Charlotte The Scientist

by Laura Gehl

Charlotte The Scientist Is Squished, by Camille Andros, illustrated by Brianne Farley, is a cute bunny story with adorable illustrations appropriate for very young kids.  But Charlotte The Scientist Is Squished is also way more than that.  Charlotte uses the scientific method in trying to solve problems, which provides a fun way to introduce the steps of the scientific method to elementary school students. Charlotte is also a strong, powerful girl who will remind kids of any age that girls can be scientists, mathematicians, or engineers…and that girls are problem-solvers in whatever careers they choose.

Charlotte The Scientist Is Squished makes an excellent writing prompt for the classroom.  After you read Charlotte out loud to your students, here are a few suggestions to get kids writing:

1) Scientists try to find the answers to important questions. If you were a scientist, what questions would YOU want to answer?

2) Do you ever feel squished at home, at school, on the bus, or in other parts of your life?  Write about when you feel squished. Or, if you never feel squished in real life, imagine when you might feel squished….when you and all your friends try to cram into a closet when you are playing hide and seek? When you and your eight dogs (remember…you are imagining this, so you can have as many dogs as you want!) try to fit in one sleeping bag on a camping trip?

3) Do you have anyplace in your life where you have your own space? Describe it. Or, design the perfect place where you could have your own space.  Would it be a private island? A treehouse? A boat?

4) Camille and Brianne are working on a sequel to Charlotte The Scientist is Squished.  If you were writing the next book about Charlotte, what would happen?  What discoveries might Charlotte make?  What problems might she try to solve?

5) What if you were illustrating the next Charlotte book…what changes would you make in the sequel?  Would you give Charlotte a new lab coat?  Different safety goggles? Cool earrings? Rubber boots? How would you make your pictures of Charlotte stand out?

www.lauragehl.com

A Dozen Reasons: Writing about The Day of the Girl

by Karen Leggett Abouraya

October 11 is the International Day of the Girl Child, a day officially designated by the United Nations in 2011 to recognize the unique challenges girls face around the world.

On this day groups all over the world highlight, discuss and take action to advance rights and opportunities for girls everywhere.  Many are groups organized by young people themselves, including School Girls Unite, the group that started in Kensington, Maryland, and lobbied hard for the Day of the Girl designation.  These are some of the reasons:

·       By 2015, females will make up 64% of the world’s illiterate (adult) population. (PDF)

·       One in seven girls in developing countries is married off before age 15.

·       1 in 5 high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.

A more complete list, visit the Day of the Girl website.

The Day of the Girl is a perfect opportunity to get students thinking – and writing about – the need for such a day. Students can choose a question to answer:

1.     Why do you think it’s a good idea to have a Day of the Girl?

2.     How do you see girls treated differently or unfairly in your own life?

3.     What action could you take as an individual, class or group to help improve the lives of girls?

You may also have students who would prefer to write about why there should be a Day of the Boy or a Day of the ???

This writing project can be expanded or adapted in many ways. 

·       Have students write their reasons for the Day of the Girl as a phrase or a 140-character tweet.

·       Post the students' tweets or phrases on a bulletin board, as in the photos here and more on the Day of the Girl website.

·       Make this a social studies project and encourage students to act on some of their suggestions. School Girls Unite has an online action guide called Girls Gone Activist! How to Change the World through Education.

Other websites with information about challenges faced by girls and the Day of the Girl include the Malala Fund, The Day of the Girl Summit and the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child (with videos and web-stories). 

http://childrensbookguild.org/karen-leggett-abouraya

#StrongerThan: Writing About Personal Challenges

by Karen Leggett Abouraya

“Let us pick up our books and pens. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.”

They are words made famous by Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who spoke at the United Nations on her sixteenth birthday – just nine months after she was shot by the Taliban near her home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley for speaking up for the right of girls to attend school. She has called on young people the world over to stand up for the right of every child in every country to go to school – and to stand up with their words and pens and pencils.  After 200 young girls were kidnapped from a school in Nigeria, Malala spoke out again to show the world “we are #StrongerThan those who deny school girls an education.” (Video)

What are your students “StrongerThan?”  Here is a perfect opportunity to encourage young people in and out of the classroom to learn Malala’s story, feel her courage and resolve and then think about what they are #StrongerThan. What do they have the courage to write about and conquer or achieve?  Children of any age can be asked to write a sentence, a paragraph, an essay or a 140-character Tweet about what they are stronger than -

#StrongerThan bullying?

#StrongerThan my math or reading homework?

#StrongerThan  my ADD or cerebral palsy or other disability?

#StrongerThan unfairness?

Students may choose to focus on personal challenges or issues that trouble them in their community or the world – including the education concerns that so motivate Malala. This initial writing project can grow as much as a child or class wishes by writing group or individual letters to a principal, school superintendent, local newspaper or elected official. My picture book biography of Malala – Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words includes several organizations children can join or replicate: School Girls Unite (started by middle school girls right in Kensington, Maryland), Girl Up, GirlRising and Global Campaign for Education, and of course, the Malala Fund itself.

http://www.handsaroundthelibrary.com/