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Title: Twenty One Elephants
Author: Phil Bildner
Illustrator: LeUyen Pham
Genre: Historical Fiction
Date of publication: 2004
ISBN number: B595tw
Scholastic: 5.2
Grade Level: 1-2
Lexile Level: 300
AR: .5
Summary: The Brooklyn Bridge was being built and a little girl would always tell her father that she wants to walk on the bridge one day. She told her father, her teacher, and other people and every single person she told they said it wasn’t safe enough. Until one day her father took her to a circus. The daughter had a great idea. She waited till the circus was over and she walked up to the owner and told him her idea. The next day when the bridge was already made several people had woke up early to stand in front of the bridge to see what was going to happen. A few minutes later the whole circus including the elephants were all walking across the bridge. This showed everyone that the bridge was safe enough to walk on. From that day on the daughter and her father walked on the bridge every day.
Response: I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a great was to teach about the history of the Brooklyn Bridge. I also thought it was great that the little girl in the story came up with the idea to show people how the bridge was safe to walk on. This would be a great book to help the kids with confidence.
Curriculum Connection: 1.02 Demonstrate decoding and word recognition strategies and skills:
1.03 Use pronunciation, sentence meaning, story meaning, and syntax to confirm accurate decoding or to self-correct errors.
1.04 Self-monitor decoding by using one or two decoding strategies (e.g., beginning letters, rimes, length of word, ending letters).
1.05 Increase vocabulary, concepts, and reading stamina by reading selfselected texts independently for 15 minutes daily. Self-selected texts should be consistent with the student’s independent reading level.
Teaching Idea: I think a great teaching Idea for this book would be for the kids to do a brochure about the Brooklyn Bridge. They could do this in partners and then present it in front of the class.
Title: Mirette on the High Wire
Author: Emily Arnold McCully
Illustrator: Emily Arnold McCully
Genre: Historical Fiction
Date of publication: 1992
ISBN number: M133mi
Scholastic:4.2
Grade Level: 3-4
Lexile Level: 580
AR: 2
Other Designators: Caldecott Award Winner, Cultural
Summary: There was a little girl that helped her grandmother out with her hotel. One day a man comes in looking for a place to stay so he takes a room in the back. Later on that week the girl was helping out and saw the man walking on a tight rope. She asked him if he would teach her how and he told that she should start because once your feet are off the ground she want feel right when they are. So once the man left she hoped up and within a few tries she got the hang of it. She practiced all the time and then the man found her practicing and thought she did great. The man had a performance to walk across a wire from a really high building. The problem was he hadn’t done that in a while. The day came and he was frightened then the little girl came out and walked on the wire with him. They went on the road together and made history.
Response: I really enjoyed this book. It really shows you that whatever you put your mind to you can accomplish.
Curriculum Connections: 1.01 Apply phonics and structural analysis to decode words (e.g., roots, suffixes, prefixes, less common vowel patterns, syllable breaks).
1.02 Apply meanings of common prefixes and suffixes to decode words in text to assist comprehension.
1.03 Integrate prior experiences and all sources of information in the text (graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic) when reading orally and silently.
1.04 Increase sight vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and writing vocabulary through:
1.05 Use word reference materials (e.g., dictionary, glossary) to confirm decoding skills, verify spelling, and extend meanings of words.
1.06 Read independently daily from self-selected materials (consistent with the student’s independent reading level) to:
Teaching Idea: A teaching Idea for this book would be for the kids to pick a famous person from history that they are interested in and make a power point or poster to teach the class about their person they pick.
Title: Tsunamis
Author: Thomas K Adamson
Illustrator: Thomas K Adamson
Genre: Informational
Date of Publication: 2006
ISBN number: A221ts
Scholastic: 4.1
Grade Level: 2-3
Lexile Level: 470
AR: .5
Summary: This book talks about Tsunamis. It talks about how they start, what they do, and how much damage they can create. This book goes into great detail talks about how the Tsunamis are created in the water.
Response: This book was great for little kids. The big bold letters, the great pictures in the book, and the headings are all helpful for the kids to know what is going to be talked about, what the pictures are representing and what important words are in the book. This book has a Glossary in the back and an index so that is great for the kids to use and learn how to use it. It would be a great way to test the kids.
Curriculum Connection: 2.01 Describe and evaluate the properties of several minerals.
2.02 Recognize that minerals have a definite chemical composition and structure, resulting in specific physical properties including:
2.03 Explain how rocks are composed of minerals.
2.04 Show that different rocks have different properties.
2.05 Discuss and communicate the uses of rocks and minerals.
2.06 Classify rocks and rock-forming minerals using student-made rules.
2.07 Identify and discuss different rocks and minerals in North Carolina including their role in geologic formations and distinguishing geologic regions.
Teaching Idea: the Kids could make a flash book. They could make several flashcards and put them all together and write the bolded words on them to help them learn the definition. They could also make a presentation on Tsunamis or some other natural disasters.
Title: Aboriginal art of Australia
Author: Carol Finley
Illustrator: Carol Finley
Genre: Informational
Date of Publication: 1999
ISBN number: F513ab
Scholastic: 7.6
Grade Level: 3-4
Lexile Level: 640
AR: 1
Other Designations: Cultural
Summary: This book talks all about the aboriginal culture. It has great pictures of the culture. It talks about the location of where this culture usually lives. It talks about a lot of the traditions that this culture takes part in. There are several paintings that they make and the book talks about how they go through the process of making them.
Response: I thought this book did a great job of explaining this culture. It had great pictures things they did or drew. The book has an index which always helps the kids learn better. It also has sections in the book that separates the book into part. I really thought this book did a great job of explain the culture and breaking it into different parts to help the kids better understand it.
Curriculum Connections: 1.01 Identify and demonstrate characteristics of responsible citizenship and explain how citizen participation can impact changes within a community.
1.02 Recognize diverse local, state, and national leaders, past and present, who demonstrate responsible citizenship.
1.03 Identify and explain the importance of civic responsibility, including but not limited to, obeying laws and voting.
1.04 Explain the need for leaders in communities and describe their roles and responsibilities.
1.05 Suggest responsible courses of action in given situations and assess the consequences of irresponsible behavior.
1.06 Identify selected personalities associated with major holidays and cultural celebrations.
Teaching Idea: the kids could act out a part of the culture. If they pick the paint making they can create their own piece of painting in front of the class. Or they could describe a dance that the culture does. The kids would all get in a group pick what they want to act out in front of the class and work on it during class them come together to present.
Title: The Spiderwick Chronicles
Author: Tony DiTerlizzi
Illustrator: Holly Black
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Date of Publication: 2003
ISBN number: D6153fi
Scholastic: 4.6
Grade level: 2-3
Lexile level: 600
AR: 2
Other designators: Novel
Summary: In this book a family just moved to a new house. The house was a mess when they moved in so they all pitched in to help cleaning. While they were cleaning one of the sons heard a noice coming through the wall. The sister took a broom and knocked a hole in the wall. They found a whole mess of things. The younger boy found a laudry lift and went inside. The rest of the kids pulled him all the way to the top. He got out and found a whole secret room. That night things started happening. The kitchen was a mess in the morning and the daughters hair was tied to the bed post. They all blamed it on the younger boy. Until the boy brought the other kids to the secret room that he found. There they found a little creature and they all knew he was the cause of the mischief. At the end of the book you knew there was going to be another one.
Response: I really liked this book. It was very interesting and keep you wondering who was the cause of all the mischief. I also liked that there are other books and at the end of this one it left you wondering what was going to happen next. It was a great way to make the people reading this book want to read the next series.
Teaching Idea: A good teaching Idea for this book would be to make the kids read the rest of the books. Once they read the book they can do a compare and contrast circle. They can figure out what the differences and the similarities are between the books.
Title: The Three Pigs
Author: David Wiesner
Illustrator: David Wiesner
Genre: Traditional
Date of Publication: 2001
ISBN number: W6513th
Scholastic: 2.8
Grade Level: K-2
Lexile Level: 200
AR: 1
Other designators: Caldecott Award
Summary: This story begins just like every other three little pigs story does. The wolf comes and he blows down the first two houses. What’s different about it though is that the pigs hide behind the pages to keep away from the wolf. Then they realized they could knock the pages down. They folded the pages with the wolf in it and flew another to another story. The pigs showed the other stories how to get out of their stories. They went inside one story and brought a dragon out. Then one pig had an idea to bring the dragon to their story. So when the wolf huffed and puffed the dragon puffed out and scared the wolf away. After that the pigs and dragon made their own happy ending.
Response: this story was adorable. I did my author presentation on David Wiesner and out of all his books this is my favorite. He puts such a twist on the original story. The ending of this book was so unique and creative.
Teaching Lesson: Because there are no words in this book the kids could write a summary about what happened. This would be a great book for them to learn about summary
Another teaching lesson was for them to compare and contrast all the other three little pig stories.
Title: Frederick
Author: Leo Lionni
Illustrator: Leo Lionni
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Date of publication: 1967
Scholastic: 3.8
Grade Level: 2-3
Lexile Level: 500
AR: 1
Designators: Caldecott Award
Summary: In this book the mice are gathering food for the winter all throughout the summer, but there is one mouse that wasn’t helping. While the mice were gathering materials they would ask what they mouse was doing and why he wasn’t helping. The mouse would answer I am gathering sun rays for the cold winter days, I am gathering colors because the winter is gray, and I am gathering words because we will run out of thing to say. When the winter came the mice ate the food that they gathered and when they were running low they asked Frederick to share the things that he gathered. He shared the sun rays, the colors of the summer, and shared a poem about the seasons.
Response: This was a very cute book. I thought that at the beginning of the book when the other mice would ask Frederick why he wasn’t working this book was going to be a learn a lesson at the end kind of book but it turned out to be very different then what I thought it would be. I love that books can do that and can trick you. I guess that’s what’s so great about book you never know what really will happen.
Teaching Ideas: At the end of this book Frederick says a little poem about winter time. This would be a great time to go over different types of poems and let the kids create their own poems about winter. Then they could compare and contrast the differences from their poems and the one in the book.
Title: Joseph had a little overcoat
Author: Simms Taback
Illustrator: Simms Taback
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Date of publication: 1999
ISBN number: T112jo
Scholastic: 1.9
Grade Level: K-2
Lexile Level: 300
AR: 1
Designators: Caldecott Award
Summary: In this book a man has an overcoat and when it gets old and worn out he cuts it into something new. He went from an overcoat to a jacket and would wear it out somewhere new. Then he made his jacket into a vest, his vest into a scarf, his scarf into a tie, his tie into a handkerchief, his handkerchief into a button, and one day he lost his button. He then had nothing left but instead of getting upset he decided to make a book about his story. The lesson from this story is that you can always make something from nothing.
Response: I really enjoyed this book. Every time the man said something was worn out I wondered what it was going to be turned into next. It was not only a good book but it also had a good message as well. I think that it would be a great book to read to the kids to teach them a good life lesson. I also like that the back of the book has a note form the author telling the story of him creating this book. It tells us about how he had nothing and decided to create this book and that kids that have nothing should worry there is always something to do.
Teaching Ideas: My idea that I got from this book was that the kids in the class could get in groups and come up with activities the class could do but with no items or objects to do it with. They have to come up with an activity that only involves the class and no objects.
Title: On Noahs Ark
Author: Jan Brett
Illustrator: Jan Brett
Genre: Traditional Literature
Date of Publication: 2003
ISBN number: B845on
Scholastic: 2.1
Grade Level: K-2
Lexile Level: 420
AR: 1
Designators: Cultural
Summary: This book talks about Noah’s Ark. It tells you who built the boat, why they decided to build the boat, and who got on the boat. It showed pictures of the animals in the boat and how they all were laying with one another.
Response: This book would be great to help teach the kids about animals. This book is considered to be religious because this story is in the bible and the school system might not allow this book to be read in class but if it is allowed then it would be a great book to be read to teach about how life was back then and mix in social studies with science and talk about the different species.
Teaching Ideas: From this book they could make their own Noah’s ark. They could draw the boat and all the animals that they liked the most form the book and draw them going onto the boat. Then when they are done drawing it they could collect facts about the different animals that they drew.
Title: Horrible Harry at Halloween
Author: Suzy Kline
Illustrator: Frank Remkiewicz
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction (novel)
Date of Publication: 2000
ISBN number: K654hoh
Scholastic: 3.1
Grade Level:1-3
Lexile Level: 370
AR: 3
Designators: novel
Summary: In this book Harry is always the one that has the best Halloween costumes. Since it was close to Halloween every student was trying to guess that he was going to be, even the teacher. The few days before Halloween the teacher made an assignment for all the kids to come up with neat, spooky, and Halloween related projects. The kids in the class would all go up in the front of the class and do their projects. When they were done Harry would always say, “oh I knew that would happen”. When it was Harry’s turn he went to the front of the class and demonstrated that heavy objects might not sink to the bottom. He made the class guess what would happen then drop it in the water. He tricked the whole class. Finally Halloween came and the whole class was waiting on Harry to walk in to see what he would be. He finally came as a detective. They all were very disappointed, until one girl in class lost her pixy dust. Harry pulled out his pen and paper and acted like a true detective and figured out the boy dressed like a bear used it to cool him off.
Response: This book would be a great book to read near Halloween time. This book would also be great to read when the teacher is going over science. This book shows some fun experiments that you could do with the class. This was a great book that the teacher could read to the class or the class read alone. I really enjoyed this book and think the class would as well.
Teaching Idea: This book talked about science projects. That would be a great idea. The teacher could read this book then assign groups to do group science projects together.
I dont agree with censorship. I believe that if a book has sex, drugs, or harsh language then it should be banded but if it has magic and witches in it I dont think it should be banned. I believe that the kids should be able to read what ever they want to read. The main reason I hated english and reading when I was younger was because I wasnt allowed to read what I wanted to. I was always told what to read and those books always turned out to be horrible, long, boring books. The main cause of this was because alot of the books that I found interesting were banned. I dont want my students to suffer through this. I want all of my kids to find and read books that they love and with censorship cuttin gout so many books this is getting harder and harder to do.
Michelle
Hardworking, bright, mother, first lady
wife of the president
who loves her children, her father, helping
who feels compassion, love from her family, and support
who finds happiness in helping others
Who needs the support of her family
Who gives everything she can
who fears she want make a difference, loosing her family, her dreams want come true
who would like to make a difference in the world
who enjoys being with her kids
who likes to wear her suits when she makes speeches
resident of the white house and the south side of chicago
Obama
I am fun and care free
I wonder when my next snack will be
I hear Opal calling my name
I see everything in black and white
I want another lick of peanutbutter
I am fun and care free
I pretend that I am a human and can smile
I feel the brush of Opals hand
I touch the rough concrete under my paws
I worry about Opal
I cry when I know she is sad
I am fun and care free
I understand missing your mother
I say I love you to Opal
I dream about more peanut butter
I try to make Opal happy
I hope I stay here forever
I am fun and care free
I am not sure who I would be, there are so many characters I dont know how to choose. I am shy but outgoing. I am determined and dont give up on anything if it means alot to me. I am very stubborn. I love adventure and the outdoors. I am not sure what character is like me but if I had to choose I would choose Tinkerbell from Peter Pan.
A girl was trying to fly her kite
On a summer night
A light breeze blows
There her kite goes
The kite steals away into the darkness
She wishes it back with kindness
She runs and runs and runs after it
She really wished her shoes fit
She yells my mind is made up
She must give up
Don’t let my journey end here
Ill loose my kite forever she fears
As she heads back she sees
Her kite swaying in the breeze
I didn’t really care for reading that much as a child. I was more into math. Math always seemed easier to me but there was one series that I always enjoyed either reading or listening to, The Series of Unfortunate Events. These books are about three orphans that have to go live with their cruel uncle that is only out for their fortune. The three young kids have to use their knowledge from the books they read and use only the things they had around them to invent something to get themselves out of trouble and safely to another guardians house.
These books were always very easy to read but most of all they caught my attention from the beginning to end, and that’s hard to do with me. It had suspense and excitement. I was always at the edge of my seat when I read them wondering how could they possibly get out of this situation and what’s going to happen next. I remember always wanting my mom to read this book to me as a bed time story and begging her until her gave in. I loved these books and still do.
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