Poems About Books, Teachers, and Children

GOOD BOOKS, GOOD TIMES!
Good books.Good times.Good stories

Good rhymes.Good beginnings.Good ends.Good people.

Good friends.Good fiction.Good facts.Good adventures.Good acts.

Good stories.Good rhymes.Good books.Good times.

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What is a Book?
Lora Daunt
A book is pages, pictures and words

A book is animals, people and birds

A book is stories of queens and kings

Poems and songs-so many things!

Curled in a corner where I can hide

With a book I can journey far and wide

Though it's only paper from end to end

A book is a very special friend.

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The Teachers Jumped Out the Window

The teachers jumped out of the windows

The principal ran for the door.

The nurse and librarian bolted.
They're not coming back anymore.

The counselor, hollaring madly,escaped out the door of the gym.

The coach and custodian shouted and ran out the door after him.

The lunch ladies threw up their ladles,then fled from the kitchen in haste,

while all of the students looked puzzled as staff members scurried and raced.

We'd never seen anything like it

But, still, it was pretty darned cool to see

all the staff so excited to leave

on the last day of school.--Kenn Nesbitt

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One Hundred Years from now

(excerpt from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft)

One Hundred Years from now

It will not matter what kind of car I drove,

What kind of house I lived in,

how much money was in my bank account

nor what my clothes looked like.

But the world may be a better place

because I was important in the life of a child.

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Children Learn What They Live

Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph. D.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.
If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with security,they learn faith.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance, and friendship, they learn to find love in the world.

Some of My Favorite Books

Thank you, Mr. Falker is an autobiographical book written by Patricia Polacco.This story honors the teacher that took time to see Polacco as a child that was drowning in school and needed help. Mr. Falker was her hero and teacher that helped her overcome the bullying she was receiving from another student and he got a reading specialist to help her learn to read. Polacco says the following: "To this day, I remember the first day that words on a page had meaning to me...Mr. Falker had reached into the most lonely darkness and pulled me into the bright sunlight and sat me on a shooting star. I shall never forget him...so this book was written both to honor Mr. Falker, but also warn young people that mean words have a terrible power...and that they should do all that they can to see that teasing stops at their school."

In a rainbow-colored station wagon that smelled like a real car, the relatives came. When they arrived, they hugged and hugged from the kitchen to the front room. All summer they tended the garden and ate up all the strawberries and melons. They plucked banjos and strummed guitars. When they finally had to leave, they were sad, but not for long. They all knew they would be together next summer.

Laura's wish for a special friend is answered one night when a bright, sparkling star falls to the ground outside her bedroom window. She repairs the broken star and tells it all of her secrets as she drifts off to sleep. The next morning Laura cannot find the star anywhere. Was the wonderful little star only a dream? That night she trudges back to her bedroom, opens the door and the star was back just where she'd left it, shining like a thousand diamonds. While Laura is happy to have her friend back, she realizes she must find a way to return her new friend to the sky for the star to continue to shine brightly and listen to her secrets. Laura's simple, unselfish solution to the little star's dilemma is heartwarming and indicative of something only a true friend would do.





Twelve-year-old Matt is left on his own in the Maine wilderness while his father leaves to bring the rest of the family to their new settlement. When he befriends Attean, an Indian chief’s grandson, he is invited to join the Beaver tribe and move north. Should Matt abandon his hopes of ever seeing his family again and go on to a new life?

Language Arts Articles and Resources

Learning to Read
From Kimberly L. Keith,Your Guide to Parenting of K-6 Children.
Ideas and Activities to Build Comprehension

Parents can build their very young child's comprehension during story time with the strategies of elaboration and questions. Take your time as you read a picture book to your child. Talk about what is happening in the story. Relate the pictures to the story. Ask questions about what might be coming next, what the character is feeling, what your child thinks about the character's actions. Relate the story to events in the child's life. By doing so, you make a story personal so that the child thinks about the story as you are reading.

Comprehension integrates the other skills of reading - word recognition, fluency, vocabulary - so that by the middle elementary grades, the child has moved from learning to read to reading to learn. If any of the other reading skills are weak, then comprehension will be lower and achievement in later grades will be more difficult.
But, older kids can still learn comprehension strategies that will help them read to learn and continue to become better readers.

The latest research in reading comprehension finds that even beginning readers can learn strategies to improve comprehension. As you practice reading with your children at home, try these comprehension-building strategies.

When Choosing a Book...
Pick a book that has a topic that is familiar to your child - sports, students, sisters and brothers, school, something that he can relate to and for which he has some life experience or knowledge.
Before Reading a Book...
Have your child handle it, flip through it, find the title, the author, the illustrator. Read the table of contents. Look at the pictures. Ask, "What do you think this book is about?"
As You Read...
You may be reading to the child or practicing paired reading. Stop at natural points in the reading and check the child's comprehension. Ask questions such as "Where are they? What just happened? How would you feel if someone did that? Do you know anyone like that? What do you think will happen next?" You can change the questions depending on the type of material you are reading. But, the point of the questions should be to
monitor your child's comprehension of the text; relate the meaning of the text to their own knowledge and experience; predict and prepare to comprehend the next section of the text.
If while monitoring, your child can't answer a question correctly, then go back and read again to find the answer. To prevent frustration, only reread a section once and then give him a clue from the text to answer correctly. Don't get too bogged down; if you are, the text may be too difficult for your child.

By following these simple strategies consistently with your child, you are teaching the skills that excellent readers use every time they read. They form the basis for reading to learn in the later grades, when the child will learn to skim for chapter and heading titles, graphics and text structure; predict what the text will be about and have a goal for reading the material;
relate the material to their own knowledge and experience; visualize the setting, characters, and action while reading; interact with text through questioning and monitoring their understanding of the material; identify the main points and summarize the meaning of text.




Summertime Reading
By Cathy Puett Miller

We all know that summer reading is good for kids. Without it, experts say, reading skills can decrease. Encourage parents to include reading in their summer plans, and help them keep their kids reading by making summertime reading different than “that stuff I do at school."
Share with parents these “outside the box" ideas:

Read about your vacation destination before you go.

Read about something you want to do together (hiking, planting a garden, working on motorcycles).
Turn off the TV and substitute one half hour of reading or a visit to the library.

Save your pennies (everyone empties change into a jar). When you save enough, stop by a local bookstore for a treat.

Put a reading reminder on your “adult" calendar (but don’t let the kids know!)

Read a book about local history and go to a museum.

Read a book that’s now a movie, and then take them to see the movie!

Host a potluck mid-summer party at your house or a local park. Pull out a book or two to read in the shade after dinner, or tell stories around the campfire.

Use reading as a way to reconnect with your kids. Talking about a story is still one of the best ways to open doors that might be closed when schedules are hectic.

Teachers try this: Let kids choose two books to read with their families during the summer. At open house, when families visit the school, invite parents to take the Accelerated Reader or Scholastic Reading Counts test with their kids watching!

Virginia Meldrum, director of The Owl’s Tree “Authors in the Schools" program, says keep it simple. Help parents tap into the joy, discovery and exploration of reading. “The worst we can do is force children to read something they ‘should’." Her advice: Help parents see how to make reading fun.

Targeting National and State Standards with Picture Books
By Cathy Puett Miller

Children’s picture books can be used effectively to teach many of the core standards. No matter which grade you teach, magically-woven stories by creative authors is a key to motivating learners.

Teaching about story elements? Try:

Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day, by Jamie Lee Curtis (characterization)
Covered Wagons, Bumpy Roads, by Kay Verla (setting)
Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon (plot)

Teaching writing? Try:

A Bad Case of the Stripes, by David Shannon (strong word choice)
The Day Gogo Went to Vote, by Elinor Sisulu (personal narrative)
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak (story organization)

Teaching genres of literature? Try:

When Jesse Came Across the Sea, by Amy Hest (historical fiction)
My Great Aunt Arizona, by Gloria Houston, (poetry)
The Three Little Pigs, by Paul Galzone, and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by Jon Scieska (fairytales)
My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing up with the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., by Christine King Farras (biography)

The beautiful illustrations and limited text in picture books allow both student and teacher to concentrate on language, message and appeal. Picture books can also be usedas group read-alouds for pleasure. (Poof!, By John O’Brien) and to support learning in content areas. For cultural studies, read various versions of the Cinderella tale from different countries. Note differences in culture and similarities in story. A list of versions of this well-known story can be found at Cinderella Stories.

To introduce complex content area issues such as civil rights (Goin’ Someplace Special, by Patricia McKissick) or science (Fireworks, by Vicki Cobb).

Explore the potential in your favorite picture books. You can reinforce rhyming, sentence structure, parts of speech, prediction, and questioning. I guarantee any standard you pull, there’s a picture book tailor-made to teach it!

Web Sites I Recommend for Language Arts

Literature Circles: Ideas for teachers wanting to use book talks in the classroom.
http://www.literaturecircles.com/

Texas State Reading Association
http://www.tsra.us/

The Children's Book Council
http://www.cbcbooks.org/

Education World
http://educationworld.com/

ReadWriteThink: Great ideas from the International Reading Association
http://www.readwritethink.org/index.asp

ABC Teach: Lesson plans, thematic units, coloring pages, templates & much more!
http://www.abcteach.com/

Reading A to Z: Anything you want for reading!
http://www.readinga-z.com/

Vocabulary.com: Vocabulary lists, games, puzzles, lesson plans, & assessments
http://www.vocabulary.com/

Carol Hurst: This is a collection of reviews of great books for kids, ideas of ways to use them in the classroom and collections of books and activities about particular subjects, curriculum areas, themes and professional topics.
http://www.carolhurst.com/index.html

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth.
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/

Teachers @ Random House: Author spotlights, book reviews, lesson plans and much more.
http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/index.html

Teacher Tools: Letters and forms for the teacher.
http://www.teachertools.org/forms_dynam.asp

The Teacher's Corner: Lesson plans, thematic units, seasonal items, bulletin boards, worksheets, awards, and message board.
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/teacher-resources/websites.htm

The Reading Nook: A site to help you find developmentally appropriate children's books and games or a children's book related to your favorite subject!
http://www.thereadingnook.com/

Web Site Evaluations

Website Evaluation #1
Content Area: Reading

1. Name of Site: Reading Rockets

2. Website Address: http://www.readingrockets.org/

3. Copyright Date/Last Update: This site has a copyright date of 2008. It must be updated every day because it has a “Today’s News” link with today’s date on it.

4. Author/Organization Credentials: Reading Rockets is an organization that is funded by a grant from the US Department of Education. It consists of a panel of researchers and experts in the field of reading that direct the organization.

5. Website Design and Ease of Navigation: This website is very user-friendly. It is very colorful, up-to-date, and easy to navigate. Reading Rockets has an abundant amount of information for anyone in the reading field as well as for parents. The site has information on PBS shows, reading blogs, reading research, reading guides, reading resources and a learning store. The site also has specific links for teachers and families. “Today’s News: can be found on the right side of the page with up-to date news on the field of reading.

6. Response and Recommendation for Use: This would be a great site for someone going into the reading field. It has an abundant amount of reading research as well as ideas in helping children read. The blogs on this site also have a lot of information from a mom telling her stories about her children and their experiences with reading to a blog from Teachers Leaders Network. Reading Rockets also has a calendar that lists local as well as national reading events that have been scheduled. It also lists different conferences and workshops that you could attend. The Learning Store has all kind of books, DVDs, videos, games, etc. that you could use in researching reading or practice for your students. Over all, this is an awesome website that any teacher or parent would benefit from using.


Website Evaluation #2

1. Name of Site: Education World

2. Website Address: http://educationworld.com/


3. Copyright Date/Last Update: Copyright is 1996-2008. This website looks to be updated daily because the day of the week and the date are on the top of the page. There is also a Lesson of the Day and the EDScoop of the Day.

4. Author/Organization Credentials: Education World is made up of the following staff members: Richard Datz: Vice President, General Manager, Forrest Stone: Executive Editor in Chief, Gary Hopkins: Founder, Editor in Chief, Linda Starr: Curriculum & Technology Editor, and Ellen Delisio: Editor, News & Features.


5. Website Design/Ease of Navigation: Education World is a very user-friendly site. The information is presented in professional manner while still being fun and very colorful. The links are specifically laid out for lesson plans, professional development, administrators, technological integration, school issues, and resources.

6. Response and Recommendations for Use: Education World is an awesome website with an abundance of information at one’s fingertips. As a teacher, I have found a lot of great ideas using the Lesson Planning link. I have never really taken the time to look at some of the other links until now. While evaluating this website, I looked through the Professional Development and discovered a lot of tools or resources that I am going to use in my classroom to help me become better teacher. My husband is a middle school/high school principal and he said that he has used the Administrators link before to get some ideas for meeting and ideas for parental involvement. There is also a link Education World at Home that parents as well as kids can access. Overall, this is an awesome website that I would recommend to anyone in education whether it is a teacher, principal, superintendent, substitute, technology coordinator as well as a parent or a child.

A Little About Me and My Philosophy on Education

My name is Lisa Johnson and I am married and have three boys. My husband is a JH/HS principal and I am a teacher. Our oldest son just graduated from high school and will be playing basketball at Wayland Baptist beginning in the fall. We also have twin boys who will be juniors this upcoming school year. I am currently working towards my master’s degree in Reading.
My content area focus is on Language Arts. In previous years, I have taught Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. This past year, I taught English as a Second Language and found that ESL was not for me. I will be teaching third grade Language Arts for the 2008-2009 school year.

Content Area Focus: Language Arts
School: Swinburn Elementary, Tulia, Texas
Level: 3rd Grade
Previous Experience: 9 years as a Teaching Assistant
2 years in 5th grade self-contained classroom
2 years in 4th & 5th Language Arts & Social Studies
1 year in 3rd – 8th English as a Second Language

My philosophy for education is that I need to be someone that is loving, caring, patient, and above all wants to continue to learn. My job is more than just creating and teaching a lesson. I am responsible for being an educator, motivator, peer, counselor and an example for each and every student. I hold a child’s future in my hands and it is my job to provide the knowledge that they need in order to succeed in our world today. In order to present that knowledge, I have to stay caught up on technology, current events, new learning styles, and new curriculums. I believe that as a teacher, I also play the role as a disciplinarian in my classroom. I feel that rules should be enforced in my classroom and that students should abide by them or suffer the consequences. On a more positive note, I want to be a motivator in my classroom. I want to motivate my kids to learn, to participate in classroom activities, to excel in all they do and most importantly to succeed. I want my students to see me as a positive teacher and offer my students positive praise. I want to reward those students that do well and encourage those that are struggling to try harder because I know they can do it. And finally, I want to be a teacher that can respect differences because my classroom will always have diversity. These are my personal thoughts on an education in my classroom. I hope that by committing to each of these ideas, I can be a good teacher and that my students will remember me.