Logic Smart

A collection of 35 posts

Common Core State Standards

The Big Book of Barf

Your kids will gobble up this non-fiction book by Vicky Lorencen! The Big Book of Barf: A Spewnami of Sick Science, Hurled History, and Body Oddities is chock-full of gross facts that kids can't get enough of. Made easily digestible in its nonlinear format, kids can flip through

Craft and Structure

SQUIRREL NEEDS A BREAK!

I’m thrilled to announce that my newest picture book, SQUIRREL NEEDS A BREAK, will be published by Charlesbridge on May 7th! Squirrel is especially grumpy after having been stuck in the nest all winter with three rascally kits so his friends decide to take the kits for the day

Craft and Structure

April: Poetry, Earth Day, and April Pulley Sayre

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 of “speed-dating” books:

Biography

Try Food as a Way Into Reading

Learning is best done through experience, and food is definitely a way into learning for many of us. To tie reading in with some cool hands-on (and mouths-on) experiences, grab this biography, Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat written by Mara Rockliff and illustrated by Giselle

Craft and Structure

Reading an "Again, again!" book in a new way

Happy Almost-the-End-of-2020! I think this year has been most challenging for those living with or working with small children. How do you keep them enticed if you can’t get new books from the library or from school? How do you keep yourself from going nuts if you’re tired

Art

"One Family" is one you need for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but it’s a challenge to find Thanksgiving picture books that connect with kids (I find many “pilgrim and Indian” books that are cringeworthy with stereotypes). This year,  I’m focusing on the “thanks” in Thanksgiving and sharing One Family by George Shannon with pictures

Counting Book

27 Books You Can Use This Year

During the “Moving Beyond the Basics… Reaching for More” conference on Aug. 11 at the Byron Center High School in Michigan, a roomful of teachers and I read through boxes of books. (Thank you, Annemarie Johnson and Kate DiMeo, for inviting me to share informational picture books and to talk

Art

The Most Magnificent Thing

The perfectionist in me was upset to have missed posting last month, so as a reminder to be more patient with myself, I pulled out the very wise, very magnificent book, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires. The unnamed girl has an idea for a magnificent thing. She uses

Craft and Structure

The winner is: You Are (Not) Small!

Happy Book Award Season! Many of us look forward to the annual announcement of the Caldecott and Newbery Medal Awards from the American Library Association, but the one that made me hoot and holler loudest this year was the announcement of the winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for

Early Learning

A Piece of Cake

Every December I see lists of the best books of the year, and every year there’s at least one gem that I can’t believe isn’t getting more love. My choice this year for the “Don’t Miss This Picture Book” award is  A Piece of Cake by

Early Learning

Ten Rules of Being a Superhero

I’ll bet you a sack of Halloween candy that most of us have dreamed of being a superhero: saving the day, maybe flying, definitely wearing a cool cape and a mask. Snazzy accessories aside, if you want to be a superhero, you need this book: Ten Rules of Being

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

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

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

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

Art

Rosie Revere, Engineer

I have the best of reasons for posting late this week: I’ve been on Mackinac Island at the Michigan Reading Association conference, being inspired by dedicated educators and loving the slower pace of an island with no automobiles. Now I’m sitting in a white wicker rocking chair with

Early Learning

Farmers' Market Day

I am counting the days until my local farmers’ market opens. Until then, I’m glad I found this perfect pick: Farmers’ Market Day written by debut picture-book author Shanda Trent and illustrated by Jane Dippold. This rhyming book is a quick read that can easily be turned into an

Art

Iggy Peck, Architect

Long have I loved Andrea Beaty’s picture book series about a bear named Ted (grab Doctor Ted, Firefighter Ted, and Artist Ted from your local library and prepare to be charmed.) Then, I saw sitting on the shelf by the Ted books this gem, just waiting to tie in

Biography

My favorite Earth Day book: Wangari's Trees of Peace

Sometimes I fear that I can’t make a real difference in helping the planet, but Wangari’s Trees of Peace: a true story from Africa by Jeanette Winter shows how powerful one person’s actions can be. Wangari Maathai was devastated to see how barren Kenya was after thousands

Craft and Structure

The Pet Project

As soon as I picked up this new poetry book, The Pet Project, I thought of the animal reports many of my students are doing and I knew I must get this book into the hands of those kids and their teachers! The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses

Art

Spatter and Spark - a free picture book app!

Perhaps my dilemma is familiar to you. I have an iPad, and I want a great picture book app to share with early elementary students. With my tiny budget I’m always on the hunt for the free, but I also like good stuff, and unfortunately, that combination of free

Craft and Structure

Doggone Feet is Doggone Fun!

There are many perks to being a children’s librarian (no overdue fines has saved me a bundle over the years) but one of the best parts of my job is getting to know supah-cool authors and illustrators like Leslie Helakoski. Leslie is a Michigan treasure I’ve had the

Early Learning

Two Perfect "Picks" for Valentine's Day: Porcupining and Hokey Pokey

This Valentine’s Day, I’d like to share with the readers I love (you!) some of the things I love: wonderful pun-packed picture books by my author-crush Lisa Wheeler and free, already-planned activities to make teaching those books super-easy. Porcupining: a Prickly Love Story and Hokey Pokey: Another Prickly

Art

"This Is Not My Hat" wins the Caldecott Medal!

If you’re a kid-lit lover like me, you already know that This Is Not My Hat written and illustrated by Jon Klassen won the Caldecott Medal for 2012. (Were you huddled around your computer screen that morning, too, watching the live broadcast and squealing when your favorites were announced?

Art

Got a new device? Play with "Chalk"!

If you were lucky enough to get an iPad, a Kindle, or some other fun e-gizmo this holiday season, and you’d like your kids to use it for more than just throwing (understandably) angry birds, get yourself some Chalk. Chalk by Bill Thomson is a visually stunning wordless picture