Censorship

I remember when Harry Potter had just been published. After everyone was starting to get into the book, parents starting getting upset because of what was in the books. Only a couple of my friends were reading Harry Potter the rest of my friends really did not read the book. I don't think there is anything wrong with the Harry Potter, but you do have to tell children the books are fiction and are not real. A few years ago my little cousin wanted to start reading Harry Potter after watching the movie; my aunt was cautious because she had asked her once before if Hogwarts was a real place. Many kids think the unbelievable is real, but you just have to explain to them that it's fiction and it's just a story. I remember as a child I thought Rainbow Brite and Care Bears were real, so Harry Potter would be along the same lines. I have not actually read all the books, but from what I have read they are fun, interesting, and well written books. I would love for my students to pick up a love of books through these books. But you do have to be careful of what parents think; even if you think it's alright and agree with the books, their parents may have a different view.

Ronald
Conservative, actor, politician, and head-strong.
Husband of Nancy Davis.
Who loved Hollywood, politics, and family.
Who felt unchanged, loved, and accomplished.
Who needed change, the support of his wife, and the American people.
Who gave his heart, his mind, and his soul.
Who feared middle eastern affairs, communism, and Alzheimer's.
Who shared his idea of "Reaganomics".
Who was the fortieth president.
Who was a resident of California.
Reagan

Because of Winn Dixie

Winn Dixie

I have been called scruffy, scrawny, and scraggly.
I made bag boys hate me.
I found my best friend India Opal, in a super market.
I am scared of thunder storms.
I snore when I sleep.
I smile at everyone I meet.
I love peanut butter.
I like to go to church.
I can catch mice without squishing them.
I hate being left alone.
I sit on couches and sleep in beds.
I am a good friend.
I brought Opal and the preacher closer together.
I am Winn Dixie.

Found Poems

The Thief Lord

Children are like caterpillars,
while adults are butterflies.

No butterfly ever remembers
what it felt like being a caterpillar.

But does that make an adult more beautiful,
Or does that mean adults are the result of their childhood?

Do you ever wish you were grown-up?
Just skip ahead and forget all that's in between.

Scipio had the stature of a child,
but could express himself like an adult.

He liked to act grown up,
even if he wasn't the oldest or the tallest.

Wouldn't it be easier to be teased by your teachers,
than acting grown-up when you're only twelve?

Would you ride the merry-go-round?
If it changed your life, took you where you want to go?

It makes adults out of children and children out of adults.
It can take you back or move you forward.

Prosper wanted to go back, to get back what was stolen from him.
But now he found playing with all this quite boring.

Scipio wanted to be grown-up.
How different dreams could be.

He wished that out there, on that island, there really was something
that could turn the small and weak into the big and strong.

Peter Pan was a boy, who was a boy forever.
Someone adults could push around and laugh at.

But what do adults do all day?
Work, eat, shop, pay bills, use the phone,

read newspapers, drink coffee, sleep...
Not all that exciting.

So which way is really better?
Growing up or going back to childhood?

You wouldn't want to miss everything in between,
but you wouldn't want to re-do your whole childhood again.

I don't think I would go back or forward.
Life's about the journey, not the destination.

A Good Book

What I consider a good book is a book that has interest, developing characters, a problem and solution, and that lovable quality. A good book can draw readers in and keep them interested. I've read so many books that you start reading and you just can't put it down because it's just so great. A good book has a problem and solution within it's text. If the book doesn't have a problem, the books plot can't go up or down. It's like your just coasting along. With a problem, the plot builds. Within a good book, it has developing characters; characters that learn from mistakes or grow a person.

The book I chose to check out the other day for class was The Devil's Arithmetic. I would consider this a good book because it draws interest because the main character is a girl about the same age of the readers and they can relate to her. The book keeps the readers interest by increasing suspense. Throughout the book, the main character learns new things about her relatives she didn't know before and changes her opinions about her boring family gatherings. She learns that you have to get to know about the past to actually appreciate the future.

Reading as a child...

I can't remember learning to read, but I do know I learned to read and write before pre-school. My mom and grandma taught me how to read and write. I was a smart child and loved learning. My grandma was an assistant teacher and my mom was a secretary at the elementary school I attended. I loved to read and couldn't get enough books. By first grade I had reached a sixth grade reading level. Although I was a head in my class, that didn't stop me from finding more books to read. I read anything and everything. Reading came natural to me. I loved Shel Silverstein books and the Judy Blume books. They were my favorite authors and read almost every book that came out with. I remember in k-1 we had reading day and would bring our favorite books and pillows and read all day. The whole school did it, but it stopped when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. In kindergarten we also had partners with 5th graders; we would read to them and they would take turns reading to us. But again by the time I was in 5th grade they had stopped partner reading with the kindergarten students. Our school was still focused on reading, but it was busy work reading, book reports after book reports. School had made reading a hassle instead of showing children reading was fun and enjoyable. By 5th or 6th grade books began to bore me and I didn't read for fun any more. I guess it was because of all the books the school had picked out for the curriculum, they just didn't interest me and they weren't a challenge. I did pick reading for fun back up in 11th grade, but that was five years wasted. I want to change that for my students, I want to make reading fun again. Reading isn't just for education and book reports, it's to show children a different world, a different culture, a different way of thinking, or a different time period. Books to help educate children, but they do more, they spark their imagination. I want to show children that reading is fun, enjoyable, while educating them in the meantime.