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A picture from "The Graphic Alphabet" by David Pelletier - Courtesy of Smithsonian Libraries

In my first year of college, I spent three days a week assisting in a laboratory Kindergarten classroom on campus. My duties weren’t difficult. I was there to make sure the playground shenanigans were kept to a minimum and that snack time conversation was enlightening and informative.

Though my students spoke surprisingly well, at 5-years old, they were still too young to read. I remember sitting with one young boy, dinosaur book on the table, and reading aloud. To me, the letters and the sounds they made went together—the nasal “ahhhh” of A and the buzz of Z. To him, they were just pictures.

How do our minds bridge that gap from pictures to words? It’s an old discussion among educators, but I finally came to my own conclusions when visiting a Smithsonian Institution Libraries exhibit at the National Museum of American History “Picturing Words: The Power of Book Illustration,” on view through Jan. 4, 2010.

It was one particular display case in the dimly lit exhibition room that aroused these thoughts. I watched the letter O morph into an octopus and the letter F into a flamingo, images from “The Alphabeast Book: An Abecedarium” by Dorothy Schmiderer (1971). Next to it, Os hung like ornaments and elbow noodles flooded into a pool of letter Ns from “The Graphic Alphabet” by David Pelletier (1966).

These are great mnemonic devices for children. A few years of A is for alligator, A is for apple, A is for airplane, and after a while, with positive reinforcement, the child catches on. He or she will realize there’s something to each of these sounds that’s special, and it has to do with that triangle with legs. I think as adults, we forget that when we’re reading our favorite blogs or newspapers online, we’re actually reading pictures.

“Illustration is another aspect of literacy,” says Smithsonian’s Helena Wright, who co-curated the exhibit along with Joan Boudreau. “It helps people who are learning to read as well as gives them another dimension at what they’re looking at.”

This interaction between letters and words isn’t only true in English. Sharing the case with the alphabet books was “Tu l’as vu l’oiseau? (Have You Seen this Bird),” by Armand Monjo (1993), in which Arabic calligraphy is shaped into illustrations of birds. According to Wright, this is a form of concrete poetry, when arrangements of words are used to convey the intended effect of a poem.

I wish I had these thoughts when I was back in the classroom, maybe I wouldn’t have emphasized letters so much. I didn’t realize how much learning to write is like learning to paint. Instead of primary colors, my students’ palettes were 26 letters, and as they scribbled their first sentences, it was like watching them fingerpaint.

Check out the Libraries other exhibition, “The Art of African Exploration,” at the National Museum of National History.

Snow day in Washington DC and most schools are closed. Time for snow forts, sledding and pandas making angels in snow?

(All photos by Mehgan Murphy, National Zoo)

Tai Shan in the snow at the Zoo

Tian Tian in the snow at the National Zoo

Mei Xiang in the snow at the National Zoo

A red panda peeks out from snow-covered fur.

Even the flamingos are chilling out.

Michelle Obama waves goodbye at an inaugural ball. Courtesy of Flickr user ryanboyd

When will the Smithsonian receive and display Michelle Obama’s inaugural dress? We’ve just received this communique from Lisa Kathleen Graddy, the National Museum of American History’s curator of the First Ladies collections.

“Like everyone else, we were anxiously waiting to see Mrs. Obama’s dress (the first white inaugural gown since Nancy Reagan’s 1981 dress). It would look beautiful alongside Helen Taft’s white chiffon gown already on exhibit. As interested as everyone is though, the dress does not go on view, or even come to the Smithsonian, right away. Sometime soon, the secretary of the Smithsonian will send a letter to Mrs. Obama introducing her to the collection and asking if she would donate something to represent herself in the collection. Although it is certainly not required, it has been a tradition for the First Lady to donate the inaugural ball gown since Helen Taft donated hers in 1912. Depending on the first lady’s schedule, it can be anywhere from six months to two years before the dress is donated. Also, according to tradition, the gown will go on view immediately after the donation.”

Can’t wait until then? Go see our video presentation of the First Ladies collection.

The twin-spot triplefin, a species of blenny found near Malpelo Island in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Credit: Ross Robertson.

Blennies aren’t the prettiest of nature’s creatures. About as long as a roll of quarters, with big eyes and a gaping mouth, the fish are loved by scientists for their ecology more than their beauty. With over 800 species across the oceans, they are one of the world’s most diverse fish families. By studying differences in blenny color, shape, size, location and diet, scientists can theorize how and why each member of the species branched off from the rest of the group.

With so many fish in the sea, keeping track of all this information can be tricky. To help, scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute developed interactive tools to map diversity in all fishes. Their first Web-based information system, created late last year, lists the nearly 1,300 species of fish of the isolated Tropical Eastern Pacific ocean range, which extends from the coasts of Southern California to Northern Peru and as far west as the Galapagos.

“The area acts as a laboratory to study evolutionary change that we know happened, [after the formation of the isthmus of Panama divided the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans], approximately 2.8 million years ago,” says Smithsonian scientist D. Ross Robertson, who co-created the research tool with Gerald Allen of Conservation International.

Robertson and Allen, who in 1992 first described the twin-spot triplefin blenny, (pictured above), are now diving in the waters around the Caribbean to collect and photograph local fish for their next Website. “Photographs of live or freshly collected fishes are important aids for identification,” Robertson says. “And systems such as this can incorporate far more than a book can.”

Although the website is designed to help scientists identify fish species, spot patterns of diversity and plan conservation efforts, anyone can enjoy the ‘Random Images‘ tab, which cycles through the over 2,800 pictures of tropical fish found on the site. If a flounder or eel catches your eye, more general reader information can be found at the Encyclopedia of Life or Wikipedia.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum wished everyone a Happy Chinese New Year on Saturday with a neighborhood-wide celebration in the heart of the District’s Chinatown. To bring in the year 4707, performances by the Fairfax Chinese Dance Troupe and a lion dance by the Wong Chinese Boxing Association, (see above), were just some of the festivities that lit up the streets.

Chinese New Year celebrations are steeped in tradition. According to Chinese legend, in ancient times, Buddha called all the animals to meet him on the New Year. Only twelve came—the ox, rat, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, dog, boar and rooster—and Buddha named a year after each one. This tradition holds true today making 2009 the Year of the Ox. People born under this sign have a strong work ethic, leading to a tendency to be a workaholic. (As an Ox myself—1985—I’ve already filed two stories today and it’s only 11 a.m.) Ox people are usually strong and robust and should live long lives.

Many New Year’s traditions are aimed at driving away bad luck. People wear red—the color of fire, and light fireworks to frighten away evil spirits. The lion dance shown above also has origins in Chinese legend. In ancient times, on the first day of the lunar year, a dragon would descend to destroy villages and crops. The people came up with a plan to scare the dragon away with an even fiercer creature and thus the lion dance was born.

The Wong Chinese Boxing Association lion dance incorporates ancient Chinese kung-fu techniques, which gives the performance strength. According to the Association, It is not just the appearance of the lion that brings good luck, but the power of the ritual.

The American Art Museum is blogging too – Check out Eye Level for an exploration of how America’s art reflects its history and culture.