100th Day Worries by Margery Cuyler

I really enjoyed reading this book to the class for my read aloud! I thought that it was a good one to read because it is so full of different craft lesson and lesson plan ideas to use in the classroom. I also really liked the underlying theme of support from the family throughout the story. Overall just a cute little story. I hope the rest of the class enjoyed this book as much as I did!

Book Review: Los Gatos Black On Halloween by Marisa Montes

My book review is posted on Barnes and Noble.com for this book.

Upside Down and Backwards by Diane Gonzales Bertrand

I think this book would be a fun and adventurous read for children in the upper elementary grades. The stories all had funny little lessons to learn and think about that I think kids would enjoy.

I particularly liked the story "Long Live the Queen". A girl in the class gets teased for coming prepared for her class project. In the end, she gets rewarded for it and the students teasing her feel bad. I think there is a lot more teasing and ridiculing that happens in the classroom that sometimes teachers aren't aware of. It just makes me more aware that that is going to happen and I will have to remember to look out for my students' best interest all the time.

The story "Blue Ribbon" was another one I liked. I liked that it taught about children wanting to please their parents. I think that occurs much more than we think and kids will go out of their way just to gain a little bit of their parents attention. In the end the child learns his lesson about lying to his parents. I think as a teacher I will learn that my students really crave my attention and helping them out and being there for them in the classroom will be a really rewarding experience. Also, teaching will just be that extra bit of attention that kids recieve during their day that could impact them greatly.

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman

This book is a poem about a little boy that dreams of becoming a great astronomer one day. After he learns about an astronomer, he begins to dream about what it would be like if he became one as well. This book does not have many words, but the ones that are there really let children use their imagination. I have read other poems by Walt Whitman and I really appreciate them. It is a book about dreaming big and going after those dreams. The illustrations are really neat and take up the entire page. Overall I think that any child or adult could benefit from reading this story as it applies to all ages.

Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes

I really enjoyed that this book was written like a poem. Incorporating spanish with english helps to introduce children to a different language and gets them excited about it. The illustrations are also amazing and I think it really lets kids use their imagination. I will say that I think the younger children might get scared reading this book so it may not be a good idea for kindergarten and 1st grade, but the older children would really enjoy it. I also like that in the end the monsters are scared by the children, it adds a fun twist.

I Love Saturdays y Domingos by Alma Flor Ada

This book has a great multicultural theme. It teaches children to learn to incorporate Spanish with english, which is so important in our school systems today. The book also has a great message about family. The girl in the story looks forward to seeing her grandparents every weekend which gives children a good message about staying close to the ones you love. It is inportant to recognize other cultures in the classroom as well as embrace these cultures. This book gives both the students and the teacher the chance to learn more about the Hispanic culture in general. I enjoyed this positive story.

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

This book is about a little girl from Korea named Unhei that comes to a new school. Her name is different than the other children and they have trouble pronouncing it, so they make a jar full of new names for her to choose from. This hurts her feelings and makes her feel like an outsider compared to everyone else. I liked the way the author described the rain comparing it to Unhei, saying "It's the same rain, but in a different place." Unhei doesn't understand why her name is so hard for the other kids to accept.
I really liked that Unehi's new friend Joey. He made the effort to try and learn Unhei's name. It shows true friendship and consideration for another person's heritage. This was a cute book with a good message and I really enjoyed the illustrations as well.

My Name is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada

I think that the author did a great job describing Maria's emotions and thoughts in this book. It was easy to see the hurt that Maria felt being called by another name. In the story when Maria is called "Mary" by her teacher, she feels a loss of pride in herself and her family. She even acts differently around her new friends because of it. The author made it easy to understand how this character changed each time she was called by her new name at school by her teacher.

However, the ending of the book really was neat because it showed the character of Maria's teacher. She really read Maria's essay and was considerate of her feelings about her name. The fact that she let Maria sing made both Maria and her parents happy and it ended the story on a good note.

Each person's name is important and it is important to recognize and be considerate of that. That is what I learned from reading this book. =)

My first blog!

This is my first blog on this site. I am making a blog for my Language Arts class to share with the class, so here it is! I will post more later.