Story: Miles and Kyler are Friends

Karli was ready to write a story about a shark named Miles. As she spoke her story, I typed it out. It only took about 5 to 10 minutes (while Melanie was down for a nap). I kind of catagorized the story as she was telling it so she could pick out clip art that went with each section of the story. She has me read this story back to her many times and gets a good laugh each time.

Art ~ watercolors

Karli is painting a picture using water colors. She saw a picture of a shark swimming into the sunset that she liked. Luckily it was easy to draw, so I sketched it and she's painting it.

KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned)

Karli is starting on the writing in her book. When I do this again with her, we'll start this page earlier than we did. She's already learned things that she didn't know - so it's a little off, but she tells me what she wants to write on the board and then she copies it into her book. She's working on a papers that say:

• "What I know about sharks"
• "What I want to know about sharks"
• "What I've learned about sharks"

Act like the animal

We went to visit relatives in Yakima and they had a hot tub (cold tub in the summer) and Karli pretended she was a shark. She's also learning to swim without plugging her nose. When she looked at the picture, she was a little critical of herself. She said that sharks fins are not on their head, but on their back.

Interview Specialist

We lucked out by having company over and Mr. Polley happens to be a biologist and now a teacher I am going to work with again. He told Karli about a shark feed and a tooth that he has from it. He mailed Karli the shark tooth that she can put in her book.

Multimedia Research

I DVR'd some movies for Karli about sharks so she could learn more about them. This movie she's watching is an entertaining movie called 'Sharkboy and Lavagirl'. Something to stir up the imagination.

Cover

I wasn't going to have Karli work on the cover till nearer the end, but she was so curious to see how this book was going to come about, so we started on the cover. We cut out cardboard and glued construction paper to it for the front and back of the book. I made block letters (that Karli says I mess up a little because they're not perfect like stickers) - she cut them out and glued them on her book. She then drew a picture of a shark to go on the front cover. She says the shark's name is Miles and she is going to write a story about him inside the book.

Bibliography

As I was cutting out the pages for Karli to color (from the internet), I was cutting off the links where we got the information - then I thought 'hey, we should keep these for a bibliography' - never too young to start a bibliography. It doesn't need to be formal, just giving credit to where we got our sources. Sometimes the bibliography is saved for the last thing, but then it's a pain to remember where you got everything, so if you make it as you go, it's easier.

Coloring and Activity Page Links

We found some great links to coloring pages and more

This site seems to have what I keep looking for when I search for activities for the book Karli's making: http://www.kidzone.ws/

• Coloring activities: http://www.coloring.ws/animals.html
• Shark activities: http://www.kidzone.ws/sharks/activities/index.html

Library Trip

There is a wonderful kid's librarian at the Silverdale Library: http://www.krl.org/index.php/KRL-Branches/Silverdale.html

Karli already knows the librarian can find anything we ask, so she found us a selection of books about sharks. On the way home, Karli practiced spelling SHARK. She's very excited to read about the sharks. I told her she has to do a picture walk through the books before I read them to her. I know this is a reading strategy, but it's also a 'give mom a break' strategy :)

Starting Point

We didn't have an idea of creating a book when we went to the zoo, but Karli let us know how much she loves sharks. Here she is with her baby sister by the shark tank. When we got home, we talked about writing a shark magazine. She said she didn't really like magazines but she would like to write a shark book with information about sharks. So, this is how we got started...next - trip to the library.

About the program designer

Welcome to Author's Club. I am a teacher in Kitsap County and have a 5 year old daughter starting school this year. I originally went to college to be an elementary school teacher but now find myself teaching math at the High School Level. I LOVE my teaching position but am still drawn to elementary education. Now that my daughter is elementary school age, I'm excited to do projects with her.

Every summer we plan on completing a book project with whatever subject Karli chooses. We chose to complete a book on Sharks this summer and so far it has been a blast. I'd love for others to join me in a book project and at the end of the summer, kids can share books with each other at a library *location and time to be announced. Ideally any kid, any age would be part of this Author's Club so we would have a wide variety of levels and interests.