This weeks assignment was to read for 4 hours from any children’s books we wanted. I chose lots of books this week but below I have chose my top 10 favorites to share with you guys.

Daisy’s Crazy Thanksgiving by Margery Cuyler

This book is so cute. The illustrations aren’t my favorite though. They just seem a little outdated and sometimes oddly placed. The book itself is really good though! Shows people just how crazy thanksgiving can be

The Feet in the gyy by Teri Daniels

I love how this book shows a job in the school system that many people don’t think of. The illustrations are super cute as well! Really colorful and creative! This book would be great for k-2^nd I feel like

Another Brother by Matthew Cordell

OMG I love this book. I grabbed it thinking it just looked like a cute book but turns out its actually really good! This book is about a family of sheep, the oldest brother gets annoyed with all of his siblings copying him but when they stop he realizes how lonely he really is. Then one day he gets a baby sister and has someone knew to follow him around

Pirate Pete by Kim Kennedy

This book is about a pirate who gets side tracked pretty easily. He is constantly getting distracted looking for other treasures instead of focusing on his end goal. The book is super cute and would be a fun read for any age group though.

I Look like a girl by Sheila Hamanaka

This book really goes into the mind of a child. It kind of gives you a sense of what it is like when a child is day dreaming. How you may see one thing but to the its something completely different.

Big Bad Baby by Bruce Hale

This book is just super cute and I love it haha It’s a story that basically talks about being a bad baby and how nothing can stop it except for mom. Super good read to just give your class a nice laugh.

The Christmas Humbugs by Colleen Monroe

Oh this book is just to cute. I love the new little twist on Christmas books. Instead of spreading Christmas cheer these little bugs try to test if you have any by pulling pranks and making a mess. Such cute book for Christmas time

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

I love this book. I remember reading it as a child while I was sitting on my grandmas lap. The illustrations are great and so is the story. It’s a good story about friendship and how sometimes we may not like to share things but that’s what friends do.

The Wizard of OZ by Elodie Coudray and Anoux Filippini

I remember hearing the Wizard of Oz story all the time as a kid. It was one of my favorite books ever. This book is a nice little twist on the original story. The illustrations are cute as well. Kind of a layout of different colors.

I love you too by Ziggy Marley

What a cute book. This book would be so perfect for a parent to read to a younger child. I would say anywhere from the age of 1-5. It’s a very simple book but I think any younger child would love it.

My entire life i’ve been told; read this book, read this many hours, read this genre…I could go on forever about all the reading restrictions i’ve had throughout the years. I was one of the crazy kids who actually enjoyed reading but I know so many people who think they hate reading when in reality they hate being told what to read. There are so many kids out there that don’t realize that they like to read. Reading is about find a book that you enjoy not reading some book someone else wants you to read.

Donalyn Miller’s article simply amazing. I love the way she completely changes the way children have to read in her classroom. She gives them the free will they want to be able to make their own decisions. She doesn’t force anyone to read anything they don’t want and by doing that she is creating kids who actually want to read and enjoy doing it. I truly admire how she took this step and really went into uncharted waters with it.

Yes she makes her students read in their free time but she doesn’t dictate what they read. She wants want to help them stimulate the mind. I also like that she has free time reading, like in between lessons and then she also blocks out a period of time for her to read to the class as well. This gives the students a little bit of time to settle down and relax I feel like.

When I start having a classroom and start my teaching profession I aspire to be like her. I want a classroom where my children enjoy to read and have fun with it. I plan to use her reading during free time idea. Kind of a nice way to keep the kids focused instead of being a distraction. I also am going to implement her idea of blocking out a time to read each day. I will probably use it as a way to wind down at the end of the day though. It’ll be a good way for the student to relax before they go home for the day.

I’ve read many books since I was a kid and so I decided for my meme of the week from now on I am going to try doing my Top Ten Tuesday. For my Top Ten Tuesday this week I am talking about my favorite books from when I was a child.

1. Oh the places you’ll go by Doctor Seuss

• This book was always one of my favorites as a child. I loved reading it because Dr.Seuss was always good about making things rhyme. It just was one of my favorite go to books.
  

2. If you give a mouse a cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff

• This was one of those books that always made me laugh as a child. My grandma and I would always sit in her big comfy chair and she would read this book to me as she rubbed my back. It’s just one of those perfect childhood memories

3. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

• This book was so sad when I was younger, the little bat that gets lost and loses her mother but then eventually finds her again. It’s a sad beginning that turns into a happy ending 

4. Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann & Elizabeth Kann

• Ok come on what girl wouldn’t love this book? It’s a book all about being pink. 

5. The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle

• I related this book so well as a kid. I love to eat and so finding a book about how much caterpillar can eat was just great for me!

6. The Berenstein Bears series by Stan and Jan Berenstein

• This series was one of my absolute favorites! It always gave me a good laugh and it reminded me of my family. Kind of crazy but family always comes first in the end 

7. Little Critter stories by Mercer Mayer

• This series is where I learned most of my manners and things like that. I mean these books were so good about having a book for everyday problems and that just fit the situation perfectly

8. Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day by Judith Viorst

• This was the book that I kind of realized that yea whatever your situation is may be bad but it could always be worse

9. The magic school bus series by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

• You knew you were going to have a good day if your teacher got out a new magic school bus book. Little did you know that you were actually learning while listening to such a good story 

10. The Magic Tree house series by Mary Pope Osborne

• The Magic Tree house books were my escape in 4th grade. These books were where I went when I wanted to get away from anything in life and just go on an adventure

 

 

This week for our big assignment we were suppose to read 30 Caldecotts books. When starting out I was a little nervous. 30 books sounds like a lot! But as soon as I got started I just loved this assignment. I’ve made a list of 12 of the books that I read and had a little bit about what I loved most about that book

Grand Canyon written and illustrated by Jason Chin

This books illustration is phenomenal. I love the colors and different designs used to create all the detailed work in this book. The book itself if great as well. It is informational while at the same time being fun and interesting to look at. I would recommend this to any teacher who is talking about animals, or some type of ecosystem.

Blackout by john rocco

The illustrations in this book are great, the use of lines and the blue shades really made this book seem like it was night time. I would suggest reading it to a younger age group because it is a very simple book though.

Big cat little cat by Elisha Cooper

The pictures in this book are very simple but I think it flows with the book really well since the book itself is a simple book. It’s a good book if you are teaching kids to be a role model or about a life cycle.

My friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

OMG this book is so cute and I love the colors used for the pictures. Its very simple so kids could easily follow it but I also love that you have to turn it on one part of it to see the whole picture. Just mixes things up a bit so its not like every other book.

The noisy paint box by Barb Rosenstock

This book is just wonderful. The way she uses different things like words to make shapes and other objects is just amazing. The colors and the way art is described in this book is great. Truly a great book to read to any art class or any class at all to show them that just because something is different doesn’t mean something is wrong

A different pond by Bao Phi

I love the illustrations in this book, the way the people are drawn and illustrated is beautiful. They even captured the fathers goofy teeth as mentioned in the book. It’s kind of a different story about a Vietnam family just trying to survive but I think the meaning and story behind it make this book a good one for a classroom.

The lion and the mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Even though this book doesn’t really have many words, more of just sounds the illustrations are beautifully done and detailed. The detail used to create the look of the grass and the fur of the mouse is just amazing. Very beautifully done.

A ball for daisy by Chris Raschka

I love the use of watercolor in this book. Once again not one that has any words but sometimes these kinds of books are the best for younger kids to just be able to look at. It makes their brains think of the story and the words to go with the pictures.

The Glorious Flight across the channel with louis Bleriot by Alice and Martin Provensen

I love how this books really makes you feel like you are going back in history with dates and the way the pictures are done using browns and greys to really make you feel that foggy affect is amazing. This book is a very good book to read to a 2^nd or 3^rd grade class who is learning about history.

Officer buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann

Oh lordy this book gave me a good laugh. I’m a very big fan of animals let alone dogs. I think they can certainty be a man’s best friend. I love how colorful this book is. I especially love that the town is called napville. I feel like I may need to move there haha

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

This is a great book for during the Christmas season. Gets the kids excited about snow and it’s a nice short book that could be used as a transition even. I loved the old lady with the umbrella that didn’t even cover her head. Made me think of my own grandma!

Swirl by Swirl; Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

Oh my lanta where to start with this book. I could spend quite some time just looking at the pictures in this book. The way the colors mix and pop at the same time is breathtaking. The sunflower especially is my favorite, the way she used multiple colors and strokes to make it is just beautiful. The book itself is such a simple book it would be great for a younger age group especially if you were learning about animals because it names all the animals that are in the book.

Ok to be real, before this class I had no idea what kidlitoshphere was! After doing some research and looking at other peoples blogs about the subject though I can’t believe I haven’t heard of it before. While going through and doing my research for this post I really found some blogs that I loved and some blogs I didn’t.

I found that when it comes to the blogging atmosphere in this specific area I like it best when there are multiple pictures, it’s broken up into smaller sections and when the person who is blogging actually has some experience with what they are talking about.

To be an effective blogger in this field I feel like you need to make your blogs colorful and appealing to the eye because lets be real; most of the people looking at them are probably in the teaching or school profession somewhere. If you are in this field than chances are you’re like me and you’re a child at heart so seeing some color and pictures makes it all a little more interesting to you.

I don’t care for the blogs that are all words and no pictures, no story line going with them, in simpler terms I hate the boring blogs. I don’t care for them if they don’t interest my artistic side or imaginative side of my brain. I don’t want to read a blog that is just a big chunk of words put together or something that has absolutely no pictures. lets be real here guys. THIS IS KIDS LITERATURE! Anything dealing with kids is suppose to be fun and its suppose to spark your imaginative side.

When I  think of starting out as a new blogger that freaks me out a little bit. I want to make sure that i’m doing the best blog I possibly can. With that being said I plan to try and incorporate real life into my blogs, lots of pictures and i’ll do my best to paint a picture of what i’m talking about.

When I say to be or not to be I’m not talking about some Shakespeare play, I’m meaning to be or not to be a reader. I’m asked all the time why I like to read so much or how do you just sit there and read for hours? It’s simple, I love to read. Reading isn’t something that’s always happened naturally for me, on the contrary when I was younger I hated to read because I was so bad at it. But as I got older I figured out how to read and my own pace and process the words and eventually became the book lover I am today. There have been probably 5 key moments in my life that have really made me into the book lover I am though.

The first moment would be when I was in 1^st grade, usually this is where you start reading more and really getting the hang of reading on your own, at least for most people. For me this is where I told myself I would never enjoy reading. When I started reading I wasn’t very good at it, in fact I sucked at it. I couldn’t read very fast or very well. It was just more of embarrassing for me to have to read in front of the class than it was anything else.

 

I’d say the second moment that really shaped me into the book lover I am today was in 3^rd grade when everything finally started to click. I remember sitting in class one day and finally being able to make sense of the books. I was still reading slower than all the other kids but I didn’t care, I finally understand the whole reading thing at all

4^th grade is when I finally was 100% confident in my reading levels. I was starting to read at a higher level than other kids. I remember reading these big chapter books and all the other kids were still reading just normal size chapter books, the sense of accomplishment I felt that day is something I will never forget.

Even going into middle school when we didn’t have to read anymore I still chose to read. I was in the library every week getting a new book just trying to find an escape from the crazy world that was going on around me. Books became my solitude at that point in my life. They were the things that kept me sane when the life around me wasn’t so sane.

Flash forward a little bit to highs school. I remember being so stressed out with homework and sports that I was always feeling overwhelmed or rushed to do something. Whenever life got to crazy for me though I would just grab a book and start reading because it was a way for me to get my mind off of everything. Even if it was just for an hour once a week. It was my way of relaxing.

There’s been many moments in my life that have made me into the book lover I am today, those are just a few of them off the top of my head. Being a book lover doesn’t mean you just pick up any book and enjoy it. It means you are willing to give a book a chance and that you love to read when you find a book you enjoy.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton