Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Textbook Readings Chapters 10-13

Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction is one of my favorite types of books to read.  I think I really enjoy it because you can always find someway to relate to the book.  It might be that you are like someone in the book, was in a similar situation, or going through some of the same problems.  It is set in contemporary or modern time.  Everything should be just like how it is in our world.  The characters, setting, events, and behaviors are all real and consistent.  It should avoid stereotyping.  Realistic Fiction could deal with hardships such as death, sexuality, sexual orientation, and changing family structures.  One book that came to mind when I was reading about realistic fiction was ANNIE ON MY MIND.  It came to my mind because this is such a real situation that young adults struggle with.  The way the two girls were classmates, in school, there were teachers that were gay.  I can remember when I was in school and there were teachers that were gay.  I also have a really good friend that was scared to come out because of how he thought people would treat him.  As a 2nd grade teacher it took me a second to think about different ways I can incorporate realistic fiction. Yes, I read a lot of book that are, but how can I really make sure they are connecting with my students.  Considering the first of the year is right around the corner I thought about all the books I will read at the beginning.  Different books about how we act at recess, bullying, feelings, rules and books about how we are all different.  Our students go through similar situations all the time.  One that I share at the beginning of every year is ENEMY PIE.  ENEMY PIE is about bullying and how we should treat others.  If you have not read it you should check it out.

Nonfiction   
“We define it as what it is not.”  First of all I need to purchase NONFICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS FROM DELIGHT TO WISDOM.  Even though it’s for young adults I think there is still some goodness in there that I can use in my 2nd grade classroom.   I have never thought about how we do describe everything that a nonfiction book is not.  Even when I am teaching nonfiction we talk about everything it does not have.  When I came across that nonfiction should be half your library I was shocked because I don’t think ours is that big.  It is a good size, but I think it could be bigger.  My students are always looking for different animal books and sometimes we don’t have them and it makes me sad.  Nonfiction needs to be taken very seriously because the information needs to be accurate.  I loved all the books you and Dr. Perry shared throughout the video.  Some of the social studies books that I want to check out are AMERICAN BILL OF RIGHTS and the series WOMAN WHO BROKE THE RULES.  I loved all the talk about the Steven Jenkins books because my students always love the different nonfiction animal books.  I also want to purchase ANIMALS THAT MAKE ME SAY EWW.  I wrote down a lot more, but those were a few I thought I would mention because I want to look in getting those books for my classroom this year.  Another set of books that you mentioned that I already have and use a lot is the Scholastic nonfiction books.  My kiddos like these a lot because of the photographs, the captions and their favorite part is the little jokes that are in the books.  We do a lot with nonfiction in the classroom.  We read, write about, and create little nonfiction books of our own.  I loved that y’all added the “Questions to ask Students about nonfiction.” Makes me want to get the book even sooner.  Some of the questions are so simple, yet I have never heard of them or seen them anywhere else.  I think it would be really neat to make cards with the questions on them then students can draw a card.  I am really excited to do this in my classroom because I think it will get kids more excited about nonfiction books. For myself I would love to purchase that fashion book.  I thought that looked pretty interesting and funny.

Fantasy/Science Fiction 
All science fiction falls into the fantasy genre, but not all fantasy falls into science fiction.  In this genre characters must behave in consistent and believable ways.  This hasn’t been one of my favorite genres to read, but after watching Dr. Perry’s slide show and hearing her talk about some different books there are a few that I really want to read.  There are quite a few different categories and a lot of them blend together.  The first category she talked about was the Apocalyptic; these types of books are about the end of civilization.  A few that I would like to check out are THE TESTING, TUMBLE AND FALL, and A MATTER OF DAYS.  Another category that I want to read more of is the Dystopia.  Yes, THE HUNGER GAMES is good, but some of the other ones she mentioned sound pretty great.  I also would like to check out time travel books.

Graphic Novels
Wow! I love graphic novels.  What’s kind of funny is who instilled this in me.  It was my students.  When I saw how much some of them loved them it got me pretty interested and I started checking them out.  There are a few major types of graphic novels and they are Manga, Superhero, Personal Narratives, and nonfiction.  Superhero is the most popular as I would assume.  “They are not just for unmotivated readers with disabilities.”  I loved reading this because when I first started to check out graphic novels, one of my first thoughts was that this could motivate kids that don’t love reading.  When really we need to share this goodness with all our kiddos.  I had one student this past year that absolutely loves graphic novels.  She loved reading period, but graphic novels were her favorite.  Some of my other students also love the BABY MOUSE series and the LUNCH LADY series.  I have read a couple of both and I think they are cute and such a fun read.  There aren’t a lot of graphic novels in my school library though, which is kind of sad.  One idea that came to mind when I was learning more and more about graphic novels was that it would be so easy for the students to create their own little graphic novel.  I think this would be an excellent writing activity.  I want to do some research and find some nonfiction graphic novels.  I want to really start incorporating graphic novels more in my classroom and I think this would be one great way to do it.  I also think graphic novels would be great partner reads.                       


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