Madeline
Poor Miss Clavel! In "an old house in Paris that was covered with vines," Miss Clavel oversees the education of 12 little girls, the littlest of whom is the mischievous Madeline. Despite her size, she fearlessly pooh-poohs the tiger in the zoo and frightens Miss Clavel with her adventurous antics. When she awakens the entire house with her plaintive cries in the middle of the night, Doctor Cohn whisks the appendicitis-stricken Madeline off to the hospital where, some two hours later, she awakens to find a scar on her stomach! The scar (not to mention the flowers, toys, and candy given to Madeline by her father) proves quite interesting to the rest of Miss Clavel's charges when they make a special trip to visit her. Ludwig Bemelmans's lilting rhymes are music to children's ears, and the quirky, oddly perfect drawings of the girls in "two straight lines" lend an enticing Parisian flavor to this perennial children's favorite.
Author page
Other books by Ludwig Bemelmans
Illustrator Page
The author is also the illustrator.
Go-Alongs:
Online Units and Resources for Madeline
Madeline.com
The official Madeline website for Ludwig Bemelmans' classic Madeline children's books which have been loved by three generations. (Y)
Audio Interview with Madeleine Bemelmans
Don Swaim interviews Madeleine Bemelmans, wife of Ludwig Bemelmans. In this interview she talks about how she met Ludwig, how the famous stories of Madeline came about, and the book's instant success after being published in 1939. (Y, M, O, T)
A Month of Mapping Literature
"Take your students on a world tour with literature! Students read and discuss a new story or book each day. Students plot the locations of the story or book on a world map or globe." (Y, M, O, T)
Madeline Fun and Games
Three printables are available: a word search, maze, and coloring page. (Y)
KidsReads.com
The site includes info for many book series; this page leads to Ludwig Bemelmans' author page. Links on the left will take you to other relevant pages, including characters, books in the series, trivia, and more. (Y)
Supplemental Book List
from the FIAR Message Board Archive (T)
Go-alongs about France
Ename - "Ename is a unique archaeological site where a fragment of the medieval world has been uncovered and preserved. " (Y, M, O)
French and Family - Unit on French language and culture: "Young children are fascinated, though sometimes a bit frightened, by cultures different from their own. They are also at a stage of development when it's exciting and relatively easy to acquire new vocabulary." (Y)
Little Explorers English-French Picture Dictionary - By Enchanted Learning (Y, M, O, T)
Time Warp Trio Lesson Plans - Look down the page for the link to this PDF lesson plan to go with the books. (Y)
Top picks for children's books on France - (y m)
Go-alongs about Poetry
A Journey To Japan Through Poetry - Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Grade 3 (Y)
Autumn Haiku Lesson Plan - Grade 3 (Y)
FREE Online Rhyming Dictionary - My daughter loves using this online tool when writing poetry. Just put any word in the form and specify whether you want results with end rhymes, first syllable rhymes, last syllable rhymes, beginning rhymes, or double rhymes. Your child is sure to find a word to use in their poetry or limerick from the results (Y, M, O, T)
Haiku - Grade Levels: 3 - 6. Students learn the syllable structure and mood of haiku poems by comparing the serenity of the autumn months with the peaceful rhythms of haiku poetry. (Y)
Haiku and Beyond - A Study of Japanese Literature - by Denver Public Schools. Grade 4 (Y)
Internet Connection Activities - Moon Phases, Daily Life in Japan, Japan's Geography Topics, Poets and Poetry. Grade 4. (Y)
Madeline.com - The official Madeline website for Ludwig Bemelmans' classic Madeline children's books which have been loved by three generations. (Y)
Modern American Poetry - MAPS is a comprehensive learning environment and scholarly forum for the study of modern American poetry. Over 160 companion sites are linked and include online works, essays, and background information. (Y, M, O, T)
Poetry Class - Do you want to include poetry in your curriculum but are intimidated? PoetryTeachers.com has published easy-to-follow instructions on how to teach your students to write different types of funny poems. The lessons are written by published children's poets and include fun examples along with the suggestions. (Y, M, O, T)
Rhyme with - Internet rhyming dictionary. Rhymes database can be useful in finding a word that rhymes with a word from previous verse which can be used while:
- writing poems
- writing songs
- creating marketing slogan
Warning - program does not edit content for words some consider inappropriate. (Y, M, O, T)
Sea Life Poetry - Using Internet resources listed with the lesson plan, students explore oceans and sea life and learn to transform thoughts into different forms of poetry. Good way to integrate language arts into an ocean unit study. (Y,M)
Songs of the Pueblo Indians - (Y, M)
The Digital Dante - Find the original Italian version of The Divine Comedy along with two English translations. The site also includes The Convivio in English as well as several other works in Italian and Latin. Don't miss the text of Milton's Paradise Lost listed under Usef (Y, M, O, T)