It's Show and Tell Dexter by Lindsay Ward

It's Show and Tell Dexter 
by Lindsay Ward
Published July 17, 2018
from Two Lions
32 pages
Fiction
Review copy provided by publisher

Goodreads Summary
Dexter T. Rexter is going to school. But will anyone like him?
Tomorrow is the biggest event ever in Dexter’s life: his best friend, Jack, is taking him to school for Show and Tell Day! Dexter has been getting ready for weeks. But now he’s a little nervous. What if the other kids don’t like him? So Dexter decides to come up with a plan. He’ll wear a costume. Dinosaurs in bunny ears look good, right? He’ll recite state capitals starting with…uh…ah…er. Then he realizes something. He can’t dance. He can’t recite things. He doesn’t have ANY skills. What’s a dino to do?
This comical, interactive tale of belonging, friendship, anticipation, and first-day-at-school jitters lets readers experience the excitement and nervousness along with Dexter—and even offer him a little advice along the way.

My Thoughts

This is "Dexter" book #2. I wrote about Don't Forget Dexter a little while back and just loved it. Now Dexter is back and is getting ready for show and tell. Well at least he hopes that his boy, Jack, will choose to bring him to share at show and tell. Dexter gets himself all worked up trying to find just the right costume, dance, other thing to better his chances of getting chosen. 
You will get no spoilers from me, but I will tell you that readers will be happy with the ending. 
This book offers young readers an opportunity to explore feelings such as worry or anxiety. It would lend itself to meaningful discussions. 

I would recommend It's Show and Tell Dexter for grades K-2.  

Check out the book trailer

See what others have to say about this book:

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus

Giveaway!

One lucky winner will receive a copy of both Dexter T. Rexter books--Don’t Forget Dexter! and It’s Show and Tell, Dexter!, courtesy of Two Lions (U.S. addresses). Enter in the rafflecopter below. 

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Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday-October 8, 2014

My Friend Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a weekly link up to share Nonfiction Picture Books. Please visit her amazing website. 

Agate: What Good is a Moose? 
by Joy Morgan Dey
Illustrated by 
Nikki Johnson
Published 2007 by Lake Superior Post Cities Inc. 
Picture Book
32 Pages
Obtained from public library

Summary from Goodreads 
Agate is a moose with low self-esteem. He feels inadequate and plain, like an ugly brown rock, especially when he compares himself to his beautiful friends who are named after birthstones. These friend help Agate to see that just like his namesake, true beauty lies within. Stunning original watercolors, a witty, positive message about self image plus bonus pages with birthstone and agate facts. Perfect for reading aloud.

My Thoughts

Although this book is categorized as fiction, I am sharing it here on Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday because it is filled with facts about the animals. 

I like how each animal is named after a birthstone and beautifully painted using the respective watercolors. The message is not new, but one that bears repeating with children: everyone is unique and should be valued for their own talents and gifts. The author weaves in facts that work very naturally with the story. She does not shy away from using more complicated vocabulary, within the rhyming, poetic text, such as disjointed, scarcely, malcontented and self-conscious making this book a perfect read aloud for ages 5-10. Along with enjoying the story, there are many curricular connections that can be made.

Use this book...

*as part of a poetry unit. 

*as a read aloud during a unit about animals.

*early in the year to build community-everyone is unique. 

*as a mentor text for context clues. 

*as a mentor text for facts vs. opinions. 

*as a mentor text for summarizing-somebody, wanted, but, so, then.

August Picture Book 10 for 10-2014

A special thank you to Cathy Mere and Mandy Robek for hosting this fun picture book event.  To read more about the August Picture Book 10 for 10 click here.  Please visit Cathy's blog: Reflect & Refine: Building a Learning Community and Mandy's blog: Enjoy and Embrace Learning.

When selecting books for the August 10 for 10, participants must choose ten picture books they just couldn't live without for whatever reason. 

I LOVE reading picture books to my fourth graders. It is fun to see them still excited to hear these stories. They especially enjoy humorous books. This year I decided to focus on books my fourth graders just love because they are so funny. These are also the books the students grab to reread. 

Ten Books that Make my Fourth Graders Crack Up

Memoirs of a Goldfish

by Devin Scillion

Illustrated by Tim Bowers

Goldfish is lonely in his bowl and wishes for some friends. Soon his bowl is over-crowed with new bowl mates and he longs for his lonely days. 

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild

by Peter Brown

Mr. Tiger is tired of being so proper and decides to get in touch with his "wild side". He removes his clothing which alone, makes them gasp with delight. It's fun to watch him get back to nature. 

Crankee Doodle

by Tom Angleberger

Illustrated by Cece Bell

Ever wonder where the song Yankee Doodle came from? Well, you won't find the answer in this book. Turns out that Yankee Doodle is a bit cranky and never wanted to go to town in the first place. 

I Want My Hat Back

by Jon Klassen

and

This is Not My Hat

by Jon Klassen

Both of these books are so fun to read aloud. My students love them because the main character is unaware of what is actually happening in the story. 

Interrupting Chicken

by David Ezra Stein

Yes, this classic kids' joke is a picture book. Little chicken keeps interrupting with funny questions and comments as his father tries to read him a story. 

The Day the Crayons Quit

by Drew Dewalt

Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

I LOVE this picture book. The crayons are fed up with  the way they are being used. They each write a letter to the little boy who uses them stating their particular gripes. Red feels he is used too often and Peach wants to be used for something other than skin color. This books makes them laugh and look at how they use crayons in a whole different way. 

Exclamation Mark

by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Litchenheld

Exclamation mark feels like the other punctuation marks are more important. Although he tries to be more like them, he eventually realizes that he is special because no other mark can do what he does. This book is filled with puns that make older kiddos chuckle. 

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

by Marla Frazee

The humor in this book is a bit tongue-in-cheek. James and Eamon are supposed to be enjoying a week at Nature Camp during the day and staying at Eamon's grandparents' house at night. They spend the week eating waffles, lounging and playing video games. 

Any Pigeon Book

by Mo Willems

Pigeon appeals to many age groups. Older students enjoy watching Pigeon get in trouble and love when he gets worked up and yells.

So there they are, ten books that my fourth graders love for sheer fun and silliness. What books make your students laugh?

Picture Books to Share During April-Autism Awareness Month

This is a slightly updated post originally posted last April.

April is Autism Awareness Month.  While most people are fully aware of autism, I think it is time we also teach our young children more about this perplexing condition. As a teacher and a mother of an 8 year-old with autism, it is important to me that people move beyond tolerance to accepting and celebrating our children as they are.  Since the students of today will be caring for our kids as adults, it is important that they learn how to effectively interact with and accept people with autism.  Below are a few short picture books that could be shared as classroom read alouds (most of them are appropriate K-5). Some have sparked rich discussions in my classroom. 

I would like to thank the Autism Society of Maine and its lending library for providing me with some of the books below.  Please visit ASM here.

Click on the titles to learn more about the book on goodreads.com

Books About Siblings

Ian's Walk by Laurie Lears

This book follows big sister Julie as she takes her brother Ian for a walk through the park.  Ian is not interested in things that many children like.  He is more interested in a ceiling fan at a restaurant along the way and smelling the bricks than the baseball game, flowers and food carts at the park.  This book does a great job with describing the differences in sensory processing that Ian demonstrates.  When Ian wanders off, Julie panics and must think like Ian in order to find him. 

 My Brother Charlie

by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete

Holly Robinson Peete is well know and respected in the autism community as a fierce advocate and parent supporter.  This book was written with her daughter and is based on Peete's son who has autism.  I love this book because it touches upon Charlie's challenges, but it also highlights his strengths. He can play the piano beautifully, knows a ton about airplanes and can name all the US presidents! 

Waiting for Benjamin

by Alexandra Jessup Altman

In this touching story, Alexander is the older brother of Benjamin who is diagnosed with autism.  Alexander wants Benjamin to play with him, but Benjamin does not know how to play like most children.  As Benjamin starts to get therapies in the home, Alexander has to deal with his feelings of jealousy and frustration.  It has a nice ending as the two brothers find ways to relate to each other.

Friendship and School-Based Books 

The Friendship Puzzle:Helping Kids Learn About Accepting and Including Kids with Autism
by Julie L. Coe, Jennifer Maloni and Rebecca Landa
Illustrated by Sondra L. Brassel
Dylan is a new kid at school who has autism. Mackenzie tries to befriend him, but is confused about why he does not respond to her. Mackenzie and her helpful mother try to solve what they call "the friendship puzzle". I really liked how this book showed that it can take some creativity and persistence to figure out the best ways to include friends with autism. 

 How to Talk to an Autistic Kid
by Daniel Stephanski

Daniel is a child with high functioning autism.  In his book he describes some reasons why people with autism may act differently.  More importantly, he offers advice on how to interact with a child with autism.  Topics include personal space, intense interests and sensory difficulties.  

 Since We're Friends

by Celeste Shally

I highly recommend this book.  It is a great example of how one understanding friend can make a world of difference in the life of a child with autism. It provides great examples of ways to make a friendship work through compromise, compassion and acceptance.

Looking After Louis
by Leslie Ely
This is the story of Louis and his wonderful, supportive class.  Louis has autism and his class wants to include him more at school.  Through some creative thinking and a special soccer game, the students find a way to connect with and include him. 

Taking Autism to School

by Andreanna Edwards

I like this book because it takes some mystery about how some students with autism spend their day at school. Many students wonder what activities a child with autism might be involved in when they leave the classroom.  This book shows some activities and gives a glimpse of what a school might look like for a child with autism.

 A Friend Like Simon

by Kate Gaynor 

When Simon arrives at a new school, his classmates must learn to accept and embrace his differences. This book focuses on acceptance and how a child with autism can positively contribute to a classroom community. 

Other Books 

I am Utterly Unique:Celebrating the Strengths of Children with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism
by Elaine M. Larson
This book is written in a simple alphabet format with big illustrations. It serves as a great reminder of the gifts and talents of children with higher-functioning autism.

 Happy For a Honk and a Wave

by Janet C. McGregor

I really like the fact that the main character in this book is an adult.  He likes to watch cars go by and is thrilled when anyone honks or waves.  I think it is a great reminder that it only takes a simple gesture to make someone else happy. 

 Amazingly.... Alphie!

by Roz Espin

This book is one of my new favorite picture books.  It is not specifically about autism, but about differences.   Alphie is a computer that is "wired differently". He has trouble performing  required tasks adequately. He begins to think that he is defective and worthless until he meets a human who believes he is worth fixing.  Finally Alphie realizes that he has much to offer and that his differences make him special.  

Here are a few sites that you might like to check out. 

KidsHealth.org-Autism- A nice, simple explanation of autism.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Autism video from Brainpop.com 

Books I love as a parent and teacher: 

I bought several copies of this book after my son's diagnosis and made all our family members read it. Click on the cover to learn more about it. There is also a newer updated version.

Ten Things Your Student with Autism Wishes You Knew is a valuable resource for teachers of all ages. 

Anything books by Temple Grandin and John Elder Robison are very helpful for adults trying to understand autism. 

There are so many books out there and these are just a few. Which books about autism do you like to read with your students or children?

ReTHINKing It Thursday-Get More Out of Your Read Aloud

 ReTHINKing It Thursday

Exploring alternatives to worksheets in the literacy classroom.

It has long been a concern of mine that many students are "worksheeted" to death at school. While worksheets are not inherently evil, many times there are better, more engaging ways for students to learn and practice the skills or strategies we are trying to teach. 

Recently I had a discussion with one of my students about how 4th grade is going for him so far.  After saying that he liked school he added, "We don't do many papers." While it was more of an observation and he didn't share if he thought this was a good or a bad thing, it did get me thinking.  I guess we don't really do many "papers" such as commercial worksheets.  Don't get me wrong here.  I DO use worksheets from time to time, when I am just too busy to find an alternative or when I feel the worksheet is just as good as any other way to teach or practice a skill.  But, whenever possible, I try to use real text, online activities, small group/partner activities, quick writes, discussion and modeling.  

So, I would like to try to start using some of my Thursday posts to offer some very simple alternatives to worksheets.  These will not be super-innovative activities here folks.  But I hope they provide different ways of THINKing about how we use our time in school. 

Today's Idea- Get more out of your read aloud. 

The benefits of read aloud can not be over stated in my opinion. They are too numerous to mention here, but I believe that read aloud is so important in my 4th grade classroom that it is the only time I will not allow any of my students to be pulled out for their support services. It is literally the only time all of my students are with me. 

Read aloud can be used to address many strategies, skills and yes (gasp) standards. 

It is important not to "kill the book" by doing too much with it. So keep it simple and brief. During the several weeks of a chapter book read aloud, you can touch upon several things. Some examples of activities include pausing for discussions, analyzing difficult or interesting words, discussing character changes, modeling think alouds, discussing an author's choices, etc.  Where you choose to focus will depend on the book and your goals.  It takes just minutes a day and really adds to your read aloud experience without killing the book. 

Here are our charts at the end of Out of My Mind. 

So there is one very simple thing you can do without a worksheet to add to your read aloud experience while teaching skills and strategies. 

Our Wonder-ful Journey Comes to a Close

This week our classes finished reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio (a bit tearfully I might add).  We all enjoyed reading this book together throughout the winter.  Reading about Auggie's difficulties created rich and important classroom discussions about kindness, bullying and acceptance.  


It was fun to watch the students fall in love with this book.  It seemed like each week, more and more students came to school with their own copy to follow along or read ahead.  They carried the books around like trophies. Some even wrote their last name along the pages just like I do.

I often overheard students talking about Auggie amongst themselves.  Slowly, he became part of our classroom community. They reacted to his mistreatment with personal outrage, as though it were happening to a class member.  They reacted to his successes just as strongly, with cheers and happy tears.  

As a culminating activity, we had students write about what makes each of them a wonder. It was heartwarming to see what kind words can do.  I watched their faces beam as they read the kind words their classmates had to say about them.

Reading Wonder has made our year together better.  It created a bond through a beautiful common experience.  They will be able to discuss this book together for years to come.  I would like to thank R.J. Palacio for giving this amazing book to us.  It was truly a gift.

See my review of Wonder here.
Read more about our Wonder-ful experience:
Entry #1
Entry #2

WONDER-ful Reading

Last week all the fourth graders in our school huddled together in our library to kick off our read aloud of RJ Palacio's incredible book, Wonder.  After I read the book this fall, I have been telling every man, woman and child to read it (see my review here).  Since it sends such a powerful and important message, the teachers in our building thought it would be a great idea to have our 4th and 5th grade classes all read Wonder as a read aloud at the same time.

The students were all very curious.  After all, we had never read a book as a whole grade-span before.  The students were very focused on the cover of the book.  "Does he only have one eye?" they asked.  "What happened to his eye?" They were frustrated when we wouldn't tell them the answers.  They also could not believe that they will NEVER see August's face.  All of the students had seen the book trailer earlier in the day. We introduced the book as a powerful read that they will love and remember, a book that will make them feel a wide array of emotions.

Each of the four teachers read a chapter aloud.  It was so incredible to see so many of the students hanging on every word.  And then came the part about the "farting nurse". To hear a teacher use the word "fart" over and over again was so hilarious to them.  I'm sure it was the topic of discussion at many dinner tables that night.  Of course as we finished the fourth chapter, they begged for more.  Now each class will read the book independently for a few weeks.  Then we will get together to discuss the story and do some activities to enhance the experience. 

Please visit again to hear more about our WONDER-ful journey.