Chapter 1- Foundations of Literature

My book finally arrived. As a result, my children's literature author and my chapter one blog are separate.

I don't always like to read for myself, but I do love to read to children. This chapter is so practical. When I taught preschool, my kids loved I'm Going on a Bear Hunt. Before class I would rearrange the classroom and make the bear hunt. At the end I would put a huge teddy bear in a dark closet. The kids loved it.
I never thought about all the aspects that go into teaching reading or helping to continue literacy. I only wanted to make a fun reading lesson for my four year olds. I did not know about the six language arts. Reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visual representation (Tompkins, 2005) are stated in our textbook. I know it won't always be time sufficient, but to be able to develop a pattern of acting out literature, should help to keep children interested. I would think with all the high tech gadgets out there, the best way to keep kids thirsting for more literature is to bring the literature to life.

Here is the link to Rosen's site...

http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/bearhunt.html

Another author that I have found is Steven Kroll. His books are a mix of fact and fiction. They are a faction. The field based teacher that I observed under read The Biggest Pumpkin Ever. It is a story about two mice that both end up taking care of a pumpkin and as a result the pumpkin becomes huge. Well, I went to his site and he has a variety of books that mix children's topics and natural resources or U.S. History. One book I want to get is Stuff. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. I am not an extreme environmentalist, but I do feel we need to be responsible for our environment. I think this book could be incorporated into a lesson to show children how important it is to take care of where we live and what we own.

His site is...

http://www.stevenkrollauthor.com/

children's literature authors

Well, here it goes. My first real blog.

Three authors and their books that are read over and over in my household are; Robert Munsch's Love You Forever, Audrey Penn's The Kissing Hand and A Pocket Full of Kisses, and Judy Schachner's Skippyjon Jones. Munsch's book and Penn's books are more thoughtful of the relationship between mother and child. I remeber the first time I read Munsch's Love You Forever and I could not finish reading it through the emotion that clogged my throat. It was so sweet because my little boy just looked at me and asked why I was so sad. I didn't know how to tell him that book reminded me he was going to grow up some day. He was only about four. Now my son is a fifth grader and he reads the book to me. It is amazing that my son is still interested in this story. I like to read Penn's
books because it reminds me that children need to be reassured of grown ups feelings for them. I have noticed whenever I read her to my second grader it opens up questions of insecurities he may be having. Schachner's Skippyjon Jones is a hilarious story about a Siamese cat that thinks he is a Chihuahua. My kids love this story. Even as grown up as my fifth grader says he is, he still chuckles at the silliness. When I taught pre-K, I would always tell my little ones, you can be whatever you want to be. Never to let anyone make you do something you don't want to. This story is the best illustration I think I have ever seen.

http://www.robertmunsch.com/

http://www.audreypenn.com/

http://www.judithbyronschachner.com/

Hello, this is my first blog. I have never done this before.