The bear in the newsletter

We’re Going On A Bear Hunt

Author: Michael Rosen

This wonderful story is about a family that goes on a nature hike to find a bear. I love this story for a young reader because they are able to join in on the repetitive lines. This story is good to read to children in preschool or younger.

More from the newletter

The Baker’s Dozen

Author: Dan Andreasen

This story teaches your little reader numbers 1-13 with the baker. The book has pictures of the objects, the number written out and shown as numerically. It will teach your child numbers in different ways.

Mother Goose

Mother Goose and Friends
Author: Ruth Sanderson
This book contains a collection of Mother Goose nursery rhymes that so many of us remember from our childhood. There Was An Old Woman, This Little Pig, Three Little Kittens, Old King Cole, Peter Piper, Here We Go Round, Ring Around The Rosies, Little Bo-Peep, and Jack And Jill are a few of the nursery rhymes. This is great for young beginning readers.

Quotes about reading

The more that you read,the more things you will know.The more that you learn,the more places you'll go.~ Dr. Seuss ~


There is no substitute for books in the life of a child. (1952)~ Mary Ellen Chase ~


“Good children's literature appeals not only tothe child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.”
~ Anonymous ~

"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall."
— Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory


"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."
— Emilie Buchwald



"Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read."
— Marilyn Jager Adams


"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all."
— Jacqueline Kennedy

More from my newsletter

Books for your little reader

Commotion In The Ocean Author: Giles Andreae
This book is a personal favorite of mine. It teaches your child an assortment of creatures that live in the ocean. Some of the creatures are sharks, octopus, crabs, polar bears, dolphins, penguins, stingrays, and whales.



Frog and Toad Are Friends Author: Arnold Lobel
There are five stories included in this book. I remember reading the stories about
these friends when I was younger and I still love them today. Some of the stories
included are: The Lost Button, Frog Gets Sick, and The Letter. This is a good story for readers
aged 4-8.



Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Author: Bill Martin and Lois Ehlert
This book is another of my personal favorites. It will teach your child the alphabet in this rhyming alphabet story. The letters race to reach the top of the coconut tree. This is a great story for readers aged 2-6.



Smelly Socks Author: Robert Munsch
This is a hilarious story about a girl that does not want to wash her socks will have your children eager to hear it repeatedly. Perfect for readers aged 4-8 years old.


Websites for parents
· Reading Rockets - http://www.readingrockets.org/
This site has strategies to help kids that struggle, techniques for teaching reading, book and author suggestions, tips for parents, and a list of articles from a to z.
· Rif Reading Planet http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/ - This site has an assortment of sections to choose from – a game station, activity lab, a book zone , and a express yourself section
· Reading is fundamental - http://www.rif.org/ - This site has a section for parents that contains tips and activity ideas to help you motivate your kids to read.

· Colorin Colorado - http://www.colorincolorado.org/ - Part of reading rockets that is a bilingual site for families and educators of English language learners
· U.S.Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/parents/read/resources/edpicks.jhtml?src=ln – This site has a Help My Child Read resource center. Some of the resources are helping your child become a reader, reading tips for parents, put reading first, reading programs, and a guide to promoting your child's reading success.

Parts of my newsletter

Reading Is Important

I have put out this newsletter this month to bring special attention to reading. This newsletter will give you tips on reading with your young reader. I have also included ten books that I believe your child will love and will want to read repeatedly. I have also compiled a list of websites that will be beneficial to you and your child.
Reading is an essential part of a child’s life. It helps them with their social skills, opens up new worlds and enriches their lives, books help children develop vital language skills, and it is important that you make time everyday to read with your child.
I hope that this newsletter helps and that I have given you some new ideas on reading with your child.

Tips on Reading



Talk about the new words that you encounter

Let your child have access to as many resources as possible

Read to and with your child each and everyday

Read their favorite books repeatedly

Ask open ended questions not just yes/no questions

· Make trips to the library
· Limiting the amount of time your family watches television
· While reading the story stop and ask questions or explain something to your reader
· Make a personal connection to the story
· Discuss what you have just read
· Let your child pick their own books to read
· Make the story appealing by changing your tone and voice

The last two stories - Bill Peet

Jethro and Joel is a story about a troll with one body but separate heads. Joel bored by living on the mountain and wants to be destructive. Jethro does not want to be but gives him one day. They go down to town and then to the castle where Joel throws a big rock through it. The knights come out to fight but Jethro does not want to fight and surrenders. They make a deal to rebuild the castle and then build castles for even the poorest of families for a sack of turnips as payment. I picked this story because when I was at the library it was the first book that I picked up that did not have an animal or a person on the cover but some other type of creature.

Dudley the rooster had a beautiful crow that the sun loved to hear. The only one that did not love his crow or him was Gunther a nasty goose. One day Gunther chased Dudley into the woods where he had to hide all night. The sun decided that he would not riser unless Dudley crowed. By the next morning the sun had not come out and they horse named Hector went to find him after finding out what had happened. He found Dudley and brought him back to the barn where he crowed and brought the sun up. Everyone was happy but Gunther who left the farm. I picked out this book because I liked the cover of the book. The farm is the main setting for this story.

Bill Peet Stories

A turtledove named Myrtle finds a big pinkish, purplish, and bluish egg one day. She takes it home and waits for it to hatch. A griffin (half lion/half eagle) named Zeke hatches out of the egg and scares all the other birds but the turtledove away. One night wolves and foxes came to feast on Zeke. He wants to fight but the turtledove tries to convince him that fighting is not the way. One day when he is walking he finds a remote places and comes up with an idea. He scopes down and picks up the wolves and foxes and drops then off at the remote location and tells them if they come back again he will take them on an even longer trip. The turtledove is happy and all the other birds see that he is not a mean creature. I picked this book because I wanted to see what was going to come out of the egg. The acceptance of others is something that Peet likes to write about in his stories.

Pamela is an unhappy camel that runs away from the circus. She is sick and tired of being called dumb and mean. After walking for a while, she notices that the train’s tracks have been pulled up and knows that the train will crash if a train rolls over that part of the tracks. She hears a train coming and stands on the tracks in hopes that the train will stop. The train does stop and they realize that the train tracks are destroyed. Pamela goes back to the circus a star and lead the grand procession ever night. She will never be called stupid, dumb, or a bad-tempered beast again. I picked out this story because there was another story with the circus theme and I wanted to compare them. The circus and farm setting reappear in this book .

Bill Peet books

Big Bad Bruce is a story about a bear that treats other animals unkind. He meets a witch one day who he angers. She makes a magical pie that she leaves out for the bear to eat. He goes to sleep and wakes up smaller than a quail. The animals that he upset before were now chasing him. The witch found him again and he was sure she was going to make him disappear. To his surprise, she took him home and took care of him. He made friends with her cat and wandered through her garden as if it were a forest. I chose Big Bad Bruce because I remember reading this story when I was a child. In every story he uses word that would be hard for a child to comprehend but is able to make the words meaning easy to comprehend.

This story is about five lions that get stage fright. The owner hires a lion trainer that scares them so bad that they roar all night long and no one can get to bed. The next day everyone is too tired to perform. The owner lets the old lion trainer try one more time and the lions put on a spectacular show because nothing can scare them as much as the mean trainer they had. I picked out this story because I had picked up another story that was also based out of a circus and I wanted to compare them. Again the elephants are all the same in all the books when they come from the circus. They are identical to the book Pamela Camel and Ella. He also loves to draw lions they appear in three out of the ten books. The circus theme again appear in this book. The theme of this book is to believe in yourself, which is another popular theme for his stories.

Jennifer and Josephine by Bill Peet

Josephine was a cat had made a home in Jennifer the car. Jennifer was an old touring car that lived in the junkyard until one day a man came in and bought her. Josephine decided to hide in the backseat because she wanted to stay with Jennifer. The man that bought the car was a horrible and fast driver after a number of accidents and narrow escapes he ran her off the road and towards the end of a ravine. The car was going to fall in and be washed away so she ran to find help. She found a boy that got his father and their horses to pull out Jennifer. The two then remanded at the barn and always rode together. I picked out his story because most of the other books had only animals on the cover. This book had a person on the cover. The farm setting shows up in this book. The main theme of this book is also friendship

Ella by Bill Peet

Ella is a story about a circus elephant that becomes spoiled because everyone wits on her. She one day decides she is too big of a star and that the circus is not treating her like thinks she should be treated. She decides to hide when everyone is getting on the train. She realizes that it is a mistakes right away but is sure they will realize she is gone and find her. As she is walking along she comes across a farm where a nasty farmer named Lucifer Kirk lives. He makes her work on his farm for one year doing all sorts of hard jobs. She one day hears the distinct sound of the circuses train whistle and breaks out of the barn and finds her circus friends. She now always pitches in to help and is no longer spoiled. I chose this story because I picked up another book with an elephant on the cover. In this story as well as the others his style of writing shines through in the vocabulary that he uses. He uses word in his writing that would be difficult words for a child but manages to somehow make the meaning easy to understand. Out of the ten books that I checked out from the library four of them had elephants. All of the circus elephants looked alike. The circus setting is in this book as well as others. The farm setting is another popular setting for his books.

Eli by Bill Peet

Eli is an old, lonely lion that comes to aid of a vulture one day. The vultures are so grateful that they start to follow Eli around wherever he goes. One day he is fed up and yells unkind things to them and says to leave him alone. They go but say that they will always be his friend and hope that they can help him one day. One day the vulture he helped was flying when he saw a tribe of men tracking Eli so they could kill him. The vulture flew ahead and found him and planned a scheme so the people would think he was dead. He had all of his vulture friends pretend to be peaking at his body so it looked as if Eli had died. The plan worked and the men walked away. After that, the friends were always close to one another. I chose this book because I picked out Randy’s Dandy Lions and it had lions too. The way that he does the friendship theme in his stories seems to be the same. It always shows up in an unlikely pair.

The Ant and the Elephant

The story begins when an ant is picked up by a gust of wind and dropped on a snag in the river. He sees a turtle and asks for a ride to shore. The turtle refuses and as he is walking away trips and is stuck on his back. The turtle asks for help from the Mrs. Bigbill who refuses and then has a problem herself. The giraffe does not help the bird and then becomes snagged in veins. The lion and rhino both refuse to help others and then find themselves in situations they cannot get out of by themselves. An elephant then comes along and helps the ant. The ant is very grateful. The elephant then goes on to help all the other animals none of which thank the elephant for his help. The elephant is very proud of the work that he has done and is happy that he is so big and will never have problems. Just as he says that he falls off a big cliff and gets wedged in a tight spot that he cannot get out of alone. Ninety-five thousand ants come to his rescue including the one he helped earlier. No matter what you do to help it could be big it could be small it is a big deal to the person that you help. I chose The Ant and the Elephant because it was a story that I read when I was younger. The elephant from this book was the only wild elephant and he had tusks the other three books that had elephant not one of those elephants had tusks. The friendship theme pops up in his books quite often.

Brochure on Scribd

I was going to put my brochure on scribds. I uploaded it and everything. When I was reviewing it I noticed that all my personal information - name, phone number, email was on it as well. I tried to resave but was unable because the only one that would pop up was the pdf version which I could not change so I deleted it. I did try.

Author Study- Culminating Activity

CULMINATING ACTIVITY
The fourth day into the lesson plan the students will find that the teacher has set up the room for a Gallery Walk. A gallery walk is when all of the students work is displayed for everyone to see. Next to each piece (project from lesson # 1, the stories created, and the illustrations created) there will be a sheet of paper and a pencil. The students will move around the room looking at the projects. If they would like to write a comment next to a certain project they are allowed to do so. The students beforehand are given instructions on how to move through the room. The students then walk back over and look at the responses they received on their cards and read them. The class will come together for one final discussion about the project, comment, the guiding question, and any information they would like to share.

Author Study - Lesson Plan # 3

LESSON PLAN # 3
1A. Sunshine State Standards:
The student will:
LA.2.4.1.2 - compose simple stories, poems, riddles, rhymes, or song lyrics.
1B. Goal 3 Standards
Standard 4 Creative and Critical Thinkers
2. Objectives (behavior, content, condition and criteria)
Students will:
Demonstrate their understanding of the author’s writing style by creating a story.(Application)
Demonstrate their understanding of the illustrator’s style by creating a storyboard. (Application)
Summarize what they have learned by writing in their reading logs. (Comprehension)


3. Assessment & Evaluation (related to language needs and its impact on academic performance)

Initial- The initial assessment will come when the teacher is asking the student questions about the author’s writing style.

Informal- The informal assessment will take place when the teacher observes the students working in their groups on the writing and illustration project.

Formal- The formal assessment will come from the finished stories and illustrations. The final reading log entry will serve as a formal assessment.

4. Introduction to Lesson:
The students will be shown a couple minutes of the Disney movie The Sword and the Stone.
5. Materials

· Disney movie – the Sword in the Stone
· TV
· DVD or tape player
· Computer
· Screen
· Images of storyboards
· Bell
· Paper
· Pencils
· Crayons and markers
· Reading logs
· Literacy center material


6. Technology Integration
· Television
· DVD or tape player
· Computer

















7. Teacher Presentation or Facilitation: (includes reviews and practice)
The teacher will ask the class:
Does anyone know what movie we just watched?
Does anyone know why I just showed you some of this movie? (if students do not know ask the next question)
Can anyone think of who was responsible for the illustrations/ images in the movie?
The teacher can then start into a discussion with the class on how Bill Peet was the only man at Disney that ever created a whole storyboard for a movie. The discussion can then turn to what a storyboard is after some students (if any) know/ try to answer. The teacher will then use the computer to show examples of a storyboard up on the screen for all to see. The teacher will explain that the storyboard is something that authors/illustrators use to put together their books. The teacher will then break apart the class into groups of five and tell the students that they will be working on short story that will follow the style of Bill Peet and after they have created the story they will need to create a storyboard for the book. The storyboard can be a two pages or longer. A discussion will start about what his style is like. The teacher will ask the students what they have noticed about his books (both the written story and illustrations).
Some questions the teacher could ask:
What were some similarities in his writing that they have observed?
What were some of the similarities that they discovered in his drawing?
What were some of the common themes in his writings? (Discuss the friendship, cooperation, understanding, acceptance, being happy with who you are, courage, and making the right choices themes)
Does he use the same type of animal in lots of his books?
Does he use the same setting/location or does he change it around?
The questions and answers will be written on the board for the students to reference.




Teacher Presentation continued…
The students will be told that they will have 30-35 minutes to work on their stories. The teacher needs to be walking around to the groups to check on their progress while they work on their stories to see if help is required. Make sure that the students are aware of the time. Tell them when they have 15, 10, and 5 minutes left. When the time is up the teacher will ring the bell to signal to the class that it is time to stop working and to direct their attention back to the teacher. The teacher will have the students start the work on the storyboards. The teacher will again tell the students that the pictures should be something that relates to their story and they should create at least two pictures. The teacher will tell the students that they can take the time that they will now be given to finish the work on the story or if they have already finished they can move onto the illustrations. When they finish the story move onto the illustrations. For the students that finish ahead of time they will be given a chance to go back to the literacy centers from the previous lesson. The students will be given 30 minutes to work on the illustrations. The teacher needs to be walking around to the groups to check on their progress while they work on their illustrations to check if the students understand the project. After the allotted time is up the teacher will ring the bell to signal to the students that it is time to direct their attention to the teacher. The groups will then present their stories and the illustrations. After all the presentations the teacher will tell the students to go back to their regular seats. The teacher will walk around and pass out the students reading logs for them to reflect on the lesson. They will have 10-12 minutes for this free writing and time to decorate the front of their reading log. After the allotted time the teacher, will walk around and pick up the reading logs. The teacher will respond in the student’s journal.














8. Differentiated Instruction (ESOL - Special Education - Diverse Learners)
The ESOL students will be paired into groups with students that are more capable. The teacher will also provide some extra help after the lesson if it is required. The teacher will provide directions for the student in their first language. If there are students in the classroom that speak the same language, they could be paired together to help one another.
The special education students will be paired into groups with students that are more capable. The teacher will also provide some extra help from the teacher after the lesson if it is required.
The advanced students will be paired with students that might need extra help. This will give these students the extra challenge without giving them extra busy work.
Multiple Intelligences
The Interpersonal students will benefit from the interactions they have with others during the group work and discussions, the class discussions, and the presentation part of the lesson.
The Intrapersonal students will benefit from the reading log, watching the video, and viewing the examples of the storyboard.
The Verbal-Linguistic students will benefit from the writing of the story, the discussion between group members, the discussions of the whole class, and the reading log.
The Bodily-Kinesthetic students will benefit by presenting their projects.
The Spatial students will benefit from the creation of a project especially the illustrations.

Learning Styles
· The auditory learners will benefit from hearing the group and class discussion and listening to the other presentation.

The visual students will benefit from watching the presentation, the video, and the examples of a storyboard. They will also benefit for creating the illustrations and the writings on the board.








Follow-up Reflection (completed after the lesson has been taught)


Content: What should I teach next or reteach?

Students: Who still needs support with this content?

Author Study - Lesson Plan 2

LESSON PLAN # 2
1A. Sunshine State Standards:
The student will:
LA.2.6.2.3 - analyze and select appropriate facts and communicate information in a simple report that includes, a title, a main, and supporting details
1B. Goal 3 Standards
Standard 1 Information Managers
2. Objectives (behavior, content, condition and criteria)
Students will:
Recall information from a previously lesson. (Knowledge)
Apply the information that they receive from the computer to create a biography. (Application)
Summarize what they have learned by writing in their reading logs. (Comprehension)

3. Assessment & Evaluation (related to language needs and its impact on academic performance)

Initial – The initial assessment will come from the discussion about what they remember from the last lesson.

Informal- The informal assessment will come from the discussion after literacy centers.

Formal- The formal assessment will come when the students create the letters to the author, the biographies about the author, and the reading logs.


4. Introduction to Lesson:
The teacher will point out to the students the literacy centers around the classroom. The teacher will tell the students that at each literacy center they will find fun and interesting things all having to do with the author and illustrator Bill Peet.
5. Materials
· Bill Peet books
· Posters
· Projects the students completed last lesson
· Read along books with cd/cassette
· Early illustrations done by Bill Peet
· 1 computer per group
· Reading logs
· Paper
· Pencils
· Bell



6. Technology Integration
Computers for the students to use to do research on Bill Peet.




















7. Teacher Presentation or Facilitation: (includes reviews and practice)
The teacher will ask the students some questions to see what they remember about him/his work from the last lesson.
Questions like:
Did Bill Peet write and illustrate all the books that they saw in the previous lesson?
Did he write non-fiction or fiction stories?
What were some of the books that Bill Peet wrote?
What did he like to write about in his stories?
Do they have anything else that they remember that they would like to discuss?
After the discussion, the teacher will break apart the students into groups of four and send them to different literacy centers. The literacy centers will contain books by the author, read along books with cd or cassette, students finished projects from the previous lesson, and illustrations he made in the early years. The teacher will give 10-15 minutes at each literacy center. Each literacy center will have different information about the author. There will be five literacy centers in total. When the teacher rings the bell it signals to the students to switch to the next literacy center. The teacher will ring the bell for the last time to signal that the class needs to come back together for a discussion. The teacher will ask the class some questions to get the discussion started.
Questions:
What they think that they learned about Bill Peet and his style of writing?
Did they notice any similarities in his stories?
What they found interesting?
What they liked about his work and what if anything they did not like?


Teacher Presentation Continued…
After the class finishes the discussion the teacher will have the students stay in their groups and use the computers (1 per group) to find information about Bill Peet on the internet. The students are to take the information that they acquire online and write a biography about the life of Bill Peet. It should include a title that they make up other than his name and important facts about his life.
The biography should at least include most of the following:
(the information below will be written on the whiteboard for the groups to see while working)
Anything from his childhood that influenced him into becoming a writer and an illustration.
When he started his career?
Where he gets his inspiration?
What are some things that you discovered about Bill Peet?
How old was Bill Peet when he started to write and illustrate?
What were some examples of works that he created?
What was his first job as a writer or illustrator?
Were there certain things that he enjoyed creating over others?
The teacher needs to be monitoring the group to see if any group needs assistance. After the groups have spent 20 minutes on the biography the teacher will ring the bell to signal to the students that their work time has ended and that they need to turn their attention back to the teacher. The teacher will have the students go back to their regular seats.

The teacher will tell the students know that they have all of that information they will be writing a letter to author. They can include anything that they wish but that each student needs to create their own letter. This is not a group effort.
Some ideas they could use can be:
· They can tell him how they feel about his work.
· They can tell him about charterers that they liked.
· They can ask questions about certain books.
· They can ask why he ended a book a certain way.

They are able to ask or say whatever they would like to while writing the letter.
(These ideas will be written on the board for the students to view)
After the students have spent 15-20 minutes working on the letter to the author the teacher will for the last time ring the bell and ask the students to remain seated. The teacher will go around and pass out the reading logs that they wrote in during the previous lesson. Tell the students that they will be writing in their journals and that it can be whatever they found to be interesting about the days lesson or facts that they learned about Bill Peet. It is their free time to write whatever they want as long as it pertains to Bill Peet. After the class has had 5 minutes to write in their journal the teacher will pick up the journals. The teacher will respond in the student’s journal.









8. Differentiated Instruction (ESOL - Special Education - Diverse Learners)
The ESOL students will be paired into groups with students that are more capable. The teacher will also provide extra assistance if it is required. The teacher will provide directions for the student in their first language. If there are students in the classroom that speak the same language, they could be paired together to help one another.
The advanced students will be paired with students that might need extra help. This will benefit them because they
The special education students will be paired into groups with students that are more capable. Pairing the special education students with other students will help to give them another understanding on the lesson other than the one the teacher has given. The teacher will also provide extra one on one assistance if it is required.
Multiple Intelligences
The Interpersonal students will benefit from the interactions they have with others during the group work on the biography and the discussions. They will also enjoy the literacy centers.
The Intrapersonal students will benefit from writing in their reading log and writing the letter to the author.
The Verbal-Linguistic students will benefit from the discussion with the class and writing the biography. They will also benefit from the reading log and writing the letter.
The Bodily-Kinesthetic students will benefit from the literacy centers. They will be able to move around the room while changing centers.
Learning Styles
The auditory learners will benefit from hearing the group and class discussion and listening to the audio books in the literacy centers
The visual students will benefit from the literacy centers.




Follow-up Reflection (completed after the lesson has been taught)


Content: What should I teach next or reteach?


Students: Who still needs support with this content?

Author study - Lesson Plan 1

LESSON PLAN # 1
1A. Sunshine State Standards:
The student will:
LA.2.2.1.2 - identify and describe the elements of story structure, including setting, plot, character, problem, and resolution in a variety of fiction.

1B. Goal 3 Standards
Standard 8 Cooperative Workers
2. Objectives (behavior, content, condition and criteria)
Students will:
· Show an understanding of the book by discussing it with their group. (Knowledge)
· Summarize the book in the project that will be created. ( Comprehension)
· Summarize what they have learned by writing in their reading logs. (Comprehension)



3. Assessment & Evaluation (related to language needs and its impact on academic performance)

Initial- The initial evaluation will come when the students are asking the teacher and the teacher is asking the students questions. This will allow the teacher to see who is having a difficult time understanding the lesson.

Informal - The informal assessment will come while the teacher is walking around and listening to the discussions of the group on the book and the project that they are creating.

Formal - The formal assessment will be the projects created by the groups and the reading log.


4. Introduction to Lesson
The teacher will assign the students to work in groups. After all of the students have been put into groups of 4, the teacher will ask one student from each group to come up and select a number without looking from the hat. The number the students pull out will correspond with the books that were on the front table for the main introduction to the lesson. The student will find the book that goes with their number and take it back to their group’s table.
5. Materials
· 10 Bill Peet books
· Pencil, Pens, Makers, Crayons – enough for each group
· Hat
· Reading journal for each student
· Poster board and construction paper
· Glue and tape
· Paper
· List of questions for the overhead

6. Technology Integration
Overhead













7. Teacher Presentation or Facilitation: (includes reviews and practice)
After each group has returned to their group’s table instruct the students to read the book and then to start brainstorming ideas because each group will be presenting their book to the class. There are around thirty pages (not including the pages with just illustrations) in each book. The students will be reading in small groups to one another. Each student will read two or three pages before passing the book to the next student to read. They will continue this pattern until the whole book has been read. The teacher needs to be walking around the entire time in case some students require assistance. After the teacher notices that, the groups have finished reading their books the teacher will get all of the group’s attention and bring them back for a class discussion. If they have not finished reading, their stories let them know that they can finish after the discussion. The teacher will tell the students that they will now be creating a project that they will present to the rest of the class. They need to teach their book to the class. They can create a poster, perform a skit, make puppets of the characters and put on a show, create sketches, discuss favorite parts of book, read from important part of the book, make items that represent things from the story, or anything that they chose to create. They must include something about the problem and the solution that was involved in the story. It should not be a word for word retelling of the story. Ask the class if there are, any questions that they would like to ask. When all questions have been answered tell the students to continue working on either finishing the book or starting the project. While the students work on this, the teacher needs to be walking around and checking on the students that are in need of help or have questions that need clarification. The teacher needs to keep a constant eye on the clock and let the students know when they get to the fifteen, ten, and five-minute mark. The students will be given 25 minutes to complete the project. Ask a group to volunteer to go first if a group does not volunteer take the hat back out and pick a number. The numbers that are taped to the front of book will indicate which group will go first. Continue this way until all of the groups have presented their projects. After all the presentations, the teacher will pass out reading logs to the students. The reading logs will be booklets made out of paper that will include around six separate entry forms for the students to write. The reading logs will be made prior to class. Tell the students that they will be decorating the front cover of their journal but not until the end of the unit so for now they should only be writing inside. Tell the class that they can write about anything that they would like about the lesson today. They can write about the book they read. Did they like or dislike the book and the characters. What sort of problems that arouse and the solutions that resolved the problem. They can write about the presentations. They can write about anything they learned today. Examples of some questions will be displayed on the overhead for the class to see in case they have a hard time thinking of questions to write about. After all of the students have finished writing in their reading logs have one student from each table collect them the journals and the Bill Peet books and put them on the table with the other books. The teacher will respond in the student’s journal.


8. Differentiated Instruction (ESOL - Special Education - Diverse Learners)
The special education students will be paired into groups with more capable students. The teacher will also provide extra help time on an individual basis if it is required.
The ESOL students will be paired into groups with more capable students. The teacher will also provide individual help if it is required. The teacher will provide directions for the student in their first language. If there are students in the classroom that speak the same language they could be paired together for assistance of one another.
The advanced students will be paired with students that might need extra help.
Multiple Intelligences
The Interpersonal students will benefit from the interactions they have with others during the group reading, discussions, and presentation part of the lesson.
The Intrapersonal students will benefit from the reading log.
The Verbal-Linguistic students will benefit from the reading, discussion between group members, and the creation of the project if it contains written sections.
The Bodily-Kinesthetic students will benefit by presenting their projects especially if they are acting the book out.
The Spatial students will benefit from the creation of a project.
Learning Styles
The auditory learners will benefit from hearing the group and class discussion, listening to others read, and the presentations.
The visual students will benefit from watching the presentation and looking at the books illustrations.


Follow-up Reflection (completed after the lesson has been taught)


Content: What should I teach next or reteach?


Students: Who still needs support with this content?

Author Study Intro- Bill Peet

One Man’s Thoughtful Contributions to Our World



Bill Peet

An Author Study
By: Elizabeth Brown







Introduction
I was walking through the children’s section of the library and was trying to think of an author that I knew from childhood that I remembered creating several books. I was just looking at the rows of books when I saw one authors name repeatedly so I picked up one of the books even though the name of the author was not one I remembered. By the time, I picked up the second book I realized I read this author as a child. That author was Bill Peet and I had actually read several of his books. I chose this author because I wanted to reacquaint myself with his works. He was an extremely talented author and illustrator that left the world with wonderful literary treasures. I think that his books would appeal to both the children and the parents reading them to their children. The intended audience for my lesson plan would be a second grade class. I will spend four days on the unit. The times I have included take into account transition times, activities time, and discussion times. The first day the students will spend one hour and fifteen minutes working on the lesson one. The second day the students will spend two hours on the second lesson plan. The third day the class will spend two hours on the lesson number three. The fourth day the students will spend 20 minutes on the unit.

Guiding Questions
What inspires Bill Peet to write the stories he writes?
Why does he create books mainly with animals?

About the Author
Bill Peet was born on January 29, 1915, in Grandview, Indiana. When he was three years old, his family moved from Indiana to Indianapolis. As a child, he found inspiration on his grandfather’s old farm. Animals were all around and he has said that they have always seen them as being special. He dreamed about becoming an illustrator of animal stories at an early age. By the time, he got to high school he was not drawing much anymore but was failing all of his classes but one. On the advice of a friend, he started to take some art classes and did very well in the classes. Bill Peet attended the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis on a scholarship. He was at the Art Institute for three years studying design, drawing, and painting for three years. Upon leaving school, he went to work for Walt Disney as a sketch artist. He married a woman named Margaret that he meet while attending John Herron Art Institute. His sons have said that he relied on her heavily. He used the bedtime stories he told his sons Bill and Steve as story ideas that he passed on to Disney but always did this with illustrations. He became Walt's top writer-illustrator. Bill was the only person working for Disney that ever created the entire storyboard for one of their feature films. Even more remarkable was that he did this for two of them. The Sword in the Stone and One Hundred and One Dalmatians were the two movies that he created entirely but also worked on eight others. Along with the animated feature films, he created five animated shorts and received two awards for his contributions to film. He stayed on at Disney for twenty-seven years but left to write and illustrate his own stories. The first book he wrote was Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure, in the 1959. Bill wrote 35 stories all of which are still in print today with the exception of one. He was the author and illustrator on all of them. He has received thirteen awards one of which was the Caldecott Honor Book in 1990. Bill Peet died May 2002. He was 87 years old.
Websites for further research on Bill Peet.

· Bill Peet. Retrieved on July 4, 2008, from http://billpeet.net/PAGES/index.htm
· Bill Peet. Retrieved on July 5, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Peet
· Bill Peet - Author, Illustrator, Animator. Retrieved on July 4, 2008, from http://library.thinkquest.org/J0111400/index.htm
Introductory Lesson Plan
The teacher will direct the student’s attention towards the front of the classroom. The students will see 10 books by the author Bill Peet. The name of the author will be covered over by paper but the rest of the cover of the book will be visible. The book will also have a number taped to the upper right hand corner. Each book will be numbered starting at one and ending at ten. The students will be told that they are going to be taking a poll to see if they have read any of the displayed books. The teacher will instruct the class that when they hear their table number called that they are to walk along the front of the room and take a good look at each book to see if they have ever read it or seen it before. After all the tables have gone through the line, the teacher will ask the students to participate in the poll. The teacher will ask the students if they think that all of the books are created by the same author or by different authors by raising their hands. The students can vote one time for either one author or multiple authors. The teacher will count the number of hands both times and record the information on the board. The teacher will then ask one of the students that voted for multiple authors why they thought the books were created by various authors and if they have want to share how many authors they think wrote the books. There can be a discussion on why students think one author and why some students think multiple authors wrote the books. The teacher can ask the students that think it is one author who they believe it to be. The teacher will then hold up each book and ask the students that have read the story to raise their hands. Make sure that the students know that it is all right if have never read any of the books before. Record the responses. Then have different students remove the paper covering the names and read the name aloud.

Gallery Walks

A Gallery walk is strategy that works best with grade 3-5 and grades 6-8. The students and the teacher post the work of the class around the room. (walls/desks) The teacher then places a comment card next to each students work. The teacher explains that the student are free to write comments on the cards displayed in front of the works. The teacher will set a certain time frame for this activity. Everyone will not get to see/comment all of the works. The teacher will tell each student to get their card and return to their seat. The class will then have a discussion on the comment cards or answer any questions.