Reading Diary B: Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes

Jingles
I loved reading all of the jingles. It is hard to pick my favorite one. It is crazy how I am able to read them and think of a certain part of my childhood that they remind me of. There of course were some that I did not know the entire jingle. For example, I did not know all the lines for Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Love and Matrimony
Of course, all of these ones were good to read. Jack and Jill is a classic that most kids should know. Most of the stories however, I was unfamiliar with but still enjoyed.

Natural History, Part 2
Ba ba black seep is another classic. I loved getting to read this. I also loved the story of Higgley Piggley. I honestly think that I just like the sound of the title. It is fun to say and catches your attention.

Ba Ba Black Sheep

Relics
Rain Rain Go Away was a different version than I have ever known. I feel that there have been many versions made over the years.

Every page of this unit was full of a great read. I learned so many new nursery rhymes. It was fun to be able to read ones that I thought I knew and did not know the entire thing. I also really enjoyed reading the ones that I have never heard of. This was a great unit and it is too hard to pick my favorite ones, because they were all great.

Reading Diary A: Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes

I was very excited to read the nursery rhymes. I loved all the nursery rhymes from when I was little, so I was hoping those would be included. I also knew that I would not know all of them. Therefore, I was ready to read something new.

Tales
The first section of nursery rhymes were all new to me. I actually did not recognize any of them. I may have read a few of them when I was little, but did not remember them. They were all still enjoyable to read. I really enjoyed Little Jack Horner. This rhyme was short and sweet. It incorporated many different aspects for only being four lines long.


Songs, Part 1
I was excited to be able to read Little Bo-Peep. I loved this song when I was a kid. It was good to be able to read it again and remember every line of it. It is crazy how much we remember from when we were little. Today, I pictured Bo-Peep from Toy Story while reading this rhyme/song.

Riddles
What a classic Riddle, Humpty Dumpty. I love the picture used in the untextbook to symbolize this riddle. I honestly did not remember the end of the riddle. So it was a nice refresher to read the entire riddle and not just the first two lines. (Those are the only two lines I can ever remember from that riddle).

Charms and Lullabies
Rock-a-bye Baby has to one of the most well-known lullabies. I have known that entire lullaby since I was a kid, every single word.

Games
I loved reading this section. I learned so many games from this. I had no idea that Hickory Dickory Dock was a game. I also just thought it was a nursery rhyme. My mom used to always play This Little Piggy with my toes. She would always change up what the pigs were doing and make them into something like me. I loved this reminder of my childhood.

This Little Piggy Picture

Famous Last Words: Week 9

I am glad that we had spring break to finish the end of week 9. I was overwhelmed with classes and tests the week before spring break. This class has really helped my writing skills and my ability to proofread others work. We definitely have a lot of practice doing it. I still have to be somewhere quite to be able to write and to come up with ideas. However, I have not tried many different writing styles. I tend to stay in my comfort zone and do not experiment too much.

I wish that I would have used the week of spring break to get ahead. However, I did not. I did not go anywhere over spring break. I enjoyed having a break from school though. My best friend had her baby over break, so I was able to spend a lot of time with her and her newborn. Also, I got to go shopping and play with my dogs. It was a nice, calm, and relaxing week. 

Now that spring break is over it is time to finish out this semester strong. We are on the downhill slide until graduation. I hope that I can keep my motivation with it being so close until graduation. I still have a lot of tests and assignments in my classes. I even have a test this week. Clearly I have not studied for it yet since I did not do anything over spring break for school. My capstone class probably has the most work left. We get to start our experiments and testing people this week. This class is a lot of work, but it is cool getting able to conduct our own experiment. I am excited that we are half way through this semester. I am hoping I am able to finish this class early so I can focus on my other classes more. I hope that it stays warm and sunny like it is today. I feel like I am in such a better mood when it is nice outside. 

Pretty spring picture

Essay: Tejas Legends

This week I read the unit Tejas Legends. I was very impressed with this unit. Each story was unique and interesting to read. The titles of the stories caught my attention and I believe that this helped me keep reading. I read the entire unit in one day, instead of breaking it up. This unit I was really able to see the connection between the stories and the Native American culture with an emphasis on Texas. All of the stories did a good job of incorporating some part of Native America. This could have been the animals involved, where the setting was located, and even things that are unique to their culture. Most of the stories had a positive overall theme. This was the part that I really enjoyed. The stories focused on the nature. Therefore, the main characters of each story were normally an animal and a plant. I enjoyed how they drew relationships between the animals and plants. 

Texas Picture

This unit is a good unit for most people. The language that the stories are told in is easy to understand and follow. There is imagination in each story. Plants and animals are able to talk and have personalities. None of the stories were confusing to me. Each story has some notes from Laura. These notes help explain what the story is going to be about and even provide a little more background information. The notes are extremely helpful and add wonderful information. I would suggest this reading to anyone.

All of the information given about this story provided on untextbook is accurate. I do not believe that anything needs to be added to this unit. It is a great unit full of wonderful stories and a lot of background information about Native America. This unit is in my top 3 or 4 of the semester.  

Reading Diary B: Tejas Legends

Tejas Legends

How Sickness Entered the World
This title caught my attention. It made me wonder what the story was about how people got sick. I really enjoyed how the Indians and the snake were incorporated into the story. This really brought out the native american culture of the story. I like how the story was mainly about revenge and that is how sickness entered the world. The sickness even hatched. Every wigwam got some kind of sickness. I think that this story can take many different directions. Therefore, it is a great start of a storytelling. I believe that you can add what kind of sickness each wigwam got and elaborate on that.

The Pecan Tree's Best Friend
I enjoyed reading this story. I believe that orioles love pecan trees in real life. This story was full of some imagination and elaboration. However, parts of the story can be very practical. I love how the tree and the oriole were so close. Another great story, which can be used for a storytelling.

oriole

In this unit, there are many great stories. This unit did a great job of really incorporating Native American culture. All of the stories have great plots to start a storytelling. Most of the titles were able to catch my attention to where I wanted to read to find out what the title was talking about. Overall, this was a great unit and was a wonderful read.

Reading Diary A: Tejas Legends

Tejas Legends

When the Storm God Rides
This was the first story of the unit and it caught my attention right away. The first paragraph was very intriguing and I could picture the islands right away and how they were made. I also liked how many animals the island was made for. The story really does a good job of helping you picture what was going on.

The Plant that Grows in Trees
This was a very cute story. I like how it incorporated the thunder bird once again. The first paragraph explains the overall story about how mistletoe is found in trees because a bird once put it there. This opens the story to use your imagination on why the bird put the mistletoe in the tree. I liked how the bird and the mistletoe could talk, this really helped the story.

(Mistletoe in a Tree)

The Cloud That Was Lost
This story caught my attention by the title. Of course, I want to read about how a cloud was lost. I knew right away that this story would be full of imagination and I was curious how it would be incorporated into Native America. I really enjoyed how this story made the cloud come alive and have a personality. The cloud was sleepy. I bet they do get warn-out staying in the sky all day and night.

Grandmother River's Trick
I love how many fish were incorporated into this story. This story used great imagination and was fun to read. I am glad that Grandmother river was able to trick the garfish and that all of the other fish were safe and got to play around.

Tech Tip: Google Language

Here is the Google interface in espanol (spanish)

Commenting Review Week

I believe that the comments in this class are very useful. They are used to connect with other classmates and to provide feedback on the work done. The comments are very encouraging and do contain constructive criticism. Other students may see a mistake that you would have never noticed; they may even give a great idea if they have a different thinking style than you. The comments that are most useful are the ones that are honest. I think it helps when they mention a specific part of the story to back-up their feedback.

When I am leaving a short comment, I try to focus on the overall and big picture of the story. I try to state what I thought overall about the story and then the layout of the story and how easy it was to follow and read. When I am leaving a long comment, I try to focus more on specific details and how the author came up with their idea for their story. The easiest part of leaving comments is the encouraging part. Of course, everyone has wonderful stories. The hardest part is suggesting changes to their writing. I know I am not the best writer, so sometimes it is hard to critique others.

The comment portion of the class is huge. It is very useful and I think the way that the commenting is done now is great. There are many chances to comment on introduction, storytelling, projects, and even various assignments. Commenting makes the class seem more connected, instead of just doing work and getting a grade for it. 

Inspirational quote

I chose the above picture because I think it can be applied to this class. In writing, you will never fail. You will just find ways that work and that do not work. The comments can help you figure out what works and what does not. 

Writing Review Week

I really enjoyed going through all of my storytelling posts. It showed how much work I have put into this class. Seeing all of the imagination of my stories was fun to reread. It is hard to pick one certain story as my greatest success. I believe that they all have their strengths and weaknesses. The strategy that I use to come up with my story is just thinking about how I would want a story to end, or changing the characters to something more exciting.

By reading other classmate’s storytelling posts, I have learned various things. One of the things I have learned is to change who is telling the story. This seems to be successful and changes the perspective of the story. Another idea that I have gotten from other students, is to just keep the overall them but change the story completely. This shows imagination and creativity.

With writing all of my stories, I have found my weaker parts of my writing. I am not good at commas, at all. All of the feedback given on storytelling is helpful. Yes, I may not use it all but it is all helpful. Feedback is great to remember when you are writing a new story as well.

Writing stories is not the easiest task. Sometimes, it takes longer to come up with an idea or even to pick the original story to begin. The biggest challenge is making it your own. This requires creativity and patience.

Overall, I think that the storytelling is great. It is very helpful in improving your writing, learning something new from feedback, and even just using your imagination. I enjoy storytelling. 

Imagination

I chose the picture above, because I believe that storytelling is all about using your imagination. With storytelling, you can really do whatever you want. It depends on how you interpret the story to begin with and what changes you want to make to the story. It is all about making it your own.

Reading Review Week

The reading diaries are very useful. They are functional in the way that you can remember the units that you read, what stories you liked, what you liked about the unit, and even ideas about storytelling. I enjoyed going through my reading diaries to see what I have read over these 7 weeks, because I honestly forgot how much I have read.

I honesty, do not read books on a daily basis. However, I have enjoyed reading various units. I tend to enjoy the units that incorporate animals as the main characters. My favorite units that I have read are either Aesop (Winter) or Jatakas (Babbitt). I really enjoyed how each story had a theme/a lesson to learn. I also like how each story is different and they do not all tell one story. That is why I believe that Cupid and Psyche was my least favorite unit. Do not get me wrong, I still enjoyed reading that unit.

Overall, I think the best way to find out if you are going to like a unit, is to read all the information given about it. Then go to the unit itself, and read one or two stories to see if it sparks your interest. There are many different options given. Therefore, you should be able to find something. Another, useful way to find a reading, is to read other classmates reading diaries. 

The Geese and the Tortoise

I chose the picture above because it symbolizes a story that I have read in more than one unit. It is interesting how different cultures can tell the same story but in a slightly different way. Each time I have read the story, I enjoyed it. 

Famous Last Words Week 7

This week has been a pretty good week, except for the weather. Yes, I like when class is cancelled, but I would much rather it be sunny and warm. My dog is tired of being stuck inside because of the snow.

This week, I have really noticed writing stories has gotten a little easier. Each week, I learn something new about writing. This makes it interesting and keeps my eyes open for suggestions. Everyone’s comments are very helpful. They are helpful in the sense of encouragement and constructive criticism. I really do read the comments given to me and take in consideration what was said. Needless to say, I have learned a lot about comma use. However, I am still not perfect at commas. I try to do my writing in places where it is quite. This helps me think and lets me really use my imagination. Also, when it is quite, I am able to focus more and not get distracted.

I have noticed how well all of the projects in our class are going. Everyone has such a different perspective of writing and topic for their storybook or portfolio. I think they people are successful when you can tell if they have used their imagination. I am overly impressed with how unique every story I read is. I like how everyone takes on stories from a different point. Even changing the smallest detail can change an entire story.

I am looking forward to next week, since it is a review week. I am hoping to work ahead so I can focus more on my other classes. However, it is midterm season, so I have a lot of tests and assignments to do. Also, next week, I believe that it is supposed to warm up later in the week.  This needs to happen because yesterday (Sunday March 1^st) was the first day of spring. I am more than ready for spring weather. 

(Spring Flowers)