Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

This book would be good to use around election time, whether it be for a governor, president, or senator.  If elections aren't going on, this book could still be used if there is a unit in the curriculum about the government.  The students could become engaged in the topic of elections through this fun and brightly illustrated book.  This book could also start class elections for older elementary grades.

This book could also be used to teach the importance of reading the words in the pictures, and not just the text on the bottom of the page.  The election signs are just as important in this book as the text, since they show the election totals and other important information.

"Duck For President" could also be used to work with predictions.  The children could predict what the Duck was going to do next (what position he was going to run for and the ending).  

This book can be used for a variety of reasons, and its fun and engaging story and illustrations will keep the children's attention.

Spoon

Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator: Scott Magoon

Spoon is a book about a little spoon who is feeling down about himself. He sees all the other utensils having fun and he wishes he could have as much fun as they do. Spoon's mother takes him around to see all the other utensils and sees what exactly makes them all special. What spoon doesn't realize is that all the other utensils are saying the same things about Spoon. It takes the help of his mother to make Spoon realize how lucky he is and how much fun he gets to have.

This book is a wonderful book for any age including older students. This book has a message that we all should be celebrating what makes us special instead of comparing ourselves to others. This is a lesson that all students should learn and this book can be read to them to remind them that we should all be happy with what we have. We are all unique and it is something to celebrate.

Hello Ocean

Author: Muñoz Ryan

Illustrator: Mark Astrella

Translator: Yanitzia Canetti

Summary: Hello Ocean is about a young girl spending the day at the beach. The narrator describes her experience through the senses of sight, smell, tasting, feeling, and hearing. The book ends with the girl leaving the beach, but eventually she will come back to visit her favorite place.

Relevance to Literacy Development: This book can be used for a kindergarten class, but I would use the book for a first and second grade classroom. For a kindergarten class, the book can be used as an introduction to the five senses. In the text, each sense is in bold print to emphasize the differences to the readers. The illustrations provide readers with great imagery to increase comprehension. Not only does the book focus on the senses, it also exposes readers to the elements of figurative language such as alliteration, personification, metaphors, and rhyming. For example, the book states, "Waves that pounce in rowdy play, tide that tickles, with splashing spray, squishy, sandy, soggy ground, slippery seaweed that wraps around..." is an alliteration. Therefore, the book is useful for first and second graders to learn to identify a pattern within a text. Since I am an ESL minor, I love how the book provide Spanish translations on each page next to the sentence in English. As a result, the ESL students will have the opportunity to make connections from their native language and apply it to the target language to become a successful reader.

Where Is the Green Sheep?

Author: Mem Fox
Illustrator: Judy Horacek

Where Is the Green Sheep? Is a story that shows a variety of sheep and where they are and then it asks but where is the green sheep? It shows different sheep such as blue sheep, swing sheep, thin sheep, wide sheep, and many other kinds of sheep. At the end of the story the book has you quickly flip the page and reveals green sheep fast asleep behind a green bush.

I think this book would be great to use in a kindergarten or first grade classroom for many different reasons. You could use this book for prediction and have your students guess where green sheep is before you read the story. The book also points out different attributes of the sheep like thin and wide or up and down. This could be used to help students in math with sorting and show them new ways different things can be sorted by. Last, this book could be used to start a writing/drawing assignment for on the back cover the book asks, If you were a green sheep, where would you hide? You could then have your students write and draw a picture of where they would hide and then have them share with the class.

Stephanie's Ponytail (Book Talk)

Stephanie’s Ponytail

Author: Robert Munsch

Illustrator: Michael Martchenko

I chose this book because Robert Munsch is one of my favorite children’s authors. He has written many successful books such as “Love You Forever” among other childhood classics. Stephanie’s Ponytail in particular is a really fun story. It is about a girl who asks her mom to give her different ponytails every day before school. The problem is, every time she tries a new ponytail, the next day everyone else in school copies her and is wearing the exact same ponytail… even the boys! By the end of the story, even faculty members start to copy her hairstyles and Stephanie becomes fed up. Finally, she comes up with a clever idea of how she can get everyone to stop copying her. The ending is both funny and surprising.

This book can be used in a first or second grade classroom. The illustrations are very detailed and these really help to develop the story. The text follows a repetitive pattern so the children can begin to follow along and join in even if they can’t see the page. For example, lines such as “It’s MY ponytail, and I like it!” can be a line contributed to by the whole class. The story even incorporates a little elementary level math into the humor. For example, when Stephanie wears a ponytail in front of her face, “On the way to school she bumped into four trees, three cars, two houses, and one Principal.” I believe this book can be used for a number of different purposes in a classroom. It can be used as lesson against bullying or being a “copy cat” and being happy with who you are. It can be used for counting strategies, counting how many different types of ponytails she tries, or how many things she runs into on the way to school, etc. It can be used to learn how to read different types of text to convey emotion. For example, when the words are in bold, the character is yelling or upset; when the text is italicized the character is feeling confident and emphasizes her words; etc. These are just some of many ways to incorporate Stephanie’s Ponytail into a lesson.

The Doorbell Rang By: Pat Hutchins

The Doorbell Rang  

Author & Illustrator: Pat Hutchins

Published: 1986 

Grade: Third Grade

Genre: Realistic Math Fiction

Summary: Not only does Pat Hutchins give children a great lesson on sharing in The Doorbell Rang, she also teaches children about mathematics and the operation of division. The story starts out with two children sharing a plate of delicious cookies from their mom.  Each of the children receives six cookies, making the total of cookies twelve. As the story progresses, the doorbell rings, announcing the arrival of more children, whom are welcomed with an even share of the cookies. Each ring of the doorbell indicates a different number of children coming to join while decreasing the number of cookies per child. Finally, as the number of children evenly equals the number of cookies, the doorbell rings one more time. For a moment, the children wonder if they should eat their one cookie each before opening the door. Luckily however, the last person coming in is their grandmother, who brings another whole plate of cookies for the children to divide evenly among themselves. 

Literacy Development: Critical thinking skills, especially those in math, are essential for children to learn in a variety of ways.  When examples are specifically relatable to them, students have a better understanding of the concept.  Struggling with math is not uncommon for children, especially when new skills and strategies are introduced. However, Hutchins’ problem solving tale is a creative and positive way to teach children division. This book demonstrates to third graders the mathematical concept of division, while initially beginning the story with a multiplication problem. For example, two children x six cookies each= 12 total. By the author illustrating different amounts of children come in each time, the students will be able to identify division of numbers with a variety of different numbers. I would thoroughly enjoy using this book in a math lesson in order to teach operations, while possibly demonstrating through an interactive read loud.  I would bring in cookies and separate them as the story aloud to the class.  By reading this book reading, I believe child will understand the concept of splitting up a number evenly through division.

Common Core Standard Applied:

     

     Literacy:

• R.L3.3: Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

     Math:

•          CCSS.MathContent.3.OA.A1: Interpret products of whole numbers.
•     CCSS.MathContent.3.OA.A2: Interpret whole-number quotients of whole numbers.
•         CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.A.4 Determine the unknown whole number in a multiplication or division equation relating three whole numbers.
•         CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.B.6 Understand division as an unknown-factor problem.

Book talk

The book that I chose was Rosa’s Bus the Ride to Civil Rights, by Jo S. Kittinger and illustrated by Steven Walker. This book is about Bus #2857, the bus that Rosa Parks rode on. It tells about the history of Bus #2857, how it came off the assembly line in Michigan, headed to Indiana before going to Montgomery, Alabama. White people rode in the front, Blacks in the back. Everyone paid a dime to ride the bus. If the front of the bus was full blacks were forced to stand up and give their seats up to White folks, until December 1, 1955. This is the day Rosa Parks did not get up. She was arrested and word spread like wild fire. The boycott started and lasted for 382 days. Blacks did not ride the bus, the bus companies were failing, the Supreme Court had to do something and they did. The Supreme Court ruled that blacks could sit wherever on the bus and did not have to give up. Bus #2857 was full again until it was put out of service. A man bought Bus #2857 and it sat in a field for more than thirty years and until people cared enough about Bus #2857 again. Fifty-five years after it rolled off the assembly line in Michigan, Bus #2857 returned to Michigan to the Henry Ford Museum. “Think about Bus #2857 - imagine where it has been and where we have yet to go.”

 

This book can be used in 3^rd grade classrooms and up. It can be used in many scenarios such as: a history class, February because it is black history month, teaching equality and unity if you see your class is bullying someone or leaving a certain students out.  For the history class, young children will be able to learn about the segregation that used to exist in this country without learning about all the details and how terrible it used be for blacks. Also, this story consists of repetition, “That’s just the way things were,” is repeated throughout the story. There are many different ways this book can used in the classroom and I think that the students will enjoy it.

Danielle Koncius
"One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" Dr. Seuss

 

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is a classic Dr. Seuss book from the 1960’s that will be a classroom favorite for many generations to come. This book is a favorite by many people, and myself, because of the fun rhyming and the creative illustrations. I have always enjoyed the ‘easy-to-read’ style of this book and it will always be something that I will look back. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is a book about a boy and a girl and all of the amazing, creative creatures of Dr. Seuss’s imagination.

This beginner’s book is a magical beginning that blends words and pictures as well as encouraging children to start reading on their own. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is ideal for emergent readers and could be used at the start of many different lessons and activities. I would ideally use this book for a kindergarten classroom and complete a whole group reading to the class. The standards that I would refer to are:

·         CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

·         CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.5 Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems)

The theme of this book that I appreciate and find so appropriate for this age group is how there are different kinds of people everywhere and it is important to accept them and take a chance to learn about who they are.

 

 

There's a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss

There's a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss

              There’s a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss is a simple, silly book for young children.  The story is about a boy who lives in a house where it is common to find a zamp in a lamp, or a nink in the sink.  With some exceptions the boy enjoys all of the “things” that he finds.  The colors added to the illustrations create personality to the story and allows the cartoons to stand out.   

It introduces children to rhyming and understanding the concept of reading as well as difficult vocabulary such as cupboard.  Dr. Seuss uses “silly” words to allow readers and students to use their imagination and create their own words.  This book would be of good use in a classroom to allow children to explore such words. 

Babushka’s Doll

·      Author = Patricia Polacco

·      Illustrator = Patricia Polacco

·      Publication = 1995

·      This book is about a girl named Natasha who is very bossy, controlling, and spoiled.  Her babushka, which means grandma in Russian, refuses Natasha’s demands all morning long.  After lunch Babushka needs to grow for groceries and allows Natasha to play with her special doll.  Natasha is excited to play with such a treasure but little does she know she took on more then she could bargain for.

·      This text is great to use in classrooms to help children understand you need to treat people how you want to be treated.  This is a huge lesson that teachers talk about all the time.  This is also a great book to use if you have a bully on your hands.  It shows children that being bossy and demanding is not cool.

·      The common core standard that would go along with this book is number 3, identify characters.  With this you can identify character traits and explain good qualities and bad. 

Rufus Goes to School

Rufus Goes to School is written by Kim T Griswell and illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev is about a pig named Rufus wanting to go to school to learn how to read his favorite book. He thinks material items such as a back pack, lunchbox, and blanket is what he needs to enroll in school when the principle stops him each time and gives him silly things a pig would do in school. There is only one reason the principle accepts to be a good enough reason for Rufus to go to school.

This would be a good book to read on the first day of school since the students themselves just went school supply shopping. You during the reading you could have the students predict what the next school supply would be that he gets. The students will laugh at the silly things the principle thinks Rufus will do. The students will be able to identify different character traits that Rufus has displayed through the book. I fell in love with this book when I first read it, I also used it for a read aloud for my third grade class and they too enjoyed it.

We Are in a Book!

For my book talk, I chose We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems. It is part of the Elephant and Piggie series and was published in 2010. In this book, the two main characters, Elephant and Piggie, discover that they are being read by a reader. The whole book is a dialogue between Elephant and Piggie. Throughout the book, they even make the reader read aloud words. I chose this book because I loved it as soon as I read it in our library at Rider. When I went into the field, I noticed that this book was a favorite of my kindergarteners. When my kindergartners had library, they all rushed to the Elephant and Piggie series to check them out. I like this books because it is a one of the most unique childrens' book I have read and it is humorous. Not only is a lighthearted book, but it shows the readers the structure of a book through Elephant and Piggie's dialogue. It is done in a fun way that the children do not even realize it. This book shows the reader where the page numbers are in the book, how the reader is reading Elephant and Piggie's dialogue through word bubbles, and how the book has an ending. Lastly, this book encourages the children to want to read this book again because at the end of the story, Elephant and Piggie ask the reader "Will you please read us again?"

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

By: Laura Joffe Numeroff 

Useful While in a Classroom Setting

- Helpful for creating predictions

- Cause and effect relationships

-Recalling the sequenced text

Activities

- Retelling story map

-Beginning-middle-end sequencing

-Write their own version of the story with them being the mouse

-Prediction charts

Big Pumpkin

I chose Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman and illustrated by S. D. Schindler because its theme is relevant for this time of the month. It has a witch, a ghost, a vampire, a mummy, a bat, and a pumpkin, which are all things kids see and hear about during October for Halloween. The witch plants a pumpkin seed and intends to make pumpkin pie. When the pumpkin grows to be too big to pick up, each character takes a turn trying to pick the pumpkin from the vine. Then they work together to pick it and it comes off and the witch is able to make her pumpkin pie that they all enjoy together.

I think this book would be great to use in a kindergarten or first grade classroom because of the rhyming and repetitive use of lines. It is something that will keep students engaged and I can use it to have the students help me finish a sentence if they catch on. Also, there is big illustrations on each page that depict what the words are describing so it can also be used for independent reading where a student can either read the words or the illustrations and have an understanding of what it is about (RL.1.7). Some standards that I would meet as a teacher in doing this would be to discuss who the author and illustrator are and what each of their jobs consist of (RL.K.6). Also, the students can write and/or draw a picture of an alternate ending or their favorite part of the book (W.K.6).

Ten in the Bed

  I choose the book Ten in the Bed, this book shows that everyone needs friends. It also ties in math with a real world lesson. Throughout the book there is addition and subtraction. At the beginning of the book there are ten animals in the bed. The main character is a little boy who keeps telling the animals to roll over. Everytime he tells them to roll over one falls off. This happens until he is the only one in the bed. That illustrates subtraction. Then the boy is lonely because he is the only one still in the big bed, so he tells them all to come back onto the bed. So the boy is no longer cold and lonely. They all go back to bed and back to sleep. 
   This book can be used at the beginning of a math lesson as a mini lesson. It can introduce counting to children before it is taught. It could be used as a read aloud in morning meeting to get the students thinking. They can try to make predictions on what they think will happen through out the story. Do they think he will end up sleeping all by himself or will his friends come back to keep him company. I like this book because it can be used in different subjects. I like that it can be used as a mini lesson before math or a morning meeting book that can reinforce making predictions.

I Wish that I had Duck Feet

I chose this book because everyone always wanted to change something about themselves, whether is was their hair or even if they had duck feet.  Throughout this book the little boy is wishing he had something that would make him special and would make everyone like him better.  First it was duck feet then it goes to deer antlers, whale spout, a long tail, and then an elephant trunk.  After he decides on one that he would want, he comes to the realization that if he had such a thing he would either not be allowed inside his own house or he would be put to work doing house hold chores, among other things.  At the end he decides that he would be all of the things he wished he had put together, and he would be called a Which-What-Who.  He soon thought better of that after he imagined himself being put away in a zoo.  In the end he wished nothing more than to just be himself, which was the best of all.
I would read this book to kids because it sends an important message to everyone at any age:  you don't need anything else to be one of a kind, being yourself is special already.  Since it is a Doctor Seuss book there is rhyming galore in it, so I would see if the kids would know what would be coming up at the end of the page.  I could also see if they could predict what would happen if he did have that elephant spout.  Would he be able to stay inside? There are also great illustrations in this book. The kids could come up with drawings for their own "I Wish that I had"  and then predict what would happen if they actually did have it.

The Teacher from the Black Lagoon

For book talk I chose a book from a series by Mike Thaler titled The Teacher from the Black Lagoon. I specifically remember being read this book in a library class when I was in grade school. For that reason, I loved it. It's a part of a series with similar titles and themes. For classroom purposes, I really liked the idea of using it as a first day of school read aloud. Many students are often very anxious about the first day of school, I know I still get nervous before meeting my new professors in anticipation of if rumors are true. That is kind of how the book begins, the boy finds out he has Mrs. Green, she "is supposed to be a real monster." As the story unfolds, turns out Mrs. Green is a large green monster, and she does not hesitate to breathe fire or use special powers. The remaining boy, falls asleep in class and wake up to a pretty blonde teacher, "I'm Mrs. Green, your teacher." He realizes it was all apart of some freakish nightmare all stemming from his apprehension of what his first day of school would bring. There are a number of activities and things to gain from this read aloud. Students can easily connect to this story, they can make real life connections and share what they felt on the first day of school either in writing or sharing during class discussion. Also, there are a lot of characters in the story that are other students and other teachers; students can compare & contrast different characters and could even illustrate what they looked like. This story in particular could be used for students to identify beginning, middle, and end of the book. For a younger group, illustrating a favorite part, or creating their own scary monster teacher could be a good follow up activity.

Is Your Mama a Llama?

For my book talk, I chose to read “Is Your Mama a Llama?” written by Deborah Guarino and illustrated by Steven Kellogg. The main character in this story is a Llama named Lloyd. He is on the search to discover his mother's identity and repeatedly asks his friends if their mamas are llamas. His friends are comprised of an assortment of animals including a bat, a swan, a cow, a seal, and a kangaroo – all of which do not resemble a llama. Near the end of the story, Lloyd sees his friend, Llyn, who is also a llama. Llyn explains to Lloyd that both of their mamas are llamas.

This book serves as a good resource for an elementary school curriculum. Since pictures play an important role in the story, it provides a great opportunity to discuss the differences between the jobs of an author and an illustrator. The story, begins with Lloyd asking Dave the Bat if his mama is a llama and Dave replies with a riddle. The rhyming words and riddles throughout the story allow the students to predict what type of animal Lloyd’s friends are. As the story continues, Lloyd asks if he is related to animals in which he shows no resemblance, providing a silly storyline with which students can read along. This story allows students to develop key prediction skills, which are useful when reading any work.