School Garden: Plant in Containers

An old tire, dresser drawer, tin can, or bucket can make a good gardening container

Gardening is a great hands-on learning project with kids.  But many schools have limited gardening space.  One solution is to use containers.  Container gardening is a flexible alternative to the usual garden plot. Small containers and some containers with wheels can be taken in at night. Larger containers can be used for rooftop and parking lot garden spots.  Spread wood chips or sawdust to cover the asphalt and you can transform a hot dusty corner of the playground into a green oasis for your children.
Containers  should hold at least three gallons of soil for large or deep-rooted plants such as tomatoes, squash and melons, and one and one-half gallons of soil for smaller plants like lettuce, onions, and herbs.  When filling the container with soil, leave a one to three inch basin below the lip for watering.  Containers should have drainage holes in the bottom.  And, containers should be made of a material that will not rot or deteriorate before the plants have matured.

Have fun growing plants and reaping the harvest!

Thanks to Children’s Gardens, A Field Guide for Teachers, Parents and Volunteers by Elizabeth Bremner and John Pusey.  Illustrations by Caroline Arnold

Project: WIGGLE AND WAGGLE HATS

I'm always amazed at the creative projects students do after reading my books. When I visited Susan B. Anthony School in Sacramento several years ago, I found a whole class wearing these charming hats inspired by my book Wiggle and Waggle.  With magic markers and yellow construction paper you can make your own Wiggle and Waggle hats too!

The Writing Process: My Idea Box

So you want to write a children's book!  Ideas for books are everywhere. They come from our own interests and experiences, both as adults and when we were children.  They can be found in all kinds of written material including books, newspapers, magazines, museum and travel brochures--even junk mail!  Here are some good sources of ideas.

•     Television, radio, movies, the internet.

•     Children’s questions.

•     Your observations of children at school and at play.

•     School curriculum needs.

•     Parenting needs.

    I’ve learned to keep my “idea antennae” up all the time because I never know when something will trigger an idea that might later develop into a topic for a book.  It might be a conversation with friend, an interaction with a child at a school, or a news item on the radio.  I always keep a pen and paper handy so that I can quickly jot down a few words when the idea is fresh.
    On the shelf above my desk I have my “idea box” in which I toss notes scribbled on bits of paper, articles cut out of the newspaper or torn out of magazines, brochures collected on vacations and anything else that might be relevant to a future book project.  Periodically I go through the box and select a few items to develop into possible books.   I already have enough ideas to last for at least two more lifetimes, and since I’ll never be able to use them all, my challenge is to try to select the best ones.

WRITING CONTEST FOR KIDS at LAPL, Los Angeles, CA

If you are a teacher or librarian in the Los Angeles area, here is a terrific opportunity for the kids at your school or library:

Calling all writers in grades 5-8 who have ever had a crazy summer! FOCAL, the friends group of the Children’s Literature Department of LAPL Central Library, is sponsoring their annual writing contest. This year students are reading the book One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia and traveling back in time to the summer of 1968 in Oakland. This exciting, emotional work of historical fiction (winner of the Newbery honor, Coretta Scott King Author Award, Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Award and the FOCAL award) is the story of three sisters, sent from Brooklyn to spend the summer getting to know their mother in California. The girls have dreams of Disneyland which are immediately replaced by summer camp with the Black Panthers. This is indeed a crazy summer!

The writing contest is an opportunity for students to respond to award winning literature for an authentic reason; winning a contest! Standards will be met! History will come alive! Students will have fun while they learn! And, three lucky winners will have lunch with the author, get an autographed book, and read their essay aloud at our annual awards luncheon. Will you be submitting the best three essays from your class by November 2, 2013?

For all the details, go to www.focalonline.org and download the guidelines and application,

"Wormy Activities" Perfect for Summer Gardening with Kids

For some great ideas of "wormy" activities go to this post at Squish Preschool Ideas.  It includes links to activities for my book Wiggle and Waggle as well as many other suggestions for art projects, games, and more.  This is a terrific resource for summer gardening projects with preschool and primary school age kids.

Memories of Madeleine Comora, 1962-2013

Madeleine Comora Bhushan on her Wedding Day

My friend Madeleine Comora-Bhushan passed away July 3, 2013.  She was an accomplished poet and author of children’s books as well as a gifted painter.  Her home was in Glendale, but she also lived in India for several years where she embraced its rich culture and history.  Many of us in Southern California knew her and will miss her.

I first met Madeleine when she was a student in the writing course I taught at UCLA Extension.  Her class project was the story of barber surgeons and the history of dentistry, inspired by her father who had been a dentist. We reconnected when I later joined a writers’ critique group to which she belonged. By then Madeleine was having some of her poems published and was working on new book projects such as Rembrandt and Titus.

Her book George Washington’s Teeth was co-written with Deborah Chandra, a member of Myra Cohn Livingston’s poetry group that Madeleine was part of. Some of Madeleine’s other stories and poems included a railroad story, inspired, I believe, by her grandfather, and an imaginative dog story, inspired by her dearly beloved bulldog Eleanor.

Madeleine’s writing came from her life, whether on a personal level or from her interest in art and history. The book we did together, Taj Mahal, grew out of a mutual fascination with India and visits to the Taj Mahal, which we both found far more impressive than we expected. The book started out as a strictly nonfiction project focusing on the background and building of the Taj Mahal, but evolved into a poetic retelling of the tale that is said to have inspired the building of this great monument. In the beginning, we envisioned the book illustrated with photos and historical art, but, when our editor suggested that Madeleine’s husband Rahul, a professional artist, submit some sample art, it became obvious that he was the perfect choice as the illustrator. So, while Madeleine and I labored over the text, making sure that every word and comma was exactly right, Rahul painted the pictures, researching every detail. The final product was a true collaboration. I brought my experience and nonfiction skills, Madeleine was the poet, creating music in every line, and Rahul contributed his beautifully detailed art and his Indian sensibility.

Meanwhile, Madeleine and Rahul became officially engaged and were married in a traditional Hindu ceremony, which I and many of Madeleine’s writer friends attended. Madeleine was the most beautiful bride I had ever seen. And then, not too long after, Madeleine became pregnant, her belly expanding each day with twins. I remember going to a baby shower organized by Madeleine’s sister Aileen. And then Kavi and Shiva were born, so tiny at first. After they came home, I helped with the feeding and diapering, trying a give Madeleine a break during a time Rahul was away. I remember how calm she seemed and so glowing with the joy of motherhood.  I am saddened that Madeleine will not see her boys grow up, but she gave them a good start.

I last communicated with Madeleine in late April. She was on her way home from Seattle where she had been getting medical treatments. She said, “I’ll call you soon.”

Madeleine was a wonderful poet, perceptive critic in our writer’s group, loving wife and mother, teacher, and friend. My heart goes out to her husband Rahul, her twin boys, her mother and sisters. She will be terribly missed.

Activity: Make a Dinosaur Time Line

Many of my books, such as Giant Sea Reptiles of the Dinosaur Age, Pterosaurs: Flying Reptiles of the Dinosaur Age and Dinosaurs With Feathers, are about dinosaurs or animals that lived in the Dinosaur Age (the Mesozoic Era.)  Trying to grasp the huge span of time that these animals were alive--225 to 65 million years ago--and the time that has elapsed since they became extinct is difficult.  One way to appreciate that span of time is to  make a time line of the history of the earth and show when dinosaurs, pterosaurs and giant sea reptiles lived. (Use a roll of shelf paper or draw the time line with chalk on the playground. If one inch equals a million years you will need about 20 feet to go back to the beginning of dinosaurs.)

Would you like to have a pet dinosaur?
Write a story about what you would do if you had a dinosaur, pterosaur, or giant sea reptile as a pet. Where would you keep it? What would it eat?  Do you think you could teach it to do tricks?