Come Fly With The Godwits!

I'm delighted to share the story of the bar-tailed godwits. Every year these birds make a marathon migration from their summer home in Alaska to their winter home in New Zealand. This bird's story is very special to me. For thirteen years, I lived near Christchurch, New Zealand.  Along with other New Zealanders, I eagerly awaited the godwits arrival each year in September.

Here I am the day the godwits arrived this year.
Check out the headline--"Godwits Are Back!"

That always signified winter was over and spring had arrived.  So, when scientists tracking the birds reported they were nearing land, bird watchers rushed to the shores.  Then as soon as the first group of godwits were spotted, the news was broadcast on the radio and television.  The big cathedral in Christchurch also rang its bells.  Everywhere banners were raised and crowds rushed to the estuaries to cheer the arriving birds.






Now open the book and enjoy the story. Then have fun digging deeper with these discovery activities.

Check out the aerial view of Cape Avinof, Alaska (the godwits' starting place) by visiting this website.  Next, do a Google search to find out how many miles it is between Alaska and New Zealand, the godwits' destination.  Now, think about how you would travel from Kipnuk Airport, the closet airport to Cape Avinof, Alaska to Christchurch, New Zealand, one of godwits destinations in New Zealand.  Check airline websites to answer the following questions:

Can you fly non-stop, the way the godwits do?  If not, how many stops do you have to make along the way?

How much will it cost you to fly between Alaska and New Zealand?
The trip isn't free for the godwits, either.  However, what it costs the birds isn't money.  Read page 15 of The Long, Long Journey to find out what it costs these birds to make such a long flight.

So you learned what it costs the godwits is energy--what they get from eating and storing body fat.  Adult godwits have to double their weight between June and September.  Chicks have to both grow up and put on weight.

Just for fun, figure out what you would weigh if you doubled your weight to make this long trip.

Look at the godwit's long legs.
Such long legs help it wade in the mud to find food.

Now, try this activity to find out how the godwit uses its long beak to find and pick up food.

First, cut the top off an empty gallon-sized milk jug. Fill it nearly full of wet sand. Next, have an adult partner bury five pennies in the sand and smooth the top flat to hide the coins.  Then use chopsticks or two pencils held like chopsticks to probe the sand for the pennies. Once you find them, use the chopsticks to pluck the pennies out of the sand.

Take a close look at this picture of godwits in flight.  Look at how they hold their wings and head.

How do you think holding their head and wings this way helps them fly?

Check out what the godwits are doing with their long legs while they fly.  Why do you think the birds hold their legs in this position rather than just letting them hang down below their body.

Now, spend some time watching your local birds take off and fly. Draw a picture of one of these birds in flight.  Be sure to show how they stretch out their wings, how they hold their head, and what they do with their legs.

Just for fun, play this game to find out how godwits stay together in a flock even while flying through thick clouds and heavy rain.  Ask six of your friends to stand in a circle around you. Close your eyes and ask them to make noises one at a time.  Try pointing to each person as they sound off.  Have your friends score a point for you each time you point at the person making the sound.  Now you know that being noisy helps birds keep track of each other and fly together.

The godwits take advantage of the fact that earth's northern and southern hemisphere's have summer at opposite times of the year. They always live where it's comfortably summer and there's plenty to eat year round.  To do that, though, means the godwits have to make a Long, Long Journey.

Dig Into The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees: A Scientific Mystery

Once children read this real-life mystery, they’ll be ready to dig deeper.  These activities will really get them buzzing!

What’s The Story?

Part 1

Pretend Dave Hackenberg is your grandfather.  Write a paragraph as if you were visiting him the day he discovered nearly four hundred of his beehives were nearly empty.

Part 2

Now pretend you’re a reporter for your local television station. Write a paragraph telling the breaking news story the U.S. is facing because honeybees are vanishing. Be sure to briefly share the following:

·      How big a problem is this?

·      Where is it happening?

·      What are the reasons scientists believe it’s happening?

·      What is offering hope for the future?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.6 Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.

Get The Buzz On Bees

Dig into books and search online to learn more about the lifecycle of a honeybee queen.  

Write a short story about one honeybee queen. 

Be sure to include an introduction that explains how a queen is different than the other bees in a hive. Next have a middle where something exciting happens, such as the queen leaves with workers to start a new colony or other bees trying to steal honey attack the hive. Then give your story an ending, including how long the queen lives and how many young she provides the hive every year of her life. Just for fun, draw and color pictures to bring your story to life.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Buzzzz Hunter

Go on an information scavenger hunt using only the book’s photos and captions to answer the following questions.

• 1.     Why are cornfields not good places for bees?
• 
  
• 2.     What requirement does a hive have to meet to be rented for work in the California almond orchards?
• 
  
• 3.     Why was a tiny device glued to the back of some honeybees?
• 
  
• 4.     Why are varroa mites nicknamed vampire mites?
• 
  
• 5.     Is the U.S. President a beekeeper? How do you know?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Be A Bee Friend

What can you do to help honeybees? 

Read “Help Your Local Honeybees” and “Global Rescue Efforts” at the back of the book. 

Next, choose one way to help honeybees. Tell what you chose and why, in your opinion, that will make a difference. 

Make a list, in order, of what you’ll do. And, after checking with an adult to be sure your plan is okay for you to do, go to work. Your local bees need you!  

  

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak 

THE REAL DEAL: WRITING NONFICTION FOR CHILDREN

There's never been a more exciting time to be writing nonfiction books for children. That's because nonfiction books need to be just as good at grabbing kid's and making them want to keep turning the pages as fiction. I always add that I want my nonfiction books to be ones kids want to read more than once just the way they would a favorite fiction book.  That's why I like to make my nonfiction books discovery experiences on more than one level: the fact-based story is key (and I usually make it have the appeal of an adventure); next there are the photos and captions that can be explored separately as well as within the story. And I pack some more opportunities to explore and discover in the Back Matter.


There are three main types of nonfiction books for children. I'll share some of my books as examples of each of these so you can dig into them at your leisure and get a better feel for each type.

Survey Books--These provide an overview of a topic. 

Bats: Biggest! Littlest! (Boyds Mills Press, 2013) introduces children to different kinds of bats using the hook that being big or little or having big or little parts is an adaptation for survival.







Growing Up Wild: Bears (Atheneum, 2000) introduces children to different kinds of bears while also sharing the general life cycle of bears.

Tough, Toothy Baby Sharks (Walker, 2007) provides children with a look at different kinds of sharks focusing on juveniles and how they have special adaptations for survival.

Concept Books--These share an animal's life cycle or a special concept. 

How Many Baby Pandas (Walker, 2011) shares the Giant Panda's life cycle and presents the concept of why this animal is endangered. It also introduces efforts to protect and expand the population of Giant Pandas.

Animals Marco Polo Saw (Chronicle, 2009) introduces children to this historic explorer's life and achievements. It takes the special approach of sharing how the explorer was helped along the by different animals and how he discovered never-before-seen species.

Specialized Nonfiction Books--These dig deep into scientists at work and key science advancements, research, and issues needing further research.

The Great Monkey Rescue (Millbrook/Lerner, 2015) shares the work of teams of scientists and volunteers around the world working to save golden lion tamarins. And they do it in a very creative way

This book is for young children and it's 32 pages long.

Once you decide what kind of nonfiction book you'll write, you need to know what to include.  For young children (ages 4-8 years), you should plan on your book being 32 or 40 pages long.  For older elementary-aged children (ages 8-12 or 14 years), plan on your book being 48 or 64 pages long.

These first graders are showing their enthusiasm for my book What If You Had Animal Teeth?

Your book will include the main story or information. Start with an introduction that grabs attention. Have the story or information unfold page-by-page or in short chapter. Then wrap up with a conclusion that summarizes the key points and leave the reader feeling satisfied.


You may also want to include these features:

• Glossary--New vocabulary words introduced in the text.
• More Information Section--Books and websites children can use to learn more about your topic.
• Author's Note--What inspired you to write this book or some personal connection you have to the story.
• Index--This is usually only in longer books for older students to help them quickly locate information.

This is a two-page spread from How Many Baby Pandas?

Before you start writing, think about the layout of your book.  After I research my book, I always think about how the book will look. By that I mean how each spread--the lefthand and righthand page--will look together. And I consider what children will see and discover by reading that spread. That helps the book flow well and give the book a feeling of completeness. That's really something a nonfiction book shares with a fiction one. The child reading it wants to settle into the book (the introduction) and feel at home in the world it shares. Then the reader wants an adventure or to discover something. Finally, the reader wants to feel there's an ending. The big difference between fiction and nonfiction is that many times readers are challenged to use what they read. They might help save an animal, improve the world, or realize they've discovered the career they want for their lives.

I love to get fan photos! She loves Butterfly Tree (Peachtree Publishers, 2011)

So just like a fiction book, today's nonfiction books for children can inspire and change lives. You could do that!!

WRITING TO GET PUBLISHED--PART 1 What Will You Write? & Writing Fiction

While it's summer, I thought I'd take time to change the pace a little and respond to those of you who've asked for some tips on writing for children. And how to get published. So here's the first of this 

three-part series.

What Will You Write?

First, and most important is to know the market and your strengths.  Spend time reading Publishers Weekly, especially PW Children's Bookshelf.  You wouldn't start cooking without learning how to use a stove. It's just as smart to know the marketplace you're trying to write for before you commit the huge amount of time and effort needed to write a marketable book.

Second, decide what age group you want to write for. In other word--who is your target audience. A book for a preschooler is clearly VERY different from a book for an 8 to 12 year old.

Once you choose your target audience, spend some time with children that age. Volunteer to read to children at the library or a local school.  Listen to their vocabulary and sentence structure. Notice their attention span. And pay attention to what they choose to read. Think about what captures their interest.

As an example of the difference in writing vocabulary and style for different age groups, check out my book How Many Baby Pandas? (Walker, 2011)

In each two-page spread, the lefthand side is for preschoolers.

The righthand side is for older children. Notice that even the size of the text is different. The amount and kind of information shared is very different.

Next, it's time to decide what you're going to write. Before you choose a particular topic, you need to decide whether you'll write fiction, nonfiction, or faction. Faction is that wonderful blend--a fictional story based on fact. An example is my recent book Snow School (Charlesbridgem 2013).  

Everything about snow leopards is true and based on a lot of research, including working with an expert who has spent more than two decades studying these animals in their remote, natural habitat. However, the particular snow leopard family I describe and what happens to them is my creative imagination at work, sharing that information in a docudrama-style story.

Writing Fiction

Let's take a closer look at writing fiction for children. Your story clearly needs an interesting plot and characters kids can care about. In today's world, writing a story--whether for children or adults--isn't that much different than writing a movie screenplay. The plot structure is basically the same--the three Act structure.  Here's a quick graphic view of that illustrates the structure.

Also check out this three part series by Brad Johnson on the sequence of action--how what happens in the story needs to unfold for it to be successful.

To carry the action, you need characters you, the writer, as well as your readers can care about. You  need to know them well, including their motivation. You especially need to know how your main character will change/grow/transform as a result of living through the three acts of your story.

 In my book Soaring Like Eagles, that's certainly true for 12-year old Kate. She goes from being an orphan unsure of herself or her future to being confident of her ability to survive against all odds and the love of her grandfather.

Which brings me to the last point for Part 1. When writing fiction for today's audience--and today's publishers--you need to be able to squeeze the essence of your story and its main character(s) out in one sentence. What's called the logline. 

When-----IDENTIFY YOUR MAIN CHARACTER AND ANY KEY IDENTIFYING TRAIT--does--TELL WHAT ACTION/EVENT THAT MAIN CHARACTER WILL FACE--then--TELL WHAT CHANGE WILL HAPPEN TO THE CHARACTER OR THE THEIR WORLD.

When a 12-year old orphan girl discovers a grandfather she didn't know she had, she also finds a new, earth-oriented way of life and the courage--even against great odds--to defend it.

This logline becomes the driving force for plotting and character development. It also becomes a key tool for introducing your finished book to an agent or editor.

Part 2: Writing Nonfiction--NEXT

Teachers For Teachers

This photo is from the Clutter Free Classroom blog. Who reports: "It is currently the most popular book in our class library." SMILE!!!

I appreciate the creative effort and time teachers spend outside the classroom preparing to make learning meaningful and memorable.  So I want to thank all of you for that work.

I especially want to thank those of you who are developing activities based on my books.  I value the ways you're finding to make my books special discovery experiences for children.


So I want to share a few of the blogs I know are sharing one of my books--WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH? (Scholastic, 2013).  I hope those of you who are also sharing this book or know of blogs with activities based WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH? will Comment. I'd love the sites I'm sharing here to grow, and grow, and grow. SMILE!

Definitely check out Science For Kids: Adventures of An Elementary School Science Teacher by Sue Cahalane.

Sue has created activities based on my book WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH?  She shares patterns for four kinds of teeth (narwhale, elephant, camel, tiger) kids can use while imaging themselves with different kinds of animal teeth.  She also shares worksheets for an animal classification activity based on this book.

At Oceans of First Grade Fun by Yolanda Arnold. You'll find patterns for the other kinds of animal teeth in this book. Like her students, your children can try their hand at a little opinion writing answering these questions:

• If you could have teeth like any one of the animals in this book, which would you choose?
• Why would you like to have that kind of animal teeth?

Of course, like the book, also challenge children to think about what's great about having human teeth.

At First Grade W.O.W. (Windows On Wonder) Nancy Vandenberge shared her entire class with their animal teeth.  These kids also examined some cool REAL teeth Nancy brought in to share.

"I love collecting fun things for our science center.  I have a bull skull which includes many of his teeth, a small deer jawbone, and a good friend just gave me an elk skull with teeth.  We had an amazing time examining each one. " Nancy Vandenberge

And what a great chance for children to think about how each animal's teeth are just right for what that animal eats.

Definitely don't miss Homeschool Share. Scroll down to Science Activity 7 and Animal Teeth

You can download a  worksheet with wonderful photos your children can use to match animal teeth to just the right animal.

Or go to Science Kids: Fun Science & Technology For Kids.  There your students can play an interactive game. They're challenged to drag teeth to the right animal, including a human, and click on EAT.  Making a mistake is as much fun (and interesting) as getting it right.

And you'll find more fun at Teach Mentor Texts.  There, Jen gives the book five hearts and suggests this activity.

"Writing Prompts: Imagine that you did have animal teeth - as if they were a super power. What could you do with animal teeth that would help you in your daily life? Write a story where you show how you would put your animal teeth to use. Choose two animals from the book to compare and contrast. How do they use their teeth in similar or different ways?"

Also check out one more activity called One Big Bite. It has lots of action-packed, mind-building fun for your students to chew on. And if you have a special way you're sharing WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH? with kids please click on Comment and share. That'll let us all share the SMILES!!

And while you're sharing how you're building activities around WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH? here are some more teacher created activities you won't want to miss.

Lesson Plan Resource File--Animal Teeth--Estimating Length

Share The Long, Long Journey

I'm delighted to share the story of the bar-tailed godwits. Every year these birds make a marathon migration from their summer home in Alaska to their winter home in New Zealand. This bird's story is very special to me. For thirteen years, I lived near Christchurch, New Zealand.  Along with other New Zealanders, I eagerly awaited the godwits arrival each year in September.

Here I am the day the godwits arrived this year.
Check out the headline--"Godwits Are Back!"

That always signified winter was over and spring had arrived.  So, when scientists tracking the birds reported they were nearing land, bird watchers rushed to the shores.  Then as soon as the first group of godwits were spotted, the news was broadcast on the radio and television.  The big cathedral in Christchurch also rang its bells.  Everywhere banners were raised and crowds rushed to the estuaries to cheer the arriving birds.






Now open the book and enjoy the story. Then have fun digging deeper with these discovery activities.

Check out the aerial view of Cape Avinof, Alaska (the godwits' starting place) by visiting this website.  Next, do a Google search to find out how many miles it is between Alaska and New Zealand, the godwits' destination.  Now, think about how you would travel from Kipnuk Airport, the closet airport to Cape Avinof, Alaska to Christchurch, New Zealand, one of godwits destinations in New Zealand.  Check airline websites to answer the following questions:

Can you fly non-stop, the way the godwits do?  If not, how many stops do you have to make along the way?

How much will it cost you to fly between Alaska and New Zealand?
The trip isn't free for the godwits, either.  However, what it costs the birds isn't money.  Read page 15 of The Long, Long Journey to find out what it costs these birds to make such a long flight.

So you learned what it costs the godwits is energy--what they get from eating and storing body fat.  Adult godwits have to double their weight between June and September.  Chicks have to both grow up and put on weight.

Just for fun, figure out what you would weigh if you doubled your weight to make this long trip.

Look at the godwit's long legs.
Such long legs help it wade in the mud to find food.

Now, try this activity to find out how the godwit uses its long beak to find and pick up food.

First, cut the top off an empty gallon-sized milk jug. Fill it nearly full of wet sand. Next, have an adult partner bury five pennies in the sand and smooth the top flat to hide the coins.  Then use chopsticks or two pencils held like chopsticks to probe the sand for the pennies. Once you find them, use the chopsticks to pluck the pennies out of the sand.

Take a close look at this picture of godwits in flight.  Look at how they hold their wings and head.

How do you think holding their head and wings this way helps them fly?

Check out what the godwits are doing with their long legs while they fly.  Why do you think the birds hold their legs in this position rather than just letting them hang down below their body.

Now, spend some time watching your local birds take off and fly. Draw a picture of one of these birds in flight.  Be sure to show how they stretch out their wings, how they hold their head, and what they do with their legs.

Just for fun, play this game to find out how godwits stay together in a flock even while flying through thick clouds and heavy rain.  Ask six of your friends to stand in a circle around you. Close your eyes and ask them to make noises one at a time.  Try pointing to each person as they sound off.  Have your friends score a point for you each time you point at the person making the sound.  Now you know that being noisy helps birds keep track of each other and fly together.

The godwits take advantage of the fact that earth's northern and southern hemisphere's have summer at opposite times of the year. They always live where it's comfortably summer and there's plenty to eat year round.  To do that, though, means the godwits have to make a Long, Long Journey.