Week 7: Young Adult book "Fallen" over Fantasty theme of the week

Title: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

 

Summary

    When it comes to choosing books for Young Adults, I often struggle to figure out which ones to choose. Probably because I typically work with lower elementary students, so my experience there is limited. However, I know that when I was a young adult the first book that actually peaked my interest and that I enjoyed reading outside of normal school based texts was the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyers. I know it is cliche that as a highschool teen I enjoyed a vampire love story, but my teenage girl brain and heart loved it. I not ashamed to say that I pretty much devoured reading through the whole entire book series. Twilight falls into the genre/category of fantasy fiction. So when it came to finding a book for this weeks fantasy themed books, I kinda looked for something that my teenage self would enjoy. The book that I found and decided to read is titled ¨Fallen¨ by Lauren Kate. To my surprise it isn´t a newer book, its been around for a little bit. The book was published back in 2009 which was during all of the Twilight hype so I´m assuming that is why I missed it.  I kind of wish I had found it back when I was in my young adult years, because I do strongly believe I would have really enjoyed it back then. However, reading now in my mid thirties I still thought it was a decent and entertaining read. ¨Fallen¨ is a fictional fantasy story about fallen angels with a good love story thrown in. The main character in this novel is a teenage girl named Lucinda Price. Throughout the story Lucinda goes by Luce for short. The story begins with Luce getting sent to a reform school out in Savannah, Georgia. The name of the school is called Sword and Cross. Luce is sent to this school because she is partially blamed for an accident at a summercamp where her crush tragically passes. Luce does not fully remember what happened to the boy, just knows that they happened to kiss and then a fire of sorts broke up unexplainably. Moving on to Luce´s time at Sword and Cross, she meets and array of interesting students. A girl named Arraine and Penn become close friends to Luce. A few other characters that Luce meets and that are main characters in the story is a girl named Gabbe and Molly, and a boy named Cam which is short for Cameron and Roland. Another main character and the love interest in this story is a boy named Daniel Gregory. Throughout the story there are odd occurences where Luce sees shadows and sometimes an unexpected fire erupts similar to her history with her previous crush. Also throughout the story Luce begins to notice the subject area of Angels being taught, and there other suspicious occurences that seem to connect back to that subject area.  Luce finds herself pulled towards Daniel, but Cam also tries to make his advances on her as well. Finally it is revealed to Luce that all the students at Sword and Cross are Fallen Angels, some on different sides. Daniel and Luce are apparently cursed to love each other throughout many lifetimes, but Luce never lives long in any of their meetings. Daniel is forced to lose Luce each time. However, this time is differen´t because Luce´s family were not of a religious background. The book has you rooting for Luce and Daniel to finally get their happy ending, but of course the end of the book has you needing to read the sequel to see if that is truly going to happen. 

Classroom Activities

            I think the book Fallen is a great book to have available as a resources for students to utilize for personal reading interests. I´m not sure if I would directly incorporate this particular book into an actual lesson plan or have them assigned to read it directly. The reasons I say this is because  first the topic of religion or angels. This book doesn´t teach one way or the other, but we do live in a sensitive world and I wouldn´t want to step on any toes. The other reason is, I think young adult girls would typically enjoy it more than the boys. The material is engaging and follows right along with their age range. I just think it would probably be something that students would read in their free or personal time. Our textbook Readicide has taught us the importance that students should be able to read books that interest them and promote and enjoyment of reading. That is something that I do think this book accomplishes. Now while I might not directly implement this particular book in my classroom lessons, that is not to say it doesn´t have value or that there couldn´t be activities done with it. If an educator did have their students read this story, I think have students complete a timeline graphic organizer would be beneficial. The story line often jumps back and forth to different time periods. I also think if there were a group of students who seemed interested in this book, then maybe a small group discussion of sorts could be implemented with them regarding the story. The teacher could assist the students that are interested in this type of book with a guided discussion over their thoughts over the topic throughout or at the end of the story. One thing I love about this particular book is it is the first book in a six part series. I personally have only read the first book, but it definitely peaked my interest enough to want to see what happens next in the plot line and with the other characters. I think book series like this one are great for young readers because it promotes further reading and develops their love for reading in itself. So overall I would definitely recommend this book to be available in a local classroom library for students to utilize. 

Week 7: Children's Book "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" over Fantasy theme of the week

 

Title: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Author: Judi Barrett 

Illustrator: Ron Barrett

Summary

    This week´s theme of Fantasy is my favorite of all. When it comes to my own peresonal interests regarding reading, I tend to always go toward this genre. For this weeks children´s book, I chose to review a beloved staple in my early childhood classroom. ¨Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs¨ by Judi Barrett has been a comical, and engaging story, that I´ve shared with my classes throughout the years. The funny story along with the engaging art always maintains my students interest and keeps them laughing the whole time. I recently shared the read aloud with my three son´s at home on Youtube. They thoroughly enjoyed the funny story. The story begins with a normal family being cooked breakfast by their grandfather. The gradfather gets a little wild with flipping his pancakes. This event inspires the grandfather to tell his grandchildren a bedtime a silly bedtime story over the town of Chewandswallow. The town of Chewandswallow is like a regular town. However, in place of regular weather, food falls down from the sky to supply them with daily meals. The town has a great sanitation routine in place, and seems happy with the situation. The story provides the readers with examples of full course meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that falls down from the sky. The illustrations of this book really brings the book to life, and will make you giggle. Everything is well, until one day the sizes of the food coming down begin to grow dramatically in size. From their the ¨weather¨ seems to go bonkers. The food no longer makes sense and become a danger of sorts to the town´s people. The people of the community eventually have to flee the area, and leave the crazy town of Chewandswallow for good. The story then ends the grandchildren waking up to snow falling at their house and going sledding with their grandfather. While sledding, they happen to notice that the big snow covered hill reminded them of a big pile of mashed potatoes with the sun at the top looking like butter.

Classroom Activities

    The cute children´s book ¨Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs¨ provides many fun educational activity for children. I have read this book with my students throughout the years many a time, and it has always been a hit. If I were to teach a lesson around this book, I think I would first read the story and then open up a whole group discussion with my students over what their favorite foods were and what they would like to rain down from the sky. I could also venture over to having the students generate ideas of what they would do if food rained down from the sky. Ask them questions such as how would they clean up the mess, would they want it to keep doing it and if not, how would they get it to stop. This could turn into a very cute guided writing assignment over the topic. Teacherspayteachers.com has many cute art ideas over the book. My favorite activity that I found costs about five dollars to purchase, but has a guided writing prompt paper with a craft that has a big cloud with an assortment of food that you color and cut out that hangs from it. Down beliow in the reference section, will be a link with this adorable activity. This book inspired the making of a major motion picture. The movie varies a little bit from the actual story, but is entertaining and kids love it as well because of it´s comical nature. Personally I enjoy the true storyline from the book, but showing the movie after reading the story could generate some meaningful discussions over how motion pictures sometime differentiate from the original plot line. Overall I strongly recommend this book as a staple for any earlychildhood classroom. Many older elementary students enjoy the silliness of the story as well. 

References

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | Activities | Mini Read Aloud Unit. (n.d.). TPT. Retrieved July 4, 2024, from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cloudy-with-a-Chance-of-Meatballs-Activities-Mini-Read-Aloud-Unit-6638131?st=3cc5bb3b011b9365d5a52f63facf4cfd

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Week 6: Young Adult book "Out of the Dust" over Historical Fiction theme of the week

 

Title: Out of the Dust

Author:Karen Hesse

 Summary

From the moment I found out that our theme this week was over Historical Fiction, I knew just the book I was going to review for the Young Adult content. ¨Out of the Dust¨ has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. During my Junior year of High School, I had a very special Speech/Drama Coach introduce me to this novel. I was looking for something to use to perform in the Prose category. This categoty is pretty much an interpretation of poetry. The novel ¨Out of the Dust" qualified into the categoty of free verse poetry because it is written as daily journal entries by the main character Billie Jo Kelby. I made it all the way to the State Championship at Oklahoma University with my interpretation of a collection of entries from this novel. I have thoroughly enjoyed rereading this classic story, and taking a little trip down memory lane. The novel ¨Out of the Dust¨ is set during the time period of the Oklahoma Dust bowl at the time of the Great Depression. This book gives vivid details about the hardships that people experienced during this time. As a fellow Oklahoman, I think this book is a great addition to any classroom library because it depicts life in an era in our own great state. As I said earlier, the novel is written as journal entries from the main character Billie Jo Kelby. Billie Jo is a fourteen year old girl, and I will say in warning that she does experience many traumatic hardships during the course of the novel. Billie Jo explains in her entries about the dust storms during this time period and how it effects the crops. Billie Jo and her family experience financial trouble because of it all. One thing noteable about Billie Jo is that while she is a rough and tough tom boy she has a deep love for playing the piano. There are many side characters mentioned throughout the course of the book, but the other main characters in Billie Jo´s life are her Ma, and Father. Billie Jo´s Ma is pregnant during a major portion of the story. A main event that tragically happens during the novel is an accidental fire caused by a bucket of kerosene that is mistaken for water. Billie Jo´s hands are severely burned during this awful event by trying to help remove the kersone bucket to outside of the house. While trying to throw the burning pail out of the house, Billie Jo´s Ma was running in at this time and gets doused by kersone and engulfed in the flames. When I say this book has your biting your nails I truly mean it. This portion of the book frames a good part of the rest of the story. Billie Jo´s hands hinder her ability to play the piano, but with time and perserverance they do heal. However, life is still not so great for Billie Jo. Billie Jo´s Ma does survive the terrible fire incident, but she does not look like the person she always had been. However, later during child birth she dies along with the little boy that she beared. This book does not just have a fairy tale ending, but it does have closure that gives you hope for the main character and her father. Her father eventually meets another woman who I believe helps improve their situation. This book is one that will keep you engaged and give you a true perspective of just how hard times used to be for Oklahomans.

 Classroom Activities

The novel ¨Out of the Dust¨ presents many opportunities for educational discussions both for whole group and small groups. If I were to teach this novel to a class, I would first give an introductory lesson about the history of Oklahoma during the time frame of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. I would share pictures with students over what the land used look like during this time, so that they could have a deeper understanding over the concept. Personally because of my own history with performing the journal entries as my own interpretations, I think it would be fun to do something of that line of thinking with my own class. For an engaging and inclusive activity, I would separate the students into small groups and have them pick out their favorite or what they feel are most meaningful journal entries from the book and then take turns reading them with different voice inflections and their own personal spin on things. I think doing this would help them to identify with the main character and empathize with her situation. As I have said many times, I love this novel and I think it would be a great staple in any classroom.

Week 6: Children's Book "Ruth and the Green Book" over Historical Fiction theme of the week

Title: Ruth and the Green Book

Author:Alexander Ramsey Calvin

 Summary

Ruth and the Green Book is a great historical fiction genre book for children. The book is through the perspective of a young African American girl named Ruth. The story does not give Ruthś exact age, but if I would have to guess, I would assume that she is about 7 years old. Ruth and her family are traveling from their home in Chicago to visit her grandmother in Alabama. Ruth starts out very excited for her families trip, but along the way they have some not so great encounters. This book is set during the 1950s and Jim Crow era. There are many places along their traveling route that do not allow or service African Americans. During the course of their trip, Ruth and her family stop and stay with a family friend of her fatherś because they had been unable to find somewhere to stay. While their she first learns of Jim Crow and what to be prepared for on the rest of their journey. Finally while stopped at a gas station, the family is given a green book that lists all the places that would accept African Americans. This book promotes empathy to the actual historical events and prejudice that occured back in this era.

Classroom Activities

    This childrenś book bring up many opportunities for in depth whole group discussions about historical events. This is a picture book that can be read to  younger elementary students, but I believe would even be well accepted up into lower jr high levels as an indivual read. Because this book was based in the 1950ś, before reading this book with my students I would give an introductory lesson into what to expect from this time particular time period. For younger students, I may keep the conversation light and show references of pictures about that time period and explain that during this time not all people were treated equally. For older students I would of course go more in depth about real historical events for this time period and prepare them with knowledge about Jim Crow. I found a great website that offered free lesson and teaching resources for this historical fiction childrenś book. The website is called KnowItAll.org, and I have linked it below in my reference section. The activities provided are for upper elementary third through fifth grade. The website gives a very in depth multiday lesson where students are able to map the safest routes for the family to travel during this time period. I think this book would be a great addition to any classroom library.

References

Ruth and the Green Book | Knowitall.org. (n.d.). Www.knowitall.org. Retrieved June 28, 2024, from https://www.knowitall.org/lessons/ruth-and-green-book

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Week 5: Young Adult Book "All American Boys" for Native and/or African American themed books

 Title: All American Boys

Authors: Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Summary

        I found that finding a young adult book under this week's theme to be a little difficult. I myself, teach mostly younger elementary students. I tend to struggle to on what to choose for young adults. I searched the web thoroughly for different books on the subject area of the theme  and kept coming back to this one. This particular book came highly recommended. The book "All American Boys" is an award winning novel co written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. The novel is written through the perspectives of two different high school boys around the ages of sixteen and seventeen years old. The names of the boys are Rashad and Quinn. Rashad is African American and Quinn is white. The book alternates character perspectives each chapter throughout the entire course of the novel. Although, both of these boys are the main characters throughout the book. They are not friends, nor do they even really know who the other is. They both go to the same high school and have common friends and peers though. This book falls under the African American theme for two reasons. Firstly because Rashad is African American and he is one of the main characters. Secondly, the main event that this book is primarily centered over directly involves Rashad, and other African Americans. This book is one that contains  possible real world scenarios, and promotes social awareness to students. I do not have a lot of experience with teaching young adult books, but if I did teach this to students, I would do it with caution. I say this because of the events that occur during the course of the book might be upsetting to some. Also, this book does contain some foul language, and talk over partying. Now to get into some details about the book, I will tell you a little more about the backgroubd of the characters. Rashad lives with his mother and father, his father is very strict and firm handed with high expectations for Rashad. Rashad is an active participant in ROTC. A main side character in this story is Rashadś brother Spoony and his girlfriend Berry. One of Rashadś close friends in the book is his friend Carlos.  As I said earlier, Quinn is a white adolescent boy. Quinn lives with his mother and younger brother. Quinnś father died while serving in the military in Afganastan. Quinn has a lot of pressure to live up to his fatherś legacy. Quinn has a crush on a girl named Jill that is frequently mentioned throughout the book. Quinn is highly involved in basketball, and is really good friends with Guzzo. Guzzo is another side main character along with his older brother Paul who played an absentee father or rolemodel of sorts to Quinn in his childhood. Paul is a white police officer. The book starts off with both boys getting ready to go party with their friends. They are actually both going to the same party. All seems well at first, both normal adolescent boys talking with their friends and dealing with their own sets of family dramas. The book does not take long to get into the nitty gritty of the story. In Chapter 3, Rashad goes into a store called Jerry to get some snacks before going to the party to meet his friends. Rashad grabs a bag of chips, and then decides to text his brother Spoony. Rashadś phone is in his backpack so he sets his chips beside him and bends down to the ground to open up his backpack and get out his phone. While on the ground a woman trips over him accidentally. This is when things go sour. An officer, which is Paul the man I mentioned above is in the store. He sees the woman on the floor and accuses Rashad of harming her. Then the store owner accuses Rashad of trying to steal the chips. It is all just a big misunderstanding, and he tries to explain so. However, the officer Paul does not care to hear his side and takes matters into his own hands. This portion of the story is hard to hear, Rashad is forced outside and beat by officer Paul in the parking lot. Quinn actually happened to be outside with his friends when Rashad is forced out and pumbled to the ground by Paul. Quinn sees officer Paul wailing on Rashad and cant believe his eyes. Quinn has never seen Paul act this way, and his actions distrub him. Quinn and his friends felt uncomfortable by what was happening and run off and attend the party. Rashad wakes up in the hospital severely wounded by the event that happen. His parents are there and his brother Spoony comes as well. Spoony finds a live feed that someone had recorded over the incident and sends it to the local news. From then on the rest of the story is centered over that event. Rashad is stuck in the hospital for quite some time. He initially does not like that his brother gave it to the news, he doesnt like the attention. However, later he understands. Quinn feels pressured by his best friend Guzzo and his older brother Paul to keep his mouth shut about the situation. Quinn really struggles internally about what he saw and about doing what is right. A protest/march is arranged by the student population and community in results of what happened and to honor other African American that are effected by police brutality. Rashadś friend Carlos graffitis the school over what happened. Rashad is released from the hospital just before the march. Quinn ultimately decides to report to the police what he saw of the incident and takes a stand by attending the march. This book will tug at your heart strings. It is a good serious read, that I do think is beneficial to all students. 

Classroom Activities

One thing this book for sure does is create ample opportunities for reflective discussion. As I said above, I do not have much experience teaching young adults. However, if I were to teach over this book I would first begin with a whole group discussion forwarning some of the content in the book. The way that this book is set up alternating characters between chapters, I think it would be ideal to stop and reflect after every two or so chapters so that you are getting the view point of each character as the course of the book goes on. I wouldnt do it as frequently during the middle portion of the book as I would the beginning or the end. I found a really great website containing activities to go along with this book. I have listed this link below under my references. One of my favorite activities that it mentioned is a graffiti walls activity. For this activity, it has students use sticky notes to put up words on a anchor chart of how they are feeling or thinking in regards to a prompt they are given over the story. I think students would enjoy this activity, and it goes hand in hand with the graffiti section that occurs in the story. Another thing that I would do accompany this novel that is not mentioned on the website, would be a post writing activity. I would have students reflect on what they would do in that situation through a character of their choices view point. 

References

Re, J., Nolds & B, Y., Iely, R., & Kiely, B. (n.d.). A LL A M E R I C A N B OYS | All American Boys. https://diversebooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/WNDB_ReadingGuide_AllAmericanBoys_2017.pdf

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Week 5: Children's Book "Whistle for Willie" for Native and/or African American themed books

 Title: Whistle for Willie

Author: Ezra Jack Keats

Summary

I chose this week's children's book from one of multitudes of great books mentioned in our weekly PowerPoint lectures. This book titled "Whistle for Wille" is about a young African American boy named Peter. During the course of this book, other characters that are mentioned are Willie which is Peter's dog, and Peter's mother and father. The main theme of this book is Peter learning to whistle for his dog Willie. Peter tries and tries to whistle throughout the course of this book, but struggles to make any sound come out when he blows air through his lips. However, Peter remains persistent and finally learns to whistle by the end of the story surprising both himself and his dog Willie. I implemented this book into my summer school classroom as a transitional read aloud activity. I found a great free read aloud version of the story on YouTube to share with my students. I have shared the link to the read aloud of story that I used below on my reference section. I have a small group of first graders this summer, and the book did a great job of maintaining their interest level and keeping them entertained. My students loved the pictures of Peter dressing up as his father, and hiding from his dog Willie. I would definitely recommend this book as a classroom staple for early childhood classrooms. 

Classroom Activities

The book titled Whistle for Willie, is a cute engaging book for young children that also does a great job showing representation for African American students. Recently when I showed the students of my summer school classroom this read aloud, it brought forth the whole group discussion over the topic of whistling. My students are right at that age where some of them knew how to whistle and some of them were right in that stage of learning. My classroom quite humorously ended up turning into quite the loud air blowing room that day. If I were to further teach upon this story, I would incorporate an assisted writing assignment, where students could write a story of sorts of where they would hide to try and whistle to their own dog or pet. I would then allow time for students to illustrate their writing. I found a website that offered additional resources and activities to use in accompaniment with the story. I have attached the website under my reference section below. This children's book is a great book by an award winning author the provides opportunity to read more of his stories and implement cute and educational activities. 

References

📗 Kids Book Read Aloud: WHISTLE FOR WILLIE by Ezra Jack Keats. ✔️SFX. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 25, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPUtm7g4dMM 

Mularien, R. (2022, February 11). Whistle for Willie Activities and Lesson Plans for 2024. Clutter-Free Classroom | by Jodi Durgin. https://jodidurgin.com/whistle-for-willie-activities-lesson-plans/ 

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Week 4: Graphic Novel themed Young Adult Book Titled "Smile"

 Title: Smile

Author: Raina Telgemeier

Summary

    I will admit, going into this weeks theme, I was unsure about what book I would choose. I have not had much experience with graphic novels. When I came across the graphic novel "Smile" by Raina Telgemeir, I was still a little hesitant. However, this comical story had me entertained right from the start. The graphic novel "Smile" is actually a memoir based on the author's very own childhood. This novel is through Raina's point of view and starts off with her being in sixth grade. By the end of the graphic novel though, Raina is a Sophomore in high school. Raina goes through some very traumatic dental issues throughout the story. Throughout the course of the story, Raina knocks out her front teeth, has her teeth shoved up into her gums, has teeth retracted, gets braces twice, and even has to have a retainer with fake front teeth. The poor girl goes through the ringer when it comes to dental work. Raina is a trooper though with all of her dental issues. However, like most teenage girls she does struggle by feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable with her smile while all of this is going on. Throughout the story, while Raina is dealing with her dental issues, she is also dealing with normal teenage girl things like friendship with catty girls and having her first crush. The book is very relateable to many adolescents, especially for girls. The book has very engaging and comical graphics to keep you engaged throughout the whole story. I fell in love with this graphic novel, and would definitely recommend it as a book to be available to Jr high early highschool ages.  

Classroom Activities

    This cute and relateable graphic novel allows for numerous activities that a teacher can utilize in his or her classroom. Scholastic has some great free resources available for teachers to implement in their classroom. I have listed the link below. Some of the activities provided includes a pre-made graphic organizer for students to fill out while they read the novel. Another activity listed on this free resources is a post activity. This post activity is my absolute favorite! If I were to teach this graphic novel to students I would most definitely incorporate it into my lesson. The activity is to have students create their own comic over a time with they have felt embarrassed and/or in an uncomfortable situation. I think this would be such a fun and interactive activity for older students to do because it allows for them to share experiences, and be empathetic of other. This activity also gives a chance for students to be creative and use their artistic abilities which they may not get to do that much during their regular school day. All students at one point or another have been in a situation where they have felt frustrated or not at ease among their peers, and it's important for them to know that they are not alone. This graphic novel also gives many opportunities for whole group and small group discussions among the class. Depending on how long the teacher wanted to spend on teaching this graphic novel, I think there could be some great educational and emotional lessons involved. 

References

Lesson Plan for Smile by Raina Telgemeier Pre-Reading Activities. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://www.scholastic.com/graphix_teacher/pdf/Scholastic_GrphxWebCast_RTelgemeier.pdf

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Week 4: Graphic Novel Children's Book titled "Grumpy Monkey Freshly Squeezed"

 Title: Grumpy Monkey Freshly Squeezed

A Graphic Novel Chapter Book

Author: Suzanne Lang

Illustrator: Max Lang

Summary

    If you are looking for a comical children's graphic novel, this is the book for you! The graphic novel "Grumpy Monkey Freshly Squeezed" is part of the Grumpy Monkey story collection. As an early childhood teacher, I have read to many of my classes some of the Grumpy Monkey stories. Along with my students, I have come to love the cranky little monkey. So, I was very excited when I learned that they had a graphic novel of one of the stories. Because of it's popularity, this book can most likely be found at your local library. However, I was also able to find it as a free read aloud on YouTube. I actually played it recently for my summer school class, and I will tell you it was a hit. My students loved seeing the dialogue between the characters, and hearing the different interpretations of the character's voices. I've provided the link down below of the read aloud that I used for my class. This story starts out with the main character Jim Panzee going for a walk. He is using an orange as a stress ball. Jim is enjoying his alone time, until his buddy Norman see him and decides to join him. Before you know it, Jim's peaceful walk is completly disrupted by other animals wanting to join him. This stressed Jim out, but all was still good because he had his stress orange to squeeze. However, one of his animal friends wants a turn to squeeze it, and then oops! The orange gets squeezed a little too tightly and looses all of it's juice. Instead of being a leisurely walk the walk then turns into a must need adventure to go get another orange to squeeze from the orange Grove. Through many funny ups and downs the Grumpy Monkey finally gets another orange to squeeze. This graphic novel is a quick read, but is really good about keeping students interest and laughing the whole time!

Classroom Activities

    This graphic novel provides many opportunities for fun activities to do in class with young students. Recently when I showed my summer school class this graphic novel, I used it as an opportunity to discuss with my students things we can do when we are stressed. Jim the Panzee used an orange to squeeze to help calm him down. We took a few minutes talking about some of the things that we can do to help us feel less stressed. I then assisted the students in making a journal entry over what they can do when they feel stressed. Once the students made their journal entry, they then illustrated a picture of themselves doing it. Another activity that can be done with this book can be a sequencing of events. There's a cute little activity on teachers pay teachers that students can cut and paste events from the story into the correct order.  

References

GRUMPY MONKEY FRESHLY SQUEEZED -- Sequencing and Comprehension! (n.d.). TPT. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/GRUMPY-MONKEY-FRESHLY-SQUEEZED-Sequencing-and-Comprehension-7152449

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Mrs.Kapoor's Story Time. (2022, December 17). Grumpy Monkey Freshly Squeezed | Preschool read-aloud | Grumpy Monkey series | 4 - 7 years old. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A8EmBEtDNo

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Week 3: Review of Young Adult Book Themed Books Boys Like Titled "Hatchet"

 Title: Hatchet

Author: Gary Paulsen

Summary

    While searching for books for this weeks theme that boys would like, I struggled to figure out what to book to choose from. Finding a children's book to me was easier, but young adult boys are harder to please sometimes. In the end, I kept coming back to this classic story. I remember reading this book in my youth, probably around junior high or so. We read it as a class, and this was the first book many of us were relatively interested in. I felt this book fit with the theme of books boys would like because it is through the perspective of a thirteen year old boy,  and had many thrilling type concepts and adventures during the course of the book. 

    As I said before, the book "Hatchet" is through the perspective of a thirteen year old boy. This boy is the main character throughout the story, and for majority of the time he is the only active character. The boy's name is Brian. The story begins with Brian loading up onto a Cessna bush plane to go visit his father for the summer. I'm not super familar with air crafts, but this particulat plane was smaller and only held Brian and the pilot. Brian is traveling to see his father in Canada because he works in oil fields over there. Brian's parents are recently divorced, and this is something he is struggling to come to terms with. Brian holds resentment for the divorce, and also unbeknownst to his mother, he knows the reasoning behind the divorce. Brian saw his mother out with another man. Before leaving to go to visit his father, Brian's mother gifts Brian a hatchet which becomes a necessity during the book. While riding on the plane to visit his father, the pilot suffers a heart attack and Brian has to steer the plane. The pilot does not recover from his heart attack and very sadly passes away, Brian does his best with the aircraft but ultimately lands/crashes into a body of water. The plane sinks, but Brian is able to get off relatively safely. The next portion of the book is about Brian's survival in the wilderness while he waits for someone to come rescue his. Brian only has his hatchet that his mother gifted him to assist him. However, Brian is very resourceful and makes other weapons to help him. While stranded in the wilderness, Brian faces many scary things. He has a run in with a porcupine, and at one point is even attacked by a moose. However, Brian also has many victories of sort while out on his own. Brian makes a fire by himself to cook and keep warm, finds eggs, and learns to catch fish with his own devices. Brian winds up being stranded alone in the wilderness for a whole 54 days before he is finally rescued. The story is very edge of your seat gripping at times, and I think young boys and youth in general will become entranced with the story. 

Classroom Activities

    There are many activities that I think can be done with this particular book. The book itself provides many opportunities for reflective discussions that can be done as whole group activities. One whole group discussion that can be done to accompany this book would be to have students share how they would feel if they were in Brian's situation, and what they would do if they were faced with such a crisis. If I were to teach this book to a class, I would also try to incorporate some activities based off of nature and the setting that Brian had to endure while he was stranded after his plane crash. I found a great website that offered up many STEM activities that could be incorporated during or after reading this book. The website is called differentiatedteaching.com and provides five different STEM activities in alignment with this specific book. All the activities provided by the website promote student involvement and critical thinking skills.  My favorite activity that it mentions is having the students create a shelter using natural resources such as sticks and leaves. I think students would find this activity to be engaging and fun. This book has also been made into a motion picture. I have not watched the movie myself, but I have seen good reviews on the movie. Having the students watch the movie for be a good conclusive activity to reading the book. 

References

5 Epic STEM Activities for Hatchet Designed to Increase Engagement. (2023, July 11). https://www.differentiatedteaching.com/stem-challenges-for-hatchet/

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Week 3: Review of Children's Book titled "The Boy Who Never Gave Up" for the theme of Books Boys Like

 Title: The Boy Who Never Gave Up; Stephen Curry

Author: Anthony Curcio

Summary

        I just want to start off by saying how much I enjoyed this weeks theme! I am a mom of three young boys, and I loved researching and discovering books that they would be interested in! My boys are really into sports, so I had them assist me in finding the perfect book for this weeks theme. We made it our mission to find a fun children's book for boys over some sort of sport. When we found "The Boy Who Never Gave Up" written through the perspective of NBA player Stephen Curry, we were sold! The book starts off through the view of a young Stephen Curry, who has the dream to one day be a professional basketball player like his father. Throughout the book Stephen practices hard every day to obtain his goal of being a basketball player, but he faces many challenges along the way. Stephen is told numerous times throughout the years that he will never be a professional basketball player because he is not big enough. However, Stephen is persistent and "never gives up". As we know Stephen Curry does achieve his goal of becoming a professional basketball player. With hard practice and determination, Stephen fulfilled his dream. This book promotes children to always try their best and never give up on yourself and your dreams. 

Classroom Activities

    This book is very engaging for students and provides ample pictures of Stephen Curry as a NBA basketball player along with some of his personal statistics as a basketball player. I found a great read aloud of this book on YouTube that I think students would enjoy. I have it linked below. This book provides the opportunity to meaninful whole group discussion in the classroom. If I were to share this book with a classroom of students, I would have the students reflect upon what their own personal dreams are and share it aloud with the class. I would then have the students share how they can achieve those goals and dreams. Another great activity that can be done to accompany this book and the discussion would be to have the students illustrate themselves having achieved their dreams and goals. This activity could simply be drawing with paper and crayons, or you could get extra creative and let the students create collages with magazines and other materials. The possibilities are endless. I think this would be a great book to read any time of the year, but even more so at the beginning of the year because it could help students get to know each other better and stress the importance of never giving up even when things get hard. 

References

YouTube. (2022, June 14). Kids book read aloud story 📚Stephen Curry 🏀 the boy who never gave up by Anthony Curcio. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQChDyRhT_8

Week 2: Review of Diversity Themed Young Adult Book "Wonder"

Title: Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio  

Summary

    There are not enough positive words that I can say about this book. This book is one that I believe every person young or old should read at one point or another. The author R.J. Palacioi does an amazing job at promoting diversity, inclusivity, and empathy. By the end you truly see the wonders of not only the main character, but also the wonderful traits he brings out in the people around him as they get to know him.   The book "Wonder" pulls you in and keeps you engaged in the life of August Pullman from the very beginning. 

    August Pullman is the main character of this book. However, during the story you will notice that August is frequently referred to as his nick name Auggie instead. Auggie is a young ten year old boy, with a loving family and dog named Daisy.  Auggie enjoys Star Wars and all things space related. From what I've said so far, Auggie sounds like an ordinary normal little boy. However, Auggie was born with rare and severe facial anomalies that has impacted his and his families lives. Auggie has had numerous facial reconstructive surgeries throughout the course of his life. However, while the surgeries were beneficial they still left him with deformaties that have made it hard for him to live a normal life in the public view.     Auggie has never been to a public school before. Up until this point, Auggie's mother has homeschooled him. Auggie's mother is very well educated and has done a great job at homeschooling Auggie, but feels he is ready and would benefit from going to a regular school. Auggie and his father disagree that he should go to public school, but eventually they are convinced that it is the best thing for him. Auggie will be entering this new school as a fifth grader along with many other students. Before entering the school Auggie's parents arrange a tour for Auggie with the Principal of the school whose name is Mr. Tushman. Auggie and his Dad get a good laugh and make a few puns about the Principal's last name. At the tour, Mr. Tushman arranges for three fellow fifth graders to come and meet Auggie and assist with the tour. The students that come to give the tour is a young girl name Charlotte that makes a few but not many other appearances throughout the rest of the story, a boy named Julian who ends up being in the story many times. The boy Julian play an atagonistic character throughout the story as the popular school bully. Finally the third student that the Principal chose to assist with Auggie's school tour is a young boy name Jack Will. Jack becomes one of the main characters throughout the book as Auggie's best friend.

    The tour of the school goes somewhat well, even though Julian shows his true colors to Auggie by making rude comments about his face when the adults weren't around.From there the story goes on about Auggie's experience with entering public school. There are many ups and downs throughout the school year. Augie experiences some bullying behavior from Julian and other kids. However, by the end of the school year Auggie has won over the student population with him wonderful and loving character traits. Auggie makes a great friend in a young girl named Summer who becomes a character frequently saw throughout the book. 

    The book is not all through Auggie's perspective. There are times when the book explains the school year through his friends eyes and also his sister Via's. Via struggles with going to high school and having Auggie at times be the focal point of the family. The way that the story is set up truly allows for the reader to empathize and see the perspective of multiple characters. At the end of the story, there is an awards assembly. Auggie wins the Henry Ward Beecher metal. Which is a an award meant to honor those students who have shown exemplary behavior throughout the year. A segment of Mr. Tushman's speech is pictured below. This speech was given over Auggie and how he has shown growth and success throughout the year. After the awards ceremony Auggie and some of his classmates had a graduation party at his house. The story ends with his mother trailing behind reflecting on how much has changed throughout the year, and saying what a true "Wonder" Auggie is. 

Classroom Activities

    The book "Wonder" would be a great read fourth grade students later on in the year, or fifth grade students starting out. However, this book could be implemented and beneficial anytime during the school term.  The reading level for this book is a 4.8. This book could be done as a read allowed for the students to listen to as a whole group or assigned be assigned as an individual reading assignment if there were enough copies available. The book provides many opportunities for meaningful discussions and journaling prompts that could be implemented in the classroom. If I were to teach over this book, I would have the students complete a writing assignment at the beginning of the book on how they would react to diversity if someone that was different than them whether it be a facial anomoly, disability, or even cultural difference entered their school. I think this type of assignment would promote kindness and empathy among the students. Another writing activity that I believe would be beneficial would be to have the students reflect on a time when they may have felt bullied or left out, and how they have learned from that experience. The book "Wonder" was made into a movie I believe in the year 2017. It has some main name actors such as Owen Wilson, and Julia Roberts. After reading this book I sat down with my family and we watched it together. It was a great family film that could be shown in class as a conclusive activity to reading the book. 

Week 2: Review of Diversity Themed Children's Book "The Name Jar"

 Title: The Name Jar

Author: Yangsook Choi

Summary

   "The Name Jar" by Yangsook Choi is a great children's book that teaches children about diversity and the importance of cultural acceptance. This book also does a great job at promoting self discovery and loving your unique individual qualities. In this book, the main character is a young girl named Unhei. Unhei is from Korea, and is starting school for the first time in America. Like most children starting a new school, Unhei is of course nervous. The story starts off with Unhei going to school and having difficulty introducing herself to the other students with her Korean name. At first Unhei attempts to tell a few students her name, but quickly realizes that the children have difficulty understanding it and somewhat gives up telling students and teachers her name. This is where the "name jar" itself comes into play within the story. Unhei's fellow home room classmates start putting name ideas in a jar for Unhei to choose from, and at the end of the week Unhei is supposed to choose a name out of it to use.  When Unhei goes home to tell her mother about her first day of school, she expresses to her that she would like an American name due to how school that day went. Unhei's mother seems hurt by Unhei not wanting to use her Korean name. We learn through the story that Unhei's means grace in English, and her parents took great care in chosing her name. Throughout the story, Unhei plays with the idea of using the different American names that the students have presented to her. Unhei likes some names more than others, however, none of the names seem to be just the right "fit" for her. Another character that plays an important role in this story is a boy named Joey in Unhei's homeroom class. Joey becomes a friend to Unhei and while out and about grocery shopping at a Korean store, learns that what Unhei's name is when the store owner calls her by name. Joey thinks Unhei's Korean name is very cool, and Unhei even shows him a very neat Korean stamp of her name on it. At the end of the week when Unhei is supposed to choose a name, the name jar suddenly is no where to be found. It is at this point that Unhei finds that she doesn't want to use any of the other names, but is happy with her using Korean name. 

Classroom Activities

The book "The Name Jar" can be read at any time during the school year, but I think would be a great introductory story to read to students when school starts. This story provides many opportunities for whole group discussions. One whole group discussion topic that could be done with students would be to have students discuss what they would do if they were in Unhei's position. Another great activity that I think students would love would be for students to create a name jar of sorts for themselves. However, instead of coming up with different names for themselves, they could come up with different adjectives that describe themselves to showcase to the class as a way for each student to get to know each other better.  This book can be found at a local library, but can also be accessed freely on YouTube. Here is a link to a great read aloud version of the story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192ytnVUCUQ. 

References

THE NAME JAR by Yangsook Choi (Kids Book Read Aloud 📚) | Back to 

    School. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192ytnVUCUQ

Week 1 Review of YA SEL book "Hey, Kiddo" by Jerrett Krosoczka

Title: Hey, Kiddo; How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction

Author: Jerett Krosoczka

 

SUMMARY

    If your looking for a real life story that tugs on your heart strings, then "Hey, Kiddo" by Jarrett Krosoczka is the book for you. This SEL young adult book is the personal memoir of the author Jarrett Krosoczka. This book starts off in the perspective of Jarrett as a young child, and gradually takes you on a journey through his childhood and adolescent years. I personally listened to this story as an audio book, and would highly suggest others to do so as well. The author, Jarrett Krosoczka put a great amount of detail and work into having parts of the story be read by specific voice actors. Some of the voices in the audio are actually done by the characters themselves and/or their children. It makes for an engaging reading/listening experience. As a forewarning though, this book does contain explicit language at times throughout the course of the story. 

    The story starts off with young Jarrett giving a small bit of familial background knowledge. Jarrett is a young boy who is raised by his grandparents Joe and Shirley. Jarrett's mother's name is Leslie, and makes appearances throughout the story periodically. Leslie got pregnant with Jarrett at a young age, and struggled with what we later  in the book find out is an addiction to heroin. At the beginning of the story Jarrett is with his mother for a short time, until things with her have progressed bad enough that his grandpa Joe steps in. Leslie and her mother Shirley do not get along, Leslie blames a lot of her addiction issues on her mother's drinking. However, Leslie and her father Joe do get along, and he convinces Leslie that it is in her and Jarrett's best interest for her to sign over her parental rights of Jarrett to him.  It is  around this point in the story that Leslie serves time in prison for drug use and then later goes to a rehabilitation center. This tends to be a reoccurring cycle in Leslie's life throughout this story, however, there are a few durations where she is living nearby and visits Jerrett. Jarrett's mother Leslie, writes to Jarrett many times throughout the duration of her imprisonments and treatments. Ultimately, though Jarretts mother succumbs to her addiction to heroin when when Jarret is an adult.  At the beginning of the story, Jarrett does not know who his biological father is, however, his mother and grandparents do. Jarrett's father at the beginning does not want a relationship with his son. By the end of the story though, Jarrett's father reaches out to Jeremy and with a slow but rough start rekindles a relationship with his son and introduces Jarrett to two half siblings. Throughout the duration of the story, we journey through with Jarrett as he experiences friendships, and moving schools. Jarrett also find a passion for doing artwork, which he later goes on to pursue a college education in. This book  is very detailed and engaging to the reader, and gives a true sense of the life that Jarrett experienced through childhood and his adolescent years. 

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

    This SEL young adult book provides ample opportunity for serious discussions to take place among students.  If I were to teach this book to a classroom, I would do it with caution because of some of the language that takes place. However, with parental support and persmission I would definitely implement it in my classroom because it is a very well written and meaningful story. "Hey, Kiddo" allows for students to see the hardships and empathize with real life situations of others. An activity that would be intersting to do with students after reading this book would be to have the students compose a questionnaire of things to ask the author. This book is a memoir over the author's own life, and is very relatable and his life successes are very impressive based off of the hardships that he experiences in his life. Another activity that can be done to correlate with the reading of this book would be to have students write a memoior over an experience or event that has their own life. 

Week 1 Review of Children's SEL Book "After the Fall" by Dan Santat

Title:  After the Fall; How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again

Author and Illustrator: Dan Santat 

                                

                                        SUMMARY 

 

"After the Fall" is a very cute and imaginative SEL story about what happens to the classic nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty after his tragic fall. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this extension on one of my favorite childhood stories. In this children's book, Humpty explains that after his fall, all the king's horses and all the king's men were able to put him together again, but of course things were not all as they once were. Humpty is left with a giant dose of fear when it comes to heights due to his fall. This story takes you through the course of Humpty's life and how he deals with overcoming his fear. During Humpty's journey he discovers a love for making paper airplanes and soaring them through the sky. However, one day his airplane landed on that very wall that Humpty fell from. Humpty was then faced with the choice of either leaving his beloved airplane that he enjoyed playing with so much, or being brave and conquering his fear of heights and the wall that caused him such grief. In the end, Humpty braves climbing up the wall and retrieves his paper airplane. 

                                                                 CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

"After the Fall" provides many opportunities for teachers to implement fun and engaging educational activities with their students. One of the first activities that came to my mind while reading this children's book would be to have the students build and create their own paper airplanes and fly them. This STEM activity could be done at the end of the week or day as a fun conclusive activity pertaining to the story. "After the Fall" is a story that shows students the importance of persistence and never giving up. This opens up the opportunity for many whole groups discussions among the students for teachers to foster. A great SEL activity that can be implemented over this book would be to have the students reflect and write about their own fears and ways that they can overcome them with persistence and bravery.