3344 M&W What is Narrative?

A narrative is a type of writing that that tells a story consisting of characters, setting, and plenty of details to support the stories plot. A narrative should have a beginning, middle and an end or a conclusion. A childrens book like Jack and the Beanstalk is a narrative. The story of Jack is being told from 3rd persons perspective, meaning that it is being told by someone not in the story. The story goes on to tell of Jacks family being poor and needing food or money for food. A narrative is a good way to tell a story that can teach a lesson or life experience.

3321 M&W Pins and Needles

Although I my self enjoyed the grotesqueries of the Pins and Needle version of Little Red Riding Hood, I would not read or share this with any of my younger students. I was thinking of reading it to my sons (10,9,6) but decided not to after reading how grandmother was eaten by the wolf. No lie, I thought it was cool, but not for kids. To each thier own.

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Eric Carle

The Very Hungry Caterpillars

3321 M&W Chapter 7

I rather enjoyed chapter 7 on picture books and the lecture that accompanied it. I believe that using picture books to convey a message or idea in illustration form even though it is not expressed in the text is an ingenius strategy. It also helps the students exercise thier inference muscles.


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Nancy Carlson

Start Saving, Henry!

3344 MGP Narrative

Johnny is fun loving little boy in the first grade. He attends Neighborhood Elementary School in Your Independent School District. Johnny is of average intellect for his age group. He enjoys playing group games whether sports or board games.
He loves to share his toys and school supplies with his friends. He often offers a sip of his drink or bite of his food to his friends and siblings during mealtimes. He is well liked by his friends and teachers. Johnny’s sharing nature is refreshing to see in a child so young. One can’t help to wonder what else he may be sharing with his friends and siblings.
This week Johnny was absent from school twice because of the flu. Johnny had a fever of 102.3 degrees, his body ached, he was vomiting and he felt weak. He went to the doctor where upon diagnosis of the flu he was given medication and also gave him some reading materials (pamphlets) on how to minimize his chances of coming in to contact with germs and viruses that may make him sick. The pamphlets gave all sorts of good advice about how to avoid germs, what foods are healthy, and how important getting exercise and rest is to staying healthy.
Johnny learned that is fine to share thing with his friends and sibling but you could do this without sharing germs. He learned that washing your hand and covering your cough and or sneeze was a good way preventing the spread of germs that cause illness. Johnny also learned that staying away from fatty foods and sugary items along with getting regular exercise and rest would also help in staying healthy.
Johnny still loves to share with his friends and family the things he enjoys, but now he does it wisely, thanks to getting educated on healthy practices.

3321 M&W Ms. Angelou

Watching video on Maya Angelou was inspiring. Seeing someone so excited and passionate about a subject only motivated me to be more open to exploring poetry. Her expressions as she quoted her favorite works are a tribute to the authors she herself was motivated by. Since seeing video I have been intrigued by her passion for the written word. If she writes anything like she speaks I will enjoy reading her, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Having not read any of her works, I think this would be a great place to start.

3344 Memory Elaboration "Cry"

It had been quite a while since I had thought of many of the memories I shared with the class Wednesday. I found myself thinking about a lot of the bad memories I recalled. Then my mind shifted to all of the good memories. I appreciated all of my memories bad and good because all of these helped make me the man I am today. I am determined to become an educator and involved parent. I learned to appreciate all of the influences in my life, positive and other wise. I learned to embrace the positive and what to avoid in the negative. I learned a lot about myself and a bit more about my loved ones and why they were capable of some things an not so much of other things.

The memory I would like to elaborate more on is the “Cry” memory. The memory that made me cry all over again was the first time my mother ever told me that she loved me. I was eighteen and had just been in an automobile accident. The vehicle was totaled and almost crushed. I was hit by a drunk driver. My mother arrived at the scene after I was transported to the hospital. By the looks of the car she feared that I was actually injured more than I was. I did sustain a broken left femur and a concussion but otherwise I was fine. When she arrived at the hospital she was expecting the worst. She was allowed to enter the ER to see me. She was relieved to only see me in traction from the left leg. I apologized for wrecking the car. She smiled and said not to worry about it. She held me tight and whispered in my ear “I love you, mijo”. “Don’t ever scare me like that again”. I said I was sorry. I didn’t even realize that it was the first time she had ever said she loved me until repeating that story to my fiancé.

Not ever remembering my mother saying those three little words got me thinking. Did she never say it because she never felt it? I do remember her saying it to my other siblings from time to time. I was always a loving, caring and compassionate child to my mother and other family members. I did my best to make my mother proud of me to get acknowledgement. I always worked hard at school and did more than my share of the household chores. What was I not doing right? I know my mother cared about me. She fed me, clothed me, and I always had what I needed, in terms of tangible needs. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

Then I began to think of it from my mother’s perspective. Maybe she just couldn’t figure out how to tell me that she loves me. She had no trouble telling my siblings she loved them. Still, I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. So I just asked her, “Mom why did you never tell me you loved me before.”

She told me, “You always seemed so strong and hardly needed to be told what to do.” She also said, “You never needed encouragement to get your work done, you just did it.” She told me that my siblings needed far more encouragement and guidance than I did. She said she was always proud of my drive but didn’t understand where I got it. I then told her that all I ever wanted was for her to be proud of me. She was and I just didn’t know it because she didn’t know how to or if she should tell me.

I’m not taking any chances. I tell my boys every day how much I love them and how proud the make me. I never miss an opportunity to show them affection and guidance. My mother did teach me the importance of showing your children love and encouragement. Thank Mom, I love you too.

3321 M&W Poetry Books

I found a couple of really cool poetry books in an elementary school library. The first is "Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast" written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. It is a fourth grade level book. It list 12 types of dinosaurs and has a poem for each of them along with the correct way to pronounce them. And yes, I did use the pronunciation helper. I believe this book can be used in a reading and science lesson as it has lots of scientific facts and awesome rhyme scheme along with great illustrations.
The second poetry book I chose is "Mary Had Little Jam (and Other Silly Rhymes)" created by Bruce Lansky and illustrated by Stephen Carpenter. This book is a third grade reading level. The author took lots of old nursery rhyme and added his own spin on them. It was a little reminiscent of my early childhood with a new twist. I found it pretty entertaining.
Give these selections a read, I think you'll like them too. Peace.

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Maurice Sendak

http//en.wikipedia.Where the Wild Things Are