I created this blog for my Reading and Literature class. Each week we were asked to write about our experiences in the class. In my posts, I reflected on what we did that day and projects that I had made., along with links to other articles or websites that pertain to the topic so that the reader of my blog could learn more. Our final project was our livebinder. I have made one of these before but that one had more to do with the EDTPA. This time it was everything that we have done in the class. I wish we would have got the template earlier in the semester so that we could do it as we went along and not all at once. However I was really proud of what I created, and yes the sub-tabs look much better Dr.S!! I also did a text set of 50 books, however I made it as a word document so when I put it into Googledocs the pictures of the books didn't transfer. If your iinterestedin the document send me a message and I can send it to you! This semester was full of lots of amazing presenters and lessons. My personal favorite was Chuck Stead. He seemed as if he were telling the story as if he was still in that moment it took place. His enthusiasm and wisdom was amazing. I have even listened to other stories on YouTube
I have made comments on many of my fellow authors blogs, here are some of them.
We were asked to do a poetry gem fro this class. I had no idea where to begin. First I wanted to do an animoto, but i didn't want to pay for it. Then I wanted to do a plotagon but it wouldn't work on my computer, then I made a weebly and hated it, and I finally decided to make a prezi. I have never used prezi before even though my teacher always suggests we use one. It was a little confusing but with the help of my friend Lindsay it came out beautiful. I decided that my students would write acrostic poems with their names. I did a lesson on acrostic poems and showed them a website that had lots of them. I told them to brainstorm some words they could use for their names that described them. Some letters like N,A, and Y got a little tricky but they were able to find some. Take a look at how it came out here. I think it came out great for my first one. The students all typed in each of their poems as well. I tried to get permission to take a picture of them but it was not allowed. Here are some other great poem websites for more learning.
Why is reading important? I was sitting here thinking I am taking all these literacy classes and why? I also work with kindergartners who are just starting to read. They are mostly reading sight words at this point but a few can read fluently. One child asked me why should I read? Well my teacher hat automatically went on although I did not say these things I was thinking them. You need to read for school, directions, tests, to help you write and the list went on and on in my head. I told this kindergartner all the fun things of reading like how the characters come alive in the books, and how they can learn all new things about all different topics and how fun reading is. I came home and came across this fun list on the internet. Here are 10 Reasons Why You Should Read More Books: 1. To Develop Your Verbal Abilities Although it doesn't always make you a better communicator, those who read tend to have a more varied range of words to express how they feel and to get their point across. This increases exponentially with the more volumes you consume, giving you a higher level of vocabulary to use in everyday life. Why read 2. Improves Your Focus and Concentration Unlike blog posts and news articles, sitting down with a book takes long periods of focus and concentration, which at first is hard to do. Being fully engaged in a book involves closing off the outside world and immersing yourself into the text, which over time will strengthen your attention span. Why to 3. Readers Enjoy The Arts and Improve The World A study done by the NEA explains that people who read for pleasure are many times more likely than those who do not to visit museums and attend concerts, and almost three times as likely to perform volunteer and charity work. Readers are active participants in the world around them, and that engagement is critical to individual and social well-being. 4. It Improves Your Imagination You are only limited by what you can imagine, and the worlds described in books, as well as other peoples views and opinions, will help you expand your understanding of what is possible. By reading a written description of an event or a place, your mind is responsible for creating that image in your head, instead of having the image placed in front of you when you watch television. Why read 5. Reading Makes You Smarter Books offer an outstanding wealth of learning and at a much cheaper price than taking a course. Reading gives you a chance to consume huge amount of research in a relatively short amount of time. Anne E. Cunningham and Keith E. Stanovich’s “What Reading Does for the Mind” also noted that heavy readers tend to display greater knowledge of how things work and who or what people were. Books at home have been strongly linked to academic acheivement. If you are looking for a list of great books to read, check out 10 Easy To Read Books That Make You Smarter. 6. It Makes You Interesting And Attractive This goes hand in hand with reading to become smarter. Having a library of information that you have picked up from non-fiction reading will come in handy in any academic or scholarly conversation. You will be able to hold your own and add to the conversation instead of having to make your excuses and leave. You will be able to engage a wider variety of people in conversation and in turn improve your knowledge and conversation skills. Why to read 7. It Reduces Stress A study by consultancy firm Mindlab International at the University of Sussex showed that reading reduces stress. Subjects only needed to read, silently, for six minutes to slow down the heart rate and ease tension in the muscles. In fact it got subjects to stress levels lower than before they started. For more information, check out the Telegraph article here. Why read why read8. It Improves Your Memory In their book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf explains that “Typically, when you read, you have more time to think. Reading gives you a unique pause button for comprehension and insight. By and large, with oral language—when you watch a film or listen to a tape—you don’t press pause.” The benefits of this increased activity keeps your memory sharp and your learning capacity nimble. Why read why read9. To Discover and Create Yourself In his book How to Read and Why, Harold Bloom says that we should read slowly, with love, openness, and with our inner ear cocked. He explains we should read to increase our wit and imagination, our sense of intimacy–in short, our entire consciousness–and also to heal our pain. “Until you become yourself, what benefit can you be to others.” With the endless amount of perspectives and lives we can read about, books can give us an opportunity to have experiences that we haven’t had the opportunity to, and still allow us to learn the life skills they entail. Books are a fast rack to creating yourself. Why read 10. For Entertainment
All the benefits of reading mentioned so far are a bonus result of the most important benefit of reading; Its entertainment value. If it were not for the entertainment value, reading would be a chore but it needn’t be. Reading is not only fun, but it has all the added benefits that we have discussed so far. http://whytoread.com/why-to-read-10-reasons-why-reading-books-will-save-your-life/
This whole class has been about learning about different genres and exploring all the books that we could. A literary genre is a style of writing. There are many different genres and sub-genres to go along with them. Each one is unique and some have been discussed earlier on in my blog.
I really like this picture I found on the teacher store house website. It really explains all the genres with a quick explanation and a cute picture. I would buy this and hang it in my classroom.
Helpful sources this link provides a variety of reading resources for kids. Another great resource many schools use is called RazKids. This website allows students to work at their own pace, and read and play games at their level.
Review Journals have current and useful information to aid in selecting quality literature.
Books that win awards such as the Newbery, Caldecott or Coretta Scott King Awards are declared to be outstanding by experts
Internet : . Some authors have their own websites and the Children’s Literature Network has many links to other helpful sites
Some book that fall into many genres are mutli-cultural books. These book are important for all children to see but especially those children that are of a different race. Children need to be able to read and see themselves in books, its called mirror books. Race and ethnicity are important aspects of diversity that should be shown through books. However, there is a small selection of books that include accurate multicultural themes.
It helps children love reading when they see their culture reflected in books. There has been research done on this topic, follow the above links and read about it. One of the teachers at MSMC has been actively involved in trying to get these books into the Common Core Curriculum, her name is Jane Gangi.
African American literature-
It is also important to read books by authors of color. One author is Andrea Davis Pinkney. She focuses on writing about African Americans accurately but also in a way that is child friendly. Lesa Cline Ransome also does the same. She writes a lot about slaves as well.
Everyone in my class had to pick an author to research and be them for a class. People were Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle, Beverly Cleary and many others. I chose to be Andrea Davis Pinkney. She is an incredible writer who had one many awards.She was born September 25, 1963 in Washington D.C. Her parents were involved in the civil rights movement, and she became very interested in this topic. However she aspired to write for magazines because of the Mary Tyler Moore Show; Mary Richards was a big-city journalist and she wanted to be that too. She majored in journalism at the University of Syracuse 1985 and became the Senior editor for Essence Magazine. She
switched to childrens books with encouragement from her husband Brian (children's book editor). His mom was a writer and his father was an illustrator. She noticed the lack of African-American literature geared toward and available to children so she decided to create something that would operate around their cultural norms and morals, something that would reflect their lives, their cultural heritage, and the achievements of African-American figures. She did just that and became an award winning author. This video is amazing take a look!!! She also wrote a book because she was inspired by her son.
This book one the Corretta Scott King Award in 2013! She has many other books take a look at the link above.
I enjoyed being her for a little while and teaching everyone about her, and all of her accomplishments! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abN2aP_Dzd0 I think that these author presentations were a great idea. We really got the chance to learn about how people became writers/illustrators, and their struggles along the way. Here is what my classmates had to say about my presentation:
3 Pluses
1. I liked how you did not read off of the slide presentation.
2. I liked how you gave us an age range for your books.
3. I like how you wanted to do a multicultural author and just because it was difficult to research her you did not switch who you did.
1 Wish
1. I wish the technology would work in our room!
Denise,
1. Improve was done very well! You weren't even frustrated when the technology didn't work.
2. Good resources for more information! Excited about the "Red Pencil"
3. You did a nice job with the information you had. It's tough when there isn't a lot of resources out there.
Wish: A sneak peek from the"Red Pencil!"
Three Pluses
I liked how you chose a multi-cultural author.
It was great that you had so many books to show us.
I am looking forward to reading your new book, The Red Pencil.
One wish
- To hear more about the The Red Pencil - sounds like a wonderful book!
Pinkney, A., & Pinkney, J. (n.d.). Hand in hand: Ten Black men who changed America.
Pinkney, A., & Pinkney, J. (2010). Sit-in: How four friends stood up by sitting down. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
I love learning about people. I like to read biographies. I stumbled upon the series called Who was.. while I was student teaching. All the students had a different person and the books were really student friendly. It explained difficult things these people went through in such great ways. One of my favorites was Amelia Earhart. The student took such interest in her that she went to the library and took out other books and also researched her online. As I went to my other placement they were using these books as well. I have even started my own collection.
Memoirs are other books I enjoy. A memoir is facts and events from a persons life are arranged to construct a theme or personality.One of my favorites is The diary of a young girl. It is by Anne Frank, who wrote the diary while she was in hiding with her family.
With the Common Core standards students in grades 3 and 4 are leaning about biographies,
Frank, A. (1992). Anne Frank: The diary of a young girl. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Globe Book. Stewart, W., & Harrison, N. (2009). Who was Walt Disney? New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
Kelly Going came to our college today to discuss her books. She was fantastic. She read some of her material that she has written along with telling us her story. She started off not wanting to be a writer but she started working for a publishing company and things fell into place after a few years. She was very nice and personable. She seemed very interested in the teaching aspect of books, and what and how to use books in the classroom. I liked how she was down to earth and thanked us for letting her come. I enjoyed hearing her story about how she fell into this career. She is also from this area which I thought was cool. . Her first novel was named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book by the American Library Association in 2004. Her books have won many honors and awards.
Booksense picks,
Scholastic Book Club choices,
Junior Library Guild selections, .
They have been featured by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Children's Book Council as Best Books of the Year. Her first novel, Fat Kid Rules the World was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Past Decade in 2005 by the Young Adult Library Services Association. Adapted into an independent film, it was named Audience Award winner at the SXSW Film Festival in 2012. This book however was very controversial among many people and was even banned in some libraries. You can follow her on her blog !!
She began writing novels in college and has since published novels for young adults and middle grade readers, a picture book, and a reference book titled Writing and Selling the YA Novel published by Writer's Digest. She has also written short stories for several anthologies and currently has multiple books under contract. Her work has been published in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.
She brought some of her books for us to buy at a discounted rate and signed them for us. She is truly an inspiration.
These are the ones I bought !
All of these pictures and videos can be found on her website
I just finished reading the book Saint Iggy. I think it would be really good for a middle school / high school student to read. It talks a lot about drugs and how his friend does them and is into trouble with a drug dealer which students might be able to relate toI also related to it since my parents did drugs while I was in high school, and Iggy's parents were also both drug addicts. Its a hard life but if you want to get out of it then you have to take steps in the right direction which he tries to do. I really enjoyed reading this!!
Going, K. (2003). Fat kid rules the world. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Going, K. (2005). The liberation of Gabriel King. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Going, K. (2006). Saint Iggy. Orlando: Harcourt.
Historical fiction tells the stories of history; it consists of imaginative stories grounded in the facts of our past. It is realistic- the events could have occurred, and the people portrayed could have lived - but it is a fictional story.In order for a book to be labeled Historical Fiction it must be an event from at least 20 years earlier.
Some requirements for historical fiction:
Don'd add too much historical background
Remember your Recreating the historical period
Making credible dialogues and using language suited to the historical time.
View all opinions
Reading historical fiction is one way to broaden our horizons, to learn more about the people and places of our world by reading about the past. Another important reason is to learn to avoid making the mistakes of the past. Its like that quote by Karl Marx History repeats itself, first as a tragedy second as a farce. By reading Historical fiction we can hope not to make the same mistakes again, as humans and as a society. In a classroom teachers can start using Historical Fiction early on. They can use books on slavery, wars, and more. The industrial revolution is a good one to use as well. The students can use their textbooks to look up information since it provides facts. Historical fiction is very important to teach in classrooms and you would be surprised at how interested the students become during lessons.
Devon and I did our genre presentation on Contemporary Realistic Fiction. As we were learning about CRF we found that it generally follows specific criteria to be a CRF book. Here is our PowerPoint presentation we came up with to kind of summarize what we read. Its basically real life situations in fictional settings. Some common .themes are coming of age, family relationships/problems, peer pressure and even cultural tensions. It is something that people can relate to and might be dealing with in their own lives. The characters in these books are humans as well. Some types of books for CRF can be picture books, chapter books, novel in verse, graphic novels, short stories and more. Some books that you can read are here. We also did a readers theater activity with the class that was fun, and also a jeopardy like game on the Smartboard.
Here's what our classmates had to say about our presentation:
Hi girls, I loved your presentation!
First plus--> I like that you read the book first to have us realize that acting it out was more fun and meaningful.
Second plus--> Your examples and non examples were excellent. Very comical as well!
Third plus-->Readers theater with props was tons of fun! I really enjoyed the idea
One wish--> Over all you did an amazing job and I learned a great amount. I think it would be beneficial to have more copies for the readers theater but that is all. Thank you for your presentation it was great!
Three Pluses:
1.) Your powerpoint was clear with interesting pictures to help me understand.
2.) The reader's theatre let me act and have fun with the dialogue.
3.) The Smartnotebook quiz was a great way to assess student understanding.
Wish: It would be great if the college had Senteos for us to use with working Smartboard technology :)
3 likes and a wish
1. I like that you gave examples and non-examples in your powerpoint using cows
2. I like that you had us do the readers theater it was interactive and fun.
3. I like the quiz that you had us do at the end to wrap up the information
1 wish
I wish the quiz actually worked :-(
DiCamillo, K. (2000). Because of Winn-Dixie. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press Kinney, J. (2007). Diary of a wimpy kid: Greg Heffley's journal. New York: Amulet Books.
Chick Stead a local story teller came to speak with our class and other today. He told stories of him as a young boy and all about his family. He is from the Ramapo tribe in New York and is quite the leader. Walter Chuck Stead has led the long fight for cleanup of a major Superfund site in New York’s Torne Valley. But he’s done much more than that. He has documented the region’s history, helped give a voice to the area’s indigenous people, and built an environmental education center to teach future generations. He is a teacher at Cornell cooperative ext and has been working to rebuild the salt box that he can use with his students.When the project is complete, the Saltbox will be the home of the Ramapo Saltbox Environmental Research Center (ERC), a field research center designed to examine the long-range impact of paint sludge contamination, the result of Ford Motor Company's dumping during the 1960’s and 70’s. He is very passionate when he speaks and I really enjoyed learning about the damage that Ford did back in the 1960s and how they are finally forced to take some sort of responsibility for it. Here are some video's of him from you tube; there are lots more check them out He is great!!
Today we discussed the book Tuck Everlasting in class. We got to make an animoto that we created on the motifs in the book. We decided that the most common motif was fantasy. This book is a fantastical literature book. It is based off events that cant really happen. We added pictures to our animoto and then added captions.
Dr. Smirnova started the class with 2 puppets today. It definitely gained our attention, and got us engaged. We presented our animotos and used the puppets as well. Puppets are a great way to start a class especially with young children. The following link on Puppets provides many resources on how to use puppets and why they are important.
I remember learning about this poem in high school and it has stuck with me since. I like how it says that he took the one less traveled, and that is the way I have always lived my life. At some point in everyone's life there will be a point where they will be at a crossroads and this poem can help to reassure them to chose wisely. When people read poetry everyone takes a different meaning to it. I read this poem at a rough time in my life where it would have been easy to just quit school and do drugs but I was not about that. I worked really hard to get to where I am at today, and when I read this poem it reminds me that sometimes the road you take is not the easiest one but its your choice. Robert Frost is a great poet his work can be found on his website called Frost Place.
We read this a few times with each other and we all read the same part a different way. It was interesting to hear it read differently and have it take on a whole new meaning.
Dr.Seuss has a very unique writing and artistic style. He is famous for his picture books for emerging readers. The pictures illustrate what the words are saying. Such as in Hop on Pop. Cup Pup, Pup in cup. There is a picture of a big cup with a pup in it.
Take a look at the poster we created, and look at the different artistic designs. Dr. Seuss is known for his illustrations. He uses many curved lines for a more whimsical and dreamy look. He also uses pictures to help the reader learn the word. Look at the pictures below. He shows high as up in the air and shows the characters hopping on pop. He also uses primary colors to show a mood of warmth.
When we were first given this assignment I was unclear of what we were supposed to be doing. When it was all done however it finally clicked. Every author has its own style and is unique. Some authors use bright colors and straight lines. Some authors have borders on their pages to give a clue of whats page.
Picture books are great for all ages. I still enjoy reading them. I like the If you give a cat a cat a cupcake book, and I have always loved The very hungry caterpillar. Picture books should be small enough to fit into a child's hands. There are many types of picture books. One kind is a wordless book. One that Dr.Gangi introduced me to was called Zoom. I have never seen anything like it. It started with a close up picture and on each page was a new element. Finally at the end was a whole picture zoomed out to see each page which made up one picture. Students could make up their own predictions on what each page was and see if they were right or even make words up to go along with the book.
Carter, D. (2010). Dr. Seuss's Oh, the places you'll go pop-up! New York: Robin Corey Books.
Hop on Pop. (1963). New York: Beginner Books.
One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish,. (1960). New York: Beginner Books; distributed by Random House.
1) One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
2) Hop on Pop
3) Oh, The Places You’ll Go Examine each book and write brief notes to help you explore the illustrator's work in terms of THE artistic features listed below.
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Line
The lines in this book suggest movement and feeling by using many curves, circular, diagonal and zigzagging lines. There are many illustrations where the action, and excitement of the page is clear.
The lines in this book suggest movement and feeling by using many curves. Horizontal and vertical lines are used to show movement up and down hills.
The horizontal lines in this book show calm progressive movement as the character walks through the book. There is a feeling of happiness and determination as you read.
Color
The colors in this book are mainly primary colors. At times Seuss uses entire pages of warm color, others are entirely cool, while a some points he mixes the two. The characters in the warm colors appear happy, while the characters in the cool colors appear sad. The colors that he uses help to portray the mood of the pages.
The colors seen in this book are very inviting to children. They are primary colors but are very bright which might encourages a child to pick it up. Blue and green are colors that are used on many of the pages and suggest calm, serenity, or renewal. The colors in this book provide a happy feeling while reading.
There are a plethora of colors seen in this book. The book starts and ends with a white page signifying the end of an old journey and the beginning of a new one. However, throughout the book you can find an immense amount of light yellow and light orange giving off a sense of cheerfulness and excitement for the reader. It can also give off a feeling of fear into the unknown. A few of the characters in this book can also be seen in the color purple, representing the mysteries the reader will be challenged with throughout life.
Shape
Many of the shapes in this book are rounded. There are no geometric shapes in this book. These shapes give the illustrations a very whimsical, and dreamy feel.
Many of the shapes in this book are rounded. These shapes used give a very vivid illustration to the reader as they are reading, and lets the readers imagination really take over. Dr.Seuss used big shapes such as a tea cup with a pup in one of the pages which illustrates that is the objects are important.
Throughout the book, the reader will notice that there are no sharp shapes and only rounded edges. This gives the reader a sense of comfort and security as their eyes gaze over the oddly circular shapes found in the book. The large shapes and objects in the book represent the difficult obstacles the reader will face throughout their new journey and life. .
Texture
Many of the edges of the illustration of this book are rough and frayed looking. The textures used within this book help to create images that are less realistic and work to stimulate the viewer’s imagination.
The illustrator of this book uses many rounded and simple pictures. The textures show rough and ragged images in the pictures to show how it feels and really captures the image with feeling in such simple pictures.
The illustrator has a signature style of having smooth large structures and rough and jagged tiny details. The painting textures found within the book give a three-dimensional feel of fictional characters.
Design
Rhythm and Movement
Most of the illustrations in this book are contrasting from one page to the next within the two-page spread. It sets the rhythm of the book.
Tension
While the pictures illustrate a majority of the words written within the text, the illustrations also give extra details that were not mentioned in the text. The illustrations add to the content of this book.
Page Layout
The layout of the text and illustrations often mirror each other in this book. If the illustrations in the book are very tall and skinny, the text will be as well. The text on the page is very carefully placed.
Rhythm and Movement
The rhythm, and movement in this book is very controlled and flows from page to page.The left and the right side of the pages are equally illustrated.
Words and pictures work together so that the reader can tell what the words are by looking at the pictures.It is a medium size book which is great for all readers and is also made into smaller and larger sizes as well.
The layout of the text and illustrations often mirror each other in this book. If the illustrations in the book are very tall and skinny, the text will be as well. The text on the page is very carefully placed.
Rhythm and Movement
The illustrations found throughout the book are quite repetitive, especially the characters. The buildings are a bit different in every book, but they all show a sense of forward movement.Even though we identify with the objects on the left of the page, the two spread book has a continuous illustration on the left and the right page, effecting the eyes of the reader to look at both sides equally.
Tension
There is a great amount of tension between the words and the illustration. The words portay one story and the illustrations explain what is not said in the text.
C. Page Layout
This picture book is both wide and tall with its pictures and text. All of the pictures and characters are complex.
Media and Technique
A. Painterly Techniques
Graphic Techniques
Composite Techniques
A. Painterly Techniques
Graphic Techniques
Composite Techniques
A. Painterly Techniques
Graphic Techniques
Composite Techniques
Style of Art
B. Cartoon Art
Cartoons consist of exaggerated caricatures that emphasize emotion and movement. They possess no subtlety, but are simple and straightforward.
It is often chosen to illustrate humorous stories, nonsense, and comical satire.
Cartoon Art
Cartoons consist of exaggerated caricatures that emphasize emotion and movement. They possess no subtlety, but are simple and straightforward.
It is often chosen to illustrate humorous stories, nonsense, and comical satire.
Cartoon Art
Cartoons consist of exaggerated caricatures that emphasize emotion and movement. They possess no subtlety, but are simple and straightforward.
It is often chosen to illustrate humorous stories, nonsense, and comical satire.
I created this blog for my Reading and Literature class. Each week we were asked to write about our experiences in the class. In my posts, I reflected on what we did that day and projects that I had made., along with links to other articles or websites that pertain to the topic so that the reader of my blog could learn more. Our final project was our livebinder. I have made one of these before but that one had more to do with the EDTPA. This time it was everything that we have done in the class. I wish we would have got the template earlier in the semester so that we could do it as we went along and not all at once. However I was really proud of what I created, and yes the sub-tabs look much better Dr.S!! I also did a text set of 50 books, however I made it as a word document so when I put it into Googledocs the pictures of the books didn't transfer. If your iinterestedin the document send me a message and I can send it to you! This semester was full of lots of amazing presenters and lessons. My personal favorite was Chuck Stead. He seemed as if he were telling the story as if he was still in that moment it took place. His enthusiasm and wisdom was amazing. I have even listened to other stories on YouTube 
