Posted on

Treasure Trove of Words

Exploring vocabulary is so much more than an activity to check off the list! Words are the building blocks of language, are what we humans use to communicate our ideas, and each one holds certain specificity.

Specificity is a pairing of  the word “specific” (clearly defined) + the suffix “ity” (quality or state of being).  So, this word, which arrived on the scene via the French word spécifique back in the 1600s, means  to hold a special quality.

With this in mind, using a handheld dictionary becomes an adventurous treasure hunt. Students working in our CORE Literature and Writing Discovery Guides will, each week, explore a handful of singular words from the week’s reading. There are many skills embedded into this complex activity beyond the obvious, vocabulary development. The act of searching for a word in an alphabetized catalog reinforces spelling skills, strengthens the ability to problem solve, and fortifies focus. Of course, this process of working for meaning and applying new knowledge, more than anything else, sets this word into stone in the mind’s eye, and places it into a growing treasure chest of words.

This student, who was working in a Level 2 unit tied to Inside Out and Back Again, did a terrific job looking up each word in a held-by-hand Oxford English Dictionary. All of the definitions were copied accurately. Next came the difficult part, using each new word in a new way.

By the time students reach this level (4th and 5th grade), they have worked through Earlybird and Level 1 units and have had this exercise modeled for them. Still, using a word in a new context is a really difficult writing skill. But it is a skill that will empower students to write their ideas with specificity!

Notice the way this student used the word “flecked” below. Even though the definition of the word is correct, the sentence demonstrates the meaning has been confused with the word “flicked” meaning to propel something with a sharp movement. One way to support the student, is to provide an example: flicked the flecked stone. Another trick, is to send the student back to the dictionary to copy the phrase that is used to demonstrate the word in a context. Here the phrase was: whitecaps flecked the blue sea. Encourage the child to craft the phrase into an original sentence. For example: Yesterday at the beach whitecaps flecked the blue sea.

Here’s a peak at the Vocabulary Section from our Level 2 Guide tied to Because of Winn Dixie completed by an end-of-year 4th grader who is delightfully engaged in the treasure hunt and confidently using new words in golden ways!

Using our Earlybird through Level 3 CORE Literature and Writing Discovery Guides, students will explore more than 100 words per year, adding significant treasure that possesses specificity. This will serve them well as they engage in the work of constructing their ideas!

 

~Kimberly

Posted on

Arts Discovery, Pages Online

Like learning phonics and grammar and punctuation and rhetoric, artists too have tools that enable them to bring shape to an idea so that a “reader” might engage and be inspired by that idea. Color is one of the important tools the enables great art to tell a story.

 

 

During Session 1 of Pages Online, we are offering our very first class in visual arts for storytellers! We are so excited! Students will not only learn about the mechanics of color, the physics of color, and how artists use color to tell stories, but they will be using color to create an original idea!

 

Click through to learn more and enroll. Space is limited. Don’t miss out!

Tuesdays 5th – 8th Grade, 9:00

Thursdays 9th – 12th Grade, 9:00

Visual art is language. Blackbird & Company is excited to introduce a series of visual art classes through Pages this coming year because learning to read art extends literacy—Read well! Write well! Make well! Think well!

“Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.” ~Paul Klee

Posted on

It’s Spring! Ideas are Blooming…

This time, last year, I was leading an Earlybird Pages session using our Spring Stories thematic unit—such beautiful stories and pictures about spring. Every time we read a new story, we sensed the anticipation in the air. How exciting, to simultaneously see things growing, blooming, changing right around us!

Colors so bright. Food so delicious. Bugs and wildlife transforming.

I planted a garden of my own about the same time. We planted some vegetables from seedlings. We planted some from seed. This garden has been so much fun to watch— from the breaking of ground to the first little glimpse of green as the plant slowly starts to unfurl.

I always research the authors and illustrators before any class I teach. Two of the authors we read about were motivated to write books about their gardens because of memories from their childhood. Monica Wellington wrote, Zinnia’s Flower Garden, and was inspired by her early childhood living in a small town in Switzerland, surrounded by mountains, woods, lakes, orchards fields and farms. Monica writes about subjects she knows about and subjects she wants to know more about. She constantly writes down words and thoughts and collects photos and pictures. She has a big box where she stores her “seeds of ideas”. She rustles around in it when she is thinking of her next book!

Grace Lin wrote her first published book, The Ugly Vegetables, based on her childhood experience of growing Chinese vegetables with her mother, while their neighbors grew beautiful flowers. When interviewed about her ideas for her books, Grace mentioned she travels everywhere with a sketchbook so she can always capture her ideas no matter where she is.

I love this idea of collecting words and pictures from right around us to fuel our BIG ideas! These ideas, once planted, grow inside of us and start to unfurl just like our own gardens. The more we tend to these ideas the more they grow and develop into something bright, open, strong, into something we want to share with the people around us. Our curriculum, over time, helps students collect “seeds of ideas” and supports them in planting and tending them.

Consider our brand new Operation Lexicon Word Collecting. Tied to the workbook, three beautiful books will guide students into the wonder of collecting words. Students learn to tease out word meanings and play with application. Words, like food, can be full of flavor and fun.

Last spring I talked to my students about starting a “seeds of idea” box and carrying sketchpads. I shared with my family my desire to create my own idea box. My son Grady created beautiful flowers on the front. I expanded my idea to include those of my family too! I am excited to continue the work of gardening my ideas this spring and watch them bloom.

There are no limits!

Strong words. Great stories. Beautiful illustrations. May our ideas bloom forth!

 

~Clare Bonn

Posted on

Around the Campfire: Kitchen Tales

Let’s talk kitchen literacy.

That’s right.

Think recipe for fun and for learning!

In the kitchen, reading and writing and thinking is delicious!

Once upon a time we had a little wooden step stool in our kitchen that my four would climb up to help me stir up whatever was cooking. In the kitchen, everything your little ones are learning is applied—counting, fractions, addition, subtraction, reading, writing, sequential thinking and so much more. In the kitchen, children experience the complexities of chemistry. They will witness right before their eyes the difference between a mixture and a compound. They will watch matter change right before their very eyes! Like magic, chemical reactions lead to yummy treats!

Let’s talk kitchen words: measure, cup, spoon, knife, pan, water, sugar, butter. Encountering words in the realm that they belong is an excellent opportunity for students to put their language arts skills to task. I used to make moveable labels on 3 x 5 index cards and place them on kitchen nouns. After cooking (and clean up!) I would have them draw pictures on the back of the cards so they could have fun reading and spelling words using the moveable alphabet. The kitchen list of words is endless and will provide your little ones hours of academic fun. One word that is very important in the kitchen is dozen. This wonderful word is also an important mathematical concept  introduced in kindergarten.

About a dozen years ago, Sara wrote her first post. She imagined cooking from scratch akin to educating a child. This brilliant extended metaphor rings true all these years later:

I believe every child is like a blank recipe card and that our job as educators is to teach them how to bring their unique spice to a bland world. Each child possesses a unique cabinet brimming with flavor. One might be like chili powder (which you really need to make a good pot of chili), another cinnamon mixed with sugar, yet another oregano (which gives a great background flavor to many dishes).

And she left us with a brilliant question:

What if our job is to challenge our children to explore the potential of their flavor? Let’s help our children develop their unique recipe for life

So this winter, let’s get cooking!

~Kimberly & Sara

Posted on

Tracing Character Development

The Iron Giant.  Naima.  Hollis Woods.  Juan de Pareja.

We readers know they are people who don’t exist but we get involved anyway.

Why?

It’s complicated.
And yet it’s simple.
Characters inspire.
They inspire is to try.
They inspire us persevere.
They inspire us to be kind.
They inspire us to take heart.
They inspire us to hope.

Great characters remind us that we may be flawed but we are incredibly able. They remind us that we are not alone. Great characters offer truths that shape and spur us on.

Think Prospero.  Jane Eyre.  Sherlock Holmes.  Elizabeth Bennett.  Atticus Finch.  Jay Gatsby.  Gandalf.  Even Winnie-the-Pooh.

These characters, like us humans, are not one-dimensional. They are the tragically flawed heroes that inspire us to action—even if that action is simply a smile and a sigh and a moment of introspection at the end of the read.

We are here to help!

We are so happy to announce our new downloadable FREE Character Trait Decks to empower our students journalling in our Level 1, 2, 3 or 4 Literature + Writing Discovery Guides.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.”

~Winnie-the-Pooh

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

~Gandalf

“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”

~Atticus Finch

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

~Prospero

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Generally Speaking, when it comes to understanding literary characters, actions speak louder than words.

Will they, like Frodo, carry the ring into Mordor? Or, like Edmund, eat the Turkish delight?

The main thing to keep in mind when considering the “character” of a literary character is this: Does the character act/think/feel this way all the time, or is this only a momentary response?

Just like real life, a character’s actions speak louder than words. Take Goldilocks. We’re all familiar with her adventure in the home of the three bears and her conundrum deciding which porridge to eat. On the surface, at first superficial glance, Goldilocks seem cute, an innocent little girl. It might be easy to describe Goldilocks as simply curious. Is Goldilocks always curious? Sure.

But might we infer that she is hungry or confused? If so is she always hungry? Always confused? And do these traits often lead her into all sorts of mischief? Maybe in the moment.

Let’s think again. What do the actions of Goldilocks within the context of the story really tell us about who she is?

Goldilocks seems greedy—eating food that does not belong to her without asking. She is for sure picky—dipping her spoon into every bowl before she finds the one she feels is “just right.” She seems selfish—freely taking for her own whatever goody presents itself. But is this who she is at her core?

These are aspects of character we gather about Goldilocks as we read her story. As we trace these traits throughout the story. We stumble upon more evidence later on when Goldilocks undergoes a similar situation involving the beds of the bears. In the end, these traits seem to be ingrained in her personality and give us insight into who Goldilocks is as a whole character.

The traits of Goldilocks are perse, but I think we’d all agree her actions at the home of the three bears are greedy and picky and selfish.

When it comes to character traits, literary characters truly are the sum of their actions.

~Sharayah Hooper

Posted on

FREE Spelling!

A wordsmith recognizes the plasticity of language and delights in the potential of a word.

Words are like Play-Doh, moldable, colorful, and brimming with potential.

Learning to spell should be like breaking off a piece of brightly colored Doh, rolling and twisting it to shape, and discovering the wonder of a word!

Did you know that you can make more than 350 words from the word “construction”?

Here are a few examples:

  • Play with making 4-letter words and you will discover: Ruts and Rust
  • Keep going to the 5 and 6-letter words and you will stumble upon the soft and C sound:

           Circus and Citrus

  • And the bigger the words you make, the bigger the surprise:

           Risotto? Unicorn?

Our program, of course, is the perfect pairing with our 2nd and 3rd Grade Collections, but it works well for the budding wordsmith at any elementary level!

We are happy to announce our brand new spelling program. And even more happy to announce that it’s free—yes, FREE! Everything you need to get started can be accessed via the link below.

Set your students happily on their way to literacy.

 

Click through to discover more.

 

Posted on 2 Comments

FREE Character Trait Decks!

I recently sent out a text to a handful of my adult friends who are life-long readers asking them if they have a favorite fictional character, and if they do, why? I was blasted with immediate responses and, frankly amazed by the well of insight:

“Raskolnikov, from Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, who starts off bitter, self-centered, and unable to see his own flaws, blames his hardship on others, and becomes a forgiving and self-reflective person by the end.”

“I love Samwise Gamgee. He is unassuming but willing to go where he needs to be, to silently be the support someone else needs. By the end he becomes even more brave. He is confident to stand for what he believes in, to take risks, and be a voice of hope in a time of darkness.”

“Marlow from Heart of Darkness. He starts off ignorant to the evils of the people around him but learns what evils humans are capable of. He is able to see through the lies he is told instead of assuming they are truths.”

“Ferdinand the Bull for not fighting the instigator. For staying true to himself.”

“Sirius Black. He was misunderstood. And a misfit. He stood for what he believed in. Even though his family was considered “evil”.
And he sacrificed. He was flawed and reckless. But good. Kind.”

“Aragorn is so overwhelmed and unsure of who he is despite the many prophecies declaring his life’s purpose. However, he pushes on because of those around him and his desire to serve them and truth.”

For me it’s hands-down Francie Nolan who, like the tree in Brooklyn, thrives under impoverished conditions—emotionally, intellectually, and physically. Francie demonstrates the tenacity that is seeded in us all. She works hard but doesn’t let work squelch her imagination. Francie is a hero in my eyes, ghost of the American Dream.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was my grandma’s favorite book. And this is saying something seeing that, as a young person, she read her way through the Santa Monica Public Library.

I never understood why this particular book tangled itself in her heart until I re-read it a few years ago and it dawned on me that my grandma saw herself in Francie.

Grandma’s father, for most of her childhood, like Francie’s, was an alcoholic (thankfully, he recovered, but much later in life). And she grew up in the tumultuous 30s, a product of Great Depression. fairly impoverished until later in life.

Pretty sure I know why, as an adult, just starting a family of her own, she fell in love with Betty Smith’s 1943 semi-autobiographical masterpiece. And, now, when I read this book (over and over for sure), I will see my Grandmother in Francie.

I am constantly struck by the unique insights readers bring to the characters they encounter. But I am also saddened that often times stories are simply read to get to the end and check off a box. None of the friends who texted back with lightning speed read to check off a box. They have spent a lifetime cultivating a friendship with books. And this is the heart we have built into our curriculum.

So where do we begin?

First, we encourage all readers to be the tortoise, not the hare. We believe that readers should never race through a story.

Second, never belabor a story to the point of derailment. You know what I’m talking about, those “literature” programs that slice and dice and teach and preach until the story is a sad, small reflection of its true self. We believe in balance. It is important to enable our students to read closely while challenging them to think creatively as they construct ideas. Along the way, when it comes to discovering the depth of a great character, we need to help our students acquire the skills necessary to articulate their observations.

Our program allows students to:
Keep a journal of character observations using rich character trait adjectives.
Develop a collection of words to describe the characters they encounter.

As we move deeper into fall, we’ve created a brand new tool to help students get started—our downloadable character lexicon. Simply print in color or black and white. Your student can cut cards to create a deck that can be used to describe the characters they explore.

Enjoy this little treat, and feel free to pass the link on to your friends.

~Kimberly Bredberg, MFA

Posted on

Art of Words

Colograph

Collagraphy is printmaking process that is related to the art of collage. Do you see the connection between the words? It is sometimes called "relief printing" because the subject to be printed is raised from the print block. You can print anything this way, from fiber to sandpaper, feathers to paperclips. 

Stopping to think about the word origin, one comes from the Greek word koala, meaning "glue" and graph, meaning "write". I thought to myself: "Glue…? Write…? …WORDS!"

So our collagraphs were made by glueing words backwards and in reverse onto chipboard to create our print plates. The more words the merrier. Simple enough. From there, the possibilities are endless. Offer a variety fun colors and let students cloud words onto large scale paper in the style of pop artist Sister Corita Kent. The results will surprise you.

 

-Kim