Hump Day Highlight: This featured blog post showcases amazing classroom practices and possibilities, including books and units of study.
Hump Day Highlight #2 – Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed
I picked up Twelve Kinds of Ice written by Ellen Bryan Obed and illustrated by Barbara McClintock at Mabel’s Fables Children’s Bookstore in Toronto. Although Toronto was uncharacteristically warm for February, the book is in keeping with my usual experience in Central Canada. Twenty vignettes as well as pen and ink drawings describe the various types of ice, beginning with the fragile ice on the sheep pails in the barn. The book reflects the powerful observational skills of the author and her ability to paint a picture in our minds.
Coming from Vancouver, British Columbia, my students and our teachers do not have the same occasion to ponder ice to the extent of the author. The book does invite the reader to consider the importance of making careful observations so that they are able to create descriptions that come alive. A good starting point for young Vancouverites would be to start with the many types of rain that we experience living in the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. I’m looking forward to trying this out soon. I can think of at least six kinds of rain off the top of my head, four of which I experienced today. The sun popped out as the pouring rain morphed into showers after school and a five-year old looked up and smiled with excited eyes and said, “I think this might be rainbow rain”!
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