Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

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

Monday, February 16, 2009

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. 

















Friday, February 13, 2009

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

Monday, February 9, 2009

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. 





 



Friday, February 6, 2009

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. 

Monday, February 2, 2009

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.