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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 13:52:55 -0400
Aha, Alice in Wonderland! As some here know, I can never resist a chance to plug it. So here goes. I was delighted to read that it was Joyce's favorite and wonder further if it was a favorite of her mother's as well. I think it is an absolutely fabulous read aloud, but would suspect it only works for me because I do love it so. I first fell in love with it when my father read it aloud to me when I was seven or so. I then read it over and over on my own. As soon as I became a teacher I began reading it aloud to my classes. By now I've probably done so, goodness, maybe twenty-five times or so? Carroll meant it for children, and my 4th graders adore it. The language is just delightful; it is witty, funny, clever, and more. I do read from the annotated edition and do read bits of the original poems he is parodying and otherwise provide context as necessary. But I sort of try to slip that in and keep the overall focus on Alice and her adventures. I'm also (as some here know) pretty nuts about the illustrators of Alice and so each student follows along as I read in a different illustrated edition.
My Alice read aloud is different from others as it is the heart of a literature study. I read aloud all day long in a variety of ways. There is my end of day read aloud when I sit in my special chair and the kids sprawl on the rug with the light off. (They grumble if I ever suggest turning it on if the book I'm reading has illustrations worth sharing.) The books I read then are novels. Last year the highlight was The Tale of Despereaux. I usually start the year with Barbara Robinson's The Best/Worst School Year Ever. Then usually somewhere I read Polly Horvath's The Trolls. This year I'm going to substitute Polly's forthcoming The Pepins and their Problems (which, by the way, reminded me of another childhood favorite of mine: The Peterkin Papers). Gary Paulsen's Harris and Me tends to be another that works really well. And Chris Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham 63. I know there are a bunch more on my read aloud shelf at school, but these are some solid hits I can count on year after year for this age group.
During our morning meeting I often read picture books, just for fun. I can't wait to read aloud Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's forthcoming Science Verse. At other points in the day I read aloud books that are related to content we are studying. For example, I begin our study of forced immigration (from Africa) with the picture book, The Village that Vanished. Other tough stuff (e.g. The Kidnapped Prince, an adaptation of Olaudah Equiano's autobiography) I read aloud so we can discuss the really really hard stuff together. (I don't want my kids to be on their own discovering the horrors of slavery.) On Fridays we have Literary Salon at the end of the day. Most of the time I have the kids do prepared readings from their own independent reading books, of poetry, readers' theater, and such, but sometimes I do a special read aloud then too. One of my favorites is doing Chris Raschka's jazz books and with the appropriate music.
Sigh. Can you tell this teacher likes to read aloud?
Monica
PS Oddly enough the only teacher I can recall reading aloud to me was my ancient (in my memory) 6th grade teacher. We sat in old?shioned desks in rows and daily listened to her --- I never was a horse fanatic (like ever other girl I knew back then), but my goodness did I adore her reading of Born to Trot.
HANSNELS at aol.com writes:
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Mon 09 Aug 2004 12:52:55 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 13:52:55 -0400
Aha, Alice in Wonderland! As some here know, I can never resist a chance to plug it. So here goes. I was delighted to read that it was Joyce's favorite and wonder further if it was a favorite of her mother's as well. I think it is an absolutely fabulous read aloud, but would suspect it only works for me because I do love it so. I first fell in love with it when my father read it aloud to me when I was seven or so. I then read it over and over on my own. As soon as I became a teacher I began reading it aloud to my classes. By now I've probably done so, goodness, maybe twenty-five times or so? Carroll meant it for children, and my 4th graders adore it. The language is just delightful; it is witty, funny, clever, and more. I do read from the annotated edition and do read bits of the original poems he is parodying and otherwise provide context as necessary. But I sort of try to slip that in and keep the overall focus on Alice and her adventures. I'm also (as some here know) pretty nuts about the illustrators of Alice and so each student follows along as I read in a different illustrated edition.
My Alice read aloud is different from others as it is the heart of a literature study. I read aloud all day long in a variety of ways. There is my end of day read aloud when I sit in my special chair and the kids sprawl on the rug with the light off. (They grumble if I ever suggest turning it on if the book I'm reading has illustrations worth sharing.) The books I read then are novels. Last year the highlight was The Tale of Despereaux. I usually start the year with Barbara Robinson's The Best/Worst School Year Ever. Then usually somewhere I read Polly Horvath's The Trolls. This year I'm going to substitute Polly's forthcoming The Pepins and their Problems (which, by the way, reminded me of another childhood favorite of mine: The Peterkin Papers). Gary Paulsen's Harris and Me tends to be another that works really well. And Chris Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham 63. I know there are a bunch more on my read aloud shelf at school, but these are some solid hits I can count on year after year for this age group.
During our morning meeting I often read picture books, just for fun. I can't wait to read aloud Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's forthcoming Science Verse. At other points in the day I read aloud books that are related to content we are studying. For example, I begin our study of forced immigration (from Africa) with the picture book, The Village that Vanished. Other tough stuff (e.g. The Kidnapped Prince, an adaptation of Olaudah Equiano's autobiography) I read aloud so we can discuss the really really hard stuff together. (I don't want my kids to be on their own discovering the horrors of slavery.) On Fridays we have Literary Salon at the end of the day. Most of the time I have the kids do prepared readings from their own independent reading books, of poetry, readers' theater, and such, but sometimes I do a special read aloud then too. One of my favorites is doing Chris Raschka's jazz books and with the appropriate music.
Sigh. Can you tell this teacher likes to read aloud?
Monica
PS Oddly enough the only teacher I can recall reading aloud to me was my ancient (in my memory) 6th grade teacher. We sat in old?shioned desks in rows and daily listened to her --- I never was a horse fanatic (like ever other girl I knew back then), but my goodness did I adore her reading of Born to Trot.
HANSNELS at aol.com writes:
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Mon 09 Aug 2004 12:52:55 PM CDT
