Doggin' and Horsin' Around

I just finished creating the coolest guide ever! First of all, you must check out Jeff Crosby's and Shelley Ann Jackson's b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l non-fiction picture books, Little Lions, Bull Baiters & Hunting Hounds and Harness Horses, Bucking Broncos & Pit Ponies. Not only are the illustrations amazing and the facts fascinating, you need the books to complete most of the activities I created in their Research and Activity Guide.

However, there are two anatomy lessons that you can do without the books. Look though the guide to find them. Did you know that both the dog and horse have a muzzle, stifle, a fetlock, and pasterns? And that a horse has a coronet? (I'm not talking the rootie-toot-toot type of coronet, mind you. I'm talking anatomy here.)

So, go get yourself some scissors and glue, look through the guide, print out pages 15 to 17, and have some dog and horse fun!

I tell you, it takes good books to be able to make good guides. And, my dear Simple Saturday friend, Jeff and Shelley have created two masterpieces. Don't take my word for it. Check them out and see for yourselves!!!

Paper Dolls As Pretty As You Please

 Today we're going to focus on a craft that I found while researching supportive material for one of our ReaderKidZ Beyond Boundaries selections - Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match, written by Monica Brown and illustrated by Sara Palacios. This book is way, way, w-a-y too cute, y'all.  Here's what Nancy Bo Flood says about the story:

Marisol McDonald is teased about being different – sometimes it is because of her fire-red hair and freckles.  Sometimes she is teased because she prefers playing pirates to soccer. Mostly she is teased about “nothing matches.”  This book in pictures and words is as high-spirited as Marisol and a wonderful inspiration for celebrating being different and being proud of it.  Every kid gets teased. Readers will enjoy Marisol’s creative approach to being herself.

So, now that you know about the darling story, let's get busy Simple Saturday-ing, want to? To do so, you'll need to download the Teacher Activity Guide Monica has loaded on her website. In addition to finding a ton of great lessons, activities, and even recipes in the guide, pages of paper dolls are there just waiting for you to print out and create. Print the Monica Marisol paper doll on card stock and you're ready for some good old-fashioned paper doll dressing fun.

 There are two basic styles of clothes to chose from....the pre-colored selection or the color-it-yourself-creative selection. Either of which is marvelously original, spunky, and fun - just like Marisol! (And you and me, I might add.)

Now go get yourself some scissors, print off these sheets, and have some Simple Saturday fun, you hear? See you next week!

Meat Tray Block Printing - Inspired by Ellen's Broom

Y'all, this is an incredible book founded on the celebration of everlasting love between a husband and a wife and it ROCKS! Kelly Starling Lyons' tender poetic prose nails the inquisitive nature of Ellen, a young girl learning about great happiness born from hardship - all in the name of marriage and of freedom.

I really enjoyed working on Activity/Discussion Guide. Not only is the story amazing, the illustrations....oh, my golly gosh! Daniel Minter's linoleum block prints blew my socks off! To imagine the patience and skill required to carve away with such delicate precision baffles me.

I spent hours studying the movement of his lines and the expressive faces of his subjects. There is one spread, in particular, that I love in which Ellen and her family are gathered by the fireplace and her father has his hand on her shoulder. So sweet... And, man-oh-man, does Daniel know how to play with color and light for effect. There's a haunting spread that is so tastefully unsettling it will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. (I'm not telling you which one it is, either. Get the book and see for yourself.)

Simple Saturday crafting, once again! You know the simple drill...meat tray, sharp pointed tool (pencil or pen), paints, brush, and paper. CHEAP!So, let's dedicate this Simple Saturday post to the fabulous art of Daniel Minter, illustrator for Ellen's Broom, want to? There is a detailed explanation of the Styrofoam Meat Tray Block Printing a-la Simple Saturday-esk technique described in the Activity/Discussion guide I made for Kelly. (Close your eyes, Daniel. This might make your stomach roll.)

Where Daniel skillfilly carves his master pieces, I basically used the point of a pencil like trowel and sketched something that, hopefully, resembles a tree. (I see you smirking...Don't laugh.) 

Then I spread black paint all over my meat tray block print and made a print. After my print dried, I used tempera paint to fill in white space with color. What do you think about my apple tree? Pretty spiffy, eh? Not bad for a novice. I'm sure you can do a whole lot better. Try it. Make a meat tray block print. It's fun!!!

And, more importantly, take a look at Ellen's Broom, when you get the chance. Get lost in Kelly's wonderful words perfectly complimented by Daniel's incredible artistic sensibilities. 

 Much like my own! Ha!

Kick Up Yer Heels

To make a vibrant guide I first need a lively, multi-sensory, energetic story filled with heart and soul. And my buddy Bethany Hegedus pulled it off without a hitch. She dun good, I tell ya. Real good.

Her Truth with a Capital T is rich, rich, RICH with, as IndieBound says, "...grace and humor and a heaping helping of little-known facts, Bethany Hegedus incorporates the passions of the North and the South and bridges the past and the present in this story about one summer in the life of a sassy Southern girl and her trumpet-playing adopted Northern cousin." How 'bout that?

In regards to making the guide, Bethany gave me a ton of scrumptious literary stuff to work with. In addition to in-depth discussion questions and those ever-important TEKS annotations I created quilt codes, metaphor madness, a Reader's Theatre, and even a recipe for deeee-licious blackberry cobbler. Yum. Yum. Click HERE to get a look at the the guide, if you'd like.

But, for me, the best part are the YouTube video clip selections - in particular The Best Bluegrass Clogging Video Ever Made. Boyeeee! I love this video!! I challenge you to watch it without letting a smile stretch across your face. Can't be done.

Check out the jaunty tilt of the banjo picker's hat, will you? How the the old guy's elbow pumps? Pap Paw snoozing on the settee? And the darling dimpled girl with the dashing smile? Got to love it! In my mind, this video captures the multi-generational heel-kicking love of cultural diversity Bethany so aptly celebrates in her books and in her life.

Think I'll watch it again.

Friday Prep: Kick Up Yer Heels

On of my most enjoyable guides I've made involved clogging. Not the thing that happens when you try to cram a bushel full of apple peels into the garbage disposal and expect it to work. (Think that I have had first hand experience with such a irresponsible act. Me? Never.)

No, I'm talking about the oh-so-energetic-try-to-sit-still-and-can't dance of the official American dance of the Appalachian Mountians. Man-oh-man, I just love it!

We took a trip to Mountian View, Arkansas once when the kids were pint-sized...a little family trip that will be forever warmly nestled in the folds of my heart. There I saw cloggers in action for the first time in my life and I was mesmerized! Still am.

Tomorrow I'll give you a little taste of what I'm talking about. Woot!