end of the semester!

Finally! all the assignments are completed and the end of the semester is near!
Although the weather is going crazy on us these days, I can't wait for summer to be here already. I know that everyone deserves the break. I am glad that I accomplished the author study, the google sites, and the annotated bibliography. They were definitely time consumming, and a lot of hard work.
Hooray for accomplishments!

Nonfiction: chapter 10

This amazingly gorgeous book is an informative to do an introduction about eggs!

It was suggested in the top 10 read alouds for chapter 10. From tiny hummingbird eggs to giant ostrich eggs, to oval ladybug eggs, to tubular dogfish eggs, to gooey frog eggs, to fossilized dinosaur eggs! It beautifully captures the wide variety of eggs and celebrates their beauty and wonder.

This book could be used as a great bed time story to help parent and child bond over bedtime stories.

Mem Fox quote...

I liked this statement by Mem Fox and I agree with her. I came across it while I was doing research on the chapters for our Google Site Pages. If anybody comes across my blog page, I think this is a good quote to read!

“As adults we choose our own reading material. Depending on our moods and needs we might read the newspaper, a blockbuster novel, an academic article, a women's magazine, a comic, a children's book, or the latest book that just about everyone is reading. No one chastises us for our choice. No one says, 'That's too short for you to read.' No one says, 'That's too easy for you, put it back.' No one says 'You couldn't read that if you tried -- it's much too difficult.'

Yet if we take a peek into classrooms, libraries, and bookshops we will notice that children's choices are often mocked, censured, and denied as valid by idiotic, interfering teachers, librarians, and parents. Choice is a personal matter that changes with experience, changes with mood, and changes with need. We should let it be.”

             - Mem Fox

don't judge a book by its cover



This is the first book I have in my annotated bibliography. Just by looking at the cover, you automatically assume this girl is Susan; also, because she is laughing.
Well, this story is about an inspirational young girl, who loves to do various activities. Such as swim with her father, work hard in school, play with her friends, and even ride a horse.

It is only revealed at the end of the story that Susan is actually in a wheelchair.

This book surprised me, and will surprise the students who read it.
While I was reading it, I thought that I was reading a children’s book about the daily life of a young and happy child, but at the end, I came to find that this seemingly normal little girl was in fact bound to a wheelchair. It sends a powerful message about not judging a book by its cover, as well as people with disabilities as well, because their disabilities does not define who they are.

One Green Apple

The best book I read for my author study by Eve Bunting was One Green Apple.
Bunting wrote the story from the point of view of a little Muslim immigrant girl, Farah. She doesn't know any English at all and she has a hard time communicating with her classmates or her teacher. In the story, Farah and her classmates are going on an apple picking field trip. She is very attentive to everything that is going on around her, but she is very shy to say anything.
Farah sits next to a girl named Anna, and she tries to bring Farah out of her shell.


The student are asked to pick 1 apple each for them to put into a blender and have fresh apple cider. While all her classmates pick ripe and juicy red apples, Farah picks a small green one. Her classmates object to her choice, but her teacher allows her to put it in the blender.
All the apples are blended together, and their taste is still sweet despite the green apple.


I think the green apple is symbolic for being an outcast, that we each bring our own little something, but the end product is the big picture that we need to be worrying about...

biography of Eve Bunting

Eve Bunting (Anne Evelyn Bunting) was born December 19, 1928 in Maghera Northern Ireland and came to the United States in the 1960.  She was brought up in a literacy rich home, her father loved poetry and frequently read to her as a child. Her mother opened a library in their home town, however, it was unsuccessful. Bunting writes in a variety genres for all ages. She states, “I like to write for every child. One of my greatest joys is writing picture books. I have discovered the pleasures of telling a story of happiness or sorrow in a few simple words.”

She enjoys writing picture books that make young people ponder and books that encourage them to ask questions. The art within her writing includes telling the story in first person’s view or in a child’s perspective, which puts the reader in the shoes of the character. The majority of her themes for her young adult readers include controversial issues such as teenage prostitution, runaways, difficult stages of motherhood, teenage suicide, alcoholic abuse, etc... Her picture books are mostly written to address serious themes such as immigration, hatred, prejudice, homelessness, gangs, war and many other controversial issues. However, she also writes books for fun because she says that there needs to be a healthy balance, such as The Sea World Book of Sharks, The Robot Birthday and many others.

Many of her patterns that she follows in her picture books are not happily ever after, but an ending of hope and a point of view from a child’s perspective on controversial issues. Some of Bunting’s book’s that address immigration are as she quotes, “… written with great feeling because I was an immigrant to the United States and I can relate to the struggles”.
Bunting identifies herself as an immigrant that came to America for better opportunities. She struggled when she first came with her three children and her husband. Some of her books that address immigration include One Green Apple, Going Home, How Many Days to America: A Thanksgiving Story, and A Day’s Work.