Guides and Goodness Galore!

 Today has been a thumbs-up kind of day!

First of all, an interview I did discussing teacher guides with the highly respected TeachingAuthors.com went live today. In it, I talked about my take on creating companion guides for books written for kids. Below is a wee snippet from today's post.

As a classroom teacher, I scoured countless guides and activity games in search of lessons that would enhance the reading experience for my students. I looked for clever games, interesting new ways to practice vocabulary, dramatic interpretation, and introspective discussion questions. And, when I connected with the content of a companion guide, I kept that particular book in a prominent place on my classroom bookshelf to be used time and time again. Like the good resources I used back then, I now work to create guides that will keep the book in the heart of the child reader and the hands of those who care for them – my mantra.

And then, if the TeachingAuthors.com post wasn't wonderful enough, a friend and fellow RA from LA, Alexis O'Neill acknowledged my work on the current SCBWI Bulletin. In her article "Creating Teacher's Guides for Your Books", she notes that I state that guides fall into three main categories: Teacher's, Activity, and Discussion guides - and I do! Alexis also touts the work my compadres and I have been doing at ReaderKidZ.com.

Well, I've certainly been feeling the love today! Thanks, TeachingAuthors.com, Alexis, and SCBWI for the nods.

Today's been absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see what great things tomorrow will bring.

Trekking Down the Jes' Happened Timeline

With each guide I work to create something that will help keep the book in the minds of teachers and librarians for a long time. Something that they can easily pull up and reuse. Something that the kids can make by themselves. The objectives of teacher guide exercises must stem from the varied themes presented in the story. And, I try to create activities in which the kids must repeatedly refer to specific pages in the book. Gotta keep that book in their hands!  

The overarching theme in Don Tate's It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw is the passage of time. It is a remarkable tale of a man who, while in his 80's, began to draw pictures depiciting the vivid memories of his life as a slave, a sharecropper, and a freeman. This great story is pieced together with multiple references of time and place, more so than in many picture books I've seen. So, I thought, since the aspects of time and place are critical to Bill Traylor's story, let's make a timeline!

 There is some assembly required to create this project. Not to worry, though. It's super easy to make. Everything you need is listed in the guide. With a little glue, some scissors, and the book in hand the incredible events of Bill Traylor's life and death can be chronicled over and over again.

 There are lots of other interactive activities in Don's guide. For instance, comprehension is reviewed by working an awesome crossword puzzle. There's a writing exercise built around writing in a character's point of view. And a poetry activity in which the students pull from their own memories as inspiration - the best kind.

So, get the book, download the guide, and have yourself some grand old fun! Make it jes' happen.

The Ultimate Simple Saturday Project

My son shared this inspirational video from Karmatube.com with me. I have to do the same with you. It's a great story about a community's supportive effort to help make a boy's vision of splendor become a reality. In it, a boy named Caine uses every ounce of his imagination and fortitude to create a true-to-life arcade, complete with a fun pass! The video's great. You have to watch.

Caine's story reminds me of when I directed summer art workshops at a lovely Montessori school in Dallas years ago. Weeks before the program began we'd ask parents to donate supplies such as egg cartons, empty cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, milk and jugs and the like. Folks brought in mounds of the stuff. And, man, I wish you could have seen how good-ol kid ingenuity mixed with a little tape and a touch of tempera transformed the cardboard mountain into unicorns, castles, buses, and cars. Good times...No, those times were the best.

I recall the magical feeling in the air as the kids collaborated on their creative projects. Shouts of "I have an idea!" "Yes!" "Try this!" buzzed around the room. Hours passed like seconds. Together we made fond memories I will cherish for a lifetime. I hope the kids, now grown, remember those days in the same way I do.

Thanks, Caine and Karmatube.com, for my stroll down memory lane. 

Keep up the good work!

The sky's the limit for both of you.

It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw - A New Guide

It's an exciting new day in Debbie Land. I'm just about to dig in an create a new companion guide for my buddy Don Tate. His latest book, It' Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw, has already scooped up a ton of accolades. It's just that good.

So stay tuned to see just what I can come up with to do this great book justace. I'm crazy proud of Don, because the text mirrors his thoughtful and considerate nature. I swear I hear his voice as I read these moving words over and over again.

I can't show you the guide yet. For now, enjoy this video clip and I'll get back with you as soon as I can.

Snuggle Mountain - A Guide for an App

Each guide that I create offers its own interesting slant. Each are great fun to do in their very own way, and the lovely Lindsey Lane's Snuggle Mountain was no exception, at all. For you see, this charming picture book is now being sold as an app (and sales are going quite well, I might add). Lindsey and illustrator Melissa Iwai have taken a flying leap into new, uncharted e-territory, and I am thrilled have a chance to tag along for the ride.

Lindsey and I often chatted about making a guide. Being that this book/app is so unique, I wanted to create something that would offer teachers, parents, and librarians something substantial to pull from, something that they would use time and time again. The Traits entered into our conversation. I happen to love working with the 6 + 1 Traits of writing. Kids respond so positively to the method. The activities are clear, lively, sound, and so kid-centered. Being that they are founded on the child's creativity rather than stringent academic confines, the work that comes from the young writers is delightful! So, why not make a Traits guide for this delightful picture book/app? Woot!

The guide consists of a number of lessons all centered on the text and illustrations, rubrics to evaluate each trait, writing paper, and a very cool poem page (my fave!). To best benefit from the guide, have the book or app in hand, as the lessons require close consideration of Snuggle Mountain before letting those creative minds soar!

A Simple Saturday Harmonica

One of the things that I love when working with author and dear friend Kelly Bennett is that she gets me. She knows that I am all about fostering a sense of creativity and whimsy through the use of simple, everyday things. And, both Kelly and her terrific new book, One Day I Went Rambling, celebrates the Simple Saturday spirit. It's a great story. Trust me. Zane, Kelly's protagonist, personifies the intention of this website right down to the tips of his untied tennis shoes. Rock on, Zane. Rock on!

So, today for your Simple Saturday, One Day I Went Rambling, homemade band musical pleasure, let's make a harmonica. (I confess, the construction process is going to be shamefully easy. Oh, well. What else is new, right?)

All you need to gather up is a comb and a piece of tissue paper (Or, in my case, tear off 3 squares of toilet paper.). We're sure not breaking the bank with this one, are we? 

Then, to make a Simple Saturday harmonica, fold the tissue/toilet paper over the teeth of the comb. That's it, my friend. Truly. That's it.

To play your Simple Saturday harmonica, gently lay your lips on the paper-covered comb teeth and hum. The vibrating resonations of the paper between the teeth with both tickle your lips and delight your ears. It's a really cool experience. I promise. 

If you are not satisfied with the sound your comb harmonica is making, you're trying too hard. Loosen your lips and hum lightly. There you go. Good job.

Heck, while you're at it,  maybe you can learn how to play the Beatbox Comb Harmonica, a variation of Yuri Lane's rocking theme. Isn't this guy amazing?

You know, I'll bet Zane would find a way to play a beatbox comb harmonica.

And I'll bet you can, too.

A Shoebox Guitar

I have to say that when Kelly Bennett asked me to make a guide for her newest picture book One Day I Went Rambling, I was stoked! This book celebrates the unbridled creativity of a free-thinking child like no other book I've ever read does...which totally speaks to the true Simple Saturday spirit that resides within me.

Without giving too much of the story away, the protagonist sees the world in a marvelous, creative way as demonstrated when, in his eyes, an old women's slips become sails, a weather wooden crate becomes a pirate ship, and a pop top becomes treasured jewels. The kid is cool. There's no getting around it.

In one of the final scenes, the protagonist leads a rag-tag band of neighborhood kids in a parade, of sorts. To illustrate the final scene and the theme of this darling book, when Kelly contracted me, she stated that she wanted me to orchestrate a homemade band. Truly music to my ears!!!! Rock on.

So, in celebration of Kelly's latest picture book success, let's begin with the string section. Let's make a Simple Saturday shoe box guitar! It's so, so simple to do. All you need to make this accoustic wonder is a handful of rubber bands, a shoe box and some scissors - for real!

Simply cut a sound hole (Thanks, Wikipedia) out of lid of the box. Then, lengthwise, stretch the rubber bands over the sound hole. Now close the box and you're in the music business, baby!

 Pretty slick, huh?

Through the course of the guide I created homemade instruments to fill the brass, percussion, string, and the woodwind sections of the orchestra. Plenty of symphonic Simple Saturday fodder for a long time, my dear friends. Plenty.

The Sandwich Bag Bomb

Click on the pic and buy the book. You'll be glad you did.This book is filled with the most incredible experiments, wonders that will wow even the worst scientific cynic. As it states in the introduction, "For most of the experiments, a broad smile and an open mind will count for far more than a white coat and a calculator. So throw yourself into these funny, eye-opening, quirky experiments and see where they take you." To this invitation I enthusiastically say, "Here! Here!"

For starters, I decided I'd like to make the Sandwich-Bag Bomb, found on page 10. (Though, the chance to make Frankenstein's Hand on Page 46 is still talking to me.) I tell you, after reading these words in "The Scientific Excuse"  - ...carbon dioxide soon fills the bag and then, after straining at the bag's seams, pops with a bang - my heart was racing. My pulse was pounding. My insides were jittering. I just had to make a Sandwich-Bag Bomb, and that was all there was to it. I even convinced my grandson to join me in my deviousness. Poor kid.

Here's how it went down. Marcel and I carefully followed the instructions to a T. Marcel made the "envelope" (the secret code work for bomb) with a paper towel and baking soda. I poured the water and vinegar mixture in the plastic lunch bag. He dropped the "envelope" (wink, wink) into my solution. I sealed the bag and gave it a little shake. We dropped it on the driveway and ran like the devil.

 And then...and then...and then...it exploded with all of the cresendo-ing swell of, well, a toot! That's right, all of that hoopla for a mere flatulent puff!

I should have stuck with making Frankie's hand.

Next time.

Doggin' and Horsin' Around

I just finished creating the coolest guide ever! First of all, you must check out Jeff Crosby's and Shelley Ann Jackson's b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l non-fiction picture books, Little Lions, Bull Baiters & Hunting Hounds and Harness Horses, Bucking Broncos & Pit Ponies. Not only are the illustrations amazing and the facts fascinating, you need the books to complete most of the activities I created in their Research and Activity Guide.

However, there are two anatomy lessons that you can do without the books. Look though the guide to find them. Did you know that both the dog and horse have a muzzle, stifle, a fetlock, and pasterns? And that a horse has a coronet? (I'm not talking the rootie-toot-toot type of coronet, mind you. I'm talking anatomy here.)

So, go get yourself some scissors and glue, look through the guide, print out pages 15 to 17, and have some dog and horse fun!

I tell you, it takes good books to be able to make good guides. And, my dear Simple Saturday friend, Jeff and Shelley have created two masterpieces. Don't take my word for it. Check them out and see for yourselves!!!

Paper Dolls As Pretty As You Please

 Today we're going to focus on a craft that I found while researching supportive material for one of our ReaderKidZ Beyond Boundaries selections - Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match, written by Monica Brown and illustrated by Sara Palacios. This book is way, way, w-a-y too cute, y'all.  Here's what Nancy Bo Flood says about the story:

Marisol McDonald is teased about being different – sometimes it is because of her fire-red hair and freckles.  Sometimes she is teased because she prefers playing pirates to soccer. Mostly she is teased about “nothing matches.”  This book in pictures and words is as high-spirited as Marisol and a wonderful inspiration for celebrating being different and being proud of it.  Every kid gets teased. Readers will enjoy Marisol’s creative approach to being herself.

So, now that you know about the darling story, let's get busy Simple Saturday-ing, want to? To do so, you'll need to download the Teacher Activity Guide Monica has loaded on her website. In addition to finding a ton of great lessons, activities, and even recipes in the guide, pages of paper dolls are there just waiting for you to print out and create. Print the Monica Marisol paper doll on card stock and you're ready for some good old-fashioned paper doll dressing fun.

 There are two basic styles of clothes to chose from....the pre-colored selection or the color-it-yourself-creative selection. Either of which is marvelously original, spunky, and fun - just like Marisol! (And you and me, I might add.)

Now go get yourself some scissors, print off these sheets, and have some Simple Saturday fun, you hear? See you next week!

Meat Tray Block Printing - Inspired by Ellen's Broom

Y'all, this is an incredible book founded on the celebration of everlasting love between a husband and a wife and it ROCKS! Kelly Starling Lyons' tender poetic prose nails the inquisitive nature of Ellen, a young girl learning about great happiness born from hardship - all in the name of marriage and of freedom.

I really enjoyed working on Activity/Discussion Guide. Not only is the story amazing, the illustrations....oh, my golly gosh! Daniel Minter's linoleum block prints blew my socks off! To imagine the patience and skill required to carve away with such delicate precision baffles me.

I spent hours studying the movement of his lines and the expressive faces of his subjects. There is one spread, in particular, that I love in which Ellen and her family are gathered by the fireplace and her father has his hand on her shoulder. So sweet... And, man-oh-man, does Daniel know how to play with color and light for effect. There's a haunting spread that is so tastefully unsettling it will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. (I'm not telling you which one it is, either. Get the book and see for yourself.)

Simple Saturday crafting, once again! You know the simple drill...meat tray, sharp pointed tool (pencil or pen), paints, brush, and paper. CHEAP!So, let's dedicate this Simple Saturday post to the fabulous art of Daniel Minter, illustrator for Ellen's Broom, want to? There is a detailed explanation of the Styrofoam Meat Tray Block Printing a-la Simple Saturday-esk technique described in the Activity/Discussion guide I made for Kelly. (Close your eyes, Daniel. This might make your stomach roll.)

Where Daniel skillfilly carves his master pieces, I basically used the point of a pencil like trowel and sketched something that, hopefully, resembles a tree. (I see you smirking...Don't laugh.) 

Then I spread black paint all over my meat tray block print and made a print. After my print dried, I used tempera paint to fill in white space with color. What do you think about my apple tree? Pretty spiffy, eh? Not bad for a novice. I'm sure you can do a whole lot better. Try it. Make a meat tray block print. It's fun!!!

And, more importantly, take a look at Ellen's Broom, when you get the chance. Get lost in Kelly's wonderful words perfectly complimented by Daniel's incredible artistic sensibilities. 

 Much like my own! Ha!

Bring on the New Year!

I've just spent the most delicious morning basking in gratitude for the joy in my life and setting intentions for the great new year to come, one of which is to return to my beloved Simple Saturday blog posts.

Truth be told, I've been busy crafting reading guides for a number of great books, many of which are seasoned with Simple Saturday-like activities. You name it - games, crafts, recipes - all kinds of good stuff. And I've been busy blogging with my ReaderKidZ buddies on a regular basis, so I have lots of good ToolBox goodies to share with you, as well.

All this to be said, come back and see me on Saturdays, won't you? You'd best bring some scissors and glue with you, while you're at it. Together, let's craft a stellar New Year!

Want to? 

Kick Up Yer Heels

To make a vibrant guide I first need a lively, multi-sensory, energetic story filled with heart and soul. And my buddy Bethany Hegedus pulled it off without a hitch. She dun good, I tell ya. Real good.

Her Truth with a Capital T is rich, rich, RICH with, as IndieBound says, "...grace and humor and a heaping helping of little-known facts, Bethany Hegedus incorporates the passions of the North and the South and bridges the past and the present in this story about one summer in the life of a sassy Southern girl and her trumpet-playing adopted Northern cousin." How 'bout that?

In regards to making the guide, Bethany gave me a ton of scrumptious literary stuff to work with. In addition to in-depth discussion questions and those ever-important TEKS annotations I created quilt codes, metaphor madness, a Reader's Theatre, and even a recipe for deeee-licious blackberry cobbler. Yum. Yum. Click HERE to get a look at the the guide, if you'd like.

But, for me, the best part are the YouTube video clip selections - in particular The Best Bluegrass Clogging Video Ever Made. Boyeeee! I love this video!! I challenge you to watch it without letting a smile stretch across your face. Can't be done.

Check out the jaunty tilt of the banjo picker's hat, will you? How the the old guy's elbow pumps? Pap Paw snoozing on the settee? And the darling dimpled girl with the dashing smile? Got to love it! In my mind, this video captures the multi-generational heel-kicking love of cultural diversity Bethany so aptly celebrates in her books and in her life.

Think I'll watch it again.

Friday Prep: Kick Up Yer Heels

On of my most enjoyable guides I've made involved clogging. Not the thing that happens when you try to cram a bushel full of apple peels into the garbage disposal and expect it to work. (Think that I have had first hand experience with such a irresponsible act. Me? Never.)

No, I'm talking about the oh-so-energetic-try-to-sit-still-and-can't dance of the official American dance of the Appalachian Mountians. Man-oh-man, I just love it!

We took a trip to Mountian View, Arkansas once when the kids were pint-sized...a little family trip that will be forever warmly nestled in the folds of my heart. There I saw cloggers in action for the first time in my life and I was mesmerized! Still am.

Tomorrow I'll give you a little taste of what I'm talking about. Woot!

Hummingbird Love

Ready to celebrate National Hummingbird Day with me? September 1st will be here before you know it!!! To kick things off right let's give my pal Jeanette Larson a bit of a shout out by checking out her seriously wonderful book, Hummingbirds: Facts and Folklore from the Americas. Talk about beautiful. Wowzers.

So let's party down by making two Simple Saturday crafts, want to? The first is a repeat of a previous Simple Saturday post in which we made a hummingird feeder out of a baby food jar, a long wire, water, and sugar. Go ahead and click HERE for all of the sugary sweet details.

And, to make a hummingbird party mask, gather up markers, glitters, scissors, feathers, glue, and a popsicle stick or a wooden dowel for a handle. I made a .pdf with a mask template on it for you to download by clicking HERE. (Actually, there are two templates on the .pdf - one for you and one for a pal. Birds of a feather flock together, right?) Print the template on card stock. Simply cut the mask portion out and create away!

Man, I am all a-goggle for the hummingbird. You will be too after you watch this PBS video. Good gosh. Did you know that hummingbirds can even fly upside down? Click HERE and watch for yourself.

It's no wonder hummingbirds have their our national day of celebration. Let's get making those masks and party down!

Prep: Loving the Hummingbird

Yesterday I bought a few Papyrus greeting cards for some friends of mine. Inside the cards' wrappers were  small sheets with a lovely passage printed on them that read, "Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration.  The hummingbird's delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life's sweetest creation."

Dang...wasn't that nice? And I was looking for something thoughtful to send my friends. Shoot, look what came back my way.

Did you know that this petite winged cherub has its own national day of commemoration? Well, it does. This little critter is down right fascinating!

Hey, why not tomorrow let's look at a book a dear, dear  friend of mine has written about the hummingbird? Want to? Maybe we can make a couple of Simple Saturday crafts while we're at it.

Sound like fun? See you tomorrow, then.

Guiding You to Pattison's Prairie Storms

These are winners. Some of the best!!!!!

I'm not only talking about the guides I made for Darcy. Oh, no, no, NO! I'm talking about the month-by-month lively, visual and textual descriptions of life on the prairie you can find in the book itself...and I ain't a-kidding you. Together, Darcy and illustrator Kathleen Reitz have created a treasure that will last the academic test of time, my friends. This book is incredible...for real. It is one that, if I were in a classroom today, kiddos would be working it. And I do mean work. Here's why...

The guides that I made for Prairie Storms are deliciously lavished with a study of mathematics, the passage of time, seasonal study, flora and fauna taxonomy, the food web, weather patterns, a weather map, biomes, and - like the cherry atop a blob of whipped cream - a science experiment specifically created in Simple Saturday-like structure to compliment the specific weather pattern depicted in each sensational month.

Yep. That's right. I'm talking twelve of those suckers. Twelve super fun, inexpensive, biome-specific scientific experiments. And...guess what...after you buy the book, Darcy's giving the guides away. Yep. Free for the taking!!!!!

Click HERE for more info about Darcy, the monthly guides, and all the other stuff my little buddy's involved with. And, when you do contact her, tell her Simple Saturday sent ya. She'll get a kick out of that!

Prep: Home on the Range

When you stop and really think about it, the prairie is a happening place.  There's whole heck-of-alot more to it than waving wheat fields and a sky spreading out as far as your peepers can see. Oh yeah, it's really a jungle out there, I'm telling you!

Tomorrow we're going to look at a series of guides I made for an awesome non-fiction picture book that takes a close, close look at the prairie's fab flora and fauna, as well as studying a year's worth of weather patterns. These guides were such fun to make because I learned so ding-danged much while doing so!

So, to put you in the mood for tomorrow's mellow prairie stroll, I asked my old buddy Marty Robbins to strum a little tune for us. You know this song. Come on...join in. And a-one and a-two...

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play....Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the sky is not cloudy all day. Home, home on the range...

Simple Saturday: Get Organized Without Losing It

All right, y'all. You already know that I've been teaching since the TRex wore diapers, right? That being said, these old eyeballs know a good thing when they see one and Janet Fox's Get Organized Without Losing It rules!

Teachers and parents, if you're seeking a source to help create a little calm in the back-to school chaos, this book is it! Dudes and dudettes, look no further. I say that you have found the academic organizational Mecca right here and now!

We're not only talking about strategies to keep those binders bound in order or ways to keep time managed to a tee. Nope. We're talking about sensitive, child-centered approaches to insure that your precious darling will find success in the wacko world known as SCHOOL.

Here's what I suggest that you do. Step one: Order Janet Fox's incredible book. Step two: Download the game I created to compliment this book by clicking HERE, which goes hand-in-hand with the organizational principles presented in the text.

And then, Back-To-School 2011-2012 will be a breeze, baby! I guarantee it!

Prep: Back to Schooling Again

I just can't help it.

The thrill of preparing for school is woven deep within my DNA. It just is. My heart palpitates when Wal-Mart puts three-ring binders on sale. Yesterday the Office Max guy found me fingering the felt tip pens. Rulers...Bic pens...erasers...spiral notebooks...Oh, gosh! I'm all a tizzie.

Where to start? Where to begin? How can I get organized, I ask you?

Deep breaths, Debbie. Deep breaths.

You'll be ever-so-glad to know that I once made a guide that covers back-to-school organization techniques and more! And, if you're you're as back-to-school excitable as I am, make yourself a nice cup of camomile tea and try to relax until Simple Saturday. Operant word? Try.