Wetland Food Chains

wetlandfoodchains
Wetland Food Chains
by Rebecca Pettiford (Author)

Booktalk: The BIG Picture

For Earth Day today, explore the wetland biome and the food chains it supports in this beginning reader with short chapters.

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

In chapter one, wetlands are introduced:

Some wetlands are big. They can cover millions of acres. Others are small. And wetlands are not always wet. Some wetlands can be dry in the summer.

First the size is explained:

Some wetlands are big. They can cover millions of acres. Others are small.

Then an unusual fact is introduced:

And wetlands are not always wet. Some wetlands can be dry in the summer.

The facts about this biome appear to be opposites, so they are explained together in short simple sentences for beginning readers.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2016 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary

lastfifthgradeemersonelementary
The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary
by Laura Shovan (Author)

Booktalk: The BIG Picture

Eighteen kids,
one year of poems,
one school set to close.
Two yellow bulldozers
crouched outside,
ready to eat the building
in one greedy gulp.

But look out, bulldozers.
Ms. Hill’s fifth-grade class
has plans for you.
They’re going to speak up
and work together
to save their school.

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

The poem for April 21 (today!) begins:

April 21
STAND UP, SIT DOWN
Hannah Wiles

The phone rings.
I can hardly believe what I see.
Shoshanna’s number on the ID.
She says George is planning a protest
for our school to stay open.
She wants me to come.

The poem begins with an action:

The phone rings.

That action leads to a reaction that rhymes:

I can hardly believe what I see.
Shoshanna’s number on the ID.

What Shoshanna says on the phone comes next. The information is first:

She says George is planning a protest
for our school to stay open.

Then Shoshanna makes a request:

She wants me to come.

Not a word is wasted as the story in the poem moves forward line by line with actions and reactions.

Copyright © 2016 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.