W13. B5.

My last blog.

This year has gone by so fast. I feel like I just started blogging, making sure I did more than three a week. In this class I have learned so much. Perhaps more than I wanted to know about Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. When registering for this semester, this class was the one I was looking forward to the most. It has been so much fun to be able to read interesting books and analyze them. I can not wait to be a teacher and be able to share all the knowledge I have learned in Dr. Robinsons class with my little students. Overall, this class has been a wonderful oppurtunity and from now on when I read a book I will think about how Dr. R would have anaylzed this and what we would have discussed in class. I thourghly enjoyed this class.

W13. B4.

Yesterday I was at Target and saw The Secret Garden. I decided to buy it. I started watching and I was immeditely upset. It doesnt follow the book barely at all. Her parents die differently, she finds the key in her aunts bedroom like the first or second day she is there compared to finding it outside. I felt like she found the garden so quickly compared to the book. I recommend reading the book before watching the movie. They leave out so many great things that are present in the book. Here is clip of one of the end scenes from youtube. It is a good movie but a WONDERFUL book.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aOkx5MX3YQs

W13. B3.

The Secret Garden Poem

What will come of this dark dreary place?
Can I become a happy person
dressing myself, playing by myself
I have a lot to learn.
Who is that crying when I hear?
They tell me it is the wind.
I know it is a human, not an adult either
I must find the cause of this crying.
Perhaps we can be friends.
Why does Mr. Craven hate the world?
If he would just open the doors and windows
and for once look at the moor for the beauty it holds
instead of always running away...
Why is all the doors in the house locked up and shut away?
The beauty is yet to be seen hidden behind doors
Where does the key lay?
Hidden under the dirt for a decade or more
Such a pretty little Robin leading the way
Now show me the door
and we can change this place.


I have always loved this book/movie. I can remember watching it over and over again as a young child. I was so excited to get started reading it that I am already over half way done. It is so good I just might watch the movie tonight!

W13. B2.

I may be done with my outside reading but I have not stopped reading. For one of my classes I had to find children's books on disabilities. The book I choose was called, "Since We're Friends, An Autism Picture Book." by Celeste Shally and David Harrington. It is such a great book.

Children these days are becoming more and more involved with special needs children so its very important for students to understand their special needs friends. I am currently in a placement where I am with 6 PPCD Pre-Kindergartner's and this book was great for me to read before being placed in this environment. I think it is even more important for the children to be able to understand different types of disabilities. I think every teacher should have books in their classrooms like this one.

W13. B1.

Today in class we discussed "Where the Wild Things Are." I had read it as a child but never really liked it so I was not thrilled to have to read it again for this class. I read it once when I bought my books then again last night before class and i finally understood it. Once I actually read it looking to analyze it I noticed so many different things I had missed for so many years.

In class today I loved how we compared Max to Peter Rabbit. It was a very interesting connection and something I hadnt thought of but yet it is soo obvious. Picture Books have been so much fun! I came home today and already read The Stinky Cheese Man and I've always loved it. This time reading it I was so aware of all the puns and jokes and it was great!! Im going to be sad when this class is over.

W12, B4.

This past weekend I threw a baby shower for my boyfriend’s sister/ sorority sister and it was a big success. But it got me thinking about literature and it is never too young to start reading to your children and good children’s literature is crucial. I decided to write a poem about "baby peanut" (they aren’t finding out the sex- so they call it Peanut)

Baby Peanut:

Girl or Boy?

Blonde or Brown?

Green or Blue, or perhaps Brown?

We may not know these simple little things,

but one thing we do know is that

you are someone new to LOVE.

W12. B3.

For one of my other classes we completed a unit on something of our choice. I chose to do Weather. One of the requirements we had to complete was make up a piggy back song which went along with our theme. A piggy back song is a song that has a tune that is familiar but new words. The song I chose to change was Frère Jacques. It goes like this:



Weather, Weather,
Weather, Weather
Everyday, Everyday,
Sometimes it is snowy
Sometimes it is snowy
Beautiful Day, Beautiful Day


Weather, Weather,
Weather, Weather,
Everyday, Everyday,
Sometimes it is sunny,
Sometimes it is sunny,
Beautiful Day, Beautiful day,


You would continue on with different types of weather until you run out of different types of weather or until you decide you are done.

W12. B2.

Conclusion to Creative Writing: Lipatoue and Friends

Pip decided that Lipatoue might actually be a tasty treat and decided that he would just rid himself of this pain once and for all. Pip reached down, opened his big mouth and with one giant snap Lipatoue was gone. Dust Bunny shrieked again and tired as fast as she could to escape back into the pantry barely escaping from the evil beast, Pip. Dust Bunny went into her corner and cried and cried.

Lipatoue was scared to death. She was slobbery and feeling weaker by the minute. She tired to use her teeth in the side of Pips mouth but nothing seemed to work. Finally Pip seemed to have a change of heart and suddenly spit Lipatoue out and began coughing. Pip was disgusted. Lipatoue definitely didn’t taste like the cupcake or chip scraps. She tasted more like play-doh. Lipatoue moved as quickly as she could back to the pantry where she found Dust Bunny in such dismay. Pip had followed Lipatoue and watched as Lipatoue and Dust Bunny reunited and were so happy to have each other again. Pip was sad. He had to leave all his brothers and sisters when he came here and had no friends besides the Turner boys who liked to pull his fur and poke him in the eyes. Suddenly, the big monster, Pip was not such a monster and began crying, begging for forgiveness and friendship.

From that day on, Pip, Lipatoue and Dust Bunny decided that they should work together. If they worked together they could successfully gain more food and would be able to live peacefully together. Pip protected Lipatoue and Dust Bunny from the vacuum and Lipatoue and Dust Bunny helped Pip feel at home and feel like he had friends once again.

W12. B1.

Rabbit Rabbit-

Your name may not be Peter

But you get in just as much trouble.

I bought you at Santa's Winter Wonderland

I brought you home and you played.

We named you peanut

I carried you everywhere

You pooped everywhere.

You smelled only after a few days.

But you were my little peanut-

smell or not

you were my little peter rabbit.

I read Peter Rabbit this afternoon for Wednesdays class and I had all these thoughts of my pet bunny, Peanut. As a child my dad had bunnies all the time! Therefore I always wanted one but my dad was so sick of bunnies I always got rejected. Once I was in college, I took it upon myself to purchase one. He is a Netherlands Dwarf and is still so cute.

My parents found out about this purchase of mine. I was forced to sell him. I sold him to a girl who had been looking for a baby bunny and now he has a happy home. Ill never forget Peanut though. He was just like Peter Rabbit, always running under my bed and getting into trouble, but oh how I loved him!

W11. B3.

The Giver was an amazing book. Growing up my mom always read it to her 5th grade class and I always wanted to read it. I had tried a number of times but I never could get into it. Everyone always told me to keep reading and I would get hooked so this time around I did. And I sure did get hooked. It’s just a good book. However, I was not pleased with the ending. I felt like all of sudden it was over and that was that. The book was written so beautifully written but then it seemed like she ran out of time or the editor was pushing her to get it done.

Another thing I thought was interesting was that people think that they die at the end of the book. That thought never even entered my mind. I just assumed they got to the real world. I love going to class though and learning different ways to look at the books we read. My friends think I’m annoying though because I come home and want to tell them all the theories about each book and sometimes each chapter. : )

W11. B2.

Creative Writing Continued....

Pip was a disaster five minutes after he got home. The Turners were still excited and the puppy regardless of what he tore up was still loved and much to Lipatoue’s dismay they fed all him all the table scraps. The days went by and Pip grew and grew. He went from weighing eight pounds to weighing at least thirty pounds. He was a big brown lab which loved to sniff around and eat anything and everything. He went from the Turners feeding him table scraps to stealing anything he could get his teeth on. Lipatoue was starting to worry. She hadn’t eaten in what felt like weeks. Pip guarded all the food, scraps and anything that could be eaten. He growled anytime Lipatoue tried to eat anything or even emerge from the pantry. Lipatoue was scared of this huge monster. Lipatoue may have been a monster herself but she was nothing compared to this thirty pound growling, scrap eating thing.
On night, Lipatoue decided that this had gone on long enough. She was starving and had to eat. She and Dust Bunny had escaped and gotten into the kitchen and were just about to gobble some scraps that Pip had obviously over sniffed when all of sudden Dust Bunny shrieked. Pip was standing over them with droll dripping down. Narrowly escaping certain death Dust Bunny ran behind Lipatoue to hide. Lipatoue tired to show her teeth and her big voluptuous lips but because she hadn’t eaten in so long she lips were chapped and cracked. Pip just laughed at her and drooled some more bending over and snatching the scrap that Lipatoue was just about to consume.







stay tuned...will Pip eat Dust Bunny and Lipatoue or will they escape?!

W11. B1.

I am so excited about today's Blog. I am finally finished with all ten of my outside readings! It was a lot of fun to actually read books that I wasn't assigned to read but was able to read for fun! I love children's books!!!

My last outside reading is called, "Without You" by Sarah Weeks. It was an excellent book. Not only did it teach facts about penguins but also developed a story of a loving penguin family and how they take care of each other! The reason I ordered this book in the first place is because of its AMAZING pictures! They are full of detail and wonderful animation. This was a great children's picture book that I am sure one day will be a favorite in my classroom.

W10. B4.

Creative Writing: Lipatoue and Friends Part One

Our story begins in the middle of the summer when the air is sticky and the sun is hot in a neighborhood where the children played outside. The pantry was full of all sorts of sweets and chips. Lipatoue lived for days like this. Lipatoue was a monster of sorts, if you wanted to call her that. Her body was just a giant pair of lips which consumed every piece of food she could get her lips on. Her lips were connected to two google eyes which she used to search for the best scraps available. She lived for leftovers and thoroughly enjoyed the summer months because the kids were at home and she was able to get a lot more leftovers especially in the form of snacks and cakes. Dust Bunny was Lipatoue’s best friend and partner in crime. Dust Bunny also survived off the crumbs and together they lived happily in the pantry of the Turner family’s home.

Lipatoue was comfortable in her little corner of the pantry and had just had the lunch leftovers and dust bunny was settled down for a nap the day the horrible news was overheard. Mrs. Turner was on the phone and in a very excited tone was telling someone how the family couldn’t wait until the new puppy arrived. The kids could hardly wait for the puppy to finally become part of their family. Lipatoue on the other hand, was horrified. The days went by and Lipatoue was worried sick; until finally the day arrived that the whole family left and returned with a six week old puppy which they named “Pip.”

W10. B3.

Influence Children's Literature has had on Me

I wanted to start with this quote from an anonymous writer, “Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.” This quote I feel exhibits how I feel about children’s literature in a nutshell. A good children’s book will do just that. I am quite often made fun of because I am the mother of my friends but the same time the baby. It’s odd, but reminds me a lot of that quote. I still like things that a twenty one year old apparently isn’t supposed to like anymore (Disney Channel, Miley Cyrus) and I get a lot of grief from my friends about it, but it’s the child in me coming out. Also, I get told to stop being the mom quite frequently. I am very cautious in what I do and I worry constantly about my friends and the choices they make. This is the adult coming out of the child. Children’s literature should be just like that, relatable to your life and appeal to both the adult and child in you.
I was read to as a young child from the time I could breathe. Growing up my mother instilled in me the love of reading. For fun we would go to Barnes and Noble and I got to pick out any book I wanted, most of the time it was more like four or five books I wanted. Most of the time, I couldn’t get through one before we would make another trip to Barnes and Noble or the public library where I would pick five more. Mom had, and still has a weakness for books, but can you blame her?As Henry Ward Beecher once said, “Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?” My mother loves books and always taught me that you don’t have to curl up on a rainy day and watch a movie, but instead curl up with a good book, normally in her case followed by a “short nap.”
I can not imagine my life without books. When I was young I would make secret places where it would be my “reading corner.” I would go to escape there when I was angry at my sister, mom or dad. I loved reading. While most kids were playing house and dress up I just wanted to read. My cousin lived down the street and would always come over to play but would get so frustrated with me because instead of wanting to play; I wanted to read my book to her.
My favorite genre of children’s literature was mysteries. I didn’t like Goosebumps or anything like that but I loved Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys (probably because of my name). I would start a mystery book and not be able to put it down until I was done. I never could sleep at night but they stirred a longing inside me for adventure. These books instilled in me the desire to become a FBI agent or a detective for the longest time. I would write mini stories of my backyard mysteries and just now that one day I would get to join The Hardy Boys in action. I think this says a lot in itself in the fact that by reading these books I wanted to become them. The authors did such a good job at portraying their characters lives and how they solved the mysteries that at nine and ten years old I was ready to join the FBI. Over the years, my interest has changed and I know what to give children the gift my mother gave me.
I wanted to end with another anonymous quote that says, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” I think it is so important for teachers to love literature, writing and all the goes along with it. In order for the child to love something they must see it exhibited in you. Growing up reading and being read to is a huge influence in everyone’s lives and hopefully I will be able to impact future lives in the same positive way that I was. My mother has been a teacher/administrator for eighteen years and it is amazing to think of how many lives she has touched with her love of reading. I hope one day I can be that teacher and mother too.

W10. B2

Tonight we were supposed to read the online reading "A Thousand Faces of a Hero." I got home from class and decided I would just go ahead and knock out my reading and printed it out. I had so much fun reading it. It is soo true.

The faces of a hero are very apparent and very real in any good myth or modern day story. My mom always tells me that all movies have three major plot lines and that reminds me a lot of Hero stories. It is all the basic plot line and I loved how he had it set up for us to read. The outline was easy to follow and his examples really made you think back to each story/movie he referred too. And anytime he mentioned a new characterstic of a hero story I asked myself how that related to Bilbo and his quest on becoming a hero.

When it printed thirteen pages I was not excited about reading but I sat down and read it and was done before I knew it. I am excited to discuss what Dr. Robinson thinks about it on Friday!