Ben's Resource Share

I am sharing http://www.biguniverse.com/

This is a website that I have been playing with for a while. It offers hundreds of online books to be read from over 24 different publishers. The books range from non-fiction books to classics such as Moby Dick. It is a resource that could help to reach reluctant readers by offering a different medium in which to read those books. This could be a resource that allows kids who are more into technology than reading to get hooked on books.

Big Universe also includes a writing component that allows students to write and publish their own works on the web so they can be read by others.

To completely use this site, a fee must be paid and they have rates for single classrooms, or group rates for full schools. Without paying the fee, you still have access to the books to read including the ones written by kids.

In using this site, I have enjoyed the large quantities of non-fiction literature that they provide. I also like how some of the classic novels are put into a graphic novel form. They add more pictures for context clues and understanding. I believe there are several great starting books on here for struggling readers, or even ELL students.

Jevy's Resource Share

I would like to share a wonderful website with you. It is www.readingrockets.org. This website can be a resource for teachers, librarians, principles, kids, parents and so many more. For teachers there are classroom strategies for teaching reading and ways to help struggling readers. For parents there are free reading guides, newsletters, tips for reading with your child and developing literacy at home. There's even a section devoted to school psychologist and a free tool kit they may download for helping students with reading achievement. You can even watch a video interview with award winning authors. Reading Rockets also hosts several TV shows on reading and education. The schedule and information about each show can be seen on this website as well. This is just an awesome website overflowing with ideas and good information that is sure to get you excited about reading. Check it out!

Erika's Resource Share

I want to share a new find, and that is the website www.storylineonline.net.

On this site, actors and actresses such as Betty White, James Earl Jones, Robert Guillaume, former Vice President Al Gore, and more read aloud some favorite children's books. As they read, the text of the book is shown beneath the video and the illustrations of the books are perused.

Books like Thank You, Mr. Falker, Enemy Pie, Harry the Dirty Dog, Stellaluna and more are read by these excellent readers, who put emotion and enthusiasm into the reading. We all know how vital good read alouds are to inspiring students to read, and this is an excellent way to have a reading center for students where they can hear the book from another passionate reader.

I can also see huge potential for students learning English as a new language. They can, as individuals, see and hear the same story many times, which will build better connections to the text. The books are all picture books, so they have built in support for understanding the story.

Watching Jane Kaczmarek (from Malcom in the Middle fame) nearly choke up with tears as she reads Thank You, Mr. Falker will be all you need to be sold on this site.

Emily's Resource Share (#3)

AudioOwl and Librivox are two sites that offer FREE downloadable audiobooks. You may ask: How can these books be free? Are these legal sites? The answer is yes! These books are free because they are in the public domain, meaning that the intellectual property rights are expired. It is perfectly legal to download the books from these sites onto your Ipod or computer. I prefer AudioOwl because it divides the books into genres, making it much easier to find children's books. Most of the books are displayed with original covers, which are more pleasing to look at than Librivox's book lists. However, the Librivox library is much more extensive.

Here some examples of books you'll find at AudioOwl:

Librivox is really better if there is a specific book or poem you want to find. For example, since it is nearly October, I wanted to look for a recording of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." After I ran a search using the title, I found a few recordings of it. Here is my favorite.

We all know that reading aloud is an enjoyable experience for students, but it also has some great intellectual benefits. Listening levels differ from reading levels in that students' listening levels are usually at least two levels ahead of their independent reading levels. By providing audio books, students can enjoy books that they can not yet read, giving them access to much more literature. Increased listening levels promote vocabulary development as well.

Paige's Book Share: The Dot

In one of my classroom observations for my ET2T program, the teacher was doing a writer's workshop.  She started by reading the story The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds to her students.  From there they proceeded in basic writer's workshop instruction, but I was so enchanted by the book I could not pay attention! This is such a great book for all ages!

Reynolds is both the author and illustrator of this book and his pictures tell so much about the story, as well as his words.  The theme of the book is creativity.  A little girl is convinced she cannot draw so her art teacher tells her to make a dot on the piece of paper.  The little girl does and the next day her dot is in a gold frame above the art teacher's desk.  From there her creatively is sparked because she has confidence.  The story ends with the little girl helping a boy find his creativity, so the ending is a ripple effect.  I think this book does a great job of encouraging children to harness an idea (any idea!) and running with it. 

Kate: Book recommendation #2

If you are looking for a book with a strong, female heroine this is the book for you. I loved Avi as a young reader, and have loved rediscovering him as an adult even more. I taught this book with 6th graders, but I also think it could be used for 5th graders or possibly even advanced 4th graders. It would be a great way to introduce students both to an exciting time period (takes place in 1832) and a unique setting (a cargo ship voyaging from England to the United States). It also provides the opportunity to explore social justice issues regarding classism and is an excellent book for teaching about foreshadowing. To top it off, it is beautifully written, and most of my students (even several boys) said it was their favorite book of the year. A little more about the story:

Charlotte is the daughter of an American businessman. Her family is highly educated and wealthy. They had been living in England for several years but are now returning home to Rhode Island. The rest of the family went ahead of her because her father wanted her to finish out the school year. He arranged passage for her on one of his company's ship, Seahawk, along with two other families who will serve as her chaperones. Her father has instructed her to keep a diary on the voyage and warned her he will be paying special attention to her spelling. She credits the journal for her ability to retell her story (first person narrator) in vivid detail. The story immediately grabs the reader's attention by starting with this shocking statement:

"Not every thirteen year old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty."

As you can imagine, things on the voyage didn't go as planned! I can't say enough good things about this book!!

I am writing to recommend the book Flotsam by David Weisner.

David Weisner is an incredibly talented artist and author who is known for his wordless books. Flotsam, which earned him the Caldecott Medal, is one of his best in my humble opinion. It shows the story of a young boy who discovers a camera washed up on the beach. After developing the film, secrets of the ocean are revealed to him, such as mechanical fish, tiny alien tourists, sea shell cities on the backs of sea turtles, and giant starfish that house islands.

However, his most interesting find is a photo of a girl holding a picture of a boy holding a picture of a girl. As he examines this picture-within-a-picture with his microscope with varying levels of magnification, he finds his way to the black-and-white photo of the camera's orginal owner. Knowing what he has to do, he takes a picture of himself holding the photograph and throws the camera back into the ocean....destined to have more adventures and be discovered by another curious child.

Because this book is wordless, every student can "read" the story, including English Language Learners. It is terrific for writing extensions as well, because you can have your students write the story, either for part or all of the book, and then reread the book with their words. This book is a high interest way to use the strengths of every level of reader to have an experience with literature.

Ben - Book Share #2 9/23/10

Baloney (Henry P.), by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith, is the story of one little alien who was late to class one too many times. His teacher has had it and is threatening life long detention unless he can come up with a good excuse. As his name would suggest, the one he comes up with is full of baloney, but it is a good tale. It all begins with the misplacement of his zimulis.... that's right zimulis. You can gather by the context clues that his zimulis is his pencil. His chase of his pencil leads him past his szkola, and onto a razzo, and leads to him becoming kuningas of a whole planet. A tall tale indeed.

The first reading of this book is great for helping students and teachers remember how hard it can be to learn to read. It puts them in the same situation of a struggling reader or an ELL student. All the words that I discussed above are words from other languages. Scieszka completes the book with a glossary for all the words including which language they come from. He uses everything from Swahili to Latin to Latvian. This entertaining tall tale can provide an interesting lesson.

Jevy Lenderman's Book Share

Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners, is an awesome way to introduce young children to having good manners. This book teaches children about being kind, friendly, honest, and considerate in an extremely fun and light hearted way. It all begins when Mr. Rabbit gets new neighbors which happen to be otters. He is told by a wise owl to “do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you.” Mr. Rabbit and the Otters try to live out these rules and treat each other the way they want to be treated. Kids will also learn how to say phrases such as “please” and “thank you” in other languages like German and French. Kids will love this book because of the silly characters and colorful illustrations. Children will learn about the Golden Rule of treating others the way you want to be treated. This is an excellent book for building a mannerly and encouraging classroom environment with your students. It’s a must read!!!

Paige's Resource Share

I currently spend one day a week in a fourth grade classroom for my ET2T program.  The teacher of this class is so great; he always has really good resources for me to browse through while I am making my lesson for next week etc.  However I wanted something I could look at when I got home so he told me about the International Reading Association website.  It has really great resources for teachers, as well as parents, and good ideas about how to spark new and creative interests with reading in your students.  I like to just spend some time browsing the ideas even if I don't use anything in my lesson.  Read Write Think

Emily Shares Oh Freedom!: Kids Talk About the Civil Rights Movement with the People Who Made It Happen

Oh Freedom! by Casey King and Linda Barrett is an outstanding book to use with a class to understand the dynamics of prejudice and race in the United States. The students in this book interviewed family members, friends, and activists about the Civil Right Movement. The transcripts of all these interviews are included. This book presents information that goes beyond the usual drinking fountain type examples. My children were always shocked to learn about the lack of playground equipment and other school related inequalities.

I usually presented this book during Black History Month in conjunction with reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963. I'd make copies of several interviews and have students practice reenacting them with a partner or small group. Then the groups shared their interview with the class. Some great class discussions about equality sprang out of this exercise. This book would also be a fantastic way to introduce an Oral History Project.

Annie's Book Share

The most popular books in my school are the Olivia books written by Ian Falconer. The Olivia series has 5 books so far, a webpage http://www.oliviathepiglet.com/ , a US Postal Service Stamp and a TV show on Nick Jr. The books are about a mischievous piglet named Olivia, her family, and her common childhood adventures.

I have found these books encourage reluctant readers to begin reading. The students feel like they get to know Olivia and want to read more about her and her adventures. It seems like once they attach to one book character like the cute piglet they are able to move to new characters like Skippy Jon Jones or Fancy Nancy and then onto books like Junie B. Jones and beyond.

Annie's Resource Share

The resource I would like to share is www.librarything.com. I have found this website to be a wonderful resource to quickly recall books you have within your classroom library. You can add tags to each book and search by those tags. If I need to find a good book to model locating main idea I type main idea and it will bring up all the books in my library that I have included as main idea books. I can search for authors, titles, genres, tags or themes. It simplifies finding books within my library. I don’t know what I would do without it!

Vita's Resource Share: 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up

In the introduction to this book, editor Julia Eccleshare of the Guardian includes a wonderful quote by Children's Laureate Michael Rosen, "I think of children's books as not so much for children , but as the filling that goes between the child world and the adult world." This resource contains an extensive collection of book reviews ranging from early folktales and nursery rhymes to the very recent YA fiction from all parts of the world. Its chapters are divided into writing that would appeal to the following age groups, 0 - 3, 3+, 5+, 8+, and 12+. It is filled with many, many classic illustrations. Unfortunately, there are only two indexes: author and illustrator, and book title. However, a fair number of the review pages provide various lists and recommendations. For example, "More Books About Special Needs," or "Other Favorite Eastman Books." This is a book that brings to mind some very warm memories and makes its readers want to create more of those experiences -- to further explore that time between the adult world and the child world.

Vita's Book Share - September 18, 2010

Roald Dahl is a master at engaging young readers (James and the Giant Peach, Esio Trot, Fantastic Mr. Fox, etc.) and this book is no exception. I have read and reread this to children ranging in grades kindergarten through sixth and it has never failed to capture and entertain my audience. This is the type of book in which students anxiously look forward to hearing more -- always a great feeling for a teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the most hilariously revolting, abusive, and mean-spirited people anyone could ever meet. Children are most delighted (disgusted) by the antics of these two characters. For example, Mr. Twit popping out his glass eye and putting it into Mrs. Twit's mug. Quentin Blake's stand up to this narrative and are as equally entertaining.

Jevy Lenderman's Book Share

The Perfect Nest is a hilarious picture book written by Catherine Friend and illustrated by John Manders. This is a great story for children in kindergarten through third grade. The story is about a hungry cat who tries to create the perfect nest to lure a chicken to lay the perfect egg for an omelet that he wants to make. He is very successful as his plan begins to work. Many birds are lured to this nest first a chicken, then a duck, and then a goose. Each animal has a different accent like Spanish, French, and a Southern/country accent. The kids love to hear their teacher with these accents, they will crack up laughing! As each bird lays its egg, the cat realizes they won’t leave. He tries many different ways to get them to leave by telling them there’s a flood, a fire, a wolf, but nothing works. Finally, he tells them there is a wonderful empty nest at the next farm and all of them run off to find the nest. Before the cat knows it the eggs are hatching and out come little babies. He is the first animal they see, so they run to him thinking that he is their mama. Of course now he can’t eat them and he certainly can’t have his omelet. The cat ends up snuggling with the babies in the nest and realizes the nest he made is pretty perfect after all.

This is a picture book I used to use with my middle school students. I think it is appropriate for all ages, but high school students might think it is babyish--they can surprise me though! It is about a family who is celebrating Veterans Day by participating in a tradition that was started in the dining halls of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force after the Vietnam War ended. The mother tells her three daughters about how their Uncle John was a POW in Vietnam; she also tells them about the white table and the significance of all the items placed on it. I use this on Veteran's Day, and afterwards I have my students write letters to veterans thanking them for their service. This provides the opportunity to teach them about the parts of friendly letter. Also, one of the teacher's I taught with previously is a veteran and he used to take them to the VA hospital for me. It is also a great way to introduce symbolism because each item on the white table is a symbol for something. It is a very sweet book and I usually get a little teary eyed when I read it. As I was looking for an image, I also found the below website that had TONS of ideas for ways to use this book, including some cross-curricular. I only skimmed it, but saw a few things I thought were interesting. This book would also be appropriate on Nationa POW/MIA Day, which I just learned is the 3rd Friday in September (tomorrow!). Obviously not a lot of notice, but you could still get it in time for Veteran's Day.

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/america_white_table.php

Kelly-The Report Card by Andrew Clements

One of my current favorite books is The Report Card written by Andrew Clements. Last year was the first time I had heard of this author after seeing several students reading his books. In the story the main character is a young girl named Nora. She plays and speaks with her very best friend in the world, Stephen, all the time. They are in the same class and have been throughout elementary school. As they are riding the bus home Stephen shares his report card with Nora and in return asks her if he could see hers. She finally relents and Stephen is quite surprised at her marks-all Cs and Ds. Once Nora is home she is reminded by her parents that she needs to bring her report card to dinner. She refuses to read her card which frustrates her parents. They look at it while she sleeps and are not only surprised but angry. They decide to speak with Nora's school. While they are meeting, Nora is in the school library with her favorite teacher the librarian Mrs. Bryne. She tells Nora that she knows Nora got those grades on purpose after reviewing her database information. She tells Nora she will keep her secret. In the meantime, Nora's parents and teachers decide to evaluate her for a learning disability and are absolutely confused with the results. Then, one of her teachers figures out Nora's secret that she got those grades on purpose. Even though her parents and teachers are angry, they decide to have Nora evaluated for GT. They all want her to leave to be in a GT program. In the meantime, Nora's peers boycott assessments and school work (anything that receives grades). Nora realizes she doesn't want to leave. She admits that she purposely received those grades as an experient while observing her best friend, Stephen, who struggled in school. She wanted to boost his self-esteem and succeeded in doing so. In the end, Nora decides she wants to stay with her peers. She likes her friends, she likes her school, she likes her teachers, she likes what she is doing in school, and (most importantly) Nora realizes that report cards and grades aren't really that important. I think this is a book that rings true today especially since we have to assess/assess/& assess our students and provides grade after grade. I've always questioned if they are that important. Are grades a true reflection of what we and our students have learned?

Ben - book share 9/15/10

Comfort Snowberger is a young girl whose family life is different than most young kids. Her favorite hobby is writing obituaries, or as she calls them "life notices." She is surrounded by death all the time, but not phased by it. Comfort's family makes their home at the Snowberger Funeral Home. Comfort sees death on a daily basis, but it does not mean anything until two family members die in a short period of time. While having to deal with the deaths of family members, Comfort also has to deal with possibly losing her best friend, and dealing with her embarrassing younger cousin Peach. To add to the tension, there is a bigger flood coming, and Comfort is going to be stuck in the middle of it in a life or death situation.

This book by Deborah Wiles has been a wonderful tool in my classroom. I realized how powerful it was when one of my students lost her father on the very first day of school. This book helped her to understand her feelings and to vocalize them in some way. It is a book that forces us to be empathetic, and helps us to see how important family and friends can be in tough times. Most importantly this book shows us that when death comes visiting, it is not important how someone died, it is important how they lived. It teaches us that life is messy and beautiful all at the same time.

Vita's Book Share, September 15, 2010

Eva Marie Olinski is the new sixth grade teacher at Epiphany Middle School. She returned to teaching after a 10-year absence resulting from an automobile accident. She is a paraplegic and is working to regain her independence and to establish herself as a professional educator. One of her first tasks was to choose a group of four exceptional pupils to represent her grade in the Academic Bowl. E.L. Konigsburg artfully interweaves the relationships among these four very unique students and Mrs. Olinski. This Newbery Award winning book is filled with a variety of themes -- friendship, adjustment, acceptance, etc. -- and characters making it an excellent choice for the classroom.

Annie's Book Share: Hispanic Heritage Month Resources

The following books I feel will be excellent resources for elementary level teachers to use during Hispanic Heritage month (September 15 through October 15).

My favorite book that I will use this year during Hispanic Heritage month is the Pura Belpré Illustrator honor book The Pot That Juan Built written by Nancy Andrew-Coebel, illustrated by David Diaz. This book is a duel text with narrative in the form of a rhyme on one page with an accompanying non-fiction page describing Juan the potter and the process of making traditional Mexican pottery. I really like that this book makes a nonfiction text more appealing to young students with rhyme and repeated text.

The second resource I feel would be an excellent read aloud during Hispanic Heritage month is the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award and a Pura Belpré Author Honor book Doña Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart. This book is an excellent Hispanic folk tale, which tells the story of Flor a giant woman who is kind to everyone in her village and all of the animals. The main topic of the story is how she helps her village when they are terrified of the giant puma. The students will enjoy this story because of the beautiful illustrations and the Hispanic elements in the text.

The third book I enjoyed is especially good for use with students who are children of farm workers because it tells the story of Cesar Chavez, the friend of the farm workers. Additionally it is an excellent resource to share with students about peaceful problem solving and standing up for what you believe in. The book is called ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, we can! By Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, illustrated by David Diaz. This book received both the Pura Belpre illustrator and author honors. It is a beautifully written biography in the form of poems. It describes the entire life of Cesar from birth until death.

Erika's Book Share 9/14/10

A book that I highly recommend and use every year is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

Written in 1961, it is still one of the favorites of my third graders. The main character, Milo, receives a mysterious tollbooth. Milo is a boy who is not happy where he is, has no curiosity, and is always bored. When he drives through the tollbooth in his toy car, he finds himself in a mysterious world and having a mysterious quest. He must reunite King Azaz of Dictionoplois with The Mathmagician of Digitopolis, who are locked in a feud over which is more important...words or numbers.

This book has plays on words, academic vocabulary, and excellent description, which makes it a terrific literary tool. However, and I think more importantly, it has a great message. At the end of his journey, Milo is informed that what he accomplished was an impossible task. He is told that what you can do is usually just a matter of what you will do. This has become my classroom motto.

For all of those quotation gatherers out there...this is a book you'll love to teach.

Emily's Book Share: One Small Blue Bead by Byrd Baylor

One Small Blue Bead by Byrd Baylor, pictures by Ronald Himler

One small blue bead...

A turquoise bead

No larger than

An apple seed...

You might not notice

A thing so small.

You might walk by

And not see it at all (2)

These lines begin the book by asking the reader to consider something small. As the book continues, the reader discovers that something small can mean so much; Something small like the blue bead can connect people from far away places and far away times in friendship. The story takes place during the time of the Mammoth, when people lived in cliffs, and drew paintings on cave walls. An old man wonders to his tribe if there are other men living in other places. He has dreamed of these other men and would like to go in search of them. The men and the women of the tribe forbid him to go because he needs to stay and do his work for the tribe. A young boy "with dreams in his eyes" volunteers to do the old man's work for him so that he can go. The old man leaves on his journey. A year passes with no sign of the man and the tribe wants to move on to better hunting lands. Just as they are about to leave, the boy sees two people in the distance. It is the old man and with him is a young boy. The new boy wears a single blue bead around his neck, which he gives to the boy in friendship. The book ends in present time when a little boy finds the blue bead lying in the grass.

In my fifth grade classroom, I used One Small Blue Bead during the last week of school. I would read the book and give each student a leather bracelet with a single blue bead. I emphasized the line, "I'll wear it day and night. And I'll never feel alone again...the bead reminds me of those others everywhere. It makes me dare wonderful things and my heart sings my good-luck song..." It's such a symbolic way to end the year, especially for my fifth graders who move on to middle school.

I also wanted to share this lesson from The Community Arts Resource Exchange that uses One Small Blue Bead.

Paige's Resource Share

I have chosen to share one of my current professor's blog as a resource.  Her name is Karen Wohlwend and she teaches my T2T class on elementary language arts methods.  Her blog is about new types of literacies taking place in elementary classrooms.  I think this is a great resource because literacy is constantly evolving and kids are using more up to date on the latest forms of literacy (blogs, texting, emails,....) than adults sometimes.  Teaching New Literacies in Elementary Schools

Paige's Book Share

One book I would recommend for third or fourth grader is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.  The story is about a brother and sister who are tired of their boring everyday life and decide to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The brother and sister get involved with an art mystery and the book follows all of the aspects of their adventure.  Great book if you are planning on going to a museum for a field trip.  Originally published in 1967 and won the Newberry Medal for excellence in American's Children's Literature in 1968.  I read this book in fourth grade and continue to see children in third and fourth grade now be excited about this book. 

                                                                                                              

Margaret's Resource: Esme' Codell

http://planetesme.blogspot.com/
Here is a blog by Esme Raji Codell which is devoted to children’s literature. In her memoir Educating Esme, Ms. Codell shared her diary from her first year of teaching. The memoir is both funny and poignant as we read about the joys and difficulties of teaching in a challenging, urban elementary school. More recently, Ms. Codell is writing popular children’s books (check out Sahara Special). This blog is FILLED with suggestions of books from many genres which are nearly guaranteed to entice kids into the world of reading. I also enjoy the section on the bottom right corner entitled “Where I Lurk Lately” which lists many other really useful blogs also about children’s literature.

How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esme' Raji Codell
This book was my first introduction to Codell's work. One of the things that I admire is the way Codell moved from being a teacher, to a librarian, to an overall promoter of children's literature and MOST IMPORTANTLY, turning kids on to reading. This resource is full of specific books that many children, at all ages, will love. The chapters are organized according to genre (sort of). Chapter titles include "The Math and Science of Reading;" "Inside the Gingerbread House: Fairy Tales, Wonder Tales, and Fantasy;" and "Now Playing in a Book Near You: Broadcast and Performance." Check it out for great books and fabulous ways to connect your kids with books.

Margaret's Book: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
So, for the fantasy lovers in this course who've talked about Narnia, Lloyd Alexander, Wrinkle in Time, and others, here's a newer fantasy novel that builds on the best of the classics.

In Graceling, Cashore has created a feudal world with an interesting infusion of magic. Some people in this world are born with a grace which is an extreme, magical talent. The main character’s grace is fighting and killing people. She was fostered to her uncle, the local overlord, who used her as a bully to keep the peasants and farmers in line. The crux of the story begins when she escapes her uncle’s influence and begins to establish her own identity, including how she will use her grace for good, rather than for bullying. I particularly enjoyed this YA novel because of the ways in which the main character works to disrupt the cultural gender stereotypes in her world. While I read this book for my own reading pleasure, not because I can use it in my elementary teaching context, I believe that middle and high school readers would relate to the teen characters in the book. Likewise, adults who enjoy YA fantasy will also enjoy it!