October 14th, 21st & 28th

Four Perfect Pebbles:

Chapters 5: So I decided to finish this book because not only is it such an easy read but I was really interested to see  what was going to happen. In chapter 5, the family experiences a huge disappointment when their name is not called for exchange.  Having to swallow the fact that you were stuck in this place is something that seems so horrific.  They also talk a lot about the showers in the camp.  I feel as if I can really picture this because I have seen these showers when I visited a concentration camp.  To be very unsure whether the showers are actually showers with water or showers with gas that will eventually kill would be such a nervous and scared feeling.


Chapter 6: This chapter consists of mainly being on the train. While reading through this chapter, I don't know if I would have been able to survive in that train for as long as they did.  Having to go to the bathroom in the same room with also drinking and eating in the same small boxcars seems so disturbing to me.  Also throughout this chapter it was interesting to learn about typhus and how many people it took.  Marion was also very lucky to have his leg still apart of him and that it didn't get too infected to where the pain was unbearable. 


Chapter 7: In this chapter, the family was off the train and now in a farmhouse.  This is where Marions leg was checked out at the Russian Army field hospital.  They were able to put stuff on the burn and help the skin heal. A lot happened in this chapter with the end of Typhus, shaving heads, and the death of Papa.  Coming so far and not being able to reach the freedom of America was heartbreaking.  He stayed so strong and got so far, it was awful to see that he couldn't have lasted a little longer.  Also in this chapter, Albert loses his knapsack that he had all throughout their journey.  After having it for so long and having only your last few valuables in it would have been a hard thing to lose but Albert was just happy he got on the truck.  

Chapter 8: Finally they arrived in Holland.  They talk a lot about the "little things" in this chapter. For an example, chewing gum.  This was such a huge deal to them and it really is the little things that people take for granted that a lot of people never had.  Eventually the family was moved to an eight-story building in Amsterdam.  Marion has the surgery to fix her leg and was soon able to function normally.  After all this happened, they were finally able to travel to New York.  With their money still on record from when they paid it in 1938, the Bluementhals were finally on their way.  After a ten day voyage, they finally arrived in New York.  At the end of this chapter, they describe the sight of the Statue of Liberty and how this was such an extraordinary sight. 


Chapter 9: This chapter starts out by describing the sight of New York city and all the tall buildings, the noisy streets, and the screeching subways.  Immediately, Marion found a friend, Helga, who was her cousin.  This chapter, they also talk about the fascination of bubble gum.  The family was eventually moved to Illinois where they all found a job and began to take lessons in English.  Throughout the end of this chapter, the family talks about the adjustments that they had to make. Finding a job and eating certain foods were two things that the family really had to adjust too. Marion gained a ton of weight from eating certain foods.  At the very end of this chapter, it ends with Marion meeting a young boy at the end of their church service.  


Epilogue: In 1953, Marion graduated from high school.  In August of 1953, Nathan convinced Marion and her parents that they should get married.  Their first child was born in 1955, the second in 1957, and their third child in 1960.  They also now have eight grandchildren.  The rest of the book continues on about what Marion had done in the rest of her life through speeches to what Albert is doing now.



To Understand:

Chapter 5: 

Semantic System: Encompasses all we know and are able to do with respect to understanding word meanings, from the most basic knowledge of a word's definition to the subtle ways writers precisely choose the best word for a particular context to all the associations, feelings, and memories we have surrounding a word or phrase.

Schematic System: A set of cognitive processes that are at work when our heart quickens while reading a compellingly written passage. It is the system that leaves us with indelible memories of books from our childhood and allows us to remember when we first went beyond the literal meanings of words to speculate about the unwritten message.
Pragmatic System: Involved enhancing our understanding through multiple experiences with ideas from text.  it can be as simple as rereading portions of the text or as involved as writing about text.



Chapter 6: 
What makes text truly readable.
1. schema for text content and author
2. schema for text format, print style, layout, density, illustrations, and graphs
3. comprehension strategy to help them extract more meaning from both narrative and expository text
4. prereading experiences such as read-aloud and/or discussion about the text content or format
5. need or desire to comprehend
6. history or passion for reading
variety in genres, authors, themes, and levels of text
1. children need to read in a variety of genres
2. need to read text that challenges them in different ways, in both surface and deep structure learning
3. can ensure variety by keeping track of their choices
Teachers should provide explicit instruction to guide children in their book selections throughout the year
1. high quality text
2.gradually assume responsibility for selecting appropriate text
3. text sets help children make important connections between authors, themes, and genres
4. modeling is critical
5. children need to field test

Chapter 7:
Narrative Text Structures: Readers of narrative texts use their knowledge of these text elements to predict, not only what will occur next in the story, but to predict what kinds of events and actions are apt to occur at any particular stage in the story.
Expository Text Structures:   Teaching children to identify and predict using the infrastructure of expository text when they're reading, and we provide few experiences in applying their knowledge of expository text structures in writing.  Expository text structures change frequently. Some change every paragraph in order to address the content appropriately. 

October 7th

Four Perfect Pebbles:

Chapter 4: (Chapter 3 is on the post below) Throughout this chapter, the family describes their time in Holland and how great it was.  This is a very informational chapter that has a lot of history in it.  I liked reading this chapter however because it seemed to give the family hope until the end of the chapter.  I also really liked the pictures that were added into this book. It allows you to see what these characters look like and see some of the things they kept in their knapsack.  



To Understand:

Chapter 4: I still do not enjoy this book. It seems that there is so much information but it really confuses me. I guess that is why my blogs on this book have been extremely short.  I don't like how the sentence stops on a page and then you have to flip two pages to finish the sentence because the figures/tables are in the way. However, I do like how this chapter starts out with a poem. I think that's a great way to start out the story.  In this story there are a lot of personal stories and mentors. 

September 30th

Four Perfect Pebbles:

Chapter 2&3: I wrote chapters 2 & 3 together because they were both very short chapters.  Throughout reading this book, it is very easy to imagine what the author is writing about.  I also like throughout these 2 chapters that they have the pictures so you can see what these people looked like and you can somewhat get an idea of their living. Throughout chapter 2, I get somewhat confused because it seems that such a long period of time is summed up in 2 paragraphs.  But as we talked about last class, every day was just the same as the day before. At the end of chapter 3, it described the family leaving home and traveling to Holland.  The way this section is described seems so outrageous to me.  The specific things that they were not allowed to bring with them and that everything else was just taken right out of their hands is something that would be very difficult.  Besides taking the 4 blankets and a few other items with them and then having the 3 household containers sent to them, in my life today that would seem impossible.  I would have a hard time parting with a lot of my things.  I would be nervous if I were them to not receive those 3 containers.

To Understand:

Chapter 3: This chapter had a TON of information throughout the figures.  On page 49, the story about Kevin, the kindergartner in a very low income school was a real great story.  I think it is a great example of how some of our students are in our own classrooms.  I also liked reading about the different sessions throughout the figures (crafting, composing).  I would like to talk about these in class though to compare and contrast the two sessions.

September 23rd

Four Perfect Pebbles:

Chapter 1: After talking about this book a little during class, I was very interested to go home and start reading it.  So far I have realized how easy of a read this book is.  I was stressed out in the beginning of class with all of the books I have to read between both of my classes but this was such a relief. Several years ago I traveled to Austria with a group of students in an Ambassador  program and we got to visit a Concentration Camp there.  Being very young and it being over 8 years ago, a lot of the details are hard for me to remember but this book is helping me remember the feeling I had while I was there.  It was a very empty feeling and a very dark place.  Reading this chapter and previously visiting a camp, helped me put a picture with the book when the character was talking about the fences and the wood with holes that they used as toilets.  I am very interested to read the rest of the book and to find out if she does find the fourth pebble. 

To Understand:

Chapter 2:  In this chapter, the author talks about three models that she has created to help her students and colleagues: Dimensions and Outcomes of Understanding, What's Essential for Literacy Learning, and Literacy Studio.  This chapter had a lot of tables in it where it somewhat confused me so I am interested to talk about it in class tonight.

September 16th

To Understand: Foreword, Prelude & Chapter 1

Foreword: Throughout these few pages, Debbie Miller talks about a women named Ellin, the author, and the idea of this book.  To Understand challenges us to think beyond comprehension strategies; it invites us to ask what these strategies are for.  

Prelude: This section is about the author and how she eventually wrote this book. She describes her reactions with her friend, Tom Newkirk and how he compared her writing this book to the super bowl. "You're talking about writing a book, not winning the Super Bowl!" (Page xvi).  Finally in 2007, Ellin & Susan Zimmermann dug back in and created the second edition of Mosaic of Thought.

Chapter 1: This chapter starts out by Ellin attending a second grade classroom to observe the types of programs that school uses and to also observe the books the kids were reading.  Ellin first starts out by talking to a student named Jamika.  She asks her a few questions about the book shes reading and Jamika comes back with a firecracker response and continues on asking why does everyone always ask "does the book make sense?".  Ellin continues on to the next student but can't get Jamika's question out of her head.  Throughout the next few days, Ellin started thinking that if the students understand what it means to comprehend or to "make sense".  She decided that a new definition for comprehension needed to be made, a definition more worthy of our children intellectual potential.  Ellin attended several different classrooms of different ages and ability level and read aloud and invited these students to use the comprehension strategies and to define and describe what they understood after using the strategies.  The students exceeded her expectations.  Ellin then goes on doing other observations and working with teachers to decide what it really means to understand.  

So far, I enjoy reading this book.  It has really made me think what it means to understand.  We always ask our students to describe what they read, retell it, or answer questions and sometimes the students really don't understand what they are reading and whether or not it truly does make sense.  I am interested to see what she concludes about what it means to understand and how we can work with our students to make sure they know what "understand" really means.