ReedALOUD: How to Code a Sandcastle

My second graders and I recently read How to Code a Sandcastle by Josh Funk and illustrated by Sara Palacios. This is the first picture book in the Girls Who Code library. 

In How to Code a Sandcastle, Pearl and Pascal, her rust-proof (thank goodness) robot, hope to build a sandcastle before summer vacation is over. With summer on the horizon, it was perfect timing for this introduction to coding. My second graders were quickly engaged and eager to share their ideas and solutions. 

In this thoroughly-fun story of trial and error sandcastle building, Josh Funk introduces computer coding language and concepts as Pearl learns how to give her robot instructions that he will understand. 

Josh Funk effectively imparts both the vocabulary and the process, showing readers how bigger problems need to be broken down into smaller ones such as: find a place to build the sandcastle; gather up the sand; and, shape and decorate the castle. 

This engaging and informative book introduce ideas and concepts around coding in such a relatable way that if one has not been to a beach, any sandbox castle building will suffice as background experience.

It's not surprising that Josh Funk has been able to create an accessible and fun book about coding due to the fact that he writes code as a software engineer by day while penning humorous stories by night.

After reading the book, the students shared ideas for processes for which they could write a code (or set of instructions). It was initially hard for them to think about smaller steps (or problems) within bigger ones, for instance a student wanted to write the code for going to school in the morning, yet each of her steps could actually be broken down into its own set of instructions. 

To help get them started, I wrote out the steps for brushing teeth and gave each student a step in the process. They had to try to get themselves in the right order. When they thought they had the right order, I acted out their steps. After a few shifts in position - edits to our code - they had me successfully brushing my teeth! It was so cool to watch them problem solve.

I also purposely left out one step. We ran through it again to see if they noticed, which of course they did. We had put the toothpaste away without replacing the cap. We inserted this important instruction and had one successful code for brushing teeth.

(If you try this, be prepared for a bit of noisy fun. We tried to do it silently, but that was too hard. It helped to place the beginning and end of the code first. It was easier when I had two other adults in the library than with the class when I was on my own with the 25 students managing the process.)

The students then had a chance to go off and try their hands at writing a code of their choice. It was hard but fun work. I read codes for dunking a basketball, tying shoes, making pancakes, fishing, and many other cool things. Here are a few examples:

Good news for my students and other fans of this book, I happened to notice that under the books section of Josh's website the title, "How to Code a Roller Coaster." Sounds like another great way to get children thinking about coding, but we'll have to wait until 2019!

The Year in Books that Grew Minds and Hearts

Looking back over the last twelve months of books that my students and I have read together, there are those stories which stand out for the conversations they inspired -- conversations that grow hearts and minds. These are the books that my students still talk about and still ask for, books that get referenced in conversations. These are the books whose influence can be seen in how the students look at and think about the world around them and their place in it.

Here are the top fifteen from this year:

15. It Takes a Village




14. Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya*

13. A Poem for Peter

12. Smoot


11. Give Me Back My Book!

10. Each Kindness


9. The Only Fish in the Sea


8. Little Fox in the Forest

7. We're All Wonders


6. Come With Me


5. Why Am I Me?


4. Book of Mistakes

3. Her Right Foot


2. Wolf in the Snow*

1. After the Fall


There are many books that the students and I read each year that I don't have the time to blog about. These books would rise to the top regardless because of the conversations they engendered.

*Some blog posts never got posted, but will soon! 

ReedALOUD: The Quest for Z

The idea of their being "blank spots" and unexplored places on the planet is such a exciting concept. I don't have the temperament to be an explorer, but I would love to visit some recently discovered places, like the one in Cambodia under Angkor Wat or the recently discovered cities in the Amazon. Unlike me, Percy Fawcett had the belief, drive, and temperament, but not the tools to achieve his greatest dream -- finding the city of Z, as he named it. Too bad he was not born a hundred years later than he was. 

Thank goodness for children's book authors and illustrators who bring incredible stories like this to light. Greg Pizzoli has done just this with his new biography about Percy Fawcett, The Quest for Z: the true story of explorer Percy Fawcett and a lost city in the Amazon. I recently read The Quest for Z with my fifth grade classes and they were hooked from the outset. 

Pizzoli has done a brilliant job of making Fawcett's story accessible, engaging and interesting to young readers. Helpful maps and sidebar information fill in the knowledge gap and expand understanding.

The effective employment of humor, both in the narrative and the art, humanizes Fawcett and gives insight into the often scary reality of the trips. 

After numerous mapping expeditions, some with rather gruesome events, Fawcett sets off on his seventh trip to the Amazon with his son and his son's best friend. Pizzoli once again gives insight into Fawcett's quest to find Z showing him trotting along at a pace the two young men cannot maintain. 

Newspaper accounts helped finance the expedition and an eager populace followed the journey. Dispatches were sent out from the group to local runners who delivered them to the journalists. Fawcett certainly believed his quest had a higher calling.

The students were unaware that this was Fawcett's last message, his last communication with the world. I turned the page and left it up on the screen for the students to read. There were audible gasps.

This illustration is incredibly powerful and informative. The newsprint leaves choke off the light, the darkness overcomes the page, and the words are being swallowed up by the rain forest. Wow. We needed to wait here a moment.

Pizzoli could have ended the story there, but my students and I are glad he did not. The events following his death are equally as interesting. The mystery of what happened has kept explorers venturing into the Amazon in the hundred years since Fawcett's disappearance. Again, Pizzoli's telling of this aspect of the story translates much through both art and narrative. Quiet a few people have not made it back from their quest to find Fawcett. Sounds a bit familiar, right?

After hearing about those who have tried to find out what happened to Fawcett and the two young men, the reader is informed that despite these failures, modern technology has allowed explorers to find lost cities in the Amazon, not the big buildings that Fawcett envisioned, but ancient civilizations nonetheless. As Pizzoli posits, maybe Fawcett wasn't a failure after all, maybe his quest hepled this later exploration to happen.

My students and I were left discussing not only Fawcett's story, but also: how amazing that Fawcett survived as many trips as he did; the idea that maybe there are those who do not want these lost cities found and are maybe trying to protect them; and yet, how exciting it is to hear of these ancient places and the people that inhabited them. The end papers provide a subtle reminder that Fawcett is still out there somewhere.

We needed to look at maps and websites after reading the book. Luckily, the back matter includes suggestions. I also found these two pictures in a report about the movie, Lost City of Z. I didn't show the report, just the two photos. The picture of Fawcett along the border helped the students understand how daunting the task was to map the borders.

The final trip

Fawcett mapping the border between Bolivia and Brazil in 1908.

Thank you, Greg Pizzoli, this is one shared reading experience they will not soon forget. #coolbeans.

Lunch Bunch Book Group Reads Wolf Hollow

My fifth grade lunch bunch and I read Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. It was an incredible experience, as indicated by both the conversations we had and their willingness to miss recess from May into June and even during the last week of school. These twenty students would not miss a day. This review in the New York Times sums up the power and authenticity of the story. That ending? Wow. We met for an additional session just to discuss how the students were feeling about the ending and what they thought it all meant.

A bit about the book from the publisher:

"Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount."

During our final discussion, one of the boys shared something about Toby and his guns, their weight, and his final motion to remove them that showed maturity and understanding and ignited a moving conversation about guilt and the emotional baggage that we carry with us. This war hero carried so much guilt for what he had had to do.

Another moving conversation occurred while discussing Betty's death, with students grappling with her bad deeds but terrible death. They also wanted to talk about remorse and felt that she likely died not feeling badly about anything she had done. Wow.

The students often doodle or draw while I read. These creations allow me see what resonates with them apart from what I learn during discussions.    

There was a Friday when we could not meet, so I copied two chapters for them to read. I encouraged the students to write in the margins - to add questions and comments. This was another opportunity to hear from the students beyond our discussions.

I will not soon forget the experience of reading Wolf Hollow with these students. My new library schedule does not allow for a lunch bunch book group, so this may have been my last. In which case, what a way to go out. Thank you, Lauren Wolk, for this book, which created a bond between me and these students and for the memories I will hold onto.

PROLOGUE

The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie.

     I don’t mean the small fibs that children tell. I mean real lies fed by real fears—things I said and did that took me out of the life I’d always known and put me down hard into a new one.

     It was the autumn of 1943 when my steady life began to spin, not only because of the war that had drawn the whole world into a screaming brawl, but also because of the dark-hearted girl who came to our hills and changed everything.

     At times, I was so confused that I felt like the stem of a pinwheel surrounded by whir and clatter, but through that whole unsettling time I knew that it simply would not do to hide in the barn with a book and an apple and let events plunge forward without me. It would not do to turn twelve without earning my keep, and by that I meant my place, my small authority, the possibility that I would amount to something.

     But there was more to it than that.

     The year I turned twelve, I learned that what I said and what I did mattered.

     So much, sometimes, that I wasn’t sure I wanted such a burden.

     But I took it anyway, and I carried it as best I could.

Read more of the excerpt here.