Informational Book Reflection

Lauber, P. (1986). Volcano: The eruption and healing of Mount St. Helens. New York: Bradbury Press.

This is the story of Mount St. Helens and how she awoke in 1980. The book is a beautiful photo essay of this area of the Cascade Mountain Range.

The author uses a chronological sequence structure: the volcano wakes, it erupts, she describes damage and survivors, and then tells how nature returned. The readers learn what caused the eruption and about the effects on the surrounding area. Mount St. Helens taught scientists much about volcanoes and how nature rallies after a disaster. The author’s tone is conversational, with just the right amount of vocabulary. She uses a cause and effect structure through much of the story.

The photography is detailed and photos of the snow-topped mountains are simply breathtaking. I’d never considered the domino effect of a volcanic eruption. The eruption started an avalanche that caused a mudflow into a river. The raging river churned through a valley and took out bridges, homes, and even hurled large boulders. This blocked shipping channels in connecting rivers miles away.

This is a Newberry Honor Book, and it’s easy to see why. I’m a fiction-lover and couldn’t put this book down because the author was able to convey suspense and a sense of hope.

Children and adults would enjoy the book in a variety of ways. It would be a good read-aloud for a younger elementary classroom. It would make a great resource for a project in an older elementary classroom. The cover photograph is appealing: a snow-capped Mount St. Helens as it begins to leak steam and ash.

Reading Log

              I.      Non-fiction/Informational (1 chapter book or photo essay book reflection required on blog)

1)      Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber

            II.      Poetry (1 chapter or picture book reflection required on blog)

1)      Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

2)      Smelly Locker: Silly Dilly School Songs by Alan Katz

3)      What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

4)      Science Verse by Jon Scieszka

          III.      Modern Fantasy (1 chapter book reflection required on blog)    

1)      Found by Margaret P. Haddix

2)      Blackwood by Gwenda Bond

3)      Black Mirror by Nancy Werlin

4)      Secrets of Droon: The Genie King by Tony Abbott

5)      The Wee Free Men by Terry Prachett

6)      Pig Might Fly by Dick King-Smith

7)      Snake and Lizard by Joy Cowley

8)      Holes by Louis Sachar

          IV.      Historical Fiction (1 reflection required on blog –can be a picture book) 

1)      The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein

2)      SOS Titanic by Eve Bunting

            V.      Traditional (1 reflection required on blog – one can be a picture book)   

1)      Jack Tales by Richard Chase

2)      The Grandfather Tales by Richard Chase

3)      Pancakes for Supper by Mark Teague

4)      Cactus Soup by Eric A. Kimmel

5)      Dona Flor by Pat Mora

          VI.      Realistic Fiction (1 chapter book reflection required on blog)

1)      Ratfink by Marcia Thornton Jones

2)      An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

3)      Rules by Cynthia Lord

4)      Million Dollar Putt by Dan Gutman

        VII.      Picture Books (2 reflections required on blog during the first two weeks of class. There should be a total here of at least six.)

1)      Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young. 

2)      –Water in the Park by Emily Jenkins

3)      -The Bake Shop Ghost by Jacquelin K. Ogburn

4)      –Tea for Ten by Lena Anderson

5)      –The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

6)      –The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg

7)      –The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Katherine Lasky

Field Experience Reflection

All of my field experience activities took about six hours. Mainly, I changed my perspective of using trade books in a math classroom. This experience helped me improve KTS 1.2: Connects content to life experiences of student. Trying new things in the classroom is risky, but you never know when you’ll strike gold!

I enjoyed talking to my friend about her school library. She is so excited and has plans to improve many things about the school media center. Particularly, she enjoys using technology like Glogster, Voki, and Animoto. She teaches students to "teach" others through Web 2.0 Tools.

She has a lot of freedom to choose books and materials for the library. Her only limitation is budget. Time is a big factor for her, too. There are so many little jobs to be done and she seeks parent volunteers to re-shelf books, print bar codes/spine labels and coding stickers, pull books for teachers, help with Book Fair, and do book repair. She would also love more help with checking-out classes while she’s teaching. The school does 4-day rotations, so with 800 students if she didn't allow the classes to come during other times, each child would only get to check out 4 times between August and December!  This forces me to consider doing more for the librarian at my own children’s’ school.

On a lark, I happened upon a great young adult novel that contains math. It is difficult for math teachers to include reading and writing in the curriculum. My high school does have a writing policy and every staff member is trained on the policy before school starts. Basically, content areas must include at least one of the following each year:

a.       Extended response questions for assessment

b.      Instruction of content vocabulary

c.       In class reading time

d.      Journaling about the content

Math is exempt from this, but other content area must have students produce a publication piece to add to a portfolio.

At this training, we evaluated our school’s proficiency in reading and writing as a whole. As a math teacher, I struggled with the rating because we don’t often see a student’s writing. The Language Arts teachers at my school are in charge of the writing committee and although it was a tough thing to ask all teachers to do, I see the importance. Of all the skills people need coming out of school, good writing skills create good job candidates. I worry that with the shorthand seen in texting, students don’t know how to use proper grammar.

That brings me back to my lesson plan. John Green is a very popular young adult author. In An Abundance of Katherines, the protagonist, Colin, has just been dumped for the 19^th time by yet another woman named Katherine. Colin is a genius, but wallowing in self-pity. He channels his frustrations into developing The Theory of Underlying Katherine Predictability. He graphically models the course of his romantic relationships so he can prove or disprove if he will ever get to keep the girl.

The math department forms a Planned Learning Cooperative (PLC) for each subject, and using this novel fits into our unit on functions and graphing. My Algebra 1 is a general class, so most of the students are there because they haven’t been successful with math. I’m hopeful that a different approach, using this novel, will “catch” a student who would have otherwise slept through the notes.

I talked this over with my high school librarian and she showed me other math books and some online resources that are linked to the new CIITS database. I’m fortunate that our school media specialist wants to help teachers try new things, especially new technology, in our classes. She turned me onto a website that has great math video clips. That might be a nice change of pace over listening to me!

Since I have children of my own, I spend a lot of time monitoring their reading skills. I believe in letting them choose, but I read aloud anything I want them to try. My son loves the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger. We’ve spent several afternoons folding origami yodas, jawas, and wookies. For fun, we went to a book signing of Jabba the Puppett: An Origami Yoda Book, the author’s latest. I was just as excited as my son to meet a real, live author. He drew a yoda picture inside my son’s book and signed it. Tom Angleberger enjoyed talking to the kids and the bookstore had origami stations everywhere. They also had a full cast of characters available for photo ops: Darth Vader, Storm Troopers, Captain Rex, and the Jawas. Several months ago, my son had stopped reading the Fortune Wookie book because it wasn’t as exciting as the others in the series. Do you know that my son went home that day, picked up that book and began to read it?

My sons’school helps parents understand the curriculum used in their child’s classroom by holding grade-level meetings. They introduced a new reading program in the lower grades that will gradually phase into upper grades. It combines many methods that have been used in the past such as phonics, shared reading, reading groups, reading aloud, and silent reading. The biggest difference is that sight words are taught for mastery, meaning the students must spell them from memory via written test. This has been frustrating for my son who has poor fine motor skills, but the teacher has allowed him to spell the words aloud in spelling-bee fashion. The other big difference is a listening component, where the teacher says sounds aloud and the students write the letter. They wind up spelling short words in the same sound family such as “bat-cat-hat” or “chug-bug-hug”. I can only hope that my reluctant reader will catch on and get a chance to read his books on rocks and reptiles.

Book Talk: Historical fiction

Bunting, E. (1996). SOS Titanic. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic and that it ended badly. Have you ever wondered how only 705 people managed to survive?

When fifteen-year-old Barry O’Neill reluctantly sets sail from Queenstown, he’s leaving the only home he’s ever known in Ireland.  The fighting Flynn brothers have been forced to leave too, and they blame the O’Neills. Barry doesn’t want any trouble from the Flynns and his heart goes out to Pegeen, the oldest sister who must accompany her brothers. Barry is a first class passenger and thankful the fighting Flynns will be far away, below decks in steerage where they can’t make good on their threats to throw Barry overboard.

Shortly after the voyage begins, Barry develops a superstitious unease. Part of the crew deserted before sailing, and a fellow passenger is reading a novel about a ship named Titan that hit an iceberg and sank. The Captain takes Barry on a tour to ease his fears, but Barry counts the lifeboats and realizes only half the passengers could fit. He also learns the crew wasn’t supplied with enough binoculars, so the Captain placed the sharp-eyed men in the crow’s nest and saved binoculars for the bridge.  

Then Barry learns that Pegeen and her cabin-mate have no room to store lifejackets. He tries to send her a note of warning. Besides, he can’t stop thinking about her. The Flynns jump him but he doesn’t heed their warning to stay away from Pegeen. She is by his side when they hear the gentle ripping sound along the side of the boat, just before the Titanic rolls to a stop.

As impatience turns to panic among passengers, Barry and Pegeen are separated. When the upper decks begin to tilt, Barry races to save Pegeen, her brothers, and himself. Who will escape this tragedy alive?

When the Titantic finally sent out her distress signal, it was SOS, the first time in history SOS was used. I hope you’ll enjoy the suspense in SOS Titanic, by Eve Bunting.

Link to the sound file  

Realistic Fiction Book Talk

Green, J. (2006). An abundance of Katherines. New York, NY: Dutton Books.

We’ve all been dumped. But have you ever coped with heartbreak by getting mathematical? This is what Colin Singleton does after being dumped for the nineteenth time by yet another woman named Katherine. Thus, this fabulous, laugh-out-loud book is titled, An Abundance of Katherines.

Colin thinks of himself as a washed-up child prodigy who is no longer anyone’s boyfriend or anyone’s genius. His Judge Judy-loving best friend, Hassan, insists on a road trip to pull him out of his funk and the Chicago natives wind up in Gutshot, Tennessee.

They meet Hollis and her daughter Lindsay, and are offered summer jobs at Hollis’ textile factory. They stay and Colin’s spirits are lifted by a Eureka moment. What if he could mathematically model the course of his romantic relationships and predict the precise time when he would be dumped? Could he actually win the girl?

Colin can anagram anything. He can turn “good at anagramming” into “dragon maggot mania”. Yet, Lindsay insists he can’t tell a good story about his romantic history.  

Colin replies, “My Theorem will tell the story. Each graph with a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

“There’s no romance in geometry,” Lindsey answers.

“Just you wait.”

In Colin’s quest for Underlying Katherine Predictability, he discovers the difference between wanting to matter and doing something that matters. In the appendix of the book, a mathematician derives the equation for Colin’s theorem, then graphs it. You will have another tool with which to analyze your relationships.

John Green has written many books you will love. His humorous writing makes even the most serious issues seem hopeful and even hilarious.

Realistic Fiction Reflection: An Abundance of Katherines

Green, J. (2006). An abundance of Katherines. New York, NY: Dutton Books.

Colin is a former child prodigy facing life after being dumped for the nineteenth time, by yet another woman named Katherine. His friend, Hassan, suggests a road trip to pull him out of his funk and the two Chicago natives wind up in Gutshot, Tennnessee. They meet Lindsey and her mother Hollis, who offers them summer jobs at the tampon string factory she owns. As Colin attempts to get over Katherine XIX, he struggles to create a mathematical theorem to predict and graphically model the course of his romantic relationships with the Katherines. In the course of getting over himself and his status as dumpee, he must figure out what to do with his life and figure out how to get and keep the girl.

Colin experiences emotional realism due to his heartbreak. He is a believable, likeable character, and his funny, happy-go-lucky friend Hassan contrasts wonderfully with Colin’s anguish. Colin experiences person-against-self conflict because he believes he will never amount to anything. And almost everyone has been dumped, so it’s easy to sympathize with Colin even when he is acting pathetic. What will also resonate with teens is the dilemma of popularity versus doing something that matters. Which is more important? The humor and yes, the profanity, will appeal to teens.

I chose this novel because I’d heard John Green was a very popular Young Adult author who connects with his fans via social media. I loved this novel, and at times laughed so much my 9-year old became curious. Some of the language I could not share with him! Some of the humorous references to Kentucky and Tennessee were a bit irreverent, but that’s my perspective from being from the state.

What really caught my interest was the appendix. John Green had a mathematician friend develop “The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability”.  He explains the basics on how to plot ordered pairs, explains the Cartesian coordinate system, and describes a function. Having students read the appendix would be a fun, creative lead-in to a unit on graphing equations in Algebra. I plan on book talking this book and using the appendix as an introduction to my graphing unit in Algebra 1 this year. 

Mathematics Standard Grade 8 F: Define, Evaluate, Compare functions. Use functions to model relationships between quantities.

SLMS Interview

I interviewed a librarian at an elementary school in Scott County.

She started out in the classroom teaching third grade and received her library science degree as she was teaching. She was in a library position at another elementary last year. What she loves best about being a librarian is engaging students as readers and sparking their interest.  She loves doing book-related, technology projects with them such as Glogster, Voki, and Animoto. She enjoys when students analyze literature and process the themes, characters, etc. to "teach" others through Web 2.0 Tools.

She has complete control over choosing a variety of literature, including multicultural and translated works. Her only limitation is budget! Spanish is the most common translated language and finding other languages is tricky, although the problem is from the publishers end, not a limitation in her freedom.

The library helps teachers the most by supporting their curriculum.  If they're teaching a unit, she will pull not only print materials, but find AV and online resources for them.

·

I asked her if she helped students who came to the library for independent research.  That doesn’t happen often on the elementary level because they are always coming as their scheduled "AHPL" class (arts & humanities/practical living), or "specials" time.  However, they definitely do research as a class in the library.  She starts with the Big 6 model and the I-safe lessons about copyright and plagiarism. She sometimes gives mini lessons on note-taking. There is a Symbaloo page for students with the most helpful websites/links for them to browse to find what they need.  As far as print materials, she’ll pull biographies or career books depending on the research project.

Her school does have an online policies and procedures manual for the library, and she adopted much of it from her other school. Policies and procedures are really for the times when she is challenged and needs a paper trail for support. It’s great to have in the beginning, to guide the program and for parent’s knowledge, but she doesn’t reference it often, once it has been set.  The Live binder IS her policies and procedures, and the school blog is for the library, but not public ready. She shared two links for her library:

http://www.livebinders.com/edit/index/756631

http://amelibrary.weebly.com

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When a parent/teacher/administrator challenges a book, she has them fill out a Book Challenge form on her Livebinder, under censorship.

More than anything, she needs volunteers, preferably parents, to help with so many things. She doesn’t think she could list all the jobs she needs help with!

Here is her hit list:

Re-shelving,

Printing bar codes/spine labels, and coding stickers to prepare for the shelf
Pulling books for teachers; curricular units, requests, etc.

Book Fair
Covering paperbacks with contact paper
Book Repair

She would also love more help with checking-out classes while she’s teaching. The school does 4-day rotations, so with 800 students if she didn't allow the classes to come during other times, each child would only get to check out 4 times between August and December!  She allows teachers come in for 15 minutes during a convenient time for them each week to allow those that need to renew/checkout to do so, and these are the times she needs help.

Poetry Reflection:Science Verse

Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (2004). Science verse. New York: Viking.

The poems in this book make science fun and funny. John Scieszka is known for his sense of humor and this is his second poetry book. He’s also written one about math, entitled Math Curse.

Some of the topics covered are evolution, precipitation, dinosaurs, astronomy, the food chain, the Scientific Method, and more.

The rhythm varies and the style is usually lyrical, but there is always rhyme. Several are funny limericks. “The Senseless Lab of Paul Revere” is more narrative, a parody of Paul Revere that describes the smells and sights in a teacher’s laboratory.

The author even confronts the fact that dinosaurs are taught constantly, to the point kids get sick of it. The poem is “Dine-Sore”, and here is a stanza:

Pterodactyl, Stegosaurus,

On and on the same old chorus,

Elementary stuff to bore us.

“No more,” we beg. She ignores.

The illustrations are brightly painted, somewhat wacky, and fit the humorous theme. The human characters are cartoonish and stay consistent throughout the book. However, the rest of the pictures are pieced together in a collage of textured paper, drawings, and scientific symbols. The entire periodic table of the elements is pasted onto the flyleaf in the back of the book.

This book is appropriate for ages 7 and up, but the humor appeals to all ages. You could use the poems with middle and high to introduce a unit or activity in math or science. In fact, there are so many things you could do with this book! One big question sparked by Science Verse could be: how has our scientific knowledge changed over the past decade?

Traditional Tale Reflection: Pancakes for Supper

Isaacs, A., Teague, M., & Bannerman, H. (2006). Pancakes for supper!. New York: Scholastic Press.

Toby bounces right out of the back of a covered wagon on the way to Whisker Creek and she lands in a soft pile of snow. Luckily, she’s wearing a new set of pretty warm clothes, but her parents are long-gone and a hungry wolf with terrible green eyes paces around her. She fends off the wolf and five more hungry forest dwellers by trading her beautiful new wardrobe for her life. Each animal claims to be the grandest beast in the forest, until they all meet. The fighting of the angry animals creates a delicious opportunity, and when Toby is reunited with her parents, they make campfire pancakes for supper.

This is definitely a beast tale, told in cumulative fashion. Six different animals confront Toby, all wanting to eat her for supper, and she outwits them in the same way. The animals are clearly on the bad side of being two-dimensional characters, where Toby and her parents are the good guys. This story begs being told aloud. The drama of the scary animals and the number of pancakes Toby eats could be exaggerated with voices and actions. Some of the dialogue is repetitive. Toby always says, “…and I will make you the grandest animal in the forest.” The animal always claims, “Now I’m the grandest beast, West or East!”

Similar traditional tales are told in many cultures. An outdated and politically incorrect version is Little Black Sambo. Another tale is Trouble with Trolls, where the author Jan Brett uses the idea of giving away clothes to animals.

Preschool and early elementary children will enjoy the plot and the boldly-colored paint style of the illustrations. The line of each drawing is distinct and the large shape of the characters balances well with the forest background. The animals really stand out in Toby’s bright clothing.

Curriculum connection: Cooking is a great intersection between practical living and math. A class could scale up a pancake recipe for the class, and practice applying fractions. In fact, there is a recipe for Toby’s Animal Pancakes on the back of the dust jacket.

Math Standard: 6.NS.1 Interpret and compute quotients of fractions, and solve word problems involving division of fractions by fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.

Questions to discuss with students: What would you do if you came across a wild animal in the woods? Or became lost in the woods?

Modern Fantasy Reflection: Blackwood

Bond, G. (2012). Blackwood. Nottingham, UK: Strange Chemistry. 

 

Miranda Blackwood has never belonged but she’s never lived anywhere else but on the island of Roanoke. Her family was cursed when the 114 original colonists disappeared long ago. The island faces present-day mystery when 114 more citizens disappear and Miranda’s father is murdered. Miranda teams up with Phillips, who left the island to escape the voices of the dead. It’s a race against time as they battle to find the missing while avoiding federal agents and dead alchemists. They are on a quest to break the Blackwood curse and remove the red serpent birthmark that appeared on Miranda’s cheek when her father died. Phillips and Miranda grow closer, but with ancestors on opposite sides, another conflict occurs when they must push aside romantic feelings and battle darkness if they are ever going to escape the island and save their families.

This is a young adult modern fantasy that uses magical realism to tell the story. The supernatural elements such as a magical gun and ghostly alchemists are inserted into a present-day Roanoke setting. There are traces of history due to being on the island of Roanoke, but it is not historical fantasy. The protagonists are ordinary high school students who are forced into a hero cycle to bring their world back to normal.

Curriculum connection: In Social Studies, teachers could begin a unit on settling the New World by discussing theories of what could have happened to the Roanoke colonists. That could lead into listing the hardships settlers of the New World faced.

SS-08-4.3.2

Students will explain why and give examples of how human populations changed and/or migrated because of factors such as war, disease, economic opportunity and technology in the United States prior to Reconstruction.

SS-08-5.1.2

Students will explain how history is a series of connected events shaped by multiple cause-and-effect relationships and give examples of those relationships.

Although this novel is pure fantasy, there are underlying themes about friendship and betrayal and sticking together. I would ask students what they would do if they had to choose between family and doing the right thing.

I would highly recommend this novel because the action rolls, making it hard to put down. The main characters have always struggled to fit in and they are finding out why. This identity conflict and the romantic elements make it an irresistible read for young adults.

Water In The Park: Picture Book Reflection

Jenkins, E., & Graegin, S. (2013). Water in the park: A book about water and the times of the day. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.

This fiction picture book gives the reader a snapshot of what happens in an urban park over the course of a hot summer day. Since it’s so hot, most of the activity is centered on the pond or the splash zone for children. The main elements of fiction used are character, setting, and mood. Everyone is hot and that’s why they are at the park!

The prose style is descriptive with small bursts of dialogue from different people in the park. The reader will learn what the people around this city do all day as they walk, have lunch, commute to and from work, or meet friends.

There are small bits of plot: the dog Fluffernut won’t swim in the pond in the morning, but when he comes back that evening, he splashes happily. A nanny struggles with a toddler who doesn’t want to leave. Characters that appear in the beginning re-appear at the end of the book, closing the story nicely.

The illustrations are softly colored watercolors. Visual elements come from line and composition. The pictures show a diverse population and a crowded place, with children playing, people picnicking, walking dogs, jogging, and more.

This book is appropriate for ages 4-8. I chose it for my children because it reminded me of times they played in the water in Chicago’s Centennial Park.

A teacher could use this story to talk about how life in a big city is different from living in a house with a yard, or have a discussion about what to do on a hot day. In science, a teacher could ask students how water is important to people and animals who live in the city.

Primary Science Standards Academic Expectation 2.2: Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.

Students will understand that

• Most living things need water, food and air, while nonliving things can continue to exist without any requirements.

• Plants and animals have features that help them live in different environments.

Book Talk: The Bake Shop Ghost

Ogburn, J. K., & Priceman, M. (2005). The bake shop ghost. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

What would you do if you were a talented pastry chef who bought a bakery, only to discover the deceased and cranky former owner is haunting the place? Three bakers have bought and sold the shop because they can’t deal with the lemon-pucker mouth of Miss Cora Lee Merriweather shouting, “Get out of my kitchen!”

Along comes Annie Washington, a cruise-ship pastry chef who can bake through a typhoon or tsunami. She won’t budge an inch, even as Cora Lee destroys the kitchen.

Here is a short blurb that describes the kitchen fight:

“Cora Lee let out a shriek that cracked the windowpane. Annie kept on rolling out her dough. Cora Lee rose up through the counter into the middle of the puff pastry, making a most horrible face. Annie slapped a slab of butter on top of the pastry and folded it up, ghost and all.”

Annie tells Cora Lee it’s her kitchen now, but Cora has a request. “Make me a cake,” Cora Lee says, “make me a cake so rich and sweet, it will fill me up and bring tears to my eyes. A cake like one I might have baked, but that no one ever made for me.”

Annie goes on a delicious journey, baking hundreds of desserts to please Cora Lee so she can rest in peace.

This is a children’s picture book with fantasy elements. It would be appropriate for ages 4-8. The illustrations are brightly colored and have an abstract quality to them. This book made my children and I very hungry for dessert. The bonus is a recipe in back, and every child will beg their parent or teacher to make it!

Here is a wave file for the verbal book talk:

Bake Shop Ghost Book Talk

Intro to class

Can anyone from REOL 536 see this?