Blog Post #5 - Folklore

Little Red Riding Hood  - Retold and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman- Fairy Tale 

The Tortoise and the Hare: An Aesop Fable - Adopted and illustrated by Janet Stevens  - Fable 

    The children's fable The Tortoise and the Hare illustrates the importance of taking your time, not bragging, and trying hard. In Little Red Riding Hood, a little girl goes through the forest to visit her sick grandmother and runs into a sly wolf along the way. Even though the main difference between a folktale and a fable is that fables always teach a moral lesson to the readers, but not all folktales have a moral, the moral lesson in Little Red Riding Hood was not everything is what it seems. The story warns readers to be cautious and aware of potential dangers. 

   

Blog Post #6 Realistic and Contemporary Realistic Fiction

 

The Water Princess - Contemporary Realistic Fiction

by Susan Verde (Author), Georgie Badiel (Author), Peter H. Reynolds (Illustrator)

Awards: 

ALSC Notable Children's Books, 1995-2023. Commended, 2017.

ILA Teachers' Choices Reading List, 2015-2020. Selection, 2017.

Junior Library Guild Selections, 2012-2022. Elementary Selection, 2016.

An inspiring story about a young girl and her daily journey to obtain water for her family is told in The Water Princess. The story follows Princess Gie Gie, an African child who walks miles each day with her mother to a water well. The reader can follow Gie Gie's tiring journey as she visits the well, meets her friends for a short time, and travels home, only to repeat it the next day. In the same way that a young girl can walk to find a basic necessity, readers can also be encouraged to be resilient to face challenges in their daily lives. 

The Day You Begin - Realistic Fiction 

by Jacqueline Woodson (author) and Rafael Lopez (Illustrator)

Awards: 

ALA Notable Children's Book WINNER.

ALSC Notable Children's Books WINNER.

Jane Addams Children's Book Award WINNER.

New York Times Editors' Choice WINNER.

Notable Books for a Global Society Award WINNER.

Rigoberto, an immigrant from Venezuela, introduces himself to the class, and other students laugh, but he later meets Angelina and discovers he is not the only one feeling out of place.Young readers can connect to this poetic picture book by the way Woodson captures those relatable times when children may feel different from their peers due to their native tongue, skin tone, or the "different" food they pack for lunch. Rafael López's stunning artwork and Jacqueline Woodson's poetic words honor the courage it takes to venture out when you feel like an outcast. Woodson also helps us remember that when we step out, take a leap of courage, and start to tell our story, sometimes people are willing to listen and learn more. This book gives insight on differences that may be shared between people. I think this resonated with me because there is always a time in your life when you feel like you may not fit in, but it is important to embrace that and remember that it’s a good thing to be different.

Blog post #3 - The Courage of Sarah Noble

The Courage of Sarah Noble 

Author - Alice Dalgliesh

Illustrator - Leonard Weisgard 

Newbery Honor Book 

    Alice Dalgliesh's The Courage of Sarah Noble is a Christian historical fiction chapter book for young readers. The story tells of Sarah Noble, an 8-year-old girl who travels with her father into the wilderness in the 1700s. During this time, he builds a log cabin while Sarah cares for their home and makes friends with the local Indians. She is then left with one of the Indian families while her father returns home to collect the rest of her family. Adapted from a true story, this story revolves around Sarah's fear and growing courage. An inspiring story about overcoming prejudices, survival, and bravery. The Courage of Sarah Noble was awarded a Newbery Honor Award in 1955.  

 

Blog post #4 - Picture Books

    Grandpa Green written and illustrated by Lane Smith, was selected as a Caldecott Honor Book in 2012. In Grandpa Green, a boy describes the life of his great-grandfather through illustrations from his topiary trees he had created in his garden.  

    The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, written and illustrated by Dan Santat, was selected as a Caldecott Honor Book in 2015. 

    Kitten’s First Full Moon written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes was selected as a Caldecott Honor Book in 2005. 

All three book were selected as Caldecott Honor Books, which honors the most distinguished American picture books for children. 

We Are Water Protectors

    “We come from water.” We Are Water Protectors, author Carole Lindstrom, illustrator Michaela Goade, won the Caldecott Medal, which was the first time in 83 years that a Native American illustrator won the award. We Are Water Protectors was inspired by the many indigenous-led movements across North America, “it issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguarding the Earth’s water from harm and corruption”. 

    The colors used in the book alternated from cool colors, blues and greens that brought a more tranquil feeling, then to warm colors such as red, oranges, and yellows to give off a sense of urgency and danger. When a black snakes threatens to destroy the Earth and poison the water, the colors used were read, orange, and yellow. The words in this book were written complementary with the images, interdependent. The images advance the story of the snake threatening the water supply to connecting the legend to the present-day threat of oil pipelines being built on Native lands. The snake was drawn to look like pipelines killing the Earth.  The illustrations in We Are Water Protectors are very powerful, connecting the people, legend, animals, and the fight to protect our water. The last illustration, taking over two complete pages, show many people, allies, from different tribes, fighting and standing up to protect our sacred water supply. 

Early Literacy Experiences: Blog Post #1

    Thinking back about books from my childhood, memories, and reading experiences was rather difficult at first. Times like these, I’m very thankful to be living back at home with my parents and my childhood library. I took the time to reminisce with my mom about the books she would read to me and the books I attempted to read to my younger sister. My mom would buy us books that she would receive in the mail, she says she has no idea how she was able to buy them. She would save up money and buy bundles that were “buy 7 books for 7.99 and get one free” or “12 for 12.99 and get one free”. My father disapproved and eventually told her to stop when he found out. My mom would attempt to read Dora the Explorer bilingual and Disney books to us. She says these books also helped her learn English.

I attribute my love for reading to my mother because she has always encouraged my sisters and I to read. She is also such a great story teller! I remember how she would read The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar but in Spanish, “¡se encontró convertida en una bellísima mariposa!”. We would do “extension activities” and would look for caterpillar and butterflies in our backyard. 

I also remember trying to teach my little sister the English alphabet and numbers to 100 with pop-up, counting, and ABC books. She shared with me, that she also wanted to become a teacher so she could “read like me”. 

One experience that I would like to incorporate in my classroom is giving my students a book like my “I Like Me!” Book I received in the first grade. This book was given to me as a gift from Rotary Club of Conroe while I attended Anderson Elementary in Conroe, TX. “I Like Me!” Is a not-for-profit, pro-active, personalized program for kindergartners that helps build a healthy self-concept, develops early learning reading skills. The goal of “I like Me!” Is to empower kindergarteners to keep off drugs, out of gangs and in school by showing them that learning can be fun and they can important, successful young citizens with their development of a healthy self-concept through literacy. 

Post #8: Teaching Diverse Types of Notebook Entries

 

     The first type of notebook entry that I found very interesting was writing into the fact that the present contains the past and future. I would probably introduce my students to this type of entry by providing an example of my own and modeling. I would project my notebook to my students and pick a subject. I could also show my students an example of my own writing, written in the present, and adding past and future writing to it. I would model my thinking out loud while writing. I would like to use a subject that my students could relate to, 

    The second type of notebook entry that I found that would be very useful in my classroom was using questions to pursue ideas.

For the first part of this assignment, read through "Teaching Diverse Types of Notebook Entries" found on pages 185-195. Choose at least two types Bomer discusses and write about them (without quoting from the book). Be sure to discuss why you chose these two and how you might introduce them to students within your content area.

Next, read the remainder of the chapter. Look again at "Intentional Strategies Versus Assignments" and discuss what you think the author is saying here. Put this in your own words.

    Students need to be able to use their notebooks as a means of