Genre: Children's literature

This book uses poetic language and talks about going to school and feeling confident about it but once the fish arrives he realizes he has no friends. As the story progresses the fish makes friends and feels happy. It invites readers to think about community and belonging. Everybody belongs at school.

Learning experience: For a learning experience I would have students write one word in the middle of their page, for this book it would be school. They would write down or discuss things they think of when the word school is brought up. While reading the book I would periodically stop and ask them to think of any other words they can think of revolving around the book and the word school and have a class discussion at the end of the reading.

Genre: Humor/fiction

This book is a very simple book with little words on each page. The general idea of this book is how to treat books and how NOT to treat books. It talks about learning to read and at the end provides parents and readers with tips and tricks to help young readers.

Learning experience: For this book I would utilize "I think, I see, I wonder." As we read this book together I would have students write things down in each section pertaining to what they see, think and wonder. I would also periodically push them towards a thought of the book and have them share with their classmates.

Genre: children's literature/fiction

Little Frog and the Spring Polliwogs is about a small frog being annoyed and not wanting to share her space with the tadpoles. She finds them annoying and they take up her space. Little frog was very jealous of the tadpoles. Later, little frog seeing a human and almost leaves the tadpoles to be caught when she realizes that once upon a time she was saved from a human. So she then saves the tadpoles from being caught by a human and finally accepts the tadpoles as part of her family. This story just screams a theme of acceptance from page one.

Learning experience: I would introduce this book in the spring to make the experience more time sensitive. I would have students make predictions about how the book will end based on the cover illustration. Throughout the book we will pause and answer questions chosen by me.

Genre: Fiction/children's literature

This story follows three children and their efforts to save a beached whale. In the end, the whale did die and the children were upset but were still rewarded. The author's note details how putting the setting in the 1970s meant getting help slower and it being left to the children until help arrived, and even after that, there was not enough people and help to save the whale. Yolen's goal with this book was to show that even when you try your very hardest, sometimes it still is not enough.

Learning experience: I would use a storybox to introduce this book. I would also introduce this book closer to third and fourth grade as it does have elements of animal death in it. In my own storybox I would share it with the class prior to reading the book and in my storybox I would include a medal, a bucket, a sweater, and a toy whale. I would have the students guess as to what each of these things may represent in the book and after reading the book together we would revisit the storybox and see how their thoughts have changed on the meanings behind the items in the box represented the book. I would also have them share what they would put in their storybox for this book.