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(4) Book Blog #4:  Informational Books About Animals 

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(4) Book Blog #4:  Informational Books About Animals 

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I chose this theme for two reasons. One being that we were going over this genre in our textbook, and two being that I knew a great project that could go along with it! I remember doing this project, and it was one of my favorites because I was able to be as creative as I could be, with the help of my mom, that is! I feel like my students would enjoy this project too, especially because they had control over it. They would be able to choose the animal they read about and what exactly they could do with their diorama!

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(4) Book Blog #4-Required Book: Historical Fiction

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(4) Book Blog #4-Required Book: Historical Fiction

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The book I chose as my historical fiction book is titled "The Legend of the White Buffalo Woman" by Paul Goble. This book is about a tale from an Indian tribe. It is set in the time where Indians used to roam the country hunting for buffalo. It tells a story about a white women who was sent to help a tribe get buffalo. She had a magically pipe that would help them and bless them with many buffalo. They had a tribe meeting where everyone used the pipe and then many buffalo appeared. I think the best part of the book is at the end, where it talks about the traditional tale and even a two page diagram of the traditional pipe and what every on it means.

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For this book, I chose to use "Sergeant Reckless" by Patricia McCormick. I loved this book. It's a true story about a race horse who became a marine and fought alongside other marines in the Korean War. It shows us how she was trained and how she was loved by so many. They took care of her on the battle field by giving her candy bars to keep her stamina up and gave her their protective armor to keep her safe while moving artillery during a fight. I especially loved how they included a real picture of the horse. I really enjoyed the positioning of each text box throughout the book. The author and illustrator were able to make the words fit into the picture so well by placing it on items in each picture. This was a great book.

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(4) Theme Books: Informational books about animals (1)

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(4) Theme Books: Informational books about animals (1)

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I chose this theme because I know this could be used as a project in the classroom. When I was in fourth grade, my English teacher us to pick a book about a certain animal. They were informational books and told us everything we needed to know about our specific animal. Then we made a diorama of the animal in their habitat. That was by far one of the best assignments I remember and I remember really enjoying it. I would love to do this with my students one day. The first book I chose for this project is titled "An Elephant's Life" by Sara Antill. This book provides all the information needed to understand an elephant and their lifestyle. It talks about the different species, where they live, their life cycle, and even how they are in danger. This is a perfect example of the book that could be used in the project I would like to assign when I'm a teacher.

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(4) Theme Books: Informational books about animals (2)

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(4) Theme Books: Informational books about animals (2)

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The second book I found is about Kangaroos and its called "Kangaroos" surprisingly enough! This book is by Lynette Robbins and is filled with tons of information about these beautiful animals. This book includes a lot of fun facts about these marsupials such as how much time they take out of their to eat, which is 7-14 hours a day!! The book talks about how many Kangaroos live together at one time, the baby's and how they live in and out of the pouch, and it gives great details about their "huge hind legs". This book would also be a perfect idea of what I would like my students to read for the project.

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(4) Theme Books: Informational books about animals (3)

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(4) Theme Books: Informational books about animals (3)

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I chose this last book because I was fascinated by this animal when I was younger. I had a giant book in my bedroom and looked at it almost every day because I was so intrigued. This last book is titled "The Best Book of Sharks" by Claire Llewellyn. This book shows the reader what each part of the shark is called, gives plenty examples of different sharks and their lengths, and "homing in" which is when sharks hunt their prey. This book also talks about the bigger sharks, the ones that live on the ocean floor and even sharks that glow!! I feel that it is important to mention that this book also gives very good information on shark attacks and what to do and what not to do if this were occur. It even talks about scuba divers and the gear and technology used when they are studying sharks! I really enjoyed this book and it brought back memories I had forgotten, this book is a great example of the book that could be used in the project.

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I chose this theme because I found it so interesting that the library I was at had so many different books that included bats! I feel like these would be so fun to read during October and November. The first book is titled "Bats on Parade" by Kathi Appelt. This book also interested me because it not only rhymed, but it also showed the reader multiplication examples. Each page had a rhyme that went along with the story. But once the parade started, it started to give examples of multiplication from 1-10. Each number was multiplied by itself, showing that number of bats, the multiplication itself and it rhymed, so it would be easier for the children to remember. I really enjoyed this book and the illustrations matched the book really well and were entertaining.

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I just found it so interesting that the library I was in actually had so many books about bats! Seeing how I did a theme over Christmas, these would be great to use during October! It's a little different and something that would be fun to play around with and I feel that the students would really enjoy it too. I could use a lot of different activities and projects for this theme.

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(3) Book Blog #3- Required Book: Bluebonnet Award Winner

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(3) Book Blog #3- Required Book: Bluebonnet Award Winner

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The book I chose for this required book is titled "The Uglified Ducky" by Willy Claflin. I chose this book because it has a great meaning to it. The book is about a young moose that believes he is a duck. He laid in a nest of duck eggs and when the mother duck came back, she assumed he was apart of the hatchlings. She gave him the title of the "uglified ducky" and he believed it. She tried to teach the other ducklings how to be a proper duck and when he couldn't do those things, it made the moose feel bad. He was trying his best, but he couldn't do what the other ducklings could do, because he was not one. Towards the end of the book, he stumbled upon a gown moose, who told the young moose who he was and why he couldn't do what the ducklings could do. My favorite part of the book is on the very last page. It is a message for all the young readers. It talks about how, if the child feels lost or doesn't feel like they fit it, that its okay. They just haven't found out what they really are yet. I found that to be a beautiful message.

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(3) Required Book: Pura Belpre Award Winner

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(3) Required Book: Pura Belpre Award Winner

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The book I chose for this section is called "Chato's Kitchen" by Gary Soto. I found this book to be very entertaining and the illustrations were very detailed and fit the story well. It helped explain the story. But my favorite part of this book is the fact the characters actually speaks in Spanish. They speak in English, but the include a lot of Spanish sayings and certain words are I Spanish. I love that because it will reach out to children who are English Language Learners or Bilingual speakers. It will allow them to feel more connected and have a book they can understand and feel proud of! I truly loved this book.

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The final book I chose for this theme is called "Bats at the Library" by Brian Lies. I found this story to be very cute. The bats found an open window to their favorite place, the library! The book goes on to tell us the different things the bats will do while in the library. Some will read, some will talk, and some even swim in the water fountain! It even goes into depth on some of the stories the bats read, by giving us pictures of the stories, as if the bats are actually in it! This book is great for students because it shows that even bats can love to read. It shows all of the adventure and imitation that comes with reading. This book was by far one of my favorite books I've read so far.

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The second book I chose for this theme is called "The Bat In The Book" by Annie Cannon. This book is about a family who finds a young bat and tries to take care of it and nurse it back to health. They give it warm milk and a warm place to sleep. Well, in the middle of the night, the children hear a noise that causes them to go downstairs where the bat is. Before they knew it, the young bat flies away with a bigger bat. At the end of the book, it says that the bats still come after supper. But they can always tell which one is the bat they took care of because it dips its wings. I enjoyed this book because I felt it was very heartfelt and heartwarming. I feel it's a good book for children to read.

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The next themed book I chose is called "Danny and the Dinosaur, A Very Dino Christmas" by Syd Hoff. I also enjoyed this book, it gave a little twist to Christmas traditions. A young boy, Danny, and his friend the dinosaur did their best to spread the Christmas spirit. The dinosaur had never experienced Christmas before, so Danny decided to help him with that by decorating the museum with all kinds of decorations! I feel like this book would be important for children because it shows them Christmas spirit can be spread anywhere, even in a museum!

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Growing up, Christmas was always my favorite holiday. I was able to spend more time with my dad and that side of my family, which I always enjoyed doing. So, I chose this theme because it brought me a bit of joy while reading each one. This first book I chose is titles "It's Christmas" by Tracey Corderoy. This book was a great read with great illustrations. It reminded me of my Christmas, being able to spend time with family and participate in all of the Christmas traditions! And what's a Christmas holiday without something going wrong.. someone getting the wrong present because name tags were misplaced, or even a big mess created by the younger kids. This book had it all! But I believe it shows how a true family is. Yes, things go wrong, but they figure out how to fix it and go on with the happy holiday!

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I chose "Beauty and the Beast" by Jan Brett as my traditional tale because this was one of my favorite stories growing up! I fell in love with the movie and I felt that this book would be perfect for this assignment. After reading the book, I realized the key parts of the story were the same, but there were a lot of differences between this book and the story I knew when I was younger. This book differed in a few different ways, the biggest difference, to me, is that beauty was able to leave the palace for weeks to see her family and completely forgot about the beast because she was busy living her life. In the middle of the night, she realized she wanted to be back in the palace she used the magic ring, given to her by the beast, to get back home to her love. They were married the next day and lived happily ever after. My favorite part of the book were the illustrations. They were so detailed and showed every expression the characters made very clearly. It was very well done.

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(2) Book Blog #2- Required Book: Children's Book by an African American Author

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(2) Book Blog #2- Required Book: Children's Book by an African American Author

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I chose "Read And Rise" authored by Sandra L. Pinkney  because throughout the book, it shows children with various members of their family. Each picture depicts the child either reading or talking to a family member about certain job opportunities. I feel like this is important for children to see because knowing there are many different profession, especially at a younger age, gives them an advantage. It gives the children multiple opportunities and sparks their mind. This book also mentions the saying "Read And Rise" a few times in the book. This reminds the children that reading can be enjoyable anytime during the day. What I found most interesting about this book, was the fact that it included an quote about reading from Maya Angelou. That was my favorite part of the book!

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(2) Book Blog #2: Christmas Themed Books

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(2) Book Blog #2: Christmas Themed Books

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I chose to do Christmas as my theme for this week because I always really enjoyed that holiday when I was younger. Not because of the gifts, but because I got to spend time with family I hadn't seen in a long time. My mom and dad or divorced, so most of the time, I would have traveled on Christmas Day in order to see both parents on that special day. Which meant I got to see all of my family, from both sides, on that day as well. I just really loved being able to do that and share my stories from what happened while I was with the other parent. I feel that by choosing this theme for my students to read, they will be able to share their experiences with me! Every family is different, so it would be amazing to hear what my students would have to say!

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The last book I chose to fit in this Christmas theme is titled "A Christmas Goodnight" by Nola Buck. I chose this book because it is centered around the nativity scene and what I grew up knowing as the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. This book depicts all of the animals that were there during this occasion, along with the 3 wise men and the other people involved, including Joseph. Throughout the story, the feels like the reader is saying goodnight to all of these characters because that's what is written. Each sentence starts with Goodnight, and followed with the character. This book also includes a lot of rhyming, which made it even more enjoyable, especially for young children. The best part for me were the illustrations! They were simple, yet still beautiful. I feel this is a good story to read on Christmas Eve.

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(1)Required Book: A Book I Loved As a Child

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(1)Required Book: A Book I Loved As a Child

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As a child, Dr. Seuss was a household name. Most of the books that were read to me when I was younger, were made by this amazing author. He was always able to capture my attention weather it be by the illustrations, the funny rhyme's, or the amazing adventures it took me on. The book titled Fox in Socks is one of those that had all three! This book was originally published in 1965 and is about a fox is wearing socks and tries to get Mr. Knox do to all sorts of crazy things. Things such as stacking bricks and blocks on clocks or by sewing socks and Joe Crow's Clothes. This book was a favorite of mine because it had a bunch of silly words in it to make a random rhyme. It was also hilarious to watch my mother try to read the book to me without messing up!

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(1)Required Book: Caldecott Award Winner

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(1)Required Book: Caldecott Award Winner

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I found this book in my hometown library and the title of the book is what popped out at me. It's titled Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

and I feel like most young readers would find that title funny because it is not a normal thing a pigeon does. So I picked it up and found that although the book is simple, it also speaks to the reader. The bus driver has to leave his bus unattended for a few minutes so he leaves the reader in charge of making sure the pigeon does not drive that bus! Because of that, I feel the readers would be willing to continue reading in order to keep the pigeon from driving the bus!

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(1)Book Blog #1: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment

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(1)Book Blog #1: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment

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A lot of children's books that I have read over the years have had to deal with some type of moral responsibility from the main characters and a type of punishment that would follow. Although that sounds harsh, a lot of really great, happy books have this inner lying theme. In this blog, I will share 3 books that I believe have this theme. Before I show you those three books, I would like to show you one of my favorite childhood books and a Caldecott award winning book.

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(1)Theme Books: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment (2)

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(1)Theme Books: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment (2)

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Naughty Little Monkeys is a cute story of 26 little monkeys and all the mess they make while their parents are out. Throughout the story, the monkeys do a bunch of activities that are not allowed. They do things like "Eating chocolate cake" and her moral responsibility to herself would be to stop because she would get a "tummy ache" if she ate anymore. Another little monkey put on mom's earrings, even though "she had been told before not to touch her things". Even a monkey wearing Daddy's ties. The books states "he should really know by now that such a thing's not wise", meaning the monkey is not being morally responsible. None of the little monkeys were being very morally responsible, and they were to face a punishment when their parents got home to see the mess they had made.

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(1)Theme Books: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment (3)

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(1)Theme Books: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment (3)

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Finally, the last book I found that fits this these is titled  I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More!, and is about a toddler aged boy who loves to paint! In the beginning, the mother is not pleased with how the boy had painted the entire inside of the house, so she "hollered 'Ya Ain't A-Gonna Paint No More!' ", the proceeds to put the paints away. The little boy then decided to paint his head, but then said "Now I ain't gonna paint no more". Then he continues to his neck, chest, and arm until his entire body is painted and continually stating that "I ain't gonna paint not more". He is faced with moral responsibility because he know what he is doing is wrong, as we can see by what he says throughout the book. Finally, he is faced with the punishment of not only having to take a bath because his mother was so angry, but was also out of paint. His biggest punishment was that he ran out of paint, so he could no longer do what he enjoyed doing.

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(1)Theme Books: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment (1)

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(1)Theme Books: Characters Facing Moral Responsibility and Punishment (1)

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The Cat In The Hat was also one of my favorite books growing up. This book is about two children who are home alone for the day with their goldfish. They wished so deeply they could do something fun that day, but it was rainy and cold outside, so they were stuck inside. Out of the blue, a giant cat wearing a hat comes into their house promising all sorts of fun and games, not mentioning the part where they destroy the house! The goldfish in this story is the one who, from the very beginning, was talking about the moral reasoning of not making a mess in the house because their mother was not home. That they were not aloud to do such things in the house, but the children did not listen. They continued to pay and make a mess, until their moral responsibilities started to kick in, when they thought it was too late. They were worried about the punishment that their adventures would bring! They quickly started to try and clean things up before mom could get home. They were able to get everything right, with the help of the cat. But when mom got home, they were asked what they did today and did not know how to respond because they were afraid the punishment that could follow.