Reflection #3- Henry's Freedom Box by: Ellen Levine

I absolutely loved this book! It is my favorite book that we have read so far. The illustrations were beautiful and the story was touching. One thing that I particularly liked about this book was that it was a true story. There are not many children's books about slavery and civil rights issues so I think that it would be a great book to read to students. I also think that it would touch them much more because it is factual. Parts of the book were sad, but that is appropriate for that time and place. It would not be as believeable if the story was happy and cheerful. I think that this is such an important part of history that children need to be aware of and reading this book aloud to a class would open the doors to discussion about slavery.

Craft Lesson #1

For First Grade Students

MATERIALS: The Napping House by: Audrey Wood, Post-it notes

DISCUSSION

Learning to read and using context clues to help predict upcoming events in a story can be a difficult thing for a young child to master. One way that we as teachers can help children learn how to use context clues to foreshadow is by helping them break down the text of a story. We can ask questions and allow them to really analyze what is going on in the story so that they can learn how to use context clues independently. In essence, we are teaching them the skills that they will need to become independent readers and problem solvers.

HOW TO TEACH IT

Teacher: Today I am going to read you a book about a house where everyone is taking a nap! There are lots of people and animals who are all taking a nap together on the same bed. While I am reading this story we are going to stop sometimes and talk about what else we think may be napping on the bed. You will have to really think about patterns while you are reading this book to figure out what animal comes next. We are going to use the illustrations in the story to help us make our predictions about what will comes next. Everyone pay close attention while I read The Napping House.

(I read first 3 pages of the book) We just read that there is a granny sleeping on the bed. Let’s all take a good look at the picture and predict who will be sleeping on the bed with the granny.

(Let the students discuss their ideas. Make sure they give you a specific reason for their predictions. Once they have predicted, turn the page and see if they were right.)

(Read on to the next page) Who do you think will sleep with the boy and the granny? Let’s look at the picture and maybe it will give us some clues. I see a dog and a cat in this picture. Who do you think will be on the bed next? (Let them explain their answers)

(Read the next page with the cat) Do you think that this is everyone that is sleeping, or do you think they can fit more people on the bed with them? (Let the children answer) What kind of patterns do we see here? Do the animals get from biggest to smallest or smallest to biggest? (Let them answer and explain) What is something that could be on the cat? (Let them discuss) Would it need to be smaller or bigger than the cat?

(Keep reading until you get to the last page, where you should have a post it note over the words “no one”) Now, let’s look at this picture to figure out what the words under the cover are. Does it look like a napping house now? (Let them answer and explain) What do you think the missing words are? Do you think it is the word “everyone”? Why not?
(Let them predict what they think the word is and give reasons why. Once they have guessed the correct word explain to them why it is correct).

Reflection #2- La Mariposa by: Francisco Jimenez

One thing that I really enjoyed about this book was that it is different than any other children's book that I have read. It also had some spanish words in it which could make this book a great tool if spanish was part of your students' curriculum. I also felt like this book could build a sense of community. For example, you could let a spanish speaking students explain some of the vocabulary. This gives that child an opportunity to teach the other children about his native language and heritage. Many children do come to the United States and start school without knowing English. La Mariposa gave a unique perspective on how a child that does not how to speak English would feel at an English speaking school. I also loved the illustrations in this book. They were so beautiful and really told a story of their own. All in all, I found this book to be powerful and I could definitely see myself reading to my class someday.

Reflection #1- Good Night Pillow Fight by: Sally Cook

I found this book to be too short and lacking a plot. I think that this book would be too easy to read to even a kindergarten class. However, I may use this book if I was going to teach my students about correct punctuation because the words are big enough for everyone to see and there are many different types of sentences. It would be a good book for a read aloud before a writing workshop, because the children could go write about the book using the correct grammar. One thing that I really loved about this book were the illustrations. I loved the use of water colors and it is so colorful and eye catching. I feel like that in order to read this book I would need to come up with specific questions about the story to ask ahead of time, otherwise the read aloud would be over in a matter of minutes. I think that this book could be a good teaching tool if it is well planned and executed.