notice and note – Pernille Ripp

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I am continuing with my updates of the picture book lists I made several years ago to accompany the teaching of a variety of reading skills. This time, the focus is on “Memory Moments” or that moment when a character has a flashback that in some ways gives us further clue to who they are, why they may be acting the way they are, the theme of the story, or even predict the future.

When I first started out teaching this skill, I was inspired by the language of Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. This book provided my students with the foundation for deeper reading conversations and a common language as we developed our thoughts and discussion skills.

Here is my updated list for Character Change (Contrast & Contradictions).

Thank you to everyone who offered up suggestions of what to add to the list.

Hair Love by Matthew Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison

Watercress by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Jason Chin

Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away by Meg Medina and illustrated by Sonia Sanchez

Opal Lee and What it Means to Be Free by Alice Faye Duncan and illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo

Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate

Serena: The Littlest Sister by Karlin Gray and illustrated by Monica Ahanonu

Kamishibai Man by Allen Say

The Map of Memories by Fran Nuño and illustrated by Zuzanna Celej

Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts

A Different Pond by Bao Phi and illustrated by Thi Bui

A House that Once Was by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Lane Smith

Red Tree by Shaun Tan

Miss Tizzy by Libby Moore Gray and illustrated by Jada Rowland

The Matchbox Dairies by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff and illustrated by Kaylani Juanita

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis

My Hands Tell a Story by Kelly Starling Lyons and illustrated by Tonya Engel

Emma and the Whale by Julie Case and Lee White has two flashbacks in it that can be considered brief memory moments.

An incredible picture book, When We Were Alone by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett have a memory moment every time the grandmother answers her grandchild’s questions. Powerful message that will capture curiosity. This is the book I will use with my 7th graders.

Belle the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend by Calvin Alexander Ramsey & Betty Stroud, illustrated by John Holyfield tells the true tale of one of the mules that carried the coffin of MLK Jr. Told through memory moments as a child asks about the mule, this is a great picture book to teach an untold story as well as memory moments.

This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration Hardcover

by Jacqueline Woodson (Author), James Ransome (Illustrator) is a story of one memomy moment after another as the tale of the rope passed from hands to hands is shared by a mother.

Both The Day the Crayons Quit and its follow up The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers have great memory moments as the crayons tell Duncan how they were used and what they remember. Considering these are must have picture books for any classroom, since there are so many things you can teach with them, I am thrilled that both can be used for this strategy as well.

The retelling of the story of King Christian X in The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated by Henri Sørensen is an example of a memory moment in the lesson that we are all to glean from it. The fact that the story is not true does not hinder its deeper meaning.

The books of Peter H. Reynolds has been featured in all of my signpost picture books, and it speaks to their incredible versatility. You and Me written by Susan Verdi and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds is a memory moment from the start as the characters reminisce about what would have happened had their day not unfolded the way it did. A beautiful story of friendship and serendipity.

A beautiful memory moment exists in the pages of A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams as we learn the story of the chair.

Memories abound as the Wolf shares the story of what really happened with the pigs in Tell the Truth B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Jotto Seirold.

As always, I turned to the awesome Notice and Note community on Facebook and asked them to share their favorites as well. Here they are.

Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz and illustrated by Pat Cummings.

Tough Cookie by David Wiesniewski

Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco.

Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Diane Goode.

Saturday and Teacakes by Lester Laminack

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Ronald Himler

Did I miss any? If you are wondering how I use these picture books, just ask, and I will gladly share ideas.

PS: Are you looking for coaching, in-person support, or virtual presentations? I am available and would love to support your work. Whereas I am physically located in Denmark now, I can travel if needed. In fact, I will be in the US and Canada in February 2023. If you would like me to be a part of your professional development, please reach out. I am here to help. For a lot more posts, resources, live and recorded professional development, please join my Patreon community where most of my sharing takes place these days.

books, Literacy, notice and note, Passion, picture books, Reading

Great Picture Books to Use for Notice and Note – All Signposts

November 15, 2015 Pernille Ripp

Yesterday I posted my final picture book post for all of the signposts in the amazing book Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. It has truly been awesome finding picture books to go along with the strategies that can be used for many grade levels and through so many lenses. I thought it would be nice to gather all 6 posts here for easy reference and also to highlight a few rockstar picture books that can be used for more than one signposts, that way if you have a limited budget for book buying (don’t we all), you can start with these few and still cover a lot.

Here are the links to the original posts, make sure you check out the comments as even more picture book ideas were shared there.

Contrast and Contradiction

And here are some of the best picture books that can be used with multiple signposts:

The Creatrilogy by Peter H. Reynolds featuring Ish, The Dot, and Sky Color will cover almost all of the signposts. All you have to do is add You and Me and The North Star and you can teach all 6 signposts using picture books that Peter H. Reynolds and Susan Verde has created. How is that for the power of amazing picture books.

You Are Not Small by Anna Kang showed up on several lists.

So did a lot of Eve Bunting’s books, Fly Away Home is one of my favorites.

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson breaks my heart every time I read it and was mentioned several times.

The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy also was mentioned several times.

Which books are you must have’s? Which books are the ones you can use for more than one signpost? Please share your ideas.

books, Literacy, notice and note, picture books

Great Picture Books to Use For Memory Moments – Notice and Note

November 14, 2015July 20, 2018 Pernille Ripp

One of the main texts we use to guide our reading instruction is the amazing Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst, and I have loved gathering all of these picture books to be used with this amazing book. This is therefore the last installment of these posts, Please keep sharing your ideas in the comments because I know many are looking for great picture books to use with these deeper reading strategies.

The first post was on Contrast & Contradictions, then followed Aha Moments,Tough Questions, Words of the Wiser, Again and Again, and now, finally, the last one for Memory Moments. Here I really tried to find picture books that have a true memory moment, which means a character stops the story to share a memory, these can be harder to find. Happy reading!

Emma and the Whale by Julie Case and Lee White has two flashbacks in it that can be considered brief memory moments.

This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration Hardcover

by Jacqueline Woodson (Author), James Ransome (Illustrator) is a story of one memomy moment after another as the tale of the rope passed from hands to hands is shared by a mother.

A beautiful memory moment exists in the pages of A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams as we learn the story of the chair.

Memories abound as the Wolf shares the story of what really happened with the pigs in Tell the Truth B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Jotto Seirold.

As always, I turned to the awesome Notice and Note community on Facebook and asked them to share their favorites as well. Here they are.

Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz and illustrated by Pat Cummings.

Tough Cookie by David Wiesniewski

Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco.

Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Diane Goode.

Saturday and Teacakes by Lester Laminack

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Ronald Himler

As always, please add your favorites for Memory Moments in the comments. Also, did you see the new Notice and Note for Nonfiction? I am so excited to read it.

books, Literacy, notice and note, picture books

Great Picture Books to Teach Tough Questions – Notice and Note

October 1, 2015October 10, 2015 Pernille Ripp

One of the main texts we use to guide our reading instruction is the amazing Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. This book provides us with the foundation for having deeper reading conversations and a common language as we develop our thoughts. While the book has excellent text ideas to use as mentor texts, I thought it would be nice for my students to use picture books on the very first day of a new strategy before we delve into the longer text excerpts. I have therefore looked for picture books I could use with the different strategies and will publish posts as I have them for the 6 different strategies since I cannot be the only one looking for ideas.

The first post was on Contrast & Contradictions, then followed Aha Moments, so this week it is Tough Questions. Apparently, this is a harder one to find picture books for so I found a few, but then turned to the awesome Notice and Note Facebook group I am a part of to crowd source more ideas.

My Ideas

White Water by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein has several tough questions in it and also doubles as an amazing book to discuss a really powerful topic with students; racial segregation. This is the book I used to introduce the strategy to my students with the bonus of having aha moments and a contrast and contradiction in it as well.

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth starts out with three obvious tough questions and then explores them the rest of the book.

A book near and dear to my heart The Yellow Star By Carmen Agra Deedy. Although the story is not true, it still speaks of my people’s fight against the Nazi occupation and opens up great conversations. The tough question is when King Christian wonders what can be done to fight the yellow stars.

What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada is a book I use a lot in the classroom as it is great for inferencing, and inspiring creativity, but it also works well for this strategy as it starts out with tough questions and then has several more further in.

The Numberlys By William Joyce and Christina Ellis has several tough questions and is definitely a great way to highlight conflict.

The tough question is not posed as a question in Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine but instead as a desire to be free. I would use this later in the strategy to teach students that tough questions are not always in a question format.

Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley only has one question int it but it will lead to great questions and will also be a great inference exercise.

Crowd Sourced Ideas

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting

The Gold Coin by Alma Flor Ada

Riding the Tiger by Eve Bunting

The Old Woman Who Named Things by Cynthia Rylant

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Bully by Patricia Polacco

Wanda’s First Day by Mark Sperring

Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionnei

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Which ones did we miss?

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) just came out!

being a teacher, being me, Literacy, making a difference, notice and note, Reading

Great Picture Books to Use for Contrast & Contradictions – Notice and Note

September 9, 2015May 30, 2018 Pernille Ripp

First up, “Contrast & Contradictions.” Here are a few picture books I have used or will use with the kids.

Image result for the bad seed picture book

It’s like this picture book was written just for this lesson. The Bad Seed by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald features two changes in character and also a powerful message about trauma and what can happen to you even after bad things happen.

In Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino and Isabelle Malenfant, Morris goes from being sad and timid, unsure of his choice to wear a tangerine dress. As the book progresses he changes as he realizes that he wants to be himself.

Allie’s Basketball by Barbara E Barber (Author), Darryl Ligasan(Illustrator)

According to the boys watching Allie play, girls can’t play basketball.

In A Tale of Two Beasts by Fiona Robertson, the C&C is how the two sides view the story.

I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty and illustrated by Mike Boldt is C&C throughout. The main character does not want to be what he is supposed to be and protests it every way he can.

Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin by Duncan Tonatiuh (Author)

As two cousins write to each other, we see the contrast (and similarities) between their lives.

Tuesday by David Wiesner started us off in our discussions about contrasts and contradictions. This fantastic nearly wordless picture book is an easy entry into this discussion as it allows students to easily see how the magical event with the toads floating is in contrast to what frogs normally do.

With one of my classes I also used Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan, where the contrast lies in the rules being shared and the images. While this one was a little more advanced for the students, they greatly enjoyed the illustrations and discussing what they might mean.

Another contrast and contradiction text between self and society in Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown where Mr. Tiger just will not conform. When he tries to change his ways, he loses his real identity.

This Is A Moose by Richard T. Morris and Tom Lichtenheld is a great example of the contrast between what a moose is supposed to be like and what they really are.

The Story of Fish & Snail by Deborah Freedman is a wonderful example about change in a character as Snail is too scared to follow Fish on a new adventure.

That Is Not A Good Idea by Mo Willems is another great example of a character changing and acting in a different way than we would expect. I do love this devious little tale.

What I love about Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Christian Robinson, is that most of my students can relate to its message about being expected to fit in in a certain way. The contrast lies between the characters and how their upbringing has shaped them.

Any day I can use Pete and Pickles by Berkeley Breathed is a good day in our room. Here, we focus on the change that Pete the pig goes through as he meets Pickles. Great book also to use for character development and inferring.

Don’t Call Me Choocie Pooh by Sean Taylor and Kate Hindley follow the story of a dog that does not want to be treated in a certain way afraid of what the other dogs will think. Great ending that shows the change in the character.

Horrible Bear written by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Zachariah O’Hora is a lovely picture book that shows what happens when you don’t do what is expected.

Don’t Call Me Grandma by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon is a perfect example of a character that does not fit the stereotype. Great-Grandmother Nell isn’t anything but warm and fuzzy and as the great-grand daughter starts to understand why, we see a great slice of history as well.

North Woods Girl written by Aimee Bissonette and illustrated by Claudia McGehee is also about a grandma that doesn’t quite fit the mold.

Little Red by Bethan Woolvin is wickedly funny, it follows the path of the regular story but with a twist at the end and it is that twist that provides our contract and contradiction.

Which books have you used for contrast and contradictions?

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) comes out September 22nd from Routledge, but rumor has it that it is out on Kindle already!