Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Goodbye Professor Pickett~
This class has been awesome. I have learned so much and have had so much fun in doing so. Thank you Professor Pickett, for helping me understand the lesson plans, no other professor took time to help me understand that and I really appreciate it. I hope to take you for future classes. You have taught me so much about Literature for Public Schools, really, I am now a regular at the Downtown Central Library, and I hold my head up higher each time I walk in there because I know what I am doing in there now. Thanks again. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Day 3 & Day 4 of the Genre Presentations
I really enjoyed, "The Giving Tree," I loved the narration. It was great. I heard that Shel Silverstein is slower than that, well I thought they did a great job. I got into the animated story. I was really impressed.
Day 4's presentations were done on multicultural and mystery genres. The multicultural video of the story, "Magda's Tortillas," was really cute and funny to watch. It made me want to make a similar video and I think I will remember that presentation forever. The mystery genre was awesome. I liked playing the game and popping the firecrackers in class. Great job guys!
Day 4's presentations were done on multicultural and mystery genres. The multicultural video of the story, "Magda's Tortillas," was really cute and funny to watch. It made me want to make a similar video and I think I will remember that presentation forever. The mystery genre was awesome. I liked playing the game and popping the firecrackers in class. Great job guys!
Day 2 - Genre Presentations
For Day 2, I was there, because I was part of the 2nd group who did Fantasy. The first group was really good. They did, I believe fiction based on truth, which is called Factional. But they never stated what Genre they were presenting, I had to ask the girl when I was leaving. I don't think it mattered because their presentation was really good. The ending was the best part, and none of us were expecting it. It was very touching, the song, Amazing Grace, sang so beautifully with the power point of the homeless people. Professor Pickett was right, we need to keep these people in mind when it comes to the holidays. Some people, my boyfriend being one of them, always criticizes the homeless, because there are certain homeless people by our house who are always drinking alcohol. But you can't base what you see one person doing and expect all people to be the same. Especially when it comes to poor defensless children who are suffering for other reasons, and I have seen first hand children who aren't looked after properly. It's very sad, but they cannot be judged, and you must let them escape the pressures of reality in your classroom. I believe this presentation brought this issue to light for a lot of us. I am not going to comment on our project, because, well, we did it, so I will leave that to you all.
Day 1- Genre Presentations
I was absent on Day 1, but I heard the first group set the bar on the presentations. I heard they did stick puppets and had an activity where everyone made their own. They also did movie maker, Professor Pickett's fave! I heard they set up very well and were well prepared. Good job!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
CH 11 Article on "Shared Reading"
I chose to read the article on Blackboard about shared reading. The first thing it talks about is the difference between shared reading and read alouds. The teacher merely guides while the children actually have a part in the reading. Shared reading lays the foundation for reading and writing skills, behavior, strategies and encourages active participation. I didn't and would've never know that rereading was so great. I always was one who cannot sit and watch the same movie twice, really it's hard to get me to even watch a movie. Now I need and want to try this with a book. To read something once draws questions, but to read something twice makes us inquisitive. It increases the child's independent involvement, such as relating the text to self, text to text, and relating the text language to life. I knew this happened but I did not notice all that comes out of reading a story, like all the ways that we relate to the books just by doing so, we don't actually realize all that it teaches us. Rereading, shared reading and reading aloud are critical in the reading process. These open doors for our young readers and are extremely important! It is our job to find the right books to give our children to help them grow, scaffold their reading techniques and teach them most importantly, to love it!
"Author Study"
"It's Probably Penny," by Loreen Leedy, is a book about Probability. I think it's a good idea to teach literature along with Math or Science in the afternoon. Like for example, I had the children do word webs for the 4 seasons and they had to write the words down and sound them out at the same time. The same for this book, it is a great book, it will keep your children entertained but at the same time it teaches them about math. I would suggest it for your 1st-5th graders.
"George and Martha, One Fine Day," by James Marshall, is one book of many. I found this book by asking different people what books they remembered reading when they were children. This book came about on the list. When reading it, I realized it was a small very thin book with 5 stories inside of it! This is a good book for shared reading, if you are letting the children read for fun, one child can read one story and the second child can read the next, etc.
"A Very Improbable Story," is another math book that I wanted to share. It's a hard read but it has the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. This book is about a cat who gets stuck on the boy's head and won't get off until he figures out his probability questions. I would suggest this for 4th thru 6th grade.
"Author Study"
"It's Probably Penny," by Loreen Leedy, is a book about Probability. I think it's a good idea to teach literature along with Math or Science in the afternoon. Like for example, I had the children do word webs for the 4 seasons and they had to write the words down and sound them out at the same time. The same for this book, it is a great book, it will keep your children entertained but at the same time it teaches them about math. I would suggest it for your 1st-5th graders.
"George and Martha, One Fine Day," by James Marshall, is one book of many. I found this book by asking different people what books they remembered reading when they were children. This book came about on the list. When reading it, I realized it was a small very thin book with 5 stories inside of it! This is a good book for shared reading, if you are letting the children read for fun, one child can read one story and the second child can read the next, etc.
"A Very Improbable Story," is another math book that I wanted to share. It's a hard read but it has the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. This book is about a cat who gets stuck on the boy's head and won't get off until he figures out his probability questions. I would suggest this for 4th thru 6th grade.
CH 10 Reading Aloud
During my field, my absolute favorite part of the day was when it was time for Read Alouds. They are so fun, and if you can raise your voice up and down, then you can really engage the students. I saw the picture of the class looking at their teacher doing a read aloud, page 256, and it made me remember the 1st grade class I worked with, they were so engaged. But remember there is so much more than having an uplifting voice and being able to read well, and that is why there is a Chapter about Read Alouds. While we read aloud, we can teach the kids about a bunch of different genres. I like to go to the library and pick books from all over that way it hits every body's tastes. Also another good thing I did in field, I would allow the children to stack their library books they picked out and everyday we would pick a book from the stack, that way we would read what interests them. The chapter suggests to get award winning books, these are quite easy to find because they have their own section. Before my read aloud, I would always go over the cover, the title page, ask if there were similarities or differences between the two, the spine, and the dedication page. We would talk about the illustrator and the author. During read alouds, we use props, pictures and other sources. It's best to discuss what they know about the subject, if they are familiar with it, or if they even like it at all. The book suggests to invite interaction throughout the story, which I must agree, it's great to check comprehension. Always ask a question at the end, "How did you feel about the story?" This way, they can grow from it and so can we. When we read aloud, we all know that it is a "Whole group activity," whereas we sit in a circle or on the carpet where all can see the pictures and what the book has to offer. We can read to the students for pleasure and also for curriculum as well.
"Author Study"
"Swine Divine," by Jan Carr, is about a piggy named Rosie who is taken out of her lovely mud and given a bath. Her owner takes her to a studio in which they dress her in silly clothes and want her to act like a ham. She goes wild and runs out of the studio and the book guides you on her way home. It's a cute book for a read aloud.
"The House in the Night," by Susan Marie Swanson, has, "The Caldecott Medal," which is an award winning picture book. This book was inspired by "This is the Key to the Kingdom," which is a traditional poem. This book is an easy read, but tough comprehension. I would read it for 2nd or 3rd graders.
"Make Way for Ducklings," by Robert McCloskey, is also another award winning book. This book has been a favorite since 1941. The book is about, Mr. & Mrs. Mallard, were ducks looking for a place to raise their family of ducklings. Finally they found a spot on an island where they teach them all they need to know, but then it comes time for them to move back to the city park and the book takes you on their move through busy streets and intersections in Boston.
"Author Study"
"Swine Divine," by Jan Carr, is about a piggy named Rosie who is taken out of her lovely mud and given a bath. Her owner takes her to a studio in which they dress her in silly clothes and want her to act like a ham. She goes wild and runs out of the studio and the book guides you on her way home. It's a cute book for a read aloud.
"The House in the Night," by Susan Marie Swanson, has, "The Caldecott Medal," which is an award winning picture book. This book was inspired by "This is the Key to the Kingdom," which is a traditional poem. This book is an easy read, but tough comprehension. I would read it for 2nd or 3rd graders.
"Make Way for Ducklings," by Robert McCloskey, is also another award winning book. This book has been a favorite since 1941. The book is about, Mr. & Mrs. Mallard, were ducks looking for a place to raise their family of ducklings. Finally they found a spot on an island where they teach them all they need to know, but then it comes time for them to move back to the city park and the book takes you on their move through busy streets and intersections in Boston.
CH 9 Non Fiction
Non fiction = Real life
I love non fiction books because they tell real life stories. I have always wanted to write a book about my life and many people told me I should, especially when I was a teenager. I would love to read books that tell stories about different people I know. We have to be able to teach the children the fascinating light that we can see when reading non fictional books. I went over Chapter 9 briefly, reading about the different elements of fiction. I thought it was interesting that the design teams put in more effort in designing the covers of non fiction books to make them more appealing to the eye. I had no idea that visual materials were important to non fiction books. The pictures are there to help tie up or clarify the reader's questions. I didn't realize that the table of contents, glossaries, etc. were known as "access features," either. The element of accuracy approaches and is something we, as educators, need to take time to check. In the jacket flap, usually in the back of the book, there is a section that says, "About the Author," and will list the credentials. If it was written by someone who is not a recognized expert, it helps us check who the author talked to get the actual facts. The copyright page is also a main source of where the author lists acknowledgments and a list of sources the author consulted, you can also see if the author has out of date facts as well.
The next element was style, in which is how the author grabs the reader's attention. The book states, "The first paragraph is essential. It introduces the subject, provides the flavor and sets the mood." I like that, because it is so true, and most of us know how hard it is to write the intro paragraphs to our paper. The thesis sentence and the last sentence of the paper are the hardest. Part of style are Leads & Conclusions, which I had no idea what it was about. After reading I found that it is a way for the writers to engage the readers by posing a question that is answered in subsequent text. They also draw conclusions that either leave the reader satisfied or wanting more. Then there's language and sentence structure along with vocabulary, in which we all should know about. In non fiction books the writer should write with grace, using elegant language. It's like how Professor Pickett tells us to learn the language of Education, it complements our character as teachers, well it's the same thing. Writers should use the language of the subject, writing with gracefulness. Then there is Figurative Language, where non fiction writers use analogies or figurative language. Analogy is basically a comparison between two things that are sort of similar, like a heart and a pump. Figurative language means to compare two things. All of these are parts of style.
The last element was Organization. This is very important because it's how it holds, not only the reader's attention, but also comprehension.
As for selecting our non fictional books for our classroom, we need to make sure they have the most up to date information. We also want to make sure the information is accurate because we do not want them to remember misconceptions or in accurate information, because when you are a child, it is hard to train yourself to forget what you have learned. The children can also claim that it is true because it is in a book and then you have to explain to them why it is not and they can give up on reading non fiction books and we don't want that at all! So like I said before, we need to make sure to check our author's sources, dates and credentials to give our students the best information possible.
"Author Study"
My author study is not about non fiction books. Rather than that, I am going to share some awesome books that I found at the San Antonio's children's Library.
"Tonight is Carnaval," by Arthur Dorros, is illustrated using real life felt pictures and cloth. Now we cannot touch the cloth or felt, but the pictures are of it. It is so cool, I even tested it out in my 1st grade field class to see if they thought the same and the first words were, "Aww...cool!" The actual felt pictures are called arpilleras and were created by people in Lima, Peru. So please look this book up at your local library. It is about a family who lives in South America, and tells about the life of the people who live in the high Andes Mountains. Carnaval is an event where the town gathers once a year to enjoy games and music. This book is for your older readers, maybe 4th or 5th grade. It has a glossary and lists all of the different instruments used to play at Carnaval and it has a section with real life pictures showing how the arpilleras are made.
"Hands," by Virginia L. Kroll, is about the different things we can do with our hands and what they mean. It is illustrated using all cultures and the last page shows that all cultures can be friends no matter what color you are. I used this with my 1st grade field base and they liked it a lot.
"Knick Knack Paddy Wack," is a counting book for your Pre K. This book is also culturally diverse. I got this book at the library and I read it fast and slow. It was a fun book just to read, but it also comes with a CD that you can use to teach the children the song to the book and the library even lends that to you! We can find great things at our local library.
I love non fiction books because they tell real life stories. I have always wanted to write a book about my life and many people told me I should, especially when I was a teenager. I would love to read books that tell stories about different people I know. We have to be able to teach the children the fascinating light that we can see when reading non fictional books. I went over Chapter 9 briefly, reading about the different elements of fiction. I thought it was interesting that the design teams put in more effort in designing the covers of non fiction books to make them more appealing to the eye. I had no idea that visual materials were important to non fiction books. The pictures are there to help tie up or clarify the reader's questions. I didn't realize that the table of contents, glossaries, etc. were known as "access features," either. The element of accuracy approaches and is something we, as educators, need to take time to check. In the jacket flap, usually in the back of the book, there is a section that says, "About the Author," and will list the credentials. If it was written by someone who is not a recognized expert, it helps us check who the author talked to get the actual facts. The copyright page is also a main source of where the author lists acknowledgments and a list of sources the author consulted, you can also see if the author has out of date facts as well.
The next element was style, in which is how the author grabs the reader's attention. The book states, "The first paragraph is essential. It introduces the subject, provides the flavor and sets the mood." I like that, because it is so true, and most of us know how hard it is to write the intro paragraphs to our paper. The thesis sentence and the last sentence of the paper are the hardest. Part of style are Leads & Conclusions, which I had no idea what it was about. After reading I found that it is a way for the writers to engage the readers by posing a question that is answered in subsequent text. They also draw conclusions that either leave the reader satisfied or wanting more. Then there's language and sentence structure along with vocabulary, in which we all should know about. In non fiction books the writer should write with grace, using elegant language. It's like how Professor Pickett tells us to learn the language of Education, it complements our character as teachers, well it's the same thing. Writers should use the language of the subject, writing with gracefulness. Then there is Figurative Language, where non fiction writers use analogies or figurative language. Analogy is basically a comparison between two things that are sort of similar, like a heart and a pump. Figurative language means to compare two things. All of these are parts of style.
The last element was Organization. This is very important because it's how it holds, not only the reader's attention, but also comprehension.
As for selecting our non fictional books for our classroom, we need to make sure they have the most up to date information. We also want to make sure the information is accurate because we do not want them to remember misconceptions or in accurate information, because when you are a child, it is hard to train yourself to forget what you have learned. The children can also claim that it is true because it is in a book and then you have to explain to them why it is not and they can give up on reading non fiction books and we don't want that at all! So like I said before, we need to make sure to check our author's sources, dates and credentials to give our students the best information possible.
"Author Study"
My author study is not about non fiction books. Rather than that, I am going to share some awesome books that I found at the San Antonio's children's Library.
"Tonight is Carnaval," by Arthur Dorros, is illustrated using real life felt pictures and cloth. Now we cannot touch the cloth or felt, but the pictures are of it. It is so cool, I even tested it out in my 1st grade field class to see if they thought the same and the first words were, "Aww...cool!" The actual felt pictures are called arpilleras and were created by people in Lima, Peru. So please look this book up at your local library. It is about a family who lives in South America, and tells about the life of the people who live in the high Andes Mountains. Carnaval is an event where the town gathers once a year to enjoy games and music. This book is for your older readers, maybe 4th or 5th grade. It has a glossary and lists all of the different instruments used to play at Carnaval and it has a section with real life pictures showing how the arpilleras are made.
"Hands," by Virginia L. Kroll, is about the different things we can do with our hands and what they mean. It is illustrated using all cultures and the last page shows that all cultures can be friends no matter what color you are. I used this with my 1st grade field base and they liked it a lot.
"Knick Knack Paddy Wack," is a counting book for your Pre K. This book is also culturally diverse. I got this book at the library and I read it fast and slow. It was a fun book just to read, but it also comes with a CD that you can use to teach the children the song to the book and the library even lends that to you! We can find great things at our local library.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
CH 8 & Fave Fiction Books
I haven't been one of the "reading types," which makes me feel really far behind when y'all talk about authors and books you all have read, but it doesn't slow me down. I have read some books for college that are fictional and I must tell you, I would re-read them.
The first one is, "Famous All Over Town," by Danny Sanitago, and it is about a young Mexican-American boy who is growing up in Los Angeles, CA who is struggling in poverty and thinks there's no way out. We follow him through his path of self destruction and family struggles and see him survive in the end. It is a very good book. I would recommend it for your high school students. You can find some controversial subjects that it raises here at this website:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6993682/Socialist-realism-and-the-success.html
I don't have the book anymore, but I loved reading, "Outcry In the Barrio," when I was young. It's by Freddie Garcia and was a hit when I was growing up. It was about a young man who was into hard drugs and couldn't see a way out, but finally he found one and became a minister. This book is based on a true story but is still considered fictional. You cannot use it in your classroom because it has religion in it, but I just had to share! This book was given to me in back in the day, but now I see that the new paperback starts at $42.50. WOW, that shows how good it is. Here at this web site you can purchase the book used or new, and most importantly, read some reviews about it, enjoy!
http://www.amazon.com/Outcry-Barrio-Freddie-Garcia/dp/0961931906
The next book is, "Lipstick Jihad," by Azadeh Moaveni, and it is about an Iranian girl growing up in America. This book I read in my Humanities class in my earlier years of college, it could however be read for a high school class to teach about the Iranian culture. We tend to turn our backs on the unknown, but after reading this book, we all opened our eyes to see that there are only small differences between all of us, as the human race. At this website you can find an interview with the author:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/03/lipstick-jihad-interview-azadeh-moaveni
Fiction is an experience in narrative and provides a window into what makes human beings human. Now these books that I mentioned, they were all based on true stories, and some say they are biographies, but I must say that I do not agree. When a story is told and altered a little bit and does not tell the whole truth, then I must say it is fiction. We did our fiction projects in class and the question was, "What is fiction to you?" The truth is fiction is just merely a fake story. It can be based on truth and things of that nature but is just not entirely true. I guess these books would fall under Contemporary Realistic Fiction, where people can actually exist along with the events that can actually happen. All of these books were also, Character vs. Society, the theme where the main character is in social conflict with traditions. I love these fictional types of books and if you have any advice on a good book that falls into this category and theme, please feel free to leave it with your comment.
"Author Study"
I found a good book for your boys, mainly, but girls will like it too. It is, "Batman," by Ralph Cosentino, and this particular story is about 32 pages long, written like a comic, almost a picture book because it is illustrated beautifully. Of course Batman is saving Gotham City from its most dangerous criminals but it also explains what made him a Hero, how he changed from a boy into a hero. You can use this book to explain the difference between the hero and the villan and focus on the hero part of it. This day and age, people pride the villan and make him look better than the hero (like the Joker) and that is not how we want to raise our society, so we need to change our children's views, and what better way to do that than through literature.
Next, I have, "Don't Say That Word," by Alan Katz, which is a funny story that your children will love to laugh with that is about a little boy who tells his mom about his crazy day at school. She stops him before he says the ending of his story with, "Don't say that word!"
Finally, I have a book that I would read to my Pre K or Kindergarten class which is called, "Princess Baby," and it's a cute little book that brings a smile to your face at the end. It's about a little baby girl who doesn't like all the nicknames that her parents call her. It's a very easy read that I liked a lot.
The first one is, "Famous All Over Town," by Danny Sanitago, and it is about a young Mexican-American boy who is growing up in Los Angeles, CA who is struggling in poverty and thinks there's no way out. We follow him through his path of self destruction and family struggles and see him survive in the end. It is a very good book. I would recommend it for your high school students. You can find some controversial subjects that it raises here at this website:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6993682/Socialist-realism-and-the-success.html
I don't have the book anymore, but I loved reading, "Outcry In the Barrio," when I was young. It's by Freddie Garcia and was a hit when I was growing up. It was about a young man who was into hard drugs and couldn't see a way out, but finally he found one and became a minister. This book is based on a true story but is still considered fictional. You cannot use it in your classroom because it has religion in it, but I just had to share! This book was given to me in back in the day, but now I see that the new paperback starts at $42.50. WOW, that shows how good it is. Here at this web site you can purchase the book used or new, and most importantly, read some reviews about it, enjoy!
http://www.amazon.com/Outcry-Barrio-Freddie-Garcia/dp/0961931906
The next book is, "Lipstick Jihad," by Azadeh Moaveni, and it is about an Iranian girl growing up in America. This book I read in my Humanities class in my earlier years of college, it could however be read for a high school class to teach about the Iranian culture. We tend to turn our backs on the unknown, but after reading this book, we all opened our eyes to see that there are only small differences between all of us, as the human race. At this website you can find an interview with the author:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/03/lipstick-jihad-interview-azadeh-moaveni
Fiction is an experience in narrative and provides a window into what makes human beings human. Now these books that I mentioned, they were all based on true stories, and some say they are biographies, but I must say that I do not agree. When a story is told and altered a little bit and does not tell the whole truth, then I must say it is fiction. We did our fiction projects in class and the question was, "What is fiction to you?" The truth is fiction is just merely a fake story. It can be based on truth and things of that nature but is just not entirely true. I guess these books would fall under Contemporary Realistic Fiction, where people can actually exist along with the events that can actually happen. All of these books were also, Character vs. Society, the theme where the main character is in social conflict with traditions. I love these fictional types of books and if you have any advice on a good book that falls into this category and theme, please feel free to leave it with your comment.
"Author Study"
I found a good book for your boys, mainly, but girls will like it too. It is, "Batman," by Ralph Cosentino, and this particular story is about 32 pages long, written like a comic, almost a picture book because it is illustrated beautifully. Of course Batman is saving Gotham City from its most dangerous criminals but it also explains what made him a Hero, how he changed from a boy into a hero. You can use this book to explain the difference between the hero and the villan and focus on the hero part of it. This day and age, people pride the villan and make him look better than the hero (like the Joker) and that is not how we want to raise our society, so we need to change our children's views, and what better way to do that than through literature.
Next, I have, "Don't Say That Word," by Alan Katz, which is a funny story that your children will love to laugh with that is about a little boy who tells his mom about his crazy day at school. She stops him before he says the ending of his story with, "Don't say that word!"
Finally, I have a book that I would read to my Pre K or Kindergarten class which is called, "Princess Baby," and it's a cute little book that brings a smile to your face at the end. It's about a little baby girl who doesn't like all the nicknames that her parents call her. It's a very easy read that I liked a lot.
CH 7 / Original Fairytale
Instead of doing CH 7, I am going to do the assignment on researching an original version of a fairytale that interests me. Well, I must say that it is pretty difficult to find this literature on the internet, well at least it was for me. I do not take a lot of things from the internet because I do not know if it is valid information. I decided to take my chances on this one and read, "The Original Version of Jack and the Bean Stalk." I found some of my information from this website:
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/11/17/more-original-versions-of-classic-fairy-tales/
Here on this website, it tells the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk. Now, if I were to incorporate this into my classroom, and I am going to have to use the original version, I would definantly use it with the oldest group of students, the 6th graders (because that is the highest level that I am certified for). I would use it to talk about right from wrong and the innocent people who die from the negligence from others. Just a quick rundown of the story, Jack gets the Bean Stalk and climbs up it and ends up going into the Orge's castle and stealing from him. Then after the 3rd time of theft, he gets caught and chased by the Orge, and then Jack kills the Orge by chopping down the bean stalk. I think that's pretty sad because he had no business in the Orge's castle and the Orge should not have to die and leave his family behind because some immature boy wants to go into the stranger's home and steal from him. This is a good book to read with juveniles, because they are entering into the stages of "fitting in," and let's face it, times are hard and people are robbing, stealing and begging more and more these days and this story would help bring up the topics of how the students feel when they don't have the things they need or even want. Or what led him to have the curiousity of going into the house? And many, many contreversial topics can be addressed. After the discussion of the story, we can even use a couple days on it, we can do a group project, like the one in class on big paper, but of our own interpertations of Jack and the Bean Stalk, maybe use characters that are in their everyday life and then we would be able to illustrate it and present to the class. I would encourage them to do an internet activity of the regular "Jack and the Bean Stalk," as well. We would probably do a small mini lesson about comparing and contrasting the two, but my focus would mainly be about comprehension and what they got from the literature. Then I would definantly follow through with a journal writing activity because I would want to know how the children really felt and the inside issues that had been brought up emotionally through the story.
These are the things I would do with my class in the future. This was a good assignment because now I know about the original versions and I can pass that on to them. I did not know of these before. I encourage you all to go to the website above and browse different versions of the fairytales. It's really neat and can give all of us some ideas.
"Author Study"
I did not do my author study about Fairytales or Fantasy. I want to share two more books with you that have to do with my author profile and then I will share one more that I found interesting. If you do not know, my author profile will be about Karen Katz.
"My First Ramadan," by Karen Katz, is about a little boy who observes the Muslim holy month with his family. This time the little boy wants to fast like the grown ups do, and the children will be intersted as he shares his expieriences with his family. I highly recommend Karen Katz's books because she is a culturally diverse author and I love that we can bring that into our classroom!
"Can You Say Peace," by Karen Katz, is about children all over the world who wish for peace. She takes us through a child-like journey of children all over the world and the different ways they say peace!
"That's Love," by Sam Williams, is a colorful, really cute book that teaches the children about love in a fun way. I recommend this book if you want to teach your classroom about love and respect. It is a really easy read.
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/11/17/more-original-versions-of-classic-fairy-tales/
Here on this website, it tells the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk. Now, if I were to incorporate this into my classroom, and I am going to have to use the original version, I would definantly use it with the oldest group of students, the 6th graders (because that is the highest level that I am certified for). I would use it to talk about right from wrong and the innocent people who die from the negligence from others. Just a quick rundown of the story, Jack gets the Bean Stalk and climbs up it and ends up going into the Orge's castle and stealing from him. Then after the 3rd time of theft, he gets caught and chased by the Orge, and then Jack kills the Orge by chopping down the bean stalk. I think that's pretty sad because he had no business in the Orge's castle and the Orge should not have to die and leave his family behind because some immature boy wants to go into the stranger's home and steal from him. This is a good book to read with juveniles, because they are entering into the stages of "fitting in," and let's face it, times are hard and people are robbing, stealing and begging more and more these days and this story would help bring up the topics of how the students feel when they don't have the things they need or even want. Or what led him to have the curiousity of going into the house? And many, many contreversial topics can be addressed. After the discussion of the story, we can even use a couple days on it, we can do a group project, like the one in class on big paper, but of our own interpertations of Jack and the Bean Stalk, maybe use characters that are in their everyday life and then we would be able to illustrate it and present to the class. I would encourage them to do an internet activity of the regular "Jack and the Bean Stalk," as well. We would probably do a small mini lesson about comparing and contrasting the two, but my focus would mainly be about comprehension and what they got from the literature. Then I would definantly follow through with a journal writing activity because I would want to know how the children really felt and the inside issues that had been brought up emotionally through the story.
These are the things I would do with my class in the future. This was a good assignment because now I know about the original versions and I can pass that on to them. I did not know of these before. I encourage you all to go to the website above and browse different versions of the fairytales. It's really neat and can give all of us some ideas.
"Author Study"
I did not do my author study about Fairytales or Fantasy. I want to share two more books with you that have to do with my author profile and then I will share one more that I found interesting. If you do not know, my author profile will be about Karen Katz.
"My First Ramadan," by Karen Katz, is about a little boy who observes the Muslim holy month with his family. This time the little boy wants to fast like the grown ups do, and the children will be intersted as he shares his expieriences with his family. I highly recommend Karen Katz's books because she is a culturally diverse author and I love that we can bring that into our classroom!
"Can You Say Peace," by Karen Katz, is about children all over the world who wish for peace. She takes us through a child-like journey of children all over the world and the different ways they say peace!
"That's Love," by Sam Williams, is a colorful, really cute book that teaches the children about love in a fun way. I recommend this book if you want to teach your classroom about love and respect. It is a really easy read.
CH 6
Chapter 6 is about the genre, Traditional Literature. Traditional Literature is what is sounds like, old stories that have been past on and on, and have mostly been used to educate our youngsters about morality. What I didn't know is that traditional lit is based on values, beliefs, and different social groups. We always just heard the same stories, over and over. In my house hold and during my younger days, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, all of these were the original stories and Disney wrote the books and sold the movies. There were no "spin offs" as we would call it, to these stories. I remember going to Disney Land and Disney World with my parents and the themes were the original stories and characters, just as in the books.
The elements of traditional lit are: plot, setting, characterization, style, theme, motifs, and variants. Plots are usually simple and events happen one after another and the characters and setting are described quickly and then it goes straight into action, think as you will Snow White. As for the setting, I always think of, "Once Upon A Time, Far Far Away...." but I always remember the castles and thought of it as a fairy land that was unknown, but as I grew older and studied European culture, I realized these stories were based on the European culture. There are castles and kings and princes, and the village people are people of poverty. I also need to point out, the names of the characters in traditional literature are not common American names. And I must agree that all the characters are vague, they are all good or all evil, but come on, Snow White had to have a menstrual period at a time in her life, she couldn't be a sweetheart at all times! :) As for style, I remember one movie where there were no words and only music played, I didn't realize that was the movie's actual style. It's pretty cool, to learn about all the different elements that go into making all the different genres. The theme's vary by the cultural and the motifs, but most of the one's I remember were, "Happily Ever After." (I know I keep saying, "The one's I remember..." but trust me, I am slowly but surely trying to keep up with the literature books. I have a couple of children's traditional literature books here with me now, but I am going to save them for my "Author Study" portion of my blog, so please bare with me.) I never knew about motifs of a story. There can be various ones like, magic, journeys and quests, trickery (would that refer to Hansel & Gretel?) and things of that nature. Variants of traditional literature are the spin offs of the particular book, such as CinderEdna vs CinderRella or Lil Red Riding Hood vs Red Riding in the Hood. As it was mentioned in class, all ethnic groups have their own versions of traditional literature and I am excited and ready to read different versions of the lit. A good thing for us to do is to have the children write in response to these different forms of literature. I think a good thing to do would be to read a traditional story versus a variant and have the children write or illustrate (depending on the grade) what they learned from the story, liked, related to or a simple compare/contrast. They can really learn a lot and I think this would spark their curiosity and make them want to read two books versus just the one.
"Author Study"
"Town Mouse, Country Mouse," by Jan Brett, is about two mice and their families that are bored with living where they are living. The city mouse wants to live in the country and the country mouse wants to live in the city, so the families switch houses and it leads us into a great story. This particular version is for your older children, 3rd grade and up.
The website below has some neat fables but are not by the same author, but it does have the fable, "Town Mouse, Country Mouse." I chose to paste the website here because it looks like it would be helpful to us in the future. I am more of the hands on San Antonio Library type of girl. :) But check the website out!
http://www.happychild.org.uk/nvs/cont/stories/aesopsfables/page0119.htm
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears," retold by James Marshall, is about a little girl who is naughty and doesn't follow directions and goes into the forest after being told not to. The story teaches the moral to listen to adults when you are told to do something. We all hope to instill that moral in our children's minds. Recommend this story for sure!
I also have here with me, two Disney books, "Cinderella," and "Snow White." These are variants of the story, because the title on the top states that it is, "My Side of the Story," and rather the characters tell the story based on their version of what actually happened, it's really cute. You can also flip the book over for another version, for example, Snow White's version is printed on one side, and the Queen's version is printed on the other. They are great reads, even for us adults! Disney books are illustrated to purposely keep the children's attention. I recommend these for your older grades as well, probably 4th and up.
The elements of traditional lit are: plot, setting, characterization, style, theme, motifs, and variants. Plots are usually simple and events happen one after another and the characters and setting are described quickly and then it goes straight into action, think as you will Snow White. As for the setting, I always think of, "Once Upon A Time, Far Far Away...." but I always remember the castles and thought of it as a fairy land that was unknown, but as I grew older and studied European culture, I realized these stories were based on the European culture. There are castles and kings and princes, and the village people are people of poverty. I also need to point out, the names of the characters in traditional literature are not common American names. And I must agree that all the characters are vague, they are all good or all evil, but come on, Snow White had to have a menstrual period at a time in her life, she couldn't be a sweetheart at all times! :) As for style, I remember one movie where there were no words and only music played, I didn't realize that was the movie's actual style. It's pretty cool, to learn about all the different elements that go into making all the different genres. The theme's vary by the cultural and the motifs, but most of the one's I remember were, "Happily Ever After." (I know I keep saying, "The one's I remember..." but trust me, I am slowly but surely trying to keep up with the literature books. I have a couple of children's traditional literature books here with me now, but I am going to save them for my "Author Study" portion of my blog, so please bare with me.) I never knew about motifs of a story. There can be various ones like, magic, journeys and quests, trickery (would that refer to Hansel & Gretel?) and things of that nature. Variants of traditional literature are the spin offs of the particular book, such as CinderEdna vs CinderRella or Lil Red Riding Hood vs Red Riding in the Hood. As it was mentioned in class, all ethnic groups have their own versions of traditional literature and I am excited and ready to read different versions of the lit. A good thing for us to do is to have the children write in response to these different forms of literature. I think a good thing to do would be to read a traditional story versus a variant and have the children write or illustrate (depending on the grade) what they learned from the story, liked, related to or a simple compare/contrast. They can really learn a lot and I think this would spark their curiosity and make them want to read two books versus just the one.
"Author Study"
"Town Mouse, Country Mouse," by Jan Brett, is about two mice and their families that are bored with living where they are living. The city mouse wants to live in the country and the country mouse wants to live in the city, so the families switch houses and it leads us into a great story. This particular version is for your older children, 3rd grade and up.
The website below has some neat fables but are not by the same author, but it does have the fable, "Town Mouse, Country Mouse." I chose to paste the website here because it looks like it would be helpful to us in the future. I am more of the hands on San Antonio Library type of girl. :) But check the website out!
http://www.happychild.org.uk/nvs/cont/stories/aesopsfables/page0119.htm
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears," retold by James Marshall, is about a little girl who is naughty and doesn't follow directions and goes into the forest after being told not to. The story teaches the moral to listen to adults when you are told to do something. We all hope to instill that moral in our children's minds. Recommend this story for sure!
I also have here with me, two Disney books, "Cinderella," and "Snow White." These are variants of the story, because the title on the top states that it is, "My Side of the Story," and rather the characters tell the story based on their version of what actually happened, it's really cute. You can also flip the book over for another version, for example, Snow White's version is printed on one side, and the Queen's version is printed on the other. They are great reads, even for us adults! Disney books are illustrated to purposely keep the children's attention. I recommend these for your older grades as well, probably 4th and up.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Chapter 5 & 14
Chapter 5 was about Poetry and the different elements that make it up. Now I don't know about the rest of you girls, but when I was a teenager and I was upset about some little boy, I always vented by writing a poem. Poetry was the "in" thing to do, and now without the children knowing it, so is Rap. Speaking of rap, the book says that poetry is a musical language. Poetry is suppose to skip, sing, and tug at you. Now Prof. Pickett, if you ever read this, or if anyone knows the answer, please advise me, but is Phonemic Awareness all about rhyming? Is it all song and poetry?
Next, I want to take the time to list the elements of poetry, because I found it interesting how we can read a poem, write a poem or sing a song (which is a poem), without even knowing all the parts that go into it. So the elements of poetry are: sound, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, rhythm, figurative language, shape, emotional force, and insight. When I was younger, I thought it was all about rhyme and rhythm, and I am sure that is what all the kids think it is also. It will be nice to break it down and teach the different attributes of poetry. When I was reading the chapter, I had no idea what alliteration was, and if you don't either, it is the reception of similar consonant sounds. Also, assonance, which means to repeat internal vowel sounds, which provide partial rhymes. I agree that poets use repetition when it comes to rhythm.
I want to share some other things I learned with you all starting with figurative language. Did you know that figurative language means to create meaning through imagination? And the shape of the poem is how you write it, or where you put the words? I didn't know about emotional force and how it provides an emotional response for the reader. I also did not know that insight meant, "initial experiences," or how the author wants the poem to linger in our minds. The insight should give us a new perspective and make us see things in a new light, like, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." I thought it was cool to see how poetry was broken down. I also agree with performing and writing poetry. I remember when I was in 7th grade and we had to write a poem and how I took pride in that poem, even though I had been slacking in my work that year, the poetry assignment meant a lot to me. As a matter of fact, I think I still have that poem somewhere around here. And defiantly, encourage revision! I have binders of poems from when I was young that could have been so great had they been revised, so I am going to encourage my students to bring their poems and stories to me for help revising, no matter if they are assignments or not.
In Chapter 14, it discusses how we learn to write by reading and I never knew that. It's because we fall in love with books and listen to oral stories, and we come adapted to knowing what makes a good story and how good language sounds. Writing is a lifelong learning process, but once your children master the basics, they can learn to love it. We as teachers need to monitor what our students think about and do as they write.
I learned about the 5 aspects of writing, which are: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. I remember how I use to hate rewriting over and over again and I still do. If only I learned to love it, then maybe it wouldn't be such a hassle for me these days. But don't get me wrong, I love to write papers, just not the same thing over and over again. :) How do we make that interesting? You can have all the traits of good writing, ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and presentation, and still there are some teachers that make you revise. I think I am going to just look for these traits and help them build the aspects and foundations, versus being so demanding on the little things. I want them to feel free in expression, especially the ones who will struggle with writing. I do not want them to feel trapped but better to feel like they can do
it and love it.
"Author Study"
I am going to discuss 3 books from different authors but from the same genre, which is poetry.
First book is, "Down the Back of the Chair," by Margaret Mahy, which is a rhyming (poetry) book. It's about a little girl, who's Dad is struggling to make money for the family and she goes exploring what is down the back of the chair and what she finds, saves the day! It has a lot of repititon, but it makes it fun to read. I shared this book in class and my group loved it!
The second book is, "The Baby Uggs Are Hatching," by Jack Prelutsky, and it is about some unusual characters like The Uggs, The Quossible, The Sneepies, ect. There are 12 poems about unusual characters that will make your children's imaginations run wild. I would have them go back to their desks and make there own character and small poem to go with it! It's really cute and funny. And it also introduces a lot of vocabulary, some I even looked up!
The third is Shel Silverstein's first poetry collection, "Don't Bump the Glump," and what is a classroom library without Shel Silverstein in it! It is a collection of many small fantasy poems, with many different creatures of all kinds.
Next, I want to take the time to list the elements of poetry, because I found it interesting how we can read a poem, write a poem or sing a song (which is a poem), without even knowing all the parts that go into it. So the elements of poetry are: sound, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, rhythm, figurative language, shape, emotional force, and insight. When I was younger, I thought it was all about rhyme and rhythm, and I am sure that is what all the kids think it is also. It will be nice to break it down and teach the different attributes of poetry. When I was reading the chapter, I had no idea what alliteration was, and if you don't either, it is the reception of similar consonant sounds. Also, assonance, which means to repeat internal vowel sounds, which provide partial rhymes. I agree that poets use repetition when it comes to rhythm.
I want to share some other things I learned with you all starting with figurative language. Did you know that figurative language means to create meaning through imagination? And the shape of the poem is how you write it, or where you put the words? I didn't know about emotional force and how it provides an emotional response for the reader. I also did not know that insight meant, "initial experiences," or how the author wants the poem to linger in our minds. The insight should give us a new perspective and make us see things in a new light, like, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." I thought it was cool to see how poetry was broken down. I also agree with performing and writing poetry. I remember when I was in 7th grade and we had to write a poem and how I took pride in that poem, even though I had been slacking in my work that year, the poetry assignment meant a lot to me. As a matter of fact, I think I still have that poem somewhere around here. And defiantly, encourage revision! I have binders of poems from when I was young that could have been so great had they been revised, so I am going to encourage my students to bring their poems and stories to me for help revising, no matter if they are assignments or not.
In Chapter 14, it discusses how we learn to write by reading and I never knew that. It's because we fall in love with books and listen to oral stories, and we come adapted to knowing what makes a good story and how good language sounds. Writing is a lifelong learning process, but once your children master the basics, they can learn to love it. We as teachers need to monitor what our students think about and do as they write.
I learned about the 5 aspects of writing, which are: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. I remember how I use to hate rewriting over and over again and I still do. If only I learned to love it, then maybe it wouldn't be such a hassle for me these days. But don't get me wrong, I love to write papers, just not the same thing over and over again. :) How do we make that interesting? You can have all the traits of good writing, ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and presentation, and still there are some teachers that make you revise. I think I am going to just look for these traits and help them build the aspects and foundations, versus being so demanding on the little things. I want them to feel free in expression, especially the ones who will struggle with writing. I do not want them to feel trapped but better to feel like they can do
it and love it.
"Author Study"
I am going to discuss 3 books from different authors but from the same genre, which is poetry.
First book is, "Down the Back of the Chair," by Margaret Mahy, which is a rhyming (poetry) book. It's about a little girl, who's Dad is struggling to make money for the family and she goes exploring what is down the back of the chair and what she finds, saves the day! It has a lot of repititon, but it makes it fun to read. I shared this book in class and my group loved it!
The second book is, "The Baby Uggs Are Hatching," by Jack Prelutsky, and it is about some unusual characters like The Uggs, The Quossible, The Sneepies, ect. There are 12 poems about unusual characters that will make your children's imaginations run wild. I would have them go back to their desks and make there own character and small poem to go with it! It's really cute and funny. And it also introduces a lot of vocabulary, some I even looked up!
The third is Shel Silverstein's first poetry collection, "Don't Bump the Glump," and what is a classroom library without Shel Silverstein in it! It is a collection of many small fantasy poems, with many different creatures of all kinds.
CH 4 "Responding to Literature"
The thing I liked most about this chapter was the topic in general, "Responding to Literature." I think it is very important for us to understand that we are all different and we are not going to see things in the same light. You can be sitting with your friends on one side of the room, and strangers on the other, and a spicy topic can be brought out in debate, and suprisingly, you and your friends disagree and you find yourself on the stranger's side, because we are all different in many ways. We cannot base our cultural differences on race alone, because I may be from the same ethnic background as another person, but I may have been brought up differently, and it is our job as teachers to learn about our children and their interests outside of school. The things they learn about outside of school creates the interest foundations that we can build on with the literature we choose for our class.
We need to motivate our readers through not only meaningful literature, but literature that is meaningful to them. We cannot just give them a book that we enjoyed as a child and expect them to find the same enjoyment. We need to study and research the TEKS of the year before and build on their schemata. I find that I like to tour the Kinder halls before I go to my First Grade field class, because I want to grab an idea of what the children might have learned the year before. Also I want to know the interesting projects that they have done, because again we must keep up and entertain while we teach, we must "hook" them into learning.
They build their responses to the text through interactions with others (everyone and anyone around them). Friends impact your way of thinking the most, especially during the young years of one's life. We have to support the role's of our readers, so we must learn about our students and make reading enjoyable for all of them, not just the majority, but all.
"Author Study"
I am going to change my selection for my author profile and I am chosing Karen Katz who is a children's author, who writes cultural diverse books. I will name 3 of her books that I find interesting. Don't go stealing my author now, ya'll heard! :)
The first book is, "Over the Moon, An Adoption Tale," and it is a picture book. It's very colorful and will grab your student's eyes and at the same time, it will teach them a valuable story about how two parents come to adopt a child from another country. It's very cute.
The second book is, "The Color of Us," and it is about a little girl named Lena who is going to paint herself. She wants to use brown paint for her skin. But when she and her mother take a walk through the neighborhood, she learns that there are many shades of brown. She begins to see the world in a new way. This book teaches about the differences and similarities of all people.
The third book is, "My First Chinese New Year," which is about a little chinese girl who takes different cultural steps in getting ready for the Chinese New Year. It tells us the different ways that one can prepare for their new year, but also shows us that it is very similar in the way that we, as Americans, prepare too.
We need to motivate our readers through not only meaningful literature, but literature that is meaningful to them. We cannot just give them a book that we enjoyed as a child and expect them to find the same enjoyment. We need to study and research the TEKS of the year before and build on their schemata. I find that I like to tour the Kinder halls before I go to my First Grade field class, because I want to grab an idea of what the children might have learned the year before. Also I want to know the interesting projects that they have done, because again we must keep up and entertain while we teach, we must "hook" them into learning.
They build their responses to the text through interactions with others (everyone and anyone around them). Friends impact your way of thinking the most, especially during the young years of one's life. We have to support the role's of our readers, so we must learn about our students and make reading enjoyable for all of them, not just the majority, but all.
"Author Study"
I am going to change my selection for my author profile and I am chosing Karen Katz who is a children's author, who writes cultural diverse books. I will name 3 of her books that I find interesting. Don't go stealing my author now, ya'll heard! :)
The first book is, "Over the Moon, An Adoption Tale," and it is a picture book. It's very colorful and will grab your student's eyes and at the same time, it will teach them a valuable story about how two parents come to adopt a child from another country. It's very cute.
The second book is, "The Color of Us," and it is about a little girl named Lena who is going to paint herself. She wants to use brown paint for her skin. But when she and her mother take a walk through the neighborhood, she learns that there are many shades of brown. She begins to see the world in a new way. This book teaches about the differences and similarities of all people.
The third book is, "My First Chinese New Year," which is about a little chinese girl who takes different cultural steps in getting ready for the Chinese New Year. It tells us the different ways that one can prepare for their new year, but also shows us that it is very similar in the way that we, as Americans, prepare too.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Chapter Three
The first thing that caught my eye on the chapter is, "Scaffolding, which is supportive teaching that includes questioning, modeling, feedback, and instruction with the idea that adult support is gradually withdrawn as learners become more autonomous (pg 38)." Whereas, I thought it meant building on their prior knowledge. There are so many things that go into teaching and we are just getting started!!!! I didn't know that aesthetic reading (reading for fun) didn't demand anything of you. I learned about other methods of reading, like efferent, which is more demanding and requires more work. Readers are more likely to slow down, reread passages, attempt to read every word, and struggle, which I did not know did more for me when I was a child. I remember it being frustrating to learn, but look where it got me for continuous effort. But all of our readings fall in between either efferent (hard) or aesthetic (easy). We have to learn the difference between these because it is the balance of where we want our children to be reading, not too difficult, but not too easy as well. We need to talk about the new concepts and vocabulary with them. I always found it helpful to write down words that I didn't know and then I would look them up later. And we cannot get enough of critical thinking, I believe it is a fun part of elementary school and needs to be addressed more often at an early age versus an adult, because if you don't have the proper education, it makes it very difficult to figure out problems later on. I thought it was helpful that they listed ways to assess comprehension on page 45. I also think it's good to go over the story and discuss it as a class, that way we know they read it and it clarifies any unanswered questions they may have. That's all I have for now, but Chapter 3 is the beginning of many very important chapters that we need to study!
"Author Study"
"The Giving Tree," by Shel Silverstein, is about a tree who loved a little boy. Every day the boy went to the tree to eat apples or play and it would make the tree happy. But when the boy got older he wanted more and more from the tree. This story teaches about giving and taking and love. It's a must have for your classroom library!
"The Year I Didn't Go to School," by Giselle Potter, is a children's book based on the author's past. The author's parents had a theatre company in which they performed, "Mystic Paper Beasts," and this story tells it all. It's different, I have to say. But that's what we need, we need to broaden our horizons and try new things.
"Counting Christmas," is a baby book, probably and more than likely used in Pre K classes, because it is a beginner book. This book, by Karen Katz, one of my favorite authors and illustrators, counts down from ten days of Christmas to one. It's really cute when you are teaching the basics.
"Author Study"
"The Giving Tree," by Shel Silverstein, is about a tree who loved a little boy. Every day the boy went to the tree to eat apples or play and it would make the tree happy. But when the boy got older he wanted more and more from the tree. This story teaches about giving and taking and love. It's a must have for your classroom library!
"The Year I Didn't Go to School," by Giselle Potter, is a children's book based on the author's past. The author's parents had a theatre company in which they performed, "Mystic Paper Beasts," and this story tells it all. It's different, I have to say. But that's what we need, we need to broaden our horizons and try new things.
"Counting Christmas," is a baby book, probably and more than likely used in Pre K classes, because it is a beginner book. This book, by Karen Katz, one of my favorite authors and illustrators, counts down from ten days of Christmas to one. It's really cute when you are teaching the basics.
Chapter Two
Chapter two starts off with a question that I want to answer by myself first, which is, “What is Culture?” To me, culture is about the beliefs your parents and community have taught you about yourself and them. It’s a person’s heritage or past, and it’s what separates us as individuals or puts us into a group. But the book explains it as, “Ways of knowing, believing, valuing, and thinking among a group of people.” I think it’s similar but their answer is more in depth. But I learned different aspects of culture, like deep culture and school culture. See, in all my years of education, this is the first time I have seen it divided up and discussed. The outside community is very important and they way the surrounding community focuses on education. You can come from a good family, but live in a bad community and the community can change a person, especially in adolescence, that’s when they are the most influenced and want to fit in. We need to know our children’s home lives, their communities, and what they value. It is important for us to incorporate all of our children’s different needs and to get their families to cooperate and to get involved. Remember that not everybody is the same! And I think it’s smart for us to acknowledge our own biases, if we group students as the smarter ones, versus the ones who always need help, that’s not good and I know it’s going to happen when we get out there in the real world because I saw it when I was doing education hours for Palo Alto. So basically we have to keep all this in mind and fill our libraries with culturally diverse literature, which should be fun and interesting to do.
"Author Study"
"Stellaluna," by Janell Cannon, is about a bat and her adventerous life as a baby bat. From being chased by an owl, to falling into a nest of baby birds, the story is entertaining and keep your students hanging on to finish the rest of the story. It's an older read, maybe for your 3rd graders and up.
"Evie to the Rescue," by Hermann Moers, is a fictional story about a little girl who inspires a baby lion cub, at the zoo, to go to Africa. The cub shows up at her door and off they go into the land with a Swan, and the journey starts from there. It's nicely illustrated, which is something I look for in all of my books that I select. They have to be appealing to your children.
"Ella, an Elegant Elephant," is about a little shy elephant that has to move and start a new school but at this school there is a bully and she does not like Ella. It's a real good book, especially if you are addressing bully issues between girls.
"Author Study"
"Stellaluna," by Janell Cannon, is about a bat and her adventerous life as a baby bat. From being chased by an owl, to falling into a nest of baby birds, the story is entertaining and keep your students hanging on to finish the rest of the story. It's an older read, maybe for your 3rd graders and up.
"Evie to the Rescue," by Hermann Moers, is a fictional story about a little girl who inspires a baby lion cub, at the zoo, to go to Africa. The cub shows up at her door and off they go into the land with a Swan, and the journey starts from there. It's nicely illustrated, which is something I look for in all of my books that I select. They have to be appealing to your children.
"Ella, an Elegant Elephant," is about a little shy elephant that has to move and start a new school but at this school there is a bully and she does not like Ella. It's a real good book, especially if you are addressing bully issues between girls.
Websites for Author Profile
Well as for my author profile, I am going to do it on Jennifer Armstrong, because she seemed the most interesting and her books are something I would want in my classroom. I googled her name and certain websites I know are going to be useful are:
http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/
This is her main page, or "Official," the one I discussed in my previous blog with you guys.
And this one is about her biography, but is part of the same site:
http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/biography.htm
This is another site, that I will be comparing the "Official Site" with:
http://www.jenniferarmstrong.com/
This website will be most helpful, because there is an actual interview with her, to give me more insight on what she thinks is most important about herself and her work. It also has all of her awards and achievements, which will help me in the biographical sketch. The website is:
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/childrens_writing/99157
This website has all of her books listed, in which there are 100, or so:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/jennifer-armstrong/
That's all I found so far. But my plans are to go to the downtown library this weekend and see what I can find! Talk to ya later!
http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/
This is her main page, or "Official," the one I discussed in my previous blog with you guys.
And this one is about her biography, but is part of the same site:
http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/biography.htm
This is another site, that I will be comparing the "Official Site" with:
http://www.jenniferarmstrong.com/
This website will be most helpful, because there is an actual interview with her, to give me more insight on what she thinks is most important about herself and her work. It also has all of her awards and achievements, which will help me in the biographical sketch. The website is:
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/childrens_writing/99157
This website has all of her books listed, in which there are 100, or so:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/jennifer-armstrong/
That's all I found so far. But my plans are to go to the downtown library this weekend and see what I can find! Talk to ya later!
Children's Literature Authors
How can I blog about Children's Literature Authors without mentioning Dr. Seuss. Those were the best books that I remember when I was little! :) Do you guys remember them? Well, as I read on the biography part, there is really a real Dr. Seuss, which was my first question when I visited the site. There is also a catalog, which is like a store, where we can get books for our classroom, and what is a classroom without Dr. Seuss? There are also "Read Across America Events," so we can check events going on in our area. So check it out!
http://www.seussville.com//lb/home.html
I found an author, Jennifer Armstrong, who's books look really interesting and very colorful. They are all illustrated by different people, but seem very appealing. I would've sat in the circle and listened to them when I was younger. :)
http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/
I clicked on Cynthia Leitich Smith's page and she had a grouping of favorite young children's authors, which I found most helpful, I just wanted to share them with you all.
http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/favorites/by_age_group/pic_books.html
http://www.seussville.com//lb/home.html
I found an author, Jennifer Armstrong, who's books look really interesting and very colorful. They are all illustrated by different people, but seem very appealing. I would've sat in the circle and listened to them when I was younger. :)
http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/
I clicked on Cynthia Leitich Smith's page and she had a grouping of favorite young children's authors, which I found most helpful, I just wanted to share them with you all.
http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/favorites/by_age_group/pic_books.html
Chapter One
Sorry guys for my blog being so late, but I have been busy with my mother passing away and all the stuff that comes from that, but it's all coming together now, so I am going to catch up with you all! Thanks for your understanding.
~Dawn
Chapter One:
Living Literature’s Chapter One mainly focuses on reading being the main goal of teaching. Which I must say that I do agree, and I think that we all do. You have to be able to learn to read in order to succeed in any other subjects, or in all other subjects. The goal for us as educators is to have the children understand what they are reading and to be able to entertain their brains through literature. If you have a good book, this goal shouldn’t be difficult to achieve. Every child loves a good book. But I think that’s the hardest part of it all, is finding good books and good authors. We can’t just go throw a library together with just any books, that’s why we are taking this class, to understand the literature that we will put into our libraries in our rooms. The book asked if I truly believe that I can or should teach my students to want to read, and my answer is yes. We have to make them WANT to do it, not make them feel as if they HAVE to do it. And our beliefs do influence our students, and I believe that they can pick up on them, or feel as if we are pretending to believe something else. I am scared to be a teacher now, because San Antonio’s youth’s future resides on my shoulders, and I think we are all in the same boat, we are scared that we won’t do a good job, but we just have to try twice as hard as everyone else and give it all that we got, and I truly believe that it will be enough. As long as we say, we did all we can do for each and every child. We also as educators must always be students first, because with time, all things change. As for designing the libraries, I love the idea of making it a comfortable atmosphere. I remember when I was a kid, my 3rd grade teacher had a bunch of bean bags and headphone sets in the library area, and that was always one of my favorite centers to go to. And as I close this up about Chapter 1, the most important thing I think I read was when I saw, “Children learn what they live.” And that is so true. They do watch everything we do and learn from everything we do, so it’s very important that we show them and teach them how fun literature can be. Thanks for reading guys!
"Author Study"
"The Hippo-Not-Amus," by Tony and Jan Payne, is a large sized jumbo picture book about Portly, a hippo who finds life as a hippo pretty boring so he leaves his home and goes exploring life as another animal. It teaches the kids about all different sorts of animals, and the book is really cute and colorful.
"The Berenstain Bears, That Stump Must Go," by Stan and Jan Berenstain, is about Papa bear stubbing his toe on a tree stump and not liking it at all, so he goes to great extremes to remove it. These books were my favorite when I was a young girl. They are a must have for beginning children's literature.
"Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed," by Mo Willems, is about a mole rat named WIlbur who is different from all the others because he loves to wear clothes, but his Grandpa finds out and the story is about what he has to say about it. Very cute and children in 2nd and 3rd grade really seem to be appealled to Mo Willems' books and illustrations.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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