December 2017

Rescue Footage

Here’s a video that will immerse your students into the lives of the rescued penguins and the volunteers who helped save them after the oil spill in 2000. Because many of the volunteers are from various countries, be sure to turn on the subtitles, as their accents may be difficult for your students to understand.

A Teacher-Vetted Lesson Plan

We love this fantastic 5-day close reading lesson planfrom 4th-grade teacher Erin Burns.

No More Sweaters!

When you point out the photo of a penguin in a sweater on page 9, you can add that one penguin organization in Australia had received so many sweaters from well-meaning knitters all over the world, it had to issue a statement saying it didn’t need any more at that time!

Family Preparations

Penguins have a fascinating pattern of breeding: The males keep penguin eggs warm by sitting on them (gently!) while the females go out in search of food for months. This poster breaks it down.

Penguin Variations

Check out this simple infographic to see the different sizes of various species of penguin. It’s hard to read the height portion of the chart, but Emporer penguins are the tallest, at around 4 ft. tall; Little Blue penguins are approximately 1 ft. tall! Ask your students to find the African penguin (the species our article is about).

Map It Out!

To see where the islands where these penguins live are, don’t miss the map in our Video Read-Aloud. See it at the 44-second mark!

Processing Disasters

When we decided to feature this story, we had no idea that several devastating hurricanes would impact the United States. If you’re looking for ways to process these disasters with your students, consider this hopeful poem from Storyworks.

Ant Invasion

In a strange coincidence, the illustrator of this story, Tonya Engel, was just finishing her artwork when Hurricane Harvey struck her hometown of Houston, Texas. Luckily, her family and her home were not hurt. But she shared with us one of the most bizarre parts of the experience: Massive colonies of red fire ants were floating around Houston—having been flooded out of their own “homes”—and ended up in people’s houses. Engel says the ants infested her home and climbed into the beds!

Animals in Need

Many family pets were impacted by the severe weather we’ve had. Your students won’t forget this heartwarming video of a special family in Texas who were able to rescue their pet pig.

Hurricane Heavy Hitters

Some places are more prone to hurricanes than others due to their geographical location. This news article will provide your students with the top 5 states that are most likely to be affected by hurricane season, with key facts about each one.

Helping Those in Need

Check out this story of how one Storyworks class was moved to take action after reading about the effects of Hurricane Harvey. We connected them to another Storyworks class in Texas, and the partnership between these two classes will be sure to inspire your students!

Low-Definition

Your students will be blown away by what television looked like back in the day. This short clipwas recorded in 1939 by filming a TV screen with a camera. It’s a far cry from our high-definition TVs today! Note that while this video has no sound, the show being recorded did have sound.

Change in Appearance

The infographic in this article shows how the TV’s appearance has changed 1928 to 2007.

The First Clicker

In 1950, a company named Zenith Radio Corporation created the very first television remote control named Lazy Bones. It was connected to the TV by an extremely long cable wire, which annoyed many customers because they’d always trip over the cord. Don’t forget to show your students this original ad for the actual Lazy Bones remote!

Fewer Options, More Quality Time?

These paired texts can spark a meaningful discussion. Ask students: Would you have preferred to live during the time when families were more likely to watch shows together, and when there weren’t as many options of what to watch?

Radio Stars

Your students might be wondering what families did together before television. One popular pastime was listening to the radio. Back then, programs similar to TV shows played on the radio and families would gather around to listen to their favorite shows together.

Inspiration From Muses

Fun Fact: The people of ancient Greece believed stories were given to them from Greek goddesses they called muses. The muses were said to be the creators of art, music, literature, and science. So whenever someone came up with a really cool story to tell the entire village, they would give thanks to the muses.

Puppet Theater

Check out this teacher’s idea: turning a read-aloud play into a puppet show! We think Anansi is the perfect play to try this out with.

Alternative Versions

Show this short video of an Anansi story to your students to see more of the spider’s clever tricks! In this telling, Anansi is more of an anthropomorphized spider: explain that characters from fables take on many different qualities in different versions of stories.

A New Slideshow

Help your students understand what a trickster is, and why it’s still such a popular character in storylines today, in our fun slideshow. Then ask the class to think of other examples of tricksters from books or stories you may have read (Peeves the poltergeist from the Harry Potter books is one example).

Can't Get Enough of Constance?

Splash is a popular book of poems by Constance Levy that your students are guaranteed to enjoy, as it explores nature and allows its readers to make their own observations as well.

Support For Onomatopoeia Instruction

To drive home the concept of onomatopoeia, you might show one of these videos. The first contains a catchy tune (no guarantees it won’t stick in your head!), and the second is a 30-second old-school clipfrom the 1970s show “Electric Company.”

Poetry In The Classroom

Check out this post on the Storyworks Ideabook for some fabulous ideas for incorporating poetry into your classroom!

Extending the Poem

For a fun assignment, have students write a version of “Feet Talk” about walking in a different environment. For example, maybe their feet can squelch through some mud or crunch on some fallen leaves.

Early Inspiration

Read this fascinating article about plovers and how they became the inspiration for the first Guinness World Record Book in 1951.

Unbeatable Records

Some Guinness World Records have remained unbeaten in the 62 years since the book was first published. One of these is the tallest person ever. Robert Wadlow was a staggering 8’11’’ at the time of his death in 1940. Nobody has ever beaten that height! The current tallest living person is Sultan Kosen, who stands 8’2’’ tall. Check out this video about this iconic record, and you might use the opportunity for an SEL moment. Ask: How might it feel to look so different from everyone else?

Mr. Popular

According to the Guinness World Records Book for Kids, a 6-year old who goes by the YouTube name “Ryan’s Toys Review” had the most-viewed YouTube channel for a “millennial” in 2017! Ryan’s channel has been viewed more than 12 million times. (Just be sure to explain the term millennial!)

Gross...

Here’s a disgusting fact we couldn’t include in the article: Komodo dragons can consume up to 80% of their body weight in one meal! If they have to run away from danger while they’re full, they can throw up the entire contents of their stomachs to run away faster!

Dragons in Action

Check out this short videoabout Komodo dragons—your students will be fascinated to see these crazy creatures in action! Warning: This video contains images of animals being eaten by other animals. Please pre-screen it to make sure it won’t be upsetting to your students.

Clean in Captivity

Author Anna Starecheski was lucky enough to talk with Monique Van Hoek and Barney Bishop, two scientists on the team that discovered the antibacterial qualities of dragon blood. One interesting fact they relayed to her: While wild Komodo dragons have gross, germ-filled mouths, captive dragons have far cleaner mouths. This is because they’re living in an environment with less bacteria than there is in the wild.

Behind the Name

Where did Komodo dragons get their name? The answer is simple: They’re mostly found on the island of Komodo in Indonesia!

Much to Discover!

Komodo dragons have been around for millions of years, but Western scientists were not aware of them until just over 100 years ago! Since we’ve only known about them for such a short time, there’s a lot we’re still learning about these amazing creatures.

Teaching Our Debates

Try this teacher’s genius idea for a simple 2-day approach to teaching our debates!

Antiquated Writing Tools

Do your students know that people used to write using a quill for a pen? Turkey and goose feathers were among the most popular! You might play this short video that shows exactly how to write with a quill.

Not The Easiest Task

Handwriting challenges (including poor grasp and low fine-motor skills) are among the top reasons children are referred to occupational therapists. You might want to acknowledge that handwriting, whether print or cursive, isn’t necessarily much fun for many children.  

Reasons to Keep Cursive Alive

In this BCR news article, a retired teacher gives a variety of reasons why cursive is still important for students to learn. You may want to distill the facts in a discussion with your students.