My Pony Jack: Great Read for Word Work Study (EA long e) and (CK) Sounds

Meister, Carl. My Pony Jack. New York City: Viking, 2005. N. pag. Print.

My Pony Jack is a wonderful read for children that are in the beginning stages of reading. I am currently using this book for a group of 1st grade students as part of a guided reading unit. Inside this book, there are many uses of the "CK" ending as well as the "EA" (long e) sound. I have incorporated the reading of this book with a word sort using the vocabulary mentioned inside this book.

The main flow of the story is about a girl named Lacy who has a Pony named Jack. Jack is special to her. She takes care of Jack. Taking care of Jack means brushing him, picking out his hooves, and feeding him hay and oats. There are many other unique vocabulary words related to equestrianism.

I would recommend this book for any teacher working with a  beginning level guided reading group. The story is very interesting and the pictures are bright and attractive. There isn't a lot of cultural diversity as Lacy is the only character in the book, however, she is a female which is a plus. I would recommend this book for an individual/guided reading study book, not for group discussion.

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Thank you

Dear Reader,

Thank you for joining me on this reading review adventure. Our fun has ended as all of our different genre specifications have been addressed. 

This blog will be currently on hold, but may be updated in the future with children's literature as time progresses; however; there may not be updates for a while as my other studies will take precedence.

Please enjoy your New Year- and read with you soon.

Thank you.

Courtney

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(2015). Dance and Sing in English [Online video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRP_viB3Xjk

Dance and sing in English is a bilingual Japanese/English children’s book. This book is primarily for Japanese reading children who need an outlet to learn to read English. The book is unique in that it goes through some basic English, however, it includes music words. The book talks about numbers, the English alphabet, and some random songs like thread is spinning- and rock, scissors, paper- what shall we make?.

This book just does not cut it for quality children's literature. The book is cute and has a lot of fun songs in it, but the purpose of it to learn English isn't very applicable to everyday English words. For example, children learning English probably won’t need to learn needle and thread and gravel as primary English words. Also, if the book's purpose is to learn a principle, there isn't any principles in the songs or stories. The book is more about a mix of two cultures. The book has very white illustrations in the book and does include any other racial identities.

Don’t get me wrong, this book is adorable, however, for the purpose of learning English or learning principles, it’s very difficult to access the quality from that point of view. It just really isn't there. Singing about soap bubbles and such. Also, stereotypes of English speakers are clearly listed as white cutie pies. What’s interesting about the book is that I found it through an online YouTube review of the book. The Japanese girl giving the book review seemed to like it, however, in the classroom it really isn’t an applicable source to use. I would say, this book may have more use as an English speaker trying to learn Japanese with the Japanese hiragana subtitles. 

Literary Elements:

Tone: Happy, Cheerful

Characters: Imaginary, Dreamy

Setting: Rainbows, grassy fields, and musical pleasures

Lexile: n/a