Week of April 11, 2022 | TK and Kindergarten
Celebrating National School Library Month and
Beverly Cleary's Birthday April 12 with D.E.A.R. Time
The animals on the farm go to the library to find something to do, but the librarian doesn't understand what they are trying to say. Kindergarten students will explore the other half of the library this week.
Crafty Connection for TK Step-by-step instructions to make cheerful paper frogs (add a paper book)
Crafty Connection for Kindergarten Frog and duck coloring sheet
Celebrating Author Beverly Cleary
April 12, 1916, McMinnville, Oregon - March 25, 2021, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
From Henry Huggins (1950) to Ramona's World (1999) Beverly Cleary wrote books for children, about children much like themselves. Children of today may find themselves amazed at the freedom to roam that was enjoyed by the children in Beverly's books, not unusual at the time.
National D.E.A.R. Day April 12 Drop Everything And Read
In 2006, to mark Beverly's 90th birthday, the American Library Association, and others set aside her birthday, April 12, as a day to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority. When Beverly’s own children were young, they participated in sustained silent reading time at school, known as D.E.A.R. Their enthusiasm for this activity inspired Beverly to give the same experience to Ramona, who gets to enjoy DEAR time with her class in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981), introduced in Chapter 2.
Week of April 11, 2022 | First through Fifth Grade
Celebrating National School Library Month with Who's On First?
Script Who's on First?
Video Who's on First? (1953)
Bonus Video 7 into 28 Lou Costello invents CGI math (chuckle-chuckle)
Crafty Connection Who's on First coloring sheet
Local news report Extended Costello family in the Library Beach Reporter article (May 5, 2013)
Local news report Lou Costello's daughter in the Library Easy Reader article (April 14, 2010)
Week of April 11, 2022 | First through Fifth Grade
Celebrating Author Beverly Cleary's Birthday with D.E.A.R. Time
April 12, 1916, McMinnville, Oregon - March 25, 2021, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
From Henry Huggins (1950) to Ramona's World (1999) Beverly Cleary wrote books for children, about children much like themselves. Children of today may find themselves amazed at the freedom to roam that was enjoyed by the children in Beverly's books, not unusual at the time.
Audio Excerpt Listen to actor Neil Patrick Harris read Chapter 1 of Henry Huggins.
"Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, in childhood."
Learning to read did not come easily for young Beverly, and once she did learn, she found the stories contained in early readers to be boring, simple, and unsurprising. Then, in the third grade, on a rainy afternoon at home, she found herself enjoying reading The Dutch Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins about the adventures of ordinary children. The book awoke in her the joys of reading for pleasure and she began spending extra time in the public library.
"Children should learn that reading is a pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school."
By the time Beverly was in sixth grade, a teacher suggested she should become a children's author, based on essays she had written for class assignments. Beverly first worked as a children's librarian and in a bookstore before becoming a full-time writer for children. In her work as a librarian, she struggled to find books to recommend to children, books that they would have fun reading, so she decided to write children's books herself, books about characters that young readers could relate to.
"I enjoy writing for third and fourth graders most of all."
During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2011 at the age of 95 she stated, "I've had an exceptionally happy career." Beverly Cleary died in a retirement home a few weeks shy of her 105th birthday. No cause of death was given.
National DEAR Day April 12 Drop Everything And Read
In 2006, to mark Beverly's 90th birthday, the American Library Association, and others set aside her birthday, April 12, as a day to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority. When Beverly’s own children were young, they participated in sustained silent reading time at school, known as DEAR. Their enthusiasm for this activity inspired Beverly to give the same experience to Ramona, who gets to enjoy DEAR time with her class in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981), introduced in Chapter 2.
Audio Excerpt Listen to Chapter 2 of Ramona Quimby, Age 8, presented by MrsMorrisReads