Click on each page to see it bigger.
Warning: preschool humor!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Maddie Makes a Mess
In honor of Free Comic Books Day, here is a Maddie comic.
Click on each page to see it bigger.
Warning: preschool humor!
Click on each page to see it bigger.
Warning: preschool humor!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Pair of Picture Pie Charts 2nd edition
Math is for installing lightning rods.
Math is for using a good stain remover on your laundry.
Math is for fun with pie charts.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Author Visit with Jeannie Brett
Maine is home to many beautiful wild animals.
Maine is also home to author and illustrator Jeannie Brett.
Jeannie recently treated her young Maine readers to a visit and signing at Nonesuch Books in South Portland, where she read her newest work of art, Little Maine, a board book featuring riddles about Maine animals.
Guests listened to Jeannie read, answered the riddles together, then colored birds and added them to a big felt moose. 
Jeannie also treated everyone to an illustration demonstration! 
Here is a short video of Jeannie drawing Maine animals.
Check out Jeannie's web site!
www.jeanniebrett.com
Little Maine is the first of a series of board books published by Sleeping Bear Press.
Maine is also home to author and illustrator Jeannie Brett.
Jeannie recently treated her young Maine readers to a visit and signing at Nonesuch Books in South Portland, where she read her newest work of art, Little Maine, a board book featuring riddles about Maine animals.
Guests listened to Jeannie read, answered the riddles together, then colored birds and added them to a big felt moose. 
Jeannie also treated everyone to an illustration demonstration! 
Here is a short video of Jeannie drawing Maine animals. Check out Jeannie's web site!
www.jeanniebrett.com
Little Maine is the first of a series of board books published by Sleeping Bear Press.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Lost and Found
Have you ever lost anything?
Did you find it?
This is what usually happens to me!
1. lose expensive item
2. realize a week later that you've lost expensive item
3. look for item
4. wait one hour
5. look for item
6. try to remember when item became lost
7. try to re-create steps of when item was lost
8. look for item
9. get annoyed
10. give up
11. consider buying new item
12. refuse to buy new item
13. look for item
14. insist item must be around somewhere
15. look for item
16. give up
17. order new item
18. keep looking for lost item anyway
19. new item arrives in mail
20. find lost item
Has anyone seen my
?
Did you find it?
This is what usually happens to me!
1. lose expensive item
2. realize a week later that you've lost expensive item
3. look for item
4. wait one hour
5. look for item
6. try to remember when item became lost
7. try to re-create steps of when item was lost
8. look for item
9. get annoyed
10. give up
11. consider buying new item
12. refuse to buy new item
13. look for item
14. insist item must be around somewhere
15. look for item
16. give up
17. order new item
18. keep looking for lost item anyway
19. new item arrives in mail
20. find lost item
Has anyone seen my
?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Blue Shaker (fiction)
“Pass the corn, please.”
Kami passed the corn.
“How was school?” asked Dad.
“Fine,” said Kami.
“Boy, everyone is so talkative tonight!” laughed Mom.
“Just tired, Mom. Pass the salt, James,” said Kami.
“More like bored,” complained James as he grabbed the salt shaker and started to hand it to Kami. Instead of handing it to her he decided to slide it across the table, hard.
The lighthouse-shaped salt shaker slid, then tipped, then spun and flew off the table. It crashed to the floor, breaking and spilling salt in an arc across the tile.
No one moved. “James, just because family dinner isn’t exciting enough for you is no reason to break things,” said Dad.
“I didn’t mean to, Dad! Seriously, it’s just an old salt shaker! Of a lighthouse, for cryin’ out loud. We live a thousand miles from an ocean! ” He got up from the table to clean up the broken pieces.
“Stop,” said Mom, “Everyone just stop. James, I’ll get that in a minute. Sit down. I want to tell you something.”
“Great, a lecture,” said James.
Dad raised his hand and started to bring it down as a fist onto the table.
“No,” said Mom, “Not a lecture. A story.” Everyone waited.
“My grandmother gave me these shakers when I visited her in Maine when I was ten. She died the next year.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Sorry, Mom,” mumbled James.
“It’s okay, James. I’m not really sentimental about stuff. It’s just stuff. It’s just that you reminded me of a story.” She pushed her plate away and leaned forward against the table.
“Grandmother collected salt and pepper shakers. She had a tall glass cabinet full of them. I loved how different they all were. Some were identical pairs, like these lighthouses. Some were things that go together, like a horse and a cart.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “She never put salt and pepper in the collection shakers. Anyway, the shakers we always used at the table were very plain. The salt was in a blue bottle and the pepper was in a red bottle.” She twisted her napkin.
“Looks like no one’s hungry anymore,” said Mom.
“I’m going to collect salt and pepper shakers,” said Kami. Mom smiled.
“That’s a wonderful idea, Kami, but there’s more to the story. When your uncle and I were really little, about four years old, Grandmother babysat us while my mother was at work. We had this little game. Uncle Will liked pepper on everything. He’d sing 'I’m a red sh-shake-er!' Looking back, I think he put up with pepper on his food just so he could use the red shaker. He loved the color red.”
Mom took a sip of her water then continued. “So, I was the blue shaker. I couldn’t let him out-do me, so I’d dance around, shouting 'I’m a blue shaker, shaker, shaker!' We’d pretend the salt and pepper were talking to each other.”
“That is so lame, Mom,” said James.
“Is not!” answered Kami.
“Well, we were little,” said Mom, “One day the blue shaker fell and broke. I cried and cried. Grandmother tried to calm me down, but I was inconsolable. She said I could choose a set from her collection, but I wanted to be a blue shaker. It was like the blue shaker was me, broken on the floor, and my brother was still on the table, without me.”
Dad reached over and held Mom’s hand. She smiled.
“But it was just a salt shaker, right Mom, not you,” said Kami.
“Right, Kami. And we’re a family. James, you are more important to me than that lighthouse.”
Dad squeezed Mom’s hand and said, “But there’s a piece of you inside that will always be a blue shaker.”
James got up from the table and picked up the broken lighthouse. “I’ll glue it back together, Mom.”
“Yeah,” said Kami, “Or the pepper lighthouse will be lonely.”
Kami passed the corn.
“How was school?” asked Dad.
“Fine,” said Kami.
“Boy, everyone is so talkative tonight!” laughed Mom.
“Just tired, Mom. Pass the salt, James,” said Kami.
“More like bored,” complained James as he grabbed the salt shaker and started to hand it to Kami. Instead of handing it to her he decided to slide it across the table, hard.
The lighthouse-shaped salt shaker slid, then tipped, then spun and flew off the table. It crashed to the floor, breaking and spilling salt in an arc across the tile.
No one moved. “James, just because family dinner isn’t exciting enough for you is no reason to break things,” said Dad.
“I didn’t mean to, Dad! Seriously, it’s just an old salt shaker! Of a lighthouse, for cryin’ out loud. We live a thousand miles from an ocean! ” He got up from the table to clean up the broken pieces.
“Stop,” said Mom, “Everyone just stop. James, I’ll get that in a minute. Sit down. I want to tell you something.”
“Great, a lecture,” said James.
Dad raised his hand and started to bring it down as a fist onto the table.
“No,” said Mom, “Not a lecture. A story.” Everyone waited.
“My grandmother gave me these shakers when I visited her in Maine when I was ten. She died the next year.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Sorry, Mom,” mumbled James.
“It’s okay, James. I’m not really sentimental about stuff. It’s just stuff. It’s just that you reminded me of a story.” She pushed her plate away and leaned forward against the table.
“Grandmother collected salt and pepper shakers. She had a tall glass cabinet full of them. I loved how different they all were. Some were identical pairs, like these lighthouses. Some were things that go together, like a horse and a cart.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “She never put salt and pepper in the collection shakers. Anyway, the shakers we always used at the table were very plain. The salt was in a blue bottle and the pepper was in a red bottle.” She twisted her napkin.
“Looks like no one’s hungry anymore,” said Mom.
“I’m going to collect salt and pepper shakers,” said Kami. Mom smiled.
“That’s a wonderful idea, Kami, but there’s more to the story. When your uncle and I were really little, about four years old, Grandmother babysat us while my mother was at work. We had this little game. Uncle Will liked pepper on everything. He’d sing 'I’m a red sh-shake-er!' Looking back, I think he put up with pepper on his food just so he could use the red shaker. He loved the color red.”
Mom took a sip of her water then continued. “So, I was the blue shaker. I couldn’t let him out-do me, so I’d dance around, shouting 'I’m a blue shaker, shaker, shaker!' We’d pretend the salt and pepper were talking to each other.”
“That is so lame, Mom,” said James.
“Is not!” answered Kami.
“Well, we were little,” said Mom, “One day the blue shaker fell and broke. I cried and cried. Grandmother tried to calm me down, but I was inconsolable. She said I could choose a set from her collection, but I wanted to be a blue shaker. It was like the blue shaker was me, broken on the floor, and my brother was still on the table, without me.”
Dad reached over and held Mom’s hand. She smiled.
“But it was just a salt shaker, right Mom, not you,” said Kami.
“Right, Kami. And we’re a family. James, you are more important to me than that lighthouse.”
Dad squeezed Mom’s hand and said, “But there’s a piece of you inside that will always be a blue shaker.”
James got up from the table and picked up the broken lighthouse. “I’ll glue it back together, Mom.”
“Yeah,” said Kami, “Or the pepper lighthouse will be lonely.”
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Think About It: Octopuses (non-fiction article)
***This article is mostly true.
Four sentences are NOT TRUE.***
Read, think, and research to find out the truth about octopuses.
Octopuses are an ocean animal belonging to the cephalopod group of invertebrates. They live most commonly in warm ocean water and are bottom-dwellers. Octopuses eat crayfish, crabs, and mollusks.
The octopus body is soft and has eight arms with rows of suckers. Octopuses use several strategies for protection, including camouflage, ink squirting, losing an arm, and biting with their strong beak.
Octopuses use their arms for a wide variety of tasks. They are intelligent animals, able to learn by watching the behavior of other octopuses.
An octopus behavior recently reported is an amazing ability to use coconuts as a tool for survival.
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed Veined Octopuses carrying empty coconut shells to hide in.
These octopuses crawl to a coconut tree at night to choose a coconut of a useful size. They then use their strong arms to crack the coconut shell against a rock. The octopus carries the two shell halves under its body, walking as if on stilts. A Veined Octopus will keep the same coconut shell until the shell is no longer of a useful size.
The Veined Octopus joins other tree-climbing octopuses, such as the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.
Use these sources, along with others, to decide which four sentences are false:
(You HAVE TO check out the first link! It's GREAT!)
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Hiding-in-a-Coconut.html
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Wild-Things-201002.html?c=y&page=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphioctopus_marginatus
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/octopus-facts-for-kids.html
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)01914-9?large_figure=true#app2
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_tree_octopus
Four sentences are NOT TRUE.***
Read, think, and research to find out the truth about octopuses.
Octopuses are an ocean animal belonging to the cephalopod group of invertebrates. They live most commonly in warm ocean water and are bottom-dwellers. Octopuses eat crayfish, crabs, and mollusks.
The octopus body is soft and has eight arms with rows of suckers. Octopuses use several strategies for protection, including camouflage, ink squirting, losing an arm, and biting with their strong beak.
Octopuses use their arms for a wide variety of tasks. They are intelligent animals, able to learn by watching the behavior of other octopuses.
An octopus behavior recently reported is an amazing ability to use coconuts as a tool for survival.
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed Veined Octopuses carrying empty coconut shells to hide in.
These octopuses crawl to a coconut tree at night to choose a coconut of a useful size. They then use their strong arms to crack the coconut shell against a rock. The octopus carries the two shell halves under its body, walking as if on stilts. A Veined Octopus will keep the same coconut shell until the shell is no longer of a useful size.
The Veined Octopus joins other tree-climbing octopuses, such as the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.
Use these sources, along with others, to decide which four sentences are false:
(You HAVE TO check out the first link! It's GREAT!)
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Hiding-in-a-Coconut.html
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Wild-Things-201002.html?c=y&page=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphioctopus_marginatus
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/octopus-facts-for-kids.html
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)01914-9?large_figure=true#app2
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_tree_octopus
Friday, February 19, 2010
Pair of Picture Pie Charts
Math is for staying out of roads.
Math is for wearing helmets.
Math is for having fun with pie charts.
Come back another day for a new pair of pie charts.
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