Field Experience

Field Experience

1. How many hours did you complete?   5 hours

2. In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?

·      Book talk with Michael Glaser—I attended a book talk hosted by The Warren County Public Library where Michael Glaser, the former Starksy from "Starsky and Hutch", read an excerpt from his new children's chapter book titled Chrystallia and the Source of Light.  He did an outstanding job changing his voice to fit each character's distinct accent and personality.  You could purchase the book there and get it autographed.

·      Todder Time—I observed Toddler Time at the Warren County Public Library two times.  A staff member led this time by singing familiar toddler songs with the toddlers, reading short books to them, and participating in interactive activities with them (i.e., lifting a colorful parachute, shaking paper plate tambourines).

·      Preschool Story Time—I observed Preschool Story Time at the Warren County Public Library.  A staff member led this time by reading different stories about monsters, singing and dancing to familiar preschool songs, and having the preschools make a monster out of the letter “M”.

·      Preschool Spanish—I observed Preschool Spanish at the Warren County Public Library two times.  A staff member led this time by teaching the preschoolers how to sing familiar songs, such as “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “Where is Thumbkin?” in English and in Spanish, teaching them the Spanish words for different fruits and colors, reading books about fruits and replacing the English fruit word with the Spanish fruit word, and making a craft of the particular fruit.

3. How did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard?

     The field experience helped me strengthen Kentucky Teacher Standard 4:  The teacher implements and manages instruction.  Through my observations during Toddler Time, Preschool Story Time, and Preschool Spanish, I saw the staff members use a variety of instructional strategies to actively engage students.  An example of this is using colorful parachutes and paper plate tambourines during Toddler Time.  These activities were engaging for the toddlers and therefore made learning more meaningful.  As a teacher, this reminded me how important it is to make sure I plan lessons with activities that actively engage all students and help make student learning “stick.”

4.  Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.

     I learned that the public library is not just a place to check out books.  There are so many wonderful resources the public library offers for educators, adults, children of all ages, teenagers, and members of the community.  Our library offers weekly story time events for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, numerous workshops, a summer reading program for children that includes fun events, author/illustrator visits, computers, and much more.  I plan to use the public library as a resource, in addition to our school library, to help enhance student learning through literature in the classroom.

Reading Log and Wiki List

Reading Log

Instructions: List the titles and authors you read under each genre.

Genre/Titles you read

Non-fiction/Informational (1 reflection required on blog)

1.     How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly by Steven Jenkins & Robin Page

2.    Stars Beneath Your Bed:  The Surprising Story of Dust by April Pulley Sayre

3.    Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley

4.    Sea Horse:  The Shyest Fish in the Sea by Chris Butterworth

5.    The Rainbow and You by E.C. Krupp

6.    Sneeze! by Alexandra Siy *

Poetry (1 reflection required on blog)

1.     Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? by Mel Glenn

2.    Kindergarten Cat by J. Patrick Lewis

3.    Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex *

4.    Mathematickles! By Betsy Franco

5.    Toasting Marshmellows:  Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George

6.    City I Love by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Modern Fantasy (1 reflection required on blog)     

1.     A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

2.    The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling *

Historical Fiction (1 reflection required on blog –can be a picture book)

1.     Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

2.    Jackie’s Bat by Marybeth Lorbiecki

3.    The Babe & I by David A. Alder

4.    Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine *

5.    Klondike Gold by Alice Provensen

6.    Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson

Multicultural/Traditional (2 reflections required on blog – one can be a picture book)        

1.     The Jack Tales by Richard Chase *

2.    Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown *

3.    Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

4.    Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

5.    The Pot That Juan Built by Nancy Andrews-Goebel

6.    My Abuelita by Tony Johnston

Realistic Fiction (1 reflection required on blog)

1.     Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis

2.    Shredderman:  Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen *

Picture Books (6 reflections required on blog)

1.     Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

2.    Tuesday by David Wiesner *

3.    Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs *

4.    Drummer Hoff by Barbara Emberley *

5.    Just Us Women by Jeannette Caines *

6.    The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne

Henry’s Freedom Box (historical fiction) and Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match (multicultural/traditional) are both picture books that were on my blog.

* denotes my blog posts

Wiki Checklist

Instructions: Write the number of entries for each category you posted into on the Course Wiki (requirement is four total posts, in four different categories)

    1     Social Studies

          Science

    1     Math

          Music

          Art

    1    Reading/Language Arts

          Physical Education

    1    Other

Sneeze!

Siy, A.  (2007).  Sneeze!  Watertown:  Charlesbridge.

         Sneeze!, by Alexandra Siy, is a children’s informational book that informs readers about the different reasons that causes people to sneeze and how the body’s nervous system works to produce a sneeze.  The format of this informational book is a photo essay because the photos are equally balanced between the text and illustration.  Our textbook, Essentials of Children’s Literature by Brown, Tomlinson, and Short, describes qualities of a photo essay to have, “Excellent, information-bearing photographs and crisp, condensed writing style…” (pg. 199).  The crisp photos, by Dennis Kunkel, are electron micrographs that were taken with either a scanning electron microscope or a transmission electron microscope.  The magnified objects were colored to create beautiful images that highlight various features.  Next to each micrograph, there is the symbol x which indicates magnification and a number which tells how many times the actual size has been magnified.  The information included with the caption in each photograph helps to describe the multiple concepts that are presented. 

         Siy uses the cause and effect structure throughout the book.  Each child interacts with something (pollen, pepper, mites, mold, dust, down, disease, hair, sunshine) that causes him or her to sneeze (effect).  The author explains why the object caused them to sneeze through scientific explanations and micrographs.  The theme or main point of the book is to inform readers that there are numerous reasons that can cause a person to sneeze.  Siy’s style includes technical vocabulary words (i.e., bronchiole, alveolus), micrographs with labels and captions, conversational tone, and a variety of sentence length and complexity.

I used the checklist from our Week 8 notes to evaluate this informational book. 

1.  The writing is clear and easily understandable. 

Although there are many science words that children might not understand (i.e., axon, dendrite, synapse, myelin sheath), the author presents these unfamiliar words with familiar words and comparisons that helps children easily understand the concepts. 

2.  Make sure facts are accurate and current – is the author an expert in this area?

The facts in this book are accurate and current.  The author, Alexandra Siy, listed a resource page (pg. 43), which includes up-to-date information and facts about sneezing and the neuroscience behind it.  Siy teamed up with Dennis Kunkel, PhD whose micrographs have been named award winning.  Siy has also written several informational and non-fiction children’s books, one of which received the Orbis Pictus Honor Book Award and another that received the Parents’ Choice Nonfiction Silver Honor Award. 

3.  Be wary of books with old copyright dates.

The copyright date on this book is 2007, which was only five years ago.  I would not consider this an old copyright date.

4.  It must distinguish between fact, theory, and opinion.

         The book does distinguish between fact, theory, and opinion. There is more information about sneezing (pg. 40) that includes how the custom of saying “God bless you” after a person sneezes originated, the theory of sneezing associated with superstition, and the fact that during a sneeze, air travels at 100 miles per hour. 

5.  Personification should be avoided.

         I did not find any examples of personification in this book.

6.  The cover and book should be attractive to a child.

         The cover of the book has colorful, neon photographs of objects that have been magnified pop against the black background.  The use of capital letters for the title goes perfectly below the picture of a young girl on the verge of a sneeze.  The book not only appeals to children who enjoy science, but also for curious children who want to know why and how people sneeze.

7.  Presentation of information should be from known to unknown, general to specific, or simple to more complex.

         The book presents the information from known to unknown.  For example, the book shows a child with a pepper shaker (known) and explains the reason which pepper makes the child sneeze (unknown).  (pg. 10-11).

8.  Stereotyping must be avoided.

       I did not find any evidence of stereotyping in this book.

I would recommend this book for students in 4^th and 5^th grade.  The book included a page of resources that teachers and students can use to further examine the topic of sneezing (pg. 43).  I have listed some of the resources I found particularly interesting below:

American Treasures of the Library of Congress:  A Sneeze Caught on Film

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr018.html

Learn more about Thomas Edison’s historic motion picture of a sneeze.

Dennis Kunkel’s Educational Website

http://education.denniskunkel.com/

Browse the image library, use the interactive features, and find additional information about microscopy.

Neuroscience for Kids

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html

This website by Dr. Eric H. Chudler, PhD explains more about the nervous system.

Some BIG questions you could ask your students are, “After reading this book, what are the reasons that cause you to sneeze?  What evidence can you give to support your answer?”

This book did not include any bolded words to use for the Mark the Bold bookmark strategy, but it did include a glossary with forty scientific words.  I would have students choose four words from the glossary to use for this strategy.  They would write the words on the front, then turn it over and write what the word means in their own words on the Talk the Bold side.  I would instruct students who have not written the same words to partner up and discuss the words they had written.  This way, the student may be able to help their peer better understand the word they recorded.

          Check out Sneeze!, by Alexandra Siy.  It is sure to BLOW you away!!!