The Ice Cream Store

Genre: Poetry
Author: Dennis Lee
Illustrator: David McPhail
Awards: None
Grade level: Kindergarten-5th Grade

This book has so many different types of poems and has such a huge variety for all grade types! There isn't an index or glossary, but it is easy to flip through and find a poem you want because of the illustrations. This book has such a wide variety of poems, some poems only 4 lines, and some poems fill up a whole page! The illustrations in the book are very bright and colored, but they don't take away from the poem at all and actually enhance each of the poems. 

I would definitely use this book in my classroom! The poems are very well written and the illustrations would draw the children in. I definitely think the grade range is Kindergarten-5th because some of the poems are very simple and some of the poems are more complex and would be great for upper elementary. I would use this book in my classroom to introduce poetry and rhyming words with the simple poems, but with the more complex poems, students would be able to analyze and explore the poems.

All the small poems and fourteen more

Genre: Poetry
Author: Valerie Worth
Illustrator: Natalie Babbitt
Awards:None
Grade level: 1st-4th

This book is a thicker poem book with many different types of poems. There are no colored illustrations throughout the book, but there are some simple illustrations that go along with each poem. There are many different poems throughout this book, one about skeletons, one about sidewalks, one even about a lawnmower! The writing of the poems is so creative, and I like how each poem has a different meaning and is centered around one thing. Each poem is definitely on the shorter side so it's good because it's not a long poem and children will be able to read through it.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom because it has such a wide variety of poems, I'm sure that I could relate a poem back to a topic I'm covering in the classroom. I chose 1st-4th grade for the grade level because some of the poems are simpler and easier to understand but there are also complex poems that could challenge the 4th graders. I would use this book in my class by relating a poem to a topic covering in class and reading it to the students or having them read it and write how they think it relates to what we are learning about.

I'm Still Here in the Bathtub

Genre: Poetry
Author: Alan Katz
Illustrator: David Catrow
Awards:None
Grade level: Kindergarten-3rd Grade

This book is a collection of a variety of poems, but each poem is to the tune of different songs! After each title of the poem, in parenthesis, it says what the poem is to the tune of. I absolutely love this! It is so creative, and each poem is completely different and unique! Throughout the book there are also many illustrations on each page that relate to the poem, and I think the illustrations are really unique and creative. 

I would definitely use this book in my classroom! I think it would be so fun to review the poem together and then sing the poem to the tune of the assigned song. The reason I think an appropriate grade level is Kindergarten through 3rd is because in Kinder we could read the books together since some of the writing is a bit advanced, and even in 3rd we could still read the poems and sing them together, but they would also be able to explore the book on their own. There is some rhyming in the poems so it's a good book to use to practice the students rhyming words in a fun way!

Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky

Genre: Poetry
Author: Georgia Heard
Illustrator: Jennifer Owings Dewey
Awards: None
Grade level: 1st-3rd Grade

This book has many different styles of poems throughout the entire book, but each poem is about one specific animal. For example, one poem is about hummingbirds, another about dolphins, and one about elephants. There are so many different animals in this poem book, and I really enjoyed that each poem is styled differently and sounds completely different than other poems in the book. I also enjoyed that at the end of the book, there is an index that has all the animals and the page number that the poem is on. 

I would definitely use this book in my classroom because it shows children that not all poems have to rhyme and there are many different types of poems. An appropriate grade level is 1st-3rd because there are some more complex vocabulary words that might be difficult for younger children to grasp. This book would be good to use to show children the different types of poetry and then have them create their own unique poem.

Home Sweet Home

Genre: Poetry
Author: Jean Marzollo
Illustrator: Ashley Wolff
Awards: None
Grade level: Kindergarten-2nd Grade

This book is about all of the different animals on earth and how Earth is their home. The illustrations in this book are truly amazing, and even though there aren't many words throughout the pages, the illustrations are definitely a huge part of this book. The words in this book are simple and have a consistent rhythm as well as rhyme. Throughout the book, the author consistently says "Bless each___" and then lists an animal, and at the very end she says "Bless each birth on our home called Earth." I really enjoyed this because it's very beautifully illustrated and also allows students to realize that animals have homes on Earth as well and they live here just like we do.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom. I think it is a great book for younger students to read, and I think the illustrations would help guide the reading. An appropriate grade level for this would be K-2nd. In kindergarten, I would probably do this as a read aloud first, but in 2nd grade, the students would definitely be able to explore the book on their own. This book would be good to explore the different animals, or just introduce students to different types of rhyming words.

Wonder

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Author: R.J Palacio

Awards: Bluebonnet award

Grade level: 3rd-8th grade

Wonder is an amazing fiction children's literature book written by R.J. Palacio. It has many awards including the Bluebonnet award. They also released a movie in 2017 based off of this award-winning novel! This book could be used for a wide range of children, from about 3rd grade-8th grade! This book is about a young boy named August (Auggie) who was born with severe deformities. He wants everyone else to see him as ordinary but feels like he is the only one that sees himself as ordinary. Throughout the novel, we see the many challenges Auggie faces while transitioning from home-school to middle school, but we are also able to see the point of view from the people around Auggie and involved in his life. The reader is able to see how difficult life is for Auggie as well as the people around Auggie. This book truly shows an amazing journey of the struggles Auggie has, as well as the celebrations he has as he becomes more comfortable and gets a sense of belonging at his school.

As a teacher, I would definitely use this book in my classroom! I think it is an amazing story for students to hear, and it will teach the students amazing lessons on being kind and accepting others even if they might look different. I think a good grade level for this is 3rd through 8th because the students will be able to better understand what Auggie is going through and understand the many perspectives throughout the book. This book would be great to have students read and then have discussions about what they read and talk to them about the different viewpoints in the book. It would also be a good idea to have the students keep a book log while reading just so they can write down their opinions on the style of writing in the book.

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty is a traditional literature book retold and illustrated by Margaret Early. This book hasn't won any awards and a good grade range for this book would be 1st-4th. This book is about a young princess who is given many gifts at birth, but one evil fairy curses her and says on her 16th birthday the princess will prick her finger on a spindle and fall into a deep sleep that will last 100 years, and at the end the son of a king will come and awaken her. The king got nervous hearing this and banned all spindles and had them burned in destroyed. Many years passed, and one day as the princess was roaming the castle, she came across an old lady in the attic who hadn't heard of the spindle rule. The young princess wanted to try spinning on the spindle, but as soon as she touched it, she fell into a deep sleep. The old woman was terrified and called for help from the servants, who carried the princess to the king and queen. The king called for one of the good fairies and had her put them all in a deep slumber until the princess was to wake. The news spread around to a young prince, who came to the princess's side and was able to awake the princess along with everyone else in the castle.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely have it in my classroom. This book does have some large vocabulary in it, and definitely has more words than pictures. It would be good to read aloud to younger children, but older children in about 4th grade could definitely read it to themselves. It would be a good idea to do this book as a read-aloud then allow the children to create their own fairy tale or maybe create a different ending to the book just to allow them to use their creativity.

Puss In Boots

Puss In Boots is a traditional literature book originally written in French by Charles Perrault but was translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown. This book has not won any awards and is geared towards children in about 2nd-4th grade. This book is about a miller who died and left his three sons with a mill, a donkey, and a cat. The youngest got the "short end" of the stick and ended up getting the cat. The cat told him not to worry, and to grab him a sack and a pair of boots. The cat then decided he would help his master by catching things and bringing them to the king. The cat did this for several months, and the king eventually started rewarding him for his generosity, which the cat then gave to his master. The sly cat learned that the king's daughter would be visiting, and planned(in an extremely creative way) for his master and the princess to meet. After a lot of planning from the cat, his master, and the princess eventually got married.

I would use this book in my classroom because I think it's a cute children's book for the children to hear and read. Some of the words may be complicated for the younger children so I would say an appropriate grade level for the book would be 4th grade. This book could easily be a read aloud for younger children, but for older children,
it would be a good book to have them read and do a mini "book report" on.

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel is a traditional literature book written by Lucy Kincaid and illustrated by Eric Kincaid. The book didn't win any major awards, but I personally enjoyed the illustration throughout the book. This book is definitely geared towards younger children, probably in Kindergarten-1st grade. This book is about two children who live with their father and stepmother, and one day they hear the stepmother telling the father that they can't afford to feed the children, so she plans to take them out in the forest and leave them there. Hansel and Gretel hear this, and Hansel makes a plan to leave a trail of pebbles from their garden to find their way back home. The next day, the father and stepmother take them out into the woods and leave them there, but the children find their way back home. Hansel and Gretel hear the stepmother talking that she wants to take them deeper into the forest this time, and Hansel tries to collect more pebbles but the stepmother had locked the garden. The next day, Hansel leaves a trail of breadcrumbs to try and find their way back, but when night fell, they weren't able to find them. After a few days, Hansel and Gretel stumble across a house made of candy, but there is an evil witch who takes them and is trying to fatten Hansel up to eat him. One day, Gretel tricks the witch and pushes her into the oven, and Gretel is able to free her brother Hansel and as they're leaving they filled their pockets with treasure. When they returned, the father told the children their stepmother and passed and they were able to live together happily.

I usually wouldn't read this book in my classroom, because to me it is pretty creepy and makes me a bit uncomfortable thinking about a witch wanting to eat children. Especially if I had younger children that might get scared easily, I wouldn't want to scare them in my class. This book is definitely geared towards younger children because it has a very large font and pictures so younger children can understand. Because of the large font and simple words, I think in the class it would be great to allow children to practice their reading with a story
they might be familiar with.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk is a traditional literature book retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg. This book hasn't won any awards, and this book is geared towards children in the 1st-2nd grade. This book is about a poor young boy Jack, and his mother who is running out of money. Jack goes into town to sell their cow, and on the way, he runs into an old man selling magical beans. Jack trades his cow for these magical beans because the old man says that overnight they'll grow into gigantic beanstalks that reach the sky. When Jack got back, his mother was furious and threw the beans out the window. That next morning, Jack awoke to huge beanstalks in his yard. He climbed them and came across a giant ogre. She decided to let him in her home but hid him from her ogre husband when he came into the room. Jack waited until the husband fell asleep, grabbed a bag of gold, and left. Jack went up and down the beanstalk 3 times in total, and each time he stole something to help his mom. The last time, he almost got caught by the ogre but cut down the beanstalk before the ogre was able to catch him.

I probably wouldn't use this book in my classroom because I personally don't like the story behind it for younger children. I feel as if it gives children the wrong impression since Jack stole from the Ogre's three different times. I think an appropriate grade level for this book would be the 2nd grade, and if I were to use it for my class, I would probably put it in the classroom library and allow children to explore the book on their own, rather than me reading it aloud to the class.

Cinderella

Cinderella is a traditional literature book translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown. The book is translated from the French version written by Charles Perrault. This book won the Caldecott medal all the way back in 1955. This book would be great for students in about 2nd-3rd grade because there are still pictures in it and the font is a bit bigger than it would normally be so they would be able to read it with ease. This book is about a young girl named Cinderella, whose father married a very evil woman, with just as evil stepdaughters. The stepmother made Cinderella do all of the chores around the house because she didn't like how the goodness in Cinderella made her own two daughters seem even worse. In this version of Cinderella, she meets her fairy godmother and attends two balls, where she goes unrecognized and everyone enjoys her company, especially the prince. At the end of the second ball, she loses track of time and must leave in a hurry, causing her to leave a glass slipper behind. The prince then searches high and low, having every woman trying on the glass slipper until he finally finds Cinderella, and the glass slipper does fit her. After the slipper is put on, Cinderella's fairy godmother reappears and transforms her, and everyone realizes she was the beautiful princess at the balls.

As a teacher, I would definitely use this book in my classroom. I think it teaches the children a great lesson about staying humble and being kind. I also think 3rd grade is a great level for the book because the children are able to read it themselves. It's a good read-aloud for younger children, but there is some challenging vocabulary in it. If I was to have this book in my classroom, I would probably introduce it during a read aloud and then put it in the classroom library so children could go back and read it if they chose to. I'm not sure if this book would fit into the curriculum, but it's good for children to receive a valuable lesson from the book.

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? is a nonfiction children's book written by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. This book received the Caldecott honor book in 2004 and is geared towards children in early through middle elementary school. I really enjoyed reading this book because at the beginning it says that animals use their eyes, noses, tails, mouths, ears, and feet in very different ways and encourages the reader to try and guess which animal each body part belongs to. Throughout the book, it shows a single body part from about 5 different animals and asks what do you do with a body part like this? Once you flip the page, it then states the animal and how they use that certain part. My favorite part is at the end of the book because it gives a summary of each animal mentioned and how they use the body part listed. It's perfect because it allows students to put it all together at the end and see some of the unique things animals can do!

As a teacher, I would definitely use this book in my classroom for an animal unit so students can learn about animals in a fun way. I think it's perfect for 1st-2nd graders because they can expand their knowledge of animals and learn unique things animals can do! It's also great for younger kids because it is filled with information, but throughout the book, the amount of words isn't overwhelming and the pictures are definitely appealing to younger children. I also really enjoyed how the author asks the reader what you do with a certain body part before listing the animal and what it actually does. This book would be great as a read aloud because you could get the children's input and ideas about the different animals.

First Blog!

I am a currently a Junior at Houston Baptist University. I am studying Elementary education and have a passion for teaching children. I have taught students in after-school programs, as well as summer camps. Teaching is extremely important to me, and I am beyond excited to begin my career. I have had many roles throughout college that have prepared me for the leadership qualities that teachers should possess. One of those roles is being a Resident Assistant at Houston Baptist University. As an RA, I have grown tremendously in my leadership skills by creating programs for the residents to attend and serve the residents with what they need assistance in.