Top 10 Picture Books

Number the Stars was a great book for me because I love reading about the Holocaust. This book gives us another inside story of what terrible things happened during that time.

Holes was a good book to read because I wanted to see if it matched the movie or not. Everyone kept telling me it didn’t really match the movie at all but I thought there were parts that did.

Charlotte Web is just a great book for all ages. This is probably one of my top books of all times. Never can go wrong.

Copper was a very cute book that told a story of a little boy and his dog that went on their own adventures. The adventures they went on were always exciting and it felt like you were there with them.

Tap the Magic Tree was a great book to read to your students when it is spring and fall. This book shows and talks about a life cycle of an apple tree. Great for little kids.

The Three Questions is a good one for younger boys. I chose this book because I felt myself in the little boy’s shoes while I was reading. Every boy goes through these questions at some point in their life.

Bad News for Outlaws is an old western story. I love this book because when I was younger I would always watch westerns. This book brought me back to my childhood.

Because of Winn-Dixie is a classic. When I read this book I felt for the dog and the little girl. She had no friends and had to find them herself. She became friends with people that had no other friends’ because people thought they were weird or different. Great book.

Interrupting Chickens was a great book for a teacher to read when they are having a discipline problem I know I am glad I read this book because the odds are I will read this to my students.

How I Learned Geography shows how lucky we are and things we need to be thankful for. This book talks about a boy that doesn’t get fed except one loaf a day and so he reads about different places and those are his vacations he goes on. Great inspiring book.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Bridge to Terabithia- Jess Aaron’s is a young boy plagued by insecurity-until he meets Leslie, his new neighbor and fast friend. Together they invent the world of Teribithia, where they go to escape the outside world. Jess slowly becomes more secure in his identity as he continues to travel to Teribithia with Leslie. Their friendship is not limited there though-they see each other at school, and spend holidays together. When tragedy hits, Jess’s whole world is turned upside down. He feels like sinking back into the old Jess-the one he thought he’d outgrown. Worth the time to read, Great book!.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Number the Stars was a book someone read either last week or a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to read it right away after I read their blog about the book. This book lived up to it expectations.  If you haven’t read it and you like to read about some of the events that happened during the Holocaust i strongly suggest reading this book.

Julie of the Wolves: Miyax is a 13 year old Alaskan Native girl. She is living with her aunt when her father goes missing on a hunting trip. She heads off in search of her father, and while looking for him becomes lost in the Alaskan wilderness. Many things happen during her adventure. Very fast read.

It’s Monday! What Have You Been Reading?

Stanley Yelnats is a boy with terrible luck, due to a curse that was placed on his great-great-Grandfather. He is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional facility, when he is accused of a crime he did not commit. At Camp Green Lake the boys are forced to dig holes. I’m guessing everyone has seen the movie that goes with this book. If you have seen the movie I would recommend reading the book.

11 year old Jonas lives in a strict futuristic society. The society has eliminated all pain, fear, war and hatred, and as a result has also lost passion, the ability to love deeply, and connections within families. At the age of 12, everyone is assigned a job based on their abilities. Jonas is assigned the highly honored position of Receiver of Memories. A wise old man called The Giver passes memories of the society onto Jonas. It was a different book but it was good. Started off slow for me but then went fast after I got farther along.

Skyping Renaissance

I thought it was funny when I read this in the article. “A fifth grade class spent the entire 40-minute visit making faces at themselves on their monitor,” says author-illustrator Marty Kelley. This is a great thing to remember when introducing technology to our students. Giving them time to learn about skype and just messing around with it is smart to do so this doesn’t happen when you skype with someone.

I think skyping with an author would be a great idea. Doing this will let the students get an insight of what a author looks like and what they talk like. Getting them use to the author might get them interested in their books and will get them to read their books. Getting students interested in reading is the biggest problem sometimes. This will most likely spark their interest.

The author I would invite to my class is Barbara Park. Barbara Park is the author of all the Junie B. Jones books. All the students have loved this book that I’ve read to so far. I’m in a first grade classroom all day on Mondays and the teacher reads a Junie B Jones book to them and they love it every time

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It’s Monday! What Have You Been Reading?

I saw someone read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last week and I realized that I watched the movie and haven’t read it so I decided to read it. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, were sent to stay with a professor to safely wait out the war. Lucy finds a wardrobe which takes her into the wonderful world of Narnia. When she convinces her brothers and sisters to come with her, they find themselves in the midst of another war against a cruel ruler called The White Witch. With the help of Aslan, they work together to save Narnia from a terrible fate.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

The Phantom Tollbooth is about a bored young boy named Milo unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth, which he decides to drive through in his toy car. The tollbooth then takes him to the Kingdom of Wisdom, where he embarks upon adventures, including a quest to save Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about a  poor young boy named Charlie lives with his mother and two sets of Grandparents in a house in a town where Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory towers above everything. No one ever comes out of the factory, and nobody ever goes in, and yet it is still churning out tons of incredible delicious treats. One day it is announced that in five chocolate bars there will be a golden ticket-which will gain the lucky holder entry into Wonka’s factory.  I’m guessing everyone has watched the movie and if you liked the movie then you will like the book.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It begins with a little runt of a pig who is destined to be killed because he is so small. When the Fern who is the farmers daughter finds out, she convinces her dad to let him live. The pig’s is named Wilbur. When Wibur is sold to a barn a ways away Fern is sad but still visits him. In the wake of this major life change, Wilbur becomes friends with a spider named Charlotte. Great book and I’m guessing most of you have read this book and agrees with me.

It is about Meg Murray and young Charles Wallace, who go on adventure through time and space  to find their father. He had vanished mysteriously when he was  working on a project that dealt with none other than what they are using to get around-tesseracts. Joined by the strange Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe, they set out to bring back Mr. Murray back home, and vanquish the evil Black Thing, which is threatening earth. This book was a fast read and had me hooked the whole time.

Diversity

One this that surprised me was that when Brian was researching and writing his book Max Found Two Sticks that some people think that just because there is an African American kid on the front it is intended for the African American crowd. I never thought that it would make a difference to readers but apparently to some it does. I think that we need to focus on that story of the book and not the race of the character. When I have my own class I will push students to not judge a book by its cover. If we see that there is an African American or Asian we shouldn’t think that it’s not for us to read.
In schools today there are as many as 30% of the so called minority group. In our classroom we need to make sure that we have books for everyone and every different interest level. We need to have diversity in our classroom and the school library. If we start implementing diversity in our classrooms at a young age there won’t be as many problems with this when they get older. I feel like each generation is getting better and better but it can always be better. As I looked back to the books I already read I could tell that I wasn’t reading about books with diversity. I need to try to get more diversity in my reading for this class because if I am going to be a good teacher I need to be able to talk about all kinds of books. There are many books out there with diversity and I need to read some.

Reading challenge check-in

For the second check up for the semester it is almost like the first check up. I have learned that reading isn’t as bad as I thought when fist signing up for this class. I still am not the biggest fan of reading but it is getting better. I am finding out that I need to challenge myself more instead of just reading the books I know I will like. I read one book last week that I didn’t Like at all. After I read it I looked back on it and I was happy with myself that I tried reading something that I knew I wouldn’t like. I know that after I read it I didn’t write much for my reflection but that was because that was one of those books that when you read it you know whats happening but when you get done you don’t remember what happened. It was all over the place in the story hard to keep track of what was happening. I was happy that I tried to read it because now I know for sure that I don’t like those books and I will never try one of them again unless one of my friends promises the one they just read is a great read.

I still caught myself reading the books that I know I will like. I still think I am learning a lot by reading all of these books. It is preparing me for my class in the future. Being able to recommend books for my students once I get to know what interest they have will be a huge advantage. I am starting to read higher level books instead of just picture books. I am also having more trouble finding time to read because there are a lot of big homework assignments and football is getting pretty busy. I need to figure out different times in the day that I can read.