Reflection

Class Reflection

The Children's Literature course has taught me a lot throughout this semester.  I learned that choice is a key component when offering literature to students.  As long as there is choice there will be something that all students are interested in.  I liked talking about controversial books because there will definitely be times when parents do not agree with what I'm teaching in my classroom.  After reviewing several of these types of books I realized that I usually do not have a problem with them.  A book is a book and if my students want to read it then it's usually fine with me.  I have been introduced to several different genres of books and now feel ready to offer them to my students.  I also liked reading the novels The Misfits, Must Love Dog, The Giver, and more.  I really enjoyed reading them and was interested in the discussions that followed.  I liked that we read The Year of Impossible Goodbyes and So Far From the Bamboo Grove because it gave a unique look at a historical event.  This is just one instance of how we learned to incorporate literature into any subject area.  I think that the technology integration (blogs, glogs, etc.) was a really useful and important part of this class also because our society is becoming more and more technology-based.  Students in my future classroom are going to be more interested in using the technology that they use and are familiar with than doing a book report by writing a paper and describing an author.  All of these components worked together to make this an amazing semseter and course.  I've learned a lot and am eager to take what I've learned to my future classroom someday!

"Mathematickles!" by Betsy Franco

With a concentration in elementary school math, I was instantly intrigued with this book!  What a great way to intertwine math, reading and writing!  I really like how math is mixed with language to teach students about how addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, geometry, and graphs relate with words as examples.  For example:

pumpkin - seeds + face = jack-o'-lantern

autumn / wind = leaves ( - colors = winter)

These are just a couple of the many clever math problems with words that describe the different seasons.  I think students would enjoy reading this book because it is funny and looks at math in a very different and interesting way!

"The Story Goes On" by Aileen Fisher

The first thing that struck me about this book was the illustrations!  They are all very bright and definitely attract the reader's attention.  I'm not sure how the illustrator created the illustrations but there are parts where it looks like newspaper was incorporated!  It's very interesting.  This is a story written as a poem about the cycle of life.  First a bug eats a plant, then a frog eats the bug, then a snake eats the frog, etc.  As a teacher I could see myself introducing a science unit about the life cycle to my students with this book.  It would give students a good overview of how all animals depend on each other to continue the life cycle!

"Falling Up" by Shel Silverstein

What a great collection of poems!  This was a book that I always enjoyed reading when I was young and enjoyed it just as much (if not more) recently.  I like that Silverstein has a very distinct style of writing poems.  I remember my fourth grade teacher started class each day with a poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends.  Silverstein's poems are fun and light-hearted and I think that helps children learn to love poetry, a style of writing that is usually dreaded by children.  Overall I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this poetry collection!  Here's one of my favorites:

Nentis Nan, he’s my man,

I go do im each chanz I gan.
He sicks me down an creans my teed
Wid mabel syrub, tick an’ sweed,
An ten he filks my cavakies
Wid choclut cangy-- I tink he’s
The grayest nentis in the Ian.
Le’s hear free jeers for Nentis Nan.
Pip-pip-ooray!
Pip-pip-ooray!
Pip-pip-ooray!
Le’s go to Nentis Nan dooday!