Loray's comments (member since Aug 29, 2008)

Loray's comments from the Children's Literature Awards, LLED Fall 08 group.

Dear Family of Mr. Martin,
I am writing to you as a pre-service teacher from LLED program at The Pennsylvania State University, Altoona Campus. We have published awards for our 402 Literacy Class. My award was named The Luc and Nate ABC Award, after the two most important men in my life, my 6 and 9-year-old boys. I always found when I read to them even as babies and toddlers, ABC books seemed to be the most engaging for them. These books are always very colorful to grab even the youngest of babies’ attention. This is the most basic way of introducing language to children and I felt that this genre needed to be celebrated.
Cherina Strait, one of the pre-service teachers in our LLED block, chose the book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as her favorite ABC book and nominated it for the award. Cherina stated, “This is simply the best ABC book of all time. This story features the alphabet races up to the top of a single coconut tree. When the tree cannot hold another letter, the alphabet comes tumbling down. This book lists the alphabet, not once, but twice in the story. The author uses fun rhymes and silly illustration to entertain children. Students will fall in love with this text and learn the alphabet without even realizing it. This is a must read for all classrooms and a wonderful book to introduce to children.” Her passion for the book has convinced me that it is the best all around choice to win my award. The fact that my children dance around the house singing a song that they made up because of this book helped a little too!!!

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for making such a wonderful contribution to libraries, classrooms, and homes across the world. I look forward to incorporating as many of these books as possible into my classroom, their educational value will be priceless.

Sincerely,


Loray Greene

Zoom! Robert Munsch

Billy's Bucket

Annie and the Old one

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Hero Revealed (Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy Series #1)

One Handed Catch

Stone Soup

Where's God When I am Scared

Charles Hoole, a 17th century Schoolmaster in London, states that “ The usual way to begin with a child, when he is first brought to schoole, is to teach him to know his letters in the Horn-Book, where he is made to run over all of the letters in the Alphabet or Christ-cross-row, both forwards and backwards, until he can tel any one of them, which is pointed at.”
Although the method of teaching the alphabet from Hoole’s time period is quite outdated, the thought behind the importance of the alphabet is timeless. In today’s ABC learning books there is so much more to learn.
The basis of every language is some form of an alphabet. Across the board, country-to-country and culture-to-culture, these books take on many different forms. All of them teach a basic fundamental element, the beginning of reading. These books do not only teach the ABC’s. Many different topics can be explored through an ABC book. Introductions to different cultures, religions, and new languages (which is supported through great illustrations) can occur while reading theses books. Students can also learn about any subject that they are studying. History facts as well as Math and Science terms can all be incorporated into this book form. I feel this is probably the best genre of book to cross all boundaries, teach everybody something and have no limits on its reach. So I pose to you…what is the best ABC book out there?

Please submit your nominations by October 13th.