Jennie’s Comments (group member since Nov 03, 2011)

Jennie’s comments from the http://www.EDUG573Fall2011 group.

The Trip by Ezra Jack Keats

This book is about a child who moves to a new town and school. He desparately misses his friends at his old school, but eventually finds his place and friends in his new home/school. He builds a diarama of his old home to remind him of where he once lived.

This book could be used to show students how to build a diarama. It could also be used as a social story for a new student in your classroom to help them understand that anxiety or sadness about moving is perfectly normal. It could also serve as a discussion starter to help other students in the class welcome a new student.

A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats

This book is about a boy who writes invitations to a birthday party, and decides to write one to a girl. He worries that he will be made fun of by his friends for inviting a girl to his party.

Not only could this book be used as a social story to illustrate acceptance between a boy and his friends, it could also be used as a springboard to a writing activity. Students could write an invitation to their own birthday party or discuss the difference between a letter and an invitation.

The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup

Yet another Gingerbread book.. I had no idea there were so many. There are multiple men in this book and they are about to be fed to Santa Claus. They escape yet again, and become pirates on a little ship that becomes the little boys gift.

This is another good book to use to compare and contrast versions of the story, and I think after reading this many Gingerbread books, students may find it fun to write their own version of the gingerbread man!

Library Gingerbread Man by Dotti Enderle

This book is about a gingerbread boy that escapes from a book in the library. He runs from various characters in the different parts of the library. The Librarian finally saves him and shuts him back in the book.

This is a great book to use for teaching children about the parts/organization of the library.

The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray

This book is so funny. I am addicted to the gingerbread man. He thinks he got lost from his class and is running through the school trying to find them and loses a toe in the process. He does finally find them at the end not the typical gingerbread story,.

We are going to use this book along with some of the others we have read and collect data and make a graph about which book we enjoyed the most. The students will write sentences about the data they collected. I think this one might be a favorite.

The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Ernst

This book is about the Gingerbread boy's younger sister, also baked by a little old woman and a little old man.

I found this book when looking for different versions of the gingerbread man for my gingerbread unit. The girls in my class liked this one a lot. They were bothered that the other two stories we read were boys, so it fit perfectly. They will be decorating their gingerbread "people" like this.

The gingerbread man by Jim Aylesworth

This book took on new meaning after reading the gingerbread baby. They are not the same, The story is more traditional, and the gingerbread boy runs from all the animals. I love the repetitive text.

I will use this book as a link to a shared writing activity, Each student will finish the sentence I ran from a ________. We will read the chart together to reinforce the sight word recognition of the words in the sentence. Then the students get to take the sentence home.

The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

I have read many of Jan Brett's books, but this is the first time on this one. It is really cute, and the reader has to use some reasoning skills to figure out what happened to the gingerbread baby at the end

This book became a springboard for many other lessons in my classroom, including building our own gingerbread houses. My students are thinking of ideas for their own gingerbread thematic unit!

Junie B. Jones and the stinky smelly bus by Barbara Park

This book is so funny, It has a lot of humor that goes over the students heads, but it makes it a fun read aloud for a classroom. Junie B. does everything children think of doing or saying but know better not to do. She has the whole town looking for her when she hides in the supply closet.

Not only can children identify with how Junie feels, it also helps grown ups see the world through a child's eyes. I used this for a read aloud also, but there were a lot of points for discussion as far as how to express your feelings and how to tell grown ups you have a problem.

Horrible Harry by Suzy Kline

This book was about an ornery boy who gets himself into trouble, even though he and his best friend get upset with each other they remain friends. Harry makes everyone laugh.

I used this book as a read aloud in my classroom, it really gets the boys interested in chapter books. They want me to read another!

The Box Car Children

This book seems much shorter than the original chapter books, It would be interesting to read both versions and compare. There was a lot to tell in the illustrations, you did have to read the pictures to find out more about the characters actions.

I actually used this book with my daughter. She is a very good reader, but reluctant to read chapter books. I had her read it to get her interested in the series, and it worked! She also took an accellerated reader test and passed it. Not sure how I feel about that. does it mean the graphic novel was well written, or AR is questionable? I will encourage her to read more of these however. Reading and comprehending are good regardless of the number of pictures in the book!

Barack by Jonah Winter

This is a biography of Barack Obama in picture book format. It tells of his difficult life and how he overcame many hardships to become our president.

This book is a very good read aloud for learning about our current president, but it also could be used for multiculturalism as well as striving to achieve your dreams.

Abe's Honest Words by Doreen Rappaport
This is a biography of Abraham Lincoln that is in picture book form. It tells of his hard transient life as a boy and how he became our president.

This is great for teaching students about the life of Lincoln and his accomplishments. It would be useful as a research tool for writing about his life.

The Rough Faced Girl by Rafe Martin

This is a Native American Cinderella story. It puts a lot of emphasis on the good in people's hearts. The rough faced girl who has been burned by the fire because her evil sisters force her to keep it burining as a chore marries the "invisible being" when she is the only girl who can "see" him.

This book is great for a social story about appearances. It is clear in the story that appearance gets you nothing, and the good in your heart is what makes you beautiful. My students thought this book looked scary, but after reading it they loved it!

Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola
This book is Hillarious. Strega Nona has a magic pasta pot that she warns Big Anthony not to touch, of course he does not listen. He uses the pot without permission, and past ends up everywhere!

This is a great book for teaching following directions, and consequences for your actions. Students could discuss classroom do's and dont's and the consequences or problems that could be caused if they do not follow them.

Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm by Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly

This graphic novel is a memoir of rap icon Percy Carey. It shows the dark and violent side of this type of career.

The book could be used to illustrate how someone who gets mixed up in bad social situations doesn't have to stay there, they can turn their life around.

Shout! by Brod Bagert
This is an awesome collection of poems focused directly on school. It encompassess science and social studies concepts as well as classroom activities such as playtime. Many of the poems Rhyme.

This book could easily be used as a read aloud for time filler, to reinforce rhyming words. A poem could be found in here to go along with many classroom themes.

Blackberry Ink by Eve Merriam
This is a picture book/poetry collection. The text is simple appropriate for K-2 level. The poems have repetitive text the main ideas of the poems cover concepts taught such weather, seasons, lunch, holidays etc.

This would be a great book for K-1 to use as choral reading, the predictable text could be used to reinforce high frequency words, and rhyming.

It's Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall
This book goes hand in hand with the Apple Pie Tree. It also does the life cycle of a pumpkin and the text is similar to the apple pie tree.

This book is also a great anchor book for your pumpkin theme. You can plant or grow pumpkins, paint pumpkins similar to the illustrations, label the parts of a pumpkin on a diagram etc.

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
This book goes through the life cycle of an apple tree. It begins with a bare tree in winter and goes all the way through to the making of an apple pie. The illustrations tell the story as well as reading the words.

This book is perfect for a unit on apples. The there are so many concepts that can be linked to it. It goes through the seasons, life cycle, the illustrations are collage so students could create their own example as an art project. You could even do math and bake a pie.