This has been a fun class!

Children's Video Project

I have selected Zin Zin a Violin for my project and it was sent to me from our Instructional Resources Center. I found it on the 2000 Notable Children's Film and Video List. I am looking forward to viewing it.

Historical Fiction

I finished "Island of the Blue Dolphins" today and loved it. I posted my review to the Wiki. I feel like my eyes are going to pop out from reading all these books but I have enjoyed every one.

I still haven't heard from my K-8 lit group but have posted there.

K-8 Lit Circle

I will be working with Amy Medows and her 5th Grade class. We are reading Journey to America by Sonia Levitin. So far it is very good. This is such a heavy topic, and I am very curious how this will be viewed by 5th graders. I am looking forward to threading with the class-I think this will be fun. I haven't posted anything yet because Amy has not sent me a timeline, and I want to follow her lead. There are two groups listed there and I don't know if I am supposed to post an introduction to A, B, or both. I am waiting to hear back from Amy.
More later.................

Individual Reading chapter 8

For the poetry section I read We the People by Bobbi Katz, illustrations by Nina Crews. It is a great collection of poems from the point of view of Americans through the ages. I really liked this book.

Cat in the Hat

Maura suggested "The Cat in the Hat", which is described in our text as a book written with a controlled vocabulary. When he created it in 1957, he also created a new genre of books.

I had to look up the Dolch word list, and here is a link I found in case anyone else needs to see it too: http://www.dolch-words.com/dolch-word-lists/dolch-words-all.html. I think this will be a good place to start. I have read The Cat in the Hat a zillion times, but I look forward to getting to "dissect" it with you guys.

Yes, it is one of the first books I remember reading and one of the first books I purchased when my first son was born. His dad gave him a Cat in the Hat doll and he dragged it everywhere. One time he left it at school, and we had to go back and get a janitor to let us in so he could rertieve it. Later I remember making him a hat as an assignment for school. I'm sure we will be reading it to our grandchildren. I even refer to my kids as thing one and thing two!

Questions I've always had...
Where is the dad? There is no mention of him. Why are they left alone all day? Is the mother at work? Don't they seem kind of small? Why do we only see the mother's leg? Do you think that is where Charles Schultz got the idea of never showing adults? Is the message of this book to always clean up your messes (even though the fish is trying to tell you not to let strangers in the house?)

Colors in The Cat in the Hat
My book is old, but I know that even the newest reprints are unchanged. The colors are red, blue, black, white and a kind of peach color. Do you think this limited color scheme was due to limitations in publishing of the day, or was this a lot of color for the time? Did anyone like the movie with Mike Myers? It kind of bothered me. I think this book is sacred and should have been left alone.

What I learned

While creating my presentation for Teachers and Media Specialists to generate enthusiasm for the Bologna Book Fair I discovered that, while generating my own enthusasm, this is a huge children's book event that would be mind boggling to attend. How neat it would be to hobnob with people from all over the globe and see what is being created in the world of childrens books. I have written a few computer books for kids myself, and would love to attend if only to get ideas for my own creations. I would learn every aspect of how a children's book is created by attending, because with over 4000 vendors I'm sure you would see it all. I have never been to Italy but this certainly sounds like a good excuse to me. Sign me up!