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/
Monday, November 24, 2014
Literature genres and multicultural books
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. - 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
Here are some of my favorites
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.
Andrea Davis Pinkney comes to MSMC
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.
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
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:
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.
Who Was ....
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.
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.
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 visit
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. 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.
History in the making
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.
It's in literature that true life can be found. It's under the mask of fiction that you can tell the truth. Gao Xingjian
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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Wimpy_Kid
Here's what our classmates had to say about our presentation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Wimpy_Kid
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.
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.
Visit by Chuck Stead
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!!
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