I really enjoyed all the presentations. Each group was creative in the way they presented their genre; most of all the interview with Amelia Earhart. The skit that the first group put on was a great attention grabber as was the pounding on the door by the group that presented The Diary of Anne Frank. The animation presentation is something children would have a blast doing. Each presentation was informative regarding the genre and the activities that we had time for were interesting. Everyone did a great job! :)

Favorite fiction

It is very difficult for me to choose a favorite book as I have many. It really depends on the kind of mood I am in. I have a pretty eclectic taste when it comes to reading...well actually with everything. I can however, share a few of the books and authors that I have enjoyed or enjoy reading. I love almost all Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, David Baldacci, Charlaine Harris, John Grisham and Anne Rice (a middle and High school favorite). I could go on, but as you can see I tend to lean towards the suspense/thriller categories. I enjoy fantasy/adventure as well as some drama.

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut is one of the first books i remember truly enjoying. Its a collection of short stories that basically have a common theme of human nature in society. It is an older book, some stories were written in the '50s I believe, but the book was put together in the late '60s.

I also enjoyed reading Wally Lamb's, This Much I Know is True. It's about a gentleman's struggle through life having to deal not only with his own life's trial's and tribulation's but also having to care for his twin brother who was declared schizophrenic. While going through all this he is reading his grandfathers autobiography and learning a great deal about himself and his mother. There is definitely plenty of drama to keep you interested in this one.

When the Wind Blows by James Patterson is a great Science fiction novel. A recently small town widowed veterinarian and FBI agent who is on leave, discover a group of mutated children that have wings, 200 year life spans and are extremely intelligent. The whole experiment was backed by the US Government and has ties that hit close to home. Frannie and Kit help the children escape and eventually find their true parents. The Lake House is a sequel to this book, but I have not had the chance to finish reading it as of yet.

Shared Reading

I love the idea of shared reading groups. It not only allows for group interaction, but also allows for the not so fluent child to participate in reading allowed without the pressure or stress of being the focus of attention. It is a great way to introduce key vocabulary words. This is a perfect way for the second language learner student to be exposed to and have the opportunity to practice language both with text and with their peers as they emulate the story in their own lives. I've been witness to many children, mine included, that role play the stories that they read out on the playground and in their environment.


A to Z teacher stuff is a site I came across and thought it was really helpful for embellishing lesson plans or getting ideas and fillers for lesson plans. There are a lot of great books within the site. It is a teacher-created site that serves as an online re-source. In addition fo finding thematic units, lesson plans and tips it also serves as a discussion forum.
www.atozteacherstuff.com

Artie Knapp is a featured author who's stories captivate children's interest by using humor. His stories are based on life experiences that children can relate to and he also has some books that relate to life hurdles. His stories are great for using with lesson plans.
www.artieknapp.com

Laura Numeroff is the Author of the: "If You Give series"... , "What People do best series" and about twenty other books not included in her series. If You give a Mouse a Cookie jump started her career. Many teachrs also use her stories to supplement their lesson plans. Her books are a great way to connect reading and writing.
www.lauranumeroff.com

Author's Profile

Cornelia Funke is a multiple award winning author of children's fiction. She is originally from Germany but now resides in Los Angeles. Her books are fantasy and adventure. Many of them have been translated to English. Among her more popular are the Inkworld Trilogy, Dragon Rider and the Thief Lord. She also has a Ghosthunters series and a few picture books.

www.corneliafunke.de/en/

Brandon Mull is the author of the Fablehaven series for young readers. Fablehaven is fantasy world filled with trolls, satyrs, witches, imps, fairies and much more. There are plenty of adventures, plots and twists within the four books to keep kids reading. A screenplay has been written for the first book and one is in the works for The Candy Shop War; not part of the Fablehaven series.

http://www.brandonmull.com/

Diane deGroat is an award winning illustrator/author of children's picture books. With the encouragement of her grandmother she took art lessons as a pre-teen and would win awards for local art contests. She was an illustrator for twenty years after college working with different authors and publishers. When illustrating was no longer a challenge for her she took writing classes, read a lot more and Roses are Pink Your Feet Really Stink was her first book she wrote and illustrated. since then she has written the Gilbert holiday series and others . She makes school visits and offers workshops in an effort to promote children's writing.

www.diandegroat.com

10/23/09

Arnold Lobel wrote and illustrated the famous Frog and Toad stories among many more: Mouse soup, Mouse Talks, Uncle Elephant, Owl at Home, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain...these stories are perfect for beginner readers. A lot of his ideas came from cartoons his children liked to watch. As a child he would entertain his classmates with illustrated stories that he would make up. His favorite thing to do as a child was checking books out of the library...seems fitting he became an award winning author.

www.carolhurst.com/authors/alobel.html

Charlotte Zolotow has written over ninety books for children, picture books to young readers in the past fifty years. She has written books about animals and their relationships with people and was one of the first to write a picture book about death (has a few on death and dying). She has also written books about feelings and moods, friends, animals, neighborhoods and nature, relationships, seasons...and poetry collections. She has received many awards. at the ripe age of 90 she still works with her daughter who is also an author.

http://www.charlottezolotow.com/

Lionni's first book, Little Blue and Little Yellow, was inspired by a story he told his grandchildren on a long dull train ride. A list of 40+ books has followed with some earning awards and recognition. He received the American Institute of Graphic Arts God Medal and was a four time Caldecott Honor winner. His books are filled with bright colors and imagery that capture children's attention.

www.randomhouse.com/kids/lionni/

ch 8

Graeme Base is an Australian leading author and illustrator of picture books and young reader novels. He received classic status with his alphabet book, Animalia. It’s sold near three million copies and inspired an animated TV series. He holds a long list of awards and recognitions for other titles such as Jungle Dreams, Enigma, Uno’s Garden, The Waterhole and Animalia.
http://www.graemebase.com/

Eric Carle is a world renowned illustrator of many best sellers. He also lends his illustration talents to other authors. His most famous picture book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He has illustrated more than seventy books, most of which he also wrote and over 88 million copies of his books sold worldwide. His collage styled art technique captures kid’s attention.
http://www.eric-carle.com/

Its so important that we give our students the every opportunity to practice and enhance their language skills. This is a page that contains a list of books that promote the development of phonological and phonemic awareness skills. There are also counting books included that give you an opportunity to integrate language and math skills.
http://www.bridgew.edu/library/CAGS_projects/VCAIN/children

CH8
I simply adore fiction, all genres of it. I remember the first time my daughter was just captivated by a book. I was so excited and right then I knew she would be a reader. She was in second or third grade and was reading A Dog Called Kitty. I was in the kitchen and I heard her crying, flat out sobbing. I went in and asked what was wrong. She was so upset because the dog died in a horrid accident. I felt so bad for her and so excited at the same time because she had made a powerful connection and attachment to the story. It’s such a gift. It’s such a gift. I am particularly fond of the Double entry journal strategy to promote comprehension and plan to use it with y seven year old.
I’m so glad that the chapter included a section on censorship and gave some pointers on how to handle disgruntled parents. I don’t believe in censorship, especially when it comes to the arts. If someone doesn’t agree or like a particular work, then they don’t have to read, watch or listen to it. I just feel it shouldn’t be taken away from everyone.

children's author's

While searching for children's authors I came across these three that I thought are worth looking into:

Tomie DePaola has been recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award, the Newberry Honor Award and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure. He has written and or illustrated over two hundred books. I particularly like Strega Nona, maybe its my Italian decent. :) You can read more about Tomie at http://www.tomie.com/

Katherine Paterson is an author of novels, picture story books, I can read and chapter books, Non-fiction and essays, Christmas short stories and re-tellings. Her earlier work is reflective of her passion for Japan. This can be seen in, Sign of the Chrysanthemum and The Master Puppeteer among others. Her works consist of different, some have christian emphasis and she has a long list of awards and recognitions. www.terabithia.com

Avi is an award winning author despite having dysgraphia. When he visits schools he asks to speak to the learning disabled children and shows them his manuscripts with all the corrections in red. An inspiration. Writing everything from historical to picture books. He's been able to attract even the reluctant reader. www.avi-writer.com

ch7

First off...what a way we've come from the late nineteenth, early twentieth century; to think that at one time it was unheard of or unusual to write or publish books solely for children... Picture books have come a long way from where they originated. I always wondered why picture books were so expensive, now I know. There are so many elements that go into the developing of a picture book. Picture books are one of the more difficult books to write. They have to be meaningful and captivating in a very limited amount of space. Everything we expect in a novel is also expected in a picture book: characters, plot, setting, quality writing... because of this, picture books are not just for young readers. I would have never thought to use picture books in middle school or beyond. Picture books are unique in a way that they combine illustrative art with literary art and can be used for more experienced readers to teach bias, , alliteration, irony, and flashbacks. They are a great way to introduce the latter topics, much easier to identify. I was just simply blown away at how much a simple picture book could be used in the classroom; to support writing, reading comprehension, content area learning... I always thought of them as simply aesthetic. This is surely not the case.

10/02

In reading the chapter on Poetry...getting through all the technicalities of it and the vocabulary...whew!...I liked that the book suggested to bring in fun, light poetry collections that children would certainly enjoy first. Once they are hooked, start adding other poetry, expanding the library; of course, being sure to keep their interests in mind. The common themes insert with poem collections and authors was also a nice tid bit. I also never thought to use poetry to supplement core subject areas.

I loved the idea of including traditional literature in the Social Studies curriculum. Even better, if there happened to be a child in the classroom of a particular culture they could have a relative come, or share themselves, a traditional story from their culture, then lead a discussion afterwards. I think it would be a great way for a child to feel special about themselves, their culture and for others to enjoy something special from their peer. Its a fun and entertaining way to learn about the history of others culture and also life's little lessons.

Now, to be perfectly honest, while I was working on the Author's profile I was doubling to meet some of my own immediate needs. I had a teacher conference with my son's teacher last week and was informed that although he exceeds standards for fluency and vocabulary knowledge he is somewhat lacking in comprehension. My son, Gavin, is in second grade. He is supposed to be reading 40+ wpm...he is reading 89 at the moment. His teacher isn't sure if he is trying to hard to get through it that he isn't taking the time to comprehend...or if he is just being lazy...for lack of a better word. He always seems to know the answer after a while. Who knows. So I figured I would look for ways to improve comprehension. In my search I found this website: http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/compre.htm . The website has links to many other sites that students, teachers, and parents can utilize to improve comprehension strategies.

Jan Thornhill is an author, illustrator and designer. She's a recipient of the Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award, The Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction and many others. She uses wildlife and nature in her books that are enjoyable for children of all ages. They are filled with a joyful charm and colorful illustrations. Some are academic and some of her books deal on a more emotional growth spectrum. http://www.janthornhill.com/

I'm including Sylvester and The Magic Pebble by William Steig today because it is one of my favorite books; I know its an old one. My first grade teacher, Ms. Dana, gave me a copy and to this day, I have it. Both of my children have enjoyed the story also. Sylvester collects unusual stones. One day, he finds a red shiny pebble. Scared by a lion, he wishes himself into a rock. The story is about his personal attempt to change back to himself and his parents search for him.

mon.night 9/24/09

I was actually bummed when I read that the Aesthetic stance was the least used or most neglected in schools. I'm a firm believer that literature can mean different things to different people. When one reads a poem, a novel or even music for that matter it becomes something personal for them, means something special to them based on their life experience. My daughter and I like to print out lyrics to songs we like and write out what we think it means. Sometimes they come out similar, but they are different a lot of the times. I like doing this to show her that she has her own perspective and that doesn't make it right or wrong, its hers. I much prefer this deeper connection to literature over that of remembering facts. I'm not saying comprehension is not important, it is, I just think that the aesthetic stance is equally important and should not be dismissed. I enjoyed the activities that the chapter gave to help children respond to art. One of my favorites is putting on a puppet show or skit. I also think it would be fun to take a piece of literature and put a few twists in it to make it your own.

While working on the Author's profile I came across a site for children's poetry. Poetry is also important to keep in your classroom, available for children to pickup and read. www. poetry-online.org/childrens_poetry_resource_index.htm offers poetry from the classics to modern poetry.

With the growing numbers of children with disabilities being included in general education classes its a good idea for the class library to contain literature for children about children with disabilities. Its difficult for children with mental/physical disabilities to socialize, yet socialization can have positive effects in their lives. Literature can help a non-disabled child better understand a child with disabilities and can help them develop compassion and offer friendship. The teacher vision website at www.teachervision.fen .com/learning-disabilities/reading/5316.html offers a list of books for children about children with different disabilities. They are categorized by age groups. It also has printables, lesson plans and resources all categorized by age groups.

While on this subject, I came across a book about friendship. Since We're Friends: An Autism Picture Book by: Celeste Shally, David Harrington, Alison Singer. It is about two boys who befriend each other, one of which has Autism. The story gives examples of how their relationship works. The story also helps show kids that children with autism can offer fun friendship. I think a variety of books dealing with different disabilities should be included in all class libraries.

3321 Monday night

Well, I finally received my book and now I am playing catch up. I've always loved reading and knew that I would want a library in my classroom filled with books so that the children would have an array to choose from. I also have an...OCD type condition...I can't get rid of books... I have every book I've ever owned as well as my children's books. I have boxes and boxes of books in storage...I just can't part with them. I especially saved my children's books because I thought I would use them in my classroom one day. Now I feel a little sad because I never thought that they would be outdated. I probably should donate them so that they can be appreciated again. I loved the idea of a living literature classroom. I think its great that we can use literature to back other teachings; history, science, math.

That being said, I found this great book while surfing around. A River Ran Wild by Lynn Cherry. I thought it was appropriate considering our global and environmental issues. Its suitable for elementary school aged children second grade and up. It has a strong link to history but also to ecology. It tells a factual story of the Nashua River. How it went from a pristine river when the first Native Americans were using it as a source to its polluted state when European Colonists developed a city around it. It ends with a community driven clean up. I think its a perfect way to intertwine some history with global consciousness! www.lynnecherry.com/work12.htm

But Who Will Bell the Cats? by Cynthia Von Buhler is a new release this month! Von Buhler uses Aesop's fable as a starting point but the story is all her own about a princess who owns eight beautiful cats. The illustrations were completed in a fresh artistic approach. She actually built the scenery herself then photographed them. The character's were oil painted on. So the Scenery is 3D and the character's are 2D. This book is sure to be a favorite and it reminds us all of the simple power of kindness. http://www.butwhowillbellthecats.com

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site has a multitude of information from Book Review to curriculum ideas. It contains Theme ideas and topics of interest. This is a great place to start when searching for literature ideas and class projects related to literature. www.carolhurst.com

So in addition to realizing that I need to keep my library updated and current to the times; I also need to be sure to include books with many cultural backgrounds as well as ones about special needs children and acceptance. As I said earlier, I love the idea of a living literature classroom and the ideas that Chapter 3 gave to ensure comprehension were great! I love the idea of story maps and comic strips. It gives the children a chance to peer teach/learn and an opportunity to throw in a little art.

Children's lit.

Well, I still do not have my textbook...I have now cancelled my long standing order with Barnes and Noble and placed one with Amazon. It should be here Monday. One can only hope! Soon that stress will be gone. :) In searching for children's literature authors, I came across some interesting sites that not only contained lists of authors and books, but also contained resources for teachers on how to select and use literature.

www.childrenslit.com contains monthly features in relation to time of year and any special events that may be occurring. It also features different authors and illustrators. Its mission is to help teachers and librarians make available appropriate choices for children. The site contains links to authors, publishers, resources for parents, children, and teachers. It also contains links to children's literature collections and upcoming events. There is a yearly fee, but this could easily be split between fellow teachers. They also offer a free trial period.

The Database of Award Winning children's literature contains over 7,000 records of children's literature. Its primary purpose is to help a teacher or librarian create a reading list for students that would contain quality literature that has received awards. You can find this site at www.dawcl.com.

http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/professional-development/childlit/index.html was created to share ideas for those who are looking for ways to intertwine children and literature. It also shares how literature can be used in the classroom to aid children in knowing themselves and the world around them through stories and the characters in them. This site also contains multicultural and technological links.

3321-Authors

Well as I do not have my book yet...its somewhere is textbook space, though promised to be here by 9/16... I can't comment on the first chapter yet. In searching for children's literature authors I came across a few that promise to be very interesting and contribute to the world of literature for children in special ways.

Gary Paulsen is a three time Newberry Honor winner who has the pleasure of having his wife, Ruth Wright Paulsen illustrate some of his books. His life-experience as a young boy has given him plenty of material for his adventerous stories which are sure to make connections in children as well as adults. These three books have won the Newberry award: Hatchet, Dogsong and The Winter Room. If you are interested in learning more about him visit his site at www.garypaulsen.com.

Patricia Polacco got her inspiration to wright at home. As a child she was always surrounded by family and was especially close to her grandparents. Everyone in her family loved telling stories about their heritage. She takes special interest in elderly people and reflects the gifts that they bring in her stories. Most of her stories come from her own life experiences as in, Thank You Mr. Falker. Mr. Falker was a grade school teacher who discovered she had dyslexia. This of course had a huge positive impact on her life. She has a list of awards validating her work. To find out more about Patricia Polacco visit her site at: www.patriciapolacco.com.

Seymour Simon has found a way to integrate science and literature. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Commendation from the National Forum on Children's Science Books. He's written over two hundred and fifty books relating to Science and Nature. He has a new book concerning Global warming coming out in February of 2010. Simon has built a bridge from global consciousness, science and nature into children's laps. Visit his website at: www.seymourscience.com

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