Sunday, May 1, 2016
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Monday, April 18, 2016
Eric's Biography
Harvesting Hope:
The Story of Cesar Chavez
By Kathleen Krull
Illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Most of you may have heard of Cesar Chavez before. Many people were named after him and still are today. Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association, where workers had no way to protect themselves from labor, discrimination, hate crime and more. Cesar was born and raised in Mexico and his families spend working in the fields of farm, they suffered famine, poverty and more. They decided to move to California for new life, but in the end, fate was same for his family and him. He was frustrated and decided to led an agricultural strike in U.S., the first successful in U.S. history. He captured world's attention by leading hunger strikes and marches, in the end; the National Farm Workers Association was founded. Contracts would promise farmers better wages, health insurance and other safeguards. His belief was that peaceful strike should dedicate to a cause, which was more effective than force and it was successful.
After reading and reviewing, this book is obviously based on the true story and also focused on the importance historical figure. Cesar Chavez was a real person, and his story was also real, this book focused on the impacts Cesar made on farmers' lives nowadays. This matched biography genre's description. In my opinion, this book focused on issues of social injustice and social movements and social changes for the six elements of social justice. This book emphasized on the changes of social injustice toward farmers' ethnic and background, and also Cesar's social movements and changes.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Liv's Biography Blog
The book I chose is, A Picture book of George Washington by David A. Adler Illustrated by John & Alexandra Wallner.
This book is a picture book about the life of George Washington who was raised in Virginia farmhouse. The book opens with young to teenage version of GW riding on horse, going to school where he learned how to read and write, and helping watching his younger brother and sister. Later in the book when GW becomes a young adult, he started his job that he enjoyed related with maps and nature. However later in time he became a soldier and fought in French and Indian war on England's side. During that war he was well known leader throughout all thirteen colonies. When GW became 26 he married to Martha Custin and moved to Mount Vernon. The war lasted for eight years and finally in 1783, American colonies won the war and GW was the hero. After being well-known leader during that war, he was selected to become first president in United States.
The genre of A Picture book of George Washington will be biography. This book definitely suits in the genre of biography since this book talks about the life of George Washington. I felt this book clearly explains what GW's life looked like from young to adult age with lot of visual pictures to make connection with the text.
For social justice elements that applies to this book will be self-love & knowledge and respect for others. Why did I pick those two because I felt that students could connect with this book focusing on where they are from? Probably some of their families are living in Virginia and use that connection to discuss about the book. Also let other students learn to respect each other especially talking about where they are from. I want to make sure students learn something new about each other in connection with this book. What would I do with class activities? I would pick out one scene from the book and let students act out for fun, I also could add props to make it look old fashioned.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Monday, April 11, 2016
Eric's Nonfiction
Owen & Mzee: The True Story of A Remarkable Friendship
Told by Isabella Hatkoff, Graig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu. Photographs by Peter Greste
This story is truly inspirational, because it is based on a true story obviously. This is about a baby hippopotamus, named Owen, who got separated from his pod during the devastating 2006 tsunami . The locals decided to rescue him from being stranded on the reef, the locals knew it was very dangerous thing to do, but they still went to rescue Owen though. After numerous unsuccessful rescues, they finally rescued him and realized that they don't have anywhere to put him since the pod tend to reject a newcomer and probably would kill him. They knew and they found animal sanctuary place for Owen. After putting Owen in a sanctuary, he immediately develop a bond and befriend with 130 years old tortoise named Mzee. Graciously, Mzee accepted him as his companionship.
For Six Elements of Social Justice, Self-love and Knowledge definitely apply to this book, because this described the relationship between Mzee and Owen. They learned to befriended with each other, although, they were different species. Respect for Others also apply to this book, Mzee and Owen didn't get along with each other in the first place, but eventually, they finally got along with each other later. It was who Mzee accepted Owen as his friend and guided him anywhere, even taught him to eat too.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Liv's Nonfiction Blog
The book I chose is, The Fascinating World of... Wolves by Maria Angels Julivert.
This book explains the life of wolves and what they do in their daily life. It includes profile of a hunter, carnivorous food sources, a great predator, life with a pack, territories of the wolf, communication and language, finding den, loving parents, world-wide habitats, American subspecies, Europe and Asia, and Humans. Here are some examples, adult wolf eats between two and four kilograms (4 1/2 and 9 pounds) of meat per day. The animals they eat will be reindeer, hare, beaver, or boar. Wolf is a social animal as it lives in groups that are sometimes as large as 40 or as small as 3 or 4. It all depends on type of hunting available and the leader of the group tend to be strongest or alpha male. Wolves express their feelings and emotions such as anxiety, aggressiveness, facial expressions, and body movements. When wolves yelp which means a short type of wail with low voice expressing their dissatisfaction with something they want but cannot get. Towards end of winter the pair of mother and father wolf separate temporarily with rest of pack. The female will search for peaceful place to take care of cubs such as cave, crevice, a hollow trunk or burrow. Largest wolf populations are found in Alaska, Canada, and Russia; they also can be found in steppes, deserts, or harsh tundra.
The genre of The Fascinating World of... Wolves will be nonfiction. This book sure fits into the genre of nonfiction well with many different informations and facts about wolves. It is something children would enjoy to read and understand the life of wolves as well in different places around the world. There also are many good pictures inside the book which is easier for us to imagine what it looks like.
I feel this book do not apply to any form of social justice issues but more of informative book about specific animal. What class activities I would use to apply with this book would be more of hands on activities. Such as making wolf mask, giving out worksheets about wolves and to see if they remember what they just learned, or giving out short play about wolves and could be one part they liked from the book.
This book explains the life of wolves and what they do in their daily life. It includes profile of a hunter, carnivorous food sources, a great predator, life with a pack, territories of the wolf, communication and language, finding den, loving parents, world-wide habitats, American subspecies, Europe and Asia, and Humans. Here are some examples, adult wolf eats between two and four kilograms (4 1/2 and 9 pounds) of meat per day. The animals they eat will be reindeer, hare, beaver, or boar. Wolf is a social animal as it lives in groups that are sometimes as large as 40 or as small as 3 or 4. It all depends on type of hunting available and the leader of the group tend to be strongest or alpha male. Wolves express their feelings and emotions such as anxiety, aggressiveness, facial expressions, and body movements. When wolves yelp which means a short type of wail with low voice expressing their dissatisfaction with something they want but cannot get. Towards end of winter the pair of mother and father wolf separate temporarily with rest of pack. The female will search for peaceful place to take care of cubs such as cave, crevice, a hollow trunk or burrow. Largest wolf populations are found in Alaska, Canada, and Russia; they also can be found in steppes, deserts, or harsh tundra.
The genre of The Fascinating World of... Wolves will be nonfiction. This book sure fits into the genre of nonfiction well with many different informations and facts about wolves. It is something children would enjoy to read and understand the life of wolves as well in different places around the world. There also are many good pictures inside the book which is easier for us to imagine what it looks like.
I feel this book do not apply to any form of social justice issues but more of informative book about specific animal. What class activities I would use to apply with this book would be more of hands on activities. Such as making wolf mask, giving out worksheets about wolves and to see if they remember what they just learned, or giving out short play about wolves and could be one part they liked from the book.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Historical Fiction
The Wall
By: Even Bunting
Illustrated by Ronald Himler
A well-descriptive book talks about a son's perspective during his trip to Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall with his dad. Both of them wander to search for a grandpa's name on the wall. While dad keeps searching, a son notices an old man giving emotional support for her wife, a group of girl students passing by, and people placing a bunch of beautiful flowers in front of the wall. A heartbreaking moment happens when dad discovers a grandpa's name, George Munoz. Taking a long silence, he decides to put a paper over the letters and rub on it with a pencil so the paper goes dark. In result, the fonts appear in white and the full name can be seen clearly. As there is a noise in the background, Dad just stands there with his head bowed and a son besides him. Out of a son's curiosity, he asks "Grandpa won't know who I am." Dad replies back in calm, "I think he will...I know. But it is a place of honor. I am proud that your grandfather's name is on this wall."
Self-love and Knowledge
Teachers are responsible to provide students opportunities to learn who they are and where they come from. Students of diverse backgrounds are to learn and practice acceptance and respect. From that book, students are to be aware with Vietnam War and its history to understand the story better. Losing a family member is pretty tough. Exchanging the stories about a student's family history is helpful classmates and a teacher to understand who he/she is.
Nonfiction
Finding Winnie
The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear
By: Lindsay Mattick
Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
An inspirational tale based
on a true story about the black bear named Winnie who was being adopted by one
of solider in Europe during World War I. This remarkable story led to a legendary
children’s book character, Winnie-the-Pooh in Walt Disney. The beginning of the
story, Lindsay, a mother is Harry Colebourn’s real-life great-granddaughter
shares a bedtime story with his adorable son, Cole. Harry was a professional veterinarian
in combat and an owner of Winnie. In August 24, 1914, Harry spotted a tiny,
cute bear sitting on ground at train station with a leash on. According to
inside book’s documented diary that mentions his decision on adopting Winnie
for 20 dollars.
During their journey, Winnie
became the famous mascot of his unit; she was also labeled as the best
navigator, finding the hidden food/things easily. When the unit relocated to
France for combat, Cole sent Winnie to London Zoo for his safety. She remained
at a popular attraction until she died age in May 1934.
“Gorgeously illustrated by
Blackall…this delightful telling of the story behind A.A Milne’s
Winnie-the-Pooh is also a family history” (The New York Times Book Review).
Self-love and Knowledge:
His love for animals was
beyond amazing; he ignited fire of happiness in his unit with Winnie’s warm affection
and playful actions. He was such a thoughtful gentleman who showed his
dedication and commitment in providing Winnie a good home and an adventurous life.
Social Movements and Social
change:
Winnie’s story and presence
in our collection is a reminder of how wonderful bears are besides their
dangerous looks. This book is definitely
a good demonstration to help students understand that animals do have feelings.
It is a well-educated book that helps students to acknowledge about the issues
of endangered species today.
Monday, April 4, 2016
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
By Mordicai Gerstein
This book won the Caldecott medal award, this book is about man, Philippe, who was an extraordinary talent performer. He would ride an unicycle, juggle balls and fiery torches and also walk on a rope he tied between two trees. He always challenged everything whenever he saw opportunities. He was born and raised in France and he desired to accomplish his dream by walking across from the South Tower to the North Tower in the NYC. This book explained Philippe's experience and journey including accomplishing his biggest dream and how he did it.
After reviewing and reading Mordicai's, it mentioned about respecting others, according to the six elements; Philippe suffered a claustrophobia moment when he was doing a ropewalking in his locals and there were young boys that pulled trick off on him. He got scared and fell off the rope, but that didn't stop him from doing more ropewalking. He knew that he could still do it as long as people still respect him no matter whatsoever. He across from the South Tower to North Tower, because he knew that people would still show their respect for him after what young locals have done to him with pulling that stunt.
Amy's Historical Fiction Blog
The book I chose for Historical Fiction called Separate is Never Equal. It is written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh. This story is about little girl, Sylvia didn't like her school because everybody tease her for being Mexican. Sylvia explained her experiences about seeing her family fought for their children to be in same school with whites. In 1944, Sylvia and her family moved to Santa Ana, California. She tried to enroll for the public school on 17th Street. The school refused to let them enroll because they are Mexican. They told her to enroll in Mexican School. So they enroll in Hoover Elementary which is known as Mexican school. the building was a dirty shack and students had to eat outside with flies around. They also don't have playground. Her parent got upset because the school is not teaching them anything so they decided to fight. They tried to ask for help but nobody would because they are in fear for their job/life. Later on, They finally hired a lawyer, David Marcus. on March 2, 1945 they finally filed a lawsuit against that school. they went to the court and won the case. However the school decided to appeal again. Sylvia and her family won the case again. Now, Sylvia can go to that school. Sylvia felt that she should be proud of what her parent did for her and that she should ignore those who tease her. In the end, she made a new friends from different background.
I recognized the book genre as an historical fiction because of the setting was set in about 1800-1900s. It is based on segregation which is famously known as in history.
I think this book include all of the six elements of social justice. As for self-love and knowledge, it is important for us to learn to embrace our culture, our race and to love ourself for it. For respecting others, it showed how we can respect for their diversity and how to show our kindness and empathy for their experiences of being segregation. This is a great example of social injustice, they discriminate Mexicans and refused to allow them in school with whites. That showed the history of racism and oppression. And the fourth element, is social movement and social change. The book show how they address to the racism. Sylvia's family gather other families to unite and fight for their own justice. As for the Awareness Raising, the book raise awareness about Mexicans' experiences of being segregation also, it is not just blacks that is only going through those kind of oppression. Lastly, Social Action, Sylvia's family did something about it, they fought for their children's rights and they won and that helped change the segregation.
This is a great book to use in classroom to discuss about segregation. Especially when it is about Mexicans and whites because not often of this will be talked about in school. It will help black students to recognized that they are not alone in this situation. The activities can be children drawing about what they know or learn about segregation and do the gallery walk.
Kenzie's Historical Fiction Book
Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr56UBEFXXQ
The Historical Fiction book I picked was "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne. The genre of this book is Historical Fiction because this books relates back to the time when the Nazi's and concentration camp occurred when Hitler took over Europe and in this story is explains how this young boy is in a stripped Pajamas has to go through and move from his home far away with his family but as soon as he gets to where he is suppose to go, he tries to go out and explore and become adventurous, he later meets a friend that is similar to him and they resulted in becoming good friends where they developed their own friendship but as soon as they got caught, they unfortunately faces unnecessary actions that was not the most pleasant and they had to suffer only because they had were different and had to be punished just because they were different.
The social Justice of this book would have to be self awareness because during that time people had to be aware of who they were and if they matched the criteria at the time, they were expected to leave from their families and go to a place that was unpleasant and were punished and had to suffer and this was all cruelty and no one should have gone through that just because of who they were or because of how they looked. In my future class, if we were to discuss history of the concentration camp, I could use this book to set up a guide and somewhat have a lead so the students could have discussions and become a character and we can share how we feel if we were in their spots and also would help my students be able to remember this story because they became a character in the book.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Monday, March 28, 2016
Kenzie's Realistic Fiction
"David Goes to School" By David Shannon is a cute funny short story that is full of mischievous acts of David when he goes to school. David tends to break the school rules, and doesn't realize he will soon will face the consequences for his actions. Some of the things he does is, flys paper planes in the classroom, colors the desk when its not allowed, and doesn't listen to the teacher. But sooner before he realizes he has to stay after school and make up for all his mistakes he has made by washing all the desk and clean the classroom.
This is a contemporary Realistic Fiction because this can be applied to everyday living of new students that attend to schools for the very first time and now they will face the different consequences. As a teacher later, on I can teach my students how they can learn to follow the rules in the classroom, because if they don't I can show somewhat what kind of consequences they can face.
This social justice of this book is self awareness because David has to realize because of his actions in the classroom, he will have to face the consequences. The consequences will teach him because of his action, he has to work and do things he doesn't want to do so to avoid not facing the consequences, he has to behave in the classroom. Overall this story is very well known and has many other stories but this one has always been my favorite book growing up because its a cute little story that shows the whole point of the book in a very proper kind of way and setting and the pictures in the book make a very clear understanding!
Jenna's Realistic Fiction Blog
"Flora and the Flamingo", by Molly Idle
A cherry blossom color book caught my attention from the library's shelf. During skimming through, it is a wordless book but yet the words can be understood by the illustrations' detailed body language, descriptions of location, facial expressions, and many more. In general, the young readers are highly encouraged to read this wordless book because it will sharpen and deepen their critical thinking and comprehension skills. While figuring out for the absence of words, they are to make interferences what will happen next. Back to the story, Flora decides to follow and imitate a flamingo's every move as it changes a body movement differently. Without having her seen, she continues to dance. Until a flamingo as a dance instructor does a challenging move, Flora fails and gives up. Then a flamingo greets her to join her to dance together in perfect harmony as a great friendship.
Such an inspiring story to recognize the importance of friendship is. This book has met three out of six elements. Self-love and knowledge: Flora is passionate to learn about the attractiveness of a flamingo with its body movements. She is pretty brave to step out from her comfort zone to meet a new face and learn something new. A new face can be either a person or animal. The second element is respect for others: In the beginning, a flamingo's attitude is to test if Flora is capable of following her dance moves exceptionally. But later, a flamingo realizes that she can be a great company to dance with. Blossoming a new friendship leads their joyous day of spending time dancing endlessly. The third one element is Awareness Rising: it is so important for students to be aware how to treat people equally besides their capabilities and incapabilities.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Kelly's realistic fiction
Too Many Toys by David Shannon is about a boy named Spencer who has too many toys. His room is filled with them, on the floor, under the bed, over flowing from toy boxes. His toys are all over the house, they fill up the stairs and cover the whole downstairs as well. He has every toy a child can dream of having. One day his dad stepped on a Lego, ouch! and his mom tripped over the train tracks carrying a pair of laundry and knew right then he had too many toys and they had to go. When Spencer's mom took the time out of the day fighting with him trying to figure out what toys he was giving away, she decided to take a break. When she came back all of the toys were scattered all over the floor and he said "you're right mom, I do have too many toys. But we can't give away this box, it's the best toy ever!"
The elements of social justice that fit in with this story are self love and knowledge and Respect for others. self love and knowledge fits in with this book because it can help students understand who they are and where they come from simply because it can help them realize they may have too many toys and some children don't have toys like that. If taught that others aren't as fortunate and that children can help by giving their toys to the less fortunate it can teach them respect for others who don't have the things they have.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Liv's Realistic Fiction Blog
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVB8hYV-Ckk&feature=youtu.be
Friday, March 25, 2016
Kenzie's Fantasy book
In this story, "Where the Wild Things Are" is under the genre of Science Fantasy Fiction book. The author is Maurice Sendak. This book is very fantasy because the character becomes a wolf out of a suit and then his imagination starts in his room such as being in the forest on a boat in the lake and in real life this does not happen. But Max known as the wolf would start misbehaving and try to do different things that not a human would do if they were wander lost in the woods. Also there is no such of a Human become an animal then turning back to an animal. This book was very popular and is a very well known story.
Social Justice in this story would be self awareness, because in this story, Max doesn't realize after her puts the monsters to sleep that he would become lonely, he should know that if he didn't put the monsters to sleep then he would have some company but unfortunate he did and now he has to learn how to overcome his loneliness.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Briella's Fantasy/Sci-Fi Blog - The Giver
The Giver is about a dystopian society where there is no conflict, no war or any strife but also no emotion, color, or free thought. It's centered around an 11 year old boy named Jonas who has been chosen by the town council to become the next "receiver of memory." This position is when the person has access to colors, free thought, emotions... basically, all the things that can cause human beings to error in. Jonas struggles with accepting the responsibilities of being the receiver of memory and the giver believes that he could be of a better investment elsewhere. They plan Jonas' escape and he makes it with a baby that was supposed to be put to sleep. It is the first part of a trilogy.
This book leans more towards the sci-fi genre rather than the fantasy genre because it talks about a place that could be reality one day.
As for the six elements of justice, I believe that this book has the potential to meet all six elements. It deals heavily with ethics and a classroom can have several class discussions off how the community treats its people, about the eugenics, the things that Jonas goes through, et cetera.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Modern Fantasy Book
I have selected a book named, "Corduroy" by Don Freeman. It got published in 1968.
The genre of this story is completely fantasy because it includes a main characters who talks, thinks, acts, and expresses emotion like a human. Story's location is at a big department store with vivid images on illustrations with perfect choice of colors. A main character of the story named Corduroy with a missing-button green overalls desperate looking for a great friendship and a lasting home. While that teddy waits patiently for someone to bring him a sweet home, people keep passing by. But all of a sudden, it becomes an eye-catching teddy bear to a little girl in red dress. She begs and begs to her mom. Her mom expresses her disapproval of decision in 'keeping' that teddy bear due to its untidy appearance. In that night with silent sound, Corduroy decides to explore for a missing button but a watchman captures it. In next morning, a little girl returns with money and cuddles with Corduroy tightly. Being held in a little girl's arm to her home is truly a blessing feeling for Corduroy.
Social Justice: Awareness Rising
This story touches on class issues through discrimination against people because of their appearances. "Don't judge a book by its cover", it means anyone doesn't have a right to judge a person's character or quality at all. As this story emphasizes how important a great friendship is, it leads a teddy and girl to a blissfully happy life. Also, a stuffed-animal bear symbolizes as an orphan, a foster child. This story reflects personal adoption stories where foster kids wonder when will they ever find a home.
Casey's Fantasy Blog
The fantasy book I have chosen is called, "Monsters, Mind Your Manners!" This children's picture book is written by Elizabeth Spurr and Illustrated by Simon Scales.
This fantasy book is based on monsters (obviously). Most of the time, people think of monsters as big, ugly, and mean. However, in this book, the monsters are actually colorful and goofy where they invade people's homes and schools in the neighborhood. These monsters are rude, disgusting, and crazy! At the end, monsters realize that they have missed the best part of bedtime...where the books are read. As the book is being finished, the monsters are put away.
Monsters, Mind Your Manners! describes unrealistic monsters who can speak and perform physical tasks. The pictures are comic-like which made it enjoyable for me to go through.
After further review of this book, there are no elements as far as social justice. The reason behind this is because this fantasy book is based on the monsters' perspective and what they did during their time "alive." As we all know, monsters do not exist so therefore, we are unable to apply this to social justice. Good book nonetheless!
Amy's Fantasy Blog
The title of the book is "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly." Written and Illustrated by Simms Taback. This book is about a lady who swallowed a lot of animals; fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow, and a horse. And then, she died.
I thought it was lighthearted fantasy mixed with folklore and poetry. Maybe we do eat some of the animals but not when it is alive :)
As I reviewed on the six elements of social justice, not one of the elements show in the book. It was short and silly. I don't think I will use this book to teach my students because it doesn't teach us anything and the fact that the book ended with the lady that died abruptly took me a surprised. However students can read this book for entertainment.
Kelly's fantasy blog
Jumanji is written and illustrated by Chris Van Allaburg.
Jumanji is a fantasy book about a two children named Peter and Judy. They were bored and looking for something to do when they found the board game called Jumanji. The children play the game and come to realize the jungle animals are coming to life in their home and every move they make comes to life !
Jumanji is an exciting book that brings out the fantasy of animals coming to life. As an animal lover I was really excited to pick this book. The pictures are interesting as well and very detailed. The pictures are in black and white setting the tone of the story and are very realistic looking. This picture book is perfect for elementary grades.
The main elements of social justice in the story include awareness raising and social action. I feel this story can raise awareness because even though it is a fantasy it still has a moral at the end to always read instructions and be aware of what your doing. Second social action plays a role in this story because between 4 kids in the story at the beginning and end, they need to communicate the problems of the game and work together to figure out the best way to win and avoid problems.
Baloney (Henry P.)
For SciFy/Modern Fantasy, I chose the book Baloney by Joe Scieszka and Lane Smith.
This book is about an alien student similar to Earthings. He is late to school one too many times. When his teacher asks his why, he comes up with a lengthy excuse that is very implausible. What was fascinating about the book is that some key words are not in English, making the story and Henry's character seem even more alien. There are 2 points I like about this: 1- it exposes readers to common words in other languages and could pique their interest in learning other languages and 2- with the help of the pictures, children could guess what the words mean, or create their own idea of what the words could mean. It is helpful that the changed words are presented in a different color to help identify that they are not English, and the back of the book has a 'Decoder' (glossary) for all the words.
I can not really connect this book to any of the Social Justice points directly, however, this could lead into a fun activity for teachers and students and have them explore different languages. Students could write their own short story, and then using their own nationalities, change some of the words. Students could trade stories with each other and they could learn some new words in different languages and also learn to respect each others' cultures.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Liv's Modern Fantasy Blog
Youtube link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuxChqRTyOA&feature=youtu.be
Monday, March 7, 2016
Briella's Folklore - The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
The book I chose for this week's folklore theme is "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" written and illustrated by John Scieszka and Lane Smith.
This book talks about different fairy tales and puts a twist on those stories. For example, the Princess and the Pea story is put to a twist when it is switched to a prince and he puts a bowling ball under the mattresses his potential future wife is sleeping on.
Another twist in the regular fairy tales that we all know about is The Ugly Duckling, in this book, the ugly duckling knows that he will turn into a beautiful swan so he doesn't care but eventually he just ends up being a very ugly duck.
The book contains many stories with a dark twist on it.
The illustration style is very dark and slightly creepy. It reminds me of some of the drawings shown in the Courage the Cowardly Dog series. I think it fits the overall theme of the book, which is chaotic to begin with anyway.
It is tough finding social justice elements that I want to incorporate from this book because they are all very brief and... to be honest, they don't exactly promote positive morals (i.e. encouraging lying in the Prince & the Pea story). However, I could use all of the negatives in this story to ask my students how they would have handled the story better. For example, with the Prince & the Pea story, I could ask my students how they would have approached the situation, how they would have talked with their parents, how to get away from it without lying, et cetera.
The Ugly Duckling
In the Book called "The Ugly Duckling" it is a one the well known folktale stories out there. It is written by Hans Christian Andersen. This folktale story is told by a mother had a group of ducklings born and all were normal but one, and was considered as the Ugly Duckling but the ugly Duckling was the last one to be born. He had so many different traits about him, he was grey, the strongest fastest swimmer out of his group. The Ugly Duckling suffered from his new group of ducks, they did not allow him to participate, would pick on him, and so did the other animals on the farm where he was born. But then one day, he found other swans swimming that looked liked him so he joined them and he finally felt he was apart of again and that he was a beautiful swan.
The Ugly Duckling is known as a the folktale genre. The moral of the story is Everyone is beautiful in their own way even though you may be different from others.
The social Justice I want to use for this story is that, its not about looks, its about who you are known as Self Identity. It is important to know your identity and to accept for who you are because no one is the same and looks do not define one as an individual. Also, social justice is Bullying, because everyone picks on the ugly duckling when there is nothing wrong with him, only just looks different.
Casey's Folklore Blog
My folklore book is called, "Cinder Edna" by Ellen Jackson and is illustrated by Kevin O'Malley. This book is a re-creation of the Cinderella story and the storyline is read from a different perspective.
Cinder Edna follows the story of Cinderella and her next door neighbor, Cinder Enda. As we all know, Cinderella was beautiful, reserved, and was always the center of attention. On the other hand, Cinder Enda wasn't much to look at, except she was strong and spunky. Both worked sunup to sundown for their wicked mothers and stepsisters. While Cinderella was fortunate enough to be rescued by her fairy godmother, Cinder Enda was stuck alone. However, Cinder Enda then met a gentleman that goes by the name, Rupert. While Cinderella was bored of being stuck in the luxury lifestyle that required her to attend endless ceremonies and listed to present speeches, Cinder Enda and Rupert ended up getting married and was able to have her own happy ending.
The moral of this folklore tale is that not those who are well-known, famous, or have everything end up to be successful. Not only that, but it's not about luxury, money, or fame, but to be grateful for what you have. The most important lesson this book can give is to do what makes you happy.
I would like to use Awareness Raising as an example for Social Justice. This tale raises awareness and hopes to be a lesson for younger children. That lesson is to work hard and do what makes you happy because in the long run, things will turn out to be better than what you had thought. In other words, "God has a plan for you." I believe I can use this example in my future classroom to educate my students about the importance of happiness, not the money that comes with it. For instance, I will tell my students, "If you take a job you know you will not like, but get paid well out if it, then you will end up being unhappy. But if you take a job you know you will love and the pay isn't so great, you will be happy regardless."
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Liv's Folklore Blog
The book I chose is, Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett.
This Trouble with Trolls book explains about how a girl named Treva and her dog planning a trip to walk over Mt. Baldy to see her friend. On the way up she encountered five trolls, one at a time, each troll wanted her dog! She had to find a way to get her dog back by tricking each troll with a piece of her clothing that she said was very beautiful. After encountering each troll, she and her dog finally arrived the top of mountain as well all five trolls to get the dog back. She decided to tell each troll that she can fly with her skis and she can do that if all troll gives back her clothing. Once she is set and held her dog and told all trolls to push her and see her fly. All trolls pushed her together and she skied all way down safely and tricked all trolls once again. After that she never seen the trolls again.
The genre of Trouble with Trolls will be folklore. The moral of the story will be, "those who protect and save animals lead to the way of protecting and saving humanity". This book was inspired by the author's visit to the Scandinavian country of Norway. This book definitely shows cultural values of Scandinavian culture within the pictures inside the story. Mostly the details of clothing and nature that represents Norway. Reading this book always make me feel connected to it when my family's heritage is from Scandinavian. This book is good for sharing cultural experiences and stories of Norway.
One of Social Justices Elements applies greatly to this book will be, Self-love and Knowledge. This story is when some students whose family are part of Scandinavian can show other students what their culture looks like. Expose others with the knowledge of that certain culture and what kind of stories they tend to write & draw? The activities I would include based on this story is doing short skit of the story or introduce the culture of Scandinavian and their folklores.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Folklore Blog " Little Red Riding Hood"
The book I chose is "Red Riding Hood" Retold and Illustrated by James Marshall.
The story takes place in a forest with a young girl, her grandmother, and a wolf. This folklore story has been passed down for many many years with different versions and illustrations and retold story's aloud. the story is about a young girl whose traveling across the woods to visit her grandmother. On the way she was told not to talk to strangers. Along the path she met the wolf who pretended to be nice and not like a stranger.
The moral of the story is "don't talk to strangers"
One of the social justice elements I would like to use is Awareness raising. This story is used to raise awareness to young children about talking to strangers and the dangers that can happen. Secondly, I want to use Respect for others. Teachers can use this element to teach students that you need to respect others and not lead them in the wrong path. Red Riding Hood put too much trust into a stranger and it had her lead astray. If that wolf had respect it never would have happened. This story is a folklore that was passed down for many generations and continues to make an impact on children today.
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