Mayme Dore, February 23, 2015, Page #1

Mayme Dore
ELED 3423
Tuesday/Thursday 9:30 a.m.
Repetitive Pattern Book
February 24th, 2015
Reflection:
1. I chose to bring Elmos 12 Days of Christmas, by Sarah Albee and Love You Forever, by
Robert Munsch, to share with my group of children.
2. The reason I chose Elmos 12 Days of Christmas was because at the time, we had just
celebrated Christmas, and the idea of Christmas would still be fresh in their minds. I
chose to bring Love You Forever because it has always been a family favorite.
3. This is how I presented the books to the children, explaining in what order I chose to read
them and why.
A. The first book I read to the children was the longer of the two, Elmos 12 Days of
Christmas. I knew that if I started with the longer book first, I would be able to keep
their attentions for longer. Of course, there were a few children who do not find the
subject interesting. So, periodically I asked them what they thought Elmos true love
would give him next. Also, in attempt to get their attention I encouraged them to sing
the song as I read, if they could remember how it went from the previous pages.
B. Leading the children into discovering the pattern was not even needed. The children
immediately recognized the numerical pattern of the book and the majority of them
were able to keep up with singing with the group as I read through the last half of the
book. As we wrote down the pattern of Elmos 12 Days of Christmas there were a few
of the numerical words they would say incorrectly. For example, many of them would

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simply say the word, on the six day of Christmas my ... or others would say, on
the twelve day of Christmas my... The words were not always pronounced correctly,
but the general idea was definitely present.
C. Next, I read Love You Forever, which all of them had read before. Bringing out this
book created a group discussion about what they remembered about the book, and
what things they did and did not like about it. Most of the children wanted to listen to
the book again, and had enjoyed the first time they read it. However, I noticed that I
lost a lot of their eyes to neighboring tables. So, much like the first book I encouraged
them to sing along the repetitive parts of the book, this seemed to keep them engaged
enough to focus on the rest of the book.
D. Leading the children to discover the pattern in this book was very different because
unlike Elmos 12 Days of Christmas, the entire texts is not repetitive, rather just one
part. I believe because as we read, we sang together the repetitive part, the children
were able easily pick out and sing to me the repetitive part of Love You Forever to
write down.
E. When we were done with writing down both patterns, the children continued to
discuss how much they enjoyed Love You Forever, because it was so familiar to them
they found comfort in discussing it. The opinions about Elmo varied because he is a
character know to be for smaller children, but the pattern of the book was what I was
interested in. The children discussed that they enjoyed the illustrations in Elmos 12
Days of Christmas, it had many of the Sesame Street characters appearing in the
illustrations with the items from Elmos true love. They also expressed that it was
annoying that the book kept saying all those things his true love gave to him, over
and over again.

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F. After having a nice discussion about both books, I asked them if they had an
opportunity to make books like those we had read, which one would they choose. I
quickly asked them to put their heads down and take a vote so that we were not
shouting out. The children seemed to be familiar with this concept and did very well
putting their heads down. I did have to wait a couple minutes for a few peekers, but
after expressing that we would not start making our book until our vote was done, the
peekers stopped. The vote was very close so I decided to tell them that Elmos 12
Days of Christmas had won, knowing that each child would have a chance to write
one of the days and we would still have four days that we could do as a group.
G. We did our brainstorming as we wrote. We went around the group and each child got
their own day. We would flip to that day in Elmos 12 Days of Christmas and replace
Elmos ideas with their own, of course hearing feedback about their ideas from their
classmates. I often had to remind the children not to use the same ideas from the
book, or ideas that other classmates had already used.
H. As we went around the table there were times were I had to give a short list of ideas.
There were also times where the child knew exactly what they wanted to say. It all
depended on the child. I also had to step in when the children were trying to come up
with something, but their classmates were shouting out ideas and distracting them.
For these situations I would just remind them that everyone gets a page in the book.
Also reminding them that we all get to make four of them together and we do not
want all the pages to sound the same or the book would not be interesting. This
seemed to convince them and the problem dissolved.
I. As I typed up the text there were not very many problems. This is because as we went
around the table I would ask the children to restate it in a different way if it did not
sound right. Again, a lot of the classmates would chime in as well, if they thought that

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something someone said didnt sound right. They would also give their opinion about
how it would sounds better. Sometimes these opinions were accurate, when they were
not I would give my own opinion and an explanation. For example, two of the
children wanted to use the subject stars, luckily they were sitting far apart enough that
their sentences would be far apart in the book as well. However, as I typed it still
didnt sound right because the only difference was how many stars were given. For
this situation I added a few words to make it sounds more dramatic than the first star.
I wrote it as more stars for the top of the tree, versus the first that stated, a star for
the top of my tree. This gave emphasis to the fact that it was many more stars than
the first time, and I knew the child would not notice.
J. During the illustration time I provided crayons, colored pencils, and twistable colors.
Before I handed each child their book, I went to the first page and said, Pretend this
is my book and Im going to color it, the first page talks about the star on the tree,
what do you guys think I should color on the first page? Many responses were
similar, which is what I was looking for. Many said a tree or a star or both. Then I
said something silly, Would it make sense if I drew a strawberry here? Everyone
giggled, No, they all said. This was our short, but to the point, discussion of how
illustrations should match the text. It seemed to work, because as I walked around I
didnt see any silly drawing that did not match the text.
K. Binding and laminating these books was a new experience for me. I had never
laminated anything in my life, nor had I ever binded anything. After I had figured out
how many prints I had to make, I was ready to laminate. Laminating was not hard.
Although, the machine takes time to warm up so you have to preplan. Also, when you
cut the laminate off you have to be very precise. If you leave to much laminate on the

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pages the hole punch for binding will not punch the holes in an even line. I ran into
this problem only once and went back to recut my laminated papers. I also ran into
problems with the older machine that I was using to cut the holes for binding.
Sometimes the hole punch did not punch though all of the papers and it was almost
impossible to get them all lined up again to re punch. After I managed to get them all
punched, I still had to put them on the spiral bind. I was thinking that I was going to
have to do this by hand, but I noticed that the machine had hooks at the top that
aligned with spirals. I asked for assistance and sure enough the machine was able to
open the binds itself. I was so relieved to learn that I would not have to put my papers
on these tiny spirals by hand!
L. This section tells exactly how each child read to me one on one their personal books.
Tyler
Tyler was one of the children that was very hard to keep engaged. I also had a hard
time keeping his bottom on the bench. I had noticed him putting things in his mouth
and talking to himself, I assumed out of boredom. After observing these things in his
behavior I assumed that he would struggle with his reading. I was delightfully
surprised as he read along. He knew all his one syllable sight words and read along so
nicely, out of memory and knowledge of sight words. He did struggled with larger
words that had more than one syllable such as the word yapping. Instead of
attempting the word he would skip right over it and go onto the next word which was
puppies. The last thing I noticed was that he often added s when it was not needed.
For example, one stars for the top of my trees.
Summer
Summer was a very shy, reserved child. From these observations I assumed that she
would struggle in reading. Unfortunately, I was correct. She did know some of her
sight words: the, on, of, my. Summer was unable to use her memory of our reading of

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the book and constructing it together to read. She was very nervous and would give
up quickly and become silent on words she did not know. She did this for all the
numerical words: first, second, third, etc. There were a few time that she would
attempt using the first letter of the word to guess the rest of the word, for example,
she came to the word third and said tree. I never heard her attempt to sounds any of
the words out.
Addison
Addison knew all her sight words and could remember and read the book well. She
used her pointer finger as she read along. The only thing I did notice with Addison,
was that she added s when it was not needed. For example, when we came to
chicken, she read it as chickens.
Fallon
Fallon read well through our book. She was able to read it all without help. However,
listening to her read was very robotic and had no flow.
Nathaniel
Nathaniel was very energetic and full of great ideas and not scared to share his
opinions. The fact that he was confident made me believe he would be a good reader.
He read with confidence that I have never seen before in his age. He had great
fluency, amazing pronunciation and needed no assistance.
Berkleigh
Berkleigh was able to read nicely through the book, but it was very rushed. It may
have been the setting, and she was excited to color again. I did not hear any mistakes
during her reading, and did notice her small pause and she went back to her memory
of our discussions for certain words like puppies.
Mckenzee
It was very hard for me to get Mckenzee to interact with me past the very basics. If I
asked her a question she would just stare at me. On the other hand when I asked her

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to read her book to me she was much more enthusiastic. She read far above her grade
level. She made no mistakes, had amazing fluency and needed no assistance.
Shyanne
With as interested as Shyanne was in the books, I figured she would be a great reader.
She struggled a lot during her reading to me, I noticed she had a very hard time sitting
still .I assumed this was because she was nervous. She swayed back and forth,
plopped up and down, and swayed from side to side. These actions had to have
affected how she was able to visualize the words. She also was very concerned about
what everyone else was doing and found everyone very distracting. She seemed to
know the majority of her sight words such as: the, of, to, me. However any words that
were above one syllable seemed to intimidate her. She would slowly sound out the
initial sound and then just look at me for direction. I would give her the next sound,
and ask her to give me the next. Her look of confusion continued. This situation
happened with the words: chickens, yapping, and dancing. She also struggled with
words that appeared similar, for example she said, three for tree, or, tree for three,
many times.
4. In this section I will explain how each child reacted to the process we took to make the
books and how they reacted to the final product.
Tyler
Like I mentioned earlier, Tyler was one of the children that was very hard to keep engaged. I
also had a hard time keeping his bottom on the bench. I had noticed him putting things in his
mouth and talking to himself, I assumed out of boredom. While we were having class
discussion he did not raise his hand, but would shout at the top of his lungs what he thought.
Often times his comments were completely off subject. I was not sure that he was

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understanding what was going on in the book. He did not interact much at all with his
classmates as everyone was doing their illustrations. His illustrations did match the text,
although when I announced that we would be coloring our pages he immediately responded
negatively because he did not want to color.

Summer
Summer was a very shy, reserved child. As we were talking about ourselves I came back to
her at the end so she could have time to think about what she would like to say because she
was not comfortable with sharing second. She did not have much to add during discussion
and had a hard time coming up with her own ideas for her page. For her I made an exception
because of time and allowed her to use star as her subject, even though it had already been
used. I did this knowing I could word it to sound differently later. This correction was the
only one I had to make. She depends highly on her fellow students. During illustration time
she scooted down to be in front of the girls she knew could read well. Each page she would
ask them what it said so she could color accordingly. She became very angry when the girls
moved the colors slightly away from her and I almost asked her to sit on her own because of
her anger. Her final project was nice and neat, but it was a struggle getting to that point.
Addison
Addison was well behaved and interested in the books that I brought. She raised her hand
when she wanted to add something, and sat still the majority of the time. She was excited to

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participate and always had a smile on her face. She also enjoyed sharing her opinions with
her classmates. Addisons illustration matched her text, and were tidy.
Fallon
Fallon was very quiet girl. She gave little opinion, but was listening as I read the books. She
interacted well with her classmates and was very sociable with them. She enjoyed listening to
everyones ideas and giggled along with the group. She made her page very well with no
struggle. Her illustration were connected to the text and very thought out.
Nathaniel
Nathaniel was very energetic and full of great ideas and not scared to share his opinions. He
was well behaved and raised his hand instead of blurting. He was very creative when we
came to him to make his own page. Nathaniels illustrations all matched their texts and were
drawn wonderfully.
Berkleigh
Berkleigh was excited to be doing group work, and it was obvious she is a social child. She
enjoyed coloring with her friends and was very friendly to me, asking me questions about
myself as we went along. She participated well and took her time in all her illustrations.
Mckenzee
Mckenzee was very particular in her book. She wanted everything a certain way. As I glued
her picture she ripped it off and rearranged it making the comment it was not exactly straight.
Mckenzee was not very open to me but very sociable with her classmates in helping them
make decisions. Her classmates often asked her about their drawings and her opinion seemed

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to be very important to the girls. From this I would assume she was a leader. Although, it was
very hard for me to get her to interact with me past the very basics. If I asked her a question
she would just stare at me. I was able to get her to tell me very quickly what she wanted her
page say, she spoke very softly and slowly. It seemed as though she was afraid I would write
it incorrectly. Her illustrations were beautiful on each page matching the text on each.

Shyanne
Shyanne was sociable and energetic, she seemed very excited to work in a group and had
many things to add. She seemed to listen very well, but had a hard time about interrupting
and not raising her hand. She was very involved and I enjoyed her energy. She was able to
produce her own page in the book with no assistance. Her illustrations were nice and went
along with text. However, she asked on more than one occasion what I thought about them,
and if she should change them. She seemed to have little confidence in her understanding of
the text and asked Nathaniel to read to her many of the pages, I observed this as I was
reading with other children.
5. This section describes the process in more detail.
a. When I prepared for the two occasions I made sure I had a bag that
everything would fit everything, this way I could take the things out as
I needed them. If I would have had them all out at once, it would have
been very distracting for the children. I also brought something for the
children to do that was extra, in case we got done before it was time
for them to go back to class. The first day, I took the two books I

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would be reading, a writing utensil for myself, and lots of scratch

paper for brainstorming as a group. The second day, I took the eight
binded books, and a box full of: crayons, colored pencils and twistable
crayons.
b. Most of the children were very excited to be out of the classroom
doing something out of the norm. Nonetheless, I did have a few that
were not very excited at first. For them, while I was reading I
encouraged the group to sing the parts they knew, which would have
been the repetitive parts. Those who were paying attention would be
able to sing along. I also acted very excited about the whole project,
because it was exciting working with a group of new children. I knew
that if I showed my excitement, they would be excited as well.
c. This activity was child-centered because every step we took involved
their interaction with the material presented. In the beginning, they had
to discover the repetition patterns in the books. Next, they had to be
creative on their own to make their own story. Finally, they got to
create their illustrations based on their ideas that were now the book
itself.
d. This activity was teacher-centered because during each step, I being
the teacher, was responsible for providing the children with the
materials and scaffolding they needed to move forward through each
step. This proved to be different for each child. Some children needed
more scaffolding and some required little to none.
e. This section describes the feedback I gave the children as I went
through the process.

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Tyler
Tyler wanted to rush through his illustrations because he was not a big fan of coloring.
So, I picked out a few of the new twistable crayons and encouraged him to take his time. He
enjoyed the new colors the twistable offered and slowed down a bit.

Summer
Summer had a hard time sharing with the other girls, at one point she became very upset.
I chose a few of the main colors she was using and placed them in a pile for just her. After this
she relaxed a bit and was able to continue.
Addison
Addison was very stressed about getting a swan on a white piece of paper. So I asked her
if it would work if she just drew the swan in black and did not color it in. She was pleased with
this and thanked me.
Fallon
Fallon wanted to make sure that every single thing the text said was on the page instead
of just the new item added to the song as the days went on. This meant by the time she got to
page twelve she would have twelve sections of pictures, so I suggested splitting them into boxes.
She liked that idea.
Nathaniel

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Nathaniel was becoming somewhat stressed that everyone was asking him questions. I
walked over and whispered, Its okay to tell them that they should ask me. This seemed to help
because shortly after he had finished his book.
Berkleigh
Berkleigh also wanted to have every single thing listed on the page in the illustration. So
I suggested that she use any shape she wanted to use, but to be careful that her illustrations were
different than her friends or no one could tell them apart. I think that is what they wanted and
thats okay. She ended up using the boxes as well, each box representing a day that our true love
gave us something different.
Mckenzee
Mckenzee was not pleased in the way I glued her picture. She said that it was not straight.
At first I just let her fix it on her own, but after a while, as to not cause a scene, I checked to see
if she would like me to re glue the edges. She liked that idea.
Shyanne
Shyanne had so little confidence in her drawings, which I thought were very cute. I
stopped between every two or three children to walk over and encourage her. This seemed to get
her attention and she did finish her illustrations and allowed me to look at them.
f. This section describes how I would use my observations during the
project to plan for each childs literacy needs.
Tyler

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For Tyler, because he knows his sight words very well and seems to ignore bigger words that
he does not know, I would suggest the incremental rehearsal technique. I would mix in a few
of the high frequency sight words that are bigger, or have more syllables, in, with the ones he
already knows. This way he feels confident during the majority of the words, to keep up his
confidence and encourage him to learn new ones.
Summer
I could tell that Summer felt very intimidated by me. I am not sure why, but if this is the case
for most adults, I would encourage more self-reading in her independent reading level.
During this time she would be provided books that gradually move up in difficulty as to not
discourage her. She needs to become more confident in herself and less reliant on her peers.
Addison
For Addison I would look into activities for her that involved plurals. She struggled with
adding s when there was no s. She needs to grasp the concept of adding s to the end of words.
If she could understand the reasoning behind why we add s, I believe she could apply it to
her reading.
Fallon
I believe Fallon would benefit from hearing many different fluent readers, read to her. She
struggles with sounding very robotic. There are many audio books available that she could
listen to, that I think would help her hear that fluency.
Nathaniel

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Nathaniel is an excellent reader. I believe Nathaniel would benefit from being allowed to
read to children younger than himself. I also would recommend he be able to pick a few
books way above his reading level, because he has enough reading skills to comprehend
above his grade level.
Berkleigh
I would recommend longer books for Berkleigh. This will give her no choice but to slow
down. She had an awful time of rushing through the books. Short quizzes at the end of her
readings would be beneficial as well, to make sure she is comprehending as fast as she is
reading.
Mckenzee
Mckenzee was absolutely bored with the reading level in which we were using for our
repetitive pattern books. She would benefit from being pushed more in all her reading skills.
I would suggest her having a choice of a certain amount of books from a level much higher
than hers. I would also suggest reading to children younger than her to keep her interest in
reading.
Shyanne
Shyanne would benefit from those reading centers that are super quiet, where you sit in your
own area, where no one can see you and you cannot see them either. Shyanne is easily
distracted and just needs to take her time. I would also recommend during this time that she
be given the devises were as she reads she can hear herself.
6. This section is my evaluation of this project.

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The best thing about this project for me was being responsible of a group of
children again. It has been awhile since I have had that opportunity and it is
always nice to have those refreshing times to remember why I want to be a
teacher.
I enjoyed most learning about each child. I asked a lot of questions about their
families and their interests. When children are passionate about things, they reveal
themselves to you. I loved hearing how many of them enjoy Dr.Suess, as he is one
of my favorites as well.
One of the most difficult things for me was remember names of the quiet children.
Unfortunately, the most well behaved ones, were the ones I could remember the
least about. I could have taken more notes the first day about how they reacted to
me and I didnt. If I would have taken notes both days, I would not have been
straining and stressing to remember each childs reaction.
I think that if were given just a small copy of the student photo that they have
online with a list of names before we went that I could have started off with some
foundational knowledge about them, it would have helped the way I process
information much better. I am very visual, so for me not having those pictures
until the second visit and trying to take notes after the initial visit was a disaster.
This project simply backed up my own opinions about teaching reading, and that
is that patience is the key. When a child feels rushed, they will not read as well. I
noticed this in more than one of the children in my group.
I learned from this project that behavior and reading skills of a child are not
always connected. I was so surprised when the child that I had a hard time
engaging was able to read to me. Although he could not sit still and was
completely in his own world, he was able to read. This changed my entire

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perspective of the connection between the behaviors of a child versus their

abilities to read!