This week we learned all about the nonfiction genre of literature. I have got to say, I look at nonfiction in a completely different light now. Yes, I am one of those people who has always immediately categorized anything that is nonfiction as boring. I know that this is completely wrong, but before this class I always thought of nonfiction as things like our history text book (gag!) and I don't have any good memories concerning my old history text books!
I loved the examples that our professor brought to class! It especially interested me whenever we talked about The Magic School Bus. I was OBSESSED with The Magic School Bus growing up; I had every single book and never missed an episode of the show! I never actually stopped to think "hmm, is this fiction or nonfiction"? Without thinking it through the first thing that I want to answer is fiction, because "fiction is fake" and since it is a cartoon I don't automatically think of it as real. But the things that these books and television episodes teach are scientific facts and children really learn a lot from them. I suppose this is where the "faction" category comes in, and I think that it is quite a catchy word that is very much common sense. It is perfect for teaching children about important things, and the small fiction or cartoon (I'm not saying they're the same thing) portion is what draws children in.
After reading and discussing chapter 9 I'm no longer afraid of being bored with nonfiction books. I definately want to have a lot of nonfiction books in my classroom, and I thought that the nonfiction/fiction scavenger hunt was a great idea; especially to introduce children to the nonfiction genre and break those horrible stereotypes. I plan on using that activity for sure in my future classroom!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
3344 MGP Expository Piece
My topic for my MGP is pets! My narrative is a story about a dog who finds her perfect family, and my persuasive piece is about trying to convince my students and their parents to adopt a pet. For my expository piece I was going to do a "how to play fetch with your dog". I had a couple of ideas like "how to give your dog a bath", "how to feed your pet", and "how to take your dog on a walk" but I thought that "how to play fetch with your dog" would be the best to do. It is simple enough for first graders, and I have to keep it to just a couple of steps so it shouldn't be that difficult.
What I plan on doing is making some sort of visual (I haven't quite decided which kind yet) and have pictures of me actually doing the steps with my dog. Of course, first I thought of doing a poster board but that is way too generic and I want something different and creative. I've thought about making a video that actually shows me going through the steps of playing fetch with my dog, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough with technology to accomplish that! I would love to hear from ya'll to see if you might have any other ideas as far as which format I could use : )
What I plan on doing is making some sort of visual (I haven't quite decided which kind yet) and have pictures of me actually doing the steps with my dog. Of course, first I thought of doing a poster board but that is way too generic and I want something different and creative. I've thought about making a video that actually shows me going through the steps of playing fetch with my dog, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough with technology to accomplish that! I would love to hear from ya'll to see if you might have any other ideas as far as which format I could use : )
Monday, October 26, 2009
3344: Stiletto Stoners
Since Dr. Harris wasn't in class on Wednesday, Mrs. Pickett told us to blog about the "Stiletto Stoner" article and how we feel about it. Personally, after going online and reading the whole article myself it was written in a light that made it okay that these women were going home every evening and getting baked. Then you scroll down to the bottom of the page and read the reply's and it's all these women saying things like "we need more women like this in control" or talk about how they are only 22, 23, etc. and saying that they are "successful" and smoke weed every night (hahaha....successful to them was $20,000/year). As an educator, this article was telling all of the children who read it that it is okay to be a stoner and if you smoke weed that you will be successful and empowered like these women. That is not the right message to send to our children! We spend a whole week, "Red Ribbon Week" talking to children about staying away from drugs, and "just say no" and have programs like the D.A.R.E. program and this article is going against all of this. I personally look at the Marie Claire magazine in a completely different light, and I don't plan on purchasing their magazine any time in the future. It's funny how much one article can change a person's mind about a particular product.
M & W 3321: The type of books I love to read!
We are supposed to talk about the types of books that we like to read, and the one thing that all books have in common that I enjoy reading is romance! I am a sucker for love and right now I am in love with the Twilight series. Oh my gosh I read these books and it is like nothing else is going on around me. I become one of the characters, and just get so wrapped up that the story becomes real. I consider a book to be good whenever I don't want to put it down, and I haven't found that in a very long time until I started reading the Twilight series. The thing is, I want to keep reading and reading but I don't want to read all of them and it will be over! Then I won't have anything to look forward to :( however I still have 3 books left! So maybe you guys will have some suggestions for me to read, just remember that I love the romance!
A woman who I babysit for shares my Twilight obsession and she recomended a book for me to read called Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. She loaned me the book but it is still sitting in my backseat! I was told that it was a love story about a prostiture and a farmer in the 1850's and it is based off of a story from the Bible; all in all it is about the unshakeable love of God. I can't wait to read it! If any of you guys have any suggestions then please tell me!!
A woman who I babysit for shares my Twilight obsession and she recomended a book for me to read called Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. She loaned me the book but it is still sitting in my backseat! I was told that it was a love story about a prostiture and a farmer in the 1850's and it is based off of a story from the Bible; all in all it is about the unshakeable love of God. I can't wait to read it! If any of you guys have any suggestions then please tell me!!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
EDRG 3344 What is a Narrative?
What is a narrative?
A narrative is a type of writing that is distinguished by having a clear beginning, middle, and end. The author of a narrative has a goal to get his/her story across to readers and in order for them to successfully do this their narrative must have great detail that makes the reader get lost in the story. A narrative also has specific story elements such as a plot, setting (time and place), central characters, and usually a conflict and resolution. An example of a narrative is Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter. A couple of other examples that I personally LOVE are The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Willams, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, and Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Each of these books have a very well defined beginning, middle, and end as well as vivid detail.
A narrative is a type of writing that is distinguished by having a clear beginning, middle, and end. The author of a narrative has a goal to get his/her story across to readers and in order for them to successfully do this their narrative must have great detail that makes the reader get lost in the story. A narrative also has specific story elements such as a plot, setting (time and place), central characters, and usually a conflict and resolution. An example of a narrative is Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter. A couple of other examples that I personally LOVE are The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Willams, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, and Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Each of these books have a very well defined beginning, middle, and end as well as vivid detail.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
EDRG 3321 M&W Chapter 7
Today in class we learned all about picture books. I wanted to discuss some things that were brought up that I never really thought about before whenever I read picture books. It really made me think whenever we talked about how every single part of the picture book is meaningful. The artwork in these books are so detailed that many people take them for granted and it is a shame that they don't appreciate the complexity and detail. I personally never thought that the different colors used had any meaning or symbolism to them, I just thought that the pages were filled with simple drawings. The fact that these books that are so commonly labeled as "only for children" is so unfortunate. Something that I do love about picture books besides the artwork is the lines of text and how they vary so much depending on the mood that they depict. In my opinion whenever the text is printed in these ways the children become more engaged and focus more on reading the words because they are so eye catching and interesting.
For my author profile this week, I chose two books/authors to talk a little about; both are actually mentioned in chapter 7 of our text and I did further research on them. The first I want to share with you is What Do You Do With a Kangaroo? by Marcer Mayer. This book is about a little girl who has to figure out what to do whenever a bossy kangaroo jumps through her window and starts telling her what to do. The book has a very cute ending, but I don't want to give it away! Mercer Mayer is a great author who has been writing books for children for over forty years and I recomend that as teachers you own some of his books in your classroom library. Another great book is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. This book is about a little boy Alexander who is having the absolute worst day. We get to follow him from waking up in the morning with gum in his hair, to all sorts of little things happening to him throughout the day. Children love this book because they can relate to Alexander, after all everybody has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. As adults we too can relate to this story because reading it will remind us of little ones that we know and how they can sometimes blow the littlest things completely out of perspective......and so do we!
For my author profile this week, I chose two books/authors to talk a little about; both are actually mentioned in chapter 7 of our text and I did further research on them. The first I want to share with you is What Do You Do With a Kangaroo? by Marcer Mayer. This book is about a little girl who has to figure out what to do whenever a bossy kangaroo jumps through her window and starts telling her what to do. The book has a very cute ending, but I don't want to give it away! Mercer Mayer is a great author who has been writing books for children for over forty years and I recomend that as teachers you own some of his books in your classroom library. Another great book is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. This book is about a little boy Alexander who is having the absolute worst day. We get to follow him from waking up in the morning with gum in his hair, to all sorts of little things happening to him throughout the day. Children love this book because they can relate to Alexander, after all everybody has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. As adults we too can relate to this story because reading it will remind us of little ones that we know and how they can sometimes blow the littlest things completely out of perspective......and so do we!
Monday, October 12, 2009
3344 MGP Narrative
There once was a beautiful dog named Callie who wanted nothing more than a family to love her and take care of her. But the man who owned her was mean and scary, and always left Callie tied up to a chain in the front yard. Callie always saw the other dogs walking by with their families, and she decided that she would do whatever it took to get away and find one of her own. But how would she break free from her chain? Day and night she chewed and gnawed and tugged until finally, it broke and she was free! She ran and ran like she never had before, she wanted to get as far away as possible from that mean man and never go back. Suddenly a truck with cages in the back came up behind her and a person put a leash around her neck and put her in one of the cages. “Oh no” said Callie, “I’m never going to get to have a family now”.
That truck took her to a place where there were tons of other dogs and cats, all in bigger cages and all very sad. “Where am I” asked Callie to the dog in the cage next to her. “You’re in what humans call the pound; all of us animals without a home have to stay here until a nice family comes along and wants to adopt us and take us home” said the old dog. Callie stayed in this “pound” for weeks and watched different families come and go; they usually wanted the cute little puppies and never the big dogs like her. Even though the odds didn’t look good, she never gave up hope and was always prepared whenever visitors would come.
One day a little girl walked in and Callie could tell there was something special about her. She ran over to Callie’s cage and said “Mommy, mommy, I want this one! She’s so pretty, can I please have her?” But her mom said “Don’t you want this cute little puppy over here instead sweetie? Look how little he is!” The little girl had her heart set on Callie, and was already in the cage petting her and scratching her belly. As they put a brand new collar and leash around Callie’s neck, she said bye to all of her friends at the pound and got into the car with her new family.
They took her to their home, and walked her to the biggest backyard that Callie had ever been in! She ran in circles, fetched the ball, and had never had so much fun in her whole life! “This is it” thought Callie, “I finally have a home and have a family that loves me as much as I love them!” Every morning the little girl would take Callie outside to play and go potty, and then she would give her some breakfast before she left for school. Then in the afternoons she would come home and play all sorts of games with Callie; they went on walks together every day, and Callie absolutely loved whenever it was time to get a bath! They spent every second they could together, and were each other’s best friends. At night Callie no longer dreamed of finding a family because her family found her and loved her more than anything in the world.
That truck took her to a place where there were tons of other dogs and cats, all in bigger cages and all very sad. “Where am I” asked Callie to the dog in the cage next to her. “You’re in what humans call the pound; all of us animals without a home have to stay here until a nice family comes along and wants to adopt us and take us home” said the old dog. Callie stayed in this “pound” for weeks and watched different families come and go; they usually wanted the cute little puppies and never the big dogs like her. Even though the odds didn’t look good, she never gave up hope and was always prepared whenever visitors would come.
One day a little girl walked in and Callie could tell there was something special about her. She ran over to Callie’s cage and said “Mommy, mommy, I want this one! She’s so pretty, can I please have her?” But her mom said “Don’t you want this cute little puppy over here instead sweetie? Look how little he is!” The little girl had her heart set on Callie, and was already in the cage petting her and scratching her belly. As they put a brand new collar and leash around Callie’s neck, she said bye to all of her friends at the pound and got into the car with her new family.
They took her to their home, and walked her to the biggest backyard that Callie had ever been in! She ran in circles, fetched the ball, and had never had so much fun in her whole life! “This is it” thought Callie, “I finally have a home and have a family that loves me as much as I love them!” Every morning the little girl would take Callie outside to play and go potty, and then she would give her some breakfast before she left for school. Then in the afternoons she would come home and play all sorts of games with Callie; they went on walks together every day, and Callie absolutely loved whenever it was time to get a bath! They spent every second they could together, and were each other’s best friends. At night Callie no longer dreamed of finding a family because her family found her and loved her more than anything in the world.
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