Week of 10-21 through 10-25

This week we focused on realistic fiction and gradient text ratings. I find it interesting how these ratings actually work. Some of the books I was really surprised with, especially seeing the books that I've read in the past and how they were rated. I was reading at levels v-z as a 5th grader! That makes me feel very good about my reading level. However, I know that it will very child to child. Every child is unique and different in their reading skills and interests, and that's something that is hard to adapt for everyone. I enjoy most books, but just because I don't like a book for its plot doesn't mean that my student wouldn't. Banned books was another topic that was discussed. I feel there is definitely a difference not only from state to state and school to school on what should be a "banned book," but also it varies on the type of town you live in and its size. I noticed that when we looked at the list of banned books in our groups earlier in the week that most of the towns that were in limbo over the issues were either huge cities or Southern towns. It seems like from the past, a lot of controversy is always feuded in the South. Anyway, I have enjoyed the unit on realistic fiction. I even challenged myself this past weekend and read the sequel to "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George, which was a book I absolutely despised when I had to read it in my accelerated reading group in the 5th grader. In fact, I remember all of my friends and I just read one chapter, put al of our information together at the end and then made our project together. That was the first tie I ever ducked out on a book, and I've had a bad view of that book ever since. However, once I read the sequel, things changed. I realized that 10-year old Olivia didn't like "My Side of the Mountain" because it was filled with nature and hunting terms that I didn't understand then. Now I understand them, making the book a lot more intriguing and deep than I thought it originally was. You find that Sam's parents moved away again and left Alice, and then chaos develops after the DNR takes away Frightful and Alice goes missing around the same period. I'm glad the book persuaded me to change my mind about the entire thing. Hopefully, I can do that in the future for my students!

Week of 10-14 through 10-18

This week we discussed all sorts of different things. We presented our presentations from "The World According To Humphrey" and I was so impressed with the creativity of everyone in the class. There wasn't one presentation where I thought, "Oh my God, just be done with it already." A presentation doesn't have to be funny to be a successful one, it needs to capture attention and be filled with information that is relevant to the topic in a manner that the audience learns from it and can ask questions and make connections when it's over. That's what I believe a successful presentation is. Anyway, we also started to get into different types of fiction, particularly cultural this week. I read "The Bee Tree" by Patricia Pallaco and it was about a Grandfather that shows his granddaughter through a fun adventure across the countryside that you can find adventure anywhere, especially in a book. It was a very cute story that I would recommend to anyone, especially in a unit with nature or tradition or something. My book was very much so a fable I think, though. What a week :)

Want To Reads

Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
The Complete Works of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl
Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne
Wake by Amanda Hocking
Wake (from the Wake Series) by Lisa McMann
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
Vanished by Meg Cabot
Flyaway by Lucy Christopher
Tea for Ruby by Sarah Ferguson
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
Boo to You! Lois Ehlert
Grandfather's Journey by Allen Way

Have Reads

Must-Reads:

 - Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
- Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
- Little Blue Truck Leads The Way by Alice Schertle
- Danny The Dinosaur by Syd Hoff
- On the Farm by David Elliot
- The New Friend by Elizabeth Bennett


Currently Reading: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Reflection Week of 9-30 through 104

This week I had a lot of revelations. One: I'm in the sophomore slump, and I'll be the first to admit it. I have been slacking so hard and yes, there has been hospitalization, sickness, and technicalities in the mix, but most of it is just doubting that I have the abilities to be in college in the first place and asking myself why I'm here. Anyway, enough of that. I had a really great conversation with Kallie and Hailey about our Hans Christian Andersen story, _The Top and the Ball_. The story is completely based off of apperance and only being attracted to looks. When we watched the short video on Reader's Theater, I forgot how exciting that is, and how exciting it is for a kid. When I go to work in the afternoons, the kids in my classroom at the daycare are just happy when I sit with them and read a book. To see how reader's theater not only excites little kids, but all kids and adults alike, I think that's spectacular. I'm excited to see what we can do with our story and turn it into something that will excite and turn a boring, dull and hard to interpret story into a story that will make people get involved and enthused. It's been an odd week, and I feel like I've missed a lot, but class on Wednesday was very good and I enjoyed discussing the HCA stories.