"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. " Dr. Seuss
My name is Kayla Caruso.
My students know me as Miss Kayla. This is my fourth year teaching fourth grade, and I love every minute! I became a teacher to inspire my students. BUT...as it turns out, my students inspire me. My kiddos are hardworking country kids! They love to spend their free time hunting and working on their farm. They also love to take a break from the farm life and indulge themselves in a good book.
My kiddos are loving, creative, enthusiastic, loyal, eager, joyous, avid readers, full of questions...the list goes on and on...
Many students do not have access to books at home, and the only way to read a great book is bringing one home from school! I would love to buy books for my classroom to see the joy on my students' faces.
I would love to implement more literature in my classroom by using the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. By doing book studies, students are able to learn many reading, language, and writing standards.
"This charming book is about a china rabbit named Edward Tulane.
The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who treated him with the utmost care and adored him completely. And then, one day, he was lost. Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the top of a garbage heap to the fireside of a hoboes' camp, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. And along the way, we are shown a true miracle -- that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again."
Benefits of Book Studies:
•Vocabulary work
•Critical thinking
•Figurative language
•Offer observations, make connections, react, speculate, interpret, and raise questions in response to text
•Identify and discuss book themes, characters, plots, and settings
•Connect their experiences with those of the author and/or with characters from the books
•Support predictions, interpretations, conclusions, etc. with examples from text
Practice key reading skills and strategies (cause-and-effect, problem/solution, compare-and-contrast, summarizing, etc.)
•Monitor their own comprehension
•Extension activities
