As the Story Ends

Well it's that time of year again; kids' are saying their summer goodbyes and the final grades are being entered in. Which also means the 20% project is coming to its end. I have had a really great time with this project. Teaching such a great group of kids and learning from them as I went. Wow who knew I could learn so much in five weeks from bunch second and third graders? 

I started this project stressed out and confused; I mean how much can 15 year old changes the world in five weeks? Then I found that I can use my hobbies for the better. So I called up my little sister's teacher and she thought that a reading circle with a lesson on literature every week for five weeks was a great way to send awareness out of the importance and greatness of reading and understanding literature. I thought it was going to be fun, and I was right my first day there the kids were very squirmy and wouldn't calm down. By the next week they were excited for my lesson and they stay still with their talking to a minimum. 

The kids I have realized consume information more the more exciting the game or activity is. They love to get up and move around, are active, and just live life. 

I don't think have ever had more fun doing a project, especially with kids. I am honored that I had the chance to teach these kids that there is more to life then TV and video games. They need to understand that they don't need to watch a movie or pick up a controller to get action. I got to teach those kids that these past five weeks. To me I made a difference, maybe I didn't make a difference in the world but I did make a difference to these kids and it makes me feel good. I'm sad to see it end but I feel confident walking away from it that they will forever and always remember what I taught them and use those keys to set out onto an adventure that no movie or video game can. The mind is an amazing gift and when used right can give you the ability to do anything.  Thank you all for reading my blogs and being a part of this journey with me. I wish those of you that are continuing the best of luck on furthering your projects I have enjoyed keeping tabs on all your blogs. Have a great summer.

T.V or Literature?

Television.... this is definitely a quite extraordinary invention. Though it is not always the best resource for information or the best for your brain. Television is bad for the mind and weakens your eyes significantly. But did you know you can get the same amount of action, suspense, romance, or whatever you want in the pages of a book? And it's better for your mind and eyes.

Television does many things for you if you want a fun and relaxing date night with your loved one or a girls' or boys' night out, or if you were to say watch animal planet or PBS kids which are great learning programs that television provides. Though sitting down all day doing nothing but watching Television could warp your mind and hurt you mentally and sometimes physically if you don’t limit your watching time. Now I'm in no way saying you are a bad person for watching television, I enjoy a good show myself, but you don't want to spend all day on the television. 

Why not sit down and drink some coffee while curled up with a book? You get the same amount of gory action you'd get in World War Z in a good action book. Books strengthen your eyesight along with your reading and spelling abilities. Plus you get so much more out of a book, you can become the character you can take the description of the setting of the story and create your own touches. A movie chooses everything for you, they decide the character and the setting so where is the fun part where you get to add your own imagination? I myself am a big fan of exploring the unknown and imagining wild adventures to send myself on so a book a great way to do that. You take their story line, setting, and characters and use your imagination from there.

One thing though a television does for you that a book does not is put your imagination into reality, you can't normally read a book and then make that story happen in reality. A movie does that for you and that's why you find that more people watch movies instead of reading. Many people agree with this because they too love the fact that the movie makes the book reality. Though this is great on so many levels, why would you still want to miss out on those books that were never put on screen? Well for instance The Gallagher Academy, A wonderful thrilling, romantic, crime fighting six book series, but unfortunately unpopular due to the fact that it was never put on screen. People miss out on some of the greatest adventures or beautiful acts love all because they didn't want to pick up a book. That seems like a real shame. To me a great adventure starts with your imagination, a movie has its perks, but if you think about it the only people using their imaginations during a movie are the actors and directors themselves. Just remember the next time a friend tells you that they may have found a book you may like, don’t turn them down with the so very popular excuse I’ll wait for it to go in theaters instead take their word for it and try it out, you may just find yourself in a new land you never knew existed. One not even a screen can bring you to.

As the Pages of Literature Turn

These past few weeks have been amazing, the kids' follow along with interest and curiosity during my literature lessons. They have many questions and when I ask them questions they have such interesting views on the topic. The first week I decided to kick start the project by starting with a genre that is of interest to a boy and girl, a fairy tale. I read the book of Rumpelstiltskin to them and did a review sheet afterwards to see how much they remember. The kids' loved it; they couldn't get passed the fact that Rumpelstiltskin was riding a flying spoon.

This past week I taught about adventure I read the book Charlie Drives the stage after that we re-created the story outside using a little imagination, we used swimming noodles as Indian bows, trees, and robbers' guns'. We used cotton balls for an avalanche, and paper as the rocks that fell on the carriage. I drew their names from a jar to decide who would play what part, and I had groups of Indians', robbers', horses, and kids who were in charge of the avalanche, falling trees, and rocks. We had a boy play Charlie and a girl play the Senator. They ran around the track going through the obstacles just like they did in the book. I even had kids’ tell me they were going to play again at recess. That made me smile a bit.

I am really excited because the kids’ all get so energetic when I walk in the room, they all crowd around wondering what we’ll be doing that day and what the book will be. I am so happy they are already finding joy in reading after only two weeks. I am excited to further my project and watch as their excitement grows with every story. I hope that once I leave they realize that they can create their own adventures on and off the page.  

The Life of a Teacher

For this blog I conducted an interview with my mentor so that you can all get to know the journey she went through to get where she is today, and to show how well she qualifies as a teacher and my mentor.

My mentor's name is Mrs. Sarah Fitch; she is a teacher for a 2nd/3rd grade combo class of 24 kids between the ages of 7&9 at Cottonwood Creek Charter School in Cottonwood. The Cottonwood Creek School has been running for 5 years on the old West Cottonwood site and Mrs. Fitch has been teaching for 4 of those 5 years. Mrs. Fitch started out teaching 6th grade back in her 20's, but when she started having kids she took 10 years off to raise them. During this time she did some substitute teaching to keep her credentials up to date then became a librarian in the Cottonwood Library. After a few years she went back to Chico State and got her library media credentials and a master in curriculum/instruction. She then ran the library for 7 years. And now she is teaching at the Cottonwood Charter, and at the school she started up her own library system, with new books.

Mrs. Fitch has a love and passion for reading, she quoted in our interview, "I'm a teacher and a credentialed librarian and so I love a good story and I know how important it is for kids to experience different kinds of literature so I am very thankful that Esther can come in and give lessons on the many different genres with a fun activity at the end."

Mrs. Fitch enjoys a good book, and loves to include reading in her classroom atmosphere. She has the kids taking part in a few different reading programs, one is Accelerated Reader, and this is an online program that quizzes the kids on the books they just read. These quizzes are meant to show just how much attention was spent on the book. The kids also have A.R goals they must meet by the end of each learning period. The next reading group which is most commonly used in her classroom is the Treasure program which includes tons of stories and spelling/reading programs. The final program is called standards plus, this teaches kids how to break down a story using its plot, setting, character traits, etc.

Mrs. Fitch strongly believes that children should learn the art of reading at a young age, she quoted in the interview, "Part of developing good readers is giving them a love for a good story, and so being read to with a great drama and animation is just another way to promote literacy and love of reading."

I am extremely excited to work on this project alongside such a wise woman with as big a love and understanding for reading as I do. She understands the importance of looking at all genres instead of sticking to just one; she believes that there is a different adventure to be lived with each new genre. I can't wait to further this project with the kids and her and to watch as the young minds of those kids are blown as they discover there is more adventure wrapped in a paper than there is reeled on a screen, because as they will soon learn, is that with a book no one can tell you who to be, because with a good book and a big imagination you can be anything.

The Journey Through the Genres

Hello my name is Esther and I am taking part in the 20% project. My project is on the multiple different journeys that you can be taken on when using different genres of literature. I have decided to use ages 7-9 for this project because this age group have a natural sense and curiosity for adventure but are also not easily intrigued by the quest set before them. My goal in this project is to take in the next 5 weeks 5 different genres of books and present them with hands on activities and present the kids with a big question that the kids are responsible for solving by the end of the book. They will also be questioned throughout the book to see if they are paying attention and appear intrigued or bored in this new way of reading.
I decided this goal for my project because I love reading and when I read I become part of the story, and the idea of giving young kids the adventure I embark when I read is something that excites me very much. I think all young kids should be able to journey to a new world, land, or realm every time they read whether it is the future, past, present, or in space I want them to feel as if they are really there.
I plan to reach this goal by-

• Going online and researching the word genre.
• Then I will choose the genres I will present to the kids throughout the 5 weeks and look up what each genre means.
• I will then pick out the book for that week and read over it to decide on my question the kids will try to solve in that book.
• I will create or find an activity for them to do based on that week's genre.
• Finally I will present the kids with this project and study their reaction.

I have already spoken with my mentor; she is a family friend who also happens to be a teacher at Cottonwood Creek Charter School for a second and third grade combination class. We have already met and discussed how the day each week will go and we will be furthering our discussion each week to decide on the next week's genre.

I expect that the most challenging obstacle would be to find the area of interest of the kids in an age appropriate book and in text they will understand. I very well can't bring in Shakespeare as a possible genre for drama, that would sound like Spanish to a child. I plan on overcoming this obstacle by speaking to my mentor each week once my genre is chosen and asking what books in that area of topic most intrigue the kids.

So there is my battle plan for my 20% project, I am very confident with this project and hope to morph the minds of kids more and more each week.