Vina High School Pre-K

  This letter is written about Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (1967) by Bill Martin Jr. illustrated by Eric Carle.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? won the International Reading Association and Children's Book Council Children's Choice Award in 1984 and the Parent's Magazine: Favorite Books of All Time August 2006.  This text is a fictional text that my students love.  Throughout the book, various colorful animals talk about what other animals they see. I chose to read this book with my students as a method to not only have my students learn how to properly participate in read-alouds with repeated text but also to help with identifying students who struggle with color identification.  When the section of the book comes up about a purple cat, I would ask my students, "Are there really purple cats?"  "What do you think happened to make a purple cat?"  I would repeat these questions with the other animals and adjust as needed based on if

  Dinosaurs Before Dark (1992) was written by Mary Pope Osborne.  I read this fictional text to my students during our dinosaur unit.  I read this to give my students an immersive experience of what it would be like to run with the dinosaurs.  The knowledge the students gained about the dinosaurs within the text helped fuel their desire to learn more as I read informational text throughout the week.  The students show a particular interest in T-Rexes.  This led me to be able to dive deeper into the difference between carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores.  The students loved getting to choose their favorite dinosaur out of the options given based on their classification.  I presented each student two options for each of the following categories: carnivore, herbivore, and herbivore.  The students then had a family involvement activity to draw their dinosaur and three facts about it.  My students absolutely loved this project!  

Because of Winn-Dixie  (2000) was written by Kate DiCamillo.  It is a fictional story that was a Newberry Honor Book. I chose this book to be a "time filler" during our pet unit.  The story focuses on the relationship between a young girl, Opal, and a stray dog, Winn-Dixie.  Together the two go on adventures in their small town.   I read this book during breakfast, restroom breaks, early finish time before a special, snack, and the first little bit of nap time.  At the conclusion of each reading, I would ask various questions based on what we read.  For example, when Opal is asked what her dog's name is, she gets the name while in the local Winn-Dixie.  I would then open the discussion with my students about where they got their pets' names.  At the conclusion of the book, I asked the students which character Opal encountered was their favorite and why.  I, of course, gave my students a slight refresher on each of the characters.  To answer the question, they drew the