How to outline

Recycling

My how to will be presented in a Lift the Flap format.
There will be three flaps and under each one will be a how-to for that topic. My topics are reduce, reuse, and recycle. The first pages of each will be reasons to do those topics and under the corresponding flaps will be how-to do each task. At the end there is a conclusion of how recycling will benefit the reader.

Earth

A mother
Selfless and giving
Provide and produce
Momentarily
Earth

This poem could be used to introduce the topic of the environment. You can ask your students to write their own short poem about the earth.

Narrative piece: Why? Why? Why?

I will make this a children's book and add beautiful illustrations to it.

Why? Why? Why?

One day Tony and his mom were having a snack after school. Tony always enjoys his afternoon snacks because it is a special time for him and his mom to talk about his day. He was especially excited today, because it was Earth Day and he had a lot of questions he wanted to ask his mom.

Why don't we recycle mom? At school we have different bins for stuff. We put our old paper in a brown bin and any plastic stuff in a blue bin.

Why don't we have a compost bin? Did you know it is good for the garden. We can put stuff in it like banana peels, apple cores, coffee grounds, tea bags, yard clippings, old leaves and even paper. It will help keep our plants healthy and then we won't have so much trash.

And why don't we give my old clothes away? I'm sure there are a lot of people who could maybe use them.

Why don't we take our own bags to the store instead of using those plastic ones? Plastic bags are bad for the Earth because they stay around along time and they hurt animals.

Why don't we buy one big juice instead of a lot of little juices? If we want to take some with us we can always use a sippy cup.

Why don't we turn the water off when we brush our teeth? A lot of good water goes down the drain when you leave it running, you know.

As Tony was about to ask another question when his mom stopped him and said:

"You know what Tony, you're right. Why not?!"

Historical Fiction 3321

Historical Fiction is a story that is written in an accurate portrayal of the past which may include people of that time, but the story is fictional.

Historical Fiction can be used in the classroom in a number of ways. It is a great way to introduce social studies or history in a unique and exciting way. Even though the actual story may not be true it is a good way to learn about how people of the time coped with situations like, Columbus, World War II, and other major historical events. You could have your students learn about a certain time in history and write their own Historical Fiction story over that time period.

Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Contemporary Realistic Fiction implies that everything in a realistic story is consistent with the lives of real people in our contemporary world, the super natural does not exist and just because it is realistic it does not have to be a true story.

Contemporary Realistic Fiction can be used in the classroom in many ways, because of all the issues that are written about in this type of fiction. For example: family life, growing up, survival, and death. All of these issues will effect your students at one time or another and introducing a piece of realistic fiction that covers the issue at hand may help your students cope with their own situation. CRF can also be used to introduce a certain issue that you know ALL of your students will be experiencing while in your classroom such as growing up. CRF is also great for introducing different cultural situations to your classroom.

blog 7 3344 MGP Draft

Importance of Recycling

TEKS

Grade K-3

(b) Knowledge and skills.

(1) Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student for at least 80% of instructional time, conducts investigations in the classroom and outdoors following home and school safety procedures and uses environmentally appropriate and responsible practices. The student is expected to:

(A) identify and demonstrate safe practices as described in the Texas Safety Standards during classroom and outdoor investigations including wearing safety goggles, washing hands, and using materials appropriately;

(B) discuss the importance of safe practices to keep self and others safe and healthy; and

(C) demonstrate how to use, conserve, and dispose of natural resources and materials such as conserving water and reusing or recycling of paper, plastic, and metal.

My MGP

Narrative- Comic strip (how plastic bags never decompose)

Expository- brochure (how to sort recyclables, what can and can't be recycled)

Persuasive- Power Point (persuade the reader to recycle to lessen the dependency of landfills)

Descriptive- Poem (love the earth)

Blog 7 Modern Fantasy 3321

Modern Fantasy

Our group presented on Modern Fantasy this week and we defined it as, literature that is set in the real world but the author alters one or more characteristics of everyday reality. There are many different categories of Modern Fantasy and they are: Articulate Animals, Toys, Preposterous Characters and Situations, Strange and Curious Worlds, Little People, Spirits: Friendly and Frightening, Time Warps and Science Fiction. With all the different categories of Modern Fantasy you can only imagine the limitless possibilities of how to use it in your classroom. Below is my example.

Book: The Little Engine That Could

Directions for teacher: Before reading the story to your students create a (large) little blue train out of construction paper and have this displayed on a wall in your classroom. Introduce the book to the students and engage them in talk before you read the story to them. Ask them what they think the book will be about based on the cover and title page. Then read the story (make sure to point out how the clown and toys don't give up along the way).

Directions for students: After reading the story to the students (and pointing out the moral of the story, don't give up) have them think about a time in there life where they ran into many obstacles and kept going. Give them a personal experience of your own as an example, learning to ride your bike or tying your shoe. Then ask your students to draw a personal experience in there lives, when they could have given up but kept trying.

Directions for teacher: After the students finish their drawings ask them to share their experiences and artwork, then have them tape their pictures on the wall in the coach cars of the little blue train you displayed on the wall. You could even put a large tittle over the train saying "I think I can, I think I can..... " :)

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Talk

The text book defines "talk" in two ways aesthetic talk and efferent talk. Aesthetic talk, like aesthetic listening, deals with the lived-through experience of literature. Students use aesthetic talk to respond to literature and to deepen their understanding of the books they are reading. Efferent talk is used by students to inform and persuade. They use efferent talk in conversations during an activity called theme cycles. There are four other types of efferent talk and they are: show-and-tell, oral reports, interviews, and debates. These activities require the children to prepare and rehearse before presenting in front of an audience.

The chatter of little voices is an everyday occurrence in elementary school classrooms. As they talk they are using their conversations for different purposes. They may be trying to control a classmates behavior, maintain social relationships (friendships), convey information, or to express their own personal experiences and opinions. Talk encourages children to voice their ideas and opinions and by doing so, create opportunities for listening as well. Which is why talk is so important in the classroom.

Talk appears in the classroom through many ways and activities. Aesthetic talk happens in small groups, grand conversations, by asking questions, through reading stories and through readers theater. Small groups is where students learn to be responsible group members and recognize that what they have to say is important in the classroom. Grand conversations help to dig deeper into stories and help students deepen their comprehension. Students talk about literature they are reading in literature focus units and literature circles. Both students and teachers ask questions in the classroom this helps stimulate conversation and deepen understanding. Remember the most useful questions cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. A good question requires students to analyze, interpret, evaluate and to offer their personal opinions. Reading stories creates multiple opportunities for talk in the classroom. The stories can be read by both the student and the teacher. Readers theater is a great way to involve your students in the stories you are presenting to the class, by involving them in acting out the stories. I'm sure there are many other ways that talk appears in the classroom so don't let these examples hinder you, they are ways to help and inspire you to inspire your students.

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Traditional Literature

Traditional Literature is literature that was originally told orally from one generation to the next, is mostly narrated, has no identified authors, and usually explained the origin of natural events or revealed the social, political and spiritual beliefs of a society.

Who doesn't love a good story! I know I do and children especially do. That's why using Traditional Literature in the classroom is so important, and easy! There are many ways Traditional Literature can be introduced into the classroom. One way is by reading it to your students. Traditional tales are among the most memorable that children experience in literature. Because of their well defined plots, easily identifiable characters, rapid action, and happy endings, the tales lend themselves to enjoyable experiences. When introducing the story to your students, you should be prepared and creative. Build up the the story, set the mood. By stimulating their curiosity, you automatically get them hooked. Read the story convincingly, make eye contact, and have fun. By inspiring your students through traditional literature, you can motivate them to create their own stories. Creative writing is important to encourage children to love literature and writing. Traditional literature can also be used to introduce children to past cultures and values. An example of this may be reading a traditional literature book and then asking the children to identify the lessons and values in the story and then have them compare and contrast the values with those we have and use today. Creating your own version of a traditional story is also a great way to use traditional literature in the classroom, just as we did in class on Wednesday.

I will definitely use Traditional Literature in my classroom. Traditional literature helps children understand the world and identify with universal human struggles along with providing pleasure. Children's understanding of the world is increased as they learn about early cultural traditions, develop appreciation of culture and art from different countries and become familiarized with many languages and dialects of cultures around the world. Traditional literature also encourages children to realize that people from all over the world have inherent goodness, mercy, courage and determination to succeed. Who wouldn't want to make these important lessons available to their students?

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Picture Books

Picture Books are illustrated books where the story is told through the pictures with little or no text. In picture books the illustrations are as important or more important than the text. I use picture books all the time. My son loves to read books, but since he has not learned to read yet (he's 3) the pictures are the best part! To him, the brighter and sillier, the better. As a teacher picture books can be used in an endless amount of ways. The important part to remember, is to make sure the pictures and the text in the picture book relate. Generally you would want to read a picture book that related to the topic being taught, but reading a fun book to settle children back into studying mood after lunch might work for you also. Picture books can also be a great ice breaker for older students.

How to evaluate Picture Books

When selecting picture books for children there are nine questions you should use to evaluate these books. First are the illustrations accurate, and do they correspond to the content of the story? Second do the illustrations compliment the setting, plot, and mood of the story? Third do the illustrations enhance the characterizations? Fourth do both the text and illustrations avoid stereo types of race and sex? Fifth will the plot appeal to children? Sixth is the theme worthwhile? Seventh what is the purpose for sharing this book with children or recommending that they read it? Eighth are the author's style and language appropriate for the children's interests and age levels? And finally question number nine, are the text, the illustrations, the format, and the typography in harmony? With the abundance of picture books we have in the world today, there should be plenty of wonderful books to choose from.

I absolutely LOVE picture books. It is some what magical to read these books with such amazing illustrations. As I stated earlier, my son and I love to read picture books. I love some of the lessons picture books teach. They are very helpful when it comes to teaching numbers and letters. My eight month old daughter loves to eat her toy picture book! I think they help inspire imaginative thinking along with teaching some of the basics in reading and writing.

3344 Blog 5

Debate

For me the most challenging part of the debate was, trying not to interrupt the other team when they were giving their rebuttal. I wanted to immediately counter their exclamation without letting them finish. I wanted to be right. When the point of the debate was to view all sides and determine who's argument was stronger. It was not about who was right or wrong.

During the debate I used critical listening and efferent listening. I was critically listening to the other team as they stated there three reasons why their candy bar was better and I used efferent listening skills when I was taking notes on those points in order to think about our counter response. Our group used critical listening skills when we were trying to come up with our ideas for Hersey kisses. We all listened carefully to each other and to all of the different ideas and then organized them. It was interesting trying to get 10 or 12 people to agree on three main points.

Choice Words

"Did anyone notice?"

This question is the one I found most important. It helps children notice the world around them at home, in school and at play. It also helps to start conversation. Especially with younger kids, but it works well with high schoolers. Children learn by asking questions and it is our job as responsible adults to encourage questions (I know it's hard after you've answered the same one a million times, but try to grin and bear it). You want them to notice new and different things and to have questions about what they've seen. At home go for walks with your kids, if you are a parent, and talk about what you see. "Look at that tree, did you NOTICE the flowers have started to bloom? What do you think that means?" In school as a teacher, you want to bring that same curiosity into the classroom. You want them to engage in stories and to notice different words, similar ones, different styles of writings and much more. This can be done easily by asking the right questions. "Did anyone NOTICE any interesting words?" "....any words that are alike?" "....any new punctuation?" Asking children to notice the world doesn't stop in the classroom. Take every opportunity to teach this means recess too. The best way to get students to learn is to have fun with it. They don't realize they are learning to them, they are just having fun. When you are at the playground, ask them questions concerning the weather. "Did anyone notice the wind today?" "Did anyone NOTICE how blue the sky is?" The world is lacking in creativity and you never know asking children to NOTICE the world my one day inspire them to do great things!

3344 English Language Arts Blog 4

Dear Sentence,

We have been friends now for a long time and I would just like you to know how much you are loved by me. I know I'm not the only one you use. I've seen the others, exclamation point and period! They do not bother me. I am the only one who can help you find the answers that you seek. I keep our relationship exciting and new. There is only one thing I would be lost without and that is you. Without your beginning there would be no need for me at the end. This is why I'm thanking you again my friend. We are the best combination you and I. Together we will ask wonderful questions through all time.

Sincerely,
Question Mark

Capable Writers

Capable writers identify the topic and write a good introduction. They are interested in the topic but, sometimes the writing is unbalanced and needs a little work, but the reader can understand what is written. Power Paragraph Structure. Some quotations or citations are used to capture exact wording.

Diction: Word choice is adequate to get the point across, Fluency: Most sentences are organized but the writer used simple sentences and verbs. Voice: The reader can tell that the writer is interested in the topic. The reader would say, "This is good writing, but could be better!" The reader occasionally finds spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, but the errors don't interfere with understanding the writer’s paper.

EDRG 3321 Blog 4

In our text International Literature is defined as "that body of books originally published in a country other than the United States, in a language of that country and later published in this country." (Hancock, 2000 p.201) International Literature helps to connect us to potential friends around the world. It teaches us about global neighbors and provides a cultural bridge to the internal and external worlds of people far away. International Literature is a wonderful provider of cultural knowledge that goes far beyond the narrow coverage provided by textbooks and television. It also reflects the culture and language diversity that is found in our classrooms, along with fostering global perspectives and global knowledge (we are not the only country in the world.)

The exact definition for Multicultural Literature is always changing. In 1993, Junko Yokota defines it as "literature that represents any distinct cultural group through accurate portrayal and rich detail." In 1997, Violet Harris defined literature exclusively about people's ethnicity as "multi ethnic literature." The most important part about identifying Multicultural Literature, is authenticity. To determine authenticity the author needs to either be from that culture, or write from the perspective of people from that culture. While authors do not need to be form the culture they are writing about, it becomes harder to achieve authenticity.

It is extremely important to have Multicultural Literature in your classroom because it opens children to broad world beliefs, values, and other cultural differences. It basically has two purposes, first it gives the children the chance to see their own culture in Literature, giving them a sense of belonging, and it gives them a chance to experience other cultures, which they may not experience on their own.

Two activities for Multicultural Literature:

1. Response to picture books- response begins with a memorable read-aloud followed by response prompts designed to impart a personal response to the book. (Talk about the pictures. How are the people dressed? What did you see that was unusual to you? What would the situation look like if it happened in our country in your house?)

2. Evaluation of characters- should reflect the cultures distinct experiences, names should be authentic and personalities should be believable, the character should be balanced with positive and negative traits, cultural stereotypes should be avoided, and gender roles should be authentic to the culture. (After the evaluation of the characters is complete, have the students create a character like the one in the story. Like a paper doll, have them make clothes and tools the character might have had.)

Activities for International Literature:

Prompts
writen journals
drama (plays)
extended reading by the same author
author studies

3321 blog 3 chapter 3

Evaluating Children's Literature

How do you determine the appropriateness of a book for your classroom as a teacher? With all the various types of literature in the world it is hard to determine what you should make available to your students. Here are a few questions to ask yourself after reading a book.

*Is this a good story?
*Is the story about something I think could really happen? Is the plot believable?
*Did the main character overcome the problem, but not to easily?
*Did the climax seem natural?
*Did the character's seem real? Did I understand the characters' personalities and the reasons for their actions?
*Did the characters in the story grow?
*Did I find out about more than one side of the characters? Did the characters have both strengths and weaknesses?
*Did the setting present what is actually known about that time or place?
*Did the characters fit into the setting?
*Did I feel that I was really in that time or place?
*What did the author want to tell me in the story?
*Was the theme worthwhile?
*When I read the book aloud, did the characters sound like real people actually talking?
*Did the rest of the language sound natural?

After using these questions to evaluate a childrens book in class, the question came up "whether or not the answers were based on our own values." My answer is yes. What ever your values are, it is impossible not to bring them into every part of your life. This would include your job as a teacher. The important thing to remember is to respect other peoples values, even when they are different from yours.

I really enjoyed doing the character analysis in class. I think it is an important way to review the book. It also helps students who my not have fully understand the book, revisit certain aspects of the story.

3344 blog 3 chapter3

The reading process

Reading is such a necessity in today's world, but why do people read? There are two reasons people read. The first is aesthetic (for pleasure) and the second is efferent (for information). There are five key features of the reading process.

They are:
* Pre-reading- build background knowledge, set purpose for reading, preview the text
* Reading- shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, buddy reading, and read aloud
* Responding- writing in reading logs or journals, grand conversations, activities
* Exploring- rereading selection, examining the authors craft, finding new vocabulary, and participating in a mini lesson
* Applying- do something with what you've read, projects, social justice, and research.

The writing process

There are many stages to the writing process. The first stage is prewriting. In this stage of the writing process, organization of thoughts and brainstorming occur. Outlining ideas my be done by using a model to follow, either individually or in small groups. The next stage of the writing process includes the 1st 2nd and 3rd copies or the first drafts. Appropriately enough this stage is called drafting. Individual writing is taking place. It can be handwritten or done on the computer. After the first drafts are written it is time to do revising. Changes in are made in sentence structure and wording. Elaboration is added with adjectives and the overall structure of the paper is assessed. This can be done individually first, then checked by a peer, but the last person to revise the paper should be the teacher. During the editing stage, grammatical errors are corrected. Spell check can be used on the computer, verbs need to agree with the subject and other words are checked (it, it is). Editing is accomplished the same way as revising, individually, through a peer and then teacher check. The final stage of the writing process is publishing. This is sharing or displaying of the paper. Getting it out so the public can see it. Examples of publishing are hanging it on the wall in the classroom, displaying it in the library, or making a book.

My personal experience in the reading and writing process.

I admit it. I am a last minute writer, by that I mean the day before I would write my papers. I would do so using most of the steps of the writing process. All of my English Literature teachers have been top notch and have insisted we have at least three drafts with markings on them. We would then turn in everything, all drafts and the final paper. That way the teachers could see the entire writing process.

I also had a duel class in high school, Computer Literacy and English. We would discuss lessons in our English class and then create the paper, project or assignment in our Computer Literacy class. It was a great way to apply what we were studying in English and then learn different ways to create it in Computer Literacy. At the end of the year we created portfolios of all the years work and displayed them in the library. There was an actual day where we explained our works to those visiting the library. It really helped me, because it reinforced the writing process and challenged my creativity.

Chapter 2 EDRG 3321

Chapter 2 Review

The History of Children's Literature

There is an entire floor of the San Antonio Downtown Library that is dedicated to children's literature and media. Containing beautiful books with wonderful illustrations for children of all ages. I know because my children and I personally explore it each week. There was a time in history not long ago, when books were not printed specifically for children. Oral stories and books were not mirrored for children and early childrens books often copied the dominant cultural values of their place and time. Looking back on childrens literature gives us a view of the changes in society as a whole and shows us the changes in social expectations of children and the family.

Milestones in the history of children's literature.

Before people learned to write, family units gathered together and told stories. It was their way to pass down family values and customs. Along with explaining such things as the origin of the universe and other natural phenomenon, emphasizing ethical truths and transmitting history from one generation to the next. This is known as Oral Tradition. Although these stories were not told to children specifically they were definitely there, watching, listening, learning and remembering. The journey through the history of children's literature takes us from the native Americans who told mythologies expressing their reverence to the geological aspects of North America, to the county fairs were storytellers told folktales of their heroes. Due to Sir Phillip Sidney's enlightenment that, the influence of story telling reached even the children and elderly, at the end of the 14th century, feudal authorities tried to control the tales being told and jailed storytellers who angered the church or certain rulers.

The literary heritage of Europe before the mid-1400's consisted of oral tradition and parchment manuscripts laboriously written by monks and scribes. In the 1450's a German named Johannes Gutenberg discovered a practical method for using movable metal type, making the mass production of books possible. Because of the increasing influence of the press, the British monarchy decreed that only London, Oxford, Cambridge and York could have printing establishments in 1637. During this time few people gave thought to whether or not children had interest of their own or the want for an education. This way of thinking was disturbed when philosopher John Locke explained that a child's mind at birth was a blank slate where ideas were to be imprinted. Locke stressed the interrelatedness of healthy physical development and healthy mental development, and he advocated milder ways of teaching and raising children than had been previously recommended in the past.

An important addition to children's literature was written in 17th century France by Charles Perrault. The book was titled "Contes de ma Mere l'Oye," better known as "The Tales of Mother Goose." These were a collection of French oral traditions which had been retold and entertained the elegant salons of Parisian aristocracy for generations. Perrault was one of the first writers to embrace the importance of fairytale's to children.

Next was Rousseau's philosophy of natural development. Rousseau believed that children should mearly be accompanied in their search for knowledge. He maintained that children could and should develop naturally, with gentle guidance from wise adults who could supply necessary information. Rousseau described stages of children's growth, stressing the importance of experiences in harmony with children's natural development physically and mentally in his "Emile," published in 1762. William Blake was a poet who seemed to capture the spirit of a child. He was credited with writing verses as if a child had written them. Allowing the reader the opportunity to visualize this happy child.

In the early 1800's Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two German scholars, started collecting folktales that reflected the ancient German language and tradition. The Grimm's first edition of tales contained 85 stories, including "Cinderella," "Hansel and Gretal," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "The Frog Prince." While Charles Perralut and the brothers Grimm were creating books of retold fairytales, Hans Christian Anderson used his own experiences to stimulate his writing. Some of Anderson's most famous stories are "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid," and "The Red Shoes."

Early Illustrations of Children's Books

Before the 1800's most book illustrations were crude woodcuts, especially those in inexpensive chapbooks. If color was used it was probably applied by an armature using a guide. Thomas Bewick is credited with being one of the earliest artist to illustrate for children's books.

Three 19th century English artist had enormous influence on illustrations for children's books. They are Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, and Kate Greenaway. The Caldecott Medal for children's illustrations is named for the artist. The Kate Greenway Medal is given annually to the most distinguished British illustrator of children's books.

The history of children's literature is very interesting. I am certain that it will only continue to grow and develop, especially with all of the new technology in the world. My only hope is that books don't become obsolete. Hopefully parents and teachers will continue to inspire and instill the joy of reading books to children. It will be a sad day if the wonderful libraries of the world start closing.

Chapter 4 Class 3344

Chapter 4 Emerging into Literacy

Not to long ago, people believed that a child was ready to learn to read and write, by the time they turned 6 years old. We know now that children start the process much younger in preschool. Very young children notice signs, logos, and environmental print. This really hit home with me when I was driving with my three year old son the other day. He started naming off places we were passing, Home Depot, Mc Donald's, HEB, the Library. I smiled, knowing he couldn't read the signs, he was recognizing the buildings. The book states "the concept of literacy has been broadened to incorporate the cultural and social aspects of language learning, and children's experiences with and understanding of written language-both reading and writing-are included as part of emergent literacy."

Young children learn that reading and writing are used for a variety of purposes through experiences in their home and community. Just as my son recognized some of the places we shop frequently. Teachers help to demonstrate the purposes for reading and writing by experimenting in many ways.

• posting signs in the classroom
• making a list of classroom rules
• using literacy materials in dramatic play centers
• writing notes to students in the class
• exchanging messages with classmates
• reading and writing stories
• making posters about favorite books
• labeling classroom items
• drawing and writing journals
• writing morning messages
• recording questions and information on charts
• writing notes to parents
• reading and writing letters to pen pals
• reading and writing charts and maps

The Alphabet Principle is the one-to-one correspondence between the phonemes and graphemes, such that each letter consistently represents one sound. However English is not a purely phonetic language. Forming and identifying letters in handwriting are some of the basic information children pickup from the alphabet. The book recommends teachers to take three steps in encouraging alphabet learning.

• capitalizing on childrens interests
  
• talking about the role of letters in reading and writing
  
• teach routines and provide a variety of opportunities for alphabet learning

Two basic ways to begin teaching the alphabet are by using the childrens own names and environmental print. In my son's preschool class they are practicing recognizing the letters in their names and writing those letters. Every time he sees an A he yells our A for Anthony! An example of the effect of environmental print would be the story I told earlier, about the stores we passed. Another would be, when we stop at a stop sign he yells STOP, not because he can read the sign, but because he recognizes the shape and color. These strategies are important because it gives children a since of independence in identifying letters.

The book defines phonemic awareness as a child's basic understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual sounds, and it provides the foundation for phonics. Children learn phonemic awareness in play, such as singing songs and chanting rhymes. They also learn by listening to parents and teachers reading wordplay books to them. Children who have developed phonemic awareness can manipulate spoken language by, matching words by sound, isolating a sound in a word, blending individual sounds to form a word, substituting sounds in a word and segmenting a word into its constituent sounds.

There is a lot of controversy over our next topic, phonics. Phonics is defined as the set of relationships between phonology and orthography. There are five types of phonemic awareness activities, sound matching activities, sound-isolation activities, sound-blending activities, sound addition or subtraction activities and segmentation activities. The most important concepts of phonics that primary-grade students learn are: consonants, vowels, rimes and rhymes, and phonics generalizations. I believe phonics is important in teaching reading and writing.

As children emerge into reading they move through three different stages, emergent reading, beginning reading and fluent reading. There are many ways these stages can be taught, both by parents and by teachers. One of these ways is through shared reading. In shared reading teachers and children read books together. A teacher can accomplish a successful shared reading by, introducing the book, reading the book, responding to the book, rereading the book, continuing the process and by having the students read independently. Another way to help children emerge through reading is by reading predictable books. Predictable books are books that have repeated words or sentences, rhyme or have patterns. There are four characteristics of predictable books, repetition, cumulative sequence, rhyme and rhythm and sequential patterns. Books with large print and pictures, or big books are also a great aid in teaching reading. Along with reading buddies, older students that are paired with younger students, and traveling bags of books, which are books a teacher sends home for the parent to read to the child. I really like the last idea, my son and I read so many books, it is nice to have someone like a teacher to point out some that we may have missed.

Children follow many of the same steps as they enter into writing: emergent writing, beginning writing and fluent writing. When children are just starting to write it is basically their words written down. Interactive writing is used by teachers to model adult conventional writing. The six steps of interactive writing are: collecting the materials, setting a purpose, choosing a sentence to write, passing out supplies, writing the first sentence word by word, and by displaying the interactive writing.

A great teacher EDRG 3321

I chose Mrs. Weaver my sophomore English teacher as my favorite teacher because she inspired me. She also saw the potential in me that she and I knew was there. She was constantly challenging me to push myself. I think I learned more about myself as a student that year in her class than any since. I want to instill that drive and ambition in unsuspecting children that have the abilities to do great things, but no one to believe in them. Everyone always told me to shoot for the stars, she made me feel like I could actually reach them.

Blog 1 EDRG 3321

In chapter 1 we talked about values of literature for children, promoting child development through literature and children's response to literature.

Reading to children creates a love of books. Books are a major means of transmitting literary heritage from one generation to the next. It gives children a look at the past. They experience folktales and lives of previous generations. Literature also helps us understand and value cultural heritage. It is important to create an appreciation of the heritage of ethnic minorities in American culture and society. These various experiences of literature result in personal development in children as well as a pleasure of reading.

Children learn in stages, some faster than others, but they all must pass through each stage to become a mature adult. These stages are language development, cognitive development, personality development, and social development. Poetry collections are a good source for language development. In cognitive development, children's literature is effective for developing the operations associated with thinking. They are observing, comparing, classifying, hypothesizing, organizing, summarizing, applying, and criticizing. Personality development is also achieved through literature. For example books show children it is OK to be different from their families.

Everyone has different values and of those values some are more important than others to different people. My most important values are love and family. I can't choose just one because I feel they are connected and to me you can not have one without the other. Love and family were taught to me mainly by my parents and grandparents. They are what I aspire to be like on a day to day basis. Unfortunately when I was younger I took them for granted. It wasn't until I married and had my own family that I truly understood the values of love and family. It is too late to thank my grandparents for instilling these values in me, but I cherish the time I spend with my parents now more than I ever have.

The values of love and family can be taught in many ways. The best way is lead by example. People learn love and family by witnessing it first hand. Invite someone who may not have a great family life to have dinner with your family. It is surprising how many people haven't ever sat down as an entire family and enjoyed a meal. The more these values are observed and experienced first hand the quicker it will be come a part of an individuals value system.

Blog Entry 1 EDRG 3344

Children learn using five basic strategies. They rehearse by repeating words over and over, they predict by trying to anticipate what will happen, they organize by grouping information into categories, they elaborate by expanding information, and they monitor by keeping track of progress.

The six components of Language Arts are listening, reading, writing, talking, viewing, and visual representation.

I believe that how children learn and teaching Language Arts are connected in many ways. Children are obviously talking when they are repeating words over and over. For example, when studying vocabulary.

As a teacher you can use almost all of the six components of Language Arts to help them predict. Keep them guessing. Some of the classes I learned the most in where the ones where I kept wondering "what was going to happen next." I was paying attention!

Most of the Language Arts components can also be used to help children organize. They are going to group things together anyway. An example would be to show them how to organize their notebook. In which the children would be listening to instruction, writing their dividers, talking about how they will decorate the binder, looking at the prepared binder and in the end they will have their own visual representation.

Children have such imaginations and the language arts components, especially talking and writing, can be used to help them elaborate. When I think about my 4th grade teacher, I remember growing a bean in her class as part of a class project. I couldn't wait to get to class to see if there was anything growing out of that little paper cup. We were constantly monitoring it's growth. We had to write what we saw and talk about it with other students. We then would predict how much it would grow by the next day.

There are many examples of how children learn and the teaching of Language Arts, I hope some of my thoughts and examples have helped to prove my opinion.