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Ugly Vegetables

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Use Blackbird & Company’s Earlybird Spring Literature and Writing Discovery Guide to plant a Chinese vegetable garden! The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin tells the tale of a little girl who helps her mother grow some very unusual vegetables while the neighbors are all growing flowers. Read how those ugly vegetables brought the neighbors together over a bowl of soup.

A little research will yield many inexpensive ways to use containers to grow vegetables.Check out our Pinterest page.

We'd love to hear your garden ideas too! Leave a comment…

 

-Sara

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April Showers

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For this project, begin with a sheet of watercolor paper or heavy cardstock. Next practice drawing some iconic clouds on scratch paper. When you are happy with your design, draw three or four or five clouds in pencil lightly on the watercolor paper. Be sure to overlap the clouds a bit. Trace the clouds with a black Sharpee. Once your clouds are established in the sky, use your Sharpee to make textural designs by echoing the curves with repetitive lines. Then it will be time for you to use your Sharpee to make little raindrops fall. This is a terrific opportunity to practice patience, one tiny raindrop at a time. 

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At last it is time to add some color to your clouds. Choose three watercolor blues and washright over the Sharpee cloud.

Sit back, enjoy your art, and stay tuned. You know that they say, "April Showers bring May Flowers!"

 

-Kim

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Rechenka’s Eggs

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The fifth book in our Earlybird thematic Spring Discovery Guide is a Blackbird & Company favorite, Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco is in our top ten favorite children’s books of all times! Beautifully illustrated this wonderfully told tale will introduce your student to the amazing art of Ukrainian Pysanky egg decorating.
 
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This has been a yearly tradition at our house during Springtime. All the supplies you need can be found online. And if you can find a copy, be sure to watch Reading Rainbow (season 10 ,episode 4) to see Patricia herself creating a beautiful painted goose egg. …Magical!
 
"Behold the egg."

 

-Sara

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Earlybird for the Month of Poetry

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April is just around the corner. It’s time to think poetry.

When is a flounder like a dish?

Who reads the Newt News?

How many lumps on the Bactrian’s back?

How many words rhyme with weevil?

What does the hawk remind the reader to be thankful for?

In our Earlybird Douglas Florian Discovery unit, students will explore beautifully illustrated collections of 21 poems. Each poem is pure silly fun blending science and whimsy to teach the reader about life in the sea, scaly slimy creatures, mammals, spiders, insects, and our fine-feathered friends.

Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and recipient of an ALA Notable Children’s Book Award, Douglas Florian is the author and illustrator of many children’s books. He believes there is only one rule when it comes to poetry: There are no rules. Douglas Florian gives credit to his father as his first art teacher, who taught him to love nature. He begins his poems with research of the real thing and then uses that information to create an imaginary poem. Douglas Florian lives in New York City with his wife and five children.

Your 1st and 2nd grade students will not only write and illustrate poems inspired by the Florian poems, they will explore the traits of characters, acquire new words, and practice making sentences. More importantly, they will enjoy exploring the art of poetry.

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Shark Shape Poems

To begin this project, go the the library and gather a collection of shark-picture-books. Read and enjoy at a safe distance. Sharks have sharp teeth.

Next, write a sentence or two about a shark incorporating some true facts and some not-so-true facts (after all, this is poetry). Be sure to include a simile (use the word "like" or "as" to compare the shark to something).

Sketch a few simple shark shapes, no details, just the outer contour. Choose a favorite to enlarge. Using light pencil draw the shark on a sheet of watercolor paper. Trace the light pencil drawing with black Sharpee.

Now write the shark sentences around the shark shape in, once again, very light pencil. When the sentence is spaced and spelled well, trace the words in black Sharpee.

Finally, the fun part… Mix up some deep-sea-watercolor blue and wash it right over the whole thing. Swish, swash, that's right! 

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And when your shark poem is dry, beware of the blur that is caused when it swims right off the page as all good poems should.
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-Kim

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Metamorphosis for April

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Butterflies are blossoming for the month of poetry!

These lovely creatures began with a lesson on the life cycle of this intricate insect and the book, A Blue Butterfly: A Claude Monet Story by Bijou Le Tord.

From there, with a bit of imagining, we were able to construct a singular sentence: Imagine you are a butterfly... What do you see? What do you sense? What do you wonder? What are you glad about?

Each sentence was thoughtfully considered. Each word matters in a tiny poem! I find that offering little phrases such as, "Butterfly, you…" or "My wings flutter…" or "I am flitting…" (and I'm sure you will come up with a few of your own…), help students overcome the "I Can't" road block. Thing is, they CAN! Most often the sentence starters disappear, over taken by the unique creativity of each writer's unique voice.

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Next, we traced a simple butterfly shape and set it free from sheets of watercolor paper. We used only shades of blue—blue watercolor, blue colored pencil, blue pipe cleaners.
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And the result is poetic. 
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-Kim

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It’s Spring in Monet’s Garden

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Claude Monet, leader of the Impressionist movement, was a masterful gardener. Yes, that's right, gardener. I've been to Monet's garden in France. This artist's garden bursts to life in spring. Spectacular is a small word to describe the grounds. You can read about it in the delightful book, Linnea in Monet's Garden. But you can also experience it through his paintings. 

So, on this first day of spring, why not plan a visit to Monet's garden via a "close reading and rendering" of one of his garden paintings? You can learn so much about the art of painting by copying the work of a master. Here is how we did it:

Here's how to paint this painting in two three-hour-sessions:

Session 1

To begin, cover your canvas with a light hue from the painting. While the paint is still very wet, use a clean brush to draw the shapes you see. Let this stage dry completely before proceeding.

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Next, mix up a a limited palette of colors in jars that can be sealed so the acrylic paint will not dry out. When mixing colors to match this painting, you will not only mix primary pigments to find the secondary and tertiary colors (red and blue make purple, yellow and blue make green, orange with a hint of red is red-orange and so on), but you will need to experiment with adding a dash of compliments to discover the subtle complexities of Monet's palette. When you add a touch of orange to its opposite, blue, you will discover a lovely iteration of blue. For Monet colors, once you have the hue, you will add white to each color to achieve the lovely pales familiar to this artist. When you have your palette, seal it up for Session 2.

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Session 2

Start with laying down the dark blue-green in the negative spaces. Then, while the background is drying, begin to add detail to the lily pads and blossoms with the medium values, loading your brush with different hues and unloading them onto the canvas. Rinse your brush in between color changes. When the background dries (and acrylic dries fairly fast), give it a second coat, allowing the subject of the painting to dry a bit. Continue painting in this manner, paining the light values last. You may need to step back from the paintings to discover missing details. Be careful not to mix colors on canvas while paint is wet or the lovely colors will turn to mud.  

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It's spring. Take a moment to smell the flowers blooming and be inspired by the fragrance. You never know what you might learn. "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers," said Claude Monet.

-Kim

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Sneak Peak: Welcome Hatchlings!

We are so pleased to announce the arrival of our Hatchling Discovery Guides! This integrated, multi-sensory approach encourages Kindergarten through 2nd Grade learners to discover the complex connections between reading and writing the fun way.

 Our Hatchling unit is designed to be paced over the course of two years as a comprehensive language arts program that introduces all the skills necessary to read fluently and write fluidly. Over the course of 52 weeks (2 school years), your little ones will discover the joys of reading and writing, delighting in the process.

Each year the phonics of reading and writing is introduced in a logical progression from initial sounds to more complex patterns in three concise student journals. Our teacher guide is designed to help you mentor and inspire your students through their individual important work. There are no lessons to prepare, but rather time to come alongside.

Each week students will:

  • Learn and practice phonics using miniature objects and colorful didactic flashcards 
  • Utilize a moveable alphabet and the sand tray to reinforce learning
  • Read, write, and acquire sight vocabulary
  • Read exceptional literature
  • Create meaningful journal entries
  • Engage in line-work activities that strengthen developing fine motor skills

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For second year students in 1st or 2nd grade, we’ve added an element that teaches the four types of sentences and offers an opportunity to practice the art of sentence crafting using the miniature objects. Mazes, too, are a fun addition at this level, further developing fine motor skills and logic.

And, in line with all our offerings, we’ve tied writing to great stories. What better to spark the child’s imagination than an endearing tale?

All this, plus “just right” readers along the way, enables your students to practice phonics as it is being introduced.

We believe the best kind of learning is happy learning . Hatchlings will open the door to the wonder and potential of language, inspiring curiosity and independence along the way. Both Volume 1 and Volume 2 will be available for pre-order at blackbirdandcompany.com April 1st. Hatchlings will begin shipping early June to those who place early orders. Stay tuned for more details.

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Zinnia’s Flower Garden

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Zinnia’s Flower Garden by Monica Wellington leads off week two in our Earlybird Spring Stories Thematic UnitThis is a great week to plant some flower seeds for your summer garden. There are excellent instructions at the back of the book on how to begin. Get a little notebook and keep a garden journal noting what you planted and how long each seed took to sprout. Take photos too! Wouldn’t it be fun to press the flowers come summer when they bloom. Here are some flower presses or you can make your own.
When you plant your flowers consider planting these five flower species that really help the Monarch butterfly survive on it’s long migration. Spider Milkweed (zones 5-9) blooms May-July, Chives (zones4-9) bloom April-June, Siberian Wallflower (zones 3-9) blooms March-May, May Night Salvia (zones3-9) blooms March-May and Common Milkweed (zones4-9) blooms June- August.
 
You will be richly rewarded with Monarchs in your yard and your children will be able to watch the lifecycle of thee amazing animals up close and personal.
 
 
-Sara
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Smell the Roses

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Don't forget to stop and smell the roses? 

…oh, wait!

What I meant to say is, "Don't forget to stop and observe the seashells!"

And when you do, ask yourself, "What do I see?"

Notice the organic shape. Look for the complex colors. Do you see the orange and blue making each other sing?

And whenever you observe something, make note of it in your Observation Journal like Marlo does!

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Do you see how she closely observes line and texture and and shape and color inherent to the Nuttalia obscurata ("purple varnish clam")? 

Now you try.

Find an object from nature in your neck of the woods. Journal your observations using words and images.

And don't forget to smell the roses.

 

-Sara