Book Trailer (submitted through email)
Papa's Mark
Battle-Lavert, G., & Bootman, C. (2003). Papa's mark. New York: Holiday House.
Reading Takes You Anywhere
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Children’s
Literature Book List and Wiki Checklist
Genre / Titles you read (Hit enter after each one
and a new number should pop up)
I. Non-fiction/Informational (1
chapter book or photo essay book reflection required on blog)
1) Extreme Animals: The
Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies
2) Sea Horse: The Shyest Sea Fish
in the Sea by Chris Butterworth
II. Poetry (1 chapter or picture
book reflection required on blog)
1) Hate that Cat by Sharon Creech. (required
for discussion – do NOT use on blog)
2) What a Day It Was At School! By Jack Prelustky
3) Toasting Marshmallows by Kristin George
4) Lorax by Dr. Seus
III. Modern Fantasy (1 chapter
book reflection required on blog)
1)
I, Jack by Patricia
Finney. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)
2)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
by Beverly Cleary
3)
Charlotte’s Web by E.B.
White
IV. Historical Fiction (1
reflection required on blog –can be a picture book)
1)
The Teacher’s Funeral by
Richard Peck. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)
2)
Papa’s Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert
V. Multicultural/Traditional (2
reflections required on blog – one can be a picture book)
1) Hiroshima: A Novella by Laurence Yep
2) The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake
3) Aesop’s Fables by Tom Paxton and Robert
Rayevsky
4) JuneBug by Alice Mead
VI. Realistic Fiction (1 chapter
book reflection required on blog)
1)
Baby by
Patricia MacLachlan. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)
2)
Mouse and the Motorcycle by
Beverly Cleary
VII. Picture Books (5 reflections
required on blog during the first two weeks of class. There should be a total
here of at least six.)
1)
The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting.
(required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)
2)
Officer Buckle and Gloria by
Peggy Rathmann
3)
Emma’s Turtle by Eve Bunting
4)
Yoko by Rosemary Wells
5)
The Wall by Eve Bunting
6)
The Hello Goodbye Window by
Norton Juster
7)
When Randolph Turned Rotten
by Charise Harper
8)
The Boy Who Loved Words by
Roni Schotter
Wiki Checklist
1) 1 Social Studies
2) Science
3) Math
4) Music
5) Art
6) 1 Reading/Language Arts
7) Physical Education
8) Other
Reflection
of Field Experience
How
many hours did you complete?
I completed 5 hours of field experience.
In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?
I spent most of my time collaborating
with other professionals about reading; I had a meeting with my Vice Principal
and Psychologist to discuss specific interventions and goals for the students
in Reading and other subjects as well.
Since second grade is a big reading year, a lot of the discussion was on
this- how to reach your struggling readers and how to push those reader’s that
are excelling. I also met with my
team for 2 hours and we discuss the upcoming week’s agendas and plans. We actually discussed a Junior Great
Books to go with the class. We
discussed higher order thinking questions to go along with our discussions. We shared various articles that we
found that go along with our Social Studies and Science standards as well. Lastly, I gave a lesson that was
observed by another teacher that is at the school. She gave me feedback on strengths and weaknesses of the
lesson.
How
did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher
Standard? (be sure to name the standard)
The standard that I worked on throughout
this field experience was definitely Standard 7: The teacher reflects on and
evaluates teaching and learning.
In all of the meetings, the discussion was about how to get ALL students
in the class to learn and progress in Reading. We discussed the interventions and strategies that we were
using with each student and discussed if they were working or not. There were
some situations where I had to go back and say, “Ok, this is working for
Student A but I have to try a different approach with Student B.” These are all great conversations to
have to better you as an educator.
Also, it is important to use the ideas of others at your school that may
have some creative ideas that have worked for them.
Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.
Mainly I learned the importance of data
and differentiation. Each student
has a goal that you want to set for them personally and the ways to reach it
can look so different per child.
While one child may be excelling on the intervention that you are using,
another can be struggling. You
have to spend time to truly figure out what the individual students’ needs are
and then find ways to get them to grow academically.
Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures
on Earth
Davies, N., & Layton, N. (2006).
Extreme animals: The toughest creatures on Earth. Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick
Press.
Genre: Informational Text
Age Group: Grade K-4th
grade
Summary
Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures
on Earth is an
informational text that describes the various habitats of animals all over the
world. It describes climates that are unimaginable for humans to live in. It describes these conditions and makes
it easy for students to compare and contrast these conditions between animals and relate this to what humans need to survive. There are a lot of kid-friendly illustrations to help visualize what the fact is that is being discussed.
Reflection
This is an
entertaining and engaging children’s book that will definitely get your
students excited to discover more about different types of animals. The book is extremely interesting and
is good for comparing and contrasting various habitats as well as teaching
questioning; I think the facts in this book will provoke a lot of questions for students. The structure of this book is description; the author discusses the different habits such
as volcanoes, wastelands, and deserts. The facts are compared to what humans could not endure. The layout of the pages is a double-page spread that discusses intriguing
facts about the particular animal- whether it be bacteria, amphibians,
reptiles, etc. For instance, it
tells you “fleas can resist gravity that would
break human bones.” The illustrations
are also appealing to a student.
They are cartoon-like and allow for the
informative text to be more child-friendly. An example is the title shown below.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Because of Winn-Dixie
DiCamillo, K. (2000). Because of Winn-Dixie. Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick Press.
Book Talk:
Have you ever heard of the saying, “A dog is a man’s best friend?” Just wait until you meet Opal, her dad, the preacher, and her spunky light-hearted dog, Winn-Dixie. Winn-Dixie touches the family in ways that you could never imagine. When a storm erupts in the small town of Naomi, FL and Winn-Dixie and Opal get separated; what will happen to the family dynamics? You will have to read to find out! This book will have you in tears- laughing and crying.
DiCamillo, K. (2000). Because of Winn-Dixie. Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick Press.
Book Talk:
Have you ever heard of the saying, “A dog is a man’s best friend?” Just wait until you meet Opal, her dad, the preacher, and her spunky light-hearted dog, Winn-Dixie. Winn-Dixie touches the family in ways that you could never imagine. When a storm erupts in the small town of Naomi, FL and Winn-Dixie and Opal get separated; what will happen to the family dynamics? You will have to read to find out! This book will have you in tears- laughing and crying.
Monday, April 8, 2013
What a Day It Was At School!
Prelutsky, J., & Cushman, D. (2006). What a day it was
at school!: Poems. New York: Greenwillow Books
Genre: children’s poetry
Age group: k-3rd grade
Summary:
This is a light-hearted, amusing book of various poems that are
correlated with school. For
instance, there are poems on a science experiments, wearing a backpack, taking
a field trip, the library, a funny classmate, etc. The poems contained in this collection are simplistically
written and entertaining for children.
Reflection:
I thoroughly enjoyed these poems and think they are perfect to use for 2nd
grade. They are very entertaining
and have hidden humor throughout them.
I think many of them cater to the emotions and thoughts of students,
which would make it easy for children to relate to them. My favorite poem from the collection of
poems was, “I Wish I’d Studied Harrder.”
The poem has a lot of strong vocabulary. The rhyme scheme
is different because it doesn’t follow a particular pattern, which is a good
thing for students to see various types of rhyming in poetry. A
particular stanza reads; “I wish I’d studied harrder, for out spellink test
today. I’m sorrie that I didn’t,
now I am feeling some dismay.”
I think this would also be a good poem to discuss underlying messages that
the author tries to get across. This is a short,
narrative poem that it telling a
story about a character that did not study for their spelling test and
feels frustrated when taking the test. Prelutsky adds creativity to the story
by misspelling words throughout the story so the readers can really see that
the character can’t spell because he didn’t study. I also liked the sentence variety throughout this poem; there
are italics, hyphens, ellipses, simple sentences, and compound sentences. This would be a good chance to show
your students different forms of sentences they can use when writing- “I tried to spell Cunneddykit, But really I
just gessed…”
Sunday, March 31, 2013
The Skin I’m In
Flake, S. (1998). The skin I'm in. New
York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children.
Genre: multi-cultural/traditional
literature
Age Group: 6th-12th
grade
Summary:
This is a well-written book about a
young girl named, Maleeka Madison.
She attends an inner-city school, McClenton that has a very poor
environment for students to be successful. Maleeka has vey low self-esteem and continually gets made
fun of for her dark, chocolate skin and her “hand-sewn” clothes that her mother
makes for her to wear. She gets
caught up in many situations due to her inability to stand up for herself and
the detrimental social status of a student named, Charlese. When a teacher by the name of Miss
Saunders joins the faculty, she encourages and sees potential in Maleeka, that
she feels she is wasting. She gets
her interested in writing; which will ultimately help her with many obstacles
that Maleeka is facing. In the
end, Maleeka has to make some powerful choices and decisions; you’ll have to
read to find out what she decides to do!
Reflection:
This was a very powerful book and I
think even adults should have a chance to read this book, especially educators
of middle-school students. This
book is written in first-person point of view from the character, Maleeka
Madison. Through the powerful
dialect and the writing
itself in the book, you truly see the problems that lie in middle
school through decisions that Maleeka makes based purely on “physical fear” as
well as “social fear.” One
situation that spoke loudly to me was when Maleeka finally breaks down about
Char being the instigator of the classroom fire. Many people continually ask Maleeka who was apart of the
fire and she will not tell and takes all the blame, due to fear. When she finally breaks down, and yells
out at Charlese, she continually says, “Tears roll down my face…I’m rocking and thinking and crying”
and the touch of Miss Saunders hugging her tight relieves some of her pain. Throughout the story, the words are so
powerful that you see that no one in the book can help her but herself and it
completely saddens you.
The author also uses the power of a
“make-believe” character that Maleeka has made up to “mirror” what she is going
through. This is a powerful
message that I think Flake is sending. Maleeka writes diary articles from a
slave girl, Akeelma (which is her name pretty much spelled backwords.) She
parallels the situations and emotions that she is feeling through this
character. The similes and
metaphors in these entries are fabulous! One of the entries said, “They chain us together like thieves and beat
us till we bleed. I have made up
my mind though, I will show no weakness.
I will be strong. Strong
like the sea and the wind.”
Lastly, I enjoyed the organization of
the story, in the sense that it had a very powerful message and very serious concepts
yet it was written in a way that was easy to read; the chapters where short in
length and most chapters told one particular small story of an
event. Each chapter was no more
than 5-6 pages. It didn’t seem like a chapter book because it was such a “quick
read.” I highly recommend this
book to others; it truly opens your eyes!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Aesop’s
fables
Paxton, T., Rayevsky, R., & Aesop, . (1988). Aesop's
fables. New York: Morrow Junior Books.
Genre: multi-cultural/traditional literature
Age Group: all ages
Summary: This is book is a collection of Aesop’s fables,
retold by Tom Paxton. Throughout
the book, each fable has a lesson or a moral throughout the story. There are stories that are focused
around patience, gratitude, honesty, perseverance and many other virtues. Each fable is written in the form of a
poem or short story. The hidden
meanings behind each of the stories are both abstract and told.
Reflection:
I have always been a fan of Aesop’s fables. I think they
all send a great message to the readers.
I have only read two of his fables in the past, but I enjoyed all of
them from this book. I like how
the collection of fables was all in one book. I chose two that were my favorite and gave great messages. I liked one called, Gratitude.
It was a retelling of the story about a mouse and lion’s friendship. The style of the writing was written in
short sentences
and quick transitions- “sometimes the week and sometimes the strong must help
each other to save the right and wrong.” I also thought children would like the rhyming throughout the fable; it
made the story easy to read and understand. When the mouse was asking the lion to let him go, he said, “If you’ll please
just release me, I promise someday, the debt will be one that I gladly repay.”
Another
fable that I liked and I enjoyed the retelling of in this book was The Tortoise
and the Hare. I always tell my students this story at the beginning of the
year and right before testing because I think the message is very powerful- slow
and steady wins the race! The
animals in this story were personified, given human qualities and
traits. The hare was lazy and cocky; while the tortoise
was hard-working and determined. In the end, the tortoise was the
one that came out ahead because of his dedication.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
The Mouse and
the Motorcycle
Cleary, B., & Darling, L. (1965).
The mouse and the motorcycle
Genre: modern fantasy
Age Group: 3rd-5th
grade
Summary: This is a
light-hearted story about a mouse, Ralph, who lives in a hotel in
California. Ralph lives with his
family and enjoys the hotel. One
of his favorite aspects of the hotel is the “messy people” because they leave
scraps for Ralph and his family in the hotel. Ralph is very audacious and wants to explore the world of
the hotel but the housemaids cause him to stay close to his family, because
they do a good job at keeping the hotel very clean and tidy. Ralph’s adventures begin when a family
comes to stay. A friendship
between a young boy, and Keith begins to grow. Keith has a toy motorcycle that he teaches Ralph to ride and
later, when Keith, is in need of Ralph’s help, the toy motorcycle comes in handy
and Ralph saves the day!
Reflection: This story is
a sweet and endearing story of a friendship between a mouse and a young
boy. This modern fantasy personifies
Ralph, giving him human-like qualities.
Ralph feels emotions- pain, happiness and desire. He gets so excited when he sees the
motorcycle for the first time and he has a strong desire throughout the story
to want to see more of the world.
This story has a progressive, simple plot. There is a simple introduction of the hotel; the various
details of it and the personality of Ralph are in the story’s beginning. Keith and Ralph then meet and a strong
friendship forms. The climax of
the story, I would say is when Keith gets very ill and is in need of an
aspirin. Ralph knows that he needs
to help him, but he is worried about the housemaids. When Ralph’s bravery takes over, he puts Keith’s life in
front of his own. Ralph takes the
motorcycle on a journey to the lobby, getting an aspirin that will in turn save
Keith’s life. I think Clearly has a clever way of showing the theme of
“friendship and bravery” in this story that would relate well to children. I
highly recommend this story!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Officer Buckle and Gloria
Rathmann, P. (1995). Officer Buckle and Gloria. New York: Putnam's.
Genre: fiction children's literature
Age: K-5th grade
Summary: Officer Buckle and Gloria is an entertaining story about a dog, Gloria, and her partner Officer Buckle. Officer Buckle is a police officer that is very knowledgeable about rules. He knows more rules than anyone in the city of Napville. When giving presentations, his audience never listens and gets bored by his rules. When he receives a police dog, all of this suddenly changes. Officer Buckle does not know why; behind his back, Gloria brings his speeches to life by acting out various moves to his safety tips. When he realizes what Gloria is doing, he gets upset and embarrassed that no one is listening to him. In the end, Officer Buckle learns the importance of working together and friendship when he discovers that his presentations would not be the same without both of the members, Gloria and him!
Reflection: This story is a humorous story and would not be the same without its’ incredible illustrations. The illustrations are done in vivid, bright colors with cartoon-like animations. The illustrations truly bring the story to life and create a humorous mood because of the expressions and intricate details of Gloria, Officer Buckle, and the audiences when they are presenting safety tips. My favorite illustration is the one when Officer Buckle is watching his presentation on the news and discovers the tricks that Gloria is doing in the background. You can feel his emotions from the way that Rathman drew his facial expressions and you can tell that Gloria knows she is in trouble because of her sideways glance at Officer Buckle astonished!
Emma's Turtle
Bunting, E., & Winborn, M. (2007). Emma's turtle. Honesdale, Pa: Boyds Mills Press.
Genre: fiction children's literature
Age: K-4th grade
Summary: Emma's turtle is written from the turtle's point-of view. Emma's turtle tells a story of adventure and discovery when it escapes its' pen to explore the world outside. The turtle is intrigued with the world outside its' pen because Emma reads books to the turtle and tells it stories. When the turtle leaves the pen, it thinks that it has traveled the world, when, in the end, it realizes that it has not even left the backyard.
Reflection: I enjoyed this story; it is a very "light read." I like that it was written in the point-of-view of the turtle because I think that makes it more interesting to students. I think that the turtle's response to the outside world is the same as children's. I was thinking back to my childhood, when I would play in an "imaginary world" all day. I liked how Bunting prefaced the beginning of the story with Emma reading a story to the turtle. I think this would be a good way to discuss the power of reading to students; the idea that books can take you to far away places and on adventures that you may never go on. The illustrations in the story are very detailed; each page shows a different scene that allows you to put the imagination of the turtle into a visual. When the “striped cat next door” is approaching Emma’s turtle you can really tell the size of the turtle to the cat by the exaggeration of the drawling.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Yoko
Wells, R. (1998). Yoko. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.
Genre: fiction children's literature
Age Level: K-3rd grade
Summary:
This story is about a cat, with human characteristics, named Yoko. When she goes to school, she brings sushi for her lunch, as well as red bean ice cream for her snack. The other students in the class make fun of her and cause her to feel embarrassed about "being different." The teacher decides to have an International Food day and all the children bring their cultural food to school to share with the class. The day does not go as planned until the end of the day when another student, Timothy comes over and tries Yoko's food. This opens up a friendship between Yoko and Timothy, founded on a mutual respect of each other's cultures.
Reflection:
I like the overall message that this book sends and I think it does it in an elementary kid-friendly way; open-mindedness and the idea that everyone is different. I asked myself throughout this book, why Wells did not have the class of students become more open-minded. The twist in the story, which I am not sure if I liked, was that only Timothy accepted Yoko's heritage and food. The rest of the students in the class never tried her sushi and Yoko still felt bad after the International Food day. I think the theme of the story is an important lesson to teach- accepting differences and open-mindedness. This book would relate well to students because food is something that is very different across cultures. As an educator, after reading this book, I would ask the questions; Who packed your lunch? Why do you think that you may have chosen or like the foods that you eat? These questions could be the beginning discussion about accepting each person's differences because it is our culture that causes differences. We do not choose where we were born or what culture we are in, so why can we judge this? The illustrations in the book are also very creative, detailed, and bring the animals to life. For instance, when Yoko is showing Timothy how to eat the sushi, you can see his confusion with the chopsticks because Wells does a good job with the expressions on the animals faces and the motions with his hands as he is discovering this new tool.
Wells, R. (1998). Yoko. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.
Genre: fiction children's literature
Age Level: K-3rd grade
Summary:
This story is about a cat, with human characteristics, named Yoko. When she goes to school, she brings sushi for her lunch, as well as red bean ice cream for her snack. The other students in the class make fun of her and cause her to feel embarrassed about "being different." The teacher decides to have an International Food day and all the children bring their cultural food to school to share with the class. The day does not go as planned until the end of the day when another student, Timothy comes over and tries Yoko's food. This opens up a friendship between Yoko and Timothy, founded on a mutual respect of each other's cultures.
Reflection:
I like the overall message that this book sends and I think it does it in an elementary kid-friendly way; open-mindedness and the idea that everyone is different. I asked myself throughout this book, why Wells did not have the class of students become more open-minded. The twist in the story, which I am not sure if I liked, was that only Timothy accepted Yoko's heritage and food. The rest of the students in the class never tried her sushi and Yoko still felt bad after the International Food day. I think the theme of the story is an important lesson to teach- accepting differences and open-mindedness. This book would relate well to students because food is something that is very different across cultures. As an educator, after reading this book, I would ask the questions; Who packed your lunch? Why do you think that you may have chosen or like the foods that you eat? These questions could be the beginning discussion about accepting each person's differences because it is our culture that causes differences. We do not choose where we were born or what culture we are in, so why can we judge this? The illustrations in the book are also very creative, detailed, and bring the animals to life. For instance, when Yoko is showing Timothy how to eat the sushi, you can see his confusion with the chopsticks because Wells does a good job with the expressions on the animals faces and the motions with his hands as he is discovering this new tool.
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