Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Sadle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.
I've always loved reading and I'd often heard people say that reading a book was much more stimulating than watching TV. I had never given much thought to that idea, until I read Madeleine L'Engle's explanation of "creative involvement". That makes so much sense. When I watch TV, it's just the pictures on the screen and I follow along with the storyline. But, when I read a book (even a good textbook) I not only follow along with the storyline, I actually get involved with the words. My imagination begins to work it's magic and I am absolutely drawn into the story. What an epiphany!
This was a great chapter! The information on using trade books in the classroom and teaching approaches were eye opening!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Craft Lesson 2
Introduce Apple Pie, 4th of July to a group of third graders. Before reading, ask them what they think the book will be about. Write down their responses. Flip through the book and allow them to look at the illustrations. Ask if anyone would like to change or add to their previous responses. Make changes as needed.
After reading the book, discuss their predictions. How were they different or the same? Why did they make those predictions about the book? Which illustration made you think something would or wouldn't happen?
Extend on the lesson by allowing students to write and/or illustrate their experiences on a 4th of July and how they are different or the same as the story.
After reading the book, discuss their predictions. How were they different or the same? Why did they make those predictions about the book? Which illustration made you think something would or wouldn't happen?
Extend on the lesson by allowing students to write and/or illustrate their experiences on a 4th of July and how they are different or the same as the story.
Craft Lesson 1
Read Buzz to a Kindergarten class. Discuss the different morning sounds, and objects that made these sounds.
Extend this by allowing students to add other sounds they might experience or have experienced during their busy mornings. Some of these might include the school bus honking when it picks them up, bacon sizzling, parents waking you, roosters (when visiting Grandma at the farm), whatever they suggest is a valid response.
Allow students to choose to draw a picture of what makes the sound, write a story about the object and the sound it makes, or record the sound and then tell a story about where they heard, or could hear, the sound.
Extend this by allowing students to add other sounds they might experience or have experienced during their busy mornings. Some of these might include the school bus honking when it picks them up, bacon sizzling, parents waking you, roosters (when visiting Grandma at the farm), whatever they suggest is a valid response.
Allow students to choose to draw a picture of what makes the sound, write a story about the object and the sound it makes, or record the sound and then tell a story about where they heard, or could hear, the sound.
Minn and Jake, p. 75-146
Wong, Janet S. Minn and Jake. Illus. Genevieve Cote. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.
What an entrepreneur Jake turns out to be; I knew he had to have some kind of secret talent. He does a great job of manipulating Minn.
Friendships, like all relationships, go through stages and changes. It's heartwarming to experience the way in which Janet Wong takes Minn and Jake from strangers to advisaries to best friends.
After studying the illustration of Minn dangling from the tree, I went back for a look at the other illustrations. Boy, I miss a bunch when I get caught up with the reading. The illustrations are great. I liked Jake's shadowed animals and his lizard dreams, but I especially liked the lizard clouds and lightening. In the future, I will be more observant.
What an entrepreneur Jake turns out to be; I knew he had to have some kind of secret talent. He does a great job of manipulating Minn.
Friendships, like all relationships, go through stages and changes. It's heartwarming to experience the way in which Janet Wong takes Minn and Jake from strangers to advisaries to best friends.
After studying the illustration of Minn dangling from the tree, I went back for a look at the other illustrations. Boy, I miss a bunch when I get caught up with the reading. The illustrations are great. I liked Jake's shadowed animals and his lizard dreams, but I especially liked the lizard clouds and lightening. In the future, I will be more observant.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Reading Assignment, Chapters 6-8
Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Sadle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.
Chapters 1-5 were such good and easy (interesting) reading. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 were very difficulty (boring) reading. Why? All these chapters included new information, so why did it take me longer to read fewer chapters?
I agreed totaly with Chapter 8, poetry is (was?) boring, but now I know why—I had horrible teachers! Actually, I only remember (it's been a few years since I was in elementary school) one poem—"It Was the Night Before Christmas". I remember this because we (4th, maybe 5th grade) presented it in the school auditorium, before a packed house (as packed as an elementary school in Nixon, TX could get). It was wonderful and I still remember most of the poem.
There was one other poem, but I can't remember the title. I just remember standing in front of the class, reciting something, and wanting to be finished so I could sit.
More recent, I remember wanting my students to write a Haiku and being so frustrated because they couldn't understand how. It was so easy. After all, I had walked them through the process, twice. So what was the problem?
The problem was, my poor kids had inherited a horrible teacher, who had had a horrible teacher! I feel sooooo guilty; expecting those poor kids to a grasp the abstract concept of a Haiku. I'll need to remember this the next time I go to confession.
Chapters 1-5 were such good and easy (interesting) reading. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 were very difficulty (boring) reading. Why? All these chapters included new information, so why did it take me longer to read fewer chapters?
I agreed totaly with Chapter 8, poetry is (was?) boring, but now I know why—I had horrible teachers! Actually, I only remember (it's been a few years since I was in elementary school) one poem—"It Was the Night Before Christmas". I remember this because we (4th, maybe 5th grade) presented it in the school auditorium, before a packed house (as packed as an elementary school in Nixon, TX could get). It was wonderful and I still remember most of the poem.
There was one other poem, but I can't remember the title. I just remember standing in front of the class, reciting something, and wanting to be finished so I could sit.
More recent, I remember wanting my students to write a Haiku and being so frustrated because they couldn't understand how. It was so easy. After all, I had walked them through the process, twice. So what was the problem?
The problem was, my poor kids had inherited a horrible teacher, who had had a horrible teacher! I feel sooooo guilty; expecting those poor kids to a grasp the abstract concept of a Haiku. I'll need to remember this the next time I go to confession.
Reading Assignment, Chapters 1-5
Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Sadle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.
I wasn't at all "intrigued" with the thought that my dead skin was "illimunated by a shaft of sunlight", I was sickened! I prefer to think that that's just dust that hasn't settled, thank you very much! (The scientist side of this educator did find it kinda interesting, though; like when I learned about all those dead cells the mites in my bed are feeding on.)
When I read of "unengaged reading", I wondered—is it unengaged reading when a toddler looses interest in a book, gets up, and leaves the reading circle or is this just toddler behavior when bored? (I noticed Mason paid more attention to Buzz when he chose the book, as opposed to when I chose to read it to him.) I remembered being in the public library when my kids were toddlers and watching as these little people wandered around while the librarian read. I was very irritated that their moms' didn't make them sit and listen. Was this unengaged "listening" because the kids had not selected the book, or were they just being toddlers?
I'd never given much thought to "What Is a Good Book?". I just thought, it's a good book if I like it and it's not, if I don't. I had considered how I select a book to read—if I like the illustrations, I read it. I had a difficult time with illustration #28, so I probably would not have chosen it to read. So, how many other good books have I failed to read because I didn't appreciate the illustrations? That won't happen again—okay, maybe not as often.
I wasn't at all "intrigued" with the thought that my dead skin was "illimunated by a shaft of sunlight", I was sickened! I prefer to think that that's just dust that hasn't settled, thank you very much! (The scientist side of this educator did find it kinda interesting, though; like when I learned about all those dead cells the mites in my bed are feeding on.)
When I read of "unengaged reading", I wondered—is it unengaged reading when a toddler looses interest in a book, gets up, and leaves the reading circle or is this just toddler behavior when bored? (I noticed Mason paid more attention to Buzz when he chose the book, as opposed to when I chose to read it to him.) I remembered being in the public library when my kids were toddlers and watching as these little people wandered around while the librarian read. I was very irritated that their moms' didn't make them sit and listen. Was this unengaged "listening" because the kids had not selected the book, or were they just being toddlers?
I'd never given much thought to "What Is a Good Book?". I just thought, it's a good book if I like it and it's not, if I don't. I had considered how I select a book to read—if I like the illustrations, I read it. I had a difficult time with illustration #28, so I probably would not have chosen it to read. So, how many other good books have I failed to read because I didn't appreciate the illustrations? That won't happen again—okay, maybe not as often.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Minn and Jake, p. 1-74
Wong, Janet S. Minn and Jake. Illus. Genevieve Cote. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.
What a great idea Jake has, looking at people as animals. I'd tried seeing them naked, but that was gross. The next time I'm nervously in front of a group of people, I'll imagine them as animals.
I can relate to Minn. My true best friends (I have 2) and I "broke up" at least once a week. It's a bit easier when you have 2 true best friends; usually we'd gang up on the other and so only one of us was left out. But, when you're the ONE, it was soooooo lonesome and you walk around with a sad face; hoping they will feel sorry for you and forgive you for whatever you did or didn't do.
When I first started reading Minn and Jake I thought, "Oh no, it's some kinda poem", because of how it was written. After reading the first few pages, I realized it wasn't a poem, and I began to appreciate how it was written. It was interested how Janet Wong chose to write this. I thought it made reading a bit faster and the story seemed to have a nice flow. I especially liked the way she italized statements and converstations, instead of using quotation marks.
What a great idea Jake has, looking at people as animals. I'd tried seeing them naked, but that was gross. The next time I'm nervously in front of a group of people, I'll imagine them as animals.
I can relate to Minn. My true best friends (I have 2) and I "broke up" at least once a week. It's a bit easier when you have 2 true best friends; usually we'd gang up on the other and so only one of us was left out. But, when you're the ONE, it was soooooo lonesome and you walk around with a sad face; hoping they will feel sorry for you and forgive you for whatever you did or didn't do.
When I first started reading Minn and Jake I thought, "Oh no, it's some kinda poem", because of how it was written. After reading the first few pages, I realized it wasn't a poem, and I began to appreciate how it was written. It was interested how Janet Wong chose to write this. I thought it made reading a bit faster and the story seemed to have a nice flow. I especially liked the way she italized statements and converstations, instead of using quotation marks.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Apple Pie 4th of July
Wong, Janet S. Apple Pie 4th of July. Illus. Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Orlando FL: Voyager Books/Harcourt, Inc., 2002.
How ignorant can parents be—Chinese food on July 4th, in the United States of America? Paaleeease!!
I was taken back to elementary school, sitting in the cafeteria, and rushing to eat my bean tacos before my anglo classmates noticed. Why did Guela (Grandma) pack these? I told her I wanted a sandwich, "con pan blanco" (on white bread). No tortillas! What would they think? I was so embarassed. Didn't she know white people don't eat tortillas? Tortillas were for Mexicans to eat at home, not at school. Some parents just don't know any better.
At the beginning of the story, the little girl might have thought the same thing—my parents just don't understand how things are done in America. She certainly looked worried. I wonder, if secretly, she was hoping no one would come to the restaurant. If no one came, they wouldn't get the idea that her parents were ignorant of American culture.
How ignorant can parents be—Chinese food on July 4th, in the United States of America? Paaleeease!!
I was taken back to elementary school, sitting in the cafeteria, and rushing to eat my bean tacos before my anglo classmates noticed. Why did Guela (Grandma) pack these? I told her I wanted a sandwich, "con pan blanco" (on white bread). No tortillas! What would they think? I was so embarassed. Didn't she know white people don't eat tortillas? Tortillas were for Mexicans to eat at home, not at school. Some parents just don't know any better.
At the beginning of the story, the little girl might have thought the same thing—my parents just don't understand how things are done in America. She certainly looked worried. I wonder, if secretly, she was hoping no one would come to the restaurant. If no one came, they wouldn't get the idea that her parents were ignorant of American culture.
Buzz
Wong, Janet S. Buzz. Illus. Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Orlando FL: Voyager Books/Harcourt, Inc., 2000.
This is the kind of book I like reading with my grandson, Mason. He is 27 months old and has been signing since he was about seven months old. When reading, I teach him new signs and we review those he has already learned.
I think it's important for children, especially very young children, to be able to relate to the characters in the books they read. This story was easy for Mason to relate to (and sign)—Daddy shaving, airplane flying, a kiss for Grandma (Guela), etc. The only thing he was confused with was, the "bee". He insisted it was a butterfly. Butterflies he has seen, I don't believe he's been close enough to a bee to get a good look.
When I first picked up this book, I thought Mason and I would be reading a book about bees and honey. It was interesting to see where Wong went with this; I'd never considered the different buzzes we experience during the day. By the end of the story, Mason had learned the sign for bee and the fact that he insisted it was a butterfly, did not stop him from "buzzzzzzzz"ing around all afternoon.
This is the kind of book I like reading with my grandson, Mason. He is 27 months old and has been signing since he was about seven months old. When reading, I teach him new signs and we review those he has already learned.
I think it's important for children, especially very young children, to be able to relate to the characters in the books they read. This story was easy for Mason to relate to (and sign)—Daddy shaving, airplane flying, a kiss for Grandma (Guela), etc. The only thing he was confused with was, the "bee". He insisted it was a butterfly. Butterflies he has seen, I don't believe he's been close enough to a bee to get a good look.
When I first picked up this book, I thought Mason and I would be reading a book about bees and honey. It was interesting to see where Wong went with this; I'd never considered the different buzzes we experience during the day. By the end of the story, Mason had learned the sign for bee and the fact that he insisted it was a butterfly, did not stop him from "buzzzzzzzz"ing around all afternoon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)