Art "Rah, Rah, Radishes" and Go, STEM! Happy May, everyone! I had the pleasure of speaking at an early education conference where our theme was literacy and science. I brought stacks of books that tie into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) or STEAM (add Art) to share. Rather than just lecture all day, I led a session
Early Learning Bananas for Early Readers! Happy April, everyone! A teacher-friend asked me for super-simple books for readers who are wrestling with her lowest-leveled texts. I shared BANANA! by Ed Vere and the kids went ape. The facial expressions on the two monkeys are so engaging, and the text is limited to two words: “banana” and
Body Smart Here Come the Humpbacks! Happy March, everyone! This month I’m sharing a terrific informational picture book about humpback whales and a fabulous, free activity guide that will have your students up and moving as they process information. For those Nature Smart students who’re fighting the winter blahs, this kind of reading will
Art Battle Bunny Happy February! This time last year, I was celebrating the sale of my first picture book, GROUNDHOG’S DILEMMA, to Charlesbridge. This February 2nd, I came home from a week of presenting seminars to a cool surprise: my husband (author/illustrator Matt Faulkner) just received the official layout of the
Michigan Author Author video interview with Matt Faulkner, Ruth Barshaw and me! Ed Spicer, fantastic first grade teacher and blogger at spicyreads.org, was kind enough to include me in a author interview video! Ed attended a reading conference with Matt Faulkner, Ruth McNally Barshaw and me this summer on Mackinac Island. Here we talk about using books in the classroom to
Craft and Structure A Warm Winter Tail Here’s what you need this chilly January: A Warm Winter Tail by Carrie A. Pearson and illustrated by Christina Wald! This nonfiction picture book about animal adaptations in winter is perfect for a Range of Reading lesson (Core Standard #1 – check!). Carrie Pearson, a Michigander who knows all about
Art You Can't Ride a Bicycle to the Moon! Happy 2014! My goal this year is to share more nonfiction titles with you, so your Common Core Reading Standards Bingo Board will always have Range of Reading covered! I’m enjoying the new “You Can’t” series from Blue Apple books, especially You Can’t Ride a Bicycle to
Michigan Author How to be a better writing teacher The path to publication is packed with peaks and pitfalls (and apparently a plethora of P’s). It takes patience to pursue this path, and the revision process can be particularly painful (as can alliteration, so I’m stopping now). The way my editor guided me through this process taught
Uncategorized Free Books from ReaderKidZ! My recommendation for this week: go to ReaderKidZ.com where you can enter to win free books like Princess Posey and the Christmas Magic written by Stephanie Greene and illustrated by Stephanie Roth Sisson! December is Free Book Give-away Month on ReaderKidZ.com, a wonderful free website with resources, book
Michigan Author My Journey Romelle Broas is a writer who is all about the journey. She was kind enough to ask me about my long, winding road to publishing my first picture book, and you can check out the details here: http://www.romellebroas.blogspot.com/2013/11/debut-author-interview-kristen-remenar.html I’m in Kalamazoo
Craft and Structure Wumbers “What do you get when you combine a word with a number? A wumber!” Wumbers is wri10 by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustr8ed by Tom Lichtenheld, the dynamic duo who made Duck! Rabbit! and other books I love passion8ly. With Wumbers, kids have 2 pay at10tion to the sound of
Early Learning Free, safe images for students Let’s imagine that you and your students have gone on a field trip to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan (which, if you can, I highly recommend that you do so because the place is a-ma-zing.) Imagine one of your students wants to write about his favorite part
Body Smart Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance Here’s a treat for you this Halloween: a rhyming picture book that will delight your little monsters while you hit the CCSS of Fluency and Phonics & Word Recognition. Frank was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves is simple, spooky, silly fun. Frank’s dancing delights
Art Go Ahead and Judge As I’m weeding the youth collection in my public library, I am finding some gems. I know the old adage is “you can’t judge a book by its cover”, but really? If you had never heard of Little Women before and you saw this audiobook cover, what do
Art Knock, Knock! Trent, one of my preschool pals, couldn’t stop giggling as he told me this gem, “So, a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, ‘Hey, why the long face?'” Kids love good jokes – and they don’t seem to mind the bad jokes, either! Joke books
Art You Can't Taste a Pickle With Your Ear When it comes to Common Core State Standards, the one that I think is the most fun is Range of Reading. (I know, I know, all the CCSS are fun, but this one is the most fun!) Range of Reading: Informational Text means we want kids to “read and comprehend
Michigan Author Picture Book Update! I want to share the latest in the epic saga of my first published picture book. (Have I mentioned lately that I sold my first picture book to Charlesbridge? And that it is set to hit the shelves in 2015? And that my husband, the award-winning author/illustrator Matt Faulkner
Early Learning Wake Up, World! “We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” – Maya Angelou Books that celebrate diversity are perfect at the beginning of a new school year. We want our
Art Peace It has been twelve years since the terror attacks on 9/11. Most of the students in elementary classrooms today weren’t even born yet in 2001, so how do we commemorate that day with kids? The kindest way I can think of to honor the lives that were lost
Craft and Structure Words with Wings This novel-in-verse is for the daydreamers and for the teachers who want to guide, not squash, those who have such vivid imaginations. Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes is one of those gorgeously-written books you can read aloud to your class for wonderful group discussions and then watch them eagerly
Early Learning Remember: The Journey to School Integration Yesterday was the 5oth anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech “I Have a Dream”. School starts for most Michigan students next Tuesday, and I wonder how many of those students realize that there was a time when many school doors were closed
Body Smart Go Out and Play! Go Out and Play! Favorite Outdoor Games from KaBOOM! is like a chocolate-covered peanut butter cup: it combines two good things to make something wonderful, and it is something I cannot resist. The peanut-butter-part: Go Out and Play! is a nonfiction book, so sharing it with your students hits that
Uncategorized My First Author Gig Next week I am speaking to a group of elementary teachers about writing and publishing. It’s my first gig speaking as an author to a group of adults. I am 1/3 nervous, 1/3 excited, 1/6 fearful that I will be revealed as an imposter, and the
Body Smart Brothers at Bat Because it is baseball season (go, Tigers!) and because I just found out that I get to go back to New Jersey in September to teach a seminar for preschool and kindergarten teachers, this week I’m featuring a book about baseball written by one of my favorite Jersey girls.
Craft and Structure This Plus That: Life's Little Equations Not only is this week’s picture book a fun way to teach some of the Common Core State Standards in Reading, it is also the best inspiration for your “welcome back to school” classroom bulletin board. This Plus That: Life’s Little Equations written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and
