Genre Presentations

First of all, I must say everyone did a great job on their presentations! I know everyone was nervous as I was but we did it. "La Llorona" presentation was awesome! This group did a very good job of presenting their genre with this book. It was obvious they had dynamic group response and cooperation. I think their presentation would make anyone want to read more on this subject. The other groups did just as well. Another favorite was Anne Frank! This group helped put everything in perspective. The hokey pokey exercise really proved their point on how confined these people were. I really enjoyed all the presentations and would definitely read all the books represented.

Chapter 12

Oh the delight in reading an extremely good book must be passed on to our students! It is so wonderful to be completely immersed in a book, to find the book that can take you into another world altogether. The book that can take your imagination and bring it to life. Chapter 12 shares good ideas in helping make our students life long readers. I agree that we need to give students an opportunity to make selections of their own when deciding what they want to read. Always have an array of excellent books children can relate to.

Read Aloud Books

A lively Cinderella story with a twist! Go to a boring old ball? Cinderella would far rather throw her own party. And when Prince Charming turns up, the pair find they have some rather unexpected tastes in common. This is a hilarious new version of the well-known fairy tale that every child will love. Written by Ann Jungman Illustrator: Russell Ayto These books sound really neat to read aloud to your students. Albert is bored. It is raining and he has finished playing all his games. So he looks out of the window and starts to wonder. "If I am in my house, and my house is in the street, near the park, in the town, and the town in is in the country, in the world, in the universe, then what is the universe in?" The first book in a fantastic new series that introduces philosophy to five year olds. Albert deals with the question of infinity in a way which children everywhere will respond! Author and Illustrator Lani Yamamoto

Shared and Guided Reading

Each night, in the hours between supper and bedtime, the Tear Thief carries her waterproof, silvery sack as she steals the tears of every child who cries. But what does she do with all those tears? This warm, poignant and beautifully illustrated story offers a thought-provoking message and a starting point for sharing children's emotional responses. Written by: Carol Ann Duffy Illustrated by: Nicoletta Ceccoli Grace loves to act out stories. Sometimes she plays the leading part, sometimes she is in a cast of thousands. When her school decides to perform Peter Pan, Grace is longing to play Peter, but her classmates say that Peter was a boy, and besides, he wasn't black... But Grace's Ma and Nana tell her she can be anything she wants if she puts her mind to it. Author: Mary Hoffman Illustrator: Caroline Binch

Chapter 10

I believe in reading aloud to all students. I actually don't remember too many of my teachers reading aloud to us when I was in school, although there were some and I guess now that I think about it, it was very enjoyable. I have always enjoyed reading to children. When my boys were little, I read aloud to them very often and then when they got to school, I would read to their class. The book points out that if children are not read to, they in turn will probably not read to their children. The book calls it "seed money" if we read aloud to our students and make it enjoyable to them, they will read as parents to their own children. We must read with emotion and be dramatic when doing read alouds. As this chapter points out, researchers have learned that reading aloud to children develops an interest in reading along with language development, building vocabulary, developing listening comprehension, understanding how language is used in books and learning how a story works. I will definitely read aloud to my students when I have my own classroom.

Graphic Organizers http://www.teachervision.fen.com/graphic-organizers/printable/6293.html is an excellent website for graphic organizers. They are free and printable. There are organizers for all subjects. There are slideshows to help you incorporate organizers into your lessons in all subject areas. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/ is another link to graphic organizers. This website lists the different organizers available and explains how to use each one.

One of my favorite short stories that I read recently is The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In this story, a baby is born as an old man and progressively turns into a baby, dying at the end. Of course, many of you will know this book was made into a movie with Brad Pitt as Benjamin Buttons. It is a very interesting concept and the book makes for good reading. An author I enjoyed reading as a kid is Astrid Lindgren who wrote the Pippi Longstocking series of books. I loved Pippi and her outrageous adventures along with her silly antics. J.K. Rowling is one of my favorite modern authors! I just love reading her Harry Potter series of books, considering I had never really been a fan of fantasy but after reading the first book in this series, I was hooked! Who didn't enjoy reading Charlotte's Web written by E.B. White! He also wrote Stuart Little.

Chapter 8

I know I loved reading romance fiction as well as stories about family relationships, peer relationships,and contemporary realistic fiction when I was a teenager. This chapter reiterates that fiction is how we can draw our students into a world of reading. We need to provide them with quality fiction they can relate to. Stories in which they can see themselves. Chapter 8 provides us with everything needed to know about fiction. Contemporary Realistic Fiction is the fiction most popular with children. It is important to keep a library full of historical fiction and fantasy as well as science fiction in your collection. The second part of this chapter discusses strategies for before, during and after reading. I like the anticipation guides; that sounds like an exercise students will respond to. I also think the character webs are a good way to stay atop of characters in your story. I love this kind of reading, fiction!

Ted Arnold accomplished author and illustrator of books like, No Jumping on the Bed, has written many books for children. This book is a series of five so far, titled, Fly High Fly Guy, sounds like a really cute book about his family vacations when he was a child. His website includes some interactive activities, including pictures you can download, print and color; bookmarkers of some of the characters in his books; very interesting site to visit. Rat Life his first novel, has been honored by the Mystery Writers of America with the Edgar Award for best mystery in the category of Young Adult Fiction. I included his pic because I think he is handsome. Green Wilma has returned for another mixed up adventure. Little blue aliens visit Wilma's pond and take her into space by accident. How will she ever get back home???