Add a happy surprise into your student’s reading tradition. Choose a dozen books that will be easily devoured. Wrap the books up this month and put in a basket or a reading nook for your reader to open, one each month in 2025! Make sure to vary the genre while keeping the reading level appropriate so that the reader will enjoy each monthly selection.

TIP #5

Wrap some books!

~Kimberly

TIP #4

Alphabetize

I have such fond memories of alphabetizing words, dictionary in hand. I loved the way the dictionary was organized, unlocking the system on each page, the guide words at the top—the left word directing me to the word at the top of the left column; the right word directing me to the last word in the right column. I loved how the dictionary taught me that each word possessed a very specific pronunciation, history, and meaning. But most of all, I loved how the dictionary taught me to alphabetize.

Take the words: armor, arduous, architect

All begin with “A” so now what?

Go to the second letter.

“R” is the second letter in each word!

Now what?

Go to the third letter.

“M” and “D” and “C” come next. So when we alphabetize via these letters the order is as follows:

• Architect
• arduous
• Armor

With one word on the front of a 3 x 5 card, the definition on the back, the three words are filed behind “A” in the card file.

Building a rich vocabulary is a key part of growing as a reader and writer.  As your students work through CORE Integrated Literature and Writing, Operation Lexicon, Hatchling, Earlybird, Research People and more, encourage them to alphabetize new vocabulary. This will not only help them move new words into long-term memory, but also into their spoken and written ideas!

~Kimberly

Who doesn’t have a memory of the classic pink eraser?

Back when I was in elementary school, the eraser was at once a tool for writing and a tool for printmaking—yes, printmaking! Essential tools were paperclips, stamp pads, and blank 3 x 5 cards in the back of my, now vintage, tin card file box, and a black-inky stamp pad. Somehow, there was always quiet time during my school day to imagine and create, especially in 6th grade when my teacher would put on Cat Stevens and let the whole LP play, both sides. I would carve little designs into my pink erasers with a paperclip untwisted to become an artist stylist. Once happy with the design, I would simply coat the eraser with inky black and stamp it on an unlined 3 x 5 card.

I have absolutely zero unhappy memories with erasers, quite the contrary! The color, smell, shape, feel of the pink eraser sparks all kinds of happy memories. Most important, I was not afraid to make mistakes as I learned to become a writer. The little pink eraser was by my side to help me alter mistakes. Mistakes in spelling. Mistakes in punctuation, capitalization. And more crucial mistakes too—mistakes in content.

TIP #3

Writers make mistakes!

Writing is a process that will always involve mistakes whether the writer is a student writer or a proficient adult writer. Each stage of the process is looking forward to the polished, final draft. Along the way, many changes will be made easily, thanks to the eraser.

1. Come up with an idea.
2. Write the idea.
3. Re-read the idea.
4. Make edits to the first draft—partner with the pink eraser!
5. Polish the idea into a beautiful final draft.

The little pink eraser is the perfect partner of the pencil and has been for hundreds of years. We will always recommend student writers use the pencil as it is the best technology available to support learning this art form.

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

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman

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