Shared Reading Article

It  does make a difference when parents or grandparents read to their children. Chilren learn new vocabulary, they learn to make connections just as the article stated "text to self". They may not know how to read when they are 2 and 3 yrs but just by looking at the pictures children learn to identify the pictures. I remember when my son was 3 yrs he was so obsessed with dinosaurs, he could name every single dinosaur, literally. His memory was something else. I bought him books of different dinosaurs and he knew them all, because I read to him and together we named the dinosaurs as we read the book and he memorized them all, people would freak out on how he could remember all the names. Now, it is hard to get him to read about the dinosaurs, since he is into Metallica, and video games, so sometimes we will read magazines together and articles online that will interest him.

Author Profile

I was looking for some good books and I came across these books they are suppose to be "Must-Read Books" they look very interesting, I can't wait to check them out.This one is by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. This book is for kids 6th -8th grade.

William S. and the Great Escape : William S. Baggett is a good kid trapped in a really awful family. William has his running-away money ready to go, he's just been waiting until he's older than twelve to leave. When his big brothers flush his sister's pet guinea pig down the toilet, she insists they leave now. And take the two littlest Baggetts with them. So they head out in the middle of the night, ready to escape to their aunt Fiona's house. Unfortunately the trip doesn't go exactly as planned. It's not so easy traveling with two little kids, and some help from a lonely rich girl makes it even more complicated. Will they ever make it to Aunt Fiona's? And if they do, will she let them stay? This is the story of four children who learn that sometimes you have to run away before you can find your way home. http://www.zksnyder.com/williams.html

This is great to read for the little ones in kinder to 2nd grade, the book is Bad Frogs by Thacher Hurd.

Calling all frog fans! Follow Thacher Hurd’s crew of 170 funny, funky BAD frogs as they slurp, burp, skateboard, parachute, and PLAY their way through the bright, action-packed pages of this rollicking book. A hoot to read aloud, this spirited romp will have kids reciting its froggy words and poring over the details in its froggy artwork from morning till midnight. Celebrate life! BAD FROGS FOREVER!

Another great book by Thacher Hurd is Moo Cow Kaboom.
A cow is kidnapped one night from her field by a space-alien cowboy who wants to ride her in an intergalactic rodeo on his distant home planet. At first, the cow is passive, but after the alien insults her, she dances around, wielding a red scarf like a matador, eventually giving the pesky alien a good kick. Realizing that she is more cow than they can handle, the aliens put her in a spaceship and send her whizzing back to her beloved barnyard.

Read Aloud-Shared Reading

I think shared reading is good for children when the teacher or parent is reading and the children are following along. Whether it is a read aloud or echo reading I think that is good for children to learn to read but one thing that I am totally against is choral reading. The day we did that activity in class I thought choral reading was horrible!  I could not even understand anything I was reading nor what Karen, Natalie, and Norma were reading either, it was a total reading disaster (if you can call it reading)! I see no point in choral reading if one cannot even comprehend what he/she is reading.

Chapter 9 Non-Fiction

I love to read non-fiction books especially about people from long ago. I love to read about their history, especially about Native Americans. Non-fiction books can take you to the time and place where these people were, what they did, their struggles, their accomplishments. It  is amazing, I remember when our group did the "Meeting of the Minds", I read the book on Clara Barton who was the founder of the American Red Cross. It was so interesting, the book didn't have too much information about her personal life, just mainly her most important information about her life that made her "the angel of the battlefield". I wanted to know more about her personal life , I'm nosy when it comes to reading about people of the past and sometimes present.That's one of the reasons why I like to read non-ficton. The other reasons are mainly for knowledge and just information. Nevertheless, non-fiction history is educational.

Multi-Genre Presentations

I just wanted to say that all of the multi-genre presentations were awesome. I got a lot of great ideas to use in my future classroom from several of the presentations. Also every presentation was unique, I liked how one of the groups used the game of Hangman to keep the class engaged in the lesson. I also like the presentation of the different cultural foods, it was a great presentation, especially the food, that is one way to keep the class engaged! Overall, it was fun and interesting, great job, everyone!

Chapter 8

Well, I have to say that I enjoyed reading the books from the "True Blood" series, but since I started school I really have not had a chance to read any of my books. I read one book "Dead in Dixie" by Charlaine Harris and halfway on another book "Dead by Day" also by Charlaine Harris during the last part of my summer (whatever was left), since then "Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton" (characters in the book) have just been sitting there collecting dust! The books are a little different from the TV series,I think they are way better! Dead in Dixie has three stories Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, and Club Dead. It is about vampires and werewolves, a maenad, oh yeah, I almost forgot some of the vampires drink synthetic blood, its crazy, its funny, and its interesting. Bill Compton is Sookie's vampire boyfriend who drinks synthetic blood and Sookie, well she can see people's thoughts in her mind. There is another vampire name Eric who likes Sookie and he wants her for himself. There is a lot of drama in this book. I miss reading those books but I have not found the time to read! Maybe I will have time during Christmas vacation. I ordered my books from Doubleday book club, but they have the books on Amazon here is the link http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Dixie-Southern-Vampire-Mystery/dp/0739434713 

Chapter 7

I enjoy reading picture books because they are not too long and to the point. They are great for young children since kids have such a short attention span. I think that when the pictures in the book are eye-catching, children will be engaged and they will want to listen or read the story. Lately, I have been having fun looking for books at the library, since I have had to look for books for this class. When I read the picture books I feel relaxed. I love to read them to my son, sometimes he thinks he is too big for those cute little stories but when I make him sit down (I have to make him get away from the Guitar Hero) so that I can read to him,  he actually is engaged, his is 11. Overall, picture books are great for kids because they need  to visually see what you are reading to them or what they are reading; it connects them to a visual aspect of the story.