A Letter to My Loved Ones

Dear Family,

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA and it is a wonderful tradition. People fly from across the country to be with their families on this day. It is a day to slow down and show gratitude for all the blessing in life. Today I am thinking about you all with all my heart and my soul. I am so incredibly blessed to have you as my parents, to have you Gladys as my sister and you Fabrizio as my godson. I know you are all unique. I know you are one of a kind. You have been my inspiration and my strengths. You believe in me and there are not enough words that can express how thankful I am for that. You supported all my wild ideas and dreams. You gave me your blessings when I wanted to move to the USA to make my dreams come true. I know you cried. I did too. But you still let me go. And here I am today thanks TO YOU. I am the person I became today thanks to you, your endless hours of conversations filled with wise words and advice. Today I am strong, I have faith, I believe. And it is all thanks to you. I wish I had you with me today here but it is OK because Christmas is waiting for us. I just wanted to let you all know what you mean to me. Today I am thankful for all of you.

I love you all, more than words can say.

Happy Thanksgiving Day Familia!

Stella

When Lucy Goes out Walking

When Lucy Goes Out Walking *A Puppy's First Year* by Ashley Wolff is a book that any animal lover will love and appreciate. The author Ashley Wolff traces the growth of this adorable puppy Lucy as she goes on walks all throughout the year. She starts with January, of course, when Lucy goes out walking on those cold snowy days. At the corner of each page there is a peek of a calendar page showing the month that either just passed or will be next. As you go through each month of the year, children are encouraged to pay attention to details, and to little life events that each month brings. At the same time, Lucy is growing and anyone who pays attentions to the vibrant illustrations in this book, will notice that. I enjoyed the sweet short passage on each page and the two spoken lines in each verse. What are you waiting to discover a whole year of adventures with Lucy? I bet children will love to see her grow!

As you are Doing your Holiday Shopping, Keep This in Mind!

Have you read the book "An Awesome Book" ? Have you heard of Dallas Clayton?

Prepare to be inspired...

Awesome Book Tour from Dallas Clayton on Vimeo.

What an amazing initiative! How many children are enjoying reading this book because of his project! Whoever gets books in the hands of children, deserve a round of applause. If you are interested in getting a sneak peak of the book click here, if you would like to pre-order click here. Thanks to Hula Seventy for posting this at Poppytalk! I love when people share and spread great findings with others! Feel free to do so!

What about you? What do you dream of?

Stella

Shades of People

Every time I see a book at the library with the cover full of photographs, it catches my attention immediately. I wasn't disappointed at all to pick this book up. Shades of People by Shelly Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly show us through a collection of beautiful photographs the different shades of people. What I love about this book is the rich collection of words used to describe the different shades of people. They use words such as copper, tan, almond, coffee, cocoa, creamy and ivory to describe all the amazing shades. Portrayed in a such a positive way with rich vocabulary this is another one of those books I love to collect and share with my ELLs.

People that follow my blog know how much I love language and learning new exquisite words. I love reading books that give children an opportunity to be word explorers as well. I have reviewed several books that are your perfect companion if you want to go on a journey of learning new words with your students. You can find a review here and here as well. Savour they journey!

She did it again!!

I'm a big fan of Amy Krouse Rosenthal and I was more than excited to see that she published a delicious follow up to the bestselling Cookies and Christmas Cookies. In this new book entitled Sugar Cookies Sweet Little Lessons on Love she defines words associated with love. By using the experience of baking cookies, Amy helps readers understand all the dimensions of LOVE from waiting to lick the bowl together (considerate) to being honest if the cookies tastes funny (constructive). And of course, t the end of the book you will find a recipe to Sugar Cookies.

As a person who loves languages and words, I think this book is one of those GREAT mentor texts to use in the classroom to invite students to be language observers and word learners. The context of the story which is baking cookies is familiar to many students and it is a fantastic way to learn more sophisticated yet every day words. If the context of baking cookies is not familiar to the students, then I couldn't think of a better season than this one to provide our students with this experience while learning and acquiring more vocabulary! This book is definitely another treasure to be added to my personal library.

Animal Poems & Others

POETRY FRIDAY




I have two great books I would love to share with you today for Poetry Friday. First African Acrostics A Word in Edgeways by Avis Harley is one of my latest finds. I must say that a couple of things caught my attention right away. First of all, the acrostic poems are literally a delight to read. Captivating titles such as Eye to Eye, Untamed or The Watcher are some of the titles that matches the acrostic poems. Another amazing feature are the photographs that goes along with the acrostics. Photographer Deborah Noyes sure did a fantastic job capturing a strong image of each animal. I can see this book becoming a great mentor text for upper intermediate grades (grades 4 & up) that would like to see how acrostics are done in fun, creative ways.


I also enjoyed reading the Nature Notes found at the end of this book where the author gathered relevant information about each African Animal. You will also find the photographer's note where she shares information about Namibia, a country in southern Africa where most of the pictures were taken.


The second book that is also now part of my Poetry collection is this creative book entitled A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk A Forest of Poems by Deborah Ruddell and Joan Rankin. Are you ready to go for a walk through the forest? Are you ready to live through the four seasons as you explore the different creatures that surround this amazing environment? Well, that's what this book is all about. During your hike, you will encounter squirrels, an overachieving beaver, and quite the snail. My favorite poem is definitely the one about the weaver.


Biography of a Beaver


Bucktoothed Cleaver
Tree Retriever
Building Conceiver
True Believer
Waterproof Weaver
Overachiever
Roll-up-Her-Sleever-
Hooray for the Beaver!


I hope these two brighten up your children's literature world like they brighten up mine! Happy Friday. Enjoy the journey!

Thank You Mary Lee and Franki!

NCTE's National Day on Writing is finally here!

Our amazing friends over at A Year of Reading compiled all the amazing writings from our Kidlitosphere World into this amazing Writing Gallery Title " A Lifetime of Reading". You simply can not miss it. Grab a cup of coffee or better yet apple cider, sit back and enjoy reading a wide variety of writing from your favorite Kidlitosphere writers. My World/ Mi Mundo was present with a short piece entitled Pay It Forward with a Good Book.

Mary Lee and Franki, thanks for your hard work! It looks fantastic!