Educational Blogging

 Educational Blogging is a great form of communication for teachers, students, and community members. In an educational blog teachers can post tips and tricks, research findings, pros and cons of activities, etc.. People can research specific educational topics and receive information and opinions on each topic form other educated individuals. Students using educational blogs can receive classroom information but also share feedback on the classroom activities. Parents can do the same by learning what is happening within a child's classroom or within the school's community. 

I had the opportunity to read a few blogs that my peers from my ETEC 386 class. The first one I read was

Group of diverse children waving.

by Marisa Chapman about standardized testing in elementary schools. I chose to read this blog because I have strong opinions on the topic. Marisa seemed to have the same feelings on testing that I do. Testing can be helpful if teachers are not only trying to "teach the test", which is a common problem of how intelligent a child is, a I completely agree with her! I also read Saylor Johnson's blog about classroom rules but also allowing the children to create rules. I think that this is so important because children, especially elementary age, need to feel like they have some sort of control over their day. She also mentioned that when children know what is expected of them, there is a better chance of them the exact expectation if they have created the rule. Finally, I read a blog on special education by Alyssa Corb. I also have a background with working with individuals with special needs. She mentioned that there is a certain stigmatism for special education. I know this to be true and I think that it is great that she mentioned it in her blog. It is good for people who do not have experience with individuals with disabilities to know that they are extremely capable and do not need "special schools". I really enjoyed reading my peers blogs to see what interests them! 

Overall, I think that I will continue to blog once I become a teacher. I might use my blog to communicate with parents, teachers, students, and community members. I think it is a great way to learn and share information on topics that you feel strongly about. Personally, I chose to talk about children's book and what I love about early literacy. I enjoyed being share my opinions with my classmates! 

A Few Favorites

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Miss B's Books! Throughout my past few semesters at UTK I have been trying to find my favorite children's books to add to my future classroom library. I would love to share my favorites!

Cover of The Couch Potato Book

Let's start off with one of my favorite stories that I have bought to add to my future classroom library! This was the first book that started my collection. It is called The Couch Potato by Jory John and Pete Oswald. This duo of authors has created a series of children's books called The Bad Seed based off different food groups. These books are great for ages PreK-3rd! The Couch Potato book specifically is about a potato whose power goes out and is forced to get off his couch and adventure into the outdoors! The other books in the series are just as good. Next up is, The Smart Cookie, this book is about a cookie who is feeling less than about levels of intelligence, however the cookie shown throughout the story that there are other ways to measure intelligence rather than just test scores! Finally, the last one that I want to mention from this series is The Good Egg. This story is great for any with children who are struggling with their manners, behavior issues, managing emotions, etc. This series has a few more books in it, but everyone that I have read has been spectacular, so I high recommend you take a look at these and maybe add them to your at home or classroom library!

I have one more series that I would love to recommend to you! The classic, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff! This is a great series to add to your library for entertainment and educational purposes recommended for PreK-K. Of course, the first If you Give a Mouse a Cookie book is still around, however, there are plenty of books that have been added to the series. For example, one of my favorites is If you Give a Dog a Donut. This book is a great representation of how you can spend your time filling an afternoon with fun activities! Another one that I love is If you Give a Pig a Pancake, this book is a great representation of cause-and-effect, like many of these books are! 

There are so many more series that I would love to recommend to you, so come back for some of my favorites, least favorites, and everything in between! 

How Children's Lit can Affect Development

When you think of children's literature do you think about boring bedtime stories? That used to be the only thing that came to my mind when I thought about children's books. However, I have learned the importance of children's literature and how it can affect the development of a child. Children who are introduced to literature at a young age have shown to have better cognitive and language development. One of the best ways to introduce your baby to literature is by reading to them aloud. During a read aloud a child can gain vocabulary, recognize the correct use of words and phrases, learn problem-solving skills, boosts memory, etc.. So, if you are a parent, grandparent, teacher, babysitter, or a supportive friend of someone with a young child, encourage reading aloud to the child for these reasons plus so many more! 

A group of three diverse children reading. 

What you chose to read to your child has a huge impact on how they develop socially as well. Books are a great form of entertainment for your children; however, they are also a great way to introduce your child to the diversity among society! 
I learned in one of my reading education courses at UTK that if a child is being offered books about all types of individuals within the population, there could be less confusion as they age into the real-world. For example, some my favorite children's books series have characters in them who look like every child/ person you could encounter in the world! I have heard stories from adults who felt isolated as a child because they were never offered books with characters that looked like them, so introducing books that have diverse characters also increases the chance of seeing characters that look like you or your child! I personally have a special place in my heart for those with disabilities, and think it is so important to have books in my at home library as well as my classroom library that includes those who have disabilities! I would love to share some examples of books that you could introduce to your children that would show how important and easy it is include those with disabilities! 

Some books I recommend adding to your at home library or classroom library that involve inclusion are: 

"Yes I Can! A Girl and her Wheelchair." by Kendra Barrett, "Awesomely Emma" by Amy Webb, "Lucas at the Paralympics" by Igor Plohl, and " A Sky-Blue Bench" by Bahram Rahman. These are just a few books that I love, and think would be great to read to a preK-3 grade child to incorporate the idea of inclusion into their life. 

Introducing Children's Literature

 The main goals of children's literature are inform, persuade, entertain, or describe things to the younger population. However, children's literature is great to read at all ages! Faculty from the University of South Florida believe that children's literature is often defined as, "a collection of books written for children, read by children, and/or written about children." These books are designed to keep children entertained and intrigued throughout the entirety of the story. Some might say that children's books are pointless stories based off of a specific reading level, but others might say that about some adult books as well! 

Two children reading a book together. 

Over the course of this blog, my beliefs and opinions on children's literature, book genres, and diversity within story topics will be discussed. Most of my opinions have been formed overtime by reading hundreds of books to the children I nanny (ages 1-7) and the educational courses that I have taken over time at the University of Tennessee. Although I am not an avid reader as an adult, I have found such a love for children's literature and the impact it has on young children. Watching a child's language development and reading skills blossom overtime is an extremely sweet thing. Reading skills will develop differently for each child, so being able to provide the attention and resources that are needed for the individual learner is important. I hope that I can provide resources and materials that allow growth. In this blog, I would also like to provide ways to encourage the younger population to continue reading as they age. I truly believe that if I had been encouraged by my parents and educators as a child, I would enjoy reading as an adult so much more. There are so many types of stories that I want to discuss throughout this blog. Overtime, I hope that you can find the best books to add to your at home and/or classroom libraries!