Roll a Book

Many years ago, I took an art class taught by Jacques Rupp, best known as a layout artist for Walt Disney's LADY AND THE TRAMP. This You Tube clip allows us to hear about the "perfect recipe" found in making Disney’s DUMBO. The drawing lessons I learned from Mr. Rupp are always with me.

THE MAKING OF DUMBO

 

Pencil Journey

Cut a strip of paper. Draw a story in a few cartoon squares (frames) on the paper with your own story and characters. Make sure to add a few words with your cartoon drawings. Roll it up, like in this DUMBO You Tube clip, and you have a “Roll a Book.” For a quick design, glue a pencil at the beginning of the rolled paper and another pencil at the end. These fun stories are for you enjoy and share.

 

Live Your Life as Light

October 2 is International Day of Nonviolence, in honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. He was born on this day in 1869 in India. Gandhi went to school in London, UK. His legacy is of a leader using nonviolent civil disobedience to create change. 

GRANDFATHER GANDHI is a new picture book for all ages of readers to understand how to live one’s life as light. The book’s website includes the Live Your Life as Light Pledge, activities to help one understand feelings of anger, and a short video. 

The Anger Journal suggestions were written by Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi. Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus wrote this new book for new generations of people to understand how change can be nonviolent. The book shows how to use anger in a positive way.

 

GRANDFATHER GANDHI's Live Your Life as Light

GRANDFATHER GANDHI by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus, pictures by Evan Turk (Simon & Schuster, 2014).

Authors at Texas Book Festival copyright Linnea Heaney 2014

 

Pencil Journey

Visit GRANDFATHER GANDHI's website and follow the steps to write about when you had feelings of anger. How could you use your anger in a good way? Take the pledge with your family and/or classroom.

Biography

What is a biography?
 
A biography is the life story of a person. Books about people are called biographies. 

In fourth, fifth, and sixth grade, I often checked out a biography from the school library. The books filled my mind with many stories about lives of people who became famous and their choices.

 

Here are a few picture book biographies from my cupboard reading shelf today: 

RACHEL CARSON AND HER BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD by Laurie Lawlor, pictures by Laura Beingessner (Holiday House, 2012). 

A RIVER OF WORDS: THE STORY OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS by Jen Bryant, pictures by Melissa Sweet (Eerdmans, 2008). 

ART FROM HER HEART: FOLK ARTIST CLEMENTINE HUNTER by Kathy Whitehead, pictures by Shane W. Evans (Putnam, 2008). 

MISS LADY BIRD’S WILDFLOWERS: HOW A FIRST LADY CHANGED AMERICA by Kathi Appelt, pictures by Joy Fisher Hein (HarperCollins, 2005).

 

Author Donna Bowman Bratton has created a mashup of the word “birthday” and “biographies” to make-up “birthdayographies.” Read about biographies on the birthdays of the famous at her blog, BIRTHDAYOGRAPHIES. Thanks, Donna, for sharing!

BIRTHDAYOGRAPHIES

 

 

The Caldecott Medal

CR Questions:

1. Who was The Caldecott Medal named after?

            A. Miss Potter

            B. Miss Greenaway

            C. Mr. Caldecott 

2. What is on The Caldecott Medal?

A.   A galloping horse

B.    Hunting dogs

C.    A crouching cat

 

Answers:

1.     The correct answer is Mr. Caldecott. After reading about Mr. Caldecott, try to find out what Miss Potter and Miss Greenaway did.

2.    The correct answer is a galloping horse from The Diverting History of John Gilpin, published in 1878. After reading more, how did Mr. Caldecott learn to draw a galloping horse?

Read all about Mr. Caldecott:

RANDOLPH CALDECOTT: THE MAN WHO COULD NOT STOP DRAWING by Leonard S. Marcus with drawings by Randolph Caldecott (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013). 

The Caldecott Medal book for 2014:

LOCOMOTIVE by Brian Floca (Atheneum Books, 2013).

Pencil Journey: It's time to find color pencils and start drawing!

 

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Directions:

Decide how many teams of people are playing Nature Scavenger Hunt; the size of the area for a safe hunt (making sure to stay close to or on trails, if required by the park); how long the hunt will last unless time is called first.
 

See that each team has a paper bag with the scavenger hunt items listed, a pencil, and a watch or cell phone. 

Start hunting on “go.” Stop when time is over or called by a team that has found everything. The winning team is the one that follows the rules and finds the most items. Runner-up teams can be ranked on the number of items found before time ends. 

Return all nature items back into the environment if it is a protected area like a national park. 

Ideas for items to be checked off bag or put in bag:

3 different kinds of leaves

Pine needle

Pinecone or acorn

A small brown rock

A small rock that is not brown

Pick up a piece of litter to recycle or throw out

Check off a flower

Check off a berry

A singing bird

Check off a nest

Check off a fish

Water or mud

Note animal tracks

Check off a flying insect

Check off a crawling bug

Check off a spider

A bit of fur

A seed

A dead tree

Write down general direction the wind is blowing (N, E, S, W)

 

Journey into the Past

Students, parents, and teachers wanting to learn about American history through all kinds of activities and books can visit the Our White House website from The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance.

OUR WHITE HOUSE

Road trip guides are on the website, too!

FAMILY FIELD GUIDE

More info:

THE NATIONAL CHILDREN'S BOOK AND LITERACY ALLIANCE