Grace+Lin

= A Bridge Across Cultures: Connecting China to America with Author-Illustrator Grace Lin =

=// Funded by Bristol Warren Education Foundation //=

= The goal of the author visit is to connect the world of China = = – through Grace Lin’s voice and eyes - = = to our students’ world. =

To prepare for the Grace Lin Author-Illustrator visit, students in grades 3 and 4 delved into her fiction chapter book __Where the Mountain Meets the Moon__. While the students remained focused on the usual literacy and comprehension skills, they were encouraged into higher order thinking skills by analyzing //how// Grace Lin wrote the book by thinking about the decisions she made as a writer and illustrator to tell the story with a mixture of text and illustration.


 * [[image:studentdg.JPG]] || [[image:dragongatewriting.JPG caption="Students listened to Grace Lin's writing about the dragon gate. Then they created their own sketch based on the writing.  They read the description again by themselves and added detail.  Finally, they looked at Grace Lin's illustration of the dragon gate."]] || [[image:gldragongate.JPG]] ||


 * === Author Visitor Showcase ===

Grace Lin visited Guiteras School in March 2012.
||


 * [[image:PIC_3722.JPG width="415" height="310" caption="Grace Lin showed the students how a trip to China influenced her story and illustrations. "]] || [[image:PIC_3723.JPG width="414" height="309" caption="She encouraged the students to observe around them - far or wide - for inspiration for their own writing."]] ||

Grace Lin explained and showed the students how she went from photograph to sketch to finished illustration.
 * [[image:PIC_3716.JPG width="256" height="192"]] || [[image:PIC_3717.JPG width="256" height="192"]] || [[image:PIC_3718.JPG width="256" height="192"]] ||

Before the visit, students prepared questions to ask Grace Lin. After the visit, students reflected on the questions they had answered and the impact that Grace Lin had on them. Bristol Phoenix also included an article about the visit.Click here to read the article. Click here to see the slide show.
 * [[image:photo-5.JPG]] || [[image:2squestionsbeforevisit.JPG width="416" height="312"]] ||  ||
 * [[image:studentreflecaftervisit.JPG width="384" height="288"]] || [[image:reflectaftervisit.JPG width="384" height="288"]] ||

Grace Lin Author-Illustrator Study

 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL Student Work III.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Reading Grace Lin's books"]] || [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL SW I.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Sharing connections with a partner"]] ||
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL Student Work II.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Partners share with the whole class"]] || Students read and discussed Grace Lin's picture books:

__The Ugly Vegetables__ __Dim Sum for Everyone__ __Fortune Cookie Fortunes__ __Kite Flying__ __Bringing in the New Year__ __Thanking the Moon__ __The Red Thread__ __Lissy's Friends__ ||

 Student Reflections
====As each class read and discussed __Where the Mountain Meets the Moon__ by Grace Lin, each student wrote down predictions, connections, made sketches based on the descriptive language, and answered questions in their own booklet. ====

Grace Lin Family Events - Projects

 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GLFE II.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Spring Couplets for New Year"]] || [[image:guiteraslibrary/GLFE III.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Calligraphy Practice"]] ||
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GLFE VIII.JPG width="210" height="191" caption="Lanterns for New Year"]] || //Grace Lin Family Event Descriptions//

After reading __Kite Flying__, we’ll make a simple kite. If weather and time permits, we’ll give it a fly outside.

Explore the idea of “fortune” and have fun making your own paper version of fortune cookies and writing “fortunes” after reading __Fortune Cookie Fortunes__.

Meet __Lissy and Her Friends__ then learn to make your own origami friends.

The Year of the Dragon begins Jan. 23, come read __Bringing in the New Year__ and celebrate with us by making lanterns and writing spring couplets. ||

During the month of January, all K-5 students read and discussed Grace Lin’s picture books in a school-wide author study during Library Class. Special family events were offered before and after school. All students must be accompanied with their families. Younger siblings were welcome to attend. Four programs were offered and each program was offered before and after school. A total of 15 families attended; many families attended more than one program. Click on "Grace Lin Family Events - BWEF Grant" below for all the details. 

Art-Library Class Connection
Teacher-Librarian Ms. Galipeau and Art Teacher Ms. Jacobs collaborated to integrate traditional Chinese landscape painting, brushwork and seal-making within the context of the Chinese literary traditions and illustrations in __Where the Mountain Meets the Moon__. Top Left: "Far away from here, following the Jade River, there was once a black mountain that cut into the sky like a jagged piece of rough metal"(Text p. 1; illustrator p. 5) Bottom Right: "I felt the magistrate's hot, dry breath on my nose as he came close to me and felt the cold ink touch touch my eye and, suddenly, I could see!" (Text p 57; illustration 56) || Bottom Left: "Clean the brushes and take great care with my special inkstone. It is one of a kind, the only inkstone that was able to be made from a rock my master cut from a mountain far form here. He never told anyone which mountain, so we can never make another" (Text p. 53; illustration p. 50) || ||
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL Landscape p5.JPG width="192" height="256" align="center"]] || Excerpts from __Where the Mountain Meets the Moon__
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL brush, stone, stick p 50.JPG width="221" height="112"]]

In Library, students completed an "object study" as part of the Guided Inquiry model used to analyze and synthesize information about traditional Chinese art sprinkled throughout __Where the Mountain__ __Meets the Moon__. The object study also served as an introduction to the Four Treasures (brush, ink stick, inkstone, paper) for students to help build background knowledge for Art. In Art Class, Ms. Jacobs taught the students are how to use the Four Treasures to create their own landscape paintings in the Chinese tradition. See below for two examples of student artwork. || ||
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL AL I.JPG width="320" height="240"]]
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL Art IV.JPG width="241" height="274" align="center"]] || [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL Art V.JPG width="225" height="278" align="center"]] ||

Chinese New Year
Teacher-Librarian Ms. Galipeau collaborated with Grade 3 Classroom Teachers Mrs. Bruno and Ms. Rowe to integrate Chinese art, culture and traditions in the classroom with a Chinese New Year unit. Every students completed eight stations. Each station had a book and an activity that explained an aspect of Chinese art, culture, language or tradition. The eight stations were: Money; Kites; Calligraphy; Geography; Fortune Cookies; Chopsticks; Dragons; and Jianzi (traditional game).
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL CNY VI.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Players of Jianzi must kick the pouch with their feet and keep it off the ground"]] || [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL CNY I.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Using chopsticks to pick up objects"]] ||
 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL CNY II.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Learning characters"]] || [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL CNY III.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="What's the story behind the fortune cookie? A Grade 3 student can tell you!"]] ||


 * [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL CNY V.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Geography of China"]] || [[image:guiteraslibrary/GL CNY VII.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Money!"]] ||
 * [[image:kites.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Kites with Chinese symbols"]] || [[image:guiteraslibrary/dragons.JPG width="256" height="192" caption="Making dragons"]] ||