Oral Comprehensive Lesson

In one of my reading classes I am taking this semester, we are discussing the variety of ways you can test a student's comprehension of stories. One of the methods we went over, I thought was very interesting. It was an oral comprehensive assessment, and it seemed very effective. I just recently read Franklin and the Thunderstorm by Paulette Bourgeois. I used to love Franklin stories as a child, so I thought I would use this story as an example. As a teacher I would have the student read the book and than answer the following questions. As a teacher you would pick a topic that related to the book, so in this case it could be weather. During the first part, you pick a subject and have the student name as many words, that relate to that subject in a certain period of time and also compare different subjects.

Naming:
1) Different types of weather
2) Types of clothing to wear correlating to the weather
3) Compare the different seasons

Describing... ( You can pick a word in the book, to define)
1) Barometer

Pictures: ( Have the students think of pictures to represent parts of the story to help them remember it)
1) Turtle (Franklin)
2) Beaver or Snail (Friends)
3) Clouds/Rain
4) Rainbow

Comprehension Questions: ( Could do this at the end of the lesson)
1) What was Franklin scared of and why?
2) Where did Franklin and his friends go to get away from the storm at the beginning?
3) What did Hawk say that the thunder was?
4) How did Franklin overcome his fear?
5) Is there anything you are scared of? If so how could you overcome it?

This is just an example of how you could set up this lesson and it could go for all ages. This one in particular would probably be best for 1st or 2nd graders.

Biography of Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss wasmy inspirtation to begin reading as a child. One of the first books I ever read was The Foot Book, and I read it so much that I could probably still recite it by memory today. Dr. Seuss is an amazing author and his books are known for their unique rhyming text and loveable quotes. I know even as an adult some of his quotes are absolutely inspiring. Seuss has written and illustrated about 44 books and a lot of them have been made into films, such as The Grinch and The Cat and the Hat. Theodor Suess Geisel was born in Massachusetts and his family had immigrated from Germany. He went to Oxford with all intentions of earning his Ph.D, however he did not quite make it, so the "Dr" is in acknowledgement for his father's dreams for Seuss. His love for writing and drawing started at a young age. He was inspired to write children's book later on in his adult life when he had read an article about the low literacy rate of American schools due to the material not interesting children. As we know today, Dr. Seusss completely changed that for children and his books became famous for teaching young children how to read and sparking their passion for reading.

Response to Alice

Our discussion in class gave me a new insight on the book Alice Adventure’s in Wonderland. I had never read the book before, but I had seen the movie as a child. I was never a big fan, but I think reading it at an older age will allow me to see it in a different perspective. I had never realized it was a story about a young girl finding her own identity. I remember from the movie, how she kept changing sizes and it really frustrated me. Now looking at it mirroring a girl not being happy with her physical identity and constantly wanting to change it completely makes it more intriguing. This is a great story and most everyone has probably been able to relate to it, in the sense of not knowing really who they are.

Factors of Fantasy Literature

When you either are reading a fantasy book or want to teach a unit on fantasy there are many important factors to take notice of. The main theme of fantasy stories are suspending your disbelief and allowing you to be placed in an unrealistic world. Authors can do this in a variety of different ways and there are so many examples out there. I have been reading Charlotte’s web and I did an analysis of how E.B. White chose to go about it. He kept the setting for the most part in a very realistic setting, but allowed the characters to take the reader into a more fantastical situation. The animals in this story are humanized in the sense they can communicate with each other, they have feelings and morals like humans and are forced to make decisions, however this behavior is only between the animals. The humans in the story have no insight that the animals can talk to each other. The key to fantasy literature is to not make it too unrealistic, the reader needs to be able to somewhat relate and allow themselves to be engaged before it becomes unbelievable.

Charlotte's Web

I have started reading Charlotte's web for one of my outside readings and it has been great. I remember reading it as a child and not really being interested in it untill I saw the movie. Years later and reading it again it has been a whole new experience. It has abled me to see some of the underlying meaning within the different characters and what other lessons the story portrays. It is really neat how you can go back and read books especially children's books and get something new out of it everytime. I think everyone has been able to relate to Wilbur at one point in their life; feeleing lonely and insecure with yourself. This is a great story about friendship and how believing in yourself can take you so far. Also about having dreams and allowing yourself to fight for them and take action. This story is a great read and very enteratining and I definitely recommend that everyone read it again as an adult.

Mary Engelbreit

Ever since I can remember I have always loved Mary Engelbreit. One of the first books I ever owned was The Snow Princess. It has been once of my favorite books since than. I always buy the Mary Engelbreit calendars because I absolutely love her artwork. Mary Engelbreit grew up in St. Louis and had her very own art studio at age 11. She has estimated that she has done more than 4,000 illustrations from the start of her career and all are based from her own life experiences. I have always felt that I could relate to her artwork and he quotes have always been very uplifting and inspiring. She has her own line of greeting cards in which we all love. Engelbreit does amazing work and I hope to expand my collection of all her pictures and children's books.

Literary Elements Activity

As a teacher, when teaching about literature it is very important to discuss the literary elements. Once a child can pick out the elements that make up the story, it really tests their comprehension skills. The literary elements are the characters, the setting, plot/conflict, theme and conclusion. For a first grade class, a good example of a book you could use is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Character- The Caterpillar
Setting- Outside... trees
Plot/Conflict- The caterpillar is very hungry and trying to find food to eat...
Theme- The life cycle of a butterfly
Conclusion- The little caterpillar changes into a beautiful butterfly

This a great book to start off with because the kids love it. It is simple and the story line is very familiar with children. Also there are a variety of ways you could teach the literary elements with this story.

Comparison of the Ellas

After discussing Ella Enchanted in class and reading the book it interested me to watch the movie as well. I thought it would be neat to compare the Ellas and see how the movie depicted the story. As I started watching the movie, I was really disappointed. I had surprisingly really liked the book, but not so much the movie. The movie, was very different from the story in a variety of ways. In one way, the movie had a very modern aspect on it and it took away from the actual story line. Ella in the movie, was not as witty and independent as she was in the book. Also, I did not like how she and the prince met in the movie. The movie came off to me really cheesy and even if I had not read the book, I probably still would not have liked the movie.

Ella Enchanted

Through all of the Cinderella versions we have talked about in class, I think Ella Enchanted is one of my favorites. Besides the original version of Cinderella, this has been one of the ones I have been more interested in. I think I like it because it seems like a more modernized version and Ella seems easy to relate to. The fairy Godmother figure has really stuck out to me because she does not fall into that typical role. It is interesting because it is Ella's cook and Ella did not even know that she was a fairy. It is very unfortunate, that she is not able to really help Ella that much. I know when I was reading the story I would get frustrated because I would just want her to be able to use her powers to break Ella's curse. I really like the type of character Ella is refletced as; independent, strong-willed, stubborn and somewhat rebellious. I like how even though she is forced to be obedient, she always has different thoughts of what she would rather do.

Sarah, Plain and Tall

It is really neat to read a book you read as a child because you find new meaning in it, that you never had found before. I have been reading Sarah, Plain, and Tall, and I remember that was one of the first actual chapter books I read as a child. I remember when I read it before, I did not really like it and I thought it was very boring. As I read it now, I like how it is very descriptive and it is a great book to teach setting. This family lives out in the plains, so it describes in detail just their surroundings and the animals that they see and the colors etc. It is a great story of how a family comes together and what holds them all into place. I feel that this would be a great book for children who have lost a parent or group up in a single parent home because they could really relate. After reading it, it made me really want to use this book in teaching.

A Rhyming Lesson

As a future elementary teacher you are always keeping in mind ideas of how to teach certain lessons. After taking many reading courses, it has taught me how children's books can be such a great asset in the classroom and are capable of teaching children so many things. Tonight I was looking through some of my children's books and I came across Miss Spider's Tea Party. As I was reading I noticed it had counting in it, rhyming, mentioned a variety of different insects and a great theme on friendship. It got me thinking of the different ways I could use this book to teach a variety of different lessons. I really liked the idea of using it to teach rhyming. I thought as a teacher I could read the book out loud to the children and then once we were finished we could go back through and point out all the words that rhymed. This book is particular a fun book because it has very vibrant pictures that are very intriging. Once the children could point out the words that rhymed you than could discuss other words that rhyme. As an extra activity that would be really fun, you could have the children add to the story by coming up with their own insect and rhyme to go along with it.