BBCo Blog – Page 34 – Blackbird and Company

Posted on July 11, 2012January 25, 2026 by BBCo

CORE ELA Integrated Literature + Writing

Blackbird & Company Literature and Writing Discovery guides are an integrated approach to mastering English Language Arts skills. Each guide is a reading and writing journey. Our titles span a wide range of genres and represent what we believe is the best of classic and contemporary literature on the market today.

These units will do just as the title suggests, guide your students through a close reading of a story, supporting them as they journal their thoughts and ideas. The reading of a single book is divided into four sections to help pace the reader. Each week, as students explore one section of a great story, they will not only discover the components that writers use to tell great stories, but will practice crafting words to bring shape to their own original idea sparked from the weekly reading.

We understand that it is easy for the study of a piece of literature to overshadow the story itself. With this in mind, our goal is to lead the reader through each piece of literature in a way that plumbs its depths while keeping its intrinsic value intact. We further understand that reading has the profound potential to pique the reader’s curiosity and to spark a new idea in the mind’s eye. For this reason we provide weekly occasion for the student to bring shape to a new idea through a directed writing activity. The ultimate goal is to create a routine, but not just any routine, a purposeful routine.

We believe that the right kind of practice over time develops a habit of being regardless of the subject being tackled. When it comes to ELA, habits, once established, will not only create an appetite for great stories but also the tenacity to pin down great original ideas.

Level 1 guides are recommended for a wide range of lower elementary students (grade 3) who have acquired the foundational skills necessary to independently read and respond to a simple piece of literature. Because there is a vast age range at this level, books have sophisticated content at an emergent reading level. Each guide is designed to be completed in five weeks, which allows students to work through four to six units in a typical school year.

Level 2 guides are recommended for middle elementary students (grades 3-5) who are in the process of acquiring the proficiency necessary to confidently read and to respond to a complex piece of literature. Because there is still a range of reading competency at this level, Level 2 books have sophisticated content at an advanced emergent reading level. Each guide is designed to be completed in five weeks, which allows students to work through four to six units in a typical school year.

Level 3 guides are recommended for confident upper elementary and entry-level middle school students (grades 5-8) who have acquired the proficient skills necessary to read and to respond to a complex piece of literature. Each guide is designed to be completed in five weeks, which allows students to work through four to six units in a typical school year.

Posted on July 10, 2012September 6, 2020 by BBCo

Metamorphosis of a Baseball

It‘s true. I’m one of those people who do not get sports analogies. So last week, I was tickled when I noticed Søren unraveling a baseball.

The activity began when he found an old ball in the ivy. He tossed the treasure toward the lolling blue sky a few times then snuck into the work shed and emerged a few minutes later with a pocketknife. He deftly skinned the thing and was delighted to discover that its innards were a tightly wound mass of fine thread.

He spent an hour or so unwinding without an ounce of boredom. When our backyard had been properly spider-webbed, he came to the end of the fine thread and hit a layer of wound cord. He kept at the business of unwinding and was delighted to discover that at the core of the baseball were two wooden hemispheres, “Mom, look…!”

“I never knew.”

I suggested Søren make something out of the baseball components and went back to my gardening, assuming he would shrug off my suggestion. But soon after that he came to me with his summer baseball sculpture, a non-functional tropical smoothie tumbler.

Now there’s a sports analogy I can chew on.

– Kim

Posted on June 12, 2012September 6, 2020 by BBCo

Matisse iMadonnari

It’s become quite a tradition to usher in summer with a collective i Madonnari creation. This year’s inspiration started with “The Geranium” by Henri Matisse.

From Wikipedia…

The Italian I Madonnari were itinerant artists, many of whom had been brought into the cities to work on the huge cathedrals. When the work was done, they needed to find another way to make a living, and thus would often recreate the paintings from the church onto the pavement. Aware of festival and holy days in each province and town, they traveled to join in the festivities to make a living from observers who would throw coins if they approved of the artist’s work. For centuries I Madonnari were folk artists, reproducing simple images with crude materials such as tiles, coal and chalk.

Have fun creating your own sidewalk masterpiece! For a step-by-step tutorial, visit this post.

Posted on June 5, 2012 by BBCo

Ars Poetica Banner

Last week we made an Ars Poetica banner to celebrate the year of poetry gone by and to usher in yet another Da Vinci Summer.

We began by crafting a single sentence that described the very essence of a poem. Next, we broke the sentence into poetic phrases, little articles and conjunctions excluded. All the poems were, at last, perfumed with rich images and a splash of device—metaphor smilie, personification.

Poetry is not extracurricular. So as you wade into the slower paces of summer why not begin to develop a habit of being, the habit of poetry?

– Kim

Posted on May 10, 2012 by BBCo

Mom’s Day Blossom Cards

I have to say, I'm always a little proud of myself when I can scrap together a cute and do-able art project for my 5 year-old with materials I already have on hand. And since I'm not a huge fan of pre-printed drug store cards I decided to make some springtime blossom cards inspired by the Bougainvillea growing in our backyard.

First I gathered some random envelopes and card stock in lovely spring colors. I think I've literally had these envelopes for over ten years. Today their destiny has been fulfilled!

Next I prepped the paint. I love craft paint. I'd buy every color if I could! I picked three colors for the blossoms, and for the stems I watered down a few drops of green paint in a small bowl.

For our "paintbrush" I used a cotton ball and clothespin to help keep little fingers cleaner. I decided to cut the cotton ball down to make it a bit more manageable and discovered a perfect blossom pattern hiding inside. I love happy accidents!

Time to make art! I puddled some of the watered down green paint at the bottom of the card and gave my boy a straw that I had cut in half. I encouraged him to blow the puddle around to create the stem and branches. It helped for me to rotate the card as he was doing this to spread the design out a bit. I have seen this techinque many times throughout my blog surfing adventures and I was thrilled to be able to finally try it out.

Next came the blossoms themselves. I squirted three small blobs onto a plate to mimic the colors of the Bougainvillia blossoms. Very little paint is required, depending on how many cards you want to make.

Taking the cottonball brush, my boy then added the blossoms. I encouraged him to "plant" them at the end of each stem. I have to say he did a pretty good job with that. Don't worry, should your young artist go on a wild dabbing-spree, the result will be just as perfect and adorable.

Once the cards dried we added a simple, heart-melting message to the inside.

This was such an easy, quick and fun crafting session with awesome results. And we've still got a day to get some of these into the mail for grandmas.

Honestly, even though I know what's coming, I'm so excited to open my own card come Sunday!

HAPPY MOM'S DAY and blessings to all of you amazing mothers out there! What you do is important!

-Tracey

Posted on April 5, 2012 by BBCo

Sugar Cube Construction

I have vivid and happy memories from my elementary school years of building my California mission out of sugar cubes. Being that my brother is five years older than me, I was lucky to always have a preview of what was to come for various school projects. Willie was (and is) a master builder, inventor, and maker of all things cool and mechanical and as a faithful little sister, I basically worshipped him, and everything he did and made. His creations were my inspiration and although I never quite matched him in precision and craftsmanship, I am grateful for what he showed me was possible.

Sugar cubes aren't quite as common at the supermarket anymore but if you come across them, snatch up a box or two for a "sweet" construction session. They provide a great exercise in self-control…and hold magical potential for architects of all ages with their sharp edges, sparkly whiteness, and grainy texture. After all the hard work, don't forget to reward your young builder with the thrill of crunching through one perfect cube of 100% pure sugary goodness!

– Tracey

Posted on March 16, 2012September 6, 2020 by BBCo — 2 Comments

Individuality

Too bad this photo is blurry, the moment was lucid …

One day at lunch Andrew and Hunter were hanging in the classroom. Andrew kept crafting and solving problems, over and over again (for fun). He would fill the entire whiteboard, erase, then start the process again. Hunter sat by amazed, longing to grab the nearest math book and tear it apart one page at a time for origami, or a possible bonfire.

Some students possess math genius. Some are comedians!

The world needs both.

Posted on March 1, 2012January 25, 2026 by BBCo

It was a dark and stormy night…

And so begins Madeleine L’Engle’s most memorable classic tale, A Wrinkle In Time. A story about the life-changing journey of three children, their epic battle against darkness and the cosmic power of love.

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Wrinkle. Interestingly, we might have never heard of Meg Murray or Charles Wallace as L’Engle’s manuscript was initially rejected by 26 publishers before editors at Farrar, Straus & Giroux read it and enthusiastically accepted it. It went on to win the John Newbery Medal as the best children’s book of 1963 and has so far sold eight million copies. It is now in its 69th printing. Now that’s a lesson in perseverance!

As the author of over sixty books, Madeleine L’Engle’s rich legacy includes poetry, plays, writings on faith and four additional stories about the Murray’s adventures. “Why does anybody tell a story?” she once asked, even though she knew the answer. “It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

The thing about fantasy literature is that it has the ability to inspire our imaginations and our souls to believe in that which seems impossible. We all want to know that there is a bigger purpose to our lives. We want to see that those who are “regular” can overcome their ordinariness and achieve greatness, make a difference—even save the universe!

To explore more, visit: www.madeleinelengle.com

In addition to A Wrinkle In Time, the following fantasy guides are available from Blackbird & Company:
Level 1 – The Iron Giant & My Father’s Dragon
Level 2 – City of Ember, Half Magic, The Magician’s Nephew, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
Level 3 – The White Mountains & The Thief Lord

Posted on February 13, 2012 by BBCo

Handprint Valentines

I'm in charge of preparing the craft activity each week for my son's adorable little Wednesday morning preschool group. My first click is almost always The Crafty Crow, followed closely by Pinterest. I never come up empty-handed, in fact it usually comes down to having to eliminate ideas and decide on just one. So hard to do sometimes.

Truth be told, I'm a sucker for handprint crafts, especialy for this age group. (Although I have seen teenagers gleefully line up to create these fun snowman ornaments.) There is just something so cute and magical about using little hands to make art…it's a creative and whimsical way to record the growth stages of our precious wee ones. And who can resist those paint-laden, pudgy little fingers!

So here's a last minute Valentine's Day idea that requires very little in terms of supplies. They come together quickly and are perfect for mass production. You might even be able to get a few in the mail today!

A huge "heartfelt" thanks to Rosy-Posy for the original inspiration! We modified things a bit, using colored paper and outlining the heart with glitter! You can find the complete step-by-step post here, and click around her blog for many other great ideas and musings!

Happy Hearts Day!

– Tracey

Posted on February 6, 2012 by BBCo — 1 Comment

Writing Chocolate Cake

Teaching a child to write and to value their imagination go hand in hand. Writing for real begins when children believe that their ideas are important enough to do the work of shaping words on a page that will communicate that idea.

You could begin to teach a child to write like this:

“A paragraph consists of one or more sentences focusing on a single idea within a specific structure that enables a reader to understand the idea.”

Or, you could begin like this:

“Let’s write a chocolate cake!”

In my experience, the second option is nearly groan free.

Set out paper and pencil for later. Begin with discovery. You might bake a cake from scratch or assemble a cake with pre-baked cakes, pre-made frosting, and a variety of decorations. You might try several chocolate cake recipes and have a taste test. Either way, as you are exploring chocolate cake, discuss the process of discovery along the way. Once the discovery session is complete, encourage your writer to pick up their paper and pencil to begin the process of communicating what they discovered to someone else. Remind them that their writing is a gift twice as delicious as chocolate cake.

Walking writers through the process of crafting a paragraph about chocolate cake is easy as 1, 2, 3… I promise!

1. Hook: The first sentence in a paragraph outlines the idea that will be presented. But more importantly, this is the sentence that grabs the reader’s attention, first impressions matter. This sentence can be a statement, a command, a question, or even an exclamation. The goal is simply to entice the reader to read on. Honestly, once writers have crafted the Hook, words flow until they hit the Clincher.

Ask the writer, “For our paragraph about chocolate cake do we want a flavorless, bland topic sentence like this…?”

I am now going to tell you about chocolate cake.

Of course the resounding response will be, “NO!”

At this point remind them that the bland sentence is not wrong, but it’s not original, not creative, and it certainly will not inspire the reader. Now, together try playing with the sentence to make it grab the reader’s attention.

Craft a small sentence in collaboration and focus on finding just the right adjective to describe chocolate cake. Here “mouthwatering” can be exchanged with a variety of great words and phrases: tasty, lip smacking, scrumptious. Begin the list making until the writer come up with their own words to fill in the blank. Add the word and the hook is their own.

Chocolate cake is a mouthwatering treat.

Or…

Provide a few facts about chocolate and encourage them to choose one that they find amazing and then, encourage them to write it in their own words.

Did you know that a long time ago, chocolate cake wasn’t chocolate, but a spiced cake more like gingerbread made to eat with a cup of hot chocolate?

Or…

Have them begin narrative style, “Tell a story that includes chocolate cake facts in a make-believe story.”

It all began on a dark and stormy night when I decided to bake a chocolate cake.

2. Body Sentences: This is the part of the paragraph that presents the details, facts, and examples that support the main idea. With reluctant writers, three sentences is a good place to begin, “Now write three more sentences that tell the reader something you discovered about chocolate cake.” As writers become more confident, not only will sentence count increase, but more specific details and more interesting language will begin to emerge.

3. Twist: This last sentence of the paragraph should not only summarize the main idea of the paragraph but it should leave the reader with something to think about.

Ask the writers again, “For our paragraph about chocolate cake do we want to end with a flavorless, bland topic sentence like this…?”

That is all I know about chocolate cake.

And, again, the resounding response will be, “NO way!”

Remind them, “Bland sentences are not original, not creative, and certainly will not inspire the reader.” I begin by modeling ideas, allow them to use a phrase from my twist, and soon enough the writers come up with some pretty fantastic ideas of their own.

Chocolate cake reminds my taste buds to blast off!

Chocolate cake, even the smallest silken-spun morsel is just right any old time.

Chocolate cake, like a well-crafted paragraph, is worth every single bite.