Books with author Michelle Barnes

We all know kids love to stuff their pockets with neat things. Now, with our new How to Make Books with Pockets Series, they'll have a book they created themselves, with plenty of pockets to stuff with all sorts of neat "discoveries."Each volume contains complete instructions and materials to make three different books with pockets, based on a topic pertinent to the month, and utilizing items and information you have readily available. The three topics for June and examples of the activities that go in the pockets:Amazon Rainforest: rainforest layers puzzle, blue morpho butterfly model, draw a jaguar, rainforest animals fact cards, make a kapok podArtists: learn about five famous artists and create art projects to imitate their styles-Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Georgia O'keeffe, Pablo Picasso, and Diego RiveraFarmers Feed Us: vegetable book on a ring, ear of corn mosaic, seed to cereal minibook, milk production wheel, many different farms shape bookLessons include colorful art projects, creative writing, nonfiction writing, science, informational reading and writing, and literature. You get reproducibles galore -- minibooks, patterns, writing forms. Interactive bulletin boards, calendar form, and up-to-date bibliographies included. Step-by-step instructions provided, including ways to make book covers extra special. Lots of reproducible illustrations included. All 96 pages perforated for easy removal. Help your students make books with pockets and they'll have a resource they created themselves of which they can be proud.

We all know kids love to stuff their pockets with neat things. Now, with our new How to Make Books with Pockets Series, they'll have a book they created themselves, with plenty of pockets to stuff with all sorts of neat "discoveries."Each volume contains complete instructions and materials to make three different books with pockets, based on a topic pertinent to the month, and utilizing items and information you have readily available. The three topics for July and examples of the activities that go in the pockets:America, the Beautiful: glittering fireworks displayed with cinquain verse, "Things Weren't Always Like This" minibook, "Coming to America" shape book, Statue of Liberty cut paper project, a special "America, the Beautiful" songbookSpace: Planets flip book; comets, asteroids, and meteors minibook on a ring, sponge-painted sun, rocket mitt puppet, astronaut in space art project, rocket shape bookTransportation: transportation riddles, wheeled vehicles report, sailboat shape poems, submarine shape book, make and test fly a paper airplane Lessons include colorful art projects, creative writing, nonfiction writing, science, informational reading and writing, and literature. You get reproducibles galore -- minibooks, patterns, writing forms. Interactive bulletin boards, calendar form, and up-to-date bibliographies included. Step-by-step instructions provided, including ways to make book covers extra special. Lots of reproducible illustrations included. All 96 pages perforated for easy removal. Help your students make books with pockets and they'll have a resource they created themselves of which they can be proud.

Today’s Little Ditty is more than a children’s poetry blog, it’s a poetry playground. Each month, a lively community of writers, teachers, librarians, and poetry-appreciators gathers to take part in the Ditty of the Month Club (DMC). Writing to prompts by successful authors and editors, they participate for the camaraderie, and for the joy and craft of writing poetry.In The Best of Today’s Little Ditty: 2017-2018, twelve “ditty” challenges by contemporary children’s authors, including Naomi Shihab Nye, Nikki Grimes, Jane Yolen, J. Patrick Lewis, Helen Frost, Julie Fogliano, and others, have inspired these 96 poems, deemed “best” by their peers. They range from lighthearted to thought-provoking and appeal to a wide audience, from children to adults. Join the fun at michellehbarnes.blogspot.com. What people are saying about Today’s Little Ditty and the Ditty of the Month Club:Today’s Little Ditty—such a humble name for what has become a powerful force in children’s poetry, offering poets a place to work and play together, stretching our muscles and perfecting our craft. This book is a gift to the children’s poetry community. – Helen Frost, celebrated author of novels-in-poems and picture books for childrenAlmost four decades ago, Dear One Lee Bennett Hopkins asked: "Do you know what day tomorrow is?" Michelle Heidenrich Barnes answers in reply: “It can be a day for writing, inspired and informed by invitations offered and modeled by mentor poets.” As a secondary English teacher, I look forward to reading Today's Little Ditty online, and the anthologies that are created from these become an almanac for the room. I know the work within has been created by poets who write and this work is curated by one with a poet's heart. – Paul W. Hankins, Silver Creek High School

A brilliant historical YA that asks: how do you choose between survival and doing the right thing? The arrival of the Soviet army in Germany at the end of World War II sends sixteen-year-old Katja and her family into turmoil. The fighting has stopped, but German society is in collapse, resulting in tremendous hardship. With their father gone and few resources available to them, Katja and her sister are forced to flee their home, reassured by their mother that if they can just reach a distant friend in a town far away, things will get better. But their harrowing journey brings danger and violence, and Katja needs to summon all her strength to build a new life, just as she’s questioning everything she thought she knew about her country. Katja’s bravery and defiance help her deal with the emotional and societal upheaval. But how can she stay true to herself and protect the people she loves when each decision has such far-reaching consequences? Acclaimed writer Michelle Barker’s second novel explores the chaos and destruction of the Second World War from a perspective rarely examined in YA fiction—the implications of the Soviet occupation on a German population grappling with the horrors of Nazism and its aftermath.