Comprehensive Plan
Comprehensive Plan
I believe that Elementary school is a significant time for students to read and engage in writing as well. I believe that the more that we as humans practice things in our childhood the more that that the particular task becomes second nature to us as we grow older. Literature plays a significant part in an Elementary classroom because it help students engage in many different aspects such as reading skills, comprehension of the material, imagination, other cultures and unique lifestyles as well. In a book, poem or short story anything can happen, the reader can be anywhere and meet whoever they would like to meet and I feel like that imagination aspect is greatly significant. Students can also learn a lot from reading whether it is about history, science, alphabets, numbers, and life lessons or even about other cultures and how other people live. These are all great ideas and knowledge that I would love for my students to engage in.
In my classroom on of the ways that I would use books is to teach academically such as using a historical fiction book to teach history to my class, seeing the history through the eyes of someone in the novel could help the students to better comprehend the culture and what was happening at that particular moment in history. Obviously I will not be able to do this for every single history lesson, but it adds a little spice to the material. As characters in historical fiction books are often made up most of the events and culture are accurate and true to the past, so using literature could be more of an exciting way to engage the students as opposed to only using textbooks and notes. This academic use could hold true to geography lessons, even science lessons and basic learning skills for the younger students.
Of course Literature does not only have to be used for academic use, it can be used for pleasure reading as well, characters in children’s stories can be fun and magical, or easy to relate to as well. Literature can also teach students morals and life lessons. In my classroom I plan to have bookshelves where students can sign out a book to take home with them, and then I would plan to have a reward system in my room where after students read the book they can take a quiz on it and if they pass then they will get a reward such as stickers on a reading poster hung in the room. This idea that I just listed holds very similar to the accelerated reader program that most schools are associated with now. We will also have a weekly story in class and take a short amount of time maybe fifteen or twenty minutes out of three days a week to discuss the story and these stories could be anything from fairy or fantasy to realistic fiction or a poetry reading.
In my Library I would like to incorporate Children’s books in a variety of genres such as fairy tales, fantasy, realistic fiction, rhyming picture books, historical fiction. The type of books that I use will be based on the grade level that I am reading. Every Book will have a number so that I know which is missing and by checking it out I can keep track of who has the book. Other than the Library for the students, I will also hang posters or banners in the classroom that will promote reading as well. All of these ways are little ways to make sure that students are excited about reading, because it if you are excited and make it fun for them then they are more than likely to enjoy it more as well. I have met some parents and teachers that will either make the child write sentences or read as a punishment and I do not agree with this because that punishment can deter children from wanting to read or write and viewing it as enriching instead of something they do when they are in trouble. Also at the end of every day students will have a short free time maybe ten minutes where they can read or just sit and talk, this gives students the opportunity to choose what they would like to do, instead of the decision being forced upon the students.
Engaging parents in what is going on in the classroom is very significant. In an Elementary school there is usually a Friday folder sent home every week with all of the news and assignments for their child. One of the ways that I could use the books that we are reading in the classroom to engage parents is sending home a newsletter every Friday in the folders that states what we are reading for course material in the class, and what we are reading in story time each week along with the days and time that our class holds story time. The parents will also be invited to come to story time if they would like to see what we are doing in the class, this will help engage them more and the children would look forward to it a lot. Another thing that I could send home is notices about the books that their children check out, and if our school participates in accelerated reader how their student is doing in the program, so they maybe they could do some encouraging at home.
Other than checking books out at the school library I would pretty much have to pay for books myself, unless a newsletter is sent out the first day of school asking for book donations. I could also ask family and friends for book donations and buy some at thrift stores, bookstores, yard sales or other shops. Reading is a very important role in the lives of these students and so creating a great library with a variety to choose from is essential. Reading helps children to comprehend and to improve their language skills while learning things from the books as well. If it is one gift that I would like to give it is the gift of reading, because that will stick with these students each and every day of their lives.
I believe that Elementary school is a significant time for students to read and engage in writing as well. I believe that the more that we as humans practice things in our childhood the more that that the particular task becomes second nature to us as we grow older. Literature plays a significant part in an Elementary classroom because it help students engage in many different aspects such as reading skills, comprehension of the material, imagination, other cultures and unique lifestyles as well. In a book, poem or short story anything can happen, the reader can be anywhere and meet whoever they would like to meet and I feel like that imagination aspect is greatly significant. Students can also learn a lot from reading whether it is about history, science, alphabets, numbers, and life lessons or even about other cultures and how other people live. These are all great ideas and knowledge that I would love for my students to engage in.
In my classroom on of the ways that I would use books is to teach academically such as using a historical fiction book to teach history to my class, seeing the history through the eyes of someone in the novel could help the students to better comprehend the culture and what was happening at that particular moment in history. Obviously I will not be able to do this for every single history lesson, but it adds a little spice to the material. As characters in historical fiction books are often made up most of the events and culture are accurate and true to the past, so using literature could be more of an exciting way to engage the students as opposed to only using textbooks and notes. This academic use could hold true to geography lessons, even science lessons and basic learning skills for the younger students.
Of course Literature does not only have to be used for academic use, it can be used for pleasure reading as well, characters in children’s stories can be fun and magical, or easy to relate to as well. Literature can also teach students morals and life lessons. In my classroom I plan to have bookshelves where students can sign out a book to take home with them, and then I would plan to have a reward system in my room where after students read the book they can take a quiz on it and if they pass then they will get a reward such as stickers on a reading poster hung in the room. This idea that I just listed holds very similar to the accelerated reader program that most schools are associated with now. We will also have a weekly story in class and take a short amount of time maybe fifteen or twenty minutes out of three days a week to discuss the story and these stories could be anything from fairy or fantasy to realistic fiction or a poetry reading.
In my Library I would like to incorporate Children’s books in a variety of genres such as fairy tales, fantasy, realistic fiction, rhyming picture books, historical fiction. The type of books that I use will be based on the grade level that I am reading. Every Book will have a number so that I know which is missing and by checking it out I can keep track of who has the book. Other than the Library for the students, I will also hang posters or banners in the classroom that will promote reading as well. All of these ways are little ways to make sure that students are excited about reading, because it if you are excited and make it fun for them then they are more than likely to enjoy it more as well. I have met some parents and teachers that will either make the child write sentences or read as a punishment and I do not agree with this because that punishment can deter children from wanting to read or write and viewing it as enriching instead of something they do when they are in trouble. Also at the end of every day students will have a short free time maybe ten minutes where they can read or just sit and talk, this gives students the opportunity to choose what they would like to do, instead of the decision being forced upon the students.
Engaging parents in what is going on in the classroom is very significant. In an Elementary school there is usually a Friday folder sent home every week with all of the news and assignments for their child. One of the ways that I could use the books that we are reading in the classroom to engage parents is sending home a newsletter every Friday in the folders that states what we are reading for course material in the class, and what we are reading in story time each week along with the days and time that our class holds story time. The parents will also be invited to come to story time if they would like to see what we are doing in the class, this will help engage them more and the children would look forward to it a lot. Another thing that I could send home is notices about the books that their children check out, and if our school participates in accelerated reader how their student is doing in the program, so they maybe they could do some encouraging at home.
Other than checking books out at the school library I would pretty much have to pay for books myself, unless a newsletter is sent out the first day of school asking for book donations. I could also ask family and friends for book donations and buy some at thrift stores, bookstores, yard sales or other shops. Reading is a very important role in the lives of these students and so creating a great library with a variety to choose from is essential. Reading helps children to comprehend and to improve their language skills while learning things from the books as well. If it is one gift that I would like to give it is the gift of reading, because that will stick with these students each and every day of their lives.