30 October 2008
candy activity
I really enjoyed this activity. I think children would like this activity to because they get to work with candy. I think it was helped to start out with words children hear alot then read off words that are less common with the same ending. I love that I can apply all the activities we do in class to my future classroom.
23 October 2008
Questioning
Kelli Mauch
Potpara, L. & Prap L. Why?
This book has lots of questions about animals. For example “Why do zebras have stripes?” or “Why do kangaroos have pouches?.” The book provides both real and silly answers to the questions presented throughout this book. This is a very fun book that kids would greatly enjoy.
Strategy connection: This book shows students that it is ok to have questions. Some of these questions may seem silly but they are questions that many students could possibly have. Although there are both silly and real answers provided students are able to see that questioning is normal and people may have the same questions as them.
Curtis, J. Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery
This book is full of different questions that arise when a little boy lets go of his balloon. This book will make you think about what happens when you let a balloon go up into the sky. Questions throughout the book range from “Do they keep going up? Can they ever just stop?” to “Are they always alone? Do they meet up in pairs?”
Strategy Connection: This book would be a great book to introduce questioning. It gives many examples of lots of different questions. As silly as some questions are throughout the book it will encourage students that no question is to silly to ask if they are really wondering what the answer is to the question they are pondering.
Steig, W. When Everybody Wore a Hat
This book is about the author’s life growing up back around 1916. The author says how they had no TV’s, very few electric lights, car, or telephones. He also talks about how his family came to America from the Old Country. The book talks about his parents speaking many different languages to the activities and things that him and each of his family members did.
Connection to strategy: This is a great book to get kids to ask questions about what life way back before they were alive. What did kids do before there was TV and video games? There were also other situations that do not come up very often for kids the question and that is the fact that he talks about his parents arguing. Is it normal for parents to argue? Do all parents argue? There are many questions this books could trigger in a students mind. It would be a great book for students to keep track of their questions as they are reading.
Carly Friedland
Barrett, J. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
The book tells the story of the town Chewandswallow, a place where the weather came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything that everyone ate came from the sky. It rained soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and peas. Te wind blew in storms of hamburgers. The residents of Chewandswallow had a great life. They always had delicious food falling from the sky, so they never had to buy food. However, when the weather starts to take a turn for the worse, the residents of Chewandswallow need to figure out how to get themselves out of a big mess.
Strategy Connection: This story portrays a situation that could never happen in real life. When children are shown the idea of this crazy town, they can begin to question the events in the story. Some questions that are likely to arise include: Why does food fall from the sky? Is there any kind of real weather in Chewandswallow? What happens if you don’t like the food that falls? Can the food hurt a person if it falls on them? How do they clean up the food that falls on the ground? When the food storms begin, what will happen to the people of Chewandswallow? These are only a few of the questions that students may come up with. Some of these questions are answered in the text, and others are left to be discussed and debated.
Hoban, R. Bread and Jam for Frances.
Frances is a very picky eater. The only food she likes to eat is bread and jam. Her mom makes lots of delicious food for the whole family, even baby Gloria. But Frances prefers bread and jam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One day, Frances’s mom does not make her eggs in the morning, a special lunch, or spaghetti for dinner. Frances only gets bread and jam. Frances soon realizes that there are other foods for her to try and she no longer wants to eat just bread and jam.
Strategy Connection: This book promotes questioning because it gets children to think about their own life. Frances’s situation is one that they may come across in their lives. Frances is also a very curious creature, so children will probably have questions about her. Some questions may include: why does Frances only eat bread and jam? Why doesn’t Frances like other food? Why does Frances sing about everything? Why does Frances get upset when her mother gives her bread and jam and not other foods? Will Frances ever try other foods? Some of these questions can be answered in the text, and others are not answered.
Dr. Suess. The Lorax.
The Lorax is about the Street of the Lifted Lorax. It used to be a beautiful place with lots of Truffula Trees. It was colorful and clean. Then one day, the Once-ler came to town. He saw the trees and chopped one down to make a Thneed. He made money on his Thneed, and continued chopping down trees to make more. The Lorax came to the Once-ler and warned him that he must stop chopping down the trees. However, the Once-ler did not stop and continued cutting down tree after tree. The animals could no longer live there, the water and air were polluted, and it was no longer green and beautiful. It warns readers of the dangers of cutting down trees and what it can do to the environment.
Strategy Connection: This book relates to real life because it shows the dangers of hurting the environment. Students can come up with many bigger questions from this book. Some examples of questions include: Why won’t the Once-ler listen to the Lorax? What is going to happen to the land? What would happen if all the trees were cut down in real life? These questions can lead to debate and discussion.
Lily Harrison
Houston, G But No Candy
Lee loves her Hershey’s bars. She goes every day to the local store and buys one for a nickel. But one day, the store no longer has candy bars. Lee learns it is because of the war. Her Uncle Ted soon leaves to fight in the war and Lee works with her family on the home front to help in the war effort. Still, Lee hopes every day for candy and she also hopes for her Uncle Ted to come home. The war keeps going but eventually it ends and Uncle Ted returns with a Hershey’s bar for Lee. Lee is so excited to eat it but when she takes a bite, she realizes candy is less important than the return of her Uncle and goes to spend time with him instead.
Questioning Strategy Connection: This book can help to promote questioning by taking children into a different time in our history yet still keeping the story relevant to them through the idea of candy. By investigating a different time in our history, children will be able to come up with questions about what life was like during World War II, why World War II began, etc. Using historical fiction can be a great starting place to ignite children’s interests and help them to develop questions and sometimes answers, as they read.
MacLachlan, P Sarah Plain and Tall
Sarah Wheaton answers an advertisement to become a wife of a widow with two children. She has never met this man or his two children before but moves from Maine anyways to become their mother. With her, she brings her cat Seal and the children fall in love with her. But Sarah misses the sea and one day takes the buggy to town and the children worry she is leaving them to return to Maine. Yet, Sarah returns because she loves the children and their father even more than she loves the sea. Sarah and “Papa” marry and they become one happy family.
Questioning Strategy Connection: Sarah, Plain and Tall would be an excellent choice to promote the strategy of questioning because it too, takes place at a different historical time. Since children are so unfamiliar with any time period different than their own, reading about the prairie and moving a thousand miles away from one’s home to get married to a stranger can help spurn different questions. Reading about anything that is different than what we are used to is a great way to teach questioning because new ideas come with a multitude of questions.
DePola, T Now One Foot Now the Other
Bobby does everything with his grandfather, Bob. Bob helped Bobby learn to walk, they’d always play with blocks, and Bob would tell Bobby wonderful stories. Yet one day, Bobby’s grandfather had a stroke and was in the hospital. He learned that Bob couldn’t talk, walk, and didn’t know who anyone was. Bobby didn’t know what to do and he missed Bob very much. Bob came home from the hospital and Bobby was scared of him because he was so different. But Bobby refused to believe that Bob didn’t know who he was and started to help Bob by teaching him to eat, told him stories, and taught him to walk. Bob grew stronger and stronger every day.
Questioning Strategy Connection: Using this story can help to promote students’ questions about the process of getting older and what happens when a person has a stroke. This story is a great starting point for allowing students to develop their own questions about both topics and can inspire them to find out the answers. It is a great learning tool for asking questions and trying to find out answers through the text or in other sources.
Sam Leone
Shulman, L The Moon Might Be Milk
The book is about a girl who questios what the moon is made of. Throughout the book she asks some of her animal friends what they think the moon is made of. The animals have different answers. All the animals’ answers contain an ingrident. The girl and the animals finally goes to her grandmother’s house to ask her what she thinks the moon is made of. When the girl and animals arrive at the house, they find all the things they thought the moon was made of on the kitchen counter. The grandmother uses all the ingridents to make cookies. The girl believed that the moon is one giant sugar cookie.
Strategy connection: The book uses the questioning strategy because it shows children that they should not be afraid to ask questions. This book makes students think of questions that they have about different things they observe in the environment. Also this book promotes students to seek answers to their own questions. The teacher might ask the children what they think the moon is made of and they can research this to support there question. Also, the teacher can students think of own question they are curious about.
Lowry, L Number of Stars
The book is about a ten year old girl and her best friend living during World War II. In 1943, there life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and Nazi soldiers. The Nazi start invading Demark, and the Jewish girl has to move into best friends house. She has to pretend she is part of the family. The Non-Jewish girl has to hide and protect her friend from the Nazi.
Strategy Connection: This book helps children think about the holocaust and question what they would do for their best friend. Also, I think it is important for children to read about hardships that World War II children went through. Students will have a lot of questions on what life was like during the Holocaust so the teacher should provide the opportunity for students to share their questions. Teachers should write a question on the board and have the students respond to the question and promote them to ask new questions. Through out the book students should be asked questions and they are responsible for finding the answers. Students should have the opportunity to share their emotions and feelings about what they think about the book and talk about any lingering questions they might have.
Brown, L.K.,Brown M When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death (Dino Life Guides for Families)
This book explains death to children. This book uses simple language to explain how someone feels after a loved one dies. This book explains of to honor the memory of someone who has died. The book answers questions about students’ curiosity about death.
Strategy connection: This suggestion is for a parent who has to explain death to child. Even a teacher can use this book if the students undergo a death in elementary school. When I was in elementary school my teacher died. Many students had questions about death and why it happens. This book could help answer questions about death and what it feels like to experience death. Students might have question about death and ways to discuss anything with parents or teachers. This topic is very difficult topic to discuss but this book provides a good way for students to ask questions and get answers about this topic.
Chelsea Vanderlinden
Babbit, N Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting is a children’s novel about Winnie Foster, a girl, who is offered a chance to live forever. Through her friendship with the Tuck family she learns about a secret spring that has given them the Tucks eternal life. Winnie must help protect the family while she learns about their experience being immortal. Winnie must also deal with the contrast between the Tucks and her strict, overprotective home.
Strategy Connection:
Fiction text should promote questioning though plot and text details that bring up issues relatable to the students themselves. Tuck Everlasting will force students to think about deep issues connected to life and death. It would give students many topics and levels of questioning to consider leading to new understandings of freedom and nature’s cycle of life. These issues could be explored and unpacked through class discussions, graphic organizers, reflections, research, and other projects.
Degen, B & Cole, J The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body
This Magic School Bus story includes facts and information embedded in the fictional story of a class taking a field trip inside the body of student with the help of their ‘magic school bus.’ The storyline is a funny fantasy about the class’ adventure as they learn about the circulatory and digestive systems of the human body by actually traveling through them. The text is both entertaining and informative with engaging illustrations and side storylines.
Strategy Connection:
Students can practice reading with a question in mind as they enjoy reading the text but also distinguish fact from fiction. If they are prompted to deal with certain questions before they read, they can use the book like an informational text to read for data. Many o f the other strategies for non fiction, including question webs and “I wonder….” Responses can also be used. The text is extremely engaging and provides an introduction to the topic but can also lead to questioning that prompts further research.
Strategy Connection: As children begin to think about schema and strategy instruction, memories and the objects, visuals, and experiences that trigger them, become very important. This book provides a jumping off point to begin talking about experience and how our experiences shape how we interpret texts, objects, and experiences. It calls to attention that our schemas are different and may lead to different interpretations. This would be an excellent book to utilize before a strategy unit on activating and connecting previous knowledge.
Bang, M. When Sophie Gets Angry...really, Really Angry...
This picture book is about Sophie’s response to getting really really angry. After a fight with her sister, Sophie is livid about being forced by her mother to share her toy. The text talks about Sophie’s anger building up like a volcano and her process of slowly calming down (and all the emotions in between). The text uses expressive illustrations to help students connect to Sophie’s feelings.
Strategy Connection:
When Sophie Gets Angry… really Really Angry can promote questioning in an early elementary classroom or with a group dealing with emotional/behavioral disorders. It is a great example of a non-informational text that can be used with questioning strategies that go deeper than literature comprehension and expansion. There are many “thick” questions about appropriate behavior, personal feelings and interacting with others that are brought up in this text. The questioning in this book can also be used with Harvey and Goudvis’ inferential thinking activity to help students understand appropriate anger management.
Potpara, L. & Prap L. Why?
This book has lots of questions about animals. For example “Why do zebras have stripes?” or “Why do kangaroos have pouches?.” The book provides both real and silly answers to the questions presented throughout this book. This is a very fun book that kids would greatly enjoy.
Strategy connection: This book shows students that it is ok to have questions. Some of these questions may seem silly but they are questions that many students could possibly have. Although there are both silly and real answers provided students are able to see that questioning is normal and people may have the same questions as them.
Curtis, J. Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery
This book is full of different questions that arise when a little boy lets go of his balloon. This book will make you think about what happens when you let a balloon go up into the sky. Questions throughout the book range from “Do they keep going up? Can they ever just stop?” to “Are they always alone? Do they meet up in pairs?”
Strategy Connection: This book would be a great book to introduce questioning. It gives many examples of lots of different questions. As silly as some questions are throughout the book it will encourage students that no question is to silly to ask if they are really wondering what the answer is to the question they are pondering.
Steig, W. When Everybody Wore a Hat
This book is about the author’s life growing up back around 1916. The author says how they had no TV’s, very few electric lights, car, or telephones. He also talks about how his family came to America from the Old Country. The book talks about his parents speaking many different languages to the activities and things that him and each of his family members did.
Connection to strategy: This is a great book to get kids to ask questions about what life way back before they were alive. What did kids do before there was TV and video games? There were also other situations that do not come up very often for kids the question and that is the fact that he talks about his parents arguing. Is it normal for parents to argue? Do all parents argue? There are many questions this books could trigger in a students mind. It would be a great book for students to keep track of their questions as they are reading.
Carly Friedland
Barrett, J. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
The book tells the story of the town Chewandswallow, a place where the weather came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything that everyone ate came from the sky. It rained soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and peas. Te wind blew in storms of hamburgers. The residents of Chewandswallow had a great life. They always had delicious food falling from the sky, so they never had to buy food. However, when the weather starts to take a turn for the worse, the residents of Chewandswallow need to figure out how to get themselves out of a big mess.
Strategy Connection: This story portrays a situation that could never happen in real life. When children are shown the idea of this crazy town, they can begin to question the events in the story. Some questions that are likely to arise include: Why does food fall from the sky? Is there any kind of real weather in Chewandswallow? What happens if you don’t like the food that falls? Can the food hurt a person if it falls on them? How do they clean up the food that falls on the ground? When the food storms begin, what will happen to the people of Chewandswallow? These are only a few of the questions that students may come up with. Some of these questions are answered in the text, and others are left to be discussed and debated.
Hoban, R. Bread and Jam for Frances.
Frances is a very picky eater. The only food she likes to eat is bread and jam. Her mom makes lots of delicious food for the whole family, even baby Gloria. But Frances prefers bread and jam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One day, Frances’s mom does not make her eggs in the morning, a special lunch, or spaghetti for dinner. Frances only gets bread and jam. Frances soon realizes that there are other foods for her to try and she no longer wants to eat just bread and jam.
Strategy Connection: This book promotes questioning because it gets children to think about their own life. Frances’s situation is one that they may come across in their lives. Frances is also a very curious creature, so children will probably have questions about her. Some questions may include: why does Frances only eat bread and jam? Why doesn’t Frances like other food? Why does Frances sing about everything? Why does Frances get upset when her mother gives her bread and jam and not other foods? Will Frances ever try other foods? Some of these questions can be answered in the text, and others are not answered.
Dr. Suess. The Lorax.
The Lorax is about the Street of the Lifted Lorax. It used to be a beautiful place with lots of Truffula Trees. It was colorful and clean. Then one day, the Once-ler came to town. He saw the trees and chopped one down to make a Thneed. He made money on his Thneed, and continued chopping down trees to make more. The Lorax came to the Once-ler and warned him that he must stop chopping down the trees. However, the Once-ler did not stop and continued cutting down tree after tree. The animals could no longer live there, the water and air were polluted, and it was no longer green and beautiful. It warns readers of the dangers of cutting down trees and what it can do to the environment.
Strategy Connection: This book relates to real life because it shows the dangers of hurting the environment. Students can come up with many bigger questions from this book. Some examples of questions include: Why won’t the Once-ler listen to the Lorax? What is going to happen to the land? What would happen if all the trees were cut down in real life? These questions can lead to debate and discussion.
Lily Harrison
Houston, G But No Candy
Lee loves her Hershey’s bars. She goes every day to the local store and buys one for a nickel. But one day, the store no longer has candy bars. Lee learns it is because of the war. Her Uncle Ted soon leaves to fight in the war and Lee works with her family on the home front to help in the war effort. Still, Lee hopes every day for candy and she also hopes for her Uncle Ted to come home. The war keeps going but eventually it ends and Uncle Ted returns with a Hershey’s bar for Lee. Lee is so excited to eat it but when she takes a bite, she realizes candy is less important than the return of her Uncle and goes to spend time with him instead.
Questioning Strategy Connection: This book can help to promote questioning by taking children into a different time in our history yet still keeping the story relevant to them through the idea of candy. By investigating a different time in our history, children will be able to come up with questions about what life was like during World War II, why World War II began, etc. Using historical fiction can be a great starting place to ignite children’s interests and help them to develop questions and sometimes answers, as they read.
MacLachlan, P Sarah Plain and Tall
Sarah Wheaton answers an advertisement to become a wife of a widow with two children. She has never met this man or his two children before but moves from Maine anyways to become their mother. With her, she brings her cat Seal and the children fall in love with her. But Sarah misses the sea and one day takes the buggy to town and the children worry she is leaving them to return to Maine. Yet, Sarah returns because she loves the children and their father even more than she loves the sea. Sarah and “Papa” marry and they become one happy family.
Questioning Strategy Connection: Sarah, Plain and Tall would be an excellent choice to promote the strategy of questioning because it too, takes place at a different historical time. Since children are so unfamiliar with any time period different than their own, reading about the prairie and moving a thousand miles away from one’s home to get married to a stranger can help spurn different questions. Reading about anything that is different than what we are used to is a great way to teach questioning because new ideas come with a multitude of questions.
DePola, T Now One Foot Now the Other
Bobby does everything with his grandfather, Bob. Bob helped Bobby learn to walk, they’d always play with blocks, and Bob would tell Bobby wonderful stories. Yet one day, Bobby’s grandfather had a stroke and was in the hospital. He learned that Bob couldn’t talk, walk, and didn’t know who anyone was. Bobby didn’t know what to do and he missed Bob very much. Bob came home from the hospital and Bobby was scared of him because he was so different. But Bobby refused to believe that Bob didn’t know who he was and started to help Bob by teaching him to eat, told him stories, and taught him to walk. Bob grew stronger and stronger every day.
Questioning Strategy Connection: Using this story can help to promote students’ questions about the process of getting older and what happens when a person has a stroke. This story is a great starting point for allowing students to develop their own questions about both topics and can inspire them to find out the answers. It is a great learning tool for asking questions and trying to find out answers through the text or in other sources.
Sam Leone
Shulman, L The Moon Might Be Milk
The book is about a girl who questios what the moon is made of. Throughout the book she asks some of her animal friends what they think the moon is made of. The animals have different answers. All the animals’ answers contain an ingrident. The girl and the animals finally goes to her grandmother’s house to ask her what she thinks the moon is made of. When the girl and animals arrive at the house, they find all the things they thought the moon was made of on the kitchen counter. The grandmother uses all the ingridents to make cookies. The girl believed that the moon is one giant sugar cookie.
Strategy connection: The book uses the questioning strategy because it shows children that they should not be afraid to ask questions. This book makes students think of questions that they have about different things they observe in the environment. Also this book promotes students to seek answers to their own questions. The teacher might ask the children what they think the moon is made of and they can research this to support there question. Also, the teacher can students think of own question they are curious about.
Lowry, L Number of Stars
The book is about a ten year old girl and her best friend living during World War II. In 1943, there life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and Nazi soldiers. The Nazi start invading Demark, and the Jewish girl has to move into best friends house. She has to pretend she is part of the family. The Non-Jewish girl has to hide and protect her friend from the Nazi.
Strategy Connection: This book helps children think about the holocaust and question what they would do for their best friend. Also, I think it is important for children to read about hardships that World War II children went through. Students will have a lot of questions on what life was like during the Holocaust so the teacher should provide the opportunity for students to share their questions. Teachers should write a question on the board and have the students respond to the question and promote them to ask new questions. Through out the book students should be asked questions and they are responsible for finding the answers. Students should have the opportunity to share their emotions and feelings about what they think about the book and talk about any lingering questions they might have.
Brown, L.K.,Brown M When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death (Dino Life Guides for Families)
This book explains death to children. This book uses simple language to explain how someone feels after a loved one dies. This book explains of to honor the memory of someone who has died. The book answers questions about students’ curiosity about death.
Strategy connection: This suggestion is for a parent who has to explain death to child. Even a teacher can use this book if the students undergo a death in elementary school. When I was in elementary school my teacher died. Many students had questions about death and why it happens. This book could help answer questions about death and what it feels like to experience death. Students might have question about death and ways to discuss anything with parents or teachers. This topic is very difficult topic to discuss but this book provides a good way for students to ask questions and get answers about this topic.
Chelsea Vanderlinden
Babbit, N Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting is a children’s novel about Winnie Foster, a girl, who is offered a chance to live forever. Through her friendship with the Tuck family she learns about a secret spring that has given them the Tucks eternal life. Winnie must help protect the family while she learns about their experience being immortal. Winnie must also deal with the contrast between the Tucks and her strict, overprotective home.
Strategy Connection:
Fiction text should promote questioning though plot and text details that bring up issues relatable to the students themselves. Tuck Everlasting will force students to think about deep issues connected to life and death. It would give students many topics and levels of questioning to consider leading to new understandings of freedom and nature’s cycle of life. These issues could be explored and unpacked through class discussions, graphic organizers, reflections, research, and other projects.
Degen, B & Cole, J The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body
This Magic School Bus story includes facts and information embedded in the fictional story of a class taking a field trip inside the body of student with the help of their ‘magic school bus.’ The storyline is a funny fantasy about the class’ adventure as they learn about the circulatory and digestive systems of the human body by actually traveling through them. The text is both entertaining and informative with engaging illustrations and side storylines.
Strategy Connection:
Students can practice reading with a question in mind as they enjoy reading the text but also distinguish fact from fiction. If they are prompted to deal with certain questions before they read, they can use the book like an informational text to read for data. Many o f the other strategies for non fiction, including question webs and “I wonder….” Responses can also be used. The text is extremely engaging and provides an introduction to the topic but can also lead to questioning that prompts further research.
Strategy Connection: As children begin to think about schema and strategy instruction, memories and the objects, visuals, and experiences that trigger them, become very important. This book provides a jumping off point to begin talking about experience and how our experiences shape how we interpret texts, objects, and experiences. It calls to attention that our schemas are different and may lead to different interpretations. This would be an excellent book to utilize before a strategy unit on activating and connecting previous knowledge.
Bang, M. When Sophie Gets Angry...really, Really Angry...
This picture book is about Sophie’s response to getting really really angry. After a fight with her sister, Sophie is livid about being forced by her mother to share her toy. The text talks about Sophie’s anger building up like a volcano and her process of slowly calming down (and all the emotions in between). The text uses expressive illustrations to help students connect to Sophie’s feelings.
Strategy Connection:
When Sophie Gets Angry… really Really Angry can promote questioning in an early elementary classroom or with a group dealing with emotional/behavioral disorders. It is a great example of a non-informational text that can be used with questioning strategies that go deeper than literature comprehension and expansion. There are many “thick” questions about appropriate behavior, personal feelings and interacting with others that are brought up in this text. The questioning in this book can also be used with Harvey and Goudvis’ inferential thinking activity to help students understand appropriate anger management.
Text Set: Activating and Connecting (Jessica)
Gibbons, G. Groundhog Day.This is a great book to introduce Groundhogs Day to students. It gives the historical background and how the holiday came about. There are also places in the book that have definitions of the different animals that they are talking about. The book talks about how every year on February 2nd in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania people wait on a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil to see his shadow. The author also includes information about the groundhog's diet, habitat, burrows, newborns/kits and looks at past cultures that depended on hibernating animals to help them determine the arrival of spring. The information in this book is geared towards an elementary school level with a lot of good inormation and facts about the holiday.
Strategy Connection: This is a great book to use in a classroom to practice the idea on noticing and recording new information that they have read in the book. It allows them to learn more information about a holiday that is not well known. It not only will give them information on the holiday but also on groundhogs. Even though this is an American holiday, not many people know the history behind it. This book will lead to great discussions and crafts in an elementary classroom.
Cuyler, M. Hooray for Reading Day!
Jessica worries all the time. She worried about what was under her bed, getting her hair cut, going to the dentist, walking Wiggles, and reading. Especially reading. Jessica stuttered while reading and the kids in the class would laugh at her. Her teacher would always let her try again and she hated it. Mr. Martin announced that Friday was reading theater day and the students had to dress up in costumes and read a part in the book. He told them all of their parents were invited. Her mother told her that she shouldn't be worried because when she was younger she wasn't a good reader and then one day she could read. Jessica practiced in front of Wiggles. She could read perfect. But could she read in front of everybody on Friday? Jessica read perfectly. Hooray for Reading Day!
Strategy Connection: This is a good book to teach students Text to Self connections. Before reading the teacher can ask students to think about how this book relates to them. While reading, the teacher should stop in certain parts in the book and ask the students questions that will allow them to connect their lives to the book. There is also a pretty good lesson behind the meaning of the book. The author wants kids to know that they are not alone when it comes to reading. Sometimes kids are embarassed to read out loud. She wants students to know that it is ok and you shouldn't feel emabarassed about reading.
Kann, V. and Kann, E. Pinkalicious.A little girl loves the color pink. One day while it is raining, she decides she wants to make pink cupcakes. When her mother finishes, she demands more. She gobbled the cupcakes one after another and still wanted more. After dinner she ate even more. Next next morning, when she woke up she was pink. She was pink from head to toe. It wasn't washable so her parents took her to the doctor. Th whole time they were there she wanted more pink cupcakes. The doctor diagnosed her with Pinkititis. She wasn't allowed to have anything pink. In order to turn back to her normal color she had to eat green food. Even though the doctor told her to stay away from pink food, that night she snuck out of her room and ate another pink cupcake. The next morning she was bright red. After that she ate everything green in her fridge so that she could turn back to her normal color. Just when she turned back to normal her brother ran through the door and yelled "Pink-a-boo".
Strategy Connection: This is a good book for reading to kids and asking them what it reminds them of. It can help the students make connections about something in their life and what is going on in the text. It would be a great conversation starter for eating healthy and listening to you parents. Both of this concepts come out of this book. It is important for the students to be able to go back and reflect on what they do at home or at school. If the children can make that connection, the readings will keep their attention and they will find it more interesting.
Text Set: Activating and Connecting (Winnie)
Danneberg, J. First Day Jitters.The alarm rings, but Sarah Jane Hartwell just slips down deeper into her covers and announces that she doesn’t want to go. Sarah Jane slowly tumbled out of bed, stumbled into the bathroom, and fumbled into her clothes when Mr. Hartwell finally orders her down to breakfast. Mr. Hartwell puts her in the car and drops her off at school. Sarah Jane is led to the classroom by Mrs. Burton, the principle. The readers are eventually led to the revelation that Sarah Jane is not a student, but actually a teacher.
Strategy Connection: This book is a great way to start the students on making connections between what they read and what is going on in their lives. This book can help create great conversations on how do we feel about first day of school? Do we have anything in common with Sarah Jane? This book can also help the students realize that they are not the only ones that feel nervous on the first day but teachers have the same feelings and fears as well.
Flanaga, A.K. Cinco de Mayo.
This book is a great way to introduce the holiday day Cinco de Mayo to students. It talks about the background and the history of how the holiday came about. The book talks about the food eaten, music played, and the dances people do during the holiday. It also shares with the students how the holiday is celebrated here in the US and what the students can do themselves on that holiday.
Strategy Connection: This is a great book for the students to practice the idea of noticing and recording down new things they learn throughout a book. This could be a great way for the students to learn about another holiday besides the ones they have been celebrating since they were little. This is also a way for the students to learn and experience different cultures besides their own.
Viorst, J. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
From the moment Alexander wakes up with gum in his hair, things just do not go his way. At breakfast, Alexander's brothers Nick and Anthony reach into their cereal boxes and pulled out amazing prizes, while all Alexander ends up with is cereal. Things don’t go smoothly throughout the day either. Alexander’s teacher doesn't like his drawing of an invisible castle, he loses his yo-yo, there is no dessert in his lunch, the dentist tells him he has a cavity, there is kissing on TV, and he has to wear his railroad train pajamas (he hates his railroad train pajamas). With all of this, it isn’t any surprise Alexander wants to move to Australia! Alexander’s mother's assures him that everyone has bad days, even people who live in Australia.
Strategy Connection: This book is a great way to teach the students Text-to-Self connections. This book can be used as a great discussion starter. The teacher can his/her students what causes them to have a bad day and how do they deal with it when they are in those situations. This can show the students that although characters in a book are not real, they can sometimes have very much in common with the students themselves.
21 October 2008
Book Club Groups
Below, you will find your book club assignments. Please purchase your book club book in the next week or two to ensure you have a copy.
Black Ants and Buddhists
Kristie R.
Kristine B.
Jessica W.
Chelsea
Growing Readers
Ashley
Whitney
Carly
Sam
Devon
Crafting Writers, Group 1
Kelli
Lily
Winnie
Jessica C.
Crafting Writers, Group 2
Lauren
Emily
Brooke Sc.
Brooke St.
Kristin
As always, comment with questions.
Black Ants and Buddhists
Kristie R.
Kristine B.
Jessica W.
Chelsea
Growing Readers
Ashley
Whitney
Carly
Sam
Devon
Crafting Writers, Group 1
Kelli
Lily
Winnie
Jessica C.
Crafting Writers, Group 2
Lauren
Emily
Brooke Sc.
Brooke St.
Kristin
As always, comment with questions.
13 October 2008
06 October 2008
Text Sets
As strategy presentations begin, here are my expectations for the text sets. Text sets will be posted here on the blog - you will be responsible for posting them. Elements of a text set:
* 3 books per person in the group.
* Graphic of the book cover. You can upload pictures you take yourself of the book covers. There is a button on the blog posting page that will walk you through uploading photos from your computer:
* You must link to a webpage where we could purchase the book. You can use Amazon, Powells, etc. to create this link. The link button is five buttons from the left, next to the text color button.
* There must be a synopsis of the book.
* You must connect the book with the strategy you presented on.
I've put together a text set for schema that shows you how I would like the set laid out:
Fox, M. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge.
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge, a boy who isn't very old, lives next door to an old people's home. His favorite old person is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper, who he tells all his secrets to and how has, according to his parents, lost her memory. Wilfrid begins to ask various people at the old people's home what a memory is and collects objects that spark his own memories to share with Miss Cooper. He shares his box with her, his shells, puppet, grandfather's medal, football, and an egg, and she begins to rememeber her own memories.
Strategy Connection: As children begin to think about schema and strategy instruction, memories and the objects, visuals, and experiences that trigger them, become very important. This book provides a jumping off point to begin talking about experience and how our experiences shape how we interpret texts, objects, and experiences. It calls to attention that our schemas are different and may lead to different interpretations. This would be an excellent book to utilize before a strategy unit on activating and connecting previous knowledge.
Lionni, L. Swimmy
Swimmy lives in a corner of the sea with a school of little red fish. Swimmy, however, is "black as a mussel shell," which allows him to escape when a hungry tuna gulps up the school of little red fish. Swimmy is left alone and wanders the sea, finding a jelly fish, a lobster, strange fish, seaweed, an eel, and sea anemones, until he finds another school of little red fish hiding in a cluster of rocks and weeds. They hide because the big fish will see them, which Swimmy finds sad and declares they must think of something so they may play in the sea. Swimmy begins to arrange the small red fish into the shape of a large fish and they learned to swim together like a big fish, chasing other big fish away.
Strategy Connection: This book highlights how we use experiences to shape our thinking. Swimmy is the lone survivor of the Tuna fish attack on his school of friends and uses that experience to help his new friends think of a way to avoid becoming lunch for another tuna. This book is a great conversation about how do we figure out how to do things? How much do our previous experiences shape how we solve problems? Excellent questions as we begin to be more conscious of our own reading and book choices.
Yolen, J & Teague, M. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
This story follows a group of dinosaurs as they prepare for bed. The book starts out with the dinos doing all of the things that could be considered unpleasant: pouting, shouting for another book, and even roaring. The book concludes with the dinosaurs going to bed quietly, with just one more kiss and a hug.
Strategy Connection: The power of this book is in how children know when the dinosaurs are not going to bed in the "correct" way versus when the dinosaurs are. They are using their schema about how to go to bed to make a value judgement about the dinosaur's behavior. How have they learned these concepts of right and wrong? Probably through experience, which has influenced their schema.
As always, comment with questions.
* 3 books per person in the group.
* Graphic of the book cover. You can upload pictures you take yourself of the book covers. There is a button on the blog posting page that will walk you through uploading photos from your computer:
* You must link to a webpage where we could purchase the book. You can use Amazon, Powells, etc. to create this link. The link button is five buttons from the left, next to the text color button.* There must be a synopsis of the book.
* You must connect the book with the strategy you presented on.
I've put together a text set for schema that shows you how I would like the set laid out:
Fox, M. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge.Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge, a boy who isn't very old, lives next door to an old people's home. His favorite old person is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper, who he tells all his secrets to and how has, according to his parents, lost her memory. Wilfrid begins to ask various people at the old people's home what a memory is and collects objects that spark his own memories to share with Miss Cooper. He shares his box with her, his shells, puppet, grandfather's medal, football, and an egg, and she begins to rememeber her own memories.
Strategy Connection: As children begin to think about schema and strategy instruction, memories and the objects, visuals, and experiences that trigger them, become very important. This book provides a jumping off point to begin talking about experience and how our experiences shape how we interpret texts, objects, and experiences. It calls to attention that our schemas are different and may lead to different interpretations. This would be an excellent book to utilize before a strategy unit on activating and connecting previous knowledge.
Lionni, L. Swimmy
Swimmy lives in a corner of the sea with a school of little red fish. Swimmy, however, is "black as a mussel shell," which allows him to escape when a hungry tuna gulps up the school of little red fish. Swimmy is left alone and wanders the sea, finding a jelly fish, a lobster, strange fish, seaweed, an eel, and sea anemones, until he finds another school of little red fish hiding in a cluster of rocks and weeds. They hide because the big fish will see them, which Swimmy finds sad and declares they must think of something so they may play in the sea. Swimmy begins to arrange the small red fish into the shape of a large fish and they learned to swim together like a big fish, chasing other big fish away.
Strategy Connection: This book highlights how we use experiences to shape our thinking. Swimmy is the lone survivor of the Tuna fish attack on his school of friends and uses that experience to help his new friends think of a way to avoid becoming lunch for another tuna. This book is a great conversation about how do we figure out how to do things? How much do our previous experiences shape how we solve problems? Excellent questions as we begin to be more conscious of our own reading and book choices.
Yolen, J & Teague, M. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?This story follows a group of dinosaurs as they prepare for bed. The book starts out with the dinos doing all of the things that could be considered unpleasant: pouting, shouting for another book, and even roaring. The book concludes with the dinosaurs going to bed quietly, with just one more kiss and a hug.
Strategy Connection: The power of this book is in how children know when the dinosaurs are not going to bed in the "correct" way versus when the dinosaurs are. They are using their schema about how to go to bed to make a value judgement about the dinosaur's behavior. How have they learned these concepts of right and wrong? Probably through experience, which has influenced their schema.
As always, comment with questions.
Gradual Release of Responsibility and Leveling Books
Today, in class, we talked about the idea of gradually releasing responsibility to students as instruction continues over time. I found this graphic on the web and thought it did a much better job of illustrating the point than my scribbles on the board did. This will be an important concept we will revisit over and over again as we continue to talk about strategy instruction and methodologies for teaching reading and writing.
We also had the chance to explore reading levels. I found this chart that correlates with the chart handed out in class today but goes further in terms of grade level and includes other leveling systems:
Leveled books are integral to the guided reading approach - we will see why next week. As you looked through books today in class, you had the opportunity to see how the levels change in difficulty, word structure, plot complexity, topics, etc. Some resources on the web that help us place levels on texts:Leveled Book List :: This website does an excellent job of listing books that you may already have in your collection that can be leveled. It organizes the books based on their author, title, and even grade level. Definitely a bookmarkable site!
Teacher Book Wizard :: This is a new website for me, but looks like it could be an excellent resource for matching students to texts that will interest them based on the level they are currently at. Plug in some information, select your leveling system and the engine will search for matches. I'm unsure how successful it is in the long run, but the thought seems good. Try it out and let me know what you think.
05 October 2008
writer' workshop
When I was in my field experience. I observed a kindergarten classroom doing writer's workshop. I just did not see the purpose in starting writer's workshop so early in the school year when they are still learning to write their letters of the alphabet. The teacher had words written on the board that they could use but they did not recognize them because they cant read yet. Although I think it is important for children to express their thoughts, I don't believe the children were ready to do this without proper instruction. I think the writer's workshop should have more directions.
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