The Rainbow Fish

One of my favorite books since I was a young child is The Rainbow Fish. I am such a big fan of this book because of the type of lesson it teachers young children. The main theme of this book is to let children know that everyone is different and unique. I think this would be a great book to read to students in the beginning of the school year. Since students are new and may not know each other I would want to do sort of an ice breaker activity. I would want each student to write something they feel is special about them. Whether it be I am tall or I love reading, the students would realize that each one of them is different in their own unique way. I think a fun idea would to give each student a pretend fish scale and have them write what they think is unique about them on a scale and then have them put their scale on a large fish. The other main theme of this book is sharing. It's important that students understand the importance of sharing. This would be a fun activity that allows the students to get to know each other!

What Makes Writing Worth Reading?

This is a tricky question! I think that writing is one of the most popular forms of expressing oneself. I know that when I write, I am usually writing to an audience. If it's a research paper, I'm writing for a professor, if it's s journal, I'm writing that for myself, or sometimes for others to read. I tend to express how I feel through writing. Sometimes it will be a letter or sometimes it will be a card.

The one example that comes to mind is when I receive a letter in the mail from a childhood friend. I read the card and read what they write. After I have done that, I will write back in return. I feel like in a lot of cases, you must read before you can write.

In a classroom setting, a lot of times children will journal daily. I think what they write is worth reading, because I think children really express how they feel through writing. Reading what someone writes allows you to connect to the individual in different ways.
I really enjoy reading what others have to write. I think that for a teacher, it is a fun thing they get to do.
If a child is writing about something they have just read (a book), what they write will help allow the teacher to judge if he/she understands what the student just read about.

Sticks and Stones may break my bones...

This saying is one that my mom told me starting from my childhood and she reminds me of it all the time. I believe that this statement is false. I believe that words are one of the strongest ways you can hurt a person. From being a little girl, to becoming a grown adult, one of the most common ways I've ever had my feelings hurt has been through words other people have said.
I believe words have a lot of power. The one thing that always sticks out in my mind is when I have done something wrong (when I was younger of course) and my mom would tell me she was disappointed in me. That was one word I could not stand my mom say. It killed me to know that I had disappointed my mom. I would get the worse feeling in my stomach when I heard that word. So yes, words are a lot of power. It's important to watch what you say because you never know who is listening.

How I learned language!

I learned language through my blue book with a little school house on the front of it, aka my phonics book. We had a love hate relationship. I loved learning what verbs, adjectives, nouns, etc. were, but I could not stand sentence diagramming. I also learned a lot of language through learning to spell and understanding the meaning of words. From probably 1st-5th grade we would have a spelling test every Friday. Surprisingly, I learned a lot of new words (language) through spelling. Along with my beloved phonics book and spelling tests, I also think I learned a lot of language through reading. My parents ready to me starting as an infant and didn't stop until I was probably old enough to read on my own. I learned a lot of my words from being read to. When a book was read over and over, I would eventually catch on. The other I got, my parents would read books out loud with me. When I was capable of reading them aloud on my own, my parents would sometimes follow along in case there was a word I did not understand. When there were words I didn't understand, my parents would explain the word to me and then I would learn a new word. Come to think of it, I think that's an important way to learn language. I never really thought of it as a way to learn, but it certainly is.

My previous experiences have played a large impact on me. When I babysit, I read because the girl is at the age where she is beginning to speak, so I think it's very important that I read to her. One thing I always wish is that I had been better prepared for writing/grammar in high school and college. As a teacher, I want to make sure I give my students the best preparation there is.