When you're the youngest in the family, it's natural to want to be just like your older siblings, but tough to keep up with them, especially if they're not too interested in helping you along. Take for example, the little boy in Kate Banks' new picture book Max's Words. Young Max has two older brothers; brothers who have collections. Benjamin collects stamps and Karl collects coins. Both have sizeable hordes of all different shapes, colors, textures, and styles. They display their collections to friends and family, who, of course, ooh and ahh at their treasures. Both turn Max down flat when he asks for a stamp, when he asks for a coin. So Max decides to start a collection of his own: words. Words cut from magazines and newspapers. What starts as sibling one-upmanship evolves into much more than Max, or his brothers, ever imagined with Max's Words. At first he starts small, with "a," "the," "to," "you," "day," and so on. Then he moves on to bigger words, more active words, and more colorful words: "pancakes," "slithered," "goodbye," and "go away." Under Kolikov's hand, the words Max collects look like what they are -- "hungry" has a bite taken out of it, "baseball" is shaped like a bat. Max's brothers soon realize that Max has a collection of his own, and that he can do more with it than just look at it or count it. As Max plays with his words and discovers what he can do with his collection, creating sentences and short stories, he (and thereby the reader) learns the importance of word placement and order in a sentence: there's a big green iguana being consumed by a blue crocodile, then a green crocodile being consumed by a blue iguana. Max connects a short sequence of sentences to make a brief story -- with Kulikov's illustration of that story on the facing page, demonstrating his imaginative tale. Karl and Benjamin are fascinated, and with a clever trade, Max achieves his original goal, although it's no longer his primary goal. Max's Words is an excellent choice for sharing with pre-readers and early readers, children in preschool through the early elementary grades, whether they can read the book themselves or still would like it read to them. In addition to being an entertaining story, Max's Words illustrates for children key aspects of language and storytelling, from simple word recognition and meaning, to sentence structure and story-building. Varying fonts visually distinguish the words in Max's collection from those that are part of Banks' narrative. These visual cues also help kids find the words in the heavily-textual illustrations, how words become more that just words in sentences and stories.

Chapter 7

It was interesting to learn in this chapter that picture books have 32 pages. I have always enjoyed picture books and this chapter really points out the different media used in creating some sensational art. I like the idea of using email to correspond with other children of the same age to promote book talk. I think this would be a very effective tool to get students to read and as the book points out writing is also involved; therefore, writing lessons can in incorporated into the reading lesson.

Chapter 5 Poetry Wow, I have never realized how much I would probably enjoy poetry. Unfortunately, I was a student turned off to poetry because of teachers. Reading this chapter has helped me realize this! I loved reading this chapter and learning so many different ways I can help my students love this wonderful genre of literature. The numerous examples of poetry and authors are extensive and very informative throughout the chapter. I was surprised to learn children’s poetry preferences didn’t include nature. Too bad I was not exposed to poetry in this capacity when I was in school. Chapter 6 Traditional Literature Ooohhh, scary; the title alone tends to make me shy away from this genre. If these are oral stories handed down through storytelling, how do we teach this? Very carefully! Make sure you read the section on why we must be cautious when teaching traditional literature. I don’t know why when I read traditional literature, I thought here we go, but who doesn’t like jokes, riddles, rhymes, storytelling, ballads, myths, nursery rhymes, fables, legends! This chapter offers many useful ideas on how to present these lessons to your class.

Ellen Jackson is an award winning author. Cinder Edna is a book about Cinderella's neighbor. In her website, Ms. Jackson has questions you can ask your students to start their little brains working. You must check this site out. Here are some books that boys may enjoy reading. She has many tips and ideas and guidelines for many different topics. This is a very good website for researching articles and fun stuff for parents and teachers. http://www.ellenjackson.net/all_about_me_61494.htm DIG DIG DIGGING by Margaret Mayo This bright, noise-filled book has appealing pictures of tractors, fire engines, trucks, and helicopters. The text describes pulling, crunching, squashing, and digging as each does its work. Ages 2 to 6 THIS TRAIN by Paul Collicutt Trains in different settings fill each page of this brightly illustrated book. Easy enough for beginning readers and packed with many different kinds of trains. Ages 3 to 7 TOOTH-GNASHER SUPERFLASH by Daniel Pinkwater Mr. Popsnorkle and his family go looking for a new car. Who wouldn't want a car that can turn into a dinosaur? A zany story with bright, engaging illustrations. Ages 3 to 8 EDWARD AND THE PIRATES by David McPhail One night, when reading a book about pirates, Edward finds himself surrounded by real pirates who want to know where their treasure is buried. Children will love the dramatic paintings. Ages 4 to 8 HOW BIG WERE THE DINOSAURS? By Bernard Most Kid-friendly comparisons help children visualize the size of these animals. One example: A Mamenchisaurus's neck is compared to a school flagpole. A book everyone will salute! Ages 4 to 8 CLEAN YOUR ROOM, HARVEY MOON! by Pat Cummings Harvey Moon has to spend Saturday cleaning his very messy room--or else. Messy children will relate to Harvey's dilemma and the bright pictures showing his impossible task. Ages 3 to 7 SLUGS by David Greenberg Not for the squeamish, but this hilarious rhyming book with a surprising twist celebrates the joys of slugs. Did you know there are slugs that do karate? Wonderful illustrations by Victoria Chess. Ages 4 to 8 HARRY THE DIRTY DOG by Gene Zion Harry, a black and white dog, hates getting a bath. So on bath day, Harry runs away. A perennial favorite that has entertained generations of children. Ages 3 to 5 RAISE THE ROOF by Anastasia Suen This books shows all the things people do when they build a house. Humorous illustrations capture all the action going on around a construction site. Ages 3 to 8 TWO BAD ANTS by Chris Van Allsburg Two ants desert their fellow workers and stay in the kitchen eating sugar. The ants have a series of dangerous adventures. Amazing illustrations show common objects from an ant's perspective. Ages 3 to 8

This was in the newspaper the other day and I thought I would share, sounds like a perfect celebration to attend! (double click on the article to read) Happy Reading!

Chapter 3 talks about schema which is having prior knowledge about something; if students have no schemata they will probably never comprehend what they are reading. Another term used is scaffolding in which the teacher questions, models and provides feedback so that a student eventually will be on their own. This chapter is about comprehension—as teachers we must help students with understanding what they are reading. We must help students activate prior knowledge, guide their reading (I like the example the book gives for this; segment long books, browse a picture book with little ones before reading the book, for older middle school age, use “teasers” to build anticipation of what they will read-- like reading aloud an exciting part of a book), reinforce concepts, and encourage critical thinking and inquiry. Figure 3.1 on page 44 lists different types of questions teachers can ask students to see how much they have understood a reading. This chapter points out that teachers need to take notes and listen carefully when a student is retelling a story to understand what each student understands. Chapter 3 talks about structured retelling, which suggests is good for younger and struggling readers. They have some really good techniques to use in helping students comprehend what they have read. Think alouds sound like a good strategy and there is an example of this in figure 3.5 page. 49. Chapter 14 covers the student writer. It is true that if you are a reader you will be a good writer. When one reads, it builds on your vocabulary and comprehension and ultimately enables you to be a good writer. Again, encouraging a world of good literature and reading will produce good writers. One good idea is the “author’s chair”; this idea sounds like fun and the book states children like this. The book points out if you notice errors being done while writing; hold a minilesson on a particular lesson; e.g. run-on sentences. I was really surprised to read that teachers sometimes have a hard time teaching writing to students. I thought the piece on classroom publishing was an excellent idea. I know my boys brought home “books” they had written in class in elementary school and they were very proud of them and I found them to be very entertaining and I still have them! In surfing the net, I ran across literature that states reading aloud to students of all ages on the first day of school can be a very useful tool in setting the stage for a school year of reading! I think this is something I would like to do for my class on the first day of school.

author profile

In surfing the web, I found this very interesting site for this particular author http://www.sarahquigley.com/about.php. She writes books for young adults which are very contemporary and fun. Check out her site, you will find it very intriguing. This is her first novel, TMI about a teenage blogger that blogs to escape.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is reminding us that as teachers, we cannot have any kind of prejudice, biased or racial views of students because the classrooms will be full of diverse cultures. Children of all races and cultures will grace your classroom and we must accomodate them accordingly. This chapter has excellent ideas on how to design your classroom to make all children feel welcome. I think having different objects around your classroom labeled in the language of all your students is an excellent practice (pg. 27). Figure 2.1 on pg. 26 is also offering several good ideas on helping ELL students. I like this chapter; it offers many good, helpful tips that would make any classroom culturally ready. Here are some pretty cool websites I have come across in researching an author. Children’s literature author profile: http://www.carolhurst.com/authors/authors.html--awesome website for reading aloud book titles for the first day of school; excellent way to let your students know you enjoy reading and much reading will be done in class. Provides titles of books for each grade level pk-12th . http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/readingaloud.html http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/humanities/literature/authors/children_s/ --site directing to you to author’s wesites http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/bio/bio.html --http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/in_house/index.html In our mothers’ house—book about same sex couples living together with children as a family http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/petunia/index.html --comedy http://www.popupbooks.com/ neat, contemporary pop up books bugs and other subjects

monnight3321

Chapter 1 This chapter is letting teachers know your classroom must be inviting to children. You must create an environment inviting to kids with excellent reading books and materials to help them succeed. Every child can learn and every child needs a good teacher to help them believe in themselves. A teacher must cater to every child regardless of race, color or gender. Your classroom must have a corner, floor, area with quality literature of all genres. Give the kids their time in this area and entice their creativity by having them engage in classroom discussions about what they have read. A teacher must believe every student has the ability to become an excellent reader and learner and this way they will believe they themselves can accomplish this. Make it fun!

monnite3321

Here are the three authors I picked to write about: Carol Matas (www.carol.carolmatas.com/index.html) always loved to read as a child. All three authors that I looked up had this common trait. Perhaps, that is why they write as adults. (you think). Ms. Matas would get in trouble in class because she was reading when she should have been paying attention to the teacher. She likes to take true life experiences and write fantasies and science fiction books for young people. Her writings are controversial because she writes books about topics that have never been written about. She writes historical fiction from stories her Jewish husband has told her about the Holocaust. She writes a lot about the Holocaust and the war because millions of children were murdered during this time. Some of her books, include, Far, a book about a teen psychic; Primrose Path, a book about the dark side of a charismatic leader (her teacher) through the eyes of a young teenage girl. Tomie dePaola (www.tomie.com/abouttomie/index.html) has written over 200 books for children and because he is an artist, he illustrates his books, too. He is not married and has no children of his own. Most of his books are autobiographical. He was born in Connecticut in 1934. He created the character Strega Nona; an italian grandmother with a big nose and big body; one of his most popular characters. He has won many awards for his writings. His signature always includes a heart which has become his symbol. Some of his books include, My First Thanksgiving and My First Halloween, both with 3-D covers; I Love You Mouse, about a little boy telling baby animals he loves them. This is a good bedtime story for little ones. Beverly Cleary (www.beverlycleary.com) is probably my favorite of the three. She created the Ramona Quimby series. Ms. Cleary was born in Oregon. She lived in a town so small there was no library so her mother would have the State library send her books to her home. She writes funny stories for children; stories about her neighborhood and the children she grew up around. Dear Mr. Henshaw is her most distinguised contribution to American literature. She wrote this book in 1983. Some of her other works include: Emily's Runaway Imagination, and Muggie Maggie.