The Day the Crayons Quit

We recently read a very funny book, The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt.

http://www.penguin.com/book/the-day-the-crayons-quit-by-drew-daywalt/9780399255373

September 30th was designated Support the Crayons Day. The crayons are tired of being overworked and over-used, and are finally speaking up. Each crayon writes a letter to Duncan, the owner of the crayons, encouraging, pleading or cajoling him to consider using them to color different objects than they usually do.

This hilarious book happens to be one of the 10 nominees on this year's Red Clover Award list, Vermont's children's choice book award. Click here to see the other nominees for this year.

The book ends with a wonderful mural by Duncan who manages to make all his crayons happy:

This inspired us to have our K, 1st and 2nd graders work on creating their own murals.

Here are the completed murals being hung in the cafeteria for all to see and enjoy!

Kindergarten Mural Based on Drew Daywalt's book The Day the Crayons Quit
Kindergarten Mural based on the book The Day the Crayons Quit from Carol Scrimgeour on Vimeo.



1st Grade Mural part 1 from Carol Scrimgeour on Vimeo.



1st Grade Mural part 2 from Carol Scrimgeour on Vimeo.


2nd Grade Mural Based on Drew Daywalt's book The Day the Crayons Quit
2nd Grade Mural based on The Day the Crayons Quit from Carol Scrimgeour on Vimeo.





2nd Grade Mural Part 2 based on the book The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt from Carol Scrimgeour on Vimeo.

The Eric Carle Museum

In early August several colleagues and I took a road trip to Amherst, Massachusetts, to visit the one and only Eric Carle Museum, and what a delightful visit that was! It was truly a feast for the eyes!

http://www.carlemuseum.org/

http://www.carlemuseum.org/Visit/Our_Facility/

As quoted from their website: "Founded in part by Eric Carle, the renowned author and illustrator of more than 70 books, including the 1969 classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is the first full-scale museum in this country devoted to national and international picture book art, conceived and built with the aim of celebrating the art that we are first exposed to as children. Through the exploration of images that are familiar and beloved, it is the Museum’s goal to provide an enriching, dynamic, and supportive context for the development of literacy and to foster in visitors of all ages and backgrounds the confidence to appreciate and enjoy art of every kind."

Of course the Eric Carle Museum has an official Volkswagen Beetle!  What else could it logically be?

The Museum was founded in 2002 by Eric and Barbara Carle.  Not only are there three art galleries, but a wonderful, light-filled art studio for children, a picture book library, theater, cafeteria and book store.  

Ground-breaking ceremony

Model of the Museum

Huge canvases of Eric Carle's paintings line the main hallway.

 The bathrooms are no less impressive!  Notice the decorative tiles on the bathroom walls?

Look closer!





Recognize these animals?

I see a blue horse looking at me...

Okay, is this Gerald of Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie series?

Pigeon and I have a lot in common!

Incidentally, there is an exhibit of Mo Willems' work at the Carle. Titled "Seriously Silly: A Decade of Art and Whimsy by Mo Willems," it runs from June 22, 2013 - February 23, 2014. 

      In addition to all the wonderful pieces of Willems' original art on display are a few of his spreadsheets that he creates to keep track of the many processes his books go through before completion.  Each book has its own chart which, by the end, has become a busy mosaic of colored-in squares giving testimony to the many stages involved in producing each of his books! I had never seen anything like it, giving me a fresh appreciation for all the work that goes into creating a picture book.

 It's truly amazing to think this picture book was first published in 1969.  It is timeless, yet is now 44 years old.









Living in Vermont puts us in close proximity to this incredible kid-friendly museum.  It is well worth the visit.

The Day We've Been Waiting For ...

We had read many of April Pulley Sayre's 60+ books and the day we have waited for, the day of her visit to our school, finally arrived!  We were ready for her!

In preparation for April's visit, all the children in the school signed their names to four paper sea turtles which were used to welcome our special guest and lead her to the Learning Center.

Her visit was amazing!  She enthralled the children with her stories, sharing fascinating information about the many animals she has studied around the world. 

And April proved to us how much she loves words by getting us chanting with her.  "Billbug, Bed Bug, Bark Beetle, Bee. Painted Lady Butterfly. Flea, Flea, Flea!" Check out April's chant books, such as Ant, Ant, Ant! (An Insect Chant), or Trout, Trout, Trout!: A Fish Chant, or Go, Go, Grapes! A Fruit Chant.  They are tons of fun to read out loud!  She can find fun rhymes and rhythms everywhere.

The children learned how slowly sloths move by doing the motions with April, and listened to recordings of howler monkeys from her visits to Central America.

They lapped up her wisdom about believing in yourself, and keeping on trying even when other kids seem better at something than you are.

April Pulley Sayre, author, with Grace Greene, Youth Services Consultant with the Vermont Department of Libraries.  Two amazing and talented women!

April with a couple of fans.

Carol and April, their birthdays one day apart!

April talks with some eager 
 aspiring authors after her presentation. 




 
 Thank you, April, for coming all the way from Indiana to visit our school!

Visit April Pulley Sayre at http://www.aprilsayre.com/ 
to read more about this wonderful author and all the books she has published.  The Essex Elementary School Library has many of her titles available to borrow.  Touch a Butterfly: Wildlife Gardening with Kids was just published in April of 2013, and later this year follow Let's Go Nuts! Seeds We Eat, and Eat Like a Bear!
 

Why Picture Books Matter

    
     As we welcome students back to school this fall at Essex Elementary School, a special display of picture books and their storybook characters are crowded together in a hallway display case inviting children and adults to stop and look, spot their favorites and even discover some new stories to search for on their next trip to the library.   

  
     Picture books are like pirate booty: a treasure chest of visual and written delights!  They are a unique form of literature.   A common misconception is that picture books are for very young children, and that once a child can read independently they have outgrown this type of book.  Picture books encourage critical thinking and promote visual literacy with their sophisticated marriage of text and illustrations.  Children have the opportunity to practice their skills of inference and prediction, and are exposed to a rich vocabulary and creative uses of text (called author’s craft).  The subject matter is boundless; picture books range from humor to biography, from factual information to fantasy, from moral stories to deep tales of humanity.  The writing can be tender or beautiful or clever or hilarious. And the illustrations? There’s such a range of styles between illustrators; picture books are like a mini-trip to an art museum!

     
     When looking at picture books through the lens of the Essex Town School District’s End Policies, one can see that they address policies 1.2 Students will develop attributes for life-long learning in a complex world through:

• Creativity and innovation
• Critical thinking and problem solving

and 1.3 Students will demonstrate functional and critical thinking skills in the use and understanding of information, media and technology.

     Picture books are a very flexible medium for people of all ages, largely because of their visual nature.  And, most importantly, they are FUN!   If you are interested in reading more about picture books, read Show Me a Story! Why Picture Books Matter; Conversations With 21 of the World's Most Celebrated Illustrators, compiled and edited by Leonard S. Marcus, Candlewick Press, c2012.

     Another inspiring book is Anita Silvey's Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life (Roaring Brook, 2009).  Anita also writes an incredible blog called Children's Book-A-Day Almanac.


    





So, give your child a special treat!  Curl up in a favorite spot with your child and enjoy a picture book tonight. They’ll love you for it.  Check out www.readingrockets.org for a wealth of suggestions, or the suggested websites on my blogroll. Or better yet, ask your favorite librarian !

Welcome Back From All Your Friends!

I have to admit it - I have always loved stuffed animals.  Even now, if I see a really adorable stuffie I might stop to check it out.  It's usually the expression that's the clincher, but sometimes it's the color or the material.   Normally I can resist, except if it happens to be book related.  If the stuffed figure is a book character, I simply can't help myself.  Resistance is futile at that point.

I have been a librarian for many years, so it should be no surprise that I have quite a sizable collection by now.  A favorite thing I love to do at this time of year is to set them all on display in our huge case to welcome back the 400+ children that will stream through those doors in less than a week.  This display is so much fun!  Children and parents love it, spending a long time checking it out.  They recognize many but also discover a few stories they aren't familiar with.  It's a visual literacy of the soft kind!

Here are pictures from last year.  The challenge this year will be how to squeeze in a few more characters.  A trip to Livres Babar on Greene Avenue in Montreal this summer yielded a large Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson) and a small Wodney Wat (Helen Lester).  I will start work on it tomorrow.  I can't wait to get out all those old friends.  Bring on the stuffies!

Please don't let the pigeon drive that bus!

QR Codes and Authors' Websites

First and second graders use the ipads to explore how QR codes work.  Various QR codes were randomly placed around the Learning Center.  

Each code led to a website, most of which were popular authors' websites as well as the library's homepage and this blog. 

Students worked in teams of two and took turns scanning the codes with the app Qrafter, and were able to explore the websites.  Mary Pope Osborne of the Magic Tree House has a terrific website for children. 

Other authors' websites in this scavenger hunt were those of Daniel Kirk, author of the Library Mouse series; Ron Roy of the A to Z Mysteries; Victoria Kann of Pinkalicious fame; Charlie and Lola's author Lauren Child, Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey, Tedd Arnold aka Fly Guy, Mo Willems, John Scieszka, and the popular Franny K. Stein, to name a few.

I was very proud of how careful they all were, and how well they worked together!