Wiki Post/Reading Log

Reading Log for 30 books

            I.     Non-fiction/Informational

1)     Titanic in Photographs by D. Kilstorner     

          II.     Poetry

1)     Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? By Mel Glenn.

2)     Its’ Raining Pigs and Noodles by J. Prelutsky

3)     Poke in the I by Paul Janeczko

4)     In Every Tiny Grain of Sand:

A Childs Book of Prayers and Praise  by Elizabeth Kennedy

        III.     Modern Fantasy         

1)     A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

2)     The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Baum

3)     The Boy Who Could Fly Without a Motor by Theodore Taylor

       IV.     Historical Fiction

1)     Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.

         V.     Multicultural/Traditional

1)     Baseball Saved Us by K. Mochizuki

2)     Island of the Blue Dolphin by S. O’Dell

       VI.     Realistic Fiction

1)     Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis.

2)     Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

3)     Rules by Cynthia Lord

4)     Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

5)     The Great Gilly Hopkins by

6)     Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

7)     Frindle  by Andrew Clements

8)     Everthing on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

9)     Heat by Mike Lupica

10) Loser by jerry Spinelli

     VII.     Picture Books

1)     Seven  Blind Mice by Ed Young.

2)     The Stinky Cheese Man by J. Scieszka

3)     A Bad Case of Stripes by D. Shannon

4)     The Field Beyond The Outfield  by M. Teague

5)     E-mergency by Tom Lichtenheld

6)     Pink and Say by patricia Polacco

7)     The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman

8)     Monster Goose by Judy Sierra

9)     The Boy of a Thousand Faces by Brian Selznick

Wiki Post Completed for Class

Science – week 2

Social Studies – week 4

Reading – week 4

Other – week 6

TITANIC IN PHOTOGRAPHS

D. Kilstorner, S. Hall, B. Beveridge, A. Braunschweiger, S.Andrews (2012). Titanic in photographs. Charleston, SC: The History Press.
This was my first photo essay book to read. I choose this book becuase I thought it would be a great resource to have this upcoming school year when my entire middle school will be reading the book Titanic Young Survivors by Allan Zullo. I think when students can see pictures of what they are reading about they are able to make great conections and retain more information. What better way that a book full of pictues! I have been looking at several pictues already to include in my lessons and as a resource for other teachers at my school to use.

This was a collection of photographs of a ship that lived on the ocean for only five days and a few hours. I was amazed at the number of phots that it contained! Lots of Father Browne's pictures were featured, including an extremely cool double exposure of the First Class deck and a First Class passengers' private Promenade deck.
There were, unfortunately, quite a few Olympic pictures. With the title of the book being Titanic in Photographs , I found this disappointing.  I must admit that seeing a book published in 2012 still featuring photos of another ship is a turn off of sorts. However, the saving grace of this book is the sheer number of pictures as I said before. With this also being the 100th anniversary of the Titanic, I believe that there will be a lot of talk on the news, local papers, and on line.
 Another thing I noticed and had to really look at closely to see a difference was that a lot of the boat pictures were the same shot with a tiny degree of angle change, but they were the actual ship.

The text is sound, easy to read and engaging. It takes you through from the inception of these large ships to the calamity and aftermath. There are a few details, especially found in the solid captions to each photo, that I was not even aware of. Its always exciting to discover some new tidbit of information regarding Titanic that I never knew before, rather than a simple rehash of the known details for example the fate of the lifeboats was addressed fully and there were a lot of shots I had not seen before. When the movie of the Titanic came out  in 1998, I was just 17 years old and the lifeboat situation really bothered me. It was just something I just couldn't wrap my head around.
Even with some Olympic floating around in the book, it is still well worth the time and effort and is a good fit for a Titanic resource. Its a great start off point for any person just getting interested in the tale of Titanic.

Field Experience Reflection

Field Experience Questions

1.    How many hours did you complete?  5 hours 7 minutes

2.    How did you spend your time?

·       Observed regular education class lesson on scanning comprehension questions to aid in answering questions at the end of the story. Used lessons on short passages and short stories.

·       Collaborated with librarian and assistant librarian to create book shelves for special needs students that are unable to use  card catalog

·       Observed author Judith Schachner and visitor Skippyjon Jones at the public library read her story and answer questions from kids.

·       Participated in story hour and helped with Father’s Day kid craft for children age 3-12. Read stories about daddy’s to younger children.

3.    How did the experience help strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard?

I believe that I strengthen the most in Standard 10: Provides leadership within school/community/profession. I was able to visit another classroom and pick up and valuable lesson to use in my classroom with reading strategies. This will benefit my students tremendously. I also worked with my librarian and librarian assistant for the first time even at my school. I always take my classes in the library every two weeks and utilize the library but this time I was able to collaborate with them on a project to help kids. Mrs. Berry shared many interesting ideas she had for teaching in the classroom and also talked with me about our school one-book policy and the new book she was choosing for the upcoming school year. I’ve used this information to get a head start on a unit this summer that will go with the book. Observing at the public library in young children’s story time was a great learning experience and a neat one too. My own children also gained from this opportunity as we are never able to attend during the school year. I used the field experience hours to learn with-in my school, help out my students I teach, and help out in at my own public library.

4.    Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.

In collaborating with my school librarian for the first time I learned that she was able to teach a lot of reading strategies. She shared that she was going to select a book this summer to implement in our school for the upcoming year. It’s a one-book program where at certain times during the day no matter what class you are in everyone in the entire school will be reading the same chapter of the book at the same time. She has created lesson to help all teacher across content areas to help students really get more out of the book besides just reading it. I didn’t know that librarians even understood what classrooms were like, let alone knew how to create lesson plans to teach in class. I was very thrilled to have time to talk and collaborate with my librarian and the librarian assistant.

RULES

Lord, C. (2006). Rules.New York, NY. Scholastic Press.

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: 4th-7th

Everyone’s life is run by rules. Everyone needs a friend in their life. Everyone has to deal with their family. But sometimes our lives get turned upside down, forcing us to ask the question: What is NORMAL?

Meet Catherine a typical teenager and big sister. She wants only what is best for her brother David, who has autism. He insists on following the rules. She keeps a list for him in her notebook to help him along.

RULES FOR DAVID

1. Chew with your mouth closed.

2. If someone says "hi", you say "hi" back.

3. No toys in the fish tank.



Sometimes the rules can help out in sticky situations.

1. You can yell on the playground, but not during dinner.

2. A boy can take his shirt off to swim, but not his shorts.

Sometimes rules can't fix everything...

1. Sometimes people laugh at you because they like you...

But sometimes they laugh to hurt you.

The rules even help David and Catherine see the good

in the not so good things.

1. looking closer can make something beautiful.

Sounds pretty normal, right? But a "Normal" life is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. Throughout the book Catherine meets the all-American girl named Kristie and a disabled boy names Jason. Friendships develop. These friendships force Catherine to answer the question: What is normal?

Go on a journey with the main character, Catherine, as she deals with friendship, honesty, acceptance, diversity and as she learns that sometimes the rule don't always apply!


Discussion Guide for RULES
http://www.cynthialord.com/pdf/rules_discuss.pdf

Maniac Magee

Spinelli, J. (1990). Maniac Magee. New York, New York. Little, Brown and Company.

WON THE AWARD IN 1991

Maniac Magee is a combination of realistic fiction, humor, folklore, and even a little legend passed down. 
I have heard of this book before but never read it. My Librarian suggested it to me.  I believe it is a great story for kids in 4-6 grades to help teach children about how black and white people can get a long and how far we have come. I believe it also teaches students to never give up when things are hard if you have a passion for something. A common issue I see in the school I teach in. When life hands you lemons make lemonade, most kids just quit. I plan to use this book in my classroom this year for all these reasons as well.

The major character in the story is obviously Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee. He is the story’s protagonist. 

"Nobody knows who said it first, but somebody must have: 'Kid's gotta be a maniac."' Chapter 8, pg. 28 and that’s about all the insight you get as to how little Jeffrey got his nickname.

Maniac is an extremely young child who tragically loses his parents and finds himself in the setting of Two Mills, Bridgeport, and Holidaysburg. All towns in Pennsylvania, where he becomes a local legend while trying to find a home because things just didn’t work out with his crazy aunt Dot and Uncle Dan. He has shocking athletic abilities, runs everywhere he goes, can untie any knot, is allergic to pizza, crosses the barrier between East End and West End as if blind to racial distinction and becomes close friends with a older gentleman, Grayson, that teaches him so much.

Some other characters that you will read about in the story are Amanda Beale, she give Jeffery his first book to read and allows him to stay at her house and Mars Bars, yes like the candy bar. He is the "baddest" kid in the East End and antagonist to Maniac. He resents Maniac's presence in the East End, which is worsened when Maniac beats him in a race. He also offers Maniac a place to stay for a while too.

Between home hoping and living in the zoo Maniac has many adventures in the town of Two Mills.  One morning, Magee wakes up thinking a buffalo has him by the ear. It turns out to be Amanda Beale, who is angry after Mars Bar, who is hiding in some bushes, told her about Magee turning down his offer to live at his house. She orders Magee to come with her back to the Beale home. Magee attempts to refuse, which only makes her angrier, and see tells him that her house is his home and he is to no longer sleep with the animals. Magee follows her, as he finally realizes that he has a real home. Which is something Jeffrey Magee he has always wanted, a real address! 

BIG question:

Why is a home so important to Maniac? 

How do you think Maniac Magee’s future will turn out?

It's Raining Pigs and Noodles

Prelutsky, J. (2000). It's raining pigs and noodles. New York: Greenwillow Books.

http://files.harpercollins.com/AudioFile/9780061451355.mp3
It's Raining Pigs and Noodles
It's raining pigs and noodles,
it's pouring frogs and hats,
chrysanthemums and poodles,
bananas, brooms, and cats.
Assorted prunes and parrots
are dropping from the sky,
here comes a bunch of carrots,
some hippopotami.
It's raining pens and pickles,
and eggs and silverware.
A flood of figs and nickels
is falling through the air.
I see a swan, a sweater,
a clock, a model train--
like this so much better
than when it's raining rain.

It’s Raining Pigs & Noodles is a wonderful addition to any poetry collection for children.  The poems in this book are very child-friendly, playful and funny. There are plenty of clear examples of onomatopoeia, alliteration and other "Punny" word plays. One of my favorites is “The Knock-Less Monster” demonstrating his existence on page thirty-six.

The black and white drawings by the illustrator, James Stevenson are predominantly of animals and children. His artwork beautifully supports the poems, as well as helps fill the pages, especially with the shorter poems. There are four concrete poems that would be great mentor texts for young poets. “I am Winding Through a Maze” page 116, is in the shape of a maze and “I am Stuck Inside a Seashell” spirals to the center of the page 137. Both make reading extra fun and challenging for young readers. The other two, “We’re Perched Upon a Star” and “I’m Caught Up in Infinity” take the shape of a star and the infinity symbol, respectively.  His poetry is all very humorous and light-hearted, and range from the traditional to the unique. One of the great features of Prelutsky's poetry is that he is not afraid to use some complex vocabulary interspersed within more simple language as a way to expose readers to a wider range of vocabulary.

 I think as a language arts resource teacher of middle school students Prelutsky's poems can serve as excellent examples for students working on a poetry unit. His poems open students up to being funny and creative in their work.

I am definitely a new fan of Jack Prelutsky and I believe that he gives the ever-popular Shel Silverstein a run for his money! I grew up on Shel and it was neat to see a great collection of poems that were just as funny!

 Can you think of a funny incident, situation, or even joke from their lives?

Pick a poem from the book It's Raining Pigs and Noodles and rewrite the poem from your own POV based on your experience you just thought of!

Island of the Blue Dolphins

  O'Dell, S. (1960). Island of the blue dolphins. Boston,MA: Houghton Mifflin.