Literature and Technology Project Reflection

I thoroughly enjoyed this project. I loved reading children’s books, especially the pictures books! I think I have broadened my love of books. I used to hate nonfiction books because I found them boring. For this project, I chose nonfiction books that were about interesting topics such as football and Will Smith, and now I learned that I actually like reading nonfiction books! I also had fun reading books that I remembered loving with I was a kid, such as the American Girl books and Freckle Juice.
I also had fun trying out various technologies. Blogging, using voice thread, and using Inspiration were all exciting! My favorite technology was probably the voice thread. I had never even heard of voice thread before this year, and now I plan on using it in the future with my students and just for fun! I found lots of great websites and resources that contained tons of lesson plans that integrate literature and technology. These will be wonderful to refer back to once I become a teacher. These websites are great time savers because they already have great lessons written, and they are even already broken down by grade level!
My favorite part of the project was probably teaching my students about voice thread. They seemed to “into it” and captivated! The students kept talking about voice thread for the next few weeks! They are about to use voice thread again for a science class, and their teacher was excited to hear that they already learned about voice thread from me! It is great to see how technology can be used in all content areas, including science, literature, social studies, math, language arts, etc.
I think that I now have a great understanding of various technologies. By using the technologies, teaching about the technologies, and researching about technologies, I now feel very well informed. I will remember to use these when I teach. Technology is great for kids of all ages, and it is definitely wonderful for third-fifth grade. Technology can be great for advanced or gifted students because it gives them an opportunity to extend and apply their knowledge. Technology can also be great for students who struggle to write or have messy handwriting. Some students cannot write well, but they thrive when given a chance to express themselves using their vocal skills, so voice thread would be great for these students! Visual learners would do well with technologies such as Inspiration and the fun Wordle site that we used in the beginning of the semester. English Language Learners can enjoy technology as well. Some technologies allow for translations, so this would be a great way for students who are still learning English to get involved! Our world is rapidly creating new technologies, and after learning how fun and exciting technology can be, I plan on staying informed about the new technology that becomes available! I plan on using technology, especially when teaching literature, as often as possible when I teach!

Freckle Juice by Judy Blume, illustrated by Sonia O. Lisker- Fiction/Freebie/Chapter Book

“Freckle Juice” is a short fictional chapter book about a little boy named Andrew Marcus. Andrew desperately wants freckles like his classmate, Nicky's. Andrew thinks that if he has freckles, his mom would not know if his neck was dirty, so he would not have to wash in the morning and be late for school. A mean girl in his class named Sharon overhears that Andrew wants freckles. She tells him she has a recipe for freckle juice, and she will sell it to him for fifty cents. Andrew buys the recipe from her, and he drinks the freckle juice. The freckle juice, of course, does not work. It is made up of random items such as grape juice, ketchup, salt, pepper, onion, lemon juice, mustard, etc. Andrew does not get any freckles, but instead he gets a very bad stomachache. He feels so sick that he has to stay home from school for a day. When he feels better, he still does not want to go to school because then Sharon will make fun of him and see that he has no freckles. He decides to draw freckles on his face with a marker, but he only has a blue marker. Everyone laughed at his blue “freckles” and his teacher helped him remove the blue specks from his face. The book ends with Nicky, the boy with lots of freckles, saying that he wants to get rid of his freckles. The tricky girl, Sharon, tells Nicky she has a secret recipe for removing freckles. One can imagine that Sharon will play a similar trick on Nicky.
This book is a chapter book, but it is still short and has lots of pictures, making it a great “first” chapter book for students. The book is also great for anyone who has freckles, because they can see that some people desperately want freckles, so they will feel great about their own freckles! This book is silly and fun for kids, and I remember loving it as a child. I still enjoy reading this book today. Kids can relate to the book because they probably all have something that they would like to change about their appearance, just like Andrew and Nicky. They can learn from the book that most people look good just the way they were made, and it is better to stay who you are instead of trying to change. This is one of those books that I think both genders and almost any age group would enjoy, so I would definitely put it in my classroom library!

Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne, pictures by H.A. Rey- Fiction/Freebie

This is a very cute story about a mother kangaroo. For some reason, Katy Kangaroo does not have a pocket, so she cannot carry around her little kangaroo, Freddy. Katy was very sad, so she decided to ask other animal mothers that did not have pockets how they carried their children. She asked a crocodile, and the crocodile carries her baby on her back. Katy tried this with Freddy, but it did not work. She asked the monkey, and she carries her monkey in her arms. Katy’s arms are too short. After asking several animals, Katy asks the owl, who knows everything, what she should do. The owl told her that in the city, they sell pockets. Katy went to the city and saw that most people had pockets. She saw one man who had an apron covered with pockets. The kind man gives Katy the apron, and she is able to fit Freddy in a pocket. Katy ends up being able to carry other animals as well, such as rabbits, lions, and lizards, in her pocket. Katy is happy because she has more pockets than any other mother kangaroo!
This is a very sweet and heartwarming book. Children who love animals, especially kangaroos, would love this book. This was one of my favorite books as a child. In addition to being a cute story, children can learn a lot about animals from this book. There are pictures of animals and the book describes how various mother animals carry their babies. Children who are lower readers would love this book because it is an easy read. Children can really connect to this book because they have probably all felt sad, different, or self-conscious about something, just as Katy was about her lack of a pocket. Students can really feel what Katy is feeling. This book would also be great for problem solving. Before reading the end of the story, students could brainstorm solutions for Katy. These problem-solving skills would help students solve personal problems in their future!

Bitter Bananas by Isaac Olaleye, illustrated by Ed Young- Fiction/Freebie

Bitter Bananas by Isaac Olaleye is a wonderful and interesting book for people of all ages. The book is written in a repetitive style that makes it easy for all students to comprehend, but the illustrations and varied text placement keep the readers interested. In this book, a young boy, Yusuf, lived in an African village. He loved to drink palm sap and would sell it at the market to help his family. However, someone started taking his palm sap! After hiding at night he found that it was baboons that were drinking his palm sap. Yusuf came up with several ways to try stopping the baboons from taking the palm sap. He tried charging out of a bush and yelling at them, hacking down the trees near his palm tree so they could not leap onto his tree, scaring them with a scarecrow, and tricking them into thinking a gourd was a person. None of these plans worked! Finally, Yusuf bought calabash bowls, ripe bananas, and palm sap from the market. He mixed palm sap, ripe bananas, and green juice from wormwood leaves in the calabash bowl. Yusuf placed the bowls at the foot of the tree and the baboons came to eat it. They never came back again!
Despite being a juvenile fiction book, this story provides children with a glimpse of life in Africa. Students who are interested in Africa might want to read this book. There are wonderful illustrations, and a few cultural traditions are mentioned and drawn. Also, this book contains animals, making it enticing and exciting for many children. This book would be great for students who love animals. Even if the upper elementary students feel too old to read this book, it provides an excellent gateway for a creative invention project. Teachers can have their students design ways to prevent the baboons from stealing the palm sap! This will allow students to be creative, share their ideas with the class, and compare their ideas to those in the book! This book would be excellent for lower readers because it is a pretty easy read, but it is still interesting. Bitter Bananas is an excellent choice for any teacher to use in his or her elementary classroom!

Hannah Montana: Crushes and Camping, based on the television series "Hannah Montana," stories by Poryes, Peterman, and Dontzig- GRAPHIC NOVEL

This book was a graphic novel of the popular Disney Channel television show, “Hannah Montana.” There were two short stories in this book. Hannah Montana is a famous pop star, and her “real” name on the show is Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus in real life.) In the first story, Miley has a friend named Oliver. Oliver is in love with Hannah Montana, and he does not know that Miley is really Hannah. Oliver does crazy things to meet Hannah Montana, such as crawling into her limousine through the opening on the top. When Oliver talks to Miley, he talks about how much he likes Hannah. Miley does not know what to do because she does not like Oliver romantically, so she does not want to hurt his feelings! At first, she tries to keep it a secret that she is Hannah Montana. She tries to make Oliver not like her by being rude and chewing gum, which Oliver hates. She even blows a huge bubble and pops it in her face! Oliver still loves her, so she finally tells him the truth. They decide that he is not really in love with her, and they remain friends. In the second story, Miley and Lilly, her best friend, get stuck sharing a tent with their enemies, Ashley and Amber, on a camping trip. Miley tries to get out of the trip by pretending to be sick, but her father does not fall for it. Miley and Lilly try to get along with Amber and Ashley, but Amber and Ashley continue being mean. They end up getting back with Amber and Ashley by tricking them into thinking a bear is outside of their tent. In the end, Miley and Lilly get in trouble for their trick because they end up with poison ivy! The stories were told using pictures, thought bubbles, captions, and speech bubbles since this is a graphic novel!
This book would be very popular with third-fifth graders. “Hannah Montana” is an extremely popular show, and many kids watch it. Lots of the fifth graders that I work with wear “Hannah Montana” t-shirts to school. Since they like the show, they would definitely enjoy the book. The graphic novel style makes this book good for elementary students as well. The pictures and captions can make the book an easy read for struggling readers. The pictures seem to be straight from the television show, so it really brings the story to life, and it makes the book easy to follow. Perhaps some students that do not like to read and prefer to watch television will learn to love reading if they read books like this. They can still get that pop culture entertainment, but just through a book instead of television!

A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman by David A. Adler, illustrated by Samuel Byrd- Nonfiction/ Biography

This book was a biography, which is a type of nonfiction book. The book discussed the life of Harriet Tubman. She was born in 1820 or 1821, and she was one of eleven kids. Harriet, her parents, and her siblings were all slaves. Harriet was often disobedient and got in trouble. Her master would whip her for punishment. During this time, abolitionists began to speak out against slavery. Also, Nat Turner led a rebellion against slave owners and their families. Harriet saw him as a true Moses, and she wanted to be like him, leading people out of slavery. Meanwhile, Harriet met a man named John Tubman and married him. One day, Harriet escaped with three of her brothers. Her brothers ended up going back home, but Harriet left again a few days later. She traveled along the Underground Railroad and became a free woman! Harriet ended up helping other slaves to freedom as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. Many people called Harriet Tubman “Moses,” and this was a compliment for her. Harriet Tubman was never caught. In 1860, while Tubman was still alive, Abraham Lincoln became president and soon after that, the Civil War began. In 1865, slavery was ended in the United States. Harriet Tubman was always very brave, and many people long ago and still today admire her.
This was a very informational book. This would be a great book to have in the classroom for students to use for research. I remember writing a report on Harriet Tubman in elementary school, and this book would have been very helpful. This book might also be used during Black History Month. Many students have heard of Harriet Tubman and admire her. They might want to read this book, so it would be great to always have it available. The book has lots of information, but it is still on a level that kids can understand. The details were basic and not too complex, making it a great book for doing basic research. The pictures in the book are great, and they can really help children connect to Harriet Tubman and what she went through. Some students might have had ancestors who were slaves, and they might especially want to read this book. Harriet Tubman is a hero for many people, and therefore her biography is very important for everyone, including elementary students!

The Best Book of Bugs by Claire Llewellyn, illustrated by Forsey, di Gaudesi, and Wright- Nonfiction

This was a nonfiction book about bugs. The book discussed the difference between insects and spiders because this is something that people commonly confuse. Insects have six legs, while spiders have eight. Insects have three parts to their bodies- the head, thorax, and abdomen, while spiders only have two parts- the head and thorax at front and the abdomen at the back. Something that spiders have in common with insects it that they both have exoskeletons. After explaining these differences, the bug discussed different types of spiders. These included the broad types- spinning spiders and hunting spiders, as well as more specific spiders such as spitting spiders, jumping spiders, water spiders, and sheet-web spiders. Different types of insects were discussed as well such as bees, ants, beetles, butterflies, moths, and dragonflies. The book discussed the differences in moths and spiders, which is something else that many people confuse. The book had wonderful pictures to further describe all of the different types of insects and spiders. In addition, there were diagrams of body parts, life cycles, etc. This book provided lots of information about insects
The topic of bugs is interesting to many children. Some children love bugs, and therefore would love to read about bugs. Some children are afraid of bugs, so a book about bugs would be good so that they could learn more about which bugs are safe or harmful. I personally used to be very afraid of bugs, but I took the course “Insects and People,” and now I find bugs very amazing! Hopefully reading a nonfiction book about bugs can allow students to appreciate bugs instead of simply being afraid of them. The pictures and diagrams make this book great for students of all reading levels. Students could read this book simply for fun, but it would also be a great book to use for research for a project or report on insects or a specific type of insect!