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

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.

Reading Diary B: South African Folktales

South African Folktales

The Dance for Water
This title is very catching. One I love water, so I was not sure if it was going to be about drinking water, rain water, or lake water. I was really hoping lake water. However, the first line of the story tells you about the setting of the story, a drought. The first paragraph was very powerful in letting the readers know how serious the drought was. I enjoyed the fact that the animals would dance to try to bring water. This is very related to the culture of Africa, which makes this story perfect for this unit. I also really enjoyed the picture provided for this story. It was very fitting for the drought and the animals as the main characters. (Pictured below)

Picture Information

Elephant and Tortoise

This story was very interesting. There were a lot of animals involved which made the story very entertaining. The dialogue helped the flow of the story. I was surprised that the tortoise was able to stand up to so many animals before the lion beat him up. The ending of the story took a complete different turn than I expected. It was kind of weird how the tortoise was able to kill the elephant after the elephant ate the tortoise.

When Lion Could Fly
The title of this story was very catching. I could not wait to read a story about a lion being able to fly. What a picture that put in my mind. This story was interesting because the lion thought that the frog took away his flying powers. Overall, this story was okay.

Reading Diary A: South African Stories

South African Folktales

The Monkey's Fiddle
I really enjoyed this story. It was about a great adventure starting with just the monkey. However, once the story went on and progressed there were more animals introduced. This made the story more interesting and dynamic. I like how the Wolf was trying to get the bow and arrow through the Jackal by lying. This adding some suspense into the story. I am glad that the monkey ended up with what he wanted in the end and all of the animals were scared he would keep playing music.

(Vervet Monkey)

The Lion, The Jackal, and The Man
By just reading the title you can tell that there are going to be three main characters. I believe that by having more than two characters, it makes a story more interesting and more tempting to keep reading to find out what is going to happen next. With all of the dialogue throughout the story, it really made it easy to picture what was happening. This was also good in making it seem more practical.

Tink-Tinkje
In this story I learned that tink-tinkje is a type of bird. I liked it because it was birds practically judging each other by what they are capable of and what they looked like. More than half of the story was dialogue which I thought made the story flow very well.

Jackal Fools Lion Again
In most of the first half of the unit, the Jackal is either the main character or a has a big role in the story. In this story it shows how much of a trickster he can be.

Reading Diary B: West African Folktales

West African Folktales

How the tortoise got its shell

I have been wanting to read this story since Laura told me about it in one of my comments. I was not really sure where this story was going to go, but I enjoyed reading it. If there were not brackets explaining who was the king, chicken, and tortoise, it would have been really confusing. I am glad that they brought the tortoise back to life. 

Tortoise

The leopard and the ram

This story was interesting that the leopard and the ram were friends. However, the first paragraph had me thinking that the story line was going to be different. I was not expected the story to be about how the leopard and the ram got their food. 

How mushrooms first grew

This story caught me by the title. Of course you know that the story is not true, so you want to know how much of imagination they have. It was very interesting and could be used for a storytelling post since you can change the story line to whatever you want and just stick with the title. 

I really enjoyed this unit. It was a little different than the other units that I have been reading. However, the stories all were interesting and the titles were very catching. 

Reading Diary A: West African Folktales

West African Folktales

How we got the name "Spider Tales"

This is the first story in this unit. I was hooked by just the title. It made me want to know what the story was going to be about and it give me the feeling that this was the background for the unit. By just the title I thought it was going to be about a real spider, however, the spider is a person! The story did a great job of explaining the three things. 

How wisdom became the property of the human race

I really enjoyed this story. Just like the first story I was hooked by the title. I was really curious where this story was going to go. I think that this story could be used for storytelling because you can really use your imagination. The author had a very unique way of explaining how wisdom escaped to humans. 

Photo Information

Why white ants always harm man's property

This story was very interesting. The notes provided helped in understanding that the white ants are actually termites. This is a great story to tell why the white ants are such a pest. This could be retold in many ways for our storytelling post. 

Overall, all of the stories had very intriguing titles. They are made you want to read how and why so and so do something. I wanted to keep reading this unit and am excited about the second half of the unit. 

Reading Diary B: Tales of Bidpai

Tales of Bidpai

The second part of this unit started out with three separate stories about foxes. Three stories about Foxes The first story had a great lesson. "Because of my own greediness, I must now go supper less to bed" In this story, the fox would have had a great supper of a hen, but instead he heard something much louder. He decided to go for the thing that was much louder and ended up having to go to bed with nothing in his tummy.

Two tortoise stories
This page has two stories on it. The first story is The Tortoise and the Geese. I have read a story very similar to this one in past units. The poor tortoise does not listen and ends up killing himself. The geese were being very nice to him. This story ends more dramatically than I remember however, it says he was dashed to pieces. That sounds very painful.
The second story includes a tortoise and a scorpion. The tortoise was being a nice friend when the scorpion was trying to sting him without thinking. Between these two stories the tortoise is not having the best day.

The Lion and the Hare
This unit ended with a great story of The Lion and the Hare. I like how it incorporated Baghdad as the neighborhood of many wild animals.  Another sad ending for the lion, however.

Lion and Hare Picture

Reading Diary A: Tales of Bidpai

Tales of Bidpai

The Rustic and the Nightingale.
This story was very interesting. After reading the first paragraph, I was unsure what the story was going to be able. The first paragraph was very descriptive about the Rustic's garden. I am glad that the story involved a cute little, nightingale. The picture did a great job of helping the reader, me, picture the bird. I am glad that the bird made the Rustic realize that he was punishing the bird for something so little. I like how the story ended and the Rustic is a good man.

The Two Travelers
After reading the first paragraph of this story, I immediately thought about how many ideas and opportunities that this story could have for storytelling.

The Gardener and the Bear
I enjoyed this story. I can imagine the bear doing everything that he does in the story. I also, like how the story ends with, "It is better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend." This is a great theme that could be used in many storytelling posts.

The Carpenter and the Ape
This story is a perfect example to not mess with other people's business. The poor monkey cut off part of his tail for doing something that he was not supposed to be doing. It always seems to be the monkeys that are messing up.

Bye bye to the Monkey's tail

Overall, this is a great unit. I cannot wait to read the rest of the unit.

Reading Diary B Jatakas (Babbitt)

Jataka Tales (Babbitt)

Once again, this unit had great stories. The stories all included crazy animal characters that make them very interesting to read.

The Stupid Monkeys These poor monkeys, they wanted to help the gardener, but had no idea anything about trees. I cannot believe that they killed all of the trees by looking at the length of their roots. But I will say, it is the gardeners fault for leaving the task to the monkeys. How are they supposed to know what to do.

The Woodpecker and the Lion I enjoyed reading this story. The woodpecker was very nice to the lion, even though he had worries. I thought it was nice of the woodpecker to help out the lion even though he was scared the lion was going to eat him. It was very smart of the woodpecker to put sticks in the lions mouth, so he could not eat him. I still think that the lion should have done something more for the woodpecker.

The Hawks and Their Friends this was a great story that incorporated many animals. I like how the father hawk had to keep repeating what was happening and all of the animals responded with, "I will come at once." I also think that this would be a great story to use in my storybook, the location is at a lake and it is easy to incorporate an adventure into it.

Beauty and Brownie

Picture of Beauty and Brownie

This story brought the other side of hunting, it was the animals perspective. Which to me, was really sad. Those poor deer have to watch out for their entire family and can't get caught in the traps. I wish that both of the deer would have listened to their father.

Reading Diary A: Jataka Tales (Babbitt)

Jataka Tales (Babbitt)

This unit caught my attention by the first section The Monkey and the Crocodile. The monkey was very good at tricking the crocodile and the crocodile would fall for just about anything. Poor crocodile wanted to eat the monkey, but could never outsmart him.

How the Turtle saved his own life was another great story. I think it could be helpful with my storybook, if I chose the adventures of animals at the lake. I cannot believe that they thought the turtle would die in the lake, silly people!

The turtle who could not stop talking, I have read this story before, however I can not remember when and where. I enjoy it every time! However, it is sad that the turtle dies.

The King's White Elephant. I enjoyed reading this story.It was such a happy story until the very end. I would love to see an elephant walking with three feet, that is a sight that I can not even picture in my mind. When I was a little girl, elephants were my favorite animal. I loved how helpful the elephant was and even got his son to help. It was sad that the king bought the son and he was not able to play or help his friends anymore. I did not see the white elephant getting sold to the king.

(The King with the White Elephant)

The Tricky Wolf and the Rats. The wolf got away with eating some of the rats by tricking them to think he was poor and that he could not walk. However, there was a great twist to the story when the Chief of rats caught on. I am glad that the rats outsmarted the wolf.

This unit was full of great stories, that had animals as their main characters.These animals were kind, helpful, and even sometimes tricksters! Most of the stories would end happily ever after. There were some that would have a twist that made them interesting.

Extra Reading Diary: Aesop (Jacobs)

I decided to read some more Aesop fables. I enjoyed these fables and the themes that came with all of the stories. I like how the situations are between animals. I am sure that animals feel some of these situations and people can relate to how they feel.

I really enjoyed the Dogs and Cats section of the unit. The theme I liked the best on this page was "Don't be Selfish" from The Dog in The Manger. You should never just think about yourself. There are others around us at all times, we should be thinking about them and helping them out.

As stated in the Deer section of the unit, we should always "watch on all sides". This is a great lesson. There are a million things going on around us everyday. We never know what can happen. Therefore, we should be watching what is going on all around us.

Out of this unit, my favorite theme/lesson was from the section of Hares. "Things are not so bad as they seem: There is always someone worse off than yourself." In this story, it was sad that the hares would drown themselves. We need to always remember how blessed we really are. Animals and even us can have bad days, but we should never hurt ourselves or others because of it. Just like the theme, things are not as bad as they seem.

Aesop (Jacobs)
(Picture Information)

Reading Diary B: Aesop (Winter)

Aesop (Winter)

Right off the bat I read a story that I enjoyed. The Fox and the Leopard, Page 11, had a great lesson. "A fine coat is not always an indication of an attractive mind". This can be taken just like the saying, "Never judge a book by its cover". Which both are very accurate.

I can really relate to the lesson from The Goatherd and the Wild Goats, Page 13. "It is unwise to treat old friends badly for the sake of new ones". Sadly this has happened to me before and I have seen it happen many times to others. The story did a good job of explaining a situation where you need to care for the ones who you love first then help the ones in need. You should never treat your old friends bad, no matter what. This is also backed up on Page 20, in the story The Wolves and the Sheep. "Do not give up friends for foes". On page 13 as well, I enjoyed The Astrologer. It is true that the little things matter the most. They can make the biggest difference in the big picture of things.

Page 14 had some really great stories that explained the lessons in unique ways. The first story of the page was Mercury and the Woodman. Their lesson wins the best one overall. "Honest is the best policy". Honesty can go a long ways. This can be tied into the story of The Serpent and the Eagle on Page 15. Karma is real, at least I believe in it. So if you are honest and kind, it will all come back to you eventually.

I really enjoyed this unit. Every story was different and there was a huge variety of animals and people through out. This kept the stories interesting.

(Animals)

Reading Diary A: Aesop (Winter)

Aesop (Winter)

I was really impressed with these stories. There were a lot of little stories that all had great endings. Each story would end with one sentence that was a lesson to learn. Overall, they all made great points and had a good way of explaining the lessons using different animal situations.

One of my favorite lessons was, "Our best blessings are often the least appreciated." This was stated in the last story, The Plane Tree from page 3. Page 3 I believe that this holds true for just about anyone. Everyday we should be grateful for what we have, water, food, a house, and family around us.

The Plane Tree

Another lesson learned from this unit was, "One falsehood leads to another". Which is very true. If you lie once, you have to keep lying to backup your first lie. It is good to learn to never lie, even in the worst situations. You never want to lie especially if you are trying to impress someone, because you know it will always come back to you. I enjoyed the story of The Monkey and the Dolphin. This was a great way to show how lies can ruin a friendship. Page 9 I believe that I might do my storytelling on this story.

I also was very fond of, "Do not let anything turn you from your purpose". The story of The Wolf and the Kid was a great way to show that you should always be yourself. Page 1

I cannot wait to read the rest of this unit. My favorite part is all of the lessons learned and how practical they are to everyday life. I am really enjoying this unit.

Classical Greece-Reading Diary B: Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche Table of Contents

I laughed in the section of Fears and Doubts. "First he’s a young man with a new growth of beard, now he’s middle-aged with a streak of grey in his hair. Who can change so suddenly from one age to another? The answer, my sister, is that she’s making the whole thing up or has no idea what her husband looks like." Clearly her sisters caught her in a lie. In this story I also enjoyed reading about how Psyche is pregnant and that fact that she is having a little baby boy (Cupid). I am glad that her sisters are looking out for her. That is what normal sisters would do. They would be concerned for their other sister's safety. They would give her an option, which they did in this story. However, this story took an unexpected turn that I did not see coming. They told her to kill her husband!

Husband (Cupid) Revealed

I really enjoyed reading about how Psyche feel in love with her husband. This section was probably my favorite one out of sections 9-21. Psyche's Husband Revealed

I learned a new word in these sections, loquacious. It means to be talkative or tending to talk a great deal.

I of course loved the section of cupid and psyche getting married and living happily ever after. This happened in The Wedding Feast. I loved the fact that almost all the characters introduced throughout the stories, made an appearance at the wedding. For example, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury.  It was also nice to know that they ended up having a daughter named Pleasure because in an earlier story it stated something about having a baby cupid. Therefore, I thought that they were having a baby boy. 

Overall, I enjoyed this story and was glad I got to read the entire unit. I would suggest it to other students.

Classical Greece-Reading Diary A: Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche Table of Contents

I chose to read Cupid and Psyche. I actually talked about reading this in one of my previous blog posts. I was not really sure what the unit would be about. Overall, I was pleased with the story. I really enjoyed how easy it was to picture what was going on; the story was very descriptive throughout.

The very first section,The Captive Woman  , I was surprised that the story was beginning with a girl being kidnapped. Right then and there, I realized that this unit could take many turns. In the second section, Her Dream, I was very interesting that the women’s kidnapping took place in her dreams as well. It was sad however, that it had to happen on her wedding day.

My favorite section was The Magical Palace. “At the very centre of the grove beside the flowing stream was a regal palace, not made by human hands, but built by divine art.” I enjoyed the description of the palace. It seems beautiful. Psyche was overwhelmed and taken back with the palace. She could not quite take in the fact that all of the things around her were hers. I would have been the same way. She was very blessed.

I also enjoyed the notes throughout the stories. They were really helpful in understanding what was going on the entire time.The one note that stood out the most to me was in The Jealousy of Psyches Sisters. I enjoyed learning about the four chief winds. “Zephyr was the west wind, Eurus the east wind, Notus was the south wind, and Boreas was the north wind”. Overall, there were some sections that were hard to understand but the notes helped tremendously. 

(Cupid and Psyche)