Be the CHANGE you wish to see in the world!: July 2012

Using Children's Literature in the Classroom

One way to use children's literature in the classroom room is simply by reading them a book. Making sure that when reading a book you are excited and use a lot of expression. By reading a book to the class you are automatically setting them up for success. Another way that you could use children's literature in the classroom is by sharing reading with the children. When you use shared reading in the class the children get to use a big book to read. During the reading of this strategy the teacher involves the children in the reading by pointing to pictures and words of the book. Writing with the children the teacher writes while the students tell the teacher what to write and say ideas. When students see the writing process they figure out that what they say can be written on paper. The classroom library should provide the students with independent reading books. Having the students share their reading is a very successful way to get children to read. A lot of students don't want to read what the teacher says they should read because the teacher probably doesn't know what a good book is. If a student reads a book and recommends it to another student then this will encourage other students to want to learn. Having the students use a book recommendation chart could be one way for students to recommend books to others. When children get a one on one reading conference with the teacher it is easier for the teacher to give them feedback that just relates to their reading. Conducting reading conferences helps the teacher monitor the student learning as well as guide the students to effective reading. Having the students share their writing with other students is another effective way to encourage student writing. Some students learn better from their classmates rather than a whole class discussion. Having their peers read and review their writing may increase their writing skills. Engaging children in discussions is a good way to talk about a book. Every student loves to talk to their friends, this way giving the students the opportunity to talk, but instead they are talking about the book. Also having conversations about the book will increase their understanding of the book.

Creating Your Classroom Library

Creating your classroom library is very important, there are many things that you need to take into consideration when creating it. You need to take into consideration the comfort level that students will get when being in your classroom library. Also you need to make sure that it is easy to get in an out of and should not be in a place where students are walking by constantly. Making sure that there are colorful posters and rugs in the library may motivate students to read. Make the library cozy by adding pillows, rugs, and bean bag chairs. Books need to be organized by authors, then the students will have the opportunity to being talking about authors. Using color coated bins are an easy way to organize books by themes, genres, or author. Organizing your books in levels will only create the students to pick books from their level. If the books are organized in a way with authors and themes the students will pick the book that is just right for them. Some categories that you could organize your bins into are pop-up books, number books, authors, genres, class made books, poetry, funny books, girl books, boy books, favorite authors and many many more. If the students have the opportunity to help organize the library this will give them some kind of ownership to the library and they may feel more comfortable going to it.

Importance of Reading

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

I learned in a class that I took in the spring how important reading is. I also figured out why I may be a little behind in my vocabulary and why I had such an issue throughout my schooling. When I was really young I loved to read, but as I got older I hated to read and stopped reading. I think that because I didn't read as much it had an effect on my vocabulary which then effected everything that I did such as tests, homework, and writing papers. When a person reads it is an active mental process and improves your discipline and memory. Reading can improve your vocabulary skills and academic excellence. You can also receive better communication skills and master a language by reading. People who tend to be more creative and have good hand-eye coordination read a lot. I think that if I never stopped loving to read I would never have had a problem taking tests, doing homework, and writing papers. On my papers in high school I always received feedback that said my paper was too wordy, the reason why I make my paper wordy is because I have a small vocabulary and think if I add words it will make the paper better. So all in all I think that reading is extremely important and after reading all my books for my annotated bibliography for this class, I have found my love for reading again

My Favorite Children's Books

Marissa's bookshelf: favorite-chilren-s-books