Kristin Sarboukh February 19, 2013 Childrens literacy exploration

Charlip, Remy. Fortunately. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1993. Print. Fortunately, by Remy Charlip, is a story of fortunate and unfortunate events. The main character of the story, Ned, has a string of events begin to happen to him. One good, or fortunate, event will happen and a bad, or unfortunate, event will follow it. For example, there is a time where he is falling out of an air plane and luckily he has a parachute. But then, he is unlucky in the fact that his parachute has a hole in it. Then he is lucky again and sees that there is a haystack to break his fall. One idea builds on another and a sequence unfolds. The illustrations in the book help foreshadow what the next fortunate or unfortunate event is going to be. This book can help support childrens literary development in a variety of ways. First, it helps students understand the concept of sequencing; one thing happens because another thing happened first. Each event is a chain reaction off of another; they build off of each other. Fortunately can also help with predictions and inferences. The illustrations in the book contribute to what is going to be conveyed next in the text. There is also a prominent pattern in the book that can be taught to students. It goes from a fortunate event to an unfortunate one and then back to fortunate. This pattern becomes predictable and students can begin to foresee what will happen next based on whether it is a fortunate or unfortunate event that comes next. When teaching this book, I would help third graders understand how the illustrations can help one infer what will be happening next; that the book is a sequence of events that build off each other and can possibly be predicted. I would begin by showing the cover of the book and

asking students, based on the picture, what could have happened before this picture came to be. I would have them discuss this with a partner. Then I would ask students what could happen after this picture and they will turn and talk with a partner. Then I would begin to read the book. I would stop on a specific page and ask students, based on the picture, to turn and talk with their partner and try to predict what might happen next. Then I would read to the end of the book. After it was over, I would have the students return to their desk and give them a picture prompt in which they have to write what they think the next scene of the story is based on the picture. This lesson applies to a variety on standards. There are three standards in particular that really stand out. They are 3.W.3a: establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally; 3.RL.5: refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections; and 3.RL.7: explain how specific aspects of a texts illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

Collins, Ross. Doodleday. Chicago: Albert Whitman & Company, 2011. Print. Harvey is a little boy who loves to draw, but who never knew about the dangers of Doodleday. His mother warned him about the dangers of drawing on Doodleday, but he did not listen to her warning. Everything he drew began to come to life. It began with a fly, and Harvey though maybe if he drew something to eat the fly, he could get rid of it. So then he drew a spider, but when his plan failed, he tried to draw something to eat the spider. This goes on and on until finally his mom comes home and draws herself as a doodle and orders the drawings back into the paper.

With such a fun book, students may be very intrigued by the silliness, but it still has important lessons. This book can help teach children sequencing and how one thing leads to another. It shows how everything has a consequence and a chain reaction, making something else happen. This book also has a lot of dialog, so it could be used to help teach children about dialog, what punctuation to use, and how to fit it into a story. I think this book is great to help teach second graders sequencing. As I would read the book, every time Harvey drew a new thing, I would ask the student why he drew the next animal. They would turn and talk to their partners about what made Harvey draw what he did. I would repeat this every time Harvey drew something new. The point is to try to get children to understand that there is a reason for everything and one thing sequences into another. At the end of the book, I would have the students go back to their desks and have a worksheet with five blank boxes. In each box, the students would draw what doodle was drawn in the book. Underneath each box, the child would have to write what Harvey drew and why he drew it. For example, he drew the spider so that it would eat the fly. This is to help break down the idea of sequencing and understanding of why. For this lesson, I would be applying the standard 2.W.3: write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Cronin, Doreen. Diary of a Spider. New York: Joanna Cotler Books, 2005. Print. Diary of a Spider is about the life of a spider and his days from March 1st until August 1st. This spider talks about what goes on in his daily life and the issues he had to tackle along the way. He meets a variety of people, does an assortment of things, and learns many lessons. One of

the biggest things he learns is thanks to his friend Fly who is very different from what Spider is used to. This book can be used to teach many different things that support a childs literary development. The book is written in free verse and can teach children about that concept. It can be used to explore how free verse has no rules in structure of paragraph, punctuation, or sentences. It can also be used to show the components and rules of diary writing and how that applies to free verse. On the contrary, this book can be used as a critical literacy tool. The spider and Fly are best friends, despite the opposition and prejudice other spiders and flies have towards each other. There is a great lesson in this book about not judging people before getting to know them and how if you do, your judgment can be far from the truth. In the classroom, I would use this book to promote critical literacy to second graders. I would begin by establishing turn and talk partners among the students and ask them questions such as, What do you all think about spiders? and What do you think spiders and humans have in common? Then as a class come to a conclusion about how they feel about spiders and what humans have in common with them. These are the judgments the class is making before they even get to know the spider. Throughout the book, I would stop and ask if the students have ever teased another person before getting to know them and then why they think the spider stood up for the fly. The turn and talk technique should pull out answers that have to do with the fact that Fly is Spiders friend; he knows Fly and isnt just judging him by what others say. At the end of the book, I would ask students to think of a time when they judged someone before actually getting to know them and then break everyone up into three groups. One group will write about their experiences, one group will draw their experiences, and one group will answer questions about their experiences.

In a classroom, this lesson partnered with this book could apply to many different standards. Some of the standards are 2.RL.2: recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures and determine their central message, lesson, or moral; 2.W.3: write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, including details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure; 2.SL.1: participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and large groups; 2.SL.2: recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media; 2.SL.3: ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue.

Curtis, Jamie Lee. My Brave Year of Firsts: tries, sighs, and high fives. New York: Joanna Cotler Books, 2012. Print. Like many children can relate to, this book talks about the many firsts kids go through when they are young. This time is all about learning and exploring. The main character learns that there are consequences to things that you do. While some of these consequences are good, other end up not so good. A few of the many firsts she goes through are riding her first bike, going to first grade, checking out her first library book, and even her first bee sting. These firsts are very relatable to children because they are, or will be, going through very similar things. This book is very relatable, but also teaches some important components in literacy. It can help children understand the sequence of numbering and what it means for something to be first. It can also be used for critical literacy and help students understand that everything you do, whether good or bad, has consequences. Students can also make text-to-self connections

between what they are going through and what the character in the book is going through. With these many different entry points, there are a lot of lessons to choose from. I would use this book in the classroom to help promote text-to-self connections through writing with third graders. I would gather the students on the floor and have them talk to their turn and talk partners about the first time they ever rode a bike. This would help them see that many people have similar experiences while many also have different ones. Keeping this idea of riding a bicycle in their heads, I would begin the book so they could see how the main characters first experience was with riding a bike and how it could relate to theirs. At one point in the book, I would stop and ask the students how they think the character may feel about these firsts. The students may answer in a variety in ways such as scared, excited, nervous, etc. Then I would keep reading until the end of the book. At the end of the book, I would have the students go back to their seats and write a paragraph about one of their own firsts, either that was mentioned in the book or one that was not. The text can help generate ideas or build off of the ones they already have. This lesson and this book can relate to a few standards. One prominent standard would be 3.W.3: write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. Another standard could also be 3.RL.3: describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Giganti, Paul, Jr. Each Orange had 8 Slices: a counting book. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1992. Print.

The book, Each Orange had 8 Slices: a counting book, is a book all about counting. It takes an object, for example flowers, and will ask how many flowers are on the page. Then the book will ask how many petals are on each flower. To take it one step further, it may even ask how many bugs are on each petal, on each flower. Each page in the book is a new object for the students to count and figure out how many is pictured. This book can be used to develop literacy as well as mathematical skill. First, it is creating simple word problem for students to figure out and can help to introduce multiplication in a picture and word form. Not only are students getting the information numerically, but they are also getting it through literacy and through pictures. This help all types of learner comprehend the information in the best way for them. I would use this text to help teach multiplication to third graders. First, I would have already taught a lesson on what multiplication is and how it is used. Before reading, I would review what we have already learned so it is fresh in everyones head. Then I would introduce this book and explain to the students that we are going to use the pictures in the book to help us multiply. On each page, I would stop and as a class we would solve the problem presented in text and represented by the pictures. At the end of the book, I would have the students get into groups of 4 and find two or more similar objects in the room and do exactly what the book did; count the objects and then count how many specific parts there are to that object. For example if they picked two boxes of chalk that each had twelve pieces inside, they would come up with the answer to 2 x 12 = 24. Then everyone would share their answers with the class and explain how they came up with that answer. For this lesson, I would use both math and language standards because I feel it applies to both. The math standard would be 3.OA.A.1: interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret

5 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as 5 7. As for the language standard, I would use 3.RL.7: use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

Jenkins, Steve, and Robin Page. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Print. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This is a wonderful non-fiction book to help teach children about animals. Each page talks about a different body part of an animal such as the nose, the tail, and the ears. Then the book goes on to explain how each animal uses these body parts differently. For example, a platypus may use its nose to dig in the mud, whereas an elephant may use its nose to clean itself with water. This book shows that while each animal may have the same body part, they are used to perform different functions. In regards to literary development, this book helps children look at something from anothers perspective. For example, students may not have known there was any other function for a nose besides smelling. Once they read this book, they will discover that many animals use their nose for a variety of things. In the classroom, this book would be great to teach third graders about different animals and how they differ from another animal. I would start off by going through each of the different body parts in the story (ex: nose, hands, eyes, ears, etc.) and have the students tell me what function each body part performs. Then I would ask if there was anything else these body parts could do. Once we all came to an understanding about what you can and cannot do with each

body part, I would introduce the book. As I read through the story I would tell each student to see if they could find one new fact that they learned about an animal. At the end of the story, I would have a few students share the fact that they came up with. I would then have everyone go back to their seat and have them pick and animal from the story. From this, they would be creating posters with the title What do you do with a ______ like this? Each child would list five facts they learned about their animal and draw a picture of their animal. The book would be passed around during this exercise so they could refer to it if need be. The core content standards I would use for this lesson would be 3.RI.1: ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers; 3.RI.2: determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea; and 3.W.2: write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

Katz, Alan. Take Me Out of the Bathtub. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2001. Print. This book puts a new twist on childhood nursery rhymes. It takes the tunes from songs like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, London Bridge, and Im a Little Tea Pot and puts them to new lyrics. The songs are all about things children can relate to such as having a scary babysitter, being responsible for your library books, not wanting to go to bed, and even tying your shoes. With familiar tunes and such detailed illustrations, this book can easily capture childrens attention. Overall, there are 14 different songs for kids to learn and hopefully sing along to. Not only is this book entertaining, but it can also be used greatly in supporting young childrens literary development. Because the songs are already put to tunes children know, they

will already be excited about learning them. It supports the learning of rhyming words as well as poetry components. Children can learn things such as stanzas, punctuation in poetry, and the idea that a song is poetry put to a melody. These are just some of the many different approaches one could take when teaching this piece of text. In the classroom, I would use this book to teach rhyming words to kindergarteners. I would first have previously taught a lesson on rhyming words and explained how rhyming words are two completely different words that have ending sounds that are the same. Then I would present this book and explain to my students that it is a book filled with songs and that many songs contain rhyming words. As I read each song, I would ask the students to put their finger on their nose when they hear two words that rhyme. At the end of each song, we would stop and list the rhyming words they found on the board. This would continue throughout the entire book and by that time we would have a board full of rhyming words. As an assessment, I would have the children then go back to their seats and work in pairs to pick one set of rhyming words from the board and see if they can come up with three more rhyming words to share with the class. Each group would go around and share the words they came up with. The Core Content State Standards that would support this book and the classroom activity I would do are K.RFS.2a: recognize and produce rhyming words; K.SL.6: speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly; and K.SL.1: participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Magoon, Scott. The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013. Print.

The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot is a funny story that plays off of a tale everyone knows: The Boy Who Cried Wolf. This story is told from Bigfoots point of view and he is describing how he and the character Ben first met. The book explains that Ben likes to tell stories about this imaginary creature named Bigfoot. He would exaggerate detail and use many props to try to prove to people that his allegations were factual. The people from the town eventually figured out that Ben was lying. Then one day, the real Bigfoot actually appeared and when Ben tried to tell everyone, no one believed him. He finally learned the importance of telling the truth and the book ends by him setting out to prove, for real this time, that Bigfoot did exist. This familiar tale can be used to teach important literary development. It can be used to compare and contrast the original story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. If the original story was discussed or read first, students can learn how to compare what is similar and contrast what is different. It can also be used to explain points of view. This story is told from Bigfoots point of view; but how would it change if it was told from Bens perspective? These are two very important tools children need and can start off simple and can be used with much bigger and more complex ideas. I think third graders would love to use this book in the classroom when used for comparing and contrasting. I would first sit down with my students and recap on the original story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Once everyone knew the story similarly, I would then introduce this story. I would tell the students that while I was reading, if they hear a fact that was similar to the original story, snap once. If they hear a fact that is different from the original story, they should clap once. This will get the students thinking and listening throughout the entire book to figure out what is similar and what is different between the two stories. Once finished, I would have the students get into groups of four and have each group make a list about what was

similar between the two books and what was different. Then, they will pick one of the scenes that are different and act it out. This will be done by the groups of four splitting into two pairs, with one pair acting out the scene how The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot portrayed it and the other pair acting out the same scene and how The Boy Who Cried Wolf did it. Because this lesson is highly based on comparing and contrasting, the standard that would best apply would be 3.RL.6: compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic. Also, this lesson can relate to 3.SL.2: determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Meng, Cece. Bedtime is Canceled. New York: Clarion Books, 2012. Print. This story is about a brother and sister who write a letter to try and convince their parents that bedtime was cancelled, but they didnt believe it. So the children threw the letter away and reluctantly got into bed. Little did they know that the letter got carried by a gust of wind, out of their room, and landed on the desk of a news reporter. The next day it was printed in the paper that bedtime was cancelled! The kids stayed up all night and the parents werent able to get any sleep, so the next day, all the grown up were exhausted. The brother and sister knew this had to end so they wrote another letter to the news reporter saying that bedtime was no longer cancelled and everything thankfully went back to normal. A teacher could use this book to help teach children how in literacy, everything in the story has a purpose. There is a sequence of events and if one thing does not happen, the following thing will also not be able to happen. If one thing is changed, it could change the entire story. For example, if the little girl had not thrown the letter away, it never would have blown

across town and landed on the reporters desk. Or what would have happened if the little girl could not find the reporter to tell him to print a story that bedtime was no longer cancelled? Every event is crucial n how the next scene of the story will play out. In class, I would use this book to teach my third graders how important each event is and if one thing changes, everything else will change. I would start by introducing the title of the book to the students and asking them how their life would change if bedtime was cancelled. They would turn and talk to a partner and be responsible for possibly sharing what their partner said. Then I would begin reading the book and at certain point would stop and ask how the book would be different if just one thing that was mentioned had changed. The students would discuss this with their turn and talk partners. Finally, at the end of the book, the students would be asked to go back to their seats and write an alternate ending for the book. If the little girl never got to tell the reporter that bedtime was no longer cancelled, what would happen to both the children and the parents? This lesson uses ideas about sequencing and how parts of a story build on each other. This would refer to the standard 3.W.3a: establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally; and 3.RL.5: refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections. Also, by writing an alternate ending, the students would be responsible for creating dialogue as well as being responsible for how the characters will respond to new situations just like in standard 3.W.3: use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

Stead, Philip C. A Sick Day for Amos McGee. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2010. Print. A Sick Day for Amos McGee is a light-hearted story about a man named Amos who works at the zoo. The animals become some of his best friends and they have daily routines that they do together. One day, Amos was sick and could not go into work. The animals missed him so much; they did not know what to do. They finally decided to go visit Amos at his house. So, they all take the bus ride and go visit Amos to make sure hes feeling okay. They spend time with him, just like they do when theyre at the zoo, and end up spending the night until Amos is ready to go back to work the next morning. This book could be used for literary development in a few ways. One way specifically is with grammar and the use of parenthesis. There are many times in this book where the author talks about one of the animals and then describes him in parenthesis. For example, the author might say He would play chess with the elephant (who thought and thought before making a move) (Stead, 6). Because parenthesis are not used as much in writing, they can get confusing at times which is why I think this book is a fun way to learn them. To teach this to second graders, I would have started by already teaching a lesson about parenthesis. Then I would show the book and tell the students every time they either see a parenthesis in the text or it sounds like there is one, put your two pointer fingers up and curved in the shape of parenthesis. At the end of the book, I would put a 5-10 sentences on the board and as a class decide where the parenthesis should be placed. The core content standard that best applies to this lesson is 2.L.2: demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Name:____________________________________________ Date:________________________________ Directions: In each box, draw the doodles Harvey drew. Underneath, write why Harvey drew what he drew.

Doodleday

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Name:________________________________ Date:__________________

Diary of a Spider Worksheet

Directions: Write a paragraph about a time where you judged someone based on their looks, their actions, what others have told you about them, or anything else before you even got to know them. Then write a second paragraph about how your feelings changed once you did get to know them. ________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________.

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Name:________________________________ Date:__________________

Diary of a Spider Worksheet

Directions: Draw a picture about a time where you judged someone based on their looks, their actions, what others have told you about them, or anything else before you even got to know them. Then draw a second picture about how your feelings changed once you did get to know them. Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Name:________________________________ Date:__________________

Diary of a Spider Worksheet

Directions: Answer the questions about a time where you judged someone based on their looks, their actions, what others have told you about them, or anything else before you even got to know them. Then answer them again about how your feelings changed once you did get to know them.

1) Where did you meet this person?

2) What grade were you in/ how old were you when you met this person?

3) What were some of the first thoughts that came into your head when you saw them?

4) What made you make these conclusions?

5) What did you do because of these opinions you had?

1) Where did you eventually get to know this person?

2) What grade were you in/ how old were you when you got to know this person?

3) What were some of the things the two of you talked about?

4) What conclusions did you come to after you got to know this person?

5) What did you do after you knew the person for who they really were?

Name:_____________________________________________ Date:_____________________________________ Directions: Based on the picture below, write about what you think will happen next

Fortunately

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