Saturday, June 30, 2012

MUSINGS: Sometimes I Just Miss Being at Hogwarts

All of us.

Maybe it's time to read the whole series again!

FICTION FRIDAY: "One" by Kathryn Otoshi


I stopped by one of my favorite places in the world yesterday on my way home from class, Lakeshore Learning,  (http://www.lakeshorelearning.com) and saw this book entitled, "One" by Kathryn Otoshi.  The super simple watercolor pictures caught my eye as did the gold label.  I was curious, so I picked it up and read it.  In the book,  "Red is HOT and Blue is NOT." In a unique fashion, it deals with the way all of us can feel, especially as children, when we are treated unkindly and when our "friends" don't stick up for us when we are picked on, shoved around or teased by some angry person.  It also rehearses the way we can feel when someone does stick up for us as well.  In other words, it deals with bullying.  I love this very simple, straight forward book that I believe small and old can relate to and would suggest it to anyone who deals with groups of children.  School Library Journal says: The text is very simple but meaningful, and the moral is subtly told. 
I'd read this book to kids even up to 6th grade, because it teaches us life lessons.  Everyone enjoys a picture book now and then.  I REALLY enjoyed this one as it leaves the readers with ways to create solutions about bullying.

  • Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  • Hardcover: 32 pages
  • Publisher: KO Kids Books (October 1, 2008)
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Other books by Kathryn Otoshi:
Product DetailsProduct Details






PreSchool-K—This is a deceptively simple color and counting book that turns into a lesson on bullying. Whenever they meet, Blue is picked on by Red: "Red is HOT. Blue is NOT." The other colors like Blue but are intimidated by the bluster so they say nothing, and soon Red is bossing everyone around. But then One comes. It is funny and brave and confronts Red: "If someone is mean and picks on me, I, for One, stand up and say, No." All the other colors follow One's lead and become numbers too. Yellow is two, Green, three, etc. Red begins to feel left out and tries to bully Blue, but Blue ignores him and changes to Six: "Red can be really HOT,' he says, but Blue can be super COOL.'" The rest of the numbers stick up for Blue, but offer Red the opportunity to join in the counting, and all ends well. The book is well designed with bright colored circles and numbers on stark white pages accompanied by black print.  Red is not ostracized but included in the game, and the essential point of one person making a difference is emphasized by the ending: "Sometimes it just takes One." This is an offering with great potential for use with the very young in a variety of ways.—Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA



One Pop Art lesson on Bullying
Read & discuss bullying & how they resolved the problem in the story One by Kathryn Otoshi. Show Jasper John’s painting, Numbers in Color. Discuss how the numbers work together in the painting & in the book? Give students a stenciled numbered paper. Color number with watercolor pencils. Paint them. Paint the background a using the primary colors and the secondary they make. My 3 Kindergarten classes do these using different background secondary blends. Display them collaged in Johns' style.
Pre-K/Kindergarten
Arts & Music, Reading & Literacy, Student Engagement & Development
The students will be able to define and give characteristics of bullying and describe methods to prevent bullying behavior. One is a story about bullying that uses splotches of color and numbers to speak of the power of one person to initiate change. They will create a painted collaborative collage using Johns' style of stenciled numbers. They will mix primaries to make secondary colors and recognize Jasper Johns' Pop Art images. They will be introduced to the Pop Art style.
6x9 papers with stenciled numbers on them. Watercolor pencils Water buckets Brushes Paint Paint containers Newspaper One by Kathryn Otoshi Prints by Jasper Johns Numbers in Color by Jasper Johns
This lesson covers New Jersey Core Curriculum standards: Language Arts Literacy 3.4 Listening Social Studies 6.2 Civics Visual & Performing Arts 1.1 Aesthetics Visual & Performing Arts 1.2 Creation &performance Visual & Performing Arts 1.5 History/Culture

Thursday, June 28, 2012

MONDAY: Meet the Author of "Teaching Children to Read" by Ray Reutzel

This course that I'm taking with Ray Reutzel is absolutely fabulous.  I'm learning about evidence based practices that make a difference in the process of teaching reading to young children.  It is specific enough to take straight into any classroom, knowing I'm using processes that have been studied are are BEST practices for the teaching of reading in the preschool, K, and first grade.  Ray is a phenomenal teacher, researcher, university professor, a member of the...  OK here is his biography.  I'll let it speak for itself.  If you are a teacher or getting your teacher's license-degree, he is a must have professor and the University of Utah and the extensions as well.



D. Ray Reutzel
D. Ray Reutzel, Emma Eccles Jones Endowed Chair Professor of Early Childhood Education at Utah State University in Logan, will serve on the Board of Directors of the International Reading 
Association until 2010. Reutzel currently serves on IRA’s Early Literacy Commission, and has served on a number of IRA committees, including the Basal Adoption and Review Committee, Comprehension and Learning Committee, Nominating Committee, and both Annual Convention and World 
Congress Program Review Committees. He was an editor of The Reading Teacher from 2002–2007. In Utah, he served as state reading coordinator and is a past president of the Utah Council of the IRA. Reutzel is the 2007 recipient of IRA’s John Chorlton Manning Public Schools Service Award. He works closely with public school teachers and children as a technical assistant for several federal reading reform 
projects, from Goals 2000 to Reading First. While a professor, he took his first sabbatical leave
to return to teach first grade in a local public school classroom.
Reutzel received his BA from the University of Wyoming in Laramie in early childhood and
elementary education and his MA in elementary education, with an emphasis on reading
instruction, from Utah State University. After teaching kindergarten, first, third, and sixth grades
in Wyoming and Utah public schools, he returned to the University of Wyoming in Laramie
where he completed his PhD in curriculum and instruction.

Reutzel’s research focuses on young children’s literacy development, especially on those
children living in poverty and attending at-risk schools. He has published numerous articles and
chapters in academic journals and professional books. He has also authored or coauthored
several books including Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference, 6th Edition; Strategies for Reading Assessment and Instruction: Helping Every Child Succeed, 3rd Edition, and Your Classroom Library: New Ways for Giving It  More Teaching Power. He is currently studying grade 1-3 teacher knowledge of reading and writing instruction under the Teacher Quality Research Program of the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Statement of philosophy:
“First, IRA should help to provide every child in every nation the opportunity to learn to read and have access to quality books. Second, IRA must continue to walk a fine line giving the
organization a seat at the table of policymaking discussions at the national and international level. The tent of IRA must be big enough for everyone to feel that his or her views can be
respectfully expressed and considered. Finally, IRA needs to go back to its roots and aggressively cultivate a new core of future IRA leaders by reinvesting in state, provincial and
local councils.”

Presentation topics
Evidence-based early literacy instruction
Effective fluency instruction and practice for young learners
Explicit teaching of literacy essentials in at-risk schools
Comprehension instruction in the primary grades
Creating and sustaining print rich literacy classroom
Effective schools and effective reading instruction

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

BONUS: "Literacy in the Early Years" a Grad Course by Ray Reutzel & Discovering Draper City Library

I'm in Draper all week taking a class from an amazing professor, Ray Ruetzel, called Literacy in the Early Years.  It's one of the classes I'm taking to get my Reading Endorsement License for the state of Utah.  I'll be done in May of next year and have 3 more classes.  This particular class has been sooooo informative.  Dr. Ruetzel is engaging and is virtually a walking library of research and statistic on reading.

Talking about libraries, while in Draper, I had 45 minutes for lunch and so I searched out the local library. WOW!  I wish this one was in my town!  Take a look at the Draper, Utah Public Library!  The children's area is FABULOUS!!!



Draper Library, located at 1136 Pioneer Road  Draper, UT 84020 (801) 943-4636


Child-sized doors, holes and pathways.


Great Displays


Kid's magazines!


Lyle the Crocodile!


I like this idea!  "Author of the Day" display.



Dream Big, Read!


These holes are for sitting in to read!


Curious George rules!


Our friend Arthur!


"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak



Books on trains!!!


Beehive Book Winners in Utah!


Just for Teens!

Comfy cushions!


AT THE RETURNS AREA IS SAYS:  "FEED THE DRAGON, ONE BOOK AT A TIME!"
Now you can watch the book sorting machine... 
the books are sorted to go to the correct library branch.  I have now seen these sorting machines in 3 libraries.  They are becoming quite popular!!!

Monday, June 25, 2012

MONDAY: Meet the Author Rick Riordan

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San Antonio, Texas, United States
Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many books, including the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, the Tres Navarre mysteries, and 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones.




     




Rick Riordan

Richard Russell "Rick" Riordan (/ˈraɪərËŒdÉ›n/), Jr. (born June 5, 1964)[1] is an 
American author best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians  series. 
He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults[2] and helped to edit 
Demigods and Monsters , a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series. 
He helped develop the ten books in The 39 Clues  series, published by Scholastic 
Corporation, and wrote the first book in the series, The Maze of Bones .[3]He recently 
completed a trilogy that focuses on Egyptian mythologyThe Kane Chronicles , and is 
working on The Heroes of Olympus , which is the sequel to the Percy Jackson series 
and focuses on Greek and Roman mythology.


Biography
Riordan has created many successful book series. The multi-award-winning[7] Tres Navarre 
mystery series for adults follows the fast-paced adventures of an erudite Texan private eye. 
Riordan also helped create the children's book series The 39 Clues ; he authored several 
of its books, including The Maze of Bones , which topped the New York Times Best Seller 
list on September 28, 2008.[8] His Percy Jackson and the Olympians series  features a
 twelve-year-old who discovers he is the modern-day son of an ancient Greek god. Twentieth 
Century Fox purchased the film rights and released a feature film February 12, 2010. 
Following the success of Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan created The Kane Chronicles 
which features a modern-day Egyptian pantheon and two new sibling protagonists. 
Its first book, The Red Pyramid , was released May 4, 2010; the sequel, The Throne Of 
Fire , was released May 3, 2011.[9] The third book in the Kane Chronicles, 
The Serpent's Shadow , was released May 1, 2012. Riordan also created a sequel 
series to the Percy Jackson books, The Heroes of Olympus . Its first book, The Lost Hero 
was released in the U.S. October 12, 2010; the sequel,The Son of Neptune , was released 
October 4, 2011. 
Riordan expanded both series simultaneously. He has completed The Kane Chronicles 
a trilogy, and continues to write The Heroes of Olympus , which will have five books.
The San Diego Comic-Con International 2010 featured Riordan as a guest.[10] 
Rick Riordan lives in San Antonio with his wife and their two sons Patrick and Haley, 
who inspired his Percy Jackson series.

Published books

Olympian Demigod Series

Series One: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Series Two: The Heroes of Olympus

The 39 Clues Series

Tres Navarre Series

The Kane Chronicles

Stand alone novels

Untitled Norse Series

Awards



Sunday, June 24, 2012

BONUS: 50+ READING ACTIVITIES FOR SUMMER

Nothing makes reading more fun than to find different places to read... so lets start here:
1.  Read in a blanket fort you make, but then clean it up.
2.  Read in a tree house.
3.  Read under the covers with a flashlight.
4.  Read in the bathtubs with lots of pillows, (and don't let the water on).
5.  Read in a closet under the stairs with a head lamp on.
6.  Read in your favorite spot in the mountains.
7.  Find a "Winnie-the-Pooh" thinking spot, all your own, and read there.
8.  Read at the swimming pool, beach, lake or on a boat.
9.  Read at the library.
10. Read near a group of "talking" adults and pretend you aren't listening. ;)



Next, read with different people you enjoy.
11.  Start a reading club and read the same book for a week or a month with others kids you like and then talk about it with your friends.  (Just maybe include your moms. They could bring the refreshments.)
12.  Read with or to a grandparent or older person.
13.  Read with or to a little sibling who can't read as well as you.
14.  Read with a parent, maybe a book that is above your reading level.
15.  Have someone read a complete book to you and your siblings, aloud, that is much to difficult for you to read and even understand without some help.



Read and celebrate!  Read a few picture books or a chapter book about Mexico or another Hispanic culture and then: 
16.  Take a siesta... a nap.  (LOL)
17.  Have a fiesta, with chips, salsa, quesadillas, or some other simple Mexican food.
18.  Make a pinata by blowing up a balloon, adding paper mache to the outside of the balloon... here's the link:  http://video.about.com/familycrafts/How-to-Make-a-Pinata.htm
19.  Learn the Mexican hat dance.
20.  Learn to make tortillas, guacamole or some other typical Mexican dish!!!



Other things to do with books:
21.  Have a read-a-thon with tons of blankets, food and books!



22.  Put on a play for neighbor friends or family about a book or story you have read.
23.  Make up a song to go with a book you have read.
24.  Write a poem about a book you have read and how the book made you feel.
25.  Write to the author of your favorite book and tell them what you think about their book.


OR....
26.  Go to the library weekly.
27.  Go to second hand stores and buy used books.  It's amazing what you can find for way cheap.
28.  Go to garage sales on Fridays and Saturdays.  You can often find great books to buy.
29.  Read a book and then see the movie!  (ex:  The Lorax)
30.  Have a book swap in your neighborhood.



Variety:
31.  Try reading a book someone else really likes.
32.  Read a series.  (You'll get caught up in it and be reading for days or weeks.)
33.  Try a new genre:  If you are used to only reading fantasy only, try reading a biography, maybe of someone you admire or have heard something about.  You might really like it.
34.  Read a joke book or a graphic novel.
35.  Have a race with a friend to see who can finish a certain book first.
36.  Read your mom or dad's favorite book as a kid.
37.  Read a classic.  (Many are abridge, see the "Classic Starts" books.)
38.  Read a book on an i-pad....   
39.  ...a Kindle
40.  ...an i-touch or i-pod or other device.  
41.  Listen to a book on tape, Harry Potter books are read by a man who uses           over 26 different voices when he reads.  HE IS INCREDIBLE!!!!  Try it!
42.  Download books from your public library using "overdrive", to an i-pod.  It's free.
43.  Read as many of the Caldecott winner books as you can! (Winners are for best illustrations in a picture book and they are awesome.)
44.  Read as many of the Newberry winner books as you can! (Winners are for best story and plot.)
45. Read as many of the Bela Pure Award Winning books as you can! (Books written to highlight the authentic Hispanic culture.)  Learn some Spanish words as you read.



Read a book and do a fun craft or art project such as:
46. Make puppets to depict the characters in the story and do a puppet show.
(This site has many puppet templates.)  http://www.abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/crafts/paper_bag_puppets/



47.  Make stick puppets and do the same.
48.  Read a book that has a particular food in it and then eat or create that food, such as "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear" by Don and Audrey Wood.  Then go pick or buy strawberries and make strawberry freezer jam or strawberry shortcake....
49.  Listen to a story and paint the story you are hearing, without seeing any of the pictures.  Use beautiful tempera paints.
50.  Go to this wonderful blog and check out all the fun craft ideas to go with picture book:  http://www.readingconfetti.com/p/teaching-with-books.html









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