Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Science Fiction & Modern Fantasy

About the Genre

Science Fiction
Modern Fantasy
  • Literary genre that is an imaginative or fanciful work, possibly dealing with unnatural events or characters.  Usually takes place in an alternative world.  There is some overlap between "fantasy" and "modern fantasy" which combines fantasy and science fiction
  • Contains elements that are not realistic
    • Talking animals
    • Magical powers
    • Often set in a medieval universe
    • Possibly involving mythical beings

Use in the Classroom

Book List

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Reference Information
  • Publisher: Scholastic Press (2009)
  • ISBN-10: 0439023483
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: Grades 6-8
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 7
  • Lexile Measure: 810L
  • ATOS Level: 5.3 
  • Text Complexity: Grades 4-5
Themes
  • Family Life
  • Homelessness and Poverty
  • Survival
  • Violence
  • Government
Qualities of Writing
  • This book is written in a way that hooks the reader and keeps their interest throughout the entire text
  • The book is one that cannot be put down
  • It easily engages students
  • Because it is in a series, it also encourages students to continue reading
Difficult Components of the Text
  • This book is very futuristic and could cause some confusion for students
  • There are also a lot of violent parts of the text that might be hard for students to read.  For example there are parts in this text where we are told about arrows going into people.  We are also told, in detail, about people being mauled by dog-like creatures.
Divergent by Veronica Roth

Reference Information
  • Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (2011)
  • ISBN-10: 9780062024039
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: Grades 8-12
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 9
  • Lexile Measure: 700L
  • ATOS Level: 4.8
  • Text Complexity:
Qualities of Writing
  • This book provides a lot of detail so that the reader is able to form a vivid mental image of the text in his/her head
  • The different factions can be related to because each of the factions are a realistic representation of the type of people that are in society.
Difficult Component of the Text
  • There is some violence in this book that is too violent for the classroom.  There is a specific part in which there was a girl who got knives thrown at her and couldn't flinch.  There are also parts where people have to fight each other until one goes unconscious.  These violent scenes are a little extreme for most students. 
  • There would definitely need to be some guidelines tin place in order to bring these books into the classroom

Resources


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Realistic

About the Genre

  • Literacy genre concerned with, or based on what is real, practical, or characterized by things as they really are, resembling or simulating life and representing current times and concerns.
  • Realistic fiction deals with many complex problems and situations from understanding sexual orientation to dealing with family problems.
  • The characters in the novel should be believable and their language and actions should be appropriate for the setting of the story and reflective of the culture and social class in which they live.
  • Authors have to beware of the fine line between stereotyping and realistic, objective writing
  • They challenge readers to learn the importance of moral and ethical behavior by drawing their own conclusions after they consider the events and facts from their personal perspectives using their moral and ethical judgments

In the Classroom

  • Often times you can find a realistic fiction book that teaches a lesson or provides a positive role model that young adults can emulate.
  • They reflect life and focus on the conflicts that young adults face
  • Here are some specific activities that can be done with young adults reading a realistic fiction book:
    • Identify with characters who have similar interests and who must deal with similar problems
    • Realize that, while their problems and challenges are difficult, they are shared by other adolescents
    • Extend their horizons and broaden their interests
    • Better cope with grief, fear, and anger as they read about other young adults or characters who have dealt with adversity

Book List

Hoops by Walter Dean Myers

Reference Information
  • Publisher: Ember; Reprint edition (2012)
  • ISBN-10: 0307976114
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: Grades 3-5
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 2.5
  • Lexile Measure: 260L
  • ATOS Level: 4.6
  • Text Complexity: K-1 (Lexile) or 2-3 (ATOS)
Themes
  • Poverty
  • Persistence
  • Sports
Qualities of Writing
  • Would be liked by many with an interest in basketball
  • Let's readers see what life in Harlem is like
  • Dialogue is well written and realistically represents the setting and characters in which the author is portraying
  • Depending on the type of town or school that you teach in, this book could be relatable to many students and could provide them with a motivational story on how to be determined to improve the quality of life
Difficult Components of the Text
  • The heavy slang used in the text can make reading difficult at first.  Once the reader gets into it though it becomes more natural.
  • However, any low level reader or non-English student would find this book ver challenging and confusing

In Too Deep by Amanda Grace

Reference Information
  • Publisher: Flux (2012)
  • ISBN-10: 0738726001
Grade Level
  • Lexile Measure: 730L
  • ATOS Level: 4.6
  • Text Complexity:
Themes
  • Honesty
  • Rumors
  • Adolescents
  • Friendship
  • Relationships
Qualities of Writing
  • This book can be related to by many high school teens, especially the grls
  • The book is about a senior in high school who goes to a party and a huge rumor about her seeing raped gets started.  
  • She is torn with timing a time to tell the truth.  Once she tells the truth, everyone is mad at her for lying, making her life miserable
  • Rumors and dishonesty are common issues in middle school and high school
Difficult Aspects of the Text
  • The topic of rape is often pretty thick and hard to read about.
  • This would be a hard book to use as a required reading because of it's heavy content, especially for middle school age students.

Resources

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Poetry

About the Genre

  • Literacy genre focusing on verse, prose, rhythm, rhyme, writing styles, literary devices, symbolism, analogies and metaphors.
  • Poetry is characterized by sound of language, arrangement, and meaning.
  • May use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects.
  • It is difficult to translate from one language to another
  • Can be dificult to interpret and can cause different interpretations depending on the reader
  • There are reasonable interpretations, but there is never a wrong interpretation
  • http://www.poetry.org/whatis.htm

In the Classroom

  • Reading Rockets shares ten ways to use poetry in the classroom (I will share a few of them with you):
    • Poetry provides a quick and fun way to activate prior knowledge
    • Establish Theme: the perfect poem can lead to a wonderful writing reflection or discussion that allows students to construct the theme and essential questions for themselves.
    • To explore language
    • Focus on Facts: creating poetry is a wonderful way for students to share information they learned through class or independent study
    • Set a Scene: Poems could spark discussion, curiosity, and prior knowledge, ultimately building excitement and anticipation for the new unit
    • See New Perspectives: one of poetry's transcendent powers is its ability to refocus, if not totally transform, our point of view.
  • http://www.readingrockets.org/article/56555/

Book List

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

 Reference Information

  • Publisher: HarperCollins (2001)
  • ISBN: 0064409597
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: 6-8
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 4.9
  • Lexile Measure: 1010L
  • ATOS Level: 4.5
  • Text Complexity: 2-3 (ATOS) or 6-8 (Lexile)
Themes
  • Writing
  • School Life
Qualities of Writing
  • Author (Sharon Creech) is an Newbery-Medal winner and Newbery Honor medalist for two of her other published books
  • The author uses italics, bold, different font sizes, and different formatting for the shape of the poem
  • This would make a great mentor text for students who are learning how to write poetry.  Not only can they learn about formatting, but it also shows students that poems don't always have to rhyme.
  • Reading poetry can help with fluency because it helps teach students where to put emphasis while reading and where to pause for effect.
Difficult Components of the Text
  • Interpreting poetry, especially at this length, can be a challenge because there aren't very many words and therefore there is a lot more to think about as a reader. 
  • There is a lot more inferencing that needs to be done before this book can be comprehended

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka

Reference Information
  • Publisher: Viking Juvenile (1995)
  • ISBN: 0670861944
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: Grades 1-5
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 3.8
  • Lexile Measure: 560L
  • ATOS Level: 3.7
  • Text Complexity: Grades 2-3
Themes
  • Math through Literature
  • School Life
Qualities of Writing
  • Does an excellent job of connecting math and literacy
  • The author formatted the text in a  way that made the words even more interesting
  • It is comical and entertaining for students
  • The older the children get, the funnier it is because there are some humorous aspects of the book that make it funny as you grow older
  • It is very helpful for students to see how much math applies to all aspects of life, not just school
Difficult Components of the Text
  • Illustrations might distract the learner from the text, however, the illustrations are necessary so I wouldn't suggest hiding them

Resources

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Mystery

About the Genre

  • Literary genre whose plot involves a crime or other event that remains surprisingly unsettled until the conclusion.
  • Mysteries have the ability to get reluctant readers and writers enthusiastic about reading, thinking, and writing.
  • Mysteries often contain intriguing characters and are often able to hold a student's interest with their suspenseful and dynamic plots.
  • Mysteries are a wonderful vehicle for teaching critical thinking and deductive reasoning skills in an exciting and enjoyable way.
  • http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/exploring-mystery-genre
  • Mysteries, with their intrigue, characters, and gradually revealed story line, hold the students' interest. 
  • Students become involved in what they are reading because they use deductive reasoning and research skills to solve the mystery

In the Classroom

  • Mysteries can be applied to all stages of Bloom's Taxonomy:
    • Knowledge: Students arrange characters and events in the mystery.
    • Comprehension: Students classify events, describe characters, and explain precisely what has occurred.
    • Application: Students apply exiting knowledge to the mystery by illustrating, dramatizing, and writing their interpretations.
    • Analysis: Students analyze, categorize, and differentiate characters and events.
    • Synthesis: Students collect and organize facts fto form hypotheses.
    • Evaluation: Students appraise, argue, assess, and evaluate their opinions in the process of solving the mystery
  • http://www.mysterynet.com/learn/

Book List

Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Reference Information:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/double-identity
  • Publisher: Scholastic (2006)
  • ISBN: 0439827876
Grade Level:
  • Interest Level: Grades 6-8
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 6.1
  • Lexile Measure: 810L
  • ATOS Level: 5.0
  • Text Complexity: 4-5
Themes
  • Family Life
  • Individuality
  • Determination
  • Love
Qualities of Writing
  • The characters in this book were very believable.  This is a critical part of the book because it helped the book become even more intense.  The plot wasn't as realistic as the characters, but it was realistic enough that it was still convincing.
  • This book is appealing to both the boys and the girls in the classroom. 
  • The author keeps the plot moving, so it is an engaging text
  • The author has very good descriptions of what is going on, including good details about the story (an aspect of writing mystery books that is important for anyone).  
  • The authors language lends itself to allowing the reader to provide a detailed mental image
Difficult Components of the Text
  • There are a lot of different characters to keep track of.
  • It is an emotional book, especially for anyone who has had some family issues in the past.

Magic Tree House: Buffalo Before  Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne
Reference Information
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/buffalo-breakfast
  • Publisher: Scholastic Book Services (1999)
  • ISBN: 0439136598
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: 3-5
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 2.5
  • Lexile Measure: 380L
  • Type of Book: Early Chapter Book
  • ATOS Level: 3.3
  • Text Complexity: K-1 (Lexile) or 2-3 (ATOS)
Theme
  • Cooperation
  • Teamwork
  • Courage, Bravery, Heroism
  • Native American
  • Honor 
  • Siblings
Qualities of Writing
  • It is apart of a series which, if the students enjoyed the book, would encourage them to continue reading different books from the series
  • The characters were believable with their interactions with the Indians from the Lakota Tribe
  • Readers can learn a lot about the Lakota Tribe people and the information given about them is realistic
  •  This book, and the other Magic Tree House books, would be great to use with science and social studies because certain concepts within the content area are embedded in the fictional stories.  The non-fiction parts of the stories are bold so that helps students to be able to identify which parts of the story are fiction and which parts are non-fiction.
Difficulties of the Text
  • The only difficulty that I can think of is distinguishing fiction and non-fiction, but the bold text would really help students identify this.
  • A graphic organizer would also help organize this


Resources



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Monday, October 21, 2013

Illustrated & Story Picture Books

About The Genre

  • Literacy genre providing a strong visual experience for students
  • The content of the story is fully explained or illustrated with picutres
  • They may or may not include text
  • The pictures are just as important as the text
  • The criteria for this genre is based on physical format so it can easily be overlapped with other genres.
  • Do not even necessarily have to tell a story, they might illustrate the alphabet or numbers
  • Sometimes these books are published in a small size, a size where small children can hold the book in their little hands (known as hand-books)

In the Classroom

  • Picture books are often associated with lower elementary grades.  However, picture books can even be beneficial to students in the upper elementary grades as well.
  • Good to use in a classroom because they are short so you get to the meat of the story in one sitting.
  • There are deep layers of meaning in picture books
    • It is a good idea to discuss with students what they think that the main theme of the book is.
    • Since there is often many themes, this results in a good discussion
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom-solutions/2012/09/building-classroom-community-picture-books -- This site as a great list of picture books for the first days of school

Book List

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

Reference Information:
  • Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (2011)
  • ISBN-10: 0547199457
Grade Level:
  • Lexile Measure: AD1000L
  • ATOS Book Level: 5.4
  • Interest Level: Grades 1-4
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 5.4
  • Text Complexity: Grades 4-5
Themes
  • Ceremony and Tradition
  • Visual Arts
  • Thanksgiving
Qualities of Writing
  • Winner of the 2012 Robert F. Sibert Award
  • This book is a good combination of biography and storytelling
  • It tells the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in a fun and exciting way
  • This is also a subject that can be related to the student's own life.  It can encourage them to tune in to the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving
Difficult Components of the Text
  • There isn't much to the book that would be too difficult, but it would help to activate students' prior knowledge about the Macy's parade by showing them footage or discussing the event. 

So you Want to Be President? by Judith St. George
Reference Information
  • Publisher: Philomel (2004)
  • ISBN-10: 0399243178
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: Grades 3-5
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 4.2
  • Lexile Measure: 730L
  • ATOS Book Level: 4.8
  • Text Complexity: Grades 2-3
Themes
  • American History
  • The Presidency
  • Leadership
Qualities of Writing
  • This book does a good job of sharing the inside facts and comical moments of what has happened in the White House
  • The illustrations are hilarious
  • Caldecott Honor-Winner
  • Celebrates 41 Presidents
  • Shows us aspects of the president that aren't included in the serious biographies, it reminds us of the humanity of these individuals
Difficulties of the Text
  • This book would definitely be very beneficial in the social studies classroom, especially when paired up with an informational text on the Presidents
  • This book would be a good resource for students who are writing a paper, it would give them some fun inside facts for their paper

Other Awarding-Winning, Noteworthy Texts

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
2013 Caldecott Honor Book
Grade Level:
  • Interest Level: PreK-1
  • Lexile Measure: 400L
  • ATOS Book Level: NA



Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London

Grade Level:
  • Interest Level: Grades K-2
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 2.5
  • Lexile Measure: 490L
  • ATOS Book Level: 2.4
  • Text Complexity: K-1 (ATOS), 2-3 (Lexile)
The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon

Grade Level:
  • Interest Level: K-2
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 2.3
  • Lexile Measure: 580L
  • ATOS Book Level: 3.2
  • Text Complexity: Grades 2-3



Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett

Grade Level:
  • Interest Level: Grades K-2
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 3.8
  • Lexile Measure: 580L
  • ATOS Book Level: 3.1
  • Text Complexity: Grades 2-3


Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming

Grade Level:
  • Interest Level: Grades 6-8
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 6.6
  • Lexile Measure: 930L
  • ATOS Book Level: 6.6
  • Text Complexity: Grades 4-5


Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein 

Grade Level: 
  • Interest Level: Grades K-2
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 2
  • Lexile Measure: 300L
  • ATOS Book Level: 2.2
  • Text Complexity: K-1

That Is Not A Good Idea by Mo Willems 

Grade Level:
  • Lexile Measure: AD230L
  • ATOS Book Level: 1.0
  • Text Complexity: K-1



The Boy and the Airplane by Mark Pett

Grade Level:
  • Lexile Measure: NA
  • ATOS Book Level: NA
  • *All picture book...no text

Ben Rides On by Matt Davies

Grade Level: 
  • Lexile Measure: AD730L
  • ATOS Book Level: 3.6
  • Text Complexity: Grades 2-3

Mitchel Goes Bowling by Hallie Durand

Grade Level: 
  • Lexile Measure: NA
  • ATOS Book Level: 2.4







Resources

Caldecott Medal Winners -- Genre Awards
About Picture Books -- Genre Information
About Picture Books -- Genre Information

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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Adventure

About the Genre

  • Pertains to an exciting or unusual experience with an uncertain outcome
  • Dominated by action
  • Involve danger, risk, and excitement
  • The action is fast-paced
  • Adventure stories are sometimes set in exotic or distant places
  • Events in an adventure story are more remarkable and extraordinary than in everyday life
  • The protagonist in adventure stories has traditionally been male, but this is changing
  • The best stories involve the adventures that change the hero

In the Classroom

  • Adventure books are written in many different subject areas
  • This gives teachers the opportunity to implement this genre into different content areas
  • Adventure books also lead nicely into some very productive writing activities for students
  • Students often have some strong emotions attached to these stories so they can write reflective writing exercises about it
  • The fact that these books are often fast-paced makes them very attractive to students.
  • It is important to have a handful of these books in the classroom library and to ensure that the adventure books have a wide range of topics

Book List

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

 Reference Information

  • Publisher: HarperCollins (2010)
  • ISBN-10: 0064401324

Grade Level
  • Interest Level: Grades 2-4
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 4.0
  • Lexile Measure: 550L
  • ATOS Book Level: 4.0
  • Text Complexity: Grades 2-3
Themes
  • Courage, Bravery, Heroism
  • Determination and Perseverance
  • Grandparents and Grandchildren
Qualities of Writing
  • The language that the author uses is very engaging yet simple and easy to read
  • The book is intense and fast paced
  • There are also some pictures in the text that helps the reader visualize the characters
  • The themes of the book are very relate-able and thus pull the reader even deeper emotionally
  • The length of the text is not too overwhelming so readers stay very engaged through the whole book
Difficult Components of the Text
  • There are quite a few tier 3 words throughout the text that might need some brief instruction
    • Examples: hitched and plowed
  • Students may have a hard time relating to the different events that take place (like dog sledding)

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Reference Information:
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (2006)
  • ISBN-10: 1416936475
Grade Level:
  • Interest Level: 5-8
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 5th Grade
  • Lexile Measure: 1020L
  • ATOS: 5.7
  • Text Complexity: 4-5 (ATOS) & 6-8 (Lexile)
Themes:
  • Family Life
  • Courage, Bravery, Heroism
  • Canadian
  • Divorce, Remarriage, Blended Families
  • Survival 
Qualities of Writing
  • The way the author describes the necessities of survival is intriguing especially when you consider that he actually lived the details.
  • The thrill at the end will keep students engaged from the first page to the last
  • The author describes the sicknesses of the character and the change in the character's physical features in great detail
Difficulties in the Text
  • The theme of divorce, remarriage, and blended families might be difficult for students to read if they have recently gone through those family concepts.  It is important to know what students are going through outside of school
  • It is also important to make sure that the book is not too graphic for students and to think about the cultural aspects of the book.

Resources



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Thursday, October 17, 2013

21st Century Literature

About The Genre

  • 21st Century genres employing sequential visual storytelling through symbol, image, and/or multi media formats to convey meaning. 
  • Successful comprehension depends on decoding message modalities beyond text alone.
  • 21st Century literature is new literary work created in the last decade
  • They are written by contemporary authors
  • The book deals with current themes/issues and reflects a technological culture.
  • Often breaks traditional writing rules
  • Examples are: Instant Messaging, blog formats, digi-fiction, doodle fiction, and graphic novels

Use in the Classroom

  • It is important to build a classroom library that contains 21st Century books
  • Consider struggling readers when selecting these books
  • These 21st Century texts often enhance a collection of classic books
  • With this genre, it is particularly important to think outside of the box
  • 21st Century novels should be accompanied by a variety of other 


Book List

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Reference Information:
  • Publisher: Amulet Books (2011)
  • ISBN-10: 9781419701535
Grade Level (The Ugly Truth book 5)
  • Interest LEvel: 3-5
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 5
  • Lexile Measure: 1000L
  • ATOS Level: 5.5
  • Text Complexity
Themes
  • Adolescent Issues
  • Growing Up
  • Friends and Friendship
Qualities of Writing
  • These books are written in a very fun language (mostly tier 1 words) that children are used to using with their peers.
  • The graphics add a lot of humor to the story.  They make the text easier to read and add more detail to the story than just the text.
  • It is a funny text for children and it is not a chore to read.  Prior knowledge is not necessarily needed because students can use their imagination throughout
  • Very relate-able to our lives.  There are a lot of school related events that Greg went through that students may personally relate to.  
  • The lack of academic language makes this book a turn off for some teachers, but for struggling readers this might be the kind of text they need to spark that love of reading
Difficulties
  • This book is a book that is read for pure enjoyment, with no inherent value to the reader.  This is wonderful to have in the classroom library, but it needs to me many other, more major, parts to the students reading diet

The Inventions of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Reference Information:
  • Publisher: Scholastic Press; First Edition (2007)
  • ISBN-10: 0439813786
Grade Level
  • Interest Level: Grades 4-7
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 5
  • Lexile Measure: 820L
  • ATOS Book Level: 5.1
  • Text Complexity: 
Themes
  • Challenges and Overcoming Obstabcles
  • Death, Grief, Loss
  • Cleverness
  • Creativity and Imagination
  • Movies
Qualities of Writing
  • The illustrations are really good in this book.   The pictures are necessary in order to comprehend the text.  They also make the story more interesting and personal to the reader.  
  • I really enjoyed the integratoin of the picture book and novel.  It was interesting to think about how the book wouldn't exit without the pictures.  
Difficult Components
  • It might be difficult for students to make the connections between text and pictures.  
  • Students have to know how to make inferences about what is happening in the pictures and make connections to the text.
In the Classroom...
  • Good for readers who are struggling with reading, because this book isn't so daunting.
  • This would be a good book for the classroom library but I, personally, wouldn't require students to read it.  
  • This text is good for students who need an easier read that is still very compelling.
  • If used with a read aloud, it should be done with a small group of students instead of the whole class so that all the students can see the pictures since the pictures play such a vital role in understanding the story.

Resources Related to 21st Century Texts






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