CELEBRATING DIVERSITY AND THAI CULTURE WITH HAPPY SONGKRAN DAY

 

Get ready for the Thai New Year April, 13-15, by checking out this delightful picture book -  Happy Songkran Day! The Thai New Year Celebration, written and illustrated by Dow Phumiruk. It's available at Amazon or Bookshop.org (Where proceeds go to the bookstore of your choice).

One of the most enjoyable ways to introduce students to other cultures is to explore their celebrations. This story explores the themes of forgiveness and washing away "sins" to start the new year, which are central to the Thai celebration. Rather than the heavy-handed notion of wrongdoing, the message is that we all make mistakes (both big and small) and have the chance to start over. The symbolism is conveyed through squirt guns, water balloons, and children pouring buckets of water on each other, reminding us not to take our blunders so seriously.

If you happen to be sharing this story in a location where it's still snowing in April, you might explore how your climate differs from Thailand's and how geography shapes culture.

Children's books often provide a quick and engaging way to share ideas, regardless of your students' ages. Happy Songkran Day is for ages 3-5, but the ensuing conversations can be adapted for any level. In addition, the author provides a list of resources, including children's books for older students, that may be used for comparison and further knowledge.

In my book, Story Frames for Teaching Literacy, Chapter 7 explores "From Story Writing to Expository Writing: Bridging the Gap With Narrative Nonfiction." Although Dow's book is a work of fiction, it explores a real-life celebration and includes many nonfiction elements that teachers can use to bridge the gap. There is a glossary, a list of resources for learning more about Thailand and Songkran, and an Author's Note with additional information. I had no idea the Thai calendar was 543 years ahead of the Gregorian Calendar. This April 13, 2026, Thailand is celebrating the year 2569.

Picture books also provide engaging ways to teach sentence structure, which I will discuss next week using an illustration from Happy Songkran Day.

Read more about Story Frames for Teaching Literacy HERE. Sign up HERE to receive my newsletter with FREE activities based on Story Frames and my decodable books.

STORY FRAMES AND A RACE AROUND THE WORLD

This month, I'm featuring A Race Around the World: The True Story of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland. My Story Frames analysis is slightly modified and shortened here. This nonfiction narrative picture book on a topic relevant to all ages is written by Caroline Starr Rose and illustrated by Alexandra Bye, from the She Made History series. 

With spring break approaching, many students and teachers will be traveling. A Race Around the World is a relevant topic to explore. It follows the most unusual true journey of two female journalists in 1889, who race around the world to beat each other and the record set by the fictional character Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. For students who aren't traveling, encourage taking a journey through a good book. Discuss how stories let us visit places we may never visit in real life. That way, when you come back together after break, everyone has a story to share.

This story analysis is not meant to replace reading the book, but to enhance the discussion with students. Read more about Story Frames and my story analysis system HERE.

1. Ordinary World: Nellie Bly is a reporter for a local newspaper, the World, while Elizabeth Bisland writes a monthly column for Cosmopolitan magazine. 

2. Call and Response: Nellie Bly plans to travel the world in 75 days and beat the fictional Phileas Fogg record. Elizabeth's editor tells her he wants her to make the same journey around the world, but traveling in the opposite direction.

3. Mentors, Guides, and Gifts: Her boss advises Nellie that too much luggage will slow her down. She has a special dress made that she can wear for the entire journey.

4. Crossing (The Journey Begins): Nellie heads east, leaving New Jersey for England on an ocean steamer. At Grand Central Station, Elizabeth catches a westbound train, travels across the U.S., and then boards a ship heading to Japan.

5. New World: Both women visit many new and unusual places.

6. Problems, Prizes, and Plans: The Prize for both women is to win the race. Many obstacles and Problems arise to slow them down.

7. Midpoint Attempt: Nellie goes to meet the author, Jules Verne, then rushes to Italy, where she almost misses her next ship.

8. Downtime Response: Nellie arrives in Ceylon and relaxes on the beach. Elizabeth arrives in Japan and has such a good time that she plans to return.

9. Chase and Escape: Their two ships cross paths on the South China Sea as they continue their race.

10. Death and Transformation (All Hope is Lost): In France, Elizabeth misses her boat back to America. In San Francisco, Nellie's train is cancelled because of snow. Things look hopeless, and both women must make a new plan.

11. Climax: The Final Test: Nellie takes a train south through Arizona, where people cheer her on at every station. Meanwhile, after missing two more ships, Elizabeth must take a train to catch the last ship to America.

12. Final Reward: Nellie wins the race, completing the trip in 72 days. Although Elizabeth loses the race, she continues to travel for the rest of her life.

The complete story analysis for this book, along with analyses of 21 additional picture books and 10 chapter books and novels, is available on the download hub at the publisher's websit for purchasers of Story Frames.

A fun connection to this story is my free Story Ad Lib entitled Travel Trouble. The PDF may be downloaded as a link in my 2026 newsletter. Sign up HERE.

In 2021, I combined my love of writing with my experiences working with struggling readers and writers to create Story Frames: Enhancing Student Learning Through the Power of Storytelling. It is a twelve-step story analysis I created that is inspired by The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler and various other books on story plotting for professional writers. Read more about it HERE.  

THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF STORIES

I have given several presentations and workshops over the years on "The Secret Language of Stories," exploring the plotting secrets of professional writers. In addition to working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist and as a private dyslexia therapist, I have published three young adult novels. (Find out more about my novels HERE.)

In 2021, I combined my love of writing with my experiences working with struggling readers and writers to create Story Frames: Enhancing Student Learning Through the Power of Storytelling. It is a twelve-step story analysis I created that is inspired by The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler and various other books on story plotting for professional writers (See my blog post about How Screenwriting and Novel Writing Strategies Influenced Story Frames). I use the Story Frames method to create my novels and teach writing to kids of all ages and adults. I teach students storyboarding and a strategy called Pictography to capture important plot points through quick sketches. 

My method is broken down into twelve basic elements or Story Frames. Stories don’t necessarily contain all of the components, and they don’t always occur in the order given here. In longer stories, many of the elements are repeated. The twelve basic elements for the COMPLETE Storyboard are below:

BEGINNING:

1. Ordinary World

2. Call and Response

3. Mentors, Guides, and Gifts

4. Crossing

MIDDLE:

5. New World

6. Problems, Prizes, and Plans

7. Midpoint Attempt

8. Downtime

END:

9. Chase and Escape

10. Death and Transformation

11. Climax: The Final Test

12. Final Reward

For younger students or when analyzing simpler stories, I use a BASIC storyboard containing eight elements:

1. Ordinary World

2. Call and Response

3. Problem and Prize

4. Plan

5. Attempt 1

6. Attempt 2

7. Climax - The Final Test

8. Reward

This year, my blog posts will focus on sharing a variety of children's books that I have analyzed using this structure.  I'm always looking for ways to make the writing process fun and engaging. Chapter 6 of my Story Frames book focuses on "From Speaking to Writing: Sentences, Paragraphs, and Stories." One of the many downloadable resources from that chapter is a Story Ad Lib. It's a fun, fill-in-the-blank story writing activity similar to commercial Mad Lib games. My version gives students a fun way to practice working with narrative structure. This year, I will be giving away several PDF activities in my monthly newsletter based on Story Ad Libs. The first will come out on February 27, 2026. Sign up HERE if you would like to receive my newsletter and receive those free PDFs.

Go to Brooke's Publishing for more information about Story Frames.

Twelve Writing Prompts to Start the New Year Right - One for Every Month

Start the new year right with Twelve Different Writing Prompts - One for Every Month by revisiting my 2024 Year of AWE - Authentic Writing Experiences below. 

January - Explore how to turn thank-you notes into a powerful literacy experience. Find highlights in my January 2024 Blog.

February - An Acrostic Valentine Activity inspired by Edgar Allan Poe is available on my February Blog.

March - Get ideas for using food and recipe writing to celebrate culture. Students learn how to write step-by-step directions for a practical and fun purpose. Find highlights HERE.

April - Download the FREE poetry writing PDF Activity called Pandora's Lunch Box. Inspired by my decodable book, Gods and Gifts: Three Greek Myths Retold. Learn how to write List Poems HERE.

May - Explore using summer vacation themes to research topics and create information posters HERE.

June - Create a Nature Journal and encourage students write down their observations about the natural world HERE. 

July - Stimulate the imagination of young people by exploring inventions at your local fair. If you don't have the opportunity to go to a real fair, read the book, Mr. Ferris and His Wheel. Read more HERE.

August - Read a book and write a letter to the author. Discover tips for connecting with authors and for writing multi-paragraph letters HERE.

September - Plan a day at the museum and discover tips for using photographs and captions to summarize the experience HERE.

October - Based on my book, The Raven Remix: A Mashup of Poe Titles, this month's Authentic Writing Experience is about Scary Stories. Find it HERE.

November - In addition to being a famous poet and short story writer, Poe was also a magazine editor and literary critic. Visit my BLOG for details about Poe's other career and to discover tips for helping students write book reviews.

December - Learn how to write song spoofs HERE by enjoying this Edgar Allan Poe-inspired rendition of "Jingle Bells."

Sign up HERE for the Carolee Dean, Author newsletter and receive a FREE digital copy of my book, No Gift for Man. You will also receive monthly updates

ONLINE MASTER'S DEGREE IN SPECIAL EDUCATION WITH A DYSLEXIA CREDENTIAL

If you have a bachelor's degree in education, are currently a state-certified teacher, and are interested in pursuing a Master's Degree (M.Ed.) with a built-in Level 1 Dyslexia credential, I highly recommend the program offered by Providence College in Rhode Island. You can complete the program in person or online. If you would like more information, contact the program director, Marcy Zipke, before December 31, 2025, at mzipke@providence.edu or the graduate admissions office at gradschool@providence.edu. You may also reference the QR code below.

I teach an online course as an adjunct instructor in this program each fall, entitled Language-Based Learning: Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Written Language. As someone who has specialized in the field of dyslexia as both a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) and a certified academic language therapist (CALT), I highly recommend the program offered at Providence College.

Please forward this information to anyone who might be interested. Reach out to Marcy Zipke before the end of the year at mzipke@providence.edu.  Also, visit the QR code above or go to  https://graduate.providence.edu/master-of-education-in-special-education-with-dyslexia-credential/

 

HOW TO SUPPORT LOCAL BOOKSTORES

Order books from the Author Page for Carolee Dean at Bookshop.org, and 30% of the profits will go to support your favorite local bookstore. This is an ongoing option to help support local bookstores that is available for almost all books. My decodable books may also be purchased from the ONLINE STORE on my website at wordtravelpress.com. 

    

If you order Story Frames directly from Brookes Publishing, use the code AF at Brookes to get a 10% discount.

Don't forget about my Young Adult novels from Simon and Schuster.

TAKE ME THERE - A boy who can't read or write dreams of being a poet, but one fateful night has him on the run, travelling to find his estranged father, who is in prison in Texas for murder.  A YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Bookshop.org

FORGET ME NOT - A novel in verse about a girl who is literally pushed over the edge, explores themes of cyberbullying and suicide, hope and redemption. Amazon

Highlights from NCTE25

This past weekend, I served on two author panels during the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) 2025 Conference. I also had a booth in the exhibit hall, where I had the opportunity to chat with educators about decodable books and the foundational components of reading (phonological awareness, morphology, vocabulary, sentence structure, and more). More and more educators are embracing the power of Structured Literacy to create lifelong readers. 

One of the highlights of the conference was catching up with old friends and acquaintances.

The activities I presented for my two panels may be found at the links below.

During my panel for "Poetry Clubs: Reading and Writing Poetry to Promote Inclusion and Improve Writing Skills," I shared an analysis of the structure of "The Raven" along with tips for creating POE POETRY SPOOFS.  Lesley Roessing, who has a Chapter in my book Story Frames for Teaching Literacy, invited me to join the panel. Other children's authors included Jo Hackl, Landra Jennings, and Laura Shovan.

My second panel, "Threads of Possibility: Author/Educator Panel for Dream Weavers," focused on using picture books for students of all ages. I shared how to write HAIKU STORY SUMMARIES, an activity from Chapter 10 of Story Frames entitled "Poetry: Exploring the Power of Language and Story Through Verse." Other panelists included Colorado authors Beth Anderson and Jolene Gutierrez, author/illustrator Dow Phumiruk, and New Mexico author Laurel Goodluck.

The most exciting announcement at the conference was the list of 2026 Notable Children's Verse Novels. I had the chance to read Radiant by my old New Mexico friend, Vaunda Michaeux Nelson, this summer, and I highly recommend it, along with the other books on the list.

Last but not least, I just had to take the opportunity for a photo op with the Big Blue Bear outside of the Colorado Convention Center and my decodable book, Hank the Tank a chapter book about a real bear whose life was spared through DNA analysis.

In 2026, my newsletter will focus on sharing stories and activities from Story Frames for Teaching Literacy. Sign up for my newsletter HERE so you don't miss any fun freebies.