May 19, 2010
As you may have read previously in this space, we are creating free, downloadable TEACHER GUIDES to go with all 26 of Seymour’s Collins/Smithsonian books.
One of the nice features at the start of each Guide is a brief piece of first person writing from Seymour entitled "Why I Wrote This Book." It’s designed for teachers or parents to read aloud with kids before starting to talk about the book together.
Today we are working on the Guide to accompany CATS, and we thought you might like to preview what Seymour wrote about the genesis of this book.
When I wrote the book on cats, my family had two feral cats that had been born in our back yard and that we took into our house when they were a few weeks old. They became tame and we named them Mittens and Sir Isaac Newton (aka Newty Frewty). You can guess the reason for naming a cat Mittens but let me tell you about Newty. Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists of all time and he had a mind that was “forever voyaging through strange seas of thought,” according to the poet Wordsworth. My cat Newty was always wandering into strange places in my house so that is how he got tagged with the name of the great scientist, Newton.
We have completed a prototype Teacher Guide - for EARTHQUAKES - and are currently testing it in classrooms. If you would like to give us your feedback you can download a copy by clicking on this link. We would love to hear from you!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
