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I learned that More to the Story focuses on identity, perspective, and understanding that there is always more than one side to a situation. The activities emphasized reflection, journaling, and making connections between the story and real life. The book encourages students to think deeper about characters, themes, and events rather than just what happens on the surface.

This book connects to my future classroom because it encourages students to think critically and express their own opinions. I liked how the journal and exit ticket activities allowed students to freely share thoughts and questions without worrying about right or wrong answers. As a future teacher, I could use similar activities to help students build confidence in their thinking while also using them as informal assessments.

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I learned that Feathers focuses on themes like being different, kindness, hope, and learning to accept others. The story uses situations like bullying, deafness, faith, and the idea of being on “two sides of town” to help students understand fairness and empathy. The activities showed how the book breaks down big topics in a way that younger students, especially 2nd graders, can understand.

This book connects to my future classroom because it shows how literature can be used to talk about inclusion and emotions in a kid-friendly way. I liked how the activities allowed students to draw, talk, and use simple words instead of long writing, which is helpful for English learners and early writers. As a future teacher, I could use similar visual and discussion-based activities to help students talk about kindness, differences, and making others feel welcome.

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Book: Towers Falling
This book explores the impact of the September 11th attacks on a family and highlights themes of loss, resilience, and heroism. The paper crane activity provides students with a reflective way to process loss and healing, while the letter-writing activity to everyday heroes helps students develop empathy and appreciation for those who serve our communities. Both activities offer meaningful connections to the text and real-life experiences.

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Book: Not All Heroes
I learned that Not All Heroes focuses on redefining what it means to be a hero. The book emphasizes that heroism is not always about big or dramatic actions, but often comes from everyday kindness, bravery, and helping others within a community. The main character, Zinnia, grows throughout the story by facing challenges and showing that small actions can have a meaningful impact.

This book connects strongly to how I want to approach social-emotional learning in my future classroom. I liked how the activities helped students reflect on their own lives and recognize everyday heroes, which supports building empathy and self-awareness. As a future teacher, I could use similar journaling or character-mapping activities to help students make personal connections to literature while reinforcing positive behaviors and community values.

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Book: Military Kids Speak
This book and its activities help students understand the experiences of children from military families through hands-on learning and critical thinking. The Identity Shield activity encourages students to think about personality and identity, while the build-a-soldier activity reinforces that everyone is different and those differences should be accepted and valued. All of the activities strongly support the story and classroom learning.

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Book: Fish in a Tree
This book focuses on inclusion, learning differences, and self-acceptance, and the activities encourage students to think creatively while developing empathy for the main character’s struggles and strengths. The first activity promotes thinking outside the box, and the reflection activity helps students make personal connections to the book’s themes. All of the activities support an inclusive classroom environment where all students feel valued.

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Book: Esperanza Rising
Esperanza Rising introduces students to themes of culture, resilience, and change, and the activities help students engage deeply with the text. The character feelings chart allows students to track emotions throughout the story, while the cultural collage activity can be adapted to support a culturally responsive teaching (CRT) mindset. These strategies are thoughtful, engaging, and ones I would use in my own classroom.

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Book: Blended
This book supports students in reflecting on identity while exploring themes of race, culture, and belonging, as Isabella navigates life as a biracial child living between two homes and cultures. This story strongly connects with me as a biracial person, as it reflects the challenge of figuring out where you fit culturally. The book provides meaningful representation and encourages empathy and understanding of diverse identities.

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Book: Esperanza Rising

Esperanza grows from a sheltered person to how she gains independence. I think you had great activities that all seem really engaging. One activity you did that I would like to use at some point is the cultural objects collage. I think its a great way to understand the cultural themes of the story. I also think it could be used outside of the book as a way to let students show all of their individual cultures. They could present their collages and it would help students learn more about all the different cultures represented in their classroom.

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Book: The Complete Story of Sadako Sasaki
This book tells the story of a young girl living in Hiroshima who must cope with the long-term effects of the atomic bomb, with Sadako’s paper cranes becoming a lasting symbol of hope and peace. The activities connected to the story help students understand historical events through cause-and-effect learning while also building empathy and historical awareness. The timeline activity stood out to me because it encourages critical thinking and meaningful reflection, making it a strategy I would use in my own classroom.

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Book: Military Kids Speak

The book shows how military kids have multiple layers to their personality. I really like the activities you came up with for the book. In particular I really like the identity shield activity. I think it gives students a great way to express themselves and you could even have them share so that they learn a bit more about who everyone is as a person. I also like that the students are able to decorate them as this also gives them a fun way to express themselves.

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Book: The complete story of Sadako Sasaki

This book is about a young girl living in Hiroshima and dealing with the aftermath of the atomic bomb being dropped there. She creates paper cranes that inspire generations. I like your timeline activity as it hits on so many different things. The cause and effect part is a great way to showcase the events and using it to help students understand empathy and historical awareness adds a lot to it. This style of timeline is something I would want to use in the classroom.

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Book: Blended

I learned that this book helps students reflect on who they are and helps them understand race and identity. In the book Isabella is struggling with her identity as biracial and navigating her two homes and cultures. This really connects with me as a biracial person and struggling to figure out where exactly we fit in culturally.

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Book: Esperanza Rising

Your first activity prepares students to be engaged and to consider what the book may be about. Following a character's feelings chart allows students to refer to it throughout the text, which I found to be great. Diving into the cultural collage is valuable because not only can you do this project with this book, but I also feel that you can adapt it to more effectively tap into a CRT mindset within the classroom. All in all, I found all the activities were great and something I would use within my classroom.

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Book- Fish in a Tree

I found your first activity unique; it encouraged students to think outside the box and to tap into an empathetic mindset. Another activity that stood out to me is the reflection activity. I found this activity to be another effective way to pinpoint personal connections to the book's theme and to her struggles or strengths. All activities you proposed are excellent and would be ones I would use in my classroom if we read this book as a class. Way to really create the expectation within the classroom that all are welcome, no matter their abilities.

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Book: Military Kids Speak

Summary: The activities were well-centered around the story "Military Kids Speak." They created a student understanding of how children of military members live and gain an understanding of how they can be supported in school. The activities were effective in hands-on learning and critical thinking. It showed students a variety of members of the service and what they did for the country.

Personal/Professional Connection: If I were to read this story to a class, I would have to say that all the activities support the story well. The one that I would utilize first in the lesson would be Identity Shield. It was a great way to get students thinking about personalities and layers. The other one I really enjoyed and would use would be building a soldier. I felt it was a hands-on activity that can help students gain a better view that everyone is different and that is okay.

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Book: Towers Falling

Summary: The book was a story about the effects a family had after the traumatic event, 9/11. Students were given 5 Activities by Kaylee that reflected the events in the story and supported the students in finding a way to make a connection with our true-life heroes. I enjoyed this review and the activities. This was a good way to teach the students about key details and what the true-life heroes go through to protect this country.

Personal/Professional Connection: In the activities, I felt that for the story, I would utilize Activity #3, the Paper Cranes. The activity was well-detailed, and I agree that it can give students a reflection on how to handle loss. The other Activity that I was interested in was Activity #4, a letter to our Everyday Heroes. This is so wonderful, and it truly can support students in gaining empathy for others and what they do for us.

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Book: Feathers

Summary: You did a great job on this presentation. I felt that the activities connected well with the age group of students and the book. Your first activity was well set up, and I liked how you read the first part of the book and then used visuals to ask students what they thought would happen next. The activity with the Silhouette is wonderful. Having them create a connection with a character and how they feel would really get the students to gain a better perspective of the characters. BY far, though, my favorite activity is the Feathers activity! It really wraps up the book and gives students of what hope means to them and others.

Personal/Professional Connection: I would definitely utilize your activities for the book. It is great how well you set up the activities to flow from start to finish. I feel it would keep students interested throughout the reading and gain a learning experience.

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Book: Fish In A Tree

Summary: You understood the book well and enjoyed it. I like how you started with an activity that got the students thinking about what they think the fish is good at and what they might be good at, creating empathy and connection. The other activity that was good to do was the sticky note brainstorming. This was an activity that I would even like to try with kids to get them to problem solve.

Personal/Professional Connection: The book sounds like one that I would like to read personally and even in a class. The activity was great, and I felt it could be utilized in the classroom easily. They can create a good get the mind to think for the students and keep them interested in the story.

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Book: Esperanza Rising

Summary: The introduction activity is very useful because you are encouraging creative thinking as well as making inferences on the book based on the images you provided the students.

Personal/Professional Connection: I like how you used a personal culture building activity and I see myself using this in my classroom because it is fun for students while it also encourages creativity as well as teaching about culture and how everyones culture is different.

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Book: Rain Reign

Summary: I like the intro activity because a lot of kids do not think about or value rules so this allows them to think about rules while also encouraging the need of rules. I also like your activities dig deeper than just surface level they teach real life lessons and things that will encourage them to use real life thinking.

Personal/ Professional Connection: I like how you are using valuable life lessons like rules, homophones, character development, emotion, strengths, challenges etc.

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Book: Feathers

Summary: The introduction activity promotes using context clues and thinking about what could happen next in the story based off of the information you already have. This activity allows students to make informative assumptions and see how they play out throughout the story.

Personal/Professional Connection: I think I could use activities like these in my classroom because they promote thoughts about things like emotions, thoughts, thinking ahead, sequence of events, as well as each persons own uniqueness.

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Book: More to the Story

Summary: Hollee's activities that go along with her book not only track students learning and understanding throughout the book reading but it also encourages and promotes the use of creativity throughout the activities.

Personal / Professional Connection: I could use this method of book reading and activities to ensure my students are not only learning and comprehending but also being creative and using their imaginations to make the lessons in the story stick in their brains better.

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Book: Front Desk. I learned that the book Front Desk focuses on the experiences of an immigrant family and the challenges they face while running a motel. The story follows Mia Tang, who helps her parents at the motel front desk, and shows themes of responsibility, perseverance, and support. I learned that the book connects real-life situations to classroom learning through creative activities. The "Suitcase of Stories" introduction activity helps students make predictions and work together to build curiosity before reading. A personal and professional connection I made to Luz's book is how meaningful it would be in my classroom, especially for students from diverse or immigrant backgrounds. The activities allow students to collaborate, think critically, and apply academic skills like reading comprehension and math to real situations.

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Book: Not All Heroes. I learned that the book Not All Heroes focuses on the idea that heroism does not always mean doing something big or famous. I learned that the story highlights bravery, kindness, and community through everyday actions. The "What makes a hero?" activity helped students connect their own ideas of heroes to the book's themes by grouping different types of heroes and identifying shared qualities. A personal and professional connection I made to Victoria's book is how meaningful it would be for teaching social-emotional learning in my future classroom. I really liked how the journal activity allows students to recognize kindness and positive actions in people around them. This book would be a great way to show students that they can be heroes too, even through small choices!

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Book: Feathers. I learned that this book focuses on themes like hope, religion, kindness, and accepting differences. Her first activity helped me understand how the story encourages students to make predictions using visual clues connected to important events like the hospital, church, and communication. A personal and professional connection I made to Jenna's book is how meaningful it would be to use Feathers in my future classroom to talk about kindness and inclusion. I especially liked how the activities suppoert ELL's and students who may struggle with reading or writing by using art, visuals, and discussion!

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Book: More to the Story. The introduction activity stood out to me because it encourages students to look closely at the book cover and title before reading. By asking students what they notice and whatthey think the title means, Hollee showed how the book invites creativity and open-ended thinking. A personal and professional connection I made to Hollee's book is how useful it would be in my future classroom to support critical thinking and student confidence!

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Book: Not All Heroes

Hey Victoria, I enjoyed your presentation. I thought that your activities were really engaging, and also, students will be able to grasp another idea and version of what a hero is in their own eyes. I would use your activities in my own class because students will be able to make real-world connections to the book and also their personal lives.

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Book: More to the Story

Hey Gianna, I thought your presentation was really great. I like how you included that this story was about a woman, I felt like your activities were very inclusive for the whole class. I also liked your story quilt for your second activity. I thought that was a really great way to show some key details in the story, and it would be really fun for students to do. I thought all your activities were super great, and they were able to show students to be personal, and students were also able to learn more about each other. I would definitely use these activities in my classroom because students will be able to share their own personal things, and then other students will be able to learn more things.

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Book: Maizy Chen's Last Chance

Hey Jennie, I really enjoyed your presentation. The activity that stood out to me the most was the paper fortune cookie activity, which sounds like it would be extremely fun and would keep students very engaged. Your activity 4 also sounds super great, so that students will be able to identify all the key details in the story. I would use these activities in my classroom, especially the road trip conclusions and the paper fortune cookie activity, because not only are they engaging for students, both those activities students will be able to use them for future assignments.

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Book: Towers Falling

Kaylee, I really enjoyed listening to your different activities and lessons you have. They are super fun and engaging. A connection I made was making a tower similar to your first activity with marshmallows and toothpicks. I would definitely use these activites for my future class because not only are they engaging, but they also tie really well with the book.

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Book: The Complete Story of Sadako Sasaki

I think your activities are great and help students better understand history and symbolism. The origami crane and timeline activities help students connect to Sadako’s life in a fun and creative way! In my classroom I would use these because they are fun and hands-on while teaching students about the books lesson.

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Book: Esperanza Rising

Valeria, I really enjoyed your activities. My favorite one was activity 2 which was characters feelings chart. I think this is a great activity for many reasons but the main one was how it can help students understand why people feel a certain way in certain situations. I think that is very helpful for children to learn.

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Book: More to the Story

From your review and activities I got to see that allowing students to share their ideas before reading can help their confidence and get them more excited about the story. I really enjoyed the having students look at the book cover because when I did this in school it really did make me more excited and it was fun to be creative beforehand.

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I learned from your book that it is okay to have different strengths even if you struggle a bit in school with certain things. I really enjoyed your first activity. I would use it in my classroom, to help students understand that learning differences do not define their intelligence and they do not have to compare to others.

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Book: Rain Reign

I connected with your fist activity. In school, I remember creating a list of rules we wanted people to follow during the school day. This created a sense of respect for everyone and once our teacher felt like we might be misbehaving she would bring the rules that we wrote back up. One thing I learned about this book was how the main character loves homophone pairs.

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Book: Feathers

I learned that this book ties in religion, hospital visits, and feeling different which isn't a common thing I feel I experienced growing up in school. I enjoyed your second activity. Students start to build on their knowledge of specific characters from the story. Allowing the students to pick a character might also help build personal connections.

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Book: More to the Story

The second activity stood out to me. Having the students write in their journal for each chapter will be a reference and helpful for an overall message of the book. It's also a good way to see how the students are interpreting the book. One thing I learned from this book is that it is an open concept meaning, students have the freedom to write down their own thoughts and questions. Sometimes, we are so focused on the right or wrong answer when we really need to focus on what the students are retaining and how creative they are.

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Book: Fish in a Tree

I learned that this book is about a student who learns how to manage dyslexia without being diagnosed. I personally made a connection to this book, because I also went through that at a young age. I enjoyed your 1st activity. Having the students share something personal will help them connect to the story and what others live with.

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Book: Esperanza Rising

I learned that this book is about , Esperanza working in the farm labor camps in California and struggling to adapt while her mother is ill. As she faces harsh working conditions, prejudice, and a strike, she learns resilience and community—choosing to help others and finding strength in her new life. I really like your first activity about predictions. I think this is a great way I could open up discussion in the classroom and then reflect back on it after the story is finished to compare students predictions to what actually happened.

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Book: Front Desk

Front Desk is about Mia Tang, a 10-year-old whose immigrant family runs a motel, and she learns about kindness, fairness, and helping others while working the front desk. Your activities were good and seemed to teach students a sense of organization. In my classroom, I’d use it to teach those themes with a short read-aloud, a book review (opinion + one reason), and a simple “classroom front desk” role-play to practice greetings, problem-solving, and basic pretend-money math.

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Book: More to the Story

From your presentation I felt that your activities were very inclusive. Although the story is about women and how they grow up, I think the lessons can be taught to anyone - male or female. I really enjoyed your activities and how they allowed for a very personal touch. These would be great to use in my classroom not only to teach lessons but to learn about one another.

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Book: Rain Regin

I think you did a great job with creating hands on activitie for your students. Not only would they keep students engaged but also teach them life lessons. I could use some of these ideas in my future classroom by connecting real life lessons with the story.

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Book: Esperanza Rising

What I learned about the book is how Esperanza was affected through her cultural. I also learned the importance of not giving up, even when times are tough. Activity number 3 is something that can be fun and allows students to be creative to incorporate the most of their culture to the assignment and connect it to the book. And activity number 4 incorporating to teach students about cause and effect the different forms of actions that happen to affect the characters. Both of these activities will be activities that I can include in my future lesson plans.

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Book: Not All Heroes

This book talks about the different types of heroism. How a small action of kindness or helpfulness can mean more to someone else. For my future classroom I enjoyed how you let students write down their hero, I can use that for when talking about community helpers.

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Book: More to the Story.

This book is about women and how they grow up to be. With the activities I learned that students will all have their own perspective. I learned that the book is about welcoming everyone and growing up. Something I liked and will include in future classroom is allowing students to bring in a family photo to talk about and also allow other students to ask questions. I also enjoyed how you welcomed everyone in the classroom by having welcoming cards, that is something that I took away to include in my future classroom.

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Book Rain Regin. I learned that the book is about setting rules, about how the character is the way she is by her surroundings, and about how she is precautious for anything.

I enjoyed seeing how you included two rules, one for the whole classroom and another for yourself, feeling like it is important to let students know your boundary. I also will include in my future classroom about what might they need in case of an emergency.