Carl Hiaasen on Florida

This video demonstrates why I chose to focus on Carl Hiaasen for my author study.  His honesty, passion, and dedication to building awareness of the environmental issues and problems plaguing Florida.  He is not afraid to speak out against corruption, the over development of Florida, amd the destruction of Florida's most precious resource.    Using his books written for children can help them develop an awareness of these issues and understand how important it is to advocate for what you believe in. 

Interactive Media-Protecting the Northern Everglades | The Nature Conservancy

I have come across some really amazing resources while doing research for my Webquest on Florida Ecology for my Webquest on Carl Hiaasen's books.  The Nature Conservancy has a really beautiful slideshow of some of the animals that make the Everglades home.  Might be a great way to introduce students to some of the animals who make the Everglades their home.



Interactive Media-Protecting the Northern Everglades | The Nature Conservancy

Expository Non-fiction

      Maybe it is because of my background as a math and science teacher that I am so passionate about teaching my students how to read different types of non-fiction.  When I worked as a middle school science teacher the common complaint amongst the members of the department was that the kids just "didn't get it".  Many times the blame game was played. Responsibility for their lack of knowledge was placed on elementary teachers, language arts teachers,  or students' lack of effort or caring. I remember as a first year teacher asking for suggestions on how to help my kids to be able to read the text.   I was often told it was not "our problem" because we were not reading teachers and "they should know this by now".   There was part of me that knew better. even though I found myself teaching middle school, my teacher preparation was in elementary education.  My internships taught me that the majority of the day was focused on reading/language arts and math.  In my experience science and social studies were not strongly emphasized.  Occasionally students would do a thematic unit relating to a science or social studies topic, but it was not taught everyday. Many of the schools I was at didn't even use a science or social studies textbook. Most of the reading done in the classroom focused on narrative text.
After struggling to get my students to understand a middle school science textbook, I realized it was my in fact my problem.  As middle school teachers we were operating under the assumption that the students had prior exposure to reading content area textbooks.  In many instances, the students had little or no experience with reading that kind of text.   I have been working for the past several weeks with my classes on learning non-fiction text features, questioning nonfiction text, and stopping to ask questions as they are reading nonfiction text.   It has made me even more aware of how much kids enjoy reading non-fiction texts and how important it is to include in my classroom library.  

My students have been working on creating a text feature sharing board.   Each student chose an expository  non-fiction book to create their sharing boards.  I found the idea for non-fiction sharing boards on Laura Candler's website  http://www.lauracandler.com/.   I modified it to fit the text features we have been working on.   You could honestly spend hours on this site looking for lesson ideas and graphic organizers.  Love this SITE!!!

An Unlikely Hero

10 year old Newt Newman is the kid that most people overlook.   The spotlight in his family is directed at his older brother Chris, the Filmore High School football legend.  The busy family focuses the majority of their energy supporting Chris and his football.  One of the biggest events in town is Filmore's yearly Big Game against cross-town Rival Merrimac High School.   When the night of the Big Game finally arrives, the entire town is focused on seeing who will win the big game.  All eyes are on Chris on the night of the big game to see if he can lead the Filmore team to another victory.  Tragically, the game takes an unexpected turn and Chris is tragically injured and goes into a coma.  The families first priority becomes standing vigil by Chris's bedside hoping for him to awake from his coma and recover.  Unfortunately, Newt is not allowed in the hospital and finds himself facing the reality of what is happening to his brother on his own.

 Newt's friends decide to boost his spirits by getting him into the spirit Halloween.  Newt ultimately decided to become a character called Captain Nobody.  He finds dressing as the character Captain Nobody makes him feel powerful and important.  He makes the decision to continue to wear the costume even after Halloween has ended.   Newt's two best friends fully support his choice and remain on the lookout for situations that can only be handled by Captain Nobody.  Newt ends up finding himself getting involved in some precarious situations as Captain Nobody.    I think most kids could identify with Newt's feelings of not quite fitting in, often feeling invisible to the adults in their world, and the desire to stand out and be noticed.

 Activities:

1.  design your  own super hero  like the ones designed by Newt in his sketchbooks.  Include the following information about your hero.

• Name your super hero. 
• Describe the unique powers and abilities possessed by your super hero.  
• Create and illustration of your super hero. 
• write a story involving an adventure that their super hero would have. 
• design their super hero costumes and dress up as their character. 
• Would you want to be a super hero?  Explain the benefits and possible problems that a person might face if they had some sort of super powers?

Flush

In the book Flush Noah, the main character, finds himself trying to find any proof to corroborate his father's claim that a local Casino Boat the Coral Queen is dumping raw sewage into the harbor. Noah's dad is being held in the local jail because he sank the Coral Queen in attempt to bring attention to the environmental damage the boat is causing. The beaches in the area often have to be shut down because the sewage is contaminating the water, making it unsafe to swim. Proving the Coral Queen is the one behind the pollution is not going to be an easy feat. There is corruption at every turn and many people have a vested interest in not allowing the truth to come out. One of the themes throughout the book is standing up for what you believe in even when the deck is stacked against you. Noah finds some unlikely allies in his quest for the truth. Lice Peeking, a former Coral Queen employee with a penchant for hard drinking, his girlfriend Shelley, the former fiancee of the Coral Queen's owner, and his younger sister Abbey join forces to expose the truth and clear his father's name. I particularly enjoyed the video trailer about the Book posted on the Scholastic website. Carl Hiaseen discusses the book and discusses where his motivation for writing the book comes from. I liked the portion of the interview where he discusses some of the adult characters he included in the book. The Scholastic Site has a wide variety of book trailers for some of the most popular children's/ young adult book. I think the videos would be a great way to build student interest and engage them in reading the books.

Bad Kitty

 My students always laugh and say that I always like the bad guys in the books we read.  I have fallen in love with the character Bad Kitty :).   I was cracking up laughing at kitty's antics while reading the book Bad Kitty Gets a Bath.   Maybe it is because I have spent the last 12 years with my own bad kitty.  Not only is this a great story, the illustrations are hysterical.  I will certainly be adding the entire Bad Kitty to my classroom library.
After finishing this book, I immediately brought it to school to share with my kids.  I sat on the rug with two of my third graders reading the book.    They really loved flipping through the book and showing me their favorite parts.  It is a really fun read.  

Kitten's First Full Moon

When Kitten sees her first full moon she mistakes it for a big bowl of milk.  Her quest for the big bowl of milk takes her through the fields, up a tree, and into a pond where she sees an even bigger bowl of milk(the moon reflecting off the pond.)  I really liked this book.  A really cute story about curiosity, adventure, and perseverance. 

Here is a link to an author video and links to lesson plans related to the book.

http://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=61&a=1

www.teachingbooks.net

When I was looking around for web resources to include I came across the website www.teachingbooks.net.   The website includes a variety of multimedia resources  meet the author movies, links to lesson plans related to books, and links to author websites.  It had a several of the books on my bibliography.  I am definitely going to poke around on this site somewhere and see what resources they have for the books I use in my interactive read-alouds.