8-12 English and Language Arts: 2011

Reading Response Log

These books all have something to do with teaching parts of speech. These books are written by Ruth Heller except for one.

Title: Mine, All Mine: A Book About Pronouns

Author: Ruth Heller

Illustrator: Ruth Heller

Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap

Copyright: 1997 by The Ruth Heller Trust

ISBN#: 0-448-4106-9

Genre: Youth Non-Fiction

Library Location: J428.2 HeM

Summary: This book gives the rules and uses of pronouns as well as giving a list of most if not all pronouns.

Personal Comments: This book is amazing for teaching the different pronouns, types of pronouns, and when and why we use them. The first page explains the definition of a pronoun and why we use them as opposed to constantly using proper nouns. The book explains that the best way to find out which pronoun to use, you should rearrange the sentence and try your options and see which one sounds like it belongs. It explains personal possessive pronouns and even explains the politically correct way of saying “his or hers” instead of the previously used “his.” I like how it uses pictures to explain demonstrative pronouns “these are close, those are far.” It explains indefinite pronouns as well as reflexive and intensive reflexive pronouns. One part I really liked was when explaining interrogative pronouns it also explained when to use which one. I also liked that at the back of the book there was a list of all the pronouns all categorized for quick reference. Also, throughout the book every time a pronoun was written it was highlighted in blue font.

Suggested Use in Classroom: Even though this book was written for children, I still plan to use this in my secondary classes. This book is a great way to explain everything a person needs to know about pronouns. I would probably make a list of vocabulary words of the different types of pronouns as handouts to the students and go through the book on a document camera.

Title: Behind the Mask: A Book About Prepositions

Author: Ruth Heller

Illustrator: Ruth Heller

Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap

Copyright: 1995 by Ruth Heller

ISBN#: 0-448-41123-7

Genre: Youth Non-Fiction

Library Location: J428.2 He

Summary: This book perfectly defines what a preposition is and the rules for using them. It also explains how to determine which preposition to use when.

Personal Comments: This book does a great job of defining what a preposition is and uses them in sentences and describes what is happening in those pictures using prepositions. The book explains that prepositions never stand alone in a sentence; rather, they should always be in phrases. The book then shows all the prepositions written on a chalkboard to give the reader an idea of what is being discussed throughout the book. It also explains that if a preposition in not in a phrase that it is more than likely an adverb. It explains the rules for using prepositions, such as not ending a sentence with one, saying “different from” instead of “different than,” and when to use “among” and “between” and “in” and “into” and “at and “with.” It also tells the reader what phrasal prepositions are like “in front of” or “in back of.” I also liked that at the end of the book was a list of all the prepositions for quick reference and throughout the book, all the prepositions were in blue font.

Suggested Use in Classroom: I would use this in a secondary classroom in a preposition lecture. I remember learning about prepositions in 8^th grade so this book would work for that. Even though the book is geared towards younger children, the pictures are appealing to any grade level and the text isn’t at so low a level that 8^th graders would feel insulted. I would probably read the book using a document camera.

Title: Up, Up and Away: A Book About Adverbs

Author: Ruth Heller

Illustrator: Ruth Heller

Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap

Copyright: 1991 by The Ruth Heller Trust

ISBN#: 0-448-40249-1

Genre: Youth Non-Fiction

Library Location: J422 HeU

Summary: This book explains the definitions and rules for using adverbs.

Personal Comments: This book explains that adverbs answer the questions, how, why, how often, when, where and to what extent. Where is always answered before when as in “this ship will sail away today. The book explains the rules for making an adverb, such as adding –ly, -ward, or –wise to a word. The best part was the explanation for using more, most, less or least. Irregular adverbs are explained, such as badly, worse and worst. Comparative and superlative forms are also explained.

Suggested Use in Classroom: I would use this in a secondary classroom to teach or better explain adverbs. The rules in the book about when to use more and least would help every student to write better. I know many adults who don’t use those correctly. This book would definitely improve a student’s writing and would be an interesting way to learn about adverbs. I would probably read the book to the class using the document camera and would have students take notes over what we read.

Title: Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives

Author: Ruth Heller

Illustrator: Ruth Heller

Publisher: The Putnam and Grosset Group

Copyright: 1989 by Ruth Heller

ISBN#: 0-698-11641-0

Genre: Youth Non-Fiction

Library Location: I couldn’t find the location on it. It looked like the sticker had been ripped off of it.

Summary: This book is all about adjectives. It gives the basic definition of an adjective and then goes on to explain the different types of adjectives and how to use them.

Personal Comments:

Suggested Use in Classroom: I would use this in a secondary classroom to gain a better understanding of adjectives. I would use this as a tool to improve their writing. I would read through the book using a document camera and have students take notes over the different types of adjectives and ask students how they plan to incorporate what they learned in their own writing.

Title: Antonyms, Synonyms and Homonyms

Author: Kim Rayevsky

Illustrator: Robert Rayevsky

Publisher: Holiday House

Copyright: 2006 by Kim and Robert Rayevsky

ISBN#: 0-8234-1889-8

Genre: Youth Non-Fiction

Library Location: J428.1 Ra

Summary: This book gives the definitions for each of the parts of speech in the title and uses pictures and single words to illustrate the term.

Personal Comments: I definitely prefer the Ruth Heller books over this one but there were only four at the library I went to. This book is great for younger kinds but doesn’t have all the information the Ruth Heller books have. This book does have good definitions of the parts of speech but doesn’t explain anything beyond that. After the definition there are only pictures illustrating the terms and words associated with the terms

Suggested Use in Classroom: I actually probably wouldn’t use this in a secondary classroom, it is a little lower level than I think a secondary student would find interesting. This would be great though for a lower level learning student who isn’t grasping the concepts of these parts of speech. For that situation I would probably sit down one on one (if possible) and discuss the book with the student as we read through it.

Web Evaluations

Amanda Shaver, 8-12 English Language Arts

1) Name of Website

Texas Education Agency

2) Website Address

http://www.tea.state.tx.us

3) Copyright date and/or last update

4) Author/organization credentials

Compiled and updated by a staff.

5) Website design and ease of navigation

Very easy to navigate even though there is a lot of information. The main categories are listed on the left side of the screen and you can easily navigate from there.

6) Your response and recommendation for use (note intended audience)

The intended audience for this website is teachers and people who are seeking information about becoming a teacher or information about the requirements as far as the curriculum teachers need to teach. The most important reason we would need to access this website is to gain access to the TEKS.

1) Name of Web Site:

National Council for Teachers of English

2) Web Site Address:

http://www.ncte.org

3) Copyright date and/or last update:

4) Author/organization credentials:

Compiled and updated by a staff

5) Web site design and ease of navigation

This website is easy to navigate.

6) Your response and recommendation for use (note intended audience)

This is intended for teachers of English as a way to find and gather information.

1) Name of Web Site:

State Board for Educator Certification

2) Web Site Address:

http://www.sbec.state.tx.us

3) Copyright date and/or last update:

4) Author/organization credentials:

Texas Education Agency

5) Web site design and ease of navigation

Easy to navigate and clearly designed.

1) Name of Web Site:

International Reading Association

2) Web Site Address:

http://www.reading.org

3) Copyright date and/or last update:

4) Author/organization credentials:

Literacy Professionals

1) Name of Web Site:

Texas Council for Teachers of English

2) Web Site Address:

http://www.tcte.org

8-12 English and Language Arts

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

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