Incorporating literature into the curriculum

This semester I have learned a lot about children's literature and the strong impact it can have on children. Not only in just the classroom, but at home as well. I have realized how much you can utilize children's literature and how creative you can be with it. Each of the piece's we have touch in class, can be use in a variety of ways. Some of the books would make great read a louds, such as The Hobbit and The Giver. When reading The Giver, you could have the students do a writing project on their idea of a perfect community or if they would want to live in a place like Utopia, why or why not? By reading the fairy tales, the options are endless, they could do a comparison paper, or make their fairty tale. I thought by reading the poems, it gave me a great insight to children's literature and how certain stories came about. Also, most definitely with the picture books, those all are great books for the younger children in learning to read and learning about rhyming words. This class has just really given me a greater appreciation for children's literature and as a future teacher has made me really think of the different ways to use these pieces in my classroom.