Last post for semester - 3321 Lit for Public Schools

I ended up really liking this assignment. At first, I was not all into to the whole blogging thing, but now that I have it figured it out, it is neat. I liked being able to view the thoughts of fellow students and being able to comment. This was a good experience because it allowed me to revisit authors that I have not thought about in years and find new ones.

Chapter 7 - Picture Books

Sorry, as I was thumbing through my posts, I realized I overlooked this chapter.

If you think about it, as adults, we do that often to this genre. We have gotten so used to chapter reading, we forget how this section contributes to the thoughts and furthers the imaginations of our children. For our visual learners, it will allow a concrete explanation.

http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/book-themes.htm
This is a great website because it lists its picture books by theme. In the event that you are doing a lesson on water, you can use Do Fish Drink? First Questions and Answers about Water by Time Life for Children as a resource.

Presentations for Dec 1

The presentations were so good yesterday. I loved Shel Silverstein as a child and the depiction given in class today reminded me of all the reasons why. The tree to me is very much like a parent. No matter what, we love our children unconditionally. Another book that reminds me of the unconditional love of a parent is I'll Love You Forever.

The next presentation was over fairy tales. One of the group members showed me the Snow White story that told both sides of the story. I love this idea. I want to read this to my own children and nieces because I think it is a good way to introduce the concept their are two sides to every story and for us to teach our children not to judge.

The last presentation was Lemony Snicket's, A Series of Unfortunate Events. I loved the way this group first presented the story and then provided us as a class to interact in their lesson. The whole presentation made me want to read the book once I have the time.

Presentations for November 24th

Today was the second day to present. Our group was one of the groups that went. I am thankful all went well and smoothly.

The second group presented fantasy. I completely forgot about some of those stories. I loved The Neverending Story when I was little. I also liked the quote from Yolen. I am not a huge fan of fantasy, but her quote, that fantasy teaches us compassion about things that we normally may not understand, really sunk in. Also, the fact that fantasy allows us to somewhat escape reality reminds me we do not have to be serious all the time.

Presentations for November 19th

I am very sorry to the group that gave their presentation today, I had my last field based class that ran over in time. My group said the movie maker was excellent. The group got along very well and you could see that in their presentation. They told me the presentation was over folklore and the story was very sweet and sincere. I like the choice of the story.

Chapter 10 - Shared Reading - Read Aloud

Thursday, we did a shared reading activity. This is a horrible thing to do. I think I now know what ADD/ADHD children feel like after this experience. I could not concentrate. I kept finding myself trying more to read with the people in my group instead of comprehending what I was reading. I am not a good reading per minute person either. I see no point in reading if I cannot absorb what I am reading and comprehend the material. I completely disagree in making a child read for rate and not comprehension.

Chapter 9 - Non-Fiction including Author Profile

I never realized there is so many realms in non-fictions. I, also, thought it was interesting that all those little shape books and color books are a form of non-fiction. I have a ton of them left from my classroom. I have always kept because I didn't know what grade I would be teaching. Now I want to keep them to show older students that they are a form of non-fiction.
The different types of fiction that Professor Picket brought to close was very eye opening. Looking at those books, I realized different reading levels will be able to do research. Then when I went to visit with my niece this weekend, she had a comic book. It was bound like a book, but it was filled with comics from the American Revolution. I never really liked history when I was in school, and neither does my niece, but she does like very illustrated books. The fact that she was able to recite facts from that time period was very impressive. She hates history.

The book was called Road to Revolution by Stan Mack. More can be found at
http://www.stanmack.com/

Also, there is
http://pbskids.org/sid
where the Sid the Science Kid series is now publishing the series into children's books.
The goal of the series is to get children to think and explore other concepts in a fun way.

The first three books in the series will be:
Sid the Science Kid: Why Are My Shoes Shrinking?,
Sid the Science Kid: The Trouble with Germs and
Sid the Science Kid: A Cavity Is a Hole in Your Tooth