Great Backyard Bird Count starts today!

It's my favorite part of winter... time for the Great Backyard Bird Count!

We did this for the first time two years ago.  We'd spent the previous five years living overseas in very urban locations, and the kids knew next to nothing about nature.  We had recently moved to a place with lots of birds... a completely new experience!  When we heard about the Backyard Bird Count it sounded like a great way to get to know our backyard neighbors, so we got out our binoculars and started taking notes.

My younger daughter was 6 at the time, and soon she could identify those little creatures better than any of us.  We had heated discussions about whether a certain bird was a song sparrow or a house sparrow... when we got out the guide books and compared notes, by gosh, she was right!  It was so much fun for her - she loved showing off her new identification skills, drawing pictures of new birds, and taking pictures of our crowded feeders.  An interest in nature photography was sparked in a 6 year old!

So, the Great Backyard Bird Count has a special place in our hearts.  It takes as little as 15 minutes per day over 4 days.  You can mail in your results or enter them online (that's the job of my older daughter!) and see what kinds of birds your neighbors are counting. 

The GBBC website has tons of fun activities for kids to get to know the birds they're counting, from puzzles to quizzes to guides.  There are even directions on how to make your own homemade feeders to attract more birds.

Here are the directions from the GBBC site:

How to do the Great Backyard Bird Count

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. You can count each day or just some of the days and you can count in different places. Just be sure to keep a separate list of birds for each day and each location.
2. For each type of bird you see, count the most you see at any one time. For example, maybe you see two chickadees when you start watching, then five chickadees a few minutes later. The number you put on your list for chickadees is five. Do not add two plus five. (This way way you don't accidentally count the same bird twice.)
3. Enter your results on the Great Backyard Bird Count website .  Then watch the maps as more and more people enter their reports.
That's it! Now get ready to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count because when it comes to watching birds, kids count!

And the winners are...

Newbery Medal

"When You Reach Me," written by Rebecca Stead, published by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books

Newbery Honor Books

"Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" written by Phillip Hoose, published by Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

"The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" written by Jacqueline Kelly, published by Henry Holt and Company

"Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" written by Grace Lin, published by Little Brown and Company Books for Young Readers

"The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg" written by Rodman Philbrick, published by The Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Caldecott Medal

"The Lion and the Mouse" illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney, published by Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers

Caldecott Honor Books

"All the World" illustrated by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon, published by Beach Lane Books

"Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors" illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Joyce Sidman, puslished by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Printz Award

"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray

Printz Honor

"Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman

So, I was 1 for 3.  Going Bovine came out of nowhere for me.  I read the first 2 pages and put it down... now I'm going to have to give it another shot, since I typically like Libba Bray (Great and Terrible Beauty).

Happy reading!

ALA Awards Announced Tomorrow!

I think that I will not be able to sleep tonight in anticipation... you can keep the Golden Globes.  I'm on the edge of my seat for the book awards on Monday morning!  Caldecott, Newbery, and Printz awards, among others, will be named at 7:45 am.  If you want to watch the webcast, click here.

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney- my pick for the Caldecott Medal

 

I stand by my personal pick for Newbery, The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (even though she probably won't be chosen since she's a previous winner).  But I would be pleased as punch to see Grace Lin get a nod, since she's written some wonderful books that have been overlooked.

The Printz Award for young adults has me a bit perplexed.  When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead has been getting all the buzz.  Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson is a solid choice, too, but has limited appeal since it's a "girl" story.  My choice:  Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.

Elementary Geography

Coming off the holiday break, I'm getting my plan together for our "geography club" (for lack of a better term) that meets here once a week.  It's a small group of 8-10 year olds, and we're focusing on culture with a little bit of mapping thrown in for good measure.  The plan is to hop around the world in one year.  Here are some of the resources I've found to be particularly helpful:

Scholastic Atlas of the World
This is our go-to book for basic info on every country we study.  It's very detailed and could easily be used for much older students.  We use it mostly for detailed maps and to fill out our country fact sheets that I print from Enchanted Learning.

My First Picture Atlas
It looks like this particular one may be out of print, but there are two things about it that I love, and that you could find in another similar book.  First, it's huge.  It's about 11'x14", which makes it great for group work.  The maps inside are large, bright, and cartoony, which makes it very easy to see borders, capitals, and other important landmarks.  When the kids are doing their map work, this is the one I prop up for them to use as a reference because it is so bold and easy to follow.  The National Geographic Picture World Atlas looks just as good and is available from Amazon and other retailers.  I wouldn't use either of these beginner atlases as my only map source since they are very basic, but they are a very nice addition to use along side a more detailed book.                            
                                
                                  Usborne Stories from Around the World

While the kids are working on their maps, I often read to them a traditional story from the country we are studying.  This Usborne title is a nice collection of 22 stories, each 5 to 6 pages long.  It's nicely illustrated, and the print is large, which makes it nice for read-alouds.  The text is written so that most 3rd to 5th graders could read it independently (similar to other Usborne story collections such as their Greek myths or fairy tales).

Kids Multicultural Craft Book by Roberta Gould

This book contains 35 craft projects from around the world. Each entry also contains a good amount of cultural information about the author's experiences in that country (and even includes some photographs from her travels). The craft ideas are very good, have detailed instructions and are not babyish (no paper plate masks, etc.). The only downside for our class is that a good number of them require several steps or long drying/setting times between steps, but for most families this would not be a hindrance.

Unicef's Children Just Like Me  Meet the families of about 40 children from around the world and discover what their daily lives are like!  The kids absolutely love this book, as it brings to life the similarities and differences between cultures in sweet and simple ways.

Another similar book is Children from Australia to Zimbabwe: A Photographic Journey around the World by Maya Ajmera & Anna Rhesa Versola.  This book has more information about the geography and the larger culture in each of the countries, including favorite foods, sports, past times and holidays.

My group likes to cook, so we've used two different books for our recipes.  First is Eat Your Way Around the World by Jamie Aramini.  This one includes a full meal for each country, so we usually choose one or two pieces to make (usually dessert!).  There are also great cultural references included such as how food is served and what traditional foods signify in that country.  And the recipes are delicious, which doesn't hurt.

Kids Around the World Cook! is the other one I find myself grabbing.  The recipes are simple and traditional, and the recipes are arranged not regionally but by course.  So, all the drinks are together, all the desserts are together, etc.  This makes it easy to prepare just a side dish or a beverage to sample the country's flavors without pulling out all the stops for a full meal.

Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders

Okay, so I'm in a bit of a rut with the Greek myths, I know, but this one was too fun to pass up.  It releases January 7, but I got an early look at it and it's a keeper.

Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders by Mike Townsend is an irreverent spin on the Greek myths - think Captain Underpants meets Homer.  The stories, though, are unchanged.  Any fan of The Lightening Thief series or Diary of a Wimpy Kid will be drawn to the humor and whimsy of this story collection.  The publisher's recommendation is ages 9-12, but I think the book would interest the younger set (boys!) as well with it's bright glossy pages and excellent illustrations.

Check it out.

"The Harms of Homeschooling": a debate

My hackles are up this morning.  I just read this piece published in the Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland (and I groan inside because I am employed by this very university system).  Get yourself in a good place before you read this article, since it will certainly tick you off, no matter what kind of home educator you are.  There's bile for everyone in there.  Ms. West, the author, paints us all as hyperconservative trailer trash (unless we are among the few "over-educated and bored suburban mothers" with nothing better to do than paint our nails and usurp public school power). 


Thankfully, this excellent, thoughtful and well researched rebuttal exists (written by a passionate secular homeschooling mother), and so does this one, written by Milton Gaither (author of Homeschool: an American History). 

Please take fifteen minutes and read this, then consider making your opinions known.

Are you a curriculum junkie?

I don't think I am.  It's hard, though, because I love books so much, so I do tend to over-buy.  But this blog caught my eye today.  I love Julie Bogart (Brave Writer)... if you have a second, give it a read.

The Curriculum Hunt

And if you like that one, backtrack just a bit and read her post on Developing a Philosophy of Education.  This is one I think I need to print out and post in a handy place (the idea of recalling a time when we all felt miserable especially resonates with me, and I need to do that on those days when I think my life would be easier if my kids were back in school!).

As this seems to be the season of doubting what we're doing (I think it's really just year-end burnout in diguise) maybe these encouraging words will shift you back on track.  They were just what I needed heading into our holiday break.