It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?!

This is a screenshot from my phone. 

First off, I hope everyone had a nice break and enjoyed Thanksgiving! Since I was on the road most of the time, I decided not to worry about any picture books but rather read a classic, short novel. I should stay listen because I used Audible and listened to my book while I was driving. I decided to read Animal Farm by George Orwell. Since we were not required to read for four hours, I thought this book was perfect because it was very close! With the introduction, the book was 3 hours and 11 minutes.

I decided to read this classic because it was something that was always on my “to-read” list and the timing seemed just right. I think I should tell you guys that Audible is not free, I had to pay for this book in order to listen to it so if you want to listen to it, you can purchase it through Amazon or Audible itself!

I will say Animal Farm exceeded my expectations. I learned a lot about the background and why it was written in the introduction. This was essential when reading this book because it really explained why things were happening. Basically, Animal Farm was written as a representation of the political structure in 1945. The book is about a farm where the animals take over and create a working society. Of course, there is the problem of who wanted the power and what was best for the other animals. Also, throughout the entire book, there is always the rule of ALL humans are enemies. I don’t want to spoil anything but I will say there is a major part when the two main political characters of the farm fight against each other which eventually leads to ones downfall.

I would recommend this book as a high school book but I believe it can be used in middle school as well.

Until next time,

-Rachel

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?!

For this week, I continued my reading challenge! I wanted my children’s books to be based on Thanksgiving since that is happening this Thursday. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Elementary:

Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell

Something I really liked about this book is how much diversity is has. The story talks about different characters that explain what Thanksgiving is and who was involved. The illustrations are cool as well because some are super realistic while others are not.

One Tough Turkey: A Thanksgiving Story by Steven Kroll

This book is a classic. Published in 1982, the illustrations and storyline is pretty general. The story is basically about the turkeys fighting against the humans on Thanksgiving. I thought it was pretty funny.

Today is Thanksgiving by P.K. Hallinan

I really enjoyed this story because it talks about about a type of Thanksgiving that is usually thought of as the norm. I think it was very sweet and I like that there was a rhyming pattern because (for me) it makes it a more enjoyable read!

10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston

This book takes the classic “10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” and fits it to Thanksgiving. I think this book would be great with really little kids because then you could really dance and sing along.

A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman

This is my favorite Thanksgiving book because it was hilarious. When picking our final projects, I picked this one to be included because I like it and I think the kids and put their own personality into their crafts.

Middle Level:

This week I finished The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. This book is very controversial because it was banned for quite a while. Just because of the language and the tender story line, I would not use this book in a middle school classroom. While the reading level could be suitable for a middle school student….the story is just to tender in my opinion. Basically the story is about a teenager who is in a mental institution and going through treatment. While I do not think this is suitable for a middle school student, I think it is important to read and understand the history behind it. I would recommend teaching this to a high school student who can handle the language and storyline.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Until next time,

-Rachel

The Skyping Renaissance

Image by: ebayink

After reading Kate Messner’s article, The Skyping Renaissance, I learned a lot about author skyping. I think the most surprising thing for me was that this even existed. I had no idea that author were willing to do this. I think it is a great thing because it can allow students to ask questions about the writing process and inspirations of a novel from the exact source!

I would love to set up an author visit for my classroom because I think it would be fun for the students and the author. I am a little bit of a book nerd so I can not tell you the excitement I would have if I were able to meet one of my favorite authors! Even if students are not into reading, talking to the author could change their minds.

As I said, an advantage of this is having students ask questions about the writing process that an author has to go through. Another advantage is it is generally available to a school even if they are not a highly populated school or a school that has a lot of funds. Since Skype is a free program, there is just the problem of finding a time.

Some disadvantages I see is the students not paying attention to the author and messing around. Just based on my experiences as a student, there are students that do not pay attention when a speaker comes to the classroom. I think this is rude because the speaker is giving us our time to talk about something they are passionate about, the least we could do is pay attention. To solve this, I would have each student write two questions and they have to ask the author at least one.

For my ideal author visit, I would love to have Harper Lee because she is so interesting as an author. Not only did she write To Kill a Mockingbird, this was her only books for a majority of her life. However, nearly 55 years later this changed. In 2015, she wrote the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman. Sadly, this author visit would not be possible because she passed away in 2016.

Until next time,

-Rachel

Its Monday! What Are You Reading?!

For this week, I worked towards my reading goal! I decided to finish my Disney book so this week I will have seven stories to cover instead of five! I also started my new middle level book.

Elementary:

Three Little Pigs:

When reading this story it was a joy! I found it so funny to read and it reminded me of my childhood. The illustrations were really good. They were realistic but not to realistic that they took away from the joyous factor of this book.

Lady:

This story was surprising to me. This is the story of Lady and the Tramp but in a different setting. At first, I was disappointed but it turned out being a pretty sweet read.

Old Yeller:

If anyone has seen Old Yeller, I am happy to say this story has a completely different ending. I am torn on this story because I would like to read the book and then watch the movie with my class but since this book and the movie are so different, I would not use this.

Sleeping Beauty:

Another princess story that was great. I think this story would be interesting to use in the classroom because there is the original story about sleeping beauty but there is also a story about Maleficent. This would be a great way to teach character development.

Manni the Donkey:

This was a new read for me but it was ADORABLE! Manni is probably the cutest character I have even seen in the Disney books. This is because normal people don’t usually think of donkeys as cute but Manni is!

Donald Duck’s Toy Sailboat:

This story is more based on the chipmunks Chip and Dale rather than Donald Duck. I have to admit I was a little disappointed because Donald Duck is one of my favorite Disney characters.

The Jungle Book:

This would also be a great book to teach because it has so many different elements to it. Especially with the new Jungle Book coming out, it would be fun to read and watch as a class.

Herbie the Love Bug:

I found it interesting how different this movie was from the book. Honestly, the only connection between the two was the Bug. After reading it, I was a little disappointed in the movie because the book is a great story.

Middle Level:

For this week, I am starting The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Reading Aloud in the Classroom

Image by: Madonovan

When I saw that this was the topic of the week I was so excited because I strongly, STRONGLY believe in reading aloud. This is something we never did when I was in school until about 7th grade. I truly wish I would have been forced to read aloud at a younger age because it would help me so much now. I personally hate reading aloud because I get conscious of my tone and pronunciation of words. If I started reading aloud at a younger age, it would have gotten me use to it as I got older. Even now, I am working on reading aloud by reading the picture books and a majority of my middle level novels out loud. This being said, I will have my students read aloud during class because it is something that is so simple yet so difficult for students.

Building Read Aloud Routine in 3rd Grade Reaction:

This was the first article I read and I found it very helpful. The main thing I took from it was the use of audiobooks. In past posts, I have talked about my take on audiobooks….I love them. I think they are a great tool to use in the classroom and in personal life. The only problem with audiobooks in the classroom is they do not have the correct tone that you want them to have. I’ve been using audiobooks in my personal life for years now and I cannot tell you the terrible readings I have come across. There was one (Don’t remember the title) that was completely monotone….you can imagine my frustration. The only problems I see with using audiobooks in the classroom is going through the multiple different readings of one book and the students are not actually reading, they are just listening. However, I think audiobooks would be a great break for students so they do not have to read the entire time but they can still listen to the book aloud.

*If you wanna check out the article, the link is: http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2014/09/building-read-aloud-routine-in-3rd-grade.html*

Read Alouds Reaction:

Something pointed out in this article is teacher’s reading aloud to their students. I think this is incredibly important as well hence why I am trying so hard to improve my reading aloud skills. However, the way I want my classroom to read is a majority of the students reading with me in between. Depending on the difficulty of the novel, I would stop after each chapter/ couple chapters and have a discussion on what happened. This way I can assure that my student are retaining the information they are reading.

*If you wanna check out the article, the link is: https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/read-alouds-by-katherine-sokolowski/*

My Top Ten Reading Aloud List for Middle School

*Some of these are not in my Monday Posts, just things I’ve read in the past I want in my classroom*

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Its Monday! What Are You Reading?!

This week, I continued my reading challenge! I have a book from last week that is full of Disney classics so I will be continuing through this book! I also finished my middle grade book!

Elementary:

Cinderella:

Starting off this week with a popular Disney princess! The story was okay but I found the most enjoyment from the illustrations. While these illustrations are not completely real life, they are simple and follow the story incredibly well!

The Ugly Duckling:

This book was always one I hated because I found it so sad while reading. Even as a 19-year-old, I still find it sad. Of course there is the happy ending which lightens up the mood!

Alice in Wonderland:

This will ALWAYS be my favorite Disney story. I remember as a kid reading this story over and over. Once I found my love for English, I read the original copy and it just strengthnd my love. I would definitely use this book in my classroom.

Pluto Pup Goes to Sea:

This was one I’ve never read before but it was fun to follow and had the classic Disney animations included in it!

Peter Pan:

Peter Pan is a book I would use in the classroom because it does a great job with gender roles. The classic story shows that boys are not always the heroes.

Middle Level:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

I don’t want to get into the definition of the book but more of how I would incorporate this into my classroom. I would consider this book pretty diverse but humorous. I think I would require my students to read this around 6th grade because it is not very long and the story is pretty easy to follow. I’ve debated on having my students do a book report on it or assigning different sections that we communicate as a class and have them write a report on the end. Either way, I think using these methods could open students up to a majority of different learning goals. I am leaning more towards the report from groups of students as well as having class discussions about different points in the plot!’

Until next time,

-Rachel

Diversity in Children’s Books

This week, we were assigned to read two articles that had to do with Diversity in Children’s Books. For this post, I will be giving my responses on this issue.

The two articles we read were Here I am by Brian Pinkney and Children’s Books: Still an All-White World? by Kathleen T. Horning. I personally liked Here I am better because it is more story based while the Children’s Books: Still an All-White World? is more fact based.

I think diversity in Children’s book is something that had gotten better over time. This could be because of stories like Pinkney or because of people realizing that there is not a lot of diversity and they want to change that. Either way, it is pretty clear that diverse children’s book are not as popular as non diverse books.

Image Credit: Sharon Fabri

Looking at Horning’s article, she uses a lot of interesting points involving many statistics and has a handy chart. However, one thing I found important in this article is when Horning writes, “A lot of people are quick to blame the publishing industry. But publishers can’t just make manuscripts magically appear.” I think this is so important to understand because in my opinion, the blame for less diverse children book’s is not just on one group.

As I said before, it seems like diversity in children books is getting better and better but we still have a ways to go. This can be helped by teacher immensely. If teachers use a variety of book in their classroom. This exposes the students to things they encounter throughout their lives. Exposing them to a variety at a young age will only do good for them. Of course, this is a teacher’s decision and how they want their classroom to run. I just think it would be a great idea.

Until next time,

-Rachel