Poetry Books

Dinothesaurus

by Douglas Florian
ISBN: 1416979786
Ages 4-8

This is a fun book of poems about dinosaurs. It talks about different time periods dinosaurs lived in. It also described the different types of dinosaurs and gave some good information. In the end of the book it also contains a poem about the extinction of dinosaurs that speculates why they might have become extinct. This book would be good not just for reading but it can be incorportated into a science lesson as well.

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I Am of Two Places

ISBN: 0-7635-3161-8

Ages 4-8

16 pages

This book is a collection of poems written by five different elementary students (3rd-5th grade) from Santa Ana, California. They have relatives in both the United States and Latin America and the poems are based on the feeling of sometimes being divided emotionally between the two places.

It is a culturally rich book that is great for students here in Texas because many of them come from or have family who live in other countries.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

By Laura Numeroff

In this classic cause and effect story a bossy mouse has many requests for a young boy. After each request is granted the mouse feels the need for something else. This is a funny book for beginning readers.

Laura Numeroff also has a neat website www.lauranumeroff.com with information about her as well as other books she has written. It also has audio from an interview with her and a kids link with writing tips, coloring pages, and a game.

When Sheep Sleep

When Sheep Sleep

by Laura Numeroff

ISBN: 0810954699

A little girl and her teddy bear can't sleep so late in the night when she wants to count sheep but they are sleeping she decides to count other animals instead. She pretends to visit different animals in their habits including pigs, cows, and bears only to find that they are sleeping too. By the end of the story she is so tired that she falls asleep herself.

This book is good for teaching rhyming to younger children. It could also be used to help with teaching descriptive words. For example in the story the cats were purring softly on the sofa.

The Jellybeans and the Big Dance

The Jellybeans and the Big Dance

By Laura Joffe Numeroff

ISBN: 9780810993525

I read this book for the first time this weekend and it is one of my new favorites. It is about a girl named Emily who is upset because the other girls in her dance class are so different from her that she doesn't think they will become friends. After a trip to the candy store she discovers the group of girls are similar to jellybeans in that they are all different but they mix together well. They soon become friends and work together to have a great dance recital.

This book does a good job teaching about friendship and acceptance the only bad part is there are no boys in the story so this is most likely a story girls could relate to better.

It only gets the reader thinking about comparisson because Emily compares the girls to jellybeans.

Ch3

Understanding What We Read: Comprehension, Vocabulary and Discussion

This chapter is important because reading doesn't serve a purpose if you can't understand what you've read. While learning to read is important, even more important is being able to comprehend what has been read. All students won't get the same meaning from the same text however that is okay. What is important is that they recieve some meaning from it. Personal meaning from liteature is based on individual beliefs and experiencs however educators also want to be sure students gain the basic meaning behind the text as well as comprehension.

The textbook talks about the steps to building better reading comprehension which are:
1. Activating or supplying prior knowledge
2. Guiding reading
3. Reinforcing concepts
4. Encouraging critical thinking and inquiry

In order to guide the student's understanding teachers should choose books that are at the student's appropriate reading levels. It is important to have different literature so that each reading level has materials available.

Another way to work on reading comprehension is to have discussions before and after the reading to get a better undestanding of the story and vocabulary. The teacher should ask literal as well as other types of questions, such as asking them to compare, predict, and infter parts of the story. For example in the story of the three little pigs the teacher could ask:

• How did the pigs feel after their house was knocked down?
• What do you think would happen next in the story?
• Why did the wolf blow their houses down?

I like the idea the text had about doing a "picture walk" for younger students to look at photos and predict what they think will happen. It causes them to think and makes the story more exciting to them.

Acting out stories or using puppets is also a good idea to encourage comprehension and understanding. Both are activities students of all learning levels even special ed can participate in.

The Last Leaf To Fall

The Last Leaf to Fall

By Amy Tippit-Young

ISBN: 1606961306

This book is written my a Marion High School teacher. It is about change being inevitable and how it is nothing to be afraid of. It follows a leaf named Analee and tells about how she is scared to fall off the tree because it is the only home she has ever known. It is a good book for students because children like Anallee are very hesitant and afraid of change.

Chapter 2- Culturally Responsive Classrooms

Chapter two talks about how our classrooms today are more diverse than ever. It is our jobs as teachers to get to know all the different cultures in our classroom and base our instruction on the student's needs. The most important comment I got out of the chapter was where they stated that many students can't and don't make cultural shifts to adjust to schools. I thought this was important because often when students aren't being successful in a new classroom the adults say it is because they are still adjusting and transitioning into a new environment. Instruction will become more effective if the teacher is knowledgable about different cultures most importantly those cultures that make up their classroom. If a student's culture doesn't fit in with that of the rest of classroom he/she could feel isolated. The classroom is a community and if a student feels unwelcome it is likely their grades will be low.
It is important for the classroom library as well as the curriculum to be multicultural so that all students can have a sense of familiarity in the literature provided for them. This includes not just the heritages that are in the classroom but different cultures as well. Doing this lets students learn about different cultures and enables them to be more accepting.

Who Will Go To School Today?

Who Will Go To School Today

by Karl Ruhmann

ISBN: 9780735819078

This book is good for students in early elementary grades. It talks about a boy named Sam who wants to send his stuffed monkey to school in his place. After describing all of his daily activities Sam decides he would doesn't want to miss the fun at school.

It is a good story for children on the first day of school because it decribes what their day will be like and would help calm the nerves of aprehensive students.

3321

I haven't recieved my book yet so I can't comment about Chapter 1 but I did find some helpful websites for the Author Profiles.

My favorite is kidsread.com/authors/authors.asp
The site lists a ton of authors and by clicking on the author name it gives you a short biography and the book they've written.
Some even contain transcript interviews with the author and book excerpts.

Another interesting site is http://www.childrensauthorsnetwork.com/author/BB.htm
They also have a list of authors with their biographies as well as fun facts about them. You can also click on freebies and there are free teacher ideas for the classroom.