Friday, April 24, 2015

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/






Friday, April 3, 2015

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.