Field Experience Summary

I completed 5 field experience hours for REOL 536.

During the field experience task, I was able to accomplish:

§  DE assessment analysis with third grade teacher

§  After school tutoring

§  Observing and assisting a classroom teacher (Lit circle)

In analyzing the Discovery Education test data, I was able to strengthen and enhance my abilities to assess and communicate learning results as per Kentucky Teacher Standard 5.

These field experience hours were beneficial to me in other ways as well. For example, I was able to work in small group settings with students for after-school tutoring. This enabled me the ability to meet the needs of the individual students by targeting specific goals.

Finally, I was able to collaborate with a co-teacher during a literature circle. This was my first experience with a lit circle and I learned a lot from the students such as how they express themselves in that type of activity.

I view this course requirement as a valuable learning experience.

My Life in Dog Years

Paulsen, G. (1999). My life in dog years. New York: Bantum Doubleday.

Who has known the love of a dog? A dog is one’s truest friend and loyal companion, as is evidenced in this book.  Paulsen has written, “They are wonderful and, I think, mandatory for decent human life.” And I must say that I agree. This work is a compilation of stories that are biographical/memoir in nature. This wonderful page-turner is dedication to the canine. Within the pages, a theme unfolds of exceptional friendship. 

The sequence of the book is presented in chapters. Each one is dedicated to certain beloved friends in the author’s life. The writing style is simple, yet expressive and the author writes in a conversational tone. I felt as though I was settling down with a cup of coffee while listening to these stories in person. The thought of brave Dirk gives me new respect for these wonderful creatures. The book details the impact these pets have had on the man and experiences he has had with them during his life. My favorite pet from the book is Ike, an unforgettable tale about loyalty.

During reading, I used the Mark the Bold/Talk the Bold bookmarks and they worked out perfectly for this book!! I shared this book in my classroom as a read -aloud to my students, because they are aware of and share my great love for dogs. As previously stated, the chapters are named after a specific canine (in bold letters). So, I noted the page number of the bold word/names. Then I was able to go back to the specific name/page for the classroom discussion. We had a fantastic dialogue about these furry characters!!

As a classroom curriculum connection: I would ask students to choose a dog from the book and write a narrative from the dog’s perspective.

**This blog is dedicated to my most loyal companion, Mason (Mason Bear). Mason is my three year old Yorkie. He is small, at four pounds, yet he exhibits an enormous amount of love and loyalty. He has been with me through every step of this process. I mean, literally, right beside me.  He has watched the screen during every class chat and blog. He sat with me through every weekend of homework, wiki submissions, and all of it. He has looked up at me wearily, at times, as I have looked down at him wearily. However, he never thought of leaving my side. He has walked on my syllabus, licked my notes, and sat on countless books. He is, at this moment, curled up against me and sleeping. So, to Mason bear, we did it!

Simpson Books Read

Kimberly Simpson Reading Log

Genre / Titles read

             I.      Non-fiction/Informational

1)      My Life in Dog Year.

2)      Go Ask Alice

3)      A Child Called “It”.

           

          II.      Poetry

1)      What My Mother Doesn’t Know

2)      Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes

3)      Affrilachia

4)      Witness

5)      If the Shoe Fits

       III.      Modern Fantasy         

1)      Babe the Gallant Pig

2)      Hunger Games

3)      Catching Fire

4)      A Wrinkle in Time

       IV.      Historical Fiction       

1)      Al Capone Does My Shirts

2)      Sarah Plain and Tall

3)      Little House in The Big Woods

4)      Pink and Say

5)      Bud, not Buddy

6)      The River Between Us

7)      Borrowed Children

          V.      Multicultural/Traditional

1)      The Faithful Friend

2)      If You Come Softly

3)      Jack Tales

4)      The Skin I’m In        

       VI.      Realistic Fiction

1)      Laugh Until you Cry 

2)      Hatchet

3)      Holes

4)      Walk Two Moons

5)      Flat Broke

    VII.      Picture Books

1)      Knots on a Counting Rope

2)      The True Story of The Three Little Pigs!

3)      The Sweetest Fig

4)      Just a Dream

5)      The Polar Express

6)      Faithful Elephants

Wiki Checklist

____ Social Studies

__1__ Science

__1_ Math

____ Music

__1_ Art

__1_ Reading/Language Arts

____ Physical Education

____ Other

Sarah, Plain and Tall

MacLachlan, P. (2001). Sarah, plain and tall. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Historical fiction is realistic fiction set in a time far enough from the present to be considered the past. Although the story is imaginary, it is within the realm of possibility.

This Newbery Medal winning book, of the historical fiction genre, is set in the late 19^th century and has an authentic and primitive feel. In Sarah, Plain and Tall the story is written in the first person/narrated by the little girl, Anna.

The setting is authentic for the time period as the family lives on a prairie. This creates an integral setting for the story. However, an alternate setting, or backdrop setting, is also integrated into the story as Sarah describes her home in Maine. This creates a compare and contrast event between the two settings or environments.

The theme of the story is of family. What makes a family? Sometimes there is sadness and conflict in families; however, there is always respect and love.

Booktalk:

Listen to this passage: “Did Mama sing every day?” Caleb asks his sister Anna. “Every-single-day,” she answers. “Papa sang, too.”

Do you know someone who has lost someone special in their life? This is something that is difficult for everyone in the family. I read a book titled Sarah, Plain and Tall and this book reminds me of the Little House books that I adored as a child. This is a historical fiction story that children can identify with as the main characters in the story are children. I became a part of this family who has lost their mother. The family consists of Papa, Anna, and Caleb. The family of three live alone on the plains now.  Mama died shortly after giving birth to Caleb. I wonder how difficult or frustrating it might be for Caleb, as he cannot remember mama. This has been very difficult for their family, living and moving on without Mama.  Papa has done a fine job of caring for them, but the children miss Mama terribly, still. Caleb has no memories of her and he only knows her through the stories that the family shares, where he is told of her sweetness and of her beautiful singing. It is hard for a male figure to raise a family alone and tend to the daily chores and work. So, one day Papa announces that he is looking for a wife. He has placed an advertisement in the newspaper, just as another man had done. How do you think the children would feel about a new mama? Would it be uncomfortable to have a strange woman in the house? Papa received a response from a lady named Sarah, from Maine. Sarah is willing to come for a visit! The children start to wonder…will she like the house, the family, the Plains. They began writing Sarah to become acquainted before her visit. In one of their correspondences the children wanted Papa to ask her if she sings. Later Sarah replied, “Tell them I sing.”

I used the Marking Time bookmarks as I read this book. On page 6, I noted the flashback of when Anna remembers Caleb’s birth. She stated, “It took three whole days for me to love him.”

Self-to-text connection: How is your environment different from that of Anna and Caleb?  How do they accomplish daily chores in a manner that is in contrast to how we do chores in the present time?

Classroom curriculum activity: Would you like a brother for a day? Do you need a sister for a slumber party? Someone to help you clean your room? Write a draft advertisement for a newspaper; transfer the information into a computer software program for an advertisement (to incorporate technology).

Hatchet

Paulsen, G. (1987). Hatchet. New York: Bradbury Press.

What is realistic fiction? Realistic fiction is a story of events that could really happen to people or animals. I think this book also falls into the category of situational realism, as the events of the story could happen given the situation (the crash).

Hatchet is a Newbery Honor book and is of the realistic fiction genre. The plot here is of adventure and survival. Brian, the protagonist, will have to rely on will and ingenuity to survive. The conflict is predominantly of person versus nature type. However, Brian also deals with emotional turmoil in an alternative family scenario. This type of conflict is classified as a problem novel approach.

Hatchet depicts a thirteen year old boy faced with tremendous adversity. The events are very realistic and the reactions of Brian are true to the characteristics of a vulnerable, yet, brave young boy.

Brian is just a normal kid of 13 years old. However, his life has recently gone from normal to terrible as his parents have just divorced. He is bitter about the changes in his family, and toward his mother. He knows her secret! Now that his father has moved away, Brian must travel to spend the summer with him. He boards a small plane alone for his trip and even gets a chance to act as co-pilot! During the flight, something happens that changes Brian forever. He is forced to learn about survival, being positive, and awareness (in the moment).

Real-life/text-to-self-connection: Have you ever been faced with adversity? How did you handle it? Did you draw strength from someone or something in your life? Who or what?

Classroom purpose: Compare and contrast Hatchet with Robinson Crusoe with a Venn diagram.

Affrilachia

Walker, F. X. (2000). Affrilachia. Lexington: Old Cove Press.

What is poetry? The concentrated expression of ideas and feelings through precise and imaginative words carefully selected for their sonorous and rhythmical effects.

This book of poetry is written by Frank X Walker, who is a native to Danville, Kentucky. He has contributed to journals and anthologies but this is his first book; ten years of life, living, and work.   The title of the book is used by Walker to show that the subjects are African-Americans living in rural Appalachia.

Walker writes a personal, poetic narrative (tells a story) about what it means to be a young, black male in America. With deep feeling, his poetry visits Hazard, Kentucky, Harlan County, Kentucky (my birthplace), West Virginia, and all places Appalachia. The poems ‘take you there.’ The element of poetry Walker uses is meaning; there is a mood conveyed through his words.  His poems leave you feeling sad, angry, happy, and with determination and hope.

My text-to self- connection is that my heritage is Appalachian. Also, aptly timed, the mention of the UK Wildcats in Death by Basketball instilled a sense of pride in me. Finally, on a very personal level, the Hummingbird poem has great significance to someone in my family.

Big questions: How does the author show meaning in his poetry? How is this different from other poetry? If you could write a poem about a region, or people, who would you choose?

This book could be used in a compare and contrast activity during a poetry unit or as a resource for Black History Month.

if you come softly

            Woodson, J. (2010). if you come softly. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

               

         

This multi-cultural novel is a tale of relationships. The main relationship focus is on an inter-racial love between Jeremiah, who is a fifteen year old African-American, and a young girl, Ellie, who is Jewish. The two are students at Percy Academy and bump into each other one day, literally. Ellie is smitten immediately, as is Jeremiah; each one of them finding themselves thinking of the other all the time. Ellie confides in her sister that she is interested in someone and that he is black. She picks up this vibe that makes her uncomfortable. Her sister seems weird afterwards. Ellie remembers something her mother said, “All people have suffered. So why should any of us feel like we’re better or less than another?” But Ellie wonders why no black people ever came for dinner or played golf with daddy. Jeremiah and Ellie soon fall in love. In the beginning, they keep their relationship a secret from their parents as they fear it would be viewed as unacceptable. Then, Jeremiah decided to have his mother meet Ellie. He then feels ready to meet her family and risk the rain.

The writing is simplistic in style yet, contains very complex subject matter such as stereotyping, an extra-marital affair, and lesbianism. Wonderfully accomplished balance is the writing as the racial and prejudice issues are handled in a comfortable manner in regard to the reader, yet, displays profound powerfulness.

The big question or take-away from this book is, If there is love, what else matters? Who among us has experienced prejudice? How did it feel?

This book would be great to use as a tie in to a (sixth grade and up) unit on Romeo and Juliet.

The Faithful Friend

 

San     San Souci, R. D. (1999). The faithful friend. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.

The Faithful Friend is a Caldecott Honor Book and a Coretta Scott King Award winning book.

The tale of Clement and Hippolyte’s adventure offers romance, intrigue, courage and unimaginable friendship. The genre is a traditional folktale from the French West Indies. A traditional literature piece is of ancient storytelling that found its way to the written word. These stories are of cultural and spiritual truths and beliefs. However, factual elements exist making these tales a thoughtful insight into human nature. Folktale elements in this interesting read are wizardry, zombies, poisonous fruits, a fer de lance, and the like. Children find these elements fun to discuss as a during-reading activity!

The illustrations are exquisitely accomplished, by Brian Pinkney, via the “scratchboard” technique. This type of artwork begins with a black ink-covered canvas and the illustrator uses a technique that gives the impression that he has used a sharp tool to “scratch-in” color resulting in thin, straight, lines. An example of a composition work is on page 24-25 in the picture book, the wedding scene.

The wedding on page 25 serves as a focal point of the page(s).  In contrast, composition in the form of disharmony is displayed on page 10 whereas the uncle is rising above the others in the artwork, displaying dominance.

The colors chosen for this story accurately depict the isle with vivid greens and pinks, bright yellows and orange in the island flowers. The sky is very realistic in color with hues of blue on one page and the light pinks at sunset. The ocean waters combine the blues and greens, looking very natural. The illustrations compliment the story setting, on the island of Martinique, brilliantly.

The story unfold as two boys, Clement (of dark skin) and Hippolyte (of fair skin), grew up together as life-long friends. As grown men, Clement falls in love with a beautiful woman in a picture.  He wants to set out on a journey to find her and propose marriage. His friend, Hippolyte agrees to go along with him on his adventure. The young men find the woman, Pauline and Clement proposes marriage which angers her uncle, Monsieur Zabocat, who is a racist and is said to be a wizard. “I forbid any such thing. I have decided that we will travel to France,” he said. “There you will marry the man I choose for you.” He decides to stop the wedding at all cost. The uncle sets several traps to kill Clement and save Pauline. However, Hippolye begins to intervene on behalf of his dear friend and thwart the attempts on Clements life. How far will he go to help his friend?

Reflection: I have made decisions that have not always been popular, or supported by others, have you? Did you stand your ground and persevere? Did you have a support system to help you accomplish your goal, or decision?

 

 

The Hunger Games

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic Press.

This is an excellent fantasy book! The fantasy tale is of a distopia, a society characterized by human misery, oppression, disease, squalor, and/or overcrowding. I was entrigued by the idea that what was once North America is now Panem, a very different and brutal place. The people are hungry and must go to great lengths to feed themselves and their families. Enter Katniss, the main character who is female and a fantastic hunter! She has hunted many times with her friend, Gale to feed her family and keep them alive. This skill set comes in very handy for Katniss as she enters the hunger games under unusual circustances. The games are held as a human competition for survival (in a reality- television manner for the populaton of Panem).  The contenders range in age from 12-18. The winner receives food and things needed for basic survival of the family. A fellow challenger from District 12 is Peeta. He is familiar to Katniss as she realizes he once stole bread from his family’s bakery to help feed her and her family.

The story unfolds as preparations for the games begin and then the games get underway. The games are televised (and I feel as though I am an observer throughout the book) and another fantasy element is apparent whereas the environment plays a part in the competition via climate control and added obstacles for interest. Another unexpected twist of fantasy is the form the former contenders take after their attempt at winning.

How will the games play out? How did you feel as Katniss volunteered? Would you have made the same decison? Would you pursue the strategy of creating an alliance with another? What are the pros and cons?

Faithful Elephants

Tsuchiya, Y., & Lewin, T. (1988). Faithful elephants: A true story of animals, people, and war. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Faithful Elephants is a beautifully illustrated picture book tale of animals, people, and war. The illustrations are fluid as they are made with watercolor.   The people in the illustrations are depicted with more care and detail than the animals and scenery. It gives a vague contrast to the artwork. This is a heart wrenching tale of the devastating effects of war. The loss of animal life is not taken into consideration as much as human loss, but it is a great loss as well. The narrator is from the visitor point of view and tell a story of three wonderful elephants who live at Ueno Zoo; John, Tonky, and Wanly. These massive creatures live among the beautiful cherry blossom and bring joy to those who visit. Joy is fleeting, however, in a war-torn country.  What will happen to the elephants? Will they be used in acts of war?

How can we be advocates for peace? What can we do?

The Sweetest Fig

Van, A. C. (1993). The sweetest fig. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

This book is by the same author who wrote Just A Dream and The Polar Express. The illustrations are outstanding in all three books. The visual aspect of this particular book is very realistic yet only neutral colors make up the color palette throughout. The pages have a calm and nostalgic feel.  The story begins with a patient who needs and receives dental care. The problem is that she has no money to pay for the services but she is able to pay for her dental bill with figs. Yes, figs. However, these are not your boring, usual figs. Could they be magical? What strange things happen when the figs are eaten?

This book would be great to use with the two mentioned above as a way to demonstrate different books by the same author.

The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs.

Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (1989). The true story of the 3 little pigs. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Viking Kestrel.

There are two sides to every story, right? This story is told from the point of view of the wolf. He gets a chance to tell his side of the story!  He has been sooo misunderstood. Can’t a wolf just borrow a cup of sugar? The events of what really happened unfold in the pages of this funny book. Or do they?

The book is illustrated primarily in dark or neutral colors, thus, giving the rustic and primitive look and feel. Additionally, the pictures capture a sense of texture for the reader. You can almost feel the straw on the straw house and smell the dust from the demise of the second little pig. Finally, almost every page is presented in a frame style layout that gives you the feeling of flipping through an old photo album.

I have used this book, along with the original little pigs book, in class as a compare and contrast activity. The students really enjoyed hearing both sides of the story.

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The Polar Express

The Polar Express

Van, A. C., Van, A. C., & Houghton Mifflin Company. (1985). The polar express. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

All Aboard! The Polar Express is a breathtaking picture book that takes children on a trip to the North Pole.  An old steam train, The Polar Express, is the mode of transportation this Christmas Eve, no sleigh required. The book displays full page illustrations that have been called theater and worthy of that description. The colors are muted and there is a warm, fuzzy feel to each page. The illustrations are from the view through the train windows and the story is told from an adult perspective as the storyteller was once a passenger on the train. The book is a quick read, perfect for bedtime on Christmas Eve. It will whisk you away with words. Can you still hear the bell? Read and believe!

What would it feel like to visit the North Pole? What would you wish for if you could ask Santa for anything?

Just A Dream

Van, A. C. (1990). Just a dream. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

This is an interesting and beautiful picture book that unfolds from a boy’s dream. The colors used throughout are, sometimes, muted and play on hues of the same color. Most of the dream scenes are from a bird’s eye point of view and are very large in scale. The format of the book utilizes large, full page illustrations as well as small cropped-like photos as well. A little boy named Walter learns a lesson about “being green” and caring for the environment via his dreams. As he sleeps in his bed, he finds himself in unusual places and circumstances throughout the book. The illustrations are wonderfully done and give the feeling of actually being in the dream with Walter.

What can you do to be more "earth-friendly"?

Welcome!

 I am Kimberly Simpson and I am a third grade teacher. I am learning to blog about books as part of a class requirement for my graduate work. So, welcome to my blog! This will be sooo much fun because I love, love, love my job AND  I also love, love, love to read and these (teaching and reading) are my passions.

I have been teaching for four years. I completed undergrad work at Lindsey Wilson College and am completing my grad work at University of the Cumberlands. I have taught grades 1-3 and have looped with my students! I am serving on my school's SBDM committee as well as Program Reviews-Writing and CSIP committees.

I live in Somerset, KY. with my husband and three furry friends. We have 4 children and 5 grandchildren. We recently joined the entreprenuer world and opened a fun center for the children of Pulaski County. We are super busy!!

I look forward to learning to blog as I share books and my love of books!!