Mrs. P's Reading is Cool blog

Duck, Duck, Goose Mrs. P’s Feathered Favorites

It’s spring, and the birds are singing and everything in the garden is blooming.  It makes me think of several stories I love to read this time of year.  It also conjures up memories of playing games outside as a child, like “Duck, Duck, Goose”. 

With the weather turning nice is most places across the country, I encourage reading outside, my favorite spot is always under a tree. I also want to share how to play “Duck, Duck, Goose” and pass this along just like the stories in my new playlist that I hope will continue to be passed down through the generations.

It’s May so get out and play!  What you’ll need to play this classic game: Nothing, just you and some friends.

How to play

1. All of the children except one sit in a circle facing each other. The remaining person walks around the circle, gently tapping each child on the head and saying "duck."
2. When the tapper yells "goose," the child whose head was just touched jumps up and chases the tapper around the circle.
3. The tapper in turn tries to get all the way back to the goose's spot without getting tagged by the goose. If the tapper succeeds, the goose becomes the new tapper and the game goes on. However, if the goose catches the tapper, the tapper then continues his or her walk around the circle.

So enjoy watching my playlist, then go outside and notice all the various birds and have a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose”.   Remember it’s May and time to play!  I also have a special coloring sheet for you too from the story “The Ugly Duckling”.  You can Download Beautiful_swan_coloringsheet.

My Feathered Friends Playlist  includes:

The Nightingale

A small, wise bird develops a friendship with the Emperor of China.  They grow very close, until one day the Emperor replaces the nightingale with a mechanical bird that's even shinier and prettier.  But mechanical things don't have souls, and soon the Emperor's very life depends upon getting his little bird friend back home again.  Author: Hans Christian Andersen Illustrated by Robin E. Kaplan

The Goose Girl

A sweet and lovely princess journeys on her talking horse, Falada, to a faraway kingdom to marry a handsome prince.  During the trip, her wicked handmaiden steals her clothes, and declares herself the princess when they reach the kingdom.  The true princess is given a job tending geese.  Will the wicked handmaiden's lies ever be discovered? Author: The Grimm Brothers  Illustrated by Kalina Torino

The Ugly Duckling
Everyone makes fun of a little duck because he looks different than everybody else.  Of course, this makes him very unhappy -- but he has a big surprise coming when he gets older. Author: Hans Christian Andersen &  Illustrated by Jake Hollomon

You can also enjoy “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Goose Girl” at Tales2go

Ideas to Celebrate National Poetry Month & Poem in Your Pocket Day!

                                                                        
April is National Poetry Month.  One of my favorite parts of the month is Poem in Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 18, 2013!  The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with classmates, family, and friends.

You can learn about the history of how this event started, at the Academy of American Poets website. They took the original idea and encouraged people all across the country to join in the fun of sharing a favorite poem.

Poems help introduce children to verse, prose, rhythm, rhyme, various writing styles and literary devices.  The simple language used in some poems can be appreciated by readers of varying abilities, providing a context to teach a variety of language arts skills.

Just like children’s books where there are many different genre’s there are also many types of poems. Some of the different types of poetry include: limericks,  ballads, sonnets, verse, free verse, odes, epitaphs, narrative poems, nonsense poems, and just a whole lot more.  Here are a few of my favorite types of poetry.

Many children love the ones that RHYME, of course. These are fun because they are often silly in nature.  Couplets are made up of two lines whose last words rhyme.  An example is:

Hip, Hip Horray,  It's Poem in my Pocket Day!

HAIKU: 
Haiku is Japanese poetry that reflects on nature and feelings. There are three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second, and five syllables in the third. This is a great way for children to use their observation skills to write about what they see in a new or different way.  This example of a haiku is by Basho Matsuo, the first great poet of haiku in the 1600s:

An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
    Dive in and try writing your own haiku.

Where can you find a poem to put in your pocket?  How about looking in your library, or bookstore, or bookshelf at home.  Or better yet, you can write your own.  Here are some ideas for  children to craft their very own poem using the technique for an acrostic or name poem.

What is an Acrostic or name poem? In Acrostic poems, the first letters of each line are aligned vertically to form a word.  The word often is the subject of the poem, in this case I am going to use word poem as my example.

Pleasingly perfect

Often in rhyme

Easy to write

Many different types

What I like about these types of poems are that they are fun and anyone can write one. They do have a few simple rules. Acrostics are easy to write because they don’t need to rhyme, and you don’t need to worry about the rhythm of the lines. Each line can be as long or as short as you want it to be and the format gives you a concrete format in which to write.  To create an acrostic follow these five easy steps:

1. Decide what to write about. It can be about anything, your name, a friend’s name, your pet’s name, a thing like your bike, or even soccer, music, your favorite food, etc.
2. Write your word down vertically and capitalized the first letter of each line.  If you are using colored pencils or crayons, use a different color to make the letters stand out.
3. You can use single words, phrases, or even full sentences in your acrostic poem.
4. Brainstorm words or phrases that describe your idea.
5. Fill in your ideas on the lines that begin with the same letters.

I used my name for an example of a name poem to share.  Mrs P
M is for Magnificent
R is for redheaded
S is for surprising, special, and super
P  is for purple and polite

So give it a try and see what you can come up with.

                                                       
I have a poem by Lewis Carroll in my Magic Library, called The Walrus and the Carpenter.  Have a listen and then try and figure out what type of poem it is. 

Mrs. P Offers Storytime Options for Everyone!

Last year I changed my Magic Library to use  YouTube to  create my own channel to share my classic stories.  Many people had sent me mail asking for this so they could share links and also watch on various devices.  I learned, however, that some school districts and parent's don't  allow this,  so have come up with a solution that will offer everyone a storytime option.

14 streaming stories from my library will be featured on the Professor Garfield Learning Portlal, one of the largest free learning portals on the Internet for grades K-8.   

Many of the 14 titles are over 20 minutes in length and include classic titles such at The Ugly Duckling, Snow White and The Seven Dwarf’s,  Rikki Tiki Tavi, and Thumbelina.  All of the titles offer read-along subtitles, a feature which has proven beneficial to both young readers and ESL students.

The new titles can be found at this link.   MrsP.com is pleased to now be able to provide all teachers  and parents with some format that works in their school district or their home. All of the content on The Professor Garfield and MrsP.com site are available at no charge and do not contain advertising, so are a safe place for children.  Both sites also provide learning activities.

Celebrating Young Authors & the Power of Words!

March is filled with wonderful ways to spring into action with reading.  Read Across America, an annual event established by the National Education Association (NEA) to honor children’s author Dr. Seuss and also World Read Aloud Day.  I am excited to say I am participating in both.

To celebrate Read Across America I am reading in person at two schools in Los Angeles.  And for World Read Aloud Day I am Skyping with 5 classrooms.  Two of these classrooms will include the grand prize winners from my annual contest  so I can give them a special shout out on their achievements! Veromont, Virginia, Iowa & Texas, will see me "live" to celebrate reading.

I also have added the videos of the two Grand Prize winners in my fourth annual “Be a Famous Writer” contest to my Young Author Playlist.

Enjoy The Magic Piano by Grace Lane, age 8, from Vermont, who won top honors in the 4-to-8 year-old category. It's a fantasy about a piano that can read its owner’s mind and mimic the sound of other instruments, weather conditions and even the 12-Days-of-Christmas characters.

Home Perfect Home by Adithi Ramakrishnan, age 12, from Virginia, won in the 9-13 age group. It's a fable detailing the adventures of a bird searching the far reaches of the globe for true happiness.

               

Read it forward is the theme of this years World Read Aloud day, which I just love.  So in that theme here are a few simple suggestions for celebrating young authors and readers and celebrating the power of words!

• Invite family members and friends for an author party: Host family members and friends so your child can share their story. Having a round of applause always makes for a big smile!
• Create a reading circle - to allow children the opportunity to read aloud and take turns reading aloud with family and friends. 
• Join the celebration by reading for 30 minutes each day during the month of March!
• Find your local library and check out a new batch of books and let your child read them to you. 

Mrs. P Valentine's Card Printables & Happily Ever Afters Playlist

"Bee" a Reader and "Bee" my Valentine!  It's that time of year to celebrate Valentine's Day.  I have put together a fun activity sheet and all you need are some scissors. There are 4 colorful Printable Valentine's for your favorite readers.  Download MrsP_valentines

I also have a special playlist for you to enjoy. Happily Ever Afters! These stories told through the ages, passed down from story-teller to story-teller, tap into our longing to overcome adversity and witness a dreamed being fulfilled. The three stories in this playlist all take us on a journey often with magical elements of a classic fairy tale such as a witch, a fairy godmother, or a handsome prince. They all have one thing in common and that is they have a happy ending.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

                                                                  

American Authors: Two of Mrs. P’s Favorites and Why!

Mark Twain and Kate Chopin are two of my favorite American authors. Twain had great notority in his lifetime with dozens of famous friends like Helen Keller and Booker T. Washington and at his peak was probably the most popular American celebrity of his time. Kate Chopin’s short stories were well received in her own lifetime (1850-1904), published in some of the most prestigious magazines of the time like the Altantic Monthly and Vogue. But, when she published her novel The Awakening, she was practically condemmed from the literary world, and really didn’t become widely recognized until the 1950‘s when scholars noted that her novel was a moving and insigtful work of fiction. She had one of the more remarkable literary revivals in the United States.

Why did I select these two authors when I have so many to choose from you ask? Well, where to start.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American author and humorist.  Twain was the United States’ first comic superstar, writing funny stories and performing on stage.  One day, he surprised everyone and wrote “Huckleberry Finn,” one of the best books ever written – which would be like Will Ferrell starring in “Blades of Glory” and then writing “To Kill a Mockingbird.” 

Mark Twain, that’s his pen name that we mostly know him by, was born to the name Samuel Clemens. American author William Faulkner, is credited with writing that Twain was "the first truly American writer, and all of us since are his heirs." I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Twain was truly a keen observer of human nature. I have always loved the witty quotes of his that have made their way into many a political speech.   That’s why I have put his story The Bad Little Boy into my American Authors playlist.

    If you’re not familiar with this story here is my synopsis of it: The Bad Little Boy - What if you did all sorts of terrible, rotten things… but nothing bad ever happened to you?  This is a parody of moralistic fables by one of America’s original – and best – humorists. 

Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was an American author of about a hundred short stories and two novels.  A mother of six children by the age of 28, she turned to writing after the unexpected death of her husband.  A brilliant creator of complex female characters, Chopin was never fully appreciated in her time.  But Mrs. P is spreading the word now:  the girl had skills.   Her work focused on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women.  A Pair of Silk Stockings is a marvelous example of her talent.    Here is a short synopsis for you: Did you ever feel like running away from home or school or work for just one day?  This is the story of a young housewife who finds herself with a little extra money – and decides to treat herself to a very special day in the big city. 

Enjoy my American Author playlist

Thought provoking questions:  Why do you think some people become famous when they are alive and others well after their deaths?  Can you think of other writers or authors that support both of these instances?

MrsP.com Announces Winners of Fourth-Annual National Writing Contest

Young authors from Vermont and Virginia take top honors!

Today I am thrilled to announce the names of the two Grand Prize winners in my fourth annual “Be a Famous Writer” contest, a nationwide creative-writing competition for children held every September.

             
Grace Lane                      Adithi Ramakrishnan

Grace, age 8, from Vermont,  won top honors in the 4-to-8 year-old category for The Magic Piano, a fantasy about a piano that can read its owner’s mind and mimic the sound of other instruments, weather conditions and even the 12-Days-of-Christmas characters. 

Adithi , age 12, from Virginia, won in the 9-13 age group for Home Perfect Home, a fable detailing the adventures of a bird searching the far reaches of the globe for true happiness.  



This year, I’m pleased to give awards not only to these talented, young authors but also to their schools. Northfield Elementary in Vermont and Farmell Station Middle School in Virginia are the lucky schools that will benefit from these talented young writers.  Each grand prize winner’s school will receive $300 to purchase books for their libraries from our sponsor, BuyerTopia.  And what school in this economy couldn’t use more books?

The Grand Prize winners will have their stories produced as videos featuring  me, Mrs. P, which will be presented on my free, critically-acclaimed website.  Original artwork by award-winning illustrator Robin Robinson (also known to some as Robin E. Kaplan will help bring the stories to life. She just recently did The Wizard of Oz for Penguin Books.  Here are some samples for the two grand prize winning stories.

         
The Magic Piano                                       Home Perfect Home

The videos will be posted on my website (www.MrsP.com) beginning in March in celebration of Read Across America Day, my favorite day of the year.  Each winner will also receive an actual bound copy of the story and illustrations made possible by sponsor Polka Dots Publishing.  A copy of the book will be donated to the child’s school library in their honor.

The winners for this year’s contest were selected by a panel of celebrity judges:  Academy Award-winning actress and reading advocate Julia Roberts; Melina Gerosa Bellows, the Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of Books, Kids and Family at National Geographic; and Mary Frances Smith-Reynolds, who teaches second grade at Ivanhoe Elementary School in Silver Lake, CA.

MrsP.com was launched in 2008 to encourage a love of reading. The website is the recipient of the American Library Association’s "Great Website for Kids."

My Five Favorite Holiday Classics and Why! Stories Filled with Hope

It’s that time of year when we are all gearing up to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or other traditions.  There are so many ways that we make the holidays special, from baking favorite cookies, to putting up the decorations. One of the most memorable for children can begin with a cherished story.

Some of my fondest Christmas memories were spent in front a of fire being read to from such classics as Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We share magic with a child when we read to them. Each time we sit down for story-time, we are encouraging a love of reading and are building a set of life long memories. Books are a window to the world that can teach us so many things.

I have multiple stories to share this season but want to call your attention to these 3 below, as they really embody the meaning of the season.  Although these storybook classics were written long ago, they all have a strong message about giving and what it is like to have to make sacrifices. Sharing these stories, I hope provide children and their families a message of hope and goodwill, and encourage the gift of giving from the heart this holiday season.

Inspiring your child's imagination and love of reading is what my FREE website is all about. So join me with these classics that come out once a year, and may they be the highlight of your holiday celebrations.

Here are my  Holiday Favorite Classics and why:

O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi provides a charitable lesson especially relevant in today’s troubled economy. Written more than a hundred years ago, in 1906, The Gift of the Magi follows a poor, young American couple trying to survive in a harsh economy. In order to give each other a gift for Christmas, they each sacrifice something they love, with ironic and unexpected results.

Although The Gift of the Magi is more than a hundred years old, the story is about the importance of sacrifice and giving, and is extremely meaningful in today’s turbulent economy.

During the early 1900s, when Magi was initially published, America was a place of great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few powerful industrialists, like J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, while millions of other Americans lived in poverty. A charismatic, young president, Teddy Roosevelt, was elected and immediately began instituting sweeping reforms and anti-trust laws to correct the imbalance.

I know many American families will be facing hard choices this holiday season, and thought it would be a nice gift to offer a story where the characters are facing these same issues. I love this story because it has a happy ending and a good message: that the most meaningful Christmas may not be the one where you spend the most money.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
This is a wonderful story about love and friendship, and reading it together will warm the hearts of the whole family. This is a timeless tale about a stuffed rabbit who discovers that love is a magic that can make dreams come true.

Also The Little Match Girl...Han Christian Andersen's tale about a little girl who's afraid to go home because she hasn't sold enough matches is a classic. The little girl, who is both barefoot and bareheaded, curls up in a corner, lighting match after match to warm herself. In the flames she sees visions; in the final one, her grandmother appears and lifts the little girl into heaven. I’ve always felt this story captures the mood of a snowy Victorian winter reminiscent of Dickens's “A Christmas Carol.” It makes us so appreciate everything we have.

And what would a holiday be with a snowman and a tin solider?  That's why I have  two other favorites by Hans Christian Andersen: The Snowman  and The Brave Tin Soilder.

And remember, they are always FREE and so is your local library! Enjoy my video playlist of these stories:

 

Sharing Books and the Joy of Giving

Giving makes the world a better place.  A very gifted, 12-year-old writer told me about her personal experience with this subject and, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share it you.

Adithi submitted her story, Home Perfect Home, to my Mrs. P’s Be-a-Famous-Writer contest.  This year my contest had prizes just for entering a story.  One of our sponsors, Polka Dots Publishing, came up with a wonderful giveaway that offers the joy of reading to children in need. 25 books will be donated to a charity of the young prizewinner’s choice.  In addition, one signed copy of a book will go to the prizewinner and one signed copy to their school library.  Adithi’s mother was notified her daughter had won, and I had a chance to learn how the 12-year-old author felt about sharing with others:

“When I found out I was the winner of the 25 book giveaway organized by Ms. Northway, I couldn't believe I was going to brighten the lives of other children through literature. I feel blessed to have a chance to share "Penelope the Purple Pirate" with the children in the DC National Hospital.  I am immensely grateful for this opportunity and will cherish it the rest of my life.

When I heard about the "Be-a-Famous-Writer Contest" on Mrs. P's website, I was excited to have an opportunity to share my writing and ideas. Writing is a language of the heart, and I love that I can communicate with the world through my pen.  To me, writing is also a way to travel into the realm of imagination and mingle with my characters.  "The pen is mightier than the sword" has motivated me to keep writing, and to love every second of it!” 

What a charming and eloquent message from a wise young woman.  I wish Adithi the best of luck with her story in the contest.

Another lovely message about giving can be found in O. Henry’s classic short story, The Gift of the Magi, which I read on my website.  Although the story is more than 100 years old, its lesson about the importance of sacrifice and giving is especially meaningful in today’s uncertain economy.

As we gather together with family and friends this holiday season, we should remember that the most meaningful gift might not be the one that costs the most.  It’s the beautiful gift of giving of one’s self.

Remember, “No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted” (Aesop)

Dare to be Scared! Spooktacular Stories For Halloween

It’s downright fun to be scared silly! A good scary story can be as wonderful as a carnival ride. You feel your heart beating faster, your adrenaline pumping away, your palms sweating, and when it’s over you feel exhilarated!  There’s even evidence from the experts that scary stories are a normal part of a child’s emotional education and can help them develop some of their important coping mechanisms, like overcoming fears. 

As a lot of you know I love Fairy Tales. My “Magic Library” is filled with them. Well, Fairy Tales are not only entertaining they can be scary too. Hansel and Gretel is a fine example of this, the fear of abandonment, I mean come on... this gets me breathing faster just thinking about those two young children fending for themselves. But by reading Hansel and Gretel it allows a child to explore their terror of being abandoned, while  also experiencing the thrill of taking care of themselves and coming out and finally emerging jubilant.

When I was young I always loved telling scary stories around the campfire, or even taking a sheet and making my own little tent in my bedroom and reading with a flashlight in the dark with a friend during a sleep over. Telling a spooky tale and clutching my friend’s arm while we both screamed, is something we still laugh about as adults.

From ghost stories to scary stories, to having some great entertainment at an upcoming Halloween party, telling stories aloud and discovering the joy of storytelling -- can make for a thrilling evening!  So come on - Dare to be scared with my video playlist!

Some fun activities:

• Have your child write their own scary story
• Sit on the floor and go around and create a scary story together. Have each person add to the story when it's their turn.  Each person can say a few sentences so at the end you will not only have a scary story but maybe one you can laugh at too.
• Have your child draw a picture that could accompany the story.

Enjoy “The Tell Tale Heart” by the master of macabre, Edgar Allan Poe

  Enjoy Hansel & Gretal and be sure to see my post on Timeless Fairytale Adventures that has story questions for you on this adventure!

Also enjoy these favorites of mine!

        

*And for slumber parties you can also find audio versions to download and enjoy anywhere, anytime at Tales2Go and Audible Books.