Welcome!

Welcome to my literature blog! This literature blog is different in that I used technology to respond to all of the books I read. In order to increase the size of the images, you must click on them and a new window will open.

Lesson Plans that Integrate Literacy and Technolgoy

Lesson One: Books to Briefs

The lesson was slightly changed by having students record their design process discussion onto ipods that were placed in the middle of the groups. These discussions were transferred to a podcast where we would ideally have students listen to their discussions and reflect on their ideas. If time permitted, students would have video taped their designs in motion and reflected on those as well. The reflections would include the overall design process and whether or not those designs correlate with the problem presented in the story. 

The book that was read to students.

The materials students were able to use for their designs.

An example of a group's final project: A car that moved by releasing the balloons attached to it, therefore creating a propulsion system. The car could also be converted into a boat!

Lesson Two: Phonemic Awareness

Even though this is written for a first grade classroom, I have witnessed struggling readers in my fourth grade classroom who have difficulty with phonemic awareness. Students use Kidspiration to analyze the phonemes in groups of words. I think this would be an effective lesson for students to complete during a Guided Reading time. 

Lesson Three: Telling My Story: Make a Bio-Cube

This lesson allows students to analyze autobiographic information they read. Students create a "Bio-cube" about the person they read about. This Bio-cube has students find the person's name, time period in which they lived, where they lived, their personal background, personality traits, their significance to society, biggest obstacle they faced, and an important quote said by the person. 

Bio-cube link

Falling Up by: Shel Silverstein

Genre: Poetry-Fiction

I thought this would be a great way to start off my literature blog responses! I read the poetry book "Falling Up" by: Shel Silverstein. I chose a poem about a child who is reflecting about how much his computer can do, but does not seem to understand that a computer cannot write his book for him! This book of poetry is appropriate for any grade level and the hand drawn pictures by Shel Silverstein make reading the text more enjoyable. 

Romare Bearden-Collage of Memories by: Jan Greenberg

Genre: Non-fiction (biography)

This biography about "Romare Bearden" demonstrates the various phases he went through as an artist. The entire book shows several examples of his collage/photomontage art and how each work of art describes reflects his life or events in our society. I chose to create a Voicethread for this response. In this Voicethread, I am reading an excerpt from the book about how he used photographs to create photomontages in order to make a social statement about the civil rights movement. 

Romare Bearden Excerpt

Jouanah-A Hmong Cinderella Adapted by: Jewell Reinhart Coburn with Tzexa Cherta Lee

Genre: Multicultural Literature

"Jouanah" is the Hmong version of the traditional Cinderella story. I decided to create a graphic organizer using "Kidspiration" which compares the two versions of this world renowned tale. 

Diary of a Worm by: Doreen Cronin

Genre: Fiction

In this book, a young worm tells about his daily encounters and what it is like to be a worm in his diary. It is an extremely comical read because the worm is given human characteristics. For my response, I wrote three entries of what a diary of a bird might look like. 

The King's Chessboard by: David Birch

Genre: Multicultural Literature


This book is a great way to incorporate literature and mathematics into the same lesson. For my response, I had to first figure out the the wise man's formula in the book: each day the grains of rice were multiplied by two. I then created an Excel file and listed 1-64 in the first column for the number of squares in a chessboard. I then inserted the formula (SUM(B1*2)= in B2 and dragged the formula to the last number. In the program Comic Life, I created 64 individual squares and filled in every other square with black so that I could create a "chessboard". For each square I created a text box and wrote in each of the calculations. Through this activity, I learned more about the program Excel and the mathematical formula used in the book. It also made the book more meaningful for me since I could see how clever the wise man's plan was (he received ALOT of rice in the end!)

Volcanoes and Earthquakes by: Robin Kerrod

Genre: Non-fiction

I think it is important to have books that are about all the subject areas in a classroom library. I chose this book to incorporate the subject of Science. In my response, I categorized the different types of volcanic rocks that were discussed in the book. I found six pictures of each rock and used the information found in the book to describe them. 

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by: Laura Joffe Numeroff

Genre: Fiction

Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers and Swirly Stars by: Brad Bucks and Joan Holub

Genre: Non-fiction  (Biography)

Las Cartas de Alain by: Enrique Perez Dias

Genre: International Literature

Chapter Book

In the article we read in class about "Book Floods" I learned that a classroom library should contain books that are in the language of ESL students in the class. It is important that ESL students continue to become literate in their first language while they are learning a second. It also instills confidence in students that their language is appreciated and builds classroom community since other students witness that literature from their peers' culture are incorporated in the library. 

I read a book in Spanish called "Las Cartas de Alain". It is about a boy named Arturo who receives letters from his friend Alain. Arturo has not seen his friend Alain in over a year since he left with his family from Cuba to the United States. The reader learns in the book that his friend Alain passed away during his dangerous oceanic journey and that the letters Arturo believes to be real are in his imagination. 

I found a website that helps students learn how to construct letters and I showed the step by step instructions below. In order to write the letter I had to research the time period of the Cuban revolution and look up a map to find a city in Cuba that is near the ocean (where this story takes place). I translated one of the letters into English which could be an activity for a more advanced ESL student, but I think it would also be effective if the student wrote their letter in Spanish just so they can grasp the concept of writing letters. 

The Snowy Day by: Ezra Jack Keats

Genre: Fiction

In this response, I took a digital photograph of my favorite page in the book "Snowy Day". I then scanned a picture of myself as a child and cropped the photo to fit the head of the main character in the story. I rewrote the lines in this page so that it fit my gender as well.

I think this would be a great activity for students because the book talks about different aspects of a "Snowy Day". Children have their own favorite parts of a snowy day and could choose their favorite part of the book which exemplifies that aspect. They could then use their photo and incorporate it into their page which further connects them to the story. It is important to remember that not all students in the class will have had experience with snow. Therefore, other students can describe their personal experiences for these students in order build onto their background knowledge.

Love and Roast Chicken-A Trickster Tale from the Andes Mountains by: Barbara Knutson

Genre: Folk Literature

Drummer Hoff by: Barbara Emberly

Genre: Folk Literature

In this post, I recorded myself reading the book "Drummer Hoff". As each new character is presented they bring in another part to help shoot the cannon (i.e. a rammer). When each new object is mentioned, I placed a sound effect using the program iMovie. Each object has its own sound effect. As the reading progresses, the sounds build on one another which demonstrates the structure of the book. At the end, I used all of the sound effects to create a huge explosion! I uploaded this recording on Voicethread. 

Drummer Hoff Reading

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by: Jacqueline Davies

Genre: Non-fiction (biography)

For this response, I chose to write a Biopoem that described the famous John James Audubon. I then typed my poem using PowerPoint. 

Seesaw Girl by: Linda Sue Park

Genre: Traditional Literature

Chapter Book

I created an Audio Book for "Seesaw Girl". I read Chapter One of the book and recorded my voice by using the program Garage Band. I recorded myself playing the guitar to create a sound that indicates when it is time to turn the page. I read the book in a way that emphasized key concepts in the book (i.e. emphasizing women's roles in society) to create a more meaningful experience for the listener. I realized I can create my own Audio Books for struggling readers. I could even have students create Audio Books for their peers! 

Seesaw Girl Audio Book

The Slave Dancer by: Paula Fox

Genre: Historical Fiction

Chapter Book

For this post I used the website "http://bighugelabs.com/flickr" to create collages of the time period described in the book. I got the idea of using collages to exemplify social injustice from the book "Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories". By creating a collage that makes images look like modern day pictures, it shows that what was described in the book was real and not solely written for a novel.  I think it would be effective for students to choose aspects of this novel that they found most impacting for them. The main character Jessie Bollier is thirteen years old, an age not too distant for students in the upper Elementary grades. What he experiences on the slave ship might prove to be emotionally tolling for some students and creating a visual reflection would be another outlet in which to reflect. 

 

Robot Dreams by: Sara Varnon

Genre: Science Fiction

Type of Book: Graphic Novel

In this graphic novel, the life and dreams of a robot are depicted solely through pictures. For the response, I chose a picture of the book and added in dialogue that I think the characters might say. 

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by: Lois Lensky

Genre: Historical Fiction

Chapter Book

Mary Jemison's life drastically changes after being kidnapped by the Seneca indians. I used pictures to describe the physical aspects of her life that changed prior and post to her capture.