Pictures of Presentations

ASSIGNMENT #1

Foundations of Reading-Read Aloud

July 18, 2000

The book I have chosen to read aloud is "Dandelion" by Don Freeman; he is both the author and the illustrator. The book can be read to children from infancy to approximately 5^th grade. It can be read independently at approximately the second grade level and above.

"Dandelion" is about a lion that is invited to a tea and taffy party at a friend’s house. Although the invitation by Jennifer Giraffe specifically requests Dandelion to "come as you are," Dandelion goes to great lengths to spruce himself up. He gets a haircut and buys new clothes. When he finally arrives at Jennifer Giraffe’s house, she closes the door on his face because she does not recognize him. While Dandelion is sulking outside Jennifer Giraffe’s house, a large storm begins, and the wind and rain transform Dandelion into his "old" self. When he makes a second attempt to attend the party, he receives a warm welcome from all his friends who now recognize him. He vows to never be a "stylish dandy" again.

It would be easy to motivate students with this book by creating a "party" atmosphere in the classroom with dandelions in a vase, iced tea (or pretend iced tea using water) and taffys. The children can be invited to the read aloud (party) by invitation, which I could prepare in hard copy or write on the board from Jennifer Giraffe.

This book can be used to talk with children about the importance of being themselves and to convince students to accept themselves and be content with themselves as they are. I would explain to my students that we are all unique which is what makes us special. I would also encourage them to have self-confidence in their own opinions and judgments and not go along with others who may be making wrong decisions or doing "bad" things.

For another literacy activity, I could ask the students to write all the things they like about themselves in list or paragraph form; or, for younger children, I could solicit their ideas and write them on the board for them. Children could also be paired and asked to create invitations of their own for their partner. They could use the invitation to invite each other to be themselves; they could write a message concerning all the things they like about each other on the inside of the invitation.

Another idea which came to mind was to talk with the children about the lion’s name and to see if they could figure out why the author titled the book "Dandelion." We could then talk about Dandelion’s transformation into a dandy lion and the author’s play on words. With older children, we could try to come up with other ways to create plays on words.

I selected this book for the following reasons: When I was going through my children’s bookshelves to find a suitable book, I asked my children which book they thought I should use. They quickly recommended "Dandelion" because "it has a good message." I had not read the book for some time so I reread it. I agreed with my children and was impressed with what they had extracted and remembered about the book. I feel that the message imparted is extremely important because children need to have a proper sense of self in order to combat peer pressure and to strive to be the best that they can be throughout their lives. As stated above, I also selected this book because it would easily engage and motivate children because all children love parties.

ASSIGNMENT #2

Unfortunately, my personal literacy experience is very limited. Sad but true, reading was not something that was reinforced in my household. I do not have the great memories of my mother or father tucking me into bed for my nightly bedtime story. As a result, upon entering elementary school, reading and writing were not my favorite subjects. My memories of reading and writing were worksheet after worksheet of decoding skills. I became very intimidated with reading because I knew that I was not very good at it. I recall my teachers sending home extra work that was intended to help me practice my reading skills. Looking back, however, I did not need more practice with skills I just needed to read. Since I felt so inadequate about my reading abilities, it is difficult to remember my literacy experience because my memories of childhood reading and writing are few and vague.

One book that could be called my own was Sendakís Where the Wild Things Are. This is a book that made me sleep with the hall light on for weeks. Looking back, I am not exactly sure what was so frightening about this book. I just know that I had trouble sleeping by myself and looked for the comfort of my older brother to protect me.

I do remember some fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Ridinghood, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Cinderella. I think these tales are remembered most because they were together in a book of Fairy Tales and were read to me in a nursery school or preschool setting. For some reason, I have a faint vision of my preschool peers and I forming a circle on the floor while our teacher sat in an oversized chair and read aloud. Whatever, the case, I recall how terrified I was of the witches from Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Sleeping Beauty, the wolves from Little Red Ridinghood and The Three Little Pigs, the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, and the bears from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I remember how sorry I felt for Cinderella and how angry I was towards the evil stepmother and stepsisters.

These fairy tales are probably my first experiences with reading for enjoyment as oppose to a drill or repetitious skill I later became so familiar with. Looking back, having these stories read to me, I had an opportunity to explore feelings towards characters and begin to appreciate reading. Unfortunately, this appreciation was plagued by my experiences in my primary grades.

Some nursery rhymes come to mind and I remember liking them read to me because of the rhyming text. These were probably the first stories I attempted to read on my own. I probably memorized the verses using the aid of the illustrated text.

One book that I remember with a high degree of enthusiasm was a book by Keats entitled The Snowy Day. I think I remember this book for several reasons. For one, it was of the few times I had ever noticed an African American as the main character. Much of my reading came from the Dick and Jane textbooks, so I guess I felt like I could identify better with this character. I also felt some sense of connection to this character because he was doing something that I loved to do, and that was play in the snow. The activities that this character displayed, like making tracks in the snow with his feet, was something I remembered doing as a child myself. I also was able to identify with the urban setting because I too was from the city. I remember this book was different than the other books as far as the illustrations. As a child, I could not put my finger on the difference, I just knew that the illustrations were not the same stiff drawings I had seen in other books. I now realize that Keats used a collage and gouache (goo-a-sh) medium (technique of painting with opaque watercolors prepared with gum), but to me this book had feeling unlike any other book I had ever experienced.

I am reminded of several of the Dr. Seuss books. My all time favorite being Green Eggs and Ham. I think I enjoyed this book most because for the longest time I often wondered if green eggs really existed. I also enjoyed the rhyming of the story. I am reminded of this rhyming in other books like The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat comes Back. In The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, I especially loved being introduced to Cats A through Z and looking extra hard to see Cat Z but he was too small.

I am sure I have read other books; however, my long-term memory is doing an inadequate job of recalling them. My short personal literacy experiences have taught me a very important lesson and that is the importance of reading and appreciating reading at an early age. I believe, constant reading to children, while they are young, helps them become curious about a book and the stories behind a bookís cover. Reading to children before they begin formal schooling helps them become familiar with books and not become intimidated with the act of reading.

My memory of fairy tales in my preschool did not have the impact I think I needed to succeed in grade school. I believe it was the experiences of being a poor reader that influenced me to go into the field of education and more specifically reading education. I hope to instill the value of reading to my students and they will instill the same value to their students.
 
 

ASSIGNMENT #3

Guided Reading Format

 The piece of children’s literature I chose to use for my lesson plan is a book titled Possum Come a-Knockin, by Nancy Van Laan and illustrated by, George Booth. This book is about an opossum that starts knocking at the door of a house where everyone is too busy to hear him knocking except for one little girl. Every character in the story is so involved in their own business that nobody listens to the girl when she tells them there is an opossum knocking at the door.  When she finally gets their attention and the door is opened, the opossum disappears and it looks like nothing was ever knocking at the door.  The story has a very lyrical tone to it and the illustrations are very entertaining. I would think that children would get a good laugh from this book if nothing else.
 The lesson plan that follows is based on a second grade level and the theme being studied is Mammals. This lesson would be taught after we had already discussed what classifies an animal as a mammal. As an initiating activity I thought we would make a chart of those things we already know or think we know about mammals and the things we want to know. I would then use the facts about mammals that we discussed and make a bulletin board out of it, making it an interactive bulletin board because we will refer to it throughout the study of the unit.

Objective: SWBAT identify at least three facts about an opossum and why it is classified as a mammal.

1) Introduction:
I will begin by showing the students the book keeping the title covered and ask them if they are able to identify the animal on the cover. I will ask the students who come up with ideas what led them to their conclusions of what type of animal it is. I will then read the title of the book which will reveal to the students that the animal on the cover is an opossum. We will then take a close look at the cover and discuss what we notice about the cover and I will ask the students if they have any predictions of what the story may be about.
2) Reading:
I will then read the book to the students stopping occasionally to see if they can make predictions of what will occur next in the book to keep their attention and to check if they are comprehending what is going on in the story.
3) Discussion:
We will then briefly discuss the book and check to see if our predictions were accurate or not. The teacher will then ask the students to pair up with a partner. Each pair of students will then be given an index card that has a fact about an opossum on it. The facts on the cards will either be true or false. The students will then need to determine if their fact is true or false while discussing it with their partner. After approximately 10 minutes of discussion in pairs about their fact the students will then be asked to tape their card to the board in a column that reads  true if they think their fact is true  or false if they think their fact is false. After all the cards are taped in the columns chosen the students will then have to explain why they placed the cards where they did and what led them to their conclusions. I will then reveal the true facts that will be written on a chart to the students and we will discuss which of the facts taped on the board were appropriately placed. We will then discuss which of the facts classifies the opossum as a mammal, referring to the bulletin board with mammal facts on it as needed.
4)  Follow-Up:
The students will then be assigned to write a story about what would happen if an opossum came knocking on their door at home. They will be required to tie into their story at least three of the facts they learned in the lesson that day. This will be an in class activity but may be taken home if they need more time to finish. Before the next literacy lesson the students will have a chance to share their stories with the class.
 

M. Hunter Format

OBJECTIVE:

Students will be able to organize information learned about dinosaurs by their physical characteristics, eating habits, and habitat.

ANTICIPATORY SET:

Using acrostic students will guess the dinosaur that will be discussed in the lesson.
 
 

INPUT AND MODELING:

The teacher will explain that dinosaurs can be categorized by their physical characteristics, their eating habits, and their habitat. Physical characteristic will be explained as something that relates to the body. An example from the acrostic will be provided. Eating habits will be explained as the foods that are eaten. Another example from the acrostic will be provided. A habitat will be explained as the environment of a plant or animal. A final example from the acrostic will be provided.
 

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:

Students will use the remaining description in the acrostic to complete the three categories.

GUIDED PRACTICE:

Students will place themselves into groups of 2 or 3. Each group will be given the book My Visit to the Dinosaurs by Aliki and a worksheet with a specific dinosaur to be researched. The students will participate in cooperative reading to read the story. As students are reading, they will locate information that can be placed in the three categories about their particular dinosaur.
 
 

CLOSURE:

Students will share their learning by presenting the information that was discovered.
 

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE:

Students will read information from other books found in the class library to fill the categories that were not found in the story.
 

EXTENDED ACTIVITY

Students will use information from the completed sheet to develop an acrostic describing their dinosaurís characteristics.