It’s been a tough year for sea turtles. Strandings of sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are up and most of those stranded, it seems, were drowned in fishing gear. The Sea Turtle Conservancy and others are pressuring the National Marine Fisheries service to enforce the laws that protect sea turtles, particularly those regarding fishing nets and turtle excluder devices. Letting lawmakers know that we care about sea turtles is more important than ever.

Glad you are embracing the newly illustrated Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!  For related activities to this book and many others, see Picture Perfect Science Lessons, published by NSTA. The authors, Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan, are excellent presenters and create dynamite day-long and two-week long science education/literacy workshops.  www.pictureperfect.com.

See what A Year of Reading has to say. Shirley Duke posted extension activities here: Simply Science Blog. Back to photographing fruit for Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant, which is out next year. Mangosteen, anyone?

Flannel Friday got me started on this idea. Would love some flannel but other things okay, too.

As a thank you I’ll send you a package of four signed hardback picture books. Trout, Trout, Trout: a Fish Chant and Stars Beneath Your Bed will be among those books.

Email me through my site.   I’ll just  need four creative librarians/storytime gurus.

Of course you can post your activities wherever you want, including your blog. I just want to link to them or share them on my site.

Thanks.

April

Are you feeling hoppy?  Hop hop hop. Like a rabbit? Or a kangaroo? Or a frog? If the answer is YES, this book will make you HAPPY. IF the answer is NO, this book will make you HOPPY and Happy!  Feb 22, 2011 release. Publisher website: Greenwillow

Pronghorn

Also called the American Robin.

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This quote is from Chrissy Larson, the teacher Balsam of the Nuts about Nature Preschool run by the   Portland Environmental Education Department. She wrote to me this week. Below are some photos she took of her activities.1) The teachers and kids create some appropriately gooey looking “carrion”

2) The kids make vulture shapes and attach them to paper airplanes.

3) They practice soaring like vultures. Notice the proper vulture wing posture of the kids in the photo! (See first photo.)

Perhaps this resource will help. It is a checklist for evaluating the literacy value of storytimes.  It is provided by ALA and is based on the literacy work of Elaine Czarnecki and Gilda Martinez and John Hopkins University, Center for Reading Excellence. It’s not written as tips, per se. But you can work backwards to see what techniques enrich the reading experience.

Raising a Young Scientist

Nurturing Your Young Author