EDRG 3321-Genre Presentations

Unfortunately, my daughter was sick for the other group presentations, but the day I went, the group that went after me had an amazing activity. I really enjoyed the way they had us get involved in a mystery by putting the pieces together to make up a song. All the students seemed to like this, although some were puzzled. Overall, everyone did great on their presentations. I know ours was a lot of work. First we did a movie of the book, but that didn't turn out right, then we took pictures and I had the lovely task of timing everything in the powerpoint. Yes I whined the entire time, but the end product was great! Thank the Lord I only had to do one powerpoint. Thanks to Kim and Karen, our presentation was incredible. Thanks Jenn for letting the group utilize your camera! Yeah! We did great!

Author Profile

Lois Lowry is a renowned author who has been known for decades by children. Her books are fun and most recently she has wrote Crow Call. Which was a story about her father during WWII. Again this book is nonfiction and opens doors for students. At the website she has a blog and biography. Here's her website: http://www.loislowry.com/.

EDRG 3344-Bloom's Taxonomy Objectives

EDRG 3321-Genre Presentations

I really enjoyed the way that the group conducted a read aloud with the class as if we were the students, there was some technological uses such as to present the powerpoint. The powerpoint about fantasy was beautiful, the art work was great. Ms. Pickett and I were at the back of the classroom saying "oh" and "ah". It was amazing the end product these groups shared with the class.

Author Profile

Joan Holub has written many books and has been given numerous awards. I found out that she actually is participating in the nonfiction book industry titled Goddess Girls, one book is Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain. Her websites has an enormous amount of books, activities, and a chance to email the author. Here is her website http://www.joanholub.com/.

EDRG 3344-StarTrek

EDRG 3321-Chapter 11

Shared and guided reading is to me better than read alouds. Read alouds are good for modeling the reading features and habits for students to learn to enhance their reading. Shared reading or guided reading are well for students to have a chance to participate in the reading and not just focus on the techer. I have had the chance to observe in my son's prekindergarten class when he was three and watched him enjoy the shared reading of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?. He loved and favored the participation he was able to do with the class. The teacher would begin by handing out popsicle sticks with paper colored cutouts of the characters encountered in the book by brown bear. As she reads to the students, they would hold up their stick if the character was being brought into the book. The students absolutely adored this activity, watching them all day, this was what they looked forward to; carpet time, reading with the teacher and pulling out their popsicle sticks.

Author Profile

Thomas Geisel is best known as Dr. Seuss, although his family did not want him to become an author, he has made an immense contribution to children's literature. His website has brief descriptions about his books, but who needs help with activities when his world is indefinite to the possibilities. I absolutely adore his book titled Green Eggs and Ham.

EDRG 3344- Descriptive MGP

This will be a picture of a honeybee with descriptive sentences describing the anatomy of a bee. The title of this piece will be Words Painting the Anatomy of a Bee.

EDRG 3321-Chapter 10.

Reading aloud to students is incredibly important for students to be able to retain the information. It has been proven in numerous studies presented in articles that students learn better with discussion and interaction with one another. Vygotsky put this theory into place. Read alouds offer students a chance to interact with the characters in the book. The teacher can vividly take read alouds a step further by doing character impersonations. With any read aloud the teacher should adjust her voice to fit the characters and allow a think aloud for the students to interact with one another and predict or infer the story as they follow in the book. Students enjoy attentive teachers who take joy in their reading which instills reading habits for their students as well.

Author Profile

Eric Carle has wrote amazing books that my son absolutely adores. I read one of his books at least every night. The most familiar books is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?. The books are in a literature cycle. They begin where they end, which is one concept that can be crossed with other subjects such as science and the water cycle, or music, such as a song.

EDRG 3321- Chapter 9

Nonfiction is important for all levels of readers. Nonfiction offers the students to put themselves in another's shoes using autobiographies. I believe these types of books is what most are familiar with. Nonfiction is unveiling to our students to be able to understand and relate to the real life situations some people or families face such as Queen Elizabeth or the Diary of Anne Frank. Some may not see the importance, but if a child can learn how to really benefit from reading and enjoying a nonfiction book versus reading a text book, they may learn more than what is expected. Something interesting the chapter mentioned was a nonfiction scavenger hunt. I believe htis would be fun in any classroom. There is so much to learn through literature and nonfiction opens doors for students to actually enjoy the learning experience in subjects they may not favor.

Author Profile

Jan and Stan Berenstain are authors that have built a book dynasty. This is one book I remember as a child, their books center around the lives of bears and include a full series. The website provides games, theatre role play, activities, and writing a letter to the bears. It's amazing, here's the website: http://www.berenstainbears.com/. Everyone has seen one of these remarkable books.

EDRG 3344-Expository Rough Draft

These steps are accompanied with pictures in a honeybee hive for the steps taken to make honey.

First the worker bees gather nectar.
Then they mix the nectar in their body
with enzymes in special pouches
on their body.

The bee carries the nectar mixture
back to the hive, as you can see this
is when pollen is carried and
transferred as well.

The mixture is then placed into the
honeycomb cells that the bees have made.

Next, all the worker bees in the hive flap
their wings and evaporate much of the water
in the hive. The honey once was made up
of 90 percent water and now is only 19 percent water.

Finally, once the bees have made honey,
they cover the top of each cell with beeswax.
This is honey, ready for the beekeeper to
gather.

EDRG 3321- Chapter 8

Fiction offers children a chance to understand the world we live in. There are many types of fiction that has given children information such as life during past wars in the world, different lives of people and how they lived rich or poor, nice or mean, etc. Fiction can make us reconsider what actually is realty. Some do believe fiction is fake, like I was taught, but that isn't always true. In most cases, fiction opens doors for students as does any reading. Fantasy is a step further. Fantasy allows us as humans to adventure to other places and other cultures. For instance, I'm not sure about the movie, but I know the previews for Avatar are very appealing because they are based in this fantasy world of other creatures. It's amazing what writers do with fantasy, whether a book, play, or movie.

Author Profile

Caroline Arnold is a world known author who write about animals, life, and kids. A book that she has written is A Polar Bear's World, she focuses on animals. Her website provides activities, games, and a chance to arrange her at school as well. Her website is http://www.carolinearnoldbooks.com/.

EDRG 3344~Persuasive Rough Draft

This will be a cereal box with facts about bees, a quote from Einstein, and a nutritional label about honey.

EDRG 3321~Ch. 7 Picture Books

In chapter 7, I found the meaning of picture books to be more intriguing than I had imagined. Knowing the hard work that the authors and illustrators put into the meaning of their unique piece is amazing. These books give student's a chance not to just interpret from words in a book, but pictures as well. In picture books, as a children, we form our first memorable pieces of literature. I enjoy reading books such as Mama do you love me?, this book had few words and is a hard book, but my son enjoys me reading to him, he even point out pictures of the penquins or the clothing that they are wearing. Picture books not only provide another way to link the reader to the book, but also allows the reader to explore within the book to other cultures or ways of life other than their own. These types of open ended books, or short books with picures allows the reader to crically think outside of the box.

Author Profile

David Adler has produced book for children maintaining a focus on nonfiction. I believe this is incredibly important to make an adventurous approach for students. One of the books he has written is. His website is: http://www.davidaadler.com/. A book he has written is Don't Talk to Me about the War.

EDRG 3344-Rough Draft Narrative

When I wake up I get ready to jump
Jump out the hive with my wings running quite rapid
With my wings running fast I ride the wind
Riding the wind to set out and find a flower to land
When I land on the flower I use my proboscis like a plower
Like a plower I lift the nectar and down to my stomach it goes
In my stomach, the nectar meets the enzymes and is ready to go back to the hive
At the hive the nectar is kept in wax cells and then evaporates
When the nectar evaporates, it is then honey
The wearying work we do everyday is to make honey
When we make honey, we also pollinate
We pollinate using the pollen baskets on the back of our legs
Our legs carry pollen and some may fall when we land on other flowers
When we land on other flowers some pollen may fall in their pistils
When pollen falls in different flowers, cross pollination takes place
Cross pollination helps crops and plants reproduce
Reproduction is vital for plant life on earth
Cross pollination and honey making is all in a day's work for me

EDRG 3321-Fairy Tale Opinion

I believe some fairy tales did begin graphic or at least not the way we see or hear them today. I did some reasearch on the internet and found that Hansel and Gredel may have been a cover up for an actual murder. Unfortunately we don't have police reports, or news stories to actually see what was happening during this time period. Luckily, I did not learn the actual Cinderella or Hansel and Gredel stories that were not pleasant. I don't favor horror, and thankfully my children will not have to hear it either. I know it's good to know, but I don't want to know too much about the actual medieval times either. I enjoy fairy tales as they are described today and am thankful for Disney. I really enjoy Disney characters and art, it's beautiful and amazing.

Author Profile

Sharon Draper won the 2008 Coreeta Scott King for Copper Sun. The website found offered study guides to use her books, a space to ask questions if needed, and it offers her schedule and an option to choose to have her consider visiting your school. Her website is: http://sharondraper.com/.

Traci C. Jones is an upcoming author who was recognized with a Correst Scott King award. Some of the books she has written are Finding My Place and her award was for Standing Against the Wind. Her website is fresh and new with her thoughts on the world and her perspectives on life including a biography and book reviews. Her website is: http://www.traciljones.com/.

EDRG 3344- Importance of Interaction

It is very important to have the interaction within the classroom. Discussions between the students allow them to explore and build on their own knowledge or ideas. It offers an opportunity to other students to expand their thoughts and think outside of their box. Also, they build their language and deepen concepts being taught. Interaction stimulates their learning and comprehension with the involvement between each other. The students then are able to understand what they may have not before when their fellow classmates can explain their interpretation with them. Interaction is critical for the students and allows the teacher time get to know her students by seeing how the communicate or if they do. There is also discussion between students with the entire classroom as a whole. This may again allow for communication and social development or understanding. Allowing the students to take over in my opinion is better than the teacher telling her class what to do in a strictly lecture environment. Allowing the students to feel ownership makes the material meaningful to thm. When feedback is lost or discussion amongst the students, the student may not leave with any new knowledge. Talking is essential to learning.

EDRG 3321-Maya Angelou

I absolutely loved the quote by Terence, "I am a human being, nothing human is alient to me." Wow, that was awesome!!! I looked up other quotes by Mr. Terence and found one more that appealed to me, "Where there's life, there's hope." Amen, I couldn't agree more. Where life has begun, there is hope for the future and well being of that life, from the birth of a child to the birth of a companion waiting to meet it's friend for life, man's best friend (canine). Maya Angelou quoted a great man from 170BC. It was so long ago he spoke these words, yet we can relate to them now, still, years later. Which brings another quote, "In fact nothing is said that has not been said before." Is that not the truth? Okay Terence was great for his deep thoughts, but Maya Angelou had much more insight to offer. She stated that poetry can lift you out of depression, I agree again. Words are so powerful. Shakesphere? I could not believe she was able to relate to him at such a young age. When she told of her story, it made sense. After hearing her triump in life, and the words of Shakesphere, it indeed sounded like it was her as a young girl. I adored the "Negro love song" she spoke of. It was so vivid in words, like the couple on the porch was standing right before me. To finish, I'd like to quote Maya Angelou, "Liberation of the human mind and spirit beginning with my own....." We are our only enemy, our mind and spirit must meet and find grace here on earth in order for us to live a life of peace and happiness.

Author Profile

I figured since I had wrote about Ms. Maya Angelou, I would do an author profile on her. Her website has her biography, interviews, films, and other works Maya has participated in so that you can incorporate the technology in the classroom. Her website is: http://mayaangelou.com/.

Peter Sis wrote a book titled The Wall: Growing up Behind the Ironed Curtain which allowed him to be an honorary for the 2008 Randolph Caldecott Medal. His website had information about himself, games, and other books he has produced. His website is: http://www.petersis.com/index2.html.

EDRG 3321 - Chapter 4

This chapter was interesting, I an also taking Foundations of Literacy with Dr. Ferguson and have learned most of the teaching strategies mentioned in this chapter. I have heard of read alouds and did not know that what most teachers practiced with students in the classroom was called a think aloud. I really liked this strategy to ignite the student's critical thinking. Most importantly at the end of the chapter, there was a scenerio about a teacher that was tired of boring vocabulary instruction and decided to take a different route by allowing the students peer interaction. I agree and plan to practice interactive time for students with each other, technology, and myself. Again, the discussions are so critical for a child or student to actually build their lexicons.

Author Profile

Mo Willems has also been recognized with an honor book for the 2008 Randolph Caldecott Medal. His webiste is incredibly student friendly, his icons are cartoons. He offers activities and information about himself. Here is his website: http://www.mowillems.com/. He himself has a blog as well.

Judy Blume writes books not just enjoyable for students but teachers as well. I believe her book are enjoyable for all audiences. Her webiste offers a site just for kids. She's incredibly fun and animated as is her books. Her website is: http://www.judyblume.com/.

EDRG 3344 - Memory to Remember

I might not have much from my mom, but I have my memories. When my mother passed away, my father went into a state of depression. He didn't want a single object that she had possessed and told her family to take it. I have some things that were hers, like her ring, some pictures, and the Disney videos she collected over the years for my siblings and I. One of the most vital memories of my mother was prom night.

Mother was diagnosed with breast cancer nine months prior to prom night, she was said to be in remission, but was far from it. I remember during my mom's treatment, we were financially broke. My mother asked my cousin if I could use her prom dress because we couldn't afford one. I didn't care who's dress I was wearing, as long as I went. My mom tried to put enough money together for my nails, but didn't have quite enough. When I went to the small downtown in Sealy, Texas, Mirena the lady in the nail shop decided to not even charge me. When I asked her, "will you take twenty for my nails?" She replied, " don't worry about it." I felt so thankful and blessed. I was the oldest of six, with a mother fighting cancer, and one parent working, but I was going to prom. The most important part of the evening was the preparation in my room.

I was upstairs in my room which was left of the staircase. I was sitting at the edge of my bed with my sister painting my toe nails. I could barely afford the nails and my sister wanted to help. I love my family so much. My sister was coating my toe nails with red polish and concentrated to make my toes a work of art. My sister's friend who was in cosmetology was brushing my hair, preparing to try and tame my messy mop of hair. My mom was putting my makeup on, blush, lip liner, eye liner, mascara and all the works. When my sister was done, my mother asked me to sit down in the vanity, three mirrors reflecting my nervous face. I didn't have a sweet sixteen, so this was my growing up moment. My hair was not working and I began to cry. I was getting mad and fussy. The curls just wouldn't stay the way I wanted them to. My mother placed beautiful flowers in my hair. Something just was not right with my hair, and I began to cry more. My mom was getting upset with me and told me not to mess up my makeup. Then she said one thing I will never forget, "I feel sorry for the person who helps you on your wedding." I never once, not even then believed that anyone else other than my mother would be dressing me up to get married. I think she knew she wouldn't be there. I looked at her and told her she was crazy. I said, "what are you talking about mom...you'll be there." I didn't give it another thought. Prom was full of fun.

I was married about a year and a half ago, and I remember thinking on my wedding day, where's my mom. She wasn't there to do my hair, fix my dress or put on my makeup. I wanted to cry, but was so happy, thinking she was there. I just couldn't believe that she was not there. My mother, my mommy, the woman who would never die to me, was gone. Amazingly, life had went on. I miss her, but I remember her smile when I left for prom in my best friend's car. Most of all, I remember the hug, the hug that lasted forever. I imagined her smile when I left the alter as Mrs. Powell. I love my mom and miss her dearly, but my memories of her keep her strong in my heart, mind, and soul. These are my memories, my memories to remember forever.

EDRG 3344- RAFT

R-Grass
A-Rain
F-Letter
T-Gift of Rain

Dear Rain,

I am writing on behalf of all the grass and trees in the world. We were in need of rain for three months. It was absolutely excruciating to try and survive on what we had. We had a total of an eighth of an inch on average for three months consecutively. I talked to the trees and they explained that if we didn’t receive rain soon, they wanted to walk away from earth. We have all spoken with your mother but our words didn’t work. Mother Nature said she needed you to learn how to manage your work load.

It has been three months since we spoke with your mother, and we were losing hope. We lost our hope. We began to see our loved one disappear and trees lose their leaves. It was awfully sad. Then all of a sudden, it rained. We had inches of rain in some parts of our favorite homeland in the heart of Texas, San Antonio. After days of raining, we were able to see our children grow. They are green and long, along with the leaves on the trees that are beginning to retrieve their colors. It is beautiful here in San Antonio, Texas. We know that this is possible because you learned how to manage your work load in the time you were given to water the world.

We the grass are sending this letter of thanks for the gift of rain you gave us. We are proud of you for accomplishing your task. Managing your time is hard, we can imagine. The rain has much to do in order to rain. You also have to make sure all countries get rain. Thank you again for remembering us here in San Antonio, Texas.

Sincerely,

The Grass

EDRG 3321- Chapter 3

I believe it's life long need and skill to understand what we read. Comprehension is the child actually being able to repeat, understand, or be able to explain what they read. Goodman and Weaver said this a bit simpler by stating reading is gain-ing meaning from the print. This was to emphasize how important vocabulary is. Without vocabulay and words, reading is just print. Meaning is so important, not just for a child to be able to answer a question on a TAKS test, but to be able to know what joy reading may have. It is the teacher's job to make sure that she builds on letter, sounds, words, and support the importance of a student being able to identify a word and know the meaning to comprehend the material. The teacher must also remember that if a student is not on the level of the rest of the classroom, time is needed. If time is needed to take out of the day for the student, a teacher may need to spend time before or after school for that child to reach the same as every child in the classroom. The fun part of teaching is activating prior knowledge. There are a number of activities a teacher may do, say, or assign for a student to do and not even know they are during a pre stage of a lesson. For example, a teacher may ask students to think about what they do at the beach and then introduce what sand is, what's beneath the waves of the water or creatures of the sea. Discussion is a another very important aspect of comprehension. There can be prereading discussion of an overview of the book or predictions, this time will allow the student to activate prewritting schemata. There's also postreading discussions which allow time to reflect and make connections. Reading is the key to comprehension, and vocabulary and word meaning are needed to comprehend. Learning may be difficult at times, but reading and remembering our lives at home away from school make learning enjoyable.

Author Profile

Brian Selnick has won the 2008 Randolph Caldecott Medal for his book titled The Invention of Hugo Cabret. His website offers a video of the book, resources, related websites, and links about the invention. I believe this would be a great book to introduce to the kids. Here is his website: http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_hugo_intro.htm.

Another author is Laura Vaccaro Seeger. She is an author who has many books and has been recognized as an honor book for the 2008 Randolph Caldecott Medal. She does not have a website, but I believe that the author expresses herself on this website http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/aifolder/aipages/ai_s/seeger_lv.html. Not to mention, a lot may be learned about the author through which the author's produces.

EDRG 3344-The Writing Process

The writing process is a step by step guide for a student to be able to gather their thoughts, organize them, and put them in writing. The writing process is for the students to have an effective essay. There are five steps in the writing process.

The first step is Prewriting. This step is for the student to gather their ideas and put them on paper. Students also identify who they may be writing to and why they are writing. This could be done by using a graphic organizer, semantic map or outline. In the book, it states that this step is for the student to c hoose a topic, consider purpose, for, and audience, and to generate and organize ideas for writing.

When the student has an idea of what they will be writing, they advance to the next step. In the drafting stage, students begin to write their ideas on paper. This stage is not for the intended to be free of mechanical errors, but instead focuses on the sentences being wrote. The content is more important than crossing the t's and dotting the i's. It is common for a teacher to ask a student to skip a line when writing the rough draft to prepare and leave space for revisions.

In the revising stage, step 3, students reread their writing and read out loud to their writing groups to receive outside ideas and perspectives for their paper. After discussions, students make changes reflecting their classmates, themselves, and their teacher's comments. The student is making sure that they have meet the needs of their readers by adding, substituting, deleting, and rearraging material. Once revisions have been made, there may be a conference with the teacher for late revisions or ideas. Then there is editing.

Next students edit their writing. The student may proofread their own writing multiple times from beginning to end and end to beginning. They make corrections as needed. At this time, students may switch papers in a group or with a neighbor to have them correct errors they may have missed. After the student has identified and corrected their mechanical errors, there may be a meeting with the teacher for a final insight on content and mechanical errors.

Finally, there is step 5, pulblishing. When publishing, the students finishehd their masterpice with a final copy of their work. Now and days, students use word processor to perfect their piece of writing. They may display this piece of written art or share it to their classmates. Writing is a process, one step at a time to perfect a piece of expression.

A Basketball Game to Remember

On a cold Saturday morning in January, Sealy High School played Bellville High for a place in the regional playoffs. The players all entered the gym to prepare for a life changing game. When the players reached the locker rooms, gym bags hit the floor, hoodies and sweat pants came off, and jerseys of red and white and blue and gold were revealed. It was warm up time. Players ran out on the court full of adrenaline after warm up and prepared for the rush of the game. It was the start of the game and the jump ball was being thrown up. Ashley, Amber, Kristen, and Sara were all in their places waiting for the pass.

After the first quarter, the game was going great. Plays were being made on the court. Ashley was passing with awesome accuracy. Kristen was precise on her shooting and Sara was blocking shots like a mother protecting her young. The communication from the players were putting numbers on the score board.

All of a sudden towards the end of the second quarter, the game was falling apart. Cici was becoming side tracked with her boyfriend in the bleachers. Sara continued to miss passes. Kristen was not calling the ball and was left open with a shot at the goal. There was no communication. The horrible defense was allowing the opposing team to score with the mistakes that were being made.

At half time, coach called a huddle. She said, " Put your game face on, you can come back and win. Talk to each other, call for the ball, pay attention, and use your team members to score. Let's go!" Half time ended and the game was on.

Coach Harold had spoke words of talen on the girls. They were scoring because they were communicating, paying attention, blocking the ball for defense, and moving the ball around to score. Sealy High School was coming back to win.

the game was tied at 62 points and 10 seconds left on the clock in the last quarter. Amber passed to Kristen and scored. Sealy High School won the game. Sealy was advancing to the regional playoffs.

EDRG 3321-Chapter 2

I could not agree more with the opening quote for chapter two from Joseph Bruchac, "One of the major goals of my work and my life is to help foster understanding and respect for each other-whatever our nation, race, or gender..." I do not believe that Mr. Bruchac is alone on this belief. I too believe that we as teachers must foster understanding and respect in order to have a classroom that welcomes culture, learning, knowledge, and differences. Children need to feel like they are a part of the classroom, in order to learn from it. With the trust they build with each other as students and with the teacher, they are able to relax and take in an education with less struggle and worry. Amazingly, this belief we share is a part of my culture. This is a part of my deep culture. Although no member in my family has earned a college degree, I know that in order to live in a world where employment is becoming scarce, an education is essential to being able to secure employment. That is my value of an education and what I think about the world.

The need for a culturally responsive classroom is so that no child is left out or falls behind. Again, the teacher must become aware and acquire knowledge about the subject in order to ensure that there are no children that fail or leave the system. I believe that it is very important for a teacher to get to know their students, inside and out. They need to know about or a little of the student's surface (out) and deep (inside) culture. We were speaking of home visits. I understand teachers are extremely busy but maybe there should be a helper or school partner who can help with these home visits. I believe that with help, there may be abuse or neglect of children brought to the attention of those needed or maybe insight of a student's family or home environment will allow the teacher to work out a lesson plan fit for all her students. Knowing more than just what a student brings on paper can help incredibly to make a classroom culturally responsive. I know it's difficult to fight with time, but then again our teachers are superheroes! :)

Teachers can meet the needs of all learners, including culturally diverse students by allowing them to participate in sharing their life, family, or culture. To allow a child to share is giving them the power to be in control and feel significant to their classroom family. Show and tell is much more than bringing an item to school, it's more tell. Students tell classmates about themselves and where they from, which is a part of their deep culture. Something that you might not have known if they didn't bring it to share with their classmates. At the same time, children are expanding their horizons and learning about cultures not like theirs. Incorporating culture, inviting religious leaders, members of different cultures or backgrounds to present to the classroom, integrating culture in the lessons is bringing the world to your children (students). This exploration is feeding the growing minds of children and opening doors for them to walk through discover. It's incredibly simple, takes some initiative, but pays back so much more.

There is no doubt in my mind that I agree with this reading. Students are all different physically, mentally, and culturally. They bring more to the classroom. They bring different views, strategies and insight on subjects because of their background or prior knowledge. Literacy is an important factor in developing these relationships of trust and education in a classroom. Without literacy, how would one communicate? It would be difficult for a student to learn or become aware of their surroundings in their community or classroom. Literacy and development go hand in hand, along with experiences, to help welcome students to a wonderful and diverse changing world.

Speaking of drop outs today, I thought it was incredible to hear the Mayor Castro and SAISD superintendent were out and about knocking on doors to bring students back to the classroom. Just thought I would share this light of hope with others. They called this reaching out event exactly what it was, "Reach Out to Drop Outs."

Author Profile

Patricia Polacco is from Missouri and her culture from her life is reflected in her writings. When Dr. Ferguson read this book in class, all students wrote down the title and author, she was one to keep. The book Thank you Mr. Faulker was inspirational and reinforced our meaning as teachers and duties to our students. Her website provides fun activities for students and author information as well http://www.patriciapolacco.com/ .

Another author I found was Mem Fox. She was introduced to me by Dr. Harris. This author is amazing and she not only provides activities for students, but information for teachers. She has worked at a university and has expressed her beliefs at her website as well. The website is entertaining and informative for students, teachers, and parents. Here is her website: http://www.memfox.com/welcome.html . Some of her books include Koala Lou, Boo to Goose, and Hello Baby!.

EDRG 3344-Pre, During, and Post Strategies

Children absorb information like sponges. In order to be able to give them information needed, a teacher must first get the student involved. When the student becomes a part of the book, a teacher has their attention and can use it to ensure a successful learning experience. A pre strategy would be to activate a student's background knowledge by asking questions about the topic or book cover they are about to read and how they can relate to it. A student can connect the book's topic to daily life, at home, or maybe what they like. The teacher can help by giving some of examples of what she thinks of when she hears the title of the book or the pictures. For example, if they are reading Rainbow Fish, she can talk about her fish tank, the fish at SeaWorld (if she lives here in San Antonio), maybe see if any children have been to the zoo, if they have read books or their parents have read a book to them with a fish in it, like the Cat in the Hat. Then she may ask the children how do they like fish, what do people feed fish or what fish eat, where they live, what type of "homes" a fish might have (fish bowl, sea, lake, water). Or the teacher may have an activity before the story, like decorating a fish template. She may even want to bring a fish in the classroom. Connections, brainstorming, and prior knowledge are very important to get the student into the subject. During the reading, a teacher may ask a student to look at the pictures on the pages and describe the scene or predict the next event. She may ask the students what type of other animals live in the sea, hoping that may be on the next page. Keeping the children on their toes and wanting to hear more is critical to keep them focused and at the same time the teacher is enhancing the prediction skills. The teacher may even use a book box or puppet show (characters on popsicle sticks), to take out to assist the children in predicting or following along in the story. After the reading, the teacher may summarize the book by asking the students what events happened from the beginning to end. The teacher may want to know what the students felt was most interesting or important about the story. To get the students to draw a picture in their minds, they can pull out the fish they decorated and post them on the sea wall (water waves made of blue paper on the wall). The teacher can ask the students what other creatures they saw in the book and have the children make them to add to the wall. The students may be instucted to draw their favorite part of the book or scene. Hopefully, this will allow the children to visualize, retain, and relate information in the future to the subject discussed. These strategies or activities are important in order to meet every student's needs in one way or another to ensure that a child is on task and participating in the lesson. These strategies are used to help meet the learning needs of a child, whether they learn hands on or visually. Keeping a child attentive, active and aware of a topic or events in a book is vital to having the student take in and understand the information they are being taught.

EDRG 3344~ How I learn......

I know that I learn in various ways. The stratagies I use to learn are simply repitition, review, and connect. I make sure to read all my resources before I am tested on a subject, such as: reading my notes, quizing myself on my notes, reading the book, or reading the chapter summaries. I like to make sure I have a thorough understanding of what I learned and have done any research on my own to clarify any questions I may have had. Most importantly, I learn best by making a connection with the lesson or subject with my life. If I can relate to the subject in any way, it locks in my mind and is there to stay. I believe this is the best way for me to learn because the subject not only was needed for a test or discussion, but for me personally as a student, mother, sister, employee, future teacher, or past student. I enjoy making the connections and keeping them locked in mind.
When it comes to multiple intelligences, I scored a 100 percent in three areas. Not suprisingly, the areas included kinesthetic and visual, but I thought I would have scored higher in interpersonal versus intrapersonal. I scored high in both, but got 10 for 10 in intrapersonal. The survey taken in class proved to me that I was a visual person, but I also use all but one of the intelligences. I scored a 30 in the naturalist section, which did not suprise me as much. I knew I wouldn't score highly there when I could only say "yes" to two of the statements. I
definitely know the importance of and am thanful for Gardner's breakthrough studies. He is absolutely incredible for this.
My motivation are my children, family, and future. For me, my children are the most important pieces in my life and I want them to know how important school is and want to accomplish a degree as well. My family has always been behind me and they continue to motivate me with great praise and phone calls of encouragement. My future of one day teaching a classroom full of eager learning minds pushes me to want to continue and began changing lives for young students who may not like school or not enjoy it.

EDRG 3321 Chapter 1/Children's Lit. Authors

After reading Chapter 1, my thought about reading have changed. I enjoy reading children's literature and love reading to my children, but I never realized the impact reading has on children and their learning structure. Reading definitely is important to read a chapter in a textbook, or for communication reasons, but the importance is the value of reading that every student should have. The book discuss the need to read to live in society, but the fact that our nation has fallen to want to read is scary. I personally don't read for fun, I unfortunately don't really have time. In the exception, that I do read to my children every night, at least one book, if not more. My son will make sure to remind me if I forget. To the point, I didn't know that I was helping my son so much. I know his attitude towards reading is positive and beneficial to him. I adore children's literature, maybe that's why I can't just pick up an inch thick book and get to reading. I love the pictures, big words, and fairy tales. The poem in the beginning of the chapter was incredible. I loved the way Mr. Jack Prelutsky put the imagination from books of many children into words: the giant's head, pot of gold, or the dragon. I do believe that all children can reach their full potential, but I know that this is not possible without a patient, persistant, punctual teacher. I am going to start keeping my textbooks from college from now on and grabbing as many recommended books from authors I hear about. I want to make sure that my students are provided the most enjoyable books possible to welcome them into reading and loving to read. I can't wait to have books all over the classroom and I really liked the graffiti board. That was interesting, but clever. It sounds like a great way to get students to want to read and be able to leave their thoughts and ideas for everyone to see, which could lead to debates on books in the classroom. Thinking of the excitement in the participation of the students knowing abou the subject or book they read and being able to throw their ideas and thoughts is incredible.
I also looked up a few of the authors my son had in his library of books. One author I found to be very intriguing was Ms. Laura Numeroff. She is so thoughtful and passionate about her books and teaching that she offers links to websites where she has found lesson plans, games, resources, and activities to coincide with her books. I see this author as not just a person who wrote a book but a supporter of the importance of making connections with a postivie attitude towards literature by offering games, fun, and links to the fingertips of teachers or mentors. She is obviously dedicated to the children of the classrooms that her books may touch.
Overall, the first chapter was a great introduction to this class by opening my eyes and showing me the reality of reading and life. Before this assignment I just read the books my son had asked, but after visiting the sites provided by the author, I would like to use the cutouts and activities with my son. Unfortunately, he's my guinea pig right now, but I think he'll enjoy it!

Author Profile

One author I found interesting was Christopher Paul Curtis who had an honor book for the 2008 Newbery Medal. His website has many books that he has won the Newbery Medal previously with other books and his website offers activities to use for students. Here is his website: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/christopherpaulcurtis/ .



Jacqueline Woods is also a great author who has won numerous awards for her culturally driven books. Some of her books include Our Gracie Aunt, Show Way, and Hush. Her website included special projects and sites for teachers, students, and parents! Her website is: http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/ .