Field Experience

1. How many hours did you complete?

• Five and a half hours
• 1 hour in a Reading Recovery class
• 1 hour in a first grade classroom
• 3 ½ hours at Public Library

2. In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?

• Reading Recovery – observed two thirty-minute sessions. 
• 1^st grade class – observed reading groups and center rotations
• Public library –

- Helped put together summer reading program bags

- Talked with children’s coordinator to get an understanding of library and offerings.

- Observed story hour and helped with craft and snack

- Helped with set-up and observed magic show for summer program

3. How did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard? (be sure to name the standard)

• The field experience helped strengthen Standard 1: The teacher demonstrates applied content knowledge.  By observing two reading recovery classes I gained knowledge on the process and methods of helping struggling readers.
• The field experience also helped strengthen Standard 8: Collaborates with colleagues, parents and others.   I learned through the experience at the library how they are able to help in the classroom and provide resources for different topics that I teach.

4. Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.

• I learned that librarians do a lot for the library, more than I expected.  They must know and understand the children that come into the library to know what they will like and be interested in. 
• I also learned that I am interested in Reading Recovery training.  During my observation I realized that I want to be part of this great program.  

Reading Log & Wiki

Genre / Titles you read

          I.     Non-fiction/Informational (1 reflection required on blog)           

                  1) Gorilla Doctors – Saving Endagnered Great Apes by Pamela Turner

                  2) What the World Eats by Peter Menzel

        II.     Poetry (1 reflection required on blog)

1)    Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? By Mel Glenn. (required for discussion)

2)    Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian

3)    Mammalabilia by Douglas Florian

4)    Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose by Tomie dePalola

5)    Gathering the Sun by Alma Flor Ada

      III.     Modern Fantasy (1 reflection required on blog)           

1)    A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. (required for discussion)

2)    Coraline by Neil Gaiman

      IV.     Historical Fiction (1 reflection required on blog –can be a picture book)           

1)    Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. (required for discussion)

2)    The Butterfly by Patrica Polacco

3)    Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson

4)    Coming On Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson

        V.     Multicultural/Traditional (2 reflections required on blog – one can be a picture book)           

      1.)  Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall

     2.) The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall

     3.)  Rumpelstiltskin by the Brothers Grimm

     4.) Many Thousand Gone – African Americans from Slavery to Freedom by   

                      Virginia Hamilton

                 5.) Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears retold by Verna Aardema

                 6.) Creation by Gerald McDermott

                 7.) Aesop’s Fables selected and adapted Louis Untermeyer

                 8.) Paul Bunyan retold by Steven Kellogg

                 9.) The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble

      VI.     Realistic Fiction (1 reflection required on blog)

1)    Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis. (required for discussion)

2)    The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster

3)    Thank you, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco

4)    heartbeat by Sharon Creech

    VII.     Picture Books (6 reflections required on blog)

1)    Seven  Blind Mice by Ed Young. (required for discussion)

2)    Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes.

3)    There is a Bird On Your Head! by Mo Willems.

4)    Pink and Say by Patrica Polacco

5)    Wemberly Worried by Kevin Kenkes

6)    A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman

7)    The Grouchy Labdybug by Eric Carle

8)     The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

9)    Mr. Putter & Tabby by Cynthia Rylant

10) Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems

Wiki Checklist

Instructions: Write the number of entries for each category you posted into on the Course Wiki

__1_ Social Studies

____ Science

__1_ Math

____ Music

____ Art

__1_ Reading/Language Arts

____ Physical Education

_1__ Other

Gorilla Doctors - Saving Endangered Great Apes

Turner, P. (2004). Gorilla doctors. Saving endangered great apes. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

     Gorilla Doctors – Saving Endangered Great Apes is a wonderful informational book for intermediate students.  Turner has created an informational book that is divided into seven different sections to tell the theme of the book, which is about what doctors are doing to save the Mountain Gorilla’s of East Africa.  Throughout the book Turner also uses photos and diagrams to help give the reader information. A caption accompanies each picture and diagram to give additional information that is not found in the text.  For this reason this book would be considered a photo essay book.  The information given in the book tells the reader how the doctors help these gorillas and why they need the help.  This book is classified as a biological science informational book because it deals with living organisms, the gorillas. 

    This book would be a great book to include on a unit of endangered animals or wild animals in the intermediate elementary grades.  Children of all ages love books about animals, especially wild animals.  Several different activities could stem from reading this book.  One activity is to have the students create brochures on the Mountain Gorillas.  The brochures could include facts about the creatures and ways to help them.  This would require students to do research in other texts or online.   Another activity is to have the students write letters to persuade individuals to protect the mountain gorillas.  Big Question to ask:

• Farmers, poachers and other humans are coming into the forest and taking away the mountain gorillas home and resources.  What can be done to convince these individuals to stop?

    I decided on this book because I have always been a fan of apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and gorillas) and reading books about them.  I am amazed by these animals and sad that many are endangered.  That is another reason for picking this book as I feel it is important to inform students about endangered animals and steps that can be taken to protect them.   

The Butterfly

Polacco, P. (2000). The butterfly. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

 Imagine if you had to hide in someone’s cellar and never come out all because of what you believed in.    Unfortunately, Monique lives in a world where this is not just a horrible nightmare, but also a reality for several individuals around her.  Monique and her mother live in a small town outside of Paris, France that is occupied by German Nazis.  All Jewish individuals are being thrown into camps or worse.  Monique’s mother wants to help these individuals and allows a family to take refuge in their cellar.  Monique soon learns about the family and becomes friends with the young girl, Sevrine.  The friendship endangers both families and Sevrine, her father and mother must now leave.  Will the family make it out of the city to be free as the butterfly the girls played with or will the Nazi’s capture them?  Polacco tells a beautifully written story and uses equally beautiful pictures to tell the journey of the families in The Butterfly. 

heartbeat

Creech, S. (2004). heartbeat. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

        Sharon Creech’s free verse novel, heartbeat, is sure to connect to preadolescents.  Annie, a twelve-year-old girl, is experiencing a lot of changes in her life.  For twelve years she has been the only child, but that is all about to change, as her mother will be giving birth in a few short months.  She will have to share a room with her new sibling because her Grandpa has moved in with the family after her Grandmother’s death.  To add more to her already changing life, her best friend and running partner, Max, is going through something and they seem to be drifting about.  The reader can follow along with Annie as she learns how to handle these changes. 

        Creech’s heartbeat is a realistic fiction book that falls under the situational realism category.  Annie is experiencing several changes in her family and personal life, changes that are likely to happen.  After years of being the only child she will have a new baby brother or sister and her Grandpa, an extended family member, has moved in with her family.  Annie’s relationship with her best friend, Max, is also changing, something that often happens as children become adolescents.  Creech did an amazing job telling the story through free verse in a first-person point of view. The reader can feel close with Annie because her feelings and thoughts are made clear.  Instead of chapters the story is divided into free verses that tell a different thought or situation, each beginning with a heading to give the reader an idea of what the verse will be about. Throughout the book onomatopoeia is used with a reoccurring sound, thump, thump, the sound of Annie’s heartbeat. 

          The targeted audience for heartbeat is intermediate and middle school students.  At this age students go through many changes in their family, school and personal life.  Reading this book, or others similar to it, will help the reader see that everyone goes through changes but it is up to the individual as to how to handle it.  The organization of the story is different from many novels and students may find the free verse style refreshing and easy to read.  BIG questions to ask:

• In the free verse “Lines”, Annie comes to the realization that she has much more to learn about apples.  Do you think she meant apples literally or figuratively? Why?

        At the beginning of the term I went to the library to check out books that were listed in our text.  I choose three different books for realistic fiction, not knowing which I would read for the blog post.  I enjoyed reading Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? last week because it was written in a style that I was not familiar with but enjoyed.   When I examined the books I checked out for this week I was pleased to find that heartbeat was also written in free verse. 

Dinothesaurus

Florian, D. (2009). Dinothesaurus. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 

 

    

  

     Dinothesaurus is a wonderfully illustrated specialized poetry book about dinosaurs by Douglas Florian.  There are twenty poems beginning with “The Age of Dinosaurs” to poems about individual dinosaurs to “The End of Dinosaurs”.  The title for each of the poems about an individual dinosaur is the name of the dinosaur.  Florian provides the pronunciation and what the word means, for example:     

Giganotosaurus - JIG-ah-not-oh-SAW-rus (giant southern lizard).

The poems describe the dinosaur in a fun, upbeat way.  At the end of the book there is a “Glossarysaurus” where the reader is given more information about each dinosaur/poem.  Florian also included a list of Dinosaur Museums and Fossil Sites and selected further reading. 

        The first and last poems in this book are narrative poems. “The Age of Dinosaurs” includes a sequence of events, the poem tells the reader about the three time-periods of the dinosaurs, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.  The last poem, “The End of Dinosaurs” tells a story by giving a theory as to why the dinosaurs no longer exist.  The other eighteen poems are lyrics as they describe each dinosaur.  Florian used rhyme throughout the book to give each poem a rhythm.  Some of the poems had lines that rhymed with the pervious line (“Stegoceras”), and other poems every other line rhymed  (“Troodon”).

Stegoceras                                                                        Troodon

“Thick head. Brick head. Hard head, too.                       "Said to be brainy.

Round head. Mound head. Odd head, you.”                    Said to be bright.

                                                                                  But what did it read?

                                                                                  And what did it write?”

Florian uses figurative language in his poems.  In the poem “Seismosaurus” he uses a simile to compare the size of a Seismosaurus to a lake. He uses a simile again in “Ankylosaurus”; he says that this dinosaur is “tough as tanks and hard as nails”. 

          Dinothesaurus would be a wonderful book to include in any elementary class. Younger students are amazed by dinosaurs and love poems that rhyme and Florian has given them both.  This book would be appropriate to use during a unit of study on dinosaurs to show students examples of different dinosaurs and what they were known for.  It could also be used during a unit on poetry to show the different poetic forms. Each of Florian’s poems were written and organized in a different way in this book, some had multiple stanzas while others had one. Some of the poems were couplets, only two lines, while others were quatrains, four lines. BIG questions to ask:

·     What if you could talk to a dinosaur, what would you ask it?

·     If you could be a dinosaur for a day, which dinosaur would you be and why?

       I am a big fan of using poetry in the classroom and use it almost daily.  Unfortunately, I had never heard of Douglas Florian until now and have not had the opportunity to use his work in my classroom.  After reading Dinothesaurus and Mammalabilia I plan to include his work in my lessons.   

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Aardema, V. (1975). Why mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears. New York, NY: Dial Books

            Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears is a West African Tale retold by Verna Aardema.  One morning a mosquito tries to talk to an iguana.  The iguana is not interested in hearing such nonsense, so he places two sticks in his ears and walks off.  While walking with sticks in his ears, iguana passes by a python.  The python is upset because the iguana will not say “good morning”.  He then thinks the iguana is plotting against him and hides in a rabbit hole.  Due to the lack of communication and jumping to conclusions a chain of events is set into motion that will cause other animals confusion and pain.  The events lead to an explanation as to why mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears. 

            Aardema does an excellent job retelling this pourquoi folktale from West Africa. This story fits into the category pourquoi tale because of the explanation of a phenomenon of nature.  Like many traditional literature selections the plot for Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears is short and simple.  Mosquito tries to talk to iguana, but the iguana is not interested which unintentionally sets off a series of events that leads to an explanation as to why indeed mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears.. The reader does not get a lot of back information about the flat characters.  Mosquito’s character helps develop the plot but is not described fully and is seen as bad.  Most of traditional literature has an unimportant and vague setting and this book is no different.  The story begins with “One morning” and although it is not described thanks to the illustrations we can assume it is outside.  The theme is subtle and is not expressed in an obvious way. The theme, in my opinion, is to not jump to conclusions and get the full story.  The animals reacted to a previous animal’s action before finding out what was going on.  Since they jumped to conclusions and acted before finding out the facts a devastating thing happened to Owl and the other animals suffered because of it. 

             Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears is a 1976 Caldecott Award winning picture book illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon.  This book made history because Leo Dillon was the first African-American illustrator to win this award.  The illustrations are of high quality and help tell the story.  Several different types of media, watercolors, pastels, ink and cut-outs, were used to create the illustrations. 

            The targeted audience is primary school aged students but I think all elementary school students would enjoy this story.  Young students always have “why” questions and want to know why things are the way they are.  Reading this book reminded me of a student I had in one of my first grade classes.  He wanted to know about EVERYTHING, from why dogs bark to why we had two legs and arms.  This book would be an excellent introduction to a great discussion and writing prompt.  The BIG questions to ask:

• Why did the other animals blame mosquito for the events that occurred in the story?
• Have you ever jumped to a conclusion like the animals in the story? What happened?