Fleischman, Paul. Time Train. Illus. Clair Ewart. New York, NY: HarperCollins,1991.
This book is about a class who takes a field trip to learn about dinosaurs. When one of the kids tells the conductor that they are taking the train to learn about dinosaurs the conductor puts the children and their teacher on a special train. The children soon learn that they are not on an ordinary train. As the train travels they pass back through time. The pictures in the book suggest what time period the children are passing through. When the exit the train they can't find their lodge so they sleep on the ground. The next morning they see their first dinosaur. The next few days they spend their time studying dinosaurs in their natural habitat.
I liked this book. It was appropriate for pre-k through second grade students. There wasn't much factual information about the time periods the children traveled through, or about dinosaurs. However, it was a good introduction to these topics. After reading this book I think kids might be encouraged to discover more about dinosaurs and different time periods. There are many questions kids might have after reading this book. It was a fun book that excites the imagination. It would be a good book to read before the studying dinosaurs. The illustrations were colorful and enjoyable. I think that after reading this book many students might want to travel back in time to play with dinosaurs themselves.
Craft lesson:
For this craft lesson I would fill the sand table with sand. Then I would bury different types of dinosaurs in the sand. I would invite the student to look in the sand and see what they could find. We would then talk about the different dinosaurs they found. We might talk about the names of the dinosaurs, what they ate, and what type of environment they might have lived in.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
craft lesson 9
For this lesson we will be creating our own "zoom" books. First, I will read Zoom to the children. Then, I would like to bring in a microscope and either have a skin cell slide already prepared or collect a skin cell and prepare it for the children to look at. I will also have pictures of a skin cell for every student to look at. I will hand out booklets of five blank pages. This lesson will span over a weeks time. On the first day I will ask them to draw a picture of a skin cell. For the next four days I will ask them to draw another picture zooming out from their previous picture.
chapter 17
Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.
I had all the criteria for a motivated reader except for one. In this chapter it was listed as number four. "Motivated readers do not feel trapped by a book." It says that motivated readers can put the book down without guilt, or when their need are not being met. For some reason I can not put a book down. If I get past the first few pages then I have to read the entire book. I do the dame thing with movies. No matter how bad the movie is I have to keep watching it. It is not that I feel obligated to, but it is something I have to do. I am currently reading a book I do not like. I want it to be over so I can start reading something I enjoy. But, for some strange reason that is not clear to me I have to read it. I skip words, sentences and sometimes even paragraphs, but I never just skip directly to the end. I probably have some weird obsessive, compulsive, neurological disorder that requires me to finish watching or reading crappy books and movies.
I had all the criteria for a motivated reader except for one. In this chapter it was listed as number four. "Motivated readers do not feel trapped by a book." It says that motivated readers can put the book down without guilt, or when their need are not being met. For some reason I can not put a book down. If I get past the first few pages then I have to read the entire book. I do the dame thing with movies. No matter how bad the movie is I have to keep watching it. It is not that I feel obligated to, but it is something I have to do. I am currently reading a book I do not like. I want it to be over so I can start reading something I enjoy. But, for some strange reason that is not clear to me I have to read it. I skip words, sentences and sometimes even paragraphs, but I never just skip directly to the end. I probably have some weird obsessive, compulsive, neurological disorder that requires me to finish watching or reading crappy books and movies.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Zoom
Banyai, Istvan. Zoom. New York, NY: Puffin Books, 1998.
This is a wonderful wordless picture book. The title is indicative of the book. The first page is a close up of part of a rooster's head. On every page the picture zooms out from this first picture. The book is full of surprises. I thought at first that the girl was playing with her toys, but in turned out to be the cover of a magazine. The author leaves clues throughout the book that leads the reader to guess what they are looking at. An example of this would be the edge of the stamp on the picture of the man watching the television in the desert. I knew that the story had moved to from pictures to real life when the people and dog moved from their original positions. At the end the story zoomed out to some place where the Earth was seen as a tiny speck. Where is the place that the whole book zooms in form. Is it a person, place, alien or perhaps even God, that is the source of origin?
This is a wonderful wordless picture book. The title is indicative of the book. The first page is a close up of part of a rooster's head. On every page the picture zooms out from this first picture. The book is full of surprises. I thought at first that the girl was playing with her toys, but in turned out to be the cover of a magazine. The author leaves clues throughout the book that leads the reader to guess what they are looking at. An example of this would be the edge of the stamp on the picture of the man watching the television in the desert. I knew that the story had moved to from pictures to real life when the people and dog moved from their original positions. At the end the story zoomed out to some place where the Earth was seen as a tiny speck. Where is the place that the whole book zooms in form. Is it a person, place, alien or perhaps even God, that is the source of origin?
chapter 16
Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.
The first sentence of this chapter bothered me. "Books are dangerous". The author made the statement, but did not sufficiently back it up. It said that they can "undermine morals, fuel revolutions, and indoctrinate our children". No examples were given. I believe that people, and not books are dangerous. A person has to be willing to change their beliefs or morals before a book, movie, or c.d. can do it for them. It is far more dangerous to with hold information. This chapter seems to support this idea. It is far less dangerous for a child to learn about sex from a sex education book than from the child's peers. This especially holds true if the child's parent is unwilling to share information with the child. I think that sex education should be a requirement for all children in school even if their parents disagree. Of course, I say that as a teacher not a parent. I always want the final decision when it comes to my child's education. Over all I know it is best for a parent to have the final decision when it comes to their children. So many different people are offended by so many different things. I am glad I will be teaching at a pre-k level. There is much less controversy concerning books that are appropriate for this age.
The first sentence of this chapter bothered me. "Books are dangerous". The author made the statement, but did not sufficiently back it up. It said that they can "undermine morals, fuel revolutions, and indoctrinate our children". No examples were given. I believe that people, and not books are dangerous. A person has to be willing to change their beliefs or morals before a book, movie, or c.d. can do it for them. It is far more dangerous to with hold information. This chapter seems to support this idea. It is far less dangerous for a child to learn about sex from a sex education book than from the child's peers. This especially holds true if the child's parent is unwilling to share information with the child. I think that sex education should be a requirement for all children in school even if their parents disagree. Of course, I say that as a teacher not a parent. I always want the final decision when it comes to my child's education. Over all I know it is best for a parent to have the final decision when it comes to their children. So many different people are offended by so many different things. I am glad I will be teaching at a pre-k level. There is much less controversy concerning books that are appropriate for this age.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
chapter 15
Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008
I think that multicultural literature is a good method of exposing children to cultures they may not know much about. They might also find the different ways of story telling interesting, and educational. I thought it was interesting that many people feel that multicultural books should not be written by outsiders of that culture. They feel that outsiders would present a distorted or even prejudice view of that culture. I do not necessarily agree with this view. I think with research and an open mind anyone can write about almost anything. I think that a person who immerses themselves in a culture can accurately write about certain aspects of that culture, or portray a character from that culture. It might be difficult and they might need help from others within that culture, but I think it could be done.
I think that multicultural literature is a good method of exposing children to cultures they may not know much about. They might also find the different ways of story telling interesting, and educational. I thought it was interesting that many people feel that multicultural books should not be written by outsiders of that culture. They feel that outsiders would present a distorted or even prejudice view of that culture. I do not necessarily agree with this view. I think with research and an open mind anyone can write about almost anything. I think that a person who immerses themselves in a culture can accurately write about certain aspects of that culture, or portray a character from that culture. It might be difficult and they might need help from others within that culture, but I think it could be done.
Craft lesson # 8
This craft lesson will be for second grade students. The entire lesson will span over a week. On Monday I will read Babymouse: Our Hero to the class. I will tell them that tomorrow we will create our own superheroes. On Tuesday I will ask them to create their own superhero, draw it, and give it a name. On Wednesday I will ask them to draw another picture of their super hero, and right a sentence describing its powers. On Thursday my students will draw a picture of the heroes nemesis and give it a name. On Friday they will draw another picture and write a sentence explaining the nemesis's powers. Depending on the classes responses to the assignment I might ask them to write a comic story based on their superheroes. The reason I would take my time with this lesson is because I want the kids to have time to go home and possibly think about their super hero before they create it.
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