Monday, March 29, 2010

Princess Pigtoria and the Pea

Henry Cole and Pamela Duncan Edwards have visited Chets Creek several times - and for good reason. Henry is an illustrator and Pamela is an author and they write children's books. Not only do they write wonderfully playful books, but they are absolutely entertaining to children and adults alike. They spend an exhausting day entertaining each grade level of children. Children never for get their days with real authors and illustrators!

They began their day with our Book-of-the-Month which was introduced to the faculty by our Principal, Susan Phillips, and just happened to be one of Cole and Edward's newest books, an alliteration Princess Pigtoria and the Pea which is based on the traditional fairytale The Princess and the Pea. If you visit the Book-of-the-Month wiki you will find an 8-minute video of Pamela reading the book while Henry draws, along with Susan's write-up of the book for the faculty and the vocabulary strategies that she introduced. Each book-of-the month is accompanied by the introduction of a strategy that the teachers can use in their classrooms. Susan introduces the strategy and then has the teachers "experience" the strategy for themselves. This morning each grade level took one of the strategies and turned it into a performance to teach to the other grade levels. We saw other alliterations, proverbs, slang, acronyms, anagrams, palindromes (words spelled the same forward and backwards such as mom, radar) hink pinks (angry father=mad dad), tongue twisters, riddles, and new to me - Tom Swifties, eponyms, portmanteaus, and toponyms!! I hope Henry and Pamela enjoyed our playfulness and fun! We certainly enjoyed having them as we introduced this newest book-of-the-month but also as they entertained our children. You are teaching our children to love books and to love to read! Thanks Pamela and Henry. You are the BEST!
A future Creeker
with another beloved Edwards and Cole book

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