Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Remember: The Journey to School Integration


Morrison, T. (2004). Remember: the journey to school integration. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Genre: Informational, Multicultural

Grades: Grades 2-5

Summary: In Remember, Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison provides an insightful look into the lives of young people during the desegregation of schools in America. Actual photographs from that era are compiled into this striking book. Morrison supplements the photographs with a fictional account of what conversations between the students may have been like. More than anything, the photographs themselves tell the story more than any words could have. In addition, Morrison has included a timeline of key events in school desegregation and photo notes.

Reflection: Morrison, who experienced the school desegregation herself, has put together a book that flows chronologically from the beginnings of school desegregation to the end. The pictures suppport the events that occurred. She provides a brief introduction to allow young readers to have an idea of the situation the photographs portray. Structurally, the book is divided into three parts: before school desegregation, during school desegregetion, and continuing segregation.  After a brief description of events, photographs follow with a fictional account of possible conversations. There is actually a small amount of text for each picture with a lot of meaning in what the words are telling the reader. In most cases, the pictures express more than the words. 

Students could research an event on the timeline and report on it to the class, write an interview on school desegregation, or write a story to describe a photograph. Students can discuss how the book made them feel and what they learned about segregation. This book is very powerful and will give students a lot to think about!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Field Experience Reflection

Field Experience Reflection



1. How many hours did you complete?
• 5 hours 45 minutes

2. In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?
• Interviewing SLMS and In-Service Classroom Teachers
• Tutoring a Middle-School Student
• PTO Meeting
• SBDM Meeting
 

3. How did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard? (be sure to name the standard)
• 8.1 Identifies opportunities to engage in collaborations that enhance student learning.
With each experience, I was reminded of the benefits of collaborating with others, whether it is our school’s SLMS, the SBDM committee, with other teachers and parents working together with the PTO and working with parents and students to provide extra academic help. There are so many opportunities to enhance student learning in a variety of ways. For example, through the interview with our SLMS, I learned of different technologies that I can use in my classroom. Through participation in PTO, it was decided that we would give classrooms $100 in AR books. Through SBDM, we discussed our schools reading scores and how we can work to improve those scores. All of these provide very different, but very important ways to collaborate and enhance student learning.

4. Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.
• I think the thing that was most interesting to me was how our SLMS chooses books for the library. There are several aspects she looks at when choosing books and number one is student requests. She also uses the Follett website (which I had never heard of) which allows her to search different categories that allow her find the types of books that she may be searching for such as Newbery Honor books, high interest books, etc. In addition, she talks with (collaborates) the public librarian and asks what is popular, along with meeting with our district’s SLMS. Another aspect she considers is what other libraries in our district have purchased and what circulates well, which she is able to look at through Destiny, the check-out system our school district uses. Finally, she uses

www.lexile.com, a site that allows her to search for books according to lexile ranges.  It also lists the most popular books in those ranges. There is a lot to consider when choosing books for the library, more than I even realized, though I am not surprised. It’s hard to narrow down books to choose for use in the classroom, much less the entire school!

Bud, Not Buddy

Bud, Not Buddy

Reading Log for 30 Books

Reading Log for 30 Books
 
Genre / Titles Read

I. Non-fiction/Informational         
1) Morrison, T. (2004). Remember: the journey to school integration. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
2) Griffin, J. (1962). Black like me. New York: Signet Books.
3)  McNulty, F. (2005). If you decide to go to the moon. New York: Scholastic Press.


II. Poetry            
1) Hesse, K. (2001). Witness. New York: Scholastic.
2) Prelutsky, J. (1983). The random house book of poetry for children. New York: Random House.
3)  de Regniers, B. et al. (1998). Sing a song of popcorn. New York: Scholastic.
4) Field, E. (1995) Wynken, Blynken, & Nod. New York: North-South Books.


III. Modern Fantasy          
1) Farmer, N. (2002). The house of the scorpion.  New York: Simon Pulse.
2) Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic.
3)  Lowery, L. (1993). The giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 
4) Collins, S. (2009). Catching fire.  New York: Scholastic.


IV. Historical Fiction          
1) Peck, R. (1998). A long way from Chicago. New York: Scholastic.
2) Curtis, C. P. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York: Delacorte Press.
3) de Angeli, M. (1949). The door in the wall. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young  Readers.


V. Multicultural/Traditional         
1) Bryan, A. (2003). Beautiful blackbird. New York: Simon & Schuster.
2) Curtis, C.P. (1995). The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963. New York: Delacorte Press.
3)  Zelinsky, P. (1997). Rapunzel. New York: Puffin Books.
4)  Simms, T. (2004). This is the house that Jack built. New York: Puffin.


VI. Realistic Fiction           
1) Peck, R. (1995). The last safe place on Earth. New York: Bantam.
2) Paulsen, G. (1987). Hatchet. New York: Bradbury Press.
3) Giff, P. (2002). Pictures of Hollis Woods. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
4) Hiassen, C. (2002). Hoot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


VII. Picture Books
1) McKissack, P. (1986). Flossie & the fox. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
2) Base, G. (1996). Animalia.  New York: Puffin Books.
3) Rohmann, E. (2002). My friend rabbit.  Connecticut: Roaring Book Press.
4) Shannon, D. (1999). No, David!  New York: The Blue Sky Press. 
5) Lionni, L.  (1987). Frederick.  New York: Dragonfly Books. 
6) Scieszka,J. (1989) The true story of the three little pigs. New York, Puffin Books.
7)  Steig, W. (1969). Sylvester and the magic pebble. New York: Simon and Schuster.
8)  Burton, V. (1942). The little house. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
9) Burns, M. (1994). The greedy triangle. New York: Scholastic.
10) Van Allsburg, C. (1987). The z was zapped. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.


Wiki Checklist

(1) Social Studies
(0) Science
(1) Math
(1) Music
(1) Art
(0) Reading/Language Arts
(0) Physical Education
(0) Other

Bud, Not Buddy

 
 

 
Curtis, C.P. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York: Scholastic.
 
Can you imagine waking up in a foster home with a kid sticking a pencil up your nose, just to see how far up it would go? That's what happens to Bud (not Buddy) his first night at the Amoses. He doesn't like it much and decides to go on the lam...and to find the man he thinks is his father, Herman E. Calloway.
 
So begins Bud's Depression-era adventure that takes him from Flint to Grand Rapids, Michigan and includes being bopped on the head, a library, kissing a girl, jumping trains, brushes with the law and a man named Lefty. Not to mention you can learn some of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things to Have a Funner Life and Make a Better Liar of Yourself. For example, there's Rules and Things Number 83: If a Adult Tells You Not to Worry, and You Weren't Worried Before, You Better Hurry Up and Start 'Cause You're Already Running Late.

What other Rules and Things does Bud have? Will Bud find his father? Or something more than he bargained for? Read Christopher Paul Curtis' often funny and sometimes poignant story about a boy finding who he is to see what happens!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Hoot




Hiassen, C. (2002). Hoot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Grade Level: Grades 5-Up (Newbery Honor)

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summary: In Hoot, Carl Hiassen tells the story of a young boy named Roy who has moved to a Florida from Montana. Being the new kid, Roy is being bullied on the bus one day. As his face is smashed against the window of the bus, Roy notices a kid running, as fast as he’s ever seen any kid running, without shoes. His curiosity is peaked and he is determined to find out who the kid is and why he was running. This leads Roy to Beatrice. Beatrice is an athletic, large, and mean girl and the boy who was running turns out to be her half-brother and goes by the name Mullet Fingers. She warns Roy to stay away from Mullet Fingers, but he doesn’t listen and follows Mullet Fingers and gets involved in something he didn’t expect, something with a big impact.
Reflection: In Hoot, Hiassen does a great job af creating a realistic story in which the reader feels as though they could be in the same type of situation. He creates characters that are relatable, either by the things they experience or the actions they take. Most students and adults have at some point experienced feeling alone and left out, like both Roy and Beatrice. The characters also have family issues--Beatrice and Mullet Fingers have a tough home life. Hiassen's setting also sets the stage for the realistic feel of the story and is such an integral part of the story. The setting is a Florida town, with scenes being set in the school and homes of Roy and Beatrice. These places are familiar to most students. While many students may not have been to Florida, they are likely to have heard about it (Disneyland!) and it is the natural habitiat for the endangered owls. In addition, there is a lot of conflict in the story, but it does not overwhelm the story. There is person-against-person conflict when Roy is bullied onthe bus and also when he fights with Beatrice. There is also person-against-society conflict when Roy, Beatrice and Mullet Fingers challenge a corporation in order to save an endangered species. There are several uses for this book, as it explores the themes of friendship, environmental awareness, change, bullying, and family. The following is a list of projects that could be used in conjunction with the book.

1. Make a sculpture of an endangered animal and write a one-page paper about that animal.
2. Interview a local police officer about malicious mischief and vandalism and the consequences of each.
3. Contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and get information on endangered species in your state/region.
4. Make a model of Florida’s ecosystem.
5. Write a three-page report about Florida and present it to the class with at least one visual aid.
6. Stage a “Save the Owls” protest. Include details about the location and how the event would be organized.
7. Write a newspaper article for the local newspaper about the groundbreaking fiasco of Mother Paula’s Pancakes.
8. Write a comparative essay discussing the differences between the book and the movie.
9. Research the effects of bullying on students and present results to class.
10. Create an original book cover for Hoot.


The following is a list of big questions that could be used in discussion with this book.
1. Have you ever seen someone being bullied? What did you do about it? If nothing, what should you do?
2. Do you think what Mullet Fingers was doing to the worksite was ok? Why or why not?
3. What would you do if you were Roy?
4. What would happen if no one stood up for what they believed in?

It should be mentioned that there is one cuss word used in the book that would require parents to sign a release form for their child to read the book. Other than that, this book is enjoyable and recommended for the classroom.