Author: Kimberly

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Twelve Days Giveaway: It’s Elementary!

The Twelve Days of Giveaway continues! You saw the wonderful snow-themed books we chose for primary readers—now get ready for another slew of picture books that welcome winter, this time for elementary-aged readers! Read on for a synopsis of each book and for ways to use them as springboards for learning.

HOW TO ENTER:

Enter once—or come back daily to boEdit (classic editor)ost your chances!

You can also earn bonus entries by:

  • Following us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or YouTube
  • Uploading your Blackbird & Company photos or videos (no faces required!)
  • Completing quick extra actions inside the contest portal

Read on for a synopsis of each book and for ways to use them as springboards for learning. 

The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt

The Mitten is a Ukrainian folktale that starts off with a little boy collecting firewood in the forest for his grandmother. It’s the coldest day of winter. The little boy drops one of his mittens in the snow and continues on collecting firewood. A tiny mouse finds shelter in the mitten. One by one, a frog, owl, rabbit, fox, wolf, boar, and bear crawl in too. The mitten is strained to its limits when a little old cricket tries to step inside—can the creatures make room for a tiny cricket? 

Folktales are stories that get passed down in a culture. As a folktale, The Mitten connects generations of Ukrainians to each other, creating common ground between old and young. Folktales usually deliver a lesson of some kind; after you read The Mitten with your student, ask: What lessons does it impart? What might be the purpose of telling this story in Ukrainian culture? In my reading, The Mitten illustrates the tragedy of the commons, or the idea that when people have unlimited access to a shared resource, they will ultimately over-use it at the expense of the collective. Each animal who hops in the mitten prioritizes their own comfort over the reality that the mitten can’t fit very many creatures, which eventually means that no one can enjoy the mitten. 

Brave Irene by William Steig

Mrs. Bobbin, a dressmaker, creates the most beautiful dress for the duchess, to be worn at her ball that night. However, Mrs. Bobbin feels too ill to deliver it so her daughter Irene volunteers despite the snow starting outside. After Irene tucks her mother into bed, she sets out with the big dress box to the palace. The wicked wind, however, has other plans—it rips the box from her hands and blows the dress off into the night. As if that’s not bad enough, Irene twists her ankle and realizes she’s lost! Brave Irene will have to live up to her name if she wants to make it out of this disaster. 

If we’re brainstorming character traits for Irene, the author makes our job a little bit easier with the title—Irene is definitely brave! In addition to the fun illustrations and beautiful word choice, we like Brave Irene because it depicts a brave, determined role model for young girls. As Irene faces the danger of freezing to death, she keeps her head and pushes through to complete her task. Heroes can come in all shapes and sizes! As you read this story with your student, discuss what makes a hero and if you would want to emulate any of Irene’s qualities.

The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader

As winter looms, the woodland animals brace for the cold season. Some creatures migrate to warmer places, others hibernate in cozy burrows, and the rest prepare to find food in the snow. The first flakes of snow fall. Then, the night after Christmas, a rainbow shines around the moon—the owls know this means much more snow. Heavy snow falls for two days. After the snow stops and the animals grow hungry, a little old man and woman shovel a path and scatter food on the ground. Though the animals face a long and cold winter, the old couple might be the key to them making it to spring. 

One reason I think The Big Snow earned its place as a Caldecott winner is because of its realistic yet tender animal illustrations. The lines and colors possess a softness that capture the reader’s heart and foster connection with the animals on the page. The Big Snow answers the question, “Where do animals go when it snows?” After reading this book, ask your student, “What would you do if it snowed?” Encourage them to draw a picture or write a description of their favorite activity in the snow. It could be anything from staying inside to read a book to braving the cold to have a snowball fight!

The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen

Old Sarah watches the children wait for the bus every morning but they never notice her. One morning she notices a boy without mittens, so she knits him a pair and leaves them on the old blue spruce tree for him to find. From there, she knits new mittens for the children every day and leaves them on the tree. On the last day before winter break, Sarah hangs mittens on every branch so that all the children get new ones. Sarah’s heart feels full even though the children have never acknowledged her—when she gets home, however, she finds a basket filled with beautiful yarn. It seems Sarah’s hand in the children’s lives has not gone unnoticed! 

This sweet story highlights the contentment that generosity brings. Oftentimes, giving enriches the life of the giver just as much as or more than the recipient’s. Although Sarah never directly interacts with the children she knits mittens for, she feels like they have become her new family. Her soft smile speaks to the joy that generosity brings. After reading this story, challenge your student to give a gift (maybe a snack, a homemade craft, a pair of socks, etc.) without telling the recipient who it’s from. The reward of knowing you have given a gift is enough!

We’ll plan to draw 3 winners on December 30 and announce them on December 31—a fun way to close out the year and start the new one with great books in hand. So stay tuned!

And remember, more actions = more chances for you to win! Click through and enter to win today!

 

 

~Claire

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Twelve Days Giveaway: Let’s Get Reading!

As the days shrink to their shortest length and the winter chill seems here to stay, there’s nothing better than finding a cozy corner in which to read a book. That’s why we’re launching our Twelve Days Giveaway, with twelve delightful books, in three sets of four to enjoy. Their unifying theme? Snow!—and, of course, beautifully illustrated picture books!

The first bundle of four we’ve curated is perfect for primary and early elementary readers. Because the words in these stories are sparse (or for one story, nonexistent), reading the illustrations is key. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words—so take a close look along with your students at the wonderful sketches, collages, watercolors, paintings, and words that collaborate to tell the story, and get reading!

HOW TO ENTER:

Enter once—or come back daily to boost your chances!

You can also earn bonus entries by:

  • Following us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or YouTube
  • Uploading your Blackbird & Company photos or videos (no faces required!)
  • Completing quick extra actions inside the contest portal

Here’s the scoop about the books in the primary bundle:

Tracks in the Snow by Wong Herbert Yee

Tracks in the Snow tells the adorable story of a little girl who sees prints in the snow outside her window. She wonders what kind of creature could have made these tracks and follows them throughout the snowy woods.

We chose this tiny book not only because of the sweet and whimsical storyline, but because of the little girl’s tenacity and inquisitiveness. She poses a question about the world around her—who or what made these tracks?—and doesn’t stop until she solves the mystery.

Character is one of the first literary elements students are equipped to unpack at the Earlybird level. As you read this story with your student, ask: What are the little girl’s character traits? Is she brave or scared? Is she curious or disinterested? How do you know? You might be surprised at your student’s insights!

Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

Wolf in the Snow begins as a little girl walks home from school and loses her way in a snowstorm. In the same wintery landscape, a helpless wolf pup is separated from his pack. The little girl and the wolf pup stumble across one another and search for the way home together in the forest and snowy plains. Is the girl and pup’s friendship enough to save them both?

The illustrations in Wolf in the Snow are so masterful that they don’t require words to tell the story—no wonder this book won the 2018 Caldecott Award! Onomatopoeia (words that represent sounds) are the only scraps of writing in this piece, like when the wolves go “hooooooooowwlll” or the owl says, “screech!” As you read this book with your student, bring up a conversation about mood. Mood is how a story makes you feel, and Matthew Cordell creates  mood almost solely through pictures! How does each scene make you feel? How can you understand the little girl’s feelings from the illustrations?

After reading and discussing, consider challenging your student to draw a picture that conveys a certain mood, using no words except for onomatopoeias.

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

As one snowflake falls, then another, the boy with the dog knows what that means: it’s snowing! No matter how many times the people around him or the radio or the television say it isn’t snowing, the snow won’t listen to them.

We chose Uri Shulevitz’s Snow because of the boy’s faith that it would snow in the face of everyone else disagreeing with him. Despite grandfather with beard and man with hat and woman with umbrella explaining how the snowflakes are too few or how the snow will melt, the boy knows better and trusts himself. His optimism is rewarded when snow blankets the city and whimsical Mother Goose characters join him in celebrating the winter wonderland. As you read, ask: Has there ever been a time when you have known something to be true but other people disagreed with you? How did you handle it? Is it easy to trust yourself?

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

The narrator knows a big snow is coming; it’s finally time to use the materials they’ve been collecting. They create a whole family of snowmen. When the sun comes out, the snowballs shrink and melt. Ehlert wraps up the book by including collage elements and an explanation of how snow is made.

One of the reasons we love this book is because of its interdisciplinary content. Ehlert combines the art of collage with the science of snow. After reading Snowballs with your student, cut out three circles of white paper and stack them to create a snowman. Looking to Ehlert’s examples for inspiration, collect a myriad of objects you can find around the house—like buttons, cashews, scraps of paper and fabric, string, plants, coins, socks—and arrange them on a piece of blank paper to decorate the snowman.

We’ll plan to draw 3 winners on December 30 and announce them on December 31—a fun way to close out the year and start the new one with great books in hand. So stay tuned!

And remember, more actions = more chances for you to win! Click through and enter to win today!

~Claire

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Big Reveal: Giving Thanks for Community

A crisp nip in the air, leaves dancing from green to yellow to orange, the scratch of claw on earth as squirrels dig hiding places for acorns—this can only mean one thing: Thanksgiving fast approaches!

If you ask me what I’m thankful for during this season, and if I had been reflecting on Reveal (Blackbird & Company’s annual student anthology), I would probably say, “amalgamation.”

What a pretentious answer, you think but are too polite to say aloud.

I would explain: an amalgamation is a combining of multiple elements to create a new, unique blend. When the elements come into contact with each other, they change to create something new, like iron and carbon superheating together to form steel. Or a slightly different but related concept—as Aristotle said, “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” which emphasizes the power of unity over individual strength.

How does all of this relate to Reveal? Reveal represents an amalgamation of Blackbird & Company writers, a combination of work that elevates each piece to form an inspiring whole. Reveal doesn’t represent one person’s foray into the literary world—rather, Reveal is a communal effort on the part of young writers and scholars who insist that their voices matter, that they have big ideas worth sharing.

By combining our talents in ways that compliment and inspire each other, we can together create something greater than any of us could accomplish individually.

So what am I thankful for?

I’m thankful to be a part of a community that uses writing as a medium for connection, as a way to give voice to the whisperings of the soul. When we all bring our talents to the table, the amalgamation of our art is greater than what any of us could create alone.

 

~Claire

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Start the New Year with Pages

January 2026 is right around the corner!

Pages classes are designed to foster competence, creativity, and confidence in students as they press into the important work of becoming literate.  Being able to communicate an original, BIG idea is the ultimate goal of English Language Arts.

Get the most out of Blackbird & Company’s materials and methods! Classes run in 5-week sessions, and will kickstart your student’s work with skills, tips, and tricks to help them succeed. We offer a wide range of humanities classes, all designed to explore the art of idea making:

  1. CORE – Read and Write and Discuss! These classes are tied to individual Literature + Writing Discovery units (2nd grade through 12th grade). Students will receive weekly feedback on their writing via the one-on-one conference!
  2. The History Opt-in – These classes will provide extra historical background tied to specific CORE Level 3 (middle school), and Level 4 (high school) units. Students must be enrolled in CORE to participate.
  3. Research – Learn to explore the life of a famous person, extract facts, and write a unique biographical essay. Students are supported each step of the way.
  4. The Essay – Explore and construct topical essays and inspire your students to communicate big ideas.
  5. Poetry – Each session we are offering short thematic classes that will apply writing skills in beautifully creative ways.
  6. Visual Arts – Explore great works of art and their makers. Students will learn about and practice art making while gaining skills that will transfer to all areas of academic pursuit, especially the art of writing.
  7. Music – Explore the works of great composers and the language of music. Students will gain skills that will transfer to all areas of academic pursuit, especially the art of writing.

Enroll today!

What parents are saying about Pages:

“Thank you for making class so enjoyable and personal. My daughter’s writing has really expanded since being in classes with you.” ~Brit Riddle

“I really appreciate you going through the different areas of reading and writing in class as opposed to having him do it all on his own at home. It sets a good example of what to do (i.e. what to look for and pay close attention to as he reads) and how to do it (i.e. organize his thoughts and get ready to write into paragraphs).” ~Paulina Yeung

 

 

~Kimberly

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How to Find What you Need

Alphabetical Annotations are HERE!

A is for About Authors

All About Blog Categories – You are HERE!

Announcing – Click through to find out what’s new and happening at Blackbird & Company.

Arts Guild – All things visual and musical and pertinent to learning.

Campfire – Join us in January for inspiration and offerings to start the long leg of the school year off right.

CORE ELA – Tips and Tricks and Tools

Discovery – Key insights into the important work of building the fund of knowledge.

Hatching & Earlybird – Insights and inspiration for little ones in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade.

First Post

Habits of Being – Foster perseverance and you will weave a habit.

Operation Lexicon – Words, words and more words to grow a vibrant vocabulary.

Litropolis – Read Well = Well Read

Maker – Made by hand is an essential skill.

Momologue – Philosophical musings from the women of Blackbird & Company.

Observation – Da Vinci said it best: “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.”

One True Sentence – Let’s follow Hemingway’s advice and write one true sentence.

Pages – Learn about our LIVE online classes.

Pencils – When it comes to technology, the pencil rules.

Print Shop – Downloadable mini-lessons to enrich ELA learning.

Remediation – Strategies for students who need to strengthen reading and writing skills.

Wax Poetic – All things poetic.

Write Ideas – Ideas are the foundation of all written work: Form Follows Function.

Writing Resources – Helps for the writing teacher or parent-teacher to mentor students in the art of writing well.

 

A) CORE Integrated Literature & Writing (Phonics, Reading, and Writing for K and 1st grade),

B) APPLICATION: Grammar, Mechanics & Style

C) APPLICATION: Research, Composition, Creative Writing.

 

CORE ELA

Pencils

APPLICATION

  Operation Lexicon

  One True Sentence

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Print Shop Coming Soon!

 

Come January, Blackbird & Company will be launching Print Shop!  Our awesome collection of downloadable Discovery activities are designed to engage students, Kindergarten through 8th Grade, in focused, independent work pinpointed on specific academic skills with opportunities to build upon the fund of knowledge.

This month we are releasing a sneak peak, three great Print Shop activities for primary students tied to the letter P for FREE! What is more quintessentially Fall than pumpkins? These multi-sensory activities are sure to engage and enrich learning.

Simply click through, print, and let the Discovery begin!

And, please stay tuned for  more details during our January Campfire 2026.

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Moving BEYOND the Topic Sentence

Squirrels are everywhere. That’s for sure! Most young writers have had a squirrel encounter or two. Tapping into a rich storehouse of knowledge is a great place to learn to craft a HOOK—not a topic sentence, a HOOK! The best place to begin a writing lesson is to tap into what the writer knows and to read a book.

Nuts to You by Lois Ehlert is a gorgeous and simple story of a quintessential city squirrel who, naturally, zips mischievously through life. Told in lively rhyming verse with beautiful collage illustration, the book is sure to capture the attention of students. At the back of the book the author includes some terrific facts about squirrels. We chose five facts to focus on:

Five Facts About Squirrels

1. Squirrels are rodents

2. They have front teeth—incisors—that NEVER stop growing.

3. They live in big nests or hollow trees.

4. They have five toes on their front feet, four on their back.

5. Their bushy tail is as long as its body.

 

Often times, when facing the blank page, students are intimidated and resort to simplistic, and, well, let’s face it, BORING solutions! Young writers resort to what they have been taught: Open your paragraph with a topic sentence. This is not technically wrong. But we can BETTER equip them!

For example these perfectly fine topic sentence are boring:

Squirrels are cute animals.

Squirrels are everywhere.

And my least favorite topic sentence of all:

I am going to write about squirrels.

So how do we teach our students to make topic sentences sparkle and shine?

We teach the to transform the topic sentence into a HOOK!

To help them get there, I gave them a BIGGER squirrel fact: Did you know that squirrels are everywhere in the world except Madagascar and Australia? We looked at a globe together and marveled at this interesting fact!

Next, I asked them what kinds of noises squirrels make. I got some very fun responses, too! I told them that we writers like to create words that represent sounds and, when we do it’s called: onomatopoeia. They liked that word! Now it was time to craft a HOOK for our paragraph about squirrels.

“Let’s imagine what it would sound like if we could hear all the squirrels all over the world.”

We generated a significant list:

Barking, Chirping Squeaking Squawking, Whistling Scampering Scratching Gnawing Grinding, Rattling, Buzzing, Crying

Next I said, “Let’s include our BIG fact via an Em Dash,” and went on to remind them that this special punctuation mark helps the reader take a long pause while adding some important information to the sentence.

Now we had our fodder and were ready to craft a HOOK! Here’s were we landed:

They are chattering, chirping,  squawking  all over the wide world—everywhere except Madagascar and Australia.

That’s the way to open a paragraph about squirrels!

 

 

~Kimberly

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Crafting a Wonder-FULL Sentence is Courageous

Staring down the blank page is a courageous endeavor.

Where to begin?

We say: Begin with a BOOK!

BIG ideas are sparked by knowledge + curiosity.

“All you need to do is write one TRUE sentence,” so said great American author,  Ernest Hemingway. But what exactly did he mean? Let’s face it, accuracy of expression may be learned in a grammar book, but depth of expression begins when a writer decides to pick up a pencil and scratch an original idea onto a blank sheet of paper. The first, BEST lesson, is to teach your students that writing about wonder leads to wonderful writing.

Here are four ways to compose a wonder-FULL sentence about owls.

First let’s gather information.

When faced with the blank page, first things first, press into food for thought. For this lesson, we dove into  Animalium for Kids, by Kate Scott and Jenny Broom. With over 160 specimens to explore in this wonderful biological compendium, we are narrowing our focus to Owls. We don’t need an exhaustive study here—this is a sentence writing exercise after all. We need just enough information to become curious and inspired to write. Getting ready to focus on composing even a single sentence requires gathering intriguing information.

The owl entry in this book is just enough to spark curiosity.  After reading, focusing in on the amazing illustrations, sharing what we found amazing about owls—storing new facts in our memory, adding to our growing knowledge of owls—we made a list:

  1. There are two main families of owls within the order Strigiformes: Tytonidae (barn owls) and Strigidae (typical owls).
  2. Huge owl eyes are stationary, fixed in their sockets—no eye rolling!
  3. Owls can rotate their head 270 degrees.

Next, let’s review the four types of sentences:

Statements are declarative. Statements tell us something.

Are questions interrogative? (Yes.) Questions ask.

Commands are imperative. Commands demand action.

Exclamations are exclamatory! Exclamations roar!

Now, let’s get writing.

A our first attempt at “NOW, let’s write a statement together,” I listened and wrote the group consensus on the board:

There are two types of owls, typical and barn owls.

Here’s where writing get’s fun! Add details, rearrange, think about word choice to make the above statement a tale that will turn heads. Follow the W Rule:

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, to WOW the reader!

For this sentence, I had a basket of blocks all different shapes but only two colors that I poured out onto the floor, asking my students to quickly sort by color. We, obviously, ended up with two colors. Then I gave them another fact about owls—there are 200 species in the world—and asked them to help me add this detail to our statement. Here’s what the group came up with:

All 2 million owls in the world (200 species) can be sorted into two BIG piles—Strigidae (typical) and Tytonidae (barn owls).

Finally, let’s translate the statement to a question, command, and an exclamation:

Statement:

All the owls in the world (all 200 species) can be sorted into two BIG piles—Strigidae (typical) and Tytonidae (barn owls).

Question:

Isn’t it amazing that all 2 million owls in the world (all 200 species) can be sorted into two BIG piles—Strigidae (typical) and Tytonidae (barn owls)?

Command:

Please sort the 2 million owls, all the owls in the world (all 200 species) into two BIG piles—Strigidae (typical) and Tytonidae (barn owls).

Exclamation:

All 2 million the owls in the world (all 200 species) can be sorted into two BIG piles—Strigidae (typical) and Tytonidae (barn owls)—Wow!

There you have it, all four sentence types in one fell swoop! Once you’ve tackled this exercise a few times as a group, it’s easy-peasy to make it an independent activity—from gathering information to four TRUE sentences!  Ernest Hemingway would be proud.

 

~Kimberly

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Coming this APRIL: The Wonderful World of Phonics

Do your students shut down at the mention of reading?

Do they cringe when you gently hand them a freshly sharpened pencil, suggesting it’s time to write an idea?

Some students need a little extra support to unlock the code that is key to engaging in the act of reading and the art of writing. Our targeted and systematic approach will bridge the gaps. The goal here is for students to overcome challenges, and to ultimately enhance comprehension and spelling skills.

Reading is the act of translating code on a page to speech—spoken aloud or silently to one’s self.

Writing is the act of crafting code to a page in order to communicate an idea.

                                 So let’s begin at the beginning:

Phonemic Awareness  is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds that make words.

Phonics is the relationship between the sounds we speak and the alphabetic letters or combination of letters that represent those sounds.

Morphology is the study of how words are formed and possess specific meaning.

Etymology is the study of word origins and the way meaning evolves throughout history.

Fluency is the ability to read fluidly and with expression.

These five elements of literacy are the foundation of our remediation toolkit.

Once the student has worked through the initial placement, the journey begins. From assessment, through instruction, to mastery—our toolkit will guide your students every step of the way and beyond.