Blogs!

"On A Wintry Morning" By: Dori Chaconas

Rating: 5/5
Grade Level: Kindergarten and above
Illustrations By: Stephen T. Johnson

I loved the book "On A Wintry Morning". Even though it is very simple and for younger students I still think it would have a great use in an upper elementary classroom. This book is about a relationship between a father and daughter. The love and compassion they have for one another jumps off the page through the illustrations and the poetic language. The repetition of "On a wintry morning" at the end of every page could be used to introduce a new form of writing to upper elementary levels. The way this book reads is as a poem, and the use of imagery only exemplifies the love that the father and daughter have for one another even though they are just participating in everyday activities. This development of text can be used to teach students how to take ordinary situations and make them more literary appealing. Also the use of rhyme in this book make the words fun to say and have more meaning than they otherwise would in a different context. I think that rhyming would be fun for students to incorporate into a story, and potentially spark their interest in poetry as well. I would love for my students to be able to share stories of this context with their classmates, and exhibit things that are important to them in their writing. I also want to portray the concept of creating a short text that portrays a lot of meaning. I think this will help my students to create more developed sentences in their writing in general, and portray more conceptual thinking to the audience.

The Woodson Experience

I really enjoyed sharing the Woodson experience with a group that read another book by Jacqueline Woodson. It was really interesting to hear different perspectives by other students in our class and how they perceived the literature itself. I also enjoyed comparing the different styles of writing in each of the novels that were compared and expressed to the rest of the class. I also thought it was very interesting the way Woodson expressed different themes and the way she went about portraying each to the audience. I think in my own classroom it would be really beneficial to have groups of my students read different novels by the same author. This can develop discussion in small groups in addition to a large group comparison. I think by examining multiple works by a single individual students will begin to understand different methods on how to make each of their literary works unique even if they occasionally do address similar concepts. I also think that Jacqueline Woodson has a special ability to portray ideals and morals that she cares about in a light that has the power of expanding the minds and experiences of others as well. She definitely had a way of connecting to the reader. Through the use of Woodson's dramatic and emotional language, I personally felt as though as I was living the experience myself. I think it would be beneficial to teach my students how to express themselves and their experiences in a way that others can connect to and potentially become part of the story itself.