Author: BBCo

“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the unsolved ones.” -Abraham Lincoln

 

Celebrate a birthday this month as you begin your year in books. 

on the first Langston Hughes and Jerry Spinelli

on the fourth Paul O. Zelinsky

on the fifth David Wiener

on the seventh Laura Ingalls Wilder

on the tenth E.L. Konisgsburg

on the eleventh Jane Yolen

on the twelfth Abraham Lincoln

on the fourteenth Frederick Douglass

on the twenty-seventh Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

and, this year bing leap year, on the twenty-nineth, poet Howard Nemerov 

Need a terrific idea for your Section 5 Project?

Navigate like a Polynesian! 

So here's what Karen Hesse knew to be true:

Once upon a time, in the summer of 1768, Captain James Cook sailed from England on H.M.S Endeavour, beginning a three-year voyage around the world on a secret mission to discover an unknown continent at the bottom of the globe. What is less known is that a boy by the name of Nicholas Young was a real live stowaway on that ship. Yep, eleven year old Nicholas Young really did stow away on Captain Cook's voyage around the world! And what did Captain Cook do when he discovered the stowaway? Well, he commissioned Nick into the Royal Navy, made him assistant to the ship's surgeon aboard the Endeavour. And, as if this is not enough, Nick was the first person on Captain Cook's ship to spot New Zealand and later explored Antarctica.

Karen Hesse took this little bundle of history and spun a fictional journal filled with hurricanes, warring natives, and disease, as Nick discovers new lands, incredible creatures, and lifelong friends.

Be adventurous: read Stowaway!

Begin the year immersed in the wonder of impossibility.

 

"Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.'

I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."  

               -From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

 

Celebrate a birthday this month as you begin your year in books. 

on the third J R R Tolkien

on the fourth Jacob Grimm

on the fifth Lynne Cherry

on the twelfth Jack London

on the eighteenth A A Milne

on the thirty-first Rosemary Wells

on the twenty-seventh Lewis Carroll

and on the twenty-eighth Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was first published

on the twenty-ninth Rosemary Wells

on the thirtieth Lloyd Alexander

During the summer of 1768, Captain James Cook sailed from England on H.M.S Endeavor's first voyage to explore the little known southern hemisphere. Eleven-year-old Nicholas Young was a stowaway on this voyage. True story.

Karen Hesse invites us to delve into this pocket of history alongside the stowaway and experience the astonishing adventure alongside Nick.

After reading, encourage your students to recreate the adventure in a meaningful and lasting way. Section 5 in our Literature and Writing Discovery Guide will present opportunities to move beyond mapping out the story details to identify the impact the story had on the heart. 

My youngest son, Søren, spent significant time and effort researching the ship itself and committing his personal reflections to marks burned on wood. Creativity tied to a great story helps the reader retain and apply in ways where the essay falls short.

Captain Cook reminds us sky's the limit, "Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again."

-Kim

Every time you finish reading a book, think tinker.

The word “tinker” comes from the middle English referring to people who engaged in the work of patching worn tin kettles. When I was young, tinkering was a crude, quick fix of any object regardless of the medium, be it tin, wood, brick, or fabric. My great-grandpa Ted was a tinker. I loved exploring the bits and bobble in his shop, creating assemblages of junk while he merrily tinkered. Back then tinkering was not considered an art form, it was something more akin to the household junk drawer. When I was young, tinkering was pretty much DIY before the acronym came to be.

 

Fast forward, I LOVE how the growing maker movement has brought a deeper meaning to this wonderful word. Nowadays, “to tinker” is recognized (rightfully so) as a significant step in the process of making, in the process of bringing shape to ideas.

 

What better way to deeply integrate and apply knowledge gleaned from great stories than to thinker an idea to shape?

So how to begin?

Think wire. Buttons. Tags. Cork. Think ric rac and ribbon. Paint Glue. Hooks and chain.

Think junk drawer and you are moving in the right direction for a tinker project.

 

After reading Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Jac began her tinkering. She decided to explore the theme “overcoming weaknesses” with a self-portrait assemblage of objects on a turntable. She wanted to display her strengths anchored to the base and her weaknesses as distracting creatures tangling her momentum unless she exerted significant effort.

And so she did. Exceptionally well, I might add.

 

So the next time your child reads a book, think tinker.

 

-Kim