone’s business…Mr Tickle reaching out to everyone for a laugh…Mr Topsy Turvy upside down; the kids and I had a ball giving each book a life of its own.

The display started the day with 42 books and finished with 7… I know it’s a pertinent display when it’s messy at the end of the day…#bestjobever

Kid Lit Blog Hop

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I’m excited to be co-hosting the amazing, the wonderful, the incredible Kid Lit Blog Hop for the very first time!!! It’s the 47th time this all inclusive event occurred so you can imagine I felt like I’d been living under a rock when I discovered it for the first time two months ago… around Hop no. 43 I believe…

So if you’re a newby like me… get ready to enjoy discovering some new blogs, some wonderful, creative and literate blogs, that may just give you your next read-a-loud, library display, gift idea or reading strategy. For those of your returning… be gentle… it’s my first time.

Soooooo

Welcome to the 47th Kid Lit Blog Hop where we continue to develop a dynamic and engaged community of children’s books bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists. So, you are always more than welcome to join us by popping in a post and hopping around to meet some of your fellow Kid Lit bloggers and authors!

We are pleased to be formally welcoming Stanley & Katrina, pawthors of the newly released The Observations of the Obstreperous Animals (Stanley & Katrina Book 2) , as permanent hosts on the Hop. Also, a big welcome to our co-host this week, Kimbra, the blogger behind The Barefoot Librarian. Woo Hoo everyone… that’s ME!

Happy Hopping everyone and enjoy the Hop!

Kid Lit Blog Hop

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Kid Lit Blog Hop Rules *Please Read*

1. We ask that you kindly follow your hosts. You can follow us any way you choose (Email, GFC, Twitter, Facebook, G+, Pinterest, etc.), but we’ve added our preferences below. If you could just give us a quick “follow” or “like” that would be much appreciated! Make sure to leave us a message if you are following us (i.e., on Twitter or Facebook or on our websites) and we will be sure to follow you back. Thanks! 🙂

Hostesses:

Renee @ Mother Daughter Book Reviews Facebook * Twitter

Jaymie @ Snacks for Max Twitter * Facebook

Katie @ Youth Literature Reviews Twitter * Facebook

Julie Grasso, Author/ Blogger Twitter * Facebook

Cheryl Carpinello, Author / Blogger Twitter * Facebook

Reshama @ Stacking Books Twitter * Facebook

Stacie @ BeachBoundBooks Twitter * Facebook

Mia @ Pragmatic Mom Twitter * Facebook

Lina @ Best 4 Future: Bringing Up Baby Bilingual Twitter * Facebook

Stanley & Katrina, Pawthors Twitter * Facebook

Co-Host:

Kimbra @ The Barefoot Librarian Twitter * Google+

 2. Link up any Kid Lit related post. This can be a link to a children’s book review, a discussion about children’s literature/literacy, or a post on a recently-read children’s book or one that you love from your childhood.

* Don’t link directly to your blog, it must be a specific post.*

* For Authors, we prefer you to link to your blog if you have one. Please link unique posts each time ~ no repeats please. *

* Make sure you include an image relevant to the POST (e.g., book cover), not your blog button or photo of yourself.*

* Feel free to link more than one post.*

3. Please visit AT LEAST the TWO LINKS directly ahead of your own and leave them some love in the form of a comment. We are trying to build a community of bloggers, readers, parents, authors, and others who are as passionate about children’s literature as we are so please CONNECT and follow any or all of the blogs that interest you!

4. If you like, grab the button above and put it somewhere on your blog, preferably the post you’re linking up. If you’d prefer, you can just add a text link back to this Hop so that others can find it and check out all these great book links!

5. It would really help us get the word out about the Kid Lit Blog Hop if you would be so kind as to tweet, share, and spread the word about the Hop!

Interested in co-hosting the Kid Lit Blog Hop? If you’ve joined us before, you are welcome to join us again! Please email renee @ motherdaughterbookreviews (dot) com and put Co-Hosting Blog Hop in the subject line.

Happy Hopping!


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Author Bryn Barnard with us this week

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If you are a 2nd or 3rd grader, you are one of the lucky Elementary Students who get to spend time with our visiting author and illustrator Bryn Barnard this Thursday or Friday. Bryn will be presenting in the ES Library on Thursday at 2 pm for Third Grade and on Friday at 8.10 am for 2nd grade; parents are always welcome.

If you would like to buy any of Bryn’s books, we have two of the hardback books he has authored in the MS library, for 125 rmb. The 4 books he has illustrated and will be discussing with ES students are 30 rmb, and 55 rmb for the larger book, Sold, A Mothematics Adventure.

Bryn comes to us with a diverse background, being fascinated and interested by science, art and history from a young age, and wanting to combine the three for a successful career; he has certainly done that.

Magnificent Movie of Cardboard Challenge SAS 2014

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“Cardboard Challenge was awesome because it taught us teamwork and engineering” Michelle

“I liked the idea of cleaning up too because it made us more responsible” Daniel

“I really liked the teamwork” Vincent

“I liked destroying the boxes afterwards as it felt great on my feet” Zach

“I liked that all the grades did cardboard challenge” Elena

“You got to expand your imagination and think deeper than what you normally do” Malu

“It was a fun way of letting your imagination run wild” Kaitlyn D

“Playing with cardboard and your friends was great” Linh

“Working with friends was so cool for cardboard challenge and even when we argued, we still worked things out and had fun” Celine

“I was sad when it was over, can we do it two times a year?” Gracie

“We built a house with awesome features, including a door” Ludwig

“Getting to make anything you wanted was amazing” Chris L

“Cardboard challenge was fun because I tried my best and built so much” Fatime

“Building a lot of games was awesome and so much fun” Kaitlyn F

“The best thing about CC day was being able to create and build anything you want” Sean

“Cardboard challenge was awesome because we could build what we wanted to, and then the best thing was getting to play with it and show it to our friends” Max C

“Building things is so much fun, especially when you build them with your friends” Cleo

“We got to use our imagination to have fun, we thought of ideas and built our own projects” Han Rei

“Cardboard challenge was awesome because we made a blind bowling station and working with my friends was great” Rebecca

“Making things was so much fun, and then destroying them afterwards was cool too” Ali

Wow, thanks so much Davey Neill, a 5th grade homeroom teacher who took the time to video all of our activities on September 27th at Shanghai American School Pudong Campus.

http://videonew.saschina.org/player/pak_player/pakplayer.swf?config=http%3A%2F%2Fvideonew.saschina.org%2Fplayer%2Fpak_player%2Fembed_player.php%3Fvid%3D9402%26json%3Dtrue%26autoplay%3Dno

Cardboard Challenge Changes Children

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OK, well it’s not that the children are PHYSICALLY changed, or shorter now, or actually changed at all really… but doesn’t that alliteration sound great?

Thank you to Amy Hoosack for all the wonderful, no, BRILLIANT photos taken on Shanghai American School, Pudong Campus’s Elementary Cardboard Challenge.

You can see here what an amazing day the kids had from the smiles on their faces, it really was incredible to see students, teachers and parents having so much fun playing with cardboard… and using their imagination.The only complaint I kept hearing was that they were not allowed to take the materials home with them… and we did tell them why, but it’s hard when you’re 6 to not be able to take things home right.?

Apart from that, there was joy, laughter, teamwork, adaptability, enthusiasm, thinking on your feet, decision making and problem solving displayed EVERYWHERE to be seen.

The Lonesome Puppy

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The Lonesome Puppy by Yoshitomo Nara (1999)

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Yoshitomo Nara is one of the most influential and popular contemporary artists in Japan and this is the first of his children’s books that feature little girls and dogs. Simply and boldly told, this is a story many children will relate to and enjoy, the theme being loneliness and the bonds created between children and animals. It could easily be used in counseling classes to discuss the idea of being different, or feeling lonely. I would also use it in homeroom lessons as one of the early lessons on community building, belonging and friendship.

http://www.foiltokyo.com/english/book/art/yoshitomonaraeg.html

Cereal and Shoes and Boxes Oh My

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HI there

Well done AGAIN to 3ED for bringing in the most granola and toothpaste boxes this week… and to all of our Elementary Students who continue to bring in cardboard of all shapes and sizes… I can barely see out my windows! Good Job too to KEV, 3KS and KMI for their great efforts as runners up in this weeks mini-challenge…

Granola Toothpaste winners 3ED

Granola Toothpaste winners 3ED

Toilet Roll winners 3ED

Toilet Roll winners 3ED

Our final mini-challenge before our big week of the Global Cardboard Challenge is to bring in as many EMPTY cereal and shoe boxes… or if you can’t do that, I love coco-pops and my feet are a European 40!

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Ordinary becomes Extraordinary

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A lovely colleague, who also happens to teach my 7 year old, read a book to her class the other day, thrust it into my hands, and urged me to share it. Thank you Shauna. The book is called Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed and was written by Emily Pearson, and illustrated by Fumi Kosaka.

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This is not a new book, it was published in 2002, nor is its theme a new one. The concept of paying it forward gained exposure in recent times with the Kevin Spacey/Helen Hunt film Pay it Forward in 2000 (is it just me or are you shocked that ‘recent’ movie is now almost 15 years old?) and the idea of doing good deeds for others, in particular those you don’t know, has been around a lot longer.

“In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody.” Ralph Waldo Emerson-1841

In 1916, Lily Hardy Hammond wrote, “You don’t pay love back; you pay it forward.”

However, for the students I’ve read the book to this week, the idea was new, and wow, did they embrace it! Ordinary Mary sets off a chain reaction through a random act of kindness that changes the lives of millions in this story. My students were fascinated by this idea, we sat and talked for a long time about people having choices about how they act, and that peoples actions can really have an effect on others. Hearing kids discuss the phrases ‘ripple effect’ ‘pay it forward’ ‘random act of kindness’ and the conversation that followed was rich…and often humorous!

“That happened to me once when I was in a bad mood, and then my friend let me have one of his Pokemon cards, and I was happy and so I was nicer to my little sister.”

“Once when my Mum told me off I was sad but then my Dad was really nice to me and I felt better and I went back and talked to my Mum and then she was happy again, so then at dinner she was really happy and the next day Mum was friendly to her sister and her sister was in a good mood because sometimes my Mum is really mean to her but not this day so maybe she was nice to five people then.”

I’d encourage anyone who wants stimulating conversation to share the book with others, I promise it won’t be dull. I wonder what ordinary deed YOU do, and what extraordinary effect it will have on others…

Winners are Grinners

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A big, huge, wonderful, enormous, gigantic CONGRATULATIONS to 3ED for bringing in 89 toilet rolls last week to contribute to our Cardboard Challenge mini-challenge! Runners up were KEV and 2KH and the most exciting thing for me was just how many different classes we had in the top three each day… it really was a whole ES effort and the total of over 600 toilet rolls will surely add to our fun on September 26th when we imagine, create and build with all of our cardboard goodies.

Screen Shot 2014-09-08 at 9.06.17 AM

This weeks mini-challenge is for students to bring in as many empty granola boxes and empty toothpaste boxes as they can. Students should also be thinking about our final challenge next week, September 15th-19th, which is to bring in shoe boxes and cereal boxes, but for now, keep those, and any other cool cardboard items you’re collecting, AT HOME please. Details of these challenges were written about here, complete with more images.

Toothpaste box

Toothpaste box

Granola Bar box

Granola Bar box

Remember you can read more about the Global Cardboard Challenge here, and be sure to check out the boy who started it all, Caine, as you watch one of the Caine’s Arcade videos on youtube… (you’ll need a vpn)

18 more sleeps…