WORTHY STORIES

When tales are not just for the youngest ones.

BUTTERFLY EARS

Kalandraka is a company great at creating stories to raise awareness. Some of their books contain stories that allow us to make children think beyond the surface and develop important values such as empathy. This is the case of a very well-known title (and one on my favourite+essential ones): Butterfly ears.

It is the story of a girl who is being bullied and how she faces the situation in a positive way. As it is said nowadays, this reading is a 'must'.

>> Kalandraka - Butterfly Ears <<

WORTHY BOOKS

Following my idea of keeping things simple, I don't usually get complicated looking for long lists of books because, in the end, these resources that are intended to be helpful and uselful become overwhelming as it happens with new apps, worksheets and other activities recommended as "top".
I usually recycle resources from one year into the following one and list them to fit a concrete moment, project, objective or activity, so that I can improve each time I use them.

RECETAS DE LLUVIA Y AZÚCAR / RECIPES OF RAIN AND SUGAR

It is one of my favourites as I use it to work on types of texts, emotions and feelings, descriptions and much more. At the beginning of the school year I prepare some activities using this book, for example, last year I baked mini cupcakes that had messages related to values and emotions: friendship, respect, happiness, fear... that let us to start talking about how we felt and about situations where empathy, for example, is needed. These activities really worked and we had lots of fun talking, dressing up and eating.

Eva Manzano. Writer. -->site<--

THE ELEMENT

I had heard about how inspiring Ken Robinson was, but after reading his book I have come to the conclusion that he is more than that. I met this book in a strange moment in my life when I needed to understand why some boys and girls were angry at school and about everything we did, literally everything. 
It is essential to understand that children are not beings that come, learn and go: children have a life out of the school that influences their life at school more than we think and we don't usually consider it as an important part of their learning process. So whenever a child doesn't feel motivated or doesn't feel in his/her element, we tend to think s/he is lazy, doesn't want to, keeps on challenging authority or just has a learning problem and might need special support. 
This reading made me look at my students in a different way and at education as an important part of a child's life, not only as a formative part of life that provides with knowledge for the future, but also as a time for finding oneself and being happy, which is something that we don't usually consider. 
I have even recommended this reading to parents who needed to understand their children and which were their motivations to behave in certain ways. 

Sir Ken Robinson. Writer. -->site<--