The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
One School One Book 2012-2013

* Last May, our 5th graders, who were in 3rd grade when we read
The One and Only Ivan, received some wonderful news just before they graduated.
Scroll down to the bottom of this page to watch their reaction.
On December 6th, 2013, NEW Academy Canoga Park welcomed their first author, the 2013 Newbery Medal winner and author of The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate! 

    To see highlights of her unforgettable day with us, click here for a fun video.
  • Ms. Barrett's 5th grade class choreographed and performed an interpretive dance for the school, community and Ms. Katherine Applegate! Please click here to watch their performance. 
  • Click here to view the projects our students created after reading The One and Only Ivan.
  • NEW Academy was featured in the School Library Journal for our school wide activities surrounding The One and Only Ivan! Click here to check it out.  
  • Click here to see and read more about our time with Ivan by scrolling down below and by visiting our October's Author Spotlight on Newbery Award Winning Author: Katherine Applegate.
 
Special thanks to Ms. Letford for her collaboration, support and production of these amazing videos and so much more! For more information about her "Text to Arts" connection projects or '"Finding Ivan Through The Arts" (a.k.a. FITA) contact Genein Letford via twitter @geneinletford)

PicturePhoto: AP/Amy Sancetta

What does a cell phone have to do with a gorilla? Cell phones and other electronics contain a  number of hazardous substances that can have a serious impact on the environment.  Ivan was from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Coltan is a substance in cell phones that is found in the Congo forests of  Africa,  right in the middle of the gorilla's habitat. As a result of mining for coltan, gorillas have been displaced or even worse, they have been found by poachers. Donating your phone and having it recycled will ensure that they are being reused or recycled properly AND it helps to prevent further deforestation of the gorilla's habitat. Click here  to watch a video that helps to explain the connection and then ask one of our TK students how you can help. Please visit the "One and Only Ivan" tab at the top of the page for more information.
 UPDATE: The fabulous Mrs. Potts, our transitional kindergarten teacher, just shared this great news from Zoo Atlanta. Ivan comes full circle! http://www.zooatlanta.org/cell_recycling_partners#t4gKv I must echo Mrs. Pott's words and say, "Way to go NEW Academy for  helping TK make their project make a  difference globally!"
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For this year's "One School One Book" program, we chose The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Our entire school has read this fictional book in their classrooms and have been learning about the real Ivan's story. You can view the book's trailer here. To find out what our students are doing and learning about Ivan's story scroll down and be sure to click on the October link at the bottom of our home page. (Katherine Applegate is featured in this month's author spotlight.)

The Bedley Brothers and Katherine Applegate

Katherine Applegate was recently interviewed by the Bedley Brothers. She gives us a shout out and towards the end, shows us what the Newbery Medal actually looks like. Very cool! Check it out!
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Katherine Applegate signed our new author's wall at Camp Read Smore! She is the first, but the first of many to come. We look forward to filling this wall with many author's signatures in the future and are so thrilled that Katherine Applegate was the one to start it off!
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Los Angeles Zoo visited NEW Academy! Sandra Lipschultz, an L.A. Zoo Classroom Safari Docent, came to talk with our students in March. She heard we were reading The One and Only Ivan and customized an entire program around the book for us! Her presentation, "Why Zoos?--Ivan Agrees that Good Ones are Important," helped us dive even deeper into the reality of life in the wild for gorillas and elephants. Ivan correctly felt Zoos are usually good places and reassured Ruby that this was so, when she was scared about what might happen to her when she left the mall. We discussed that unfortunately, what happened to Ivan and Ruby in Africa was not at all unusual. We learned more about the biome, habitat and life style of African/Asian Elephants and Western Lowland Gorillas in the  wild.  Then we found out how zoos are working to save animal species from extinction (and why that matters). We even heard anecdotes about the Gorillas and Asian elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo. If you'd like to learn more, check out this video of her presentation here.

Click here to watch Katherine Applegate at the 2013 National Book Festival (Library of Congress) 
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Replica of a Gorilla Skull
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Here's a tooth that was pulled from a 3 month old elephant (watch for size reference) due to an infection. The tooth to the left is what an average elephant's tooth looks like after it falls out around 10 years of being worn down. You'll have to watch the video at the above link to learn more!
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"Billy" the elephant's footprint (the watch in the picture is for size reference).
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Scaredy Squirrel wants to make sure he has enough acorns saved for winter, so it's up to the students to estimate how many acorns are in the jar.

The student who guesses it right, will receive their very own copy of The One and Only Ivan SIGNED by Katherine Applegate!
UPDATE: Congratulations to Josue in Mrs. Lewis' class! He guessed the exact number of acorns (97) and received his personalized book. Yea!
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Our 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Brady, has loaned us her "life size" stuffed gorilla during our year with Ivan. Here he sits in his "domain" waiting to see where the book is going to take him.
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Here are some clues to and some quotes from The One and Only Ivan  that were given before the book was announced as our school wide read. (Pencils: "I enjoy chewing pencils. I am sure I would excel 
at homework." Crayons: "If I get tired an need a break, I eat my crayons." Bananas: "Everyone knows the peels are the best part.")
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Now that the book is over, Ivan gets to come out of his cage and hang out with us, Ruby, and Bob. I think he looks happier out here.
PicturePhoto: AP/Amy Sancetta
What does a cell phone have to do with a gorilla? Ivan was from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Coltan is a substance in cell phones that is found in the Congo forests of Africa, right in the middle of the gorilla's habitat. As a result of mining for coltan, gorillas have been displaced or even worse, poachers have gotten to them.  Click here to watch a video that helps to explain the connection and then ask one of our TK students how you can help. Please scroll down for more information and pictures of this project.
How do YOU measure up? 

Students at school can measure themselves up against a silhouette of a gorilla. Below are some of our youngest and oldest doing just that.

Here are some measurements for an average gorilla:

Height: 5 feet, 6 inches
Arm Span: 9 feet, 2 inches
Hand: 11 inches
Weight: 420 pounds

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Mrs. Pott's Transitional Kindergarten (TK) class
 did a directed drawing lesson of Ivan. When they finished their drawings they got to paint them with watercolor.  Above are their precious interpretations of Ivan.
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TK also fingerpainted like Ivan as seen in the above picture.
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Above sits a TK student and our Ivan.
Mrs. Pott's Class is spearheading a "Save the Gorilla" program for our school and surrounding communities by collecting used cell phones.  Recycling cell phones will raise money that will go directly to helping raise money for these gorilla populations through Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. In addition, the reuse of cell phones results in the need for fewer new ones thereby reducing the need for coltan mining. It is so precious to hear these little ones speak of their action plan and how they are going to do their part in making a global difference! Will you please consider joining in our efforts? You'd be helping gorillas, but even more you'd be empowering these little ones by proving we can make a difference, no matter how old we are!

UPDATE: The fabulous Mrs. Potts, our transitional kindergarten teacher, just shared this great news from Zoo Atlanta. Ivan comes full circle! http://www.zooatlanta.org/cell_recycling_partners#t4gKv  I must echo Mrs. Pott's words and say, "Way to go NEW Academy for helping TK make their project make a difference globally!"
Mrs. Sley's 2nd grade class recently completed character maps of Ivan through a cooperative learning exercise that involved finding evidence in the story to support their statements. You can see their character maps in the pictures below. (Double clicking on each picture will enlarge the image so you can read what they wrote.)
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Miss Guzman's Kindergarten class did an art project based on Ivan, too! He drew things he saw in his domain. Her students drew things they saw in their classroom. You can see their drawings in the picture on the left.
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Before Mrs. Greenan's 4th grade class started reading The One and Only Ivan,  they watched the book trailer and discussed gorillas. Mrs. Greenan challenged her students to bring in ANY information they could find about Silverbacks. That information is on display in their classroom and continues to grow. Here is a picture of how it began.
Over Thanksgiving break, Miss Olson assigned a 'Family Ivan Project' in her classroom. The Ivans, Stellas, Rubys, and Bobs that came in to school the Monday they came back to school are UNBELIEVABLE!!! They were given the freedom to create whatever they wanted, with whatever medium they preferred and the entire family was welcome to join in and work on this project together. Please take a moment to look at their incredible creations below. If you zoom in on the picture you will be able to read their project's description which details the materials used, project's title and who worked on it with them.
The 3rd Grade Team (Mrs. Yates, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Reeve and Ms. Herrmann) dived deep into how animals are treated. They learned about the positive ways animals are cared for and tried to make a difference with the negative treatment. As a grade level, this team of teachers integrated the persuasive writing element of the Reader's/Writer's Workshop with the real world happenings of circuses, all stemming from their reading of The One and Only Ivan. They wrote letters to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's Circus with the hopes of persuading them to discontinue their use of elephant bull hooks.  In addition,  you can read about some of the classroom conversations that took place by clicking on the images below.
Mrs. Dixon's 2nd Grade class (below) completed story maps based on The One and Only Ivan and each student "published" their own mini book after learning more about the writing process.
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Ms. Guirola's Kindergarten class loves to read their library books by Ivan. It's the sweetest thing. After checking out their library books, they walk over and sit by Ivan. It was so cute that we decided to gather her entire class over for a class picture.

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