Shared Readings: Modeling Comprehension, Vocabulary, Text Structures, and Text Features for Older Readers

Reading this article was very interesting and insightful because I have always personally believed that a person needs to know the “meaning” of a word in order to understand its context in the sentence. With this said, I did not know exactly how to go about approaching this problem besides saying to my student, “go look it up in the dictionary.”  Modeling for our students, ways to figure out what a word means seems to be a “no brainer”, but I know the teacher needs to be prepared in order for this type of modeling to go smoothly.  This modeling should be a standard activity in every classroom, even for students who are just learning to read.  Also, this modeling can benefit all students because the teacher is approaching the shared reading by dissecting words or meanings of words in different ways.

Internet workshop and blog publishing: Meeting student (and teacher) learning needs to achieve best practice in the century social studies classroom.

I enjoyed this article about how technology in the classroom, implemented by the teacher can enhance higher order thinking skills in their students.  Classroom blogs are great and I am creating a blog for my cooperating 5^th grade teacher at Davenport Elementary.  Technology is essential and vital in the classroom because it is a tool to help students become creative and more aware of their writing because it will be “published” online for many people to read.  The classroom blog can be used for many subjects for the teacher to post homework, class discussions, comments, personal writings and parental communication.  I like the suggestion that the classroom teacher is the “controller” of the blog.  The teacher posting child friendly websites for the students to view and do research on is essential because a student could waste valuable time by not having to find quality, reliable websites to do research on.  Students would enjoy being able to use technology in the classroom because this is a different way to introduce their work that they want to share with other students in their class.  The digital storyteller is an amazing tool to encourage students to introduce themselves to others in a way which they have fun and can be creative.

Integrating Instructional-Level Social Studies Trade Books for Struggling Readers in Upper Elementary Grades

I believe that all teachers probably do care about their students and want to help them enjoy reading and become better readers.  However, most teachers might not know how to help their students and both the teacher and student  become frustrated.  This article should be read by all teachers who are struggling with this dilemma.  Students who feel uncomfortable with reading aloud in class because they are not strong readers or at the independent reading level of what they are being asked to read, will become anxious and embarrassed.  The solution is so simple.  The teacher should find well written, interesting and independent reading level material for that student.  Making sure that the material is not too easy but a challenge will increase the student’s desire to read.  I was so excited to see the lists of recommended trade books in this article.  Students can be given books at their reading level but still have the same content, genre and information as the higher or upper level readers.  The student centered reading groups are an excellent way for students to come together and discuss what they are reading.  It does not matter if students are reading different level books as long as they are on the same subject and able to share.

all the small poems and fourteen more

I read a few poems from this book, but chose the “Safety Pen” to talk about on this blog.  I do believe that children will love this book because they will be able to relate to many objects, animals, insects or foods which Valerie Worth has written about and made into poems.  The Safety Pen was described as looking like a small, silver fish which has awakened from sleep.  Worth even writes that the pen has a tail like a thin Shrimp.  These are called similies.  I enjoyed reading some of the poems and I look forward to reading many others from this book.

Pebbles

Pebbles belong to no one

Until you pick them up—

Then they are yours.

But which , of all the world’s

Mountains of little broken stones,

Will you choose to keep?

The smooth black, the white,

The rough gray with sparks

Shining in its cracks?

Somewhere the best pebble must

Lie hidden, meant for you

If you can find it

By: Valerie Worth

Behind the Name

My name is feminine and the usage is English.  The website “Behind the Name” states that the name Velma is probably a variant of Wilma based on the German pronunciation of that name.  This name has been in use since the 19th century.  Wilma is Feminine and the usage is German, Dutch and English.  It is pronounced VIL-mah (German, Dutch), WIL-mah (Dutch) and Wilma is short for Wilhelmina.  It was introduced to America by German settlers in the 19th century.  I was named Velma by a family friend of my parents.  Her name was Thelma and she would take care of me when I was a baby while my parents worked.  My mother wanted to name me Kimberly but her sister who was having a baby near the same due date, wanted that name for her baby, if it was a girl.  Not wanting to hurt her sister’s feelings and with the timing of my birth, my mother allowed a family friend to name me! I was born on May the first and my mother’s sister had her baby on May the second.  She had a little boy and named him Michael!  Unfortunately, my mother had already allowed my name to become Velma.

Brown Angels

I enjoyed this book of poetry and the adorable photographs of children in them.  There is so much sweetness and innocents in between those pages.  These photographs had a home at one time. The children were alive and had families and seem to be forgotten. The poet Walter Dean Myers make the children come alive through the poems he has written about each child or photograph.  My favorite poem in this book is, “Friendship.” I love the first line, “There is a secret thread that makes us friends.”

Friendship

There is a secret thread that makes us friends

Turn away from hard and breakful eyes

Turn away from cold and painful lies

That speaks of other, more important ends

There are two hard yet tender hearts that beat

Take always my hand at special times

Take always my dark and precious rhymes

That sing so brightly when our glad souls meet

LOVE THAT DOG

I was skeptical at first about this book because when I started reading it, I thought these are not your typical or standard poems. Reading this book seemed as though it might be difficult because I have always believed poems should rhyme.  Poems are suppose to rhyme!  Jack seems to be unsure about how poetry should sound or written too.  However, he writes about his life and how he gets his yellow dog from the pound. Jack and his father saved Sky from the pound only for him to get hit by a blue, muddy car! The writing is true to life.  I know children need to write about all the horrible and wonderful happenings in their lives. Many students will struggle with writing poems because some of them have the misconception, like I did, that they should rhyme.  Making sure that students have the availability of reading poetry by many different authors will show them they can write about their life, focusing on exactly what is important to them.   This book was a fast read for me because I was curious to what Jack would write next.  Robert Frost is my favorite poet and the mention of his poem, ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’ in his poetry was a surprise for me. Jack paid attention to the teacher when she read the different poems in the class, so he must have been interested.  The statement Jack said about Frost having too much time on his hands was adorable. Miss Stretchberry should be in every classroom because in this book, she reads a variety of poems that both rhyme and do not rhyme. I really like what Jack writes on September 27.

I don’t understand

the poem about

the red wheelbarrow

and the white chickens

and why so much

depends upon

them.

If that is a poem

about the red wheelbarrow

and the white chickens

then any words

can be a poem.

You’ve just got to

make

short

lines.

HOT Blogging

In my classroom, I am definitely setting up a blog for my students. This enforces the ability for teaching and aiding my students in a different way other than face to face.  I believe blogging is just a tiny piece of  the technology I can access to help my students learn and communicate with one another in a more creative way.  There are two worries which I have about setting up a blog for my students: will all my students have access to a computer with internet at home and how much freedom do I allow the students to have in the decision-making process ?   I agree with the students being able to ask their classmates questions and showcasing their own work.  This type of freedom allows students to become more open and creative.  I will be so excited about using blogs with my future students.

Note Book Know-How

My overall impressions of this book are easy reading, interesting and wonderful information inside for me as a future teacher.  As I read the first two chapters of this book, I immediately understood why Dr. Frye picked this particular text for our class to read.  If the rest of this book is like the beginning, we as a cohort are lucky to start our first school year with helpful information and strategies in helping our students enjoy writing.  Personally, my goals for my students in learning to write or enjoying writing are very important to me because I love to use my imagination but never make myself to write down on paper what I am thinking about.  Children have an amazing imagination too and my goal is to help them enjoy or learn how to put their thoughts into words.  Launching the notebook is more difficult than I thought because first impressions are important and how I “deliver” the notebook can differ in how the student “receives” it.  Organization is a problem in my own, little world so allowing the student to have their own organizational skills makes the writing aspect of the notebook personable.   This book will be an asset to my teaching career.

Block II

Hello 3peats,

I wish each and every one of you a successful and satisfying semester.  Let us support and help one another through this Block because I believe we are going to need all the support we can find!