First Day of School

Spring Blogs

It doesn't really feel like spring yet, but our crop of spring blogs is already growing:) It was great meeting you all Tuesday night and I look forward reading your blogs and learning with you this term. Please take some time to browse each others blogs--the sharing is one of the best parts of this experience!

The Green Man Series

The Onion's funny take on adult enthusiasm for children's literature...


Adults Go Wild Over Latest In Children's Picture Book Series

Favorite Poem Project

A fun way to watch people read and discuss their favorites. If you scroll tro the right for a while, you can find a great sample with a fifth grader's perspective on The Sloth by Theodore Roethke. What a fun project to try in your class!

Which blogs to click on?

If you are about to read "So Far From the Bamboo Grove" try:

JeSsIcA's Blog
KBuzz
Slip N Slide


If you are about to read "The Year of Impossible Goodbyes" try:

ima warrior
LiveLaughLove
Booksforkiddos

Enjoy!

Anticipation Guides

Here's a link to a traditional description of anticipation guides. This site suggests them for upper elementary (4-6) and secondary, but they can also be adapted with success for younger grades. Though many teachers choose to do these as a list of true/false questions, I find that with our access to new media sometimes "a picture is worth a thousand words." That is, the juxtaposition of an image and a statement or a quote and an image can elicit strong emotions in the soon-to-be-reader. Also consider (for your class, if not for this project) short video, picture books, poems, or audio files to really evoke the big themes that you want kids to pay attention to while reading.

As for me, I was intrigued by two new things this evening:

1) A blogger's passionate plea to remember (and for the Japanese government to properly acknowledge) the hardships of comfort women.

2) Brian's suggestion to view a couple of films from Clint Eastwood that deal precisely with this topic, I just found some more information online, and I want to find these films!

Enjoy reading your second title; I look forward to next week's discussion:)

Welcome to Reading and Responding to Children's Literature!

If you've made it here, then you are on the right path to blogging your way through a whole lot of children's books this term. Please remember to send me you blog address right away so that I can get it linked over on the right side of this page. Also, feel free to browse the posts of past (and soon, current) students to get ideas for new books to read. The idea of this blog is to get you thinking and sharing children's literature, movies, and culture with one another.

Further, feel free to share your blog with others outside of our immediate class; I've had several past student get "followed" by authors (they sometime check who is reviewing their books:), local teachers, and even other children's literature fans throughout the world. It's a nice way to both use your professional voice and get your name and ideas out there. It also allows you as an almost-teacher to participate in an education minded online community.

Best wishes and happy blogging!