How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids

Title:  How Full is Your Bucket?  For Kids

Author:  Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer
Illustrator:  Mauri J. Manning
Publisher:  Gallup Press, ©2009
ISBN:  978-1-59562-027-9
Grade Level:  PreK-3

Book Review:  When Felix asks Grandpa to intervene in a conflict with his baby sister, Grandpa introduces the idea of an invisible bucket that contributes to Felix's overall feelings of self worth and esteem.  Sure enough, the next morning when Felix wakes up, he sees the bucket over his head and the heads everyone else as well.  From then on every interaction throughout the day acts as a deposit or a withdrawal into someone's bucket.  Felix begins to understand that not only should he be aware of the level in his own bucket, but he can also contribute to the buckets of others.  A systems thinker might call that bucket a stock.  This book does a great job of helping young people and adults see the importance of keeping their buckets full, as well as serving as a bucket-filler for others.  A great presentation of a very important topic, this book could be an excellent catalyst for a class meeting, an SEL lesson or any time when a reminder to be a bit kinder to others is in order. 

Systems Thinking Connections
Habits:  Pays attention to accumulations and their rates of change.  This habit requires thinking about how the amount, or level, of something is changing over time.  This book is an exact match to the type of thinking described in this habit.

Tools:  How Full is Your Bucket?  is a concrete example of the systems thinking tool known as a stock flow diagram.  It identifies an accumulation with inflows and outflows. In a classroom learning to use this tool, the book is an ideal way to reinforce the technicalities of creating a stock flow diagram.  Students could begin by using ideas in the book to build a stock flow, and then add to the diagram from their own feelings and life experiences.

The Trouble With Cauliflower

Title:  The Trouble with Cauliflower

Author:  Jane Sutton
Illustrator:  Jim Harris
Publisher:  Dial Books for Young Readers, ©2006
ISBN:  0-8037-2707-0
Grade Level:  PreK-3

Book Review:  Mortimer likes cauliflower, but he is firmly convinced that cauliflower causes bad luck.  His kind and clever friend, Sadie, is determined to help him see the error in this assumption.  These adorable animal characters and their humorous antics are certain to delight readers of all ages.  While at the same time, the story's artful explanation of how powerfully our beliefs drive our actions is a clear illustration of the influence of mental models, making it a great piece of literature to clarify the concept of a mental model for students.


Systems Thinking Connections
Habits:  Surfaces and tests assumptions.  Mortimer has some firmly engrained ideas that are simply wrong.  The books provides a very safe way to look at how we too have ideas that are incorrect and how learning to pay attention to additional information is an important skill for thinkers of all ages.

Tools:  This book would be an ideal way to introduce the ladder of inference to young children.  There are multiple examples throughout the story that show how Mortimer's errant beliefs and subsequent actions are based on paying attention to all the wrong data.

Bonus:  This book is available as an app.  Find additional details on the author's website. http://jane-sutton.com/

Rise and Shine Mrs. Field!

Title:  Rise & Shine Mrs. Field!
Author:  Four Sisters, Nancy Atkins
Martha Field, Sue Petrick, Kakie Sawyer
Illustrator: Sean Murphy
Publisher:  Four Sisters, ©2014
ISBN:  978-0692204207
Grade Level:  PreK-2
 

Book Review:  Life on a small family farm may be unfamiliar to children living in a modern, urban settings, but no doubt they will be enchanted by this carefully crafted rhyming tale that explains what happens when Mr. Fields must go away for the day on business, leaving Mrs. Field to feed the animals.  Mrs. Field sleeps soundly through the pleas of each of the farm animals until one clever animal manages to awaken her to the great relief of the rest of the animals on the farm.  Careful attention has been given to the language in this book making it an exceptionally delightful read aloud.

Systems Thinking Connections

Habits:  Considers long-term, short-term and unintended consequences of actions. Mrs. Fields is just enjoying a few extra minutes of sleep, but her decision has some consequences that will bring about lots of great dialogue amongst young readers.
Tools:  This book is an excellent example of a basic story structure pattern of "no, no, no. yes."  It can be represented in a behavior over time graph (BOTG) by asking the question, "do the animals get fed?"  Students will quickly see the common story pattern and be able to compare it to other familiar stories with a similar structure.
Students could also use a BOTG to represent the number of animals that want Mrs. Field to wake up and feed them breakfast.

Elsie

Title:  Elsie
Author:  Cybille St. Aude
Illustrator:  Marie Cecile Charlier
Publisher:  One More Book, ©2013
ISBN:  9780615706313
Grade Level:  PreK-2

Book Review:  Elsie lives in Haiti with her family in a small house near the water.  Elsie tells her story in this first person narrative.  The story is that of a typical day in the life of an optimistic young girl, who is a keen observer of her surroundings and who communicates her gratitude and optimism for the future.  While there is mention of the earthquake and need for rebuilding in parts of the country, the emphasis in this book is on the normalcy, beauty and joy experienced by people living in this island country.  The author liberally peppers the book with Haitian words, clearly explained in a glossary at the end.

Systems Thinking Connections:
Habits: Changes perspectives to increase understanding.  Told in first person from Elsie's perspective, the narrative clearly articulates how her personal experience is impacted by those around her. Elsie is a keen observer who naturally practices this habit through her interactions with others.
Makes meaningful connections within and between systems.  While clearly set in Haiti and richly infused with the culture of that island, the experiences of Elsie are very typical of a young girl.  Exploring her perspective will no doubt provide multiple opportunities for children to make text to self connections while reading and discussing this story.


Systems Thinking Tools: Each page is a different event in Elsie's day.  This could serve as a scaffold for students learning to create Behavior Over Time Graphs independently.  They could graph Elsie's level of enjoyment or enthusiasm for each experience.  In explaining what level they choose, there would certainly be lots of rich language and opportunities for students to connect to their own personal experiences.

Wangari's Tress of Peace

Title: Wangari's Tress of Peace:  A True Story from Africa

Author:  Jeanette Winter
Illustrator:  Jeanette Winter
Publisher:  Harcourt, ©2008
ISBN:  978-0-15-206545-4
Grade Level: Primary

Book Review:  This book tells the story of Wangari Maathai who grew up in Kenya.  After attending college in the United State, she returned to Kenya to find that deforestation was having a profoundly negative effect on her country and her people.   She started by planting nine seedlings on a plot of ground near her home.  Those nine seedlings were the beginning of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya in 1977.  Through persistence, courage and even civil disobedience Wangari stood firm to make a contribution to her country, doing what was right even when her personal safety and comfort were at great risk.

Systems Thinking Connections:
Habits:  Considers short-term, long-term and  unintended consequences of actions.  Wangari was mindful of this habit and as her story unfolds readers can come to understand how all three of these consequences were at play.
Observes how elements within systems change over time, generating patterns and trends.  As this story is so well suited to use of the Behavior Over Time Graph (see note below), it would also be an excellent opportunity to brighten this habit for students.


Systems Thinking Tools:
Behavior Over Time:  The book is replete with opportunities to teach Behavior Over Time Graphs. Language in the text makes the concept of change very explicit.  There is literal change, the number of trees in Kenya.  There is perceptual change, Wangari's personal commitment to bringing about reform in her country. BOTG will lead to deeper understanding of the text and multiple uses of the graph will lead to deeper understanding of the tool.

Mama Miti

Title:  Mama Miti

Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers ©2010

ISBN: 978-1-4169-3505-6
Grade Level: K-3

Book Review
Thayu nyumba--peace my people. This inspirational refrain weaves together the story of Wangari Muta Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel prize, but perhaps more importantly wise, compassionate neighbor who shares her wisdom with her country people in order to make their lives better.  This biography offers a clear narrative that captivates young readers.  The author communicates the incredible spirt of a woman who changed the lives of her fellow country people by offering hope in the form of seeds and starting the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya.  A beautiful reminder of how we all must work together to live peacefully in concert with the natural world and with those around us.


Systems Thinking Connections
Habits: Identifies the circular nature of complex cause and effect relationships.  Wangari's actions and ultimate success is a beautiful illustration of the power of reinforcing feedback.  Her actions reinforced kindness, hope and ultimately the environmental health of her nation.

Tools: Though not explicitly stated there are many things that grow exponentially over time in this story:  tress, wisdom, independence.  This would be a great book to help young children transition from a very event based Behavior Over Time Graph (BOTG) to recognizing that the BOTG can be used describe patterns and trends.  Consider showing the children a graph with just a trend line and asking them what things or ideas in the story could be represented by a such a graph.

Moosetache

Title:  Moosetache

Author: Margie Palatini
Illustrator: Henry Cole
Publisher: Scholastic ©1997

ISBN: 0-590-53827-6
Grade Level: PreK-2

Book Review
We have all had a bad hair day, but for Moose an unwieldy mustache is an annoyance that affects every aspect of his life, until the day it leads him to the love of his life.  The cleverly crafted, alliterative narrative makes this a fabulous read aloud.  In addition to being a marvelous story that can be read and reread for pure pleasure, the craft and structure of Moosetache provides a great text for teaching the elements of story.  The rich language makes it a great source for teaching vocabulary.


Systems Thinking Connections
Habits: Moose practices successive approximation with a great payoff for his persistence.

Tools:
Story Structure Archetype:  This story is excellent for use with the story structure archetype. The problem, six attempts at a solution and the final resolution provide clean, specific examples of the elements of a well-structured story.