Alyson Cotter Children's Literature Lesson

Although I had not read this book until recently I thought it would be a great book to read in a classroom. Last semester I was taking a multicultural education class and we needed to find a book that taught a lesson about racism. My sister is a teacher in a third grade classroom in Indianapolis Public Schools and she suggested “The Other Side” by Jacqueline Woodson. I believe this picture book would be great to incorporate into a classroom lesson. It is about two young girls that become friends in a segregated town. They do not care what their parents have said about the other side. It is about doing what you believe in and the power that children contain. I enjoyed this book because it reminded me of a friendship that I had when I was in third and fourth grade. My best friend Tiara was African-American. Although this was not a time of segregation, my school was predominantly white at the time. This friendship was viewed the same as any other by me and my family, but some children at school made racist remarks about Tiara.

I think this book would be a great conversation starter in a classroom. Some children make judgments before knowing, which is why it is important to integrate multicultural education into the classroom. The discussion would depend on the atmosphere in the classroom. I could promote student learning and appreciation of diversity by addressing issues and asking questions. I do feel this book is great for young children to read and the lesson will only be understood if a discussion occurs after the children read the book.

My Favorite Book

My favorite book as a child was The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman. The book is about Mr. and Mrs. Bird and their journey to find the best nest. Mr. Bird thought his old nest was perfectly fine but Mrs. Bird was determined to find the BEST nest. They flew from an old shoe, to a mailbox, to a church tower before finally realizing that their old nest was actually the best. In fact, at the end of the book Mr. and Mrs. Bird become parents! This book was the first one that I can remember absolutely loving as a little kid. I made my parents read it too me so often I actually had it memorized by the time I was four or five years old! I tricked my mom into thinking that I could read, when really, I was just reciting the book from memory. My mom realized that I wasn't really reading when she noticed that I wasn't turning any of the pages. :)

This book would be good to read to younger kids; I would say first grade would be the oldest group of kids I would use this book for. It has a good message for young kids: Be happy with what you have. Since kids usually want anything and everything to play with, this would be a useful book to share with a young class.

The Giver

My favorite children’s book is The Giver. This book is set in a fictional world where everything is “perfect”. In this community there is no choice, everything is given too you at a certain point in your life. When you turn 7 you get a bike and at another age you are given a child, first a boy then a later a girl. You are given a job when you turn 10 and you do that same job until you “die”, which is really when they euthanize you. At certain stages of life you receive specific items on your birthday, which everyone in the community shares if they are your age. The book is centered on one boy who is chosen to be the Giver. The man who is the current giver has all the memories that were taken away from the community. This give must transmit the memories to Jonas, the new Giver. In the end the little boy escapes to a place much like ours where he and everyone else can live freely. I like this book because it’s about a place that is very similar to ours but also very different. The author does a good job at hiding the fact that things a very different and it makes the book very interesting. I think in the classroom as we read this book I would set up some kind of “perfect” world so my students could get more of a sense of what it is like the young boy and why once he begins to receive the memories he wants to share them and not live like that any longer. I would also like to have the students to come up with a play to act out so they can become one of the characters.

Jennifer Wolff's Favorite Childrens Book

After reading the topic for this week's blog, I couldn't just pick one favorite children's book. Throughout my whole life I've loved reading. I was probably one of the "losers" in the class with my nose buried in a book. Now, I believe books are an escape; however, when I was in elementary school, depending on the age, I loved the pictures and tones of the books. When I was younger, like first or second grade, I couldn't read that well. I had to leave the classroom for speech and reading, so I was never with my classmates. I didn't want to be the only student leaving, so that would make me work ten times harder at home. Before bed, my mother would always read me a book. I remember my favorite, at this time, was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. After reading the books, my mom would always explain to me the importance of each book. I think that is why I loved the giving tree so much. She would explain that the tree was never selfish, and someone always has something to give, no matter how big or small. I could reflect this onto my life because at the time, I felt I was the "stupid" one. I would always think to myself, "why would anyone need my help?" My mom would explain that I always have something to give/help others with and I should always try. Therefore, I believe I can easily incorporate this book into my classroom. Even during the first week I would read this book to my students and explain that we want to have a "giving" atmosphere in the classroom. No matter how big or small, we can always help others. For a younger age, I could give them a picture of the tree, and they could draw it. I could even create a discussion between the students and each student could say something their good at, and could maybe help another.

My second favorite book during Elementary School was Holes by Louis Sachar. My teacher read this book to my class during fifth grade, and I remember always being intrigued. I have not read this book since fifth grade, but I loved it. I do not know if it is the way the author wrote the book, or if it was the way my teacher read it, but it was great. My teacher was the fun type that would always change his voice for different characters to make it more fun. I have never been the type of reader that likes a type of book like holes, but it opened my eyes to the possibility. I always liked the sappy animal, or princess books, and Holes was the first actual mystery book I read. I think I could incorporate this into my classroom if I'm at an older grade, and even just read it to my students. After I read a chapter, we could discuss what happened. The students could even fill out worksheets or split into groups and explain what they think will happen next to work on predicting. I think there is a lot I could do with this book, I would just have to dig deeper.

Here are links to amazon.com where I found the books:

http://www.amazon.com/Holes-Louis-Sachar/dp/0439244196/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253031055&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Giving-Tree-Shel-Silverstein/dp/B000NY2R40/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253031111&sr=1-2

When I read the blog for this week I knew right away what story I would chose. I read it once as a child and I reread it for my children’s literature class. . The name of the book is the Indian and the Cupboard. I think it is a great book that allows one to use their imagination. The story is about a boy who acquires a cupboard for his birthday. What he does not know is that it is a magical cupboard that makes his toys come to life. When he places his toy Indian into the cupboard, a new world is opened up. As he befriends the Indian, he learns a lot about his culture and some of the misconceptions of the Native American culture. The one part that I remember clearly is when he sets up a tepee, the Indian refuses to get into the tepee because it was not his tribes type of home. It is a great book and there are many activities that can be done for all students in the classroom. The first idea off the top of my head that could be done with younger children would be to have them write about what toy they would want to have come alive. This would not only be a fun activity for them, but it would also help with their writing skills. The other activity that could be done with the older children would have to do with different Native American tribes. In the activity, students would have to pick one tribe and make a poster board and talk about all the information they learned about for the tribe they chose. The reason I enjoy this book so much is because there is so much imagination in it, as well as facts about a specific Native American tribe. As a kid, everyone wants their toys to come to life. So that is why I believe students would really connect with this book. I would recommend this book for any grade level. In the younger grades, it would be an activity that the teacher could do during teacher reading time, and for the older students they could actually read it themselves.

Jess's Favorite Children's Book

After taking X460 this previous semester I was reminded of how entertaining and fun children's books were, and still can be. As a child reading was always something I enjoyed doing. I read books from the Box Car Children to the Goosebumps series. As a twenty one year old I still enjoyed every minute of flipping through and reading children's literature. Through all the fun and interesting books I read as a child one specific one sticks out in my mind, Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolan.

Harvey Potter was a farmer in a rural southern town during the years of racial tensions who owned a U.S. Inspected Balloon Farm. He grew balloons of all colors, shapes and sizes just like one would corn right out of the dirt. The government as well as a particularly curious young African American girl were very suspicious of his methods. The book is narrated by this young girl who spends hours up in a tree near Harvey's farm to try and take a look at just how he grows these balloons. She soon realizes and experiences the magic of the farmer and is inspired to create a little magic of her own. Through this, the white older farmer, and the young African American girl formed an unlikely friendship. Although this book is pure fantasy it delivers an underlining message I don't even think I was aware of as a child. Not only does it inspire children, but also gives the message of acceptance of people whom may be different from you by the way they look, even by the way they speak.

I believe this book is an entertaining book for children to read and should be included in a classroom library. As a future special education teacher I have had experiences working with children with special needs who verbally are not able to read. This book provides fun and exciting pictures that children can look at without having to read the pages. The book however is written in a type of slang language. So this book would not be useful for children to read alone especially while working with grammar and punctuation. However I loved this book as a child and I loved it even more when it was read to me. The characters come alive and as a read aloud in class would be very interactive and fun for students.