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Around the Campfire: Adventuring into a Story!

TIP #2

Unplug!

Increasingly in our world, we all know electronics have played a bigger and bigger role in our lives. With the advantage, comes a great deal of disadvantage we all are trying to mitigate, especially when it comes to our children. Blackbird and Company offers some terrific books that can take your students into the wonderful world of nature and adventure. While we, of course, strive to be outside in the great outdoors as much as possible—hands in dirt, feet on trails or wiggling into ocean sand—we can also inspire a love of nature and animals and a life of adventure through good books.

“We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them,” so says Bilbo Baggins. A touch of irony, of course, but also an invitation to tag along on the adventure about to unfold!

 When it comes to novel adventuring, here are some of our favorites:

[Inside Cover, Flyleaf, Sara’s childhood edition]

Rascal by Sterling North

Follow along as Sterling and his beloved dog Wowzer find a raccoon kit in the woods and bring him home. You will have quite a vicarious adventure and meet many enchanting animals in this true story set in the back woods wilderness of Wisconsin. Hear what life was like for a very clever eleven year old boy at the end of WW1 who grew a victory garden and was building a canoe in his living room!

[Section 5 Project, inspired by The Wanderer]

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

Sophie, who intensely fears the sea, journeys with three uncles and two male cousins across the Atlantic.  The are racing to visit Bompie, Sophie’s grandfather, who is fighting for his life in England. Readers, too, are called to adventure: “The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in.” Wander along with Sophie and Cody as they journal their way through fear and grief. This story is sure to inspire!

Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman

Rudi Matt, son of the famed mountain climber Josef Matt, lives under the shadow of the very formidable mountain his father perished on while trying to be the first to summit it. This is a gripping coming of age story, where Rudi defies his relatives and sets about to conquer the mountain even though no one believes the mountain can be climbed. It is high adventure and set during a different time in a different culture. There are heart pounding moments in this book where you will feel your own fingernails biting the rock face trying to gain purchase!

 

~Sara
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January Campfire 2025: Be the Superhero

Back in January of 2023, we began the tradition of us teachers gathering ’round the virtual campfire to explore and encourage and inspire. It began like this:

We want our students to read and write well. We want them to think creatively and to value their ideas.

Learning, no matter the subject, can be an awesome journey. The path can be filled with wondrous sights to delight the intellect and warm the heart .

But the opposite can also be true.

The opposite of an awesome journey would be an arduous one. The opposite of a path with wondrous sights to delight the intellect and warm the heart is one filled with brambles and thorns that discourage and weaken. On this journey, this path, learning is thwarted, the heart is discouraged, and some form of illiteracy is a common outcome.

Here, as we begin our 3rd Annual Blackbird & Company Virtual Campfire gathering, the snapshot is not any easier to face:

“In the United States, 54% of adults read below the 6th grade level.”

How can we possibly make a difference?

We are so proud of our Blackbird & Company community!

YOU are making a difference!

YOU are the superhero!

YOU are inspiring your students to unplug and to pick up a book.

YOU are asking your students:

What’s your BIG idea? 

And then, handing them a pencil and their student journal!

We’re here to support  you to start the year off on the right foot, inspiring your students to read for purpose, write their IDEAS  and DO well!

As a native Angeleno, born and raised in Los Angeles, California, with rampant fires raging so close to home, I hesitated launching into our virtual campfire tradition. My great-grandparent’s home—one of the homes in which I whiled away many years of childhood—though no longer part of our family, was lost. And the loss tugs at my heart.

In this home, my imagination thrived. Great-grandma Garnet Jewel had an old desk that belonged to her father, Great-great-grandpa Carlisle, who, lore has it, was an avid letter writer. This desk, chock-full of luxurious vintage stationary, fountain pens, and cancelled stamps, became a happy place for me since GG Garnet gave me free range of its contents. Behind the desk, built-in bookshelves were practically splitting with the weight of classics, including a complete red-linen collection of Dickens.

I’m so thankful for the freedom I was given to bring shape to my little girl ideas. I’m certain that this rich environment of great books and old-school technology—pencils and pens and all sorts of paper—inspired me to engage happily in the art of writing. I’m thankful for that childhood home that contained great-great-grandpa’s books and desk and utensils to write. Writing, bringing shape to an idea is no easy task. I’m thankful too for Charles Dickens who continues to remind writers of all ages that nothing is impossible when it comes to creating an idea:

“Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as possibilities.” ~David Copperfield

The art of writing begins with imagination tied to knowledge and is brought into the world through a process involving a pencil and paper—brainstorming, drafting, conferencing, editing, and polishing a final draft. For some, the process is daunting. It’s our job to provide our students with a supportive scaffolding and skills to help them become successful writers.

TIP is #1

Writing an IDEA is a courageous act.

Remind your students that learning to write takes years and years and encourage them to enjoy the journey. Learning to write should be the stuff memories are made of, like my happy writing memories from childhood. Set up a cozy space, offer your students quality writing utensils—Blackwing pencils, Golden Bear Blue #2,  and Faber-Castell.

Here, at the dawn of 2025, pondering the long stretch of the school year ahead, we applaud you Superhero Teachers! Inspiring your students to READ well, WRITE well and THINK well using our curriculum is a step in the direction of literacy. Stay tuned for more Campfire TIPS.

 

~Kimberly

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Giving Wings to Haiku of Stars

Feeling crafty?

The best ideas begin with a book.

“Based on Eric Carle’s recollection of his grandmother’s way of drawing a star (directions included), this seemingly simple story also provides insights into an artist’s private world of creativity.” I remember reading Draw Me a Star aloud to my children again and again.

Building upon our last post: Haiku of Stars, why not craft a star to “house” the haiku. Hey, why not give it wings?

Little star in the night

glowing light, floating high

in a cobalt sky.

~Aylen

I wonder if there

are different types of vibrant

stars in other cosmos?

~Jude

Looking up into

the sky, something brilliant,

something like a giant star.

~Claire

 

~Kimberly

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Haiku of Stars

Did you know you can see 20 quadrillion miles away? That’s how far it is to the very brightest star in the sky, Cygnus. And, did you know every single star you see in the night sky is bigger and brighter than the sun? Our sun, after all, is a dwarf star. That’s right a dwarf!

So what has this got to do with poetry?

Everything! That’s what!

Learning to write well does not happen by learning the rules. No! Learning to write well is rooted in wonder. And what is more worthy of our wonder than the 200 billion trillion stars in the universe?   That is an unfathomable number, right? On any given clear night, we humans can only see around 2,000 stars.  So let’s press into curiosity and consider what 200 billion trillion actually means. Seeing only 2,000 of the 200 billion trillion stars is like looking at a single speck of sand compared to all the grains of sand on the beach! This should make us marvel.

Now, back to crafting haiku, it all begins with a single 16 to 18 syllable sentence. This one is 17 syllables:

Words are like stars spilling a symphony from the night’s indigo stage.

Next, break the sentence into three lines:

Words are like stars spilling / a symphony from the night’s / indigo stage.

Finally, polish the sentence into haiku form:

Words are like stars spilling

a symphony from the night’s

indigo stage.

Enjoy the following singular sentences shaped into haiku form:

Looking up into

the sky, a twinkling star was

winking down on me.

~Ayela

Looking up in the

sky, dazzling stars illuminate

the darkness of night.

~Elias

I wonder if there

are different types of vibrant

stars in other cosmos?

~Jude

Looking up in the

night sky, you will see small stars

but they are fiery.

~Jackson

Little star in the night

glowing light, floating high

in a cobalt sky.

~Aylen

Looking up into

the sky, something brilliant,

something like a giant star.

~Claire

Little star in the sky,

your shimmering glow

was shinning so bright.

~Emma

Far away Cygnus, bright

star, radiant pearl in the night

sky illuminates ’till it dies.

~Rowan

Looking up to the dark sky,

I began to see the glowing

bright Big Dipper.

~Kate

When I see the stars

at night, I wonder at the

brilliance of the sky.

~Brynnan

Thank you Mrs. Kontos (Walla Walla Homeschool consulting, WA) and your terrific students. Wonder-FULL. Simply wonderful. Congratulations to these student writers who courageously brought shape to an idea with pencil on paper.

~Kimberly

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Twelve Days of Read Alouds

 

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” ~Dr. Seuss

Where do ideas come from? Ideas come from our fund of knowledge. When we have a rich fund, curiosity is tickled. And nothing sparks idea making—writing—like curiosity. Wondering about knowledge, especially new knowledge, and being awed by something freshly learned, well this wonder is inspiring. Wonder enters the scene via the books we read.

This month all of us Blackbirds will be reading aloud a snippet from favorite books. Here is a sneak peak of our selections.

Pages teacher, Miss Julia will read an excerpt from Leo Lionni’s Frederick to start off our Twelve Days of Read Alouds.

 

Where did he come from? Nobody knows. Kim Bredberg, founding partner and owner, will read the beginning of this tale crafted over the course of five nights for the author’s children.

Nothing’s surprising in the North household, not even Sterling’s new pet raccoon. Sara, founder and owner, will read aloud from her childhood favorite.

Who will inherit the Westing fortune? Our exceptional arts and music teacher, Taylor, will read from The Westing Game, a Blackbird & Company favorite from his middle school years!

What will Liesel Meminger encounter as she pages through her stolen books? Miss Lori, resident historian and teacher extraordinaire will read.

Stay tuned to our Instagram and Facebook page to hear all Twelve Days of Read Alouds.

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Kandinsky for Fall

When Vasya opened his paint box and began mixing colors, he heard sounds—yes, sounds! As he grew older, he discovered that he was synesthetic—able to hear colors singing and see sounds dancing.  You can learn all about this and more in The Noisy Paintbox by Barb Rosenstock.

Kandinsky is famous for his brightly painted squares and concentric circles and this is just the fodder for a fall greeting card.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1/4″ and 1″ and 2″ hole punch
  • Craft paper (assorted fall colors, blue + natural cardstock for tree trunk)
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
  • Plain greeting card & envelope

How To:

  • Punch circles in various colors and sizes
  • Draw a leafless tree on the cardstock, cut out
  • Make a blue square to represent sky
  • Use the glue stick to create the collage

Check out our Pinterest, Instagram or our Facebook to watch a little video of our crafting. And, check out Operation Lexicon, Traits of Characters to learn more about Kandinsky, other amazing people, and to explore the wondrous ways a single word can describe a singular person.

Enjoy!

 

~Kimberly

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Taming an Idea

One of the weekly activities in our CORE Integrated Literature and Writing is to write a linear recounting the plot of a given section. This activity might seem simple, but it is a simple activity that simultaneously teaches students writing technique and higher order thinking skills.

This student, during Section 1, of My Name is Maria Isabel, captured the essence of the week’s reading perfectly, albeit chaotically. Leaving the ideas in this state would reinforce chaotic communicating. So taking the opportunity to point out errors and asking the student to make a second draft on a separate sheet of paper, would enable the student to learn to polish an idea and participate in the process of writing.

This small activity will teach many obvious writing techniques in one fell swoop:

  • Correcting spelling errors

  • Using an eraser to keep work tidy

  • Keeping capitalization standardized

  • Using end marks properly

  • Ordering ideas in a linear manner

This particular activity offered a really great opportunity to help the student hear how the third idea—a really significant aspect of the plot—was not making sense:

“They went to the prinsubl and weht to class where names weher names assigned.”

Correcting the misspellings would help:

“The went to the principal and went to class where names were names assigned.”

But the student would need to slow into the act of re-reading to actually catch the fact that “names” was in the sentence twice, making the idea awkward to unpack.

Once the student understood that these ideas really mattered, engaging in the work of refinement was not a chore. Th end result is both meaningful and beautiful. This is the art of becoming a confident and competent writer.

 

~Kimberly

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Writing an IDEA is Courageous

I imagine this fifth grade student is full of all sorts of interesting ideas.  As I began to read the rough draft, my first thoughts were not the spelling errors or mechanical issues. What caught my attention was this young writer’s ability to describe the scene and create a mood. The function of his passage was working, his form needed the support of the 5-minute conference to elevate his idea—Form follows Function.

What’s wonderful about the weekly writing exercise is that it provides an opportunity for the student to write an idea tied to the weekly reading. This young writer’s lovely memoir paragraph is inspired by Grayson, Lynne Cox’s retelling of a fantastic ocean experience. What’s even more wonderful about the weekly writing exercise is that it provides an opportunity for the student to engage in all the stages of writing—brainstorm an idea, draft the idea, re-read and conference the idea with a teacher, polish the idea. During the 5-Minute Conference, the mid-point in the writing process, students will be engaging in the authentic process of REAL writing.

This weekly activity—re-reading and conferencing with a teacher—will teach many obvious writing techniques in one fell swoop:

  • Correcting spelling errors

  • Spacing well between words and end marks

  • Keeping capitalization standardized

  • Using end marks properly

  • Ordering ideas in a linear manner

This particular 5-minute Conference  offered an opportunity to demonstrate that sometimes the HOOK—that first sentence that draws the reader into the writing, is often found mid paragraph and that the very sentence written sometimes falls best at the end. Demonstrating that rough drafts are like putty, with tremendous potential to be reshaped to elevate the idea.

Sometimes the 5-Minute-Conference is accomplished side-by-side with the student, but other times the teacher might read and make edit marks before sitting with the student to communicate suggestions.

After the 5-Minute Conference, the student makes all the corrections and changes. It is important to note that in the process of making changes and creating a polished draft (the last stage in the writing process), the student is learning to spell, learning to form letters more beautifully, learning to hear the rhythm of words and phrases. As the student engages in the stages of the writing process, the student is becoming a REAL writer.

This student was not bogged down by the many spelling errors, was open to the idea of rearrangement, and the outcome is tremendous. I think Lynne Cox would smile reading this poetic descriptive memoir paragraph inspired by her story.

I remember it the most. I remember the dark cold water crashing on the rocks. One of my favorite memories is me on a sailboat with my dad. He put me on the water with goggles. I looked down in the water and saw a pod of humpback whales beneath me. I want to go back to that water to see the lighthouse. To see the fog far out at sea. I want to swim to the same spot I saw the whales. I want to dive down in the ice water. I want to swim all around the island and to be surrounded by the endless depths of the sea. If I could swim for three hours straight, I would swim off the coast of Kodiak Island.

 

~Kimberly

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Writer’s Voice and the Essay

What is. There are. I am. These are passive phrases.

But what about: sister is and heart is? Well, these are passive phrases too!

When writers are constrained two ways—no passive verbs allowed and write an idea through the sense of sight—it’s rare that a passive verb doesn’t appear in the rough draft. Often times they peek in via contractions—what’s, it’s, she’s, the’ve and so on.

When this student opened the “sound” paragraph with,  “We stand in the line eagerly awaiting what’s to come,” my red pen formed a triangle around the culprit. “What’s” is “what is,” after all! There is a list in the student journal to help guide the omission of passive verbs.  Contractions are not listed, but rather, learned quickly!

So, back to that opening sentence. How do we help our students accomplish the task at hand? This was an opportunity to use an important writer’s trick—combine sentences. Voilà!

We stand in line eagerly awaiting as the chatter of the crowd and the thud of footsteps climb in volume.

After reading this refined, combined sentence your ears perk up! Right?

This paragraph is focused on detailing a scene through the sense of sound, and this is the perfect sentence to open the idea!

Introduction to Composition: The Essay, Volume 1 offers an opportunity for students to learn all about essay form and practice constrained writing. Each of the five lessons will explore specific traits of the essay—the thesis statement, topic and subtopics, the magic of three, body paragraphs, and how to open / close effectively. While students will not compose essays in Volume 1, they will engage in weekly writing activities to develop a strong voice. Writing an expanded paragraph through one particular sense without using a passive verb is not an easy task! But students will rise to the occasion and find their footing. At the end of the five lessons, students will be equipped with the tools they need to move into Volume 2 and Volume 3.

 

~Kimberly

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Let’s Write a Leaf Haiku

Matsuo Bashō wandered by foot through medieval Japan and kept a diary of his journeys—prose woven with haiku.

There is sublime simplicity in this poet’s observations:

Autumn moonlight—
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.

Haiku are the little powerhouses of the poetry world! They are a fun challenge involving the best of word play mixed with a little finger counting to get the syllables just right!

Here’s a little lesson to help you get started:

1. Haiku poems consist of a three-line stanza that has a total of 16-18 *syllables written in the following pattern:

Line 1: 5ish syllables
Line 2: 7ish syllables
Line 3: 5ish syllables

*Slight variations in syllabication is appropriate as this helps the poet maintain the “one thought in three lines” rule.

2. Haiku poems like photographs, capture moments in time. The “haiku moment” snaps a scene for the reader to experience.

3. Haiku poems were originally written as introductions to much longer works of poetry and should be written as one thought in three lines.

Ready to write?

A great way to begin haiku is with a short descriptive sentence:

Beautiful old maple tree, your autumn leaves are floating to rest at the foot of your trunk.

Count the syllables—this one has 22 total—about 5 too many!  Next, break your sentence to a lovely little haiku.

Beautiful old maple tree, your autumn leaves are floating to rest at the foot of your trunk. Now the sentence is 19 syllables, ready to break into the three-line haiku:

Beautiful old maple

your autumn leaves are floating

to the foot of your trunk.

 

Here’s another: In autumn leaves of the Silver Maple turn ruddy and breezily fall.

Count the syllables—this one is  17 syllables. Perfect! Break it to haiku:

In autumn, leaves of

Silver Maple turn ruddy

and breezily fall.

 

Go for a walk. What is your neck of the woods like during fall?  Collect some fallen leaves in a basket. Make simple observations. Begin with a sentences and move to haiku of autumn. Write away!

 

~Kimberly