*~*Final Reflection*~*

I have really enjoyed this course. I really enjoyed being able to pick different children's picture books and novels to read each week to help figure out what we think is a good book for children in the classroom or even at home. I really liked doing the paired reading. I thought it helped show different perspectives in a serious situation as well as showing a way we could teach reading in the classroom. I liked how we had to pick the controversial books as well as poetry picture books because it gave us another way to look at picture books with children and different things we can study with them. I really enjoyed reading the different chapter books that were required for the course as well as getting to pick a different chapter book per week. Getting to read and respond to children's literature has been very insightful and helped me think of how I am going to put reading into my classroom and different topics and things I will focus on. I really enjoyed the one night in class when the current teachers came to discuss how they've put reading in their classrooms and it really helped me think of how I want to read in my class.
This class has helped me remember books I read as a kid and think of why I enjoyed them. I got to go back and re-read books that I had read before and think of ways I could incorporate my experiences in teaching them in my future class. This class has helped me think deeper into reading children's books and showing my future students ways to look deeper into story books.
I am excited to complete the text set because it will give me an even deeper view into selecting children's books, different topics, and what makes a 'good' book.
I have enjoyed this class and gotten a lot out of it~ Thank you.*

Marvelous Math A Book of Poems

Marvelous Math a Book of Poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Karen Barbour. This book of selected poems is geared towards children ages 5 and up. I think this makes sense because I am unsure if kids really understand what math is before they are 5. But, at the same time parents could read this to younger children when learning about numbers and colors. I think they could use this with colors because each page has illustrations throughout the page that are filled with bright colors that catch the eye. I really enjoyed reading each of these poems. I love math and numbers so I thought that have a book full of math poems was great! This book would be great to use in a classroom when discussing that different places we see numbers and use numbers every day. I think that reading this book as a read aloud may help break the ice when discussing numbers. This would be a good idea because for a lot of kids, math is tricky, and saying 'its math time' may turn them away. But, if you start with a story it may help ease them in to wanting to learn more about numbers. Although I liked many of the poems in this book, I liked 'Time Passes' by Ilo Orleans a lot.

"Sixty seconds
Pass in a minute.
Sixty minutes
Pass in an hour.
Twenty-four hours
Pass in a day -
And that's how TIME
keeps passing away!"

I like this poem because it relates time, something we use and discuss daily, to math and numbers and may help begin a discussion. I enjoyed the color, illustrations, and poems used throughout this book and would recommend people read it in their classroom as well as extra stories read at home.

I Invited a Dragon to Dinner and Other Poems to Make You Laugh Out Loud

I Invited a Dragon to Dinner and Other Poems to Make You Laugh Out Loud illustrated by Chris L DeMarest is a great picture book of collected poems written by people who were contestants in a nationwide contest to find the best new writers of verse for children. These poems, I thought were funny, and I think that students would too. The collection of poems is geared towards children ages 3-7 but I think that older students could read them too and get something of meaning out of them. I think that these poems could be read in a classroom as a read aloud, when discussing poetry or different kinds of writing, or even when trying to show reading for meaning to students.
One poem I really enjoyed was entitled “Time Out” by Wendi Silvano.

The shoe I hit my sister with was rubbery and soft.
And the chewed-up crackers on the floor went spraying when I coughed.
I know t he couch is smelly, but that’s just the way with trout.
Could someone please explain to me… why am I in time out?
There’s good reason why the kitchen wall is splattered with red paint.
And why the blender’s broken…I cant always be a saint.
And if you’ll let me I’ll explain what this hole is all about.
But could someone please explain to me… why am I in time out?
I did put glue in Father’s show, but try to understand.
The project I was working on was something truly grand.
And midnight’s not so bad an hour to scream and yell and shout.
Could someone please explain to me…why am I in time out/
So I shared Mom’s hairbrush with the dog. Isn't sharing good?
And I cut Dads tie down to his size just as any good kid would.
I try to be the best I can, but it never does work out.
Could someone PLEASE explain to me…why am I in time out?

I think all of the poems throughout this book are well written and really good. I think that they could be read in a class to also help explain things to kids, for example maybe discuss why the things this kid did throughout this poem caused him to be in time out.
I enjoyed the pictures drawn throughout the book because they help explain the poems in more detail in a visual way and I think that helps kids learn and get more meaning out of their reading.

Through Our Eyes Poems and Pictures about Growing Up

Through Our Eyes Poems and Pictures about Growing Up is a book of selected poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and photographs taken by Jeffrey Dunn. I really enjoyed reading this poetry picture book because it shows a lot of insight into what children think and what happens with them growing up. The poems are about children's thoughts, hopes, observations, and dreams. They show different backgrounds children have while growing up. I really enjoyed reading the different poems because it made me think of things I thought or that I went through growing up that were either different or similar to things discussed in the poems. I also really enjoyed the illustrations because they were photographs of children that helped bring out meaning in each of the poems.

One poem I really enjoyed reading is "The New Kid on the Block" by Jack Prelutsky:

There's a new kid on the block,
and boy, that kid is tough,
that new kid punches hard,
that new kid plays real rough,
that new kid's big and strong,
with muscles everywhere,
that new kid tweaked my arm,
that new kid pulled my hair.
That new kid likes to fight,
and picks on all the guys,
that new kid scares me some,
(that new kid's twice my size),
that new kid stomped my toes,
that new kid swiped my ball,
that new kid's really bad,
I don't care for her at all.

I thought this poem was very descriptive and that student that wrote it did a great job. It made me think of when I was growing up and a new kid would come to school, or even when I had to be the new kid and how I felt towards the new kid or towards others when I was the new kid. I think this book would be great to share in a classroom when discussing different types of writing, a poetry unit, and even just as a read aloud!

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Jessie Hartland is a fun book of poems that can be read in any classroom and at home. The poems throughout the book are geared towards children ages 7 - 9. They are poems about school that have two voices being read. I think these poems are great because they show different ways to read poems, with two voices. This means that these poems are meant to be read aloud, which I think would make a good topic of discussion in a classroom. By reading these poems in class would bring up other topics, as well as different interpretations and perspectives that students get while the poems are being read aloud and they are listening or if they are the ones reading them. I thought that the illustrations and color used throughout the poems were wonderful. They are drawn in a way that look like a little kid may have drawn them. The pages also use conversation bubbles which I thought helped link the text to the pictures. I really liked this book of poems and I think that other people would too and that students would enjoy reading it in the classroom as well as at home with the family.

What A Day It Was At School

What A Day It Was At School! by Jack Prelutsky is a fun picture book with great illustrations by Doug Cushman. Each page of the book is a different poem about things that happen, may happen, or thoughts students may have throughout ones day at school. These poems are titled: My Backpack Weighs a Thousand Pounds, I tried to Do My Homework, We're Shaking Maracas, We Had a Field trip Yesterday, I Wish I'd Studied Harder, A Classmate Named Tim, I Made a Noise This Morning, It's Library Time, In the Cafeteria, I know How to Add, A Man Named Mister Hoobybatch, I'm off to the Infirmary, I'm Learning Our History, I Drew a Yellow Unicorn, Show-and-Tell, Teacher's Pet, and I have to Write a Poem for Class. I really enjoyed reading through each poem throughout the book. The poems reminded me of when I was in school and things that went through my day. I think that the pictures throughout the books helped explain the poems well. They were very detailed and showed a lot of bright color on each day. I thought they did a great job describing or showing an image of the poem. I think that students would like to read this and that teachers would like to read this in their classroom because it would show how they can relate to what they read.

Love That Dog

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is a fun novel to read. It is written as a journal entry of a student named Jack. I thought it was a great book; you can tell that he is writing responses from comments from his teacher, Miss Stretchberry, throughout the story. Jack writes his entries so you can get a feel of what the teach writes. I think this is a good book to have students read because through his journal entries you can see that poems do not have to rhyme they can be just simple words written or typed on a page. This story shows Jack getting more and more confident in his writing throughout the story. I really enjoyed reading this quick read and feel that students would like to read it too. I think they could learn a lot from reading it about their writing, reading, or even observation of others writings.