Common English/Spanish Cognates

http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/background/cognates

Children’s Dictionary

Take a look at Scholastic’s Dictionary for Children. You can even search inside and see an entry!

http://www.amazon.com/Scholastic-Childrens-Dictionary-Revised-Updated/dp/0439365635/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product

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Kids Are Authors,Too!

http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/contest/kaa_about.asp http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/basic/yngwrite.html

Check this out! Think of poetry ideas, innovations and links that may inspire your students.

Stephen King on Simile; HOT Blogging; and all the small poems…

“The use of simile and other figurative language is one of the chief delights of  fiction–reading it and writing it, as well. When it’s on target, a simile delights us in much the same way meeting an old friend in a crowd of strangers does. By comparing two seemingly unrelated objects…we are sometimes able to see an old thing in a new and vivid way. Even if the result is mere clarity instead of beauty, I think writer and reader are participating together in a kind of miracle.“ (p. 176)

From Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

HOT Blogging and Writing Circles…

How about these for HOT questions?

What do you notice about Valerie Worth’s poems? What does she write about? How does she make us pay attention to her poetry? Describe any personal connections. You may choose to focus on one poem.

Let’s decide to take a closer look at one of her poems, either Safety Pin p. 48 or Pocket p. 193.

safety pin073-1

pocket_worth

• What is the subject of the poem? How does it look? How does it feel? What does it do or what are its uses?
• What do you notice about the she writes?
• What patterns do you see in this poem?
• Does this poet do anything special with the words? What?
• Does she incorporate simile? Effectively? How so?

Let’s see if we can imitate her style and compose one of our own…

On Keeping a Journal or Notebook

My journal is at the heart of my writing. There I record dreams, memories, funny happenings and wild ideas. Free to play, I write in different directions and colors; I draw, I tape in leaves, notes from kids, boarding passes. From such compost, poems, stories, and even novels grow.

George Ella Lyon

A notebook can be the clearing in the forest of your life, a place where you can be alone and content as you play with outrage and wonder, details and gossip, language and dreams, plots and subplots, perceptions and small epiphanies.

Ralph Fletcher

Welcome!

Hello RE 4030 Students! I am teaching 2 sections of this course this semester: one section in Boone and another in Hudson. I have taught this course every semester since its inception, and it is truly one of my favorites. I am a lover of language arts! My interests include teaching and learning through technology, and interdisciplinary approaches to reading, writing about, and discussing multicultural children’s literature in elementary classrooms, always mindful of accommodating struggling readers and writers.. When I am not teaching, you will most likely find me cycling, running, hiking with our dogs, or possibly reading children’s literature! Please check out the “about” page for a little bit more “about me.”

I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, and people will like it more.

Chris Martin
Coldplay

Are We Engaging our 21st Century Learners?

What are your thoughts?

Invitation

INVITATION

If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

Shel Silverstein