Parent/Student Book Club over WONDER

Thank you to my students and their parents for coming to a  book club over Wonder by R.J. Palacio! Twenty-nine people came! Here is the video of R.J. Palacio reading "How I Came to Life:"

I also showed the beginning of an interview with R.J. Palacio.  Here is the whole thing in case you want to watch it:

It was fun breaking up into two groups and discussing a list of questions I had put together - some from R.J. Palacio's websit For Teachers and some I added.  I enjoyed hearing what you all had to say about this book!  Thanks to Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Thompson for joining us!

Here are some pictures from the event:

Must have cookies at a book club!

Watching R.J. Palacio read "How I Came To Life"

The group!

Watching the interview



What a great night of readers and books!!

THANK YOU, R.J. Palacio, for writing such an amazing book! CHOOSE KIND!

Fantastic Friday!

We're continuing Picture Book Month and evaluating books for our Mock Caldecott 2013 Club. Here are two more books I shared:

Imagination Theme

 

Music Theme



We discussed the theme of both and how Nightsong can be looked at as a metaphor for life - you can go out on your own and fulfill your dreams, but you can always come home.  It would make a great graduation gift! The Cloud Spinner taught us to only use what we need.  Don't be greedy!  Neily said, "Take only memories, leave only footprints."  Reece said, "It's like the Boy Scout motto, Leave no trace."

Since I met Loren Long recently at The Blue Manatee, I leave you with some video and pictures that I took at the event:

 

 





 

 

We're also enjoying Capture the Flag and our book group mysteries.  Here are spin cams of the JF Burns groups:

 

http://spincam.net/s/d9m0

http://spincam.net/s/uge8

Picture Book Month and Caldecott 2013 Club

I LOVE picture books, and it's so fun to share them with my classes!  We're using the Picture Book Month calendar to choose a book that follows the theme, then we're summarizing and evaluating them.  Here are the books we've read so far:

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Marilyn Singer's website:  http://marilynsinger.net/ and Ed Young's website:  http://edyoungart.com/books.html

 

 

 

I found a video of Erin Stead explaining how she creates her illustrations.  Very cool!



 

Here is her website: 

 

http://erinstead.com/

 

One class also read The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins:

 

 

 

Tomorrow the theme is IMAGINATION!  I have just the book to read! :-)

 

We also started Capture the Flag by Kate Messner in 3 classes.  Don't worry, KME, we'll start tomorrow!  Here is a cool website to learn about the flag that inspired the "Star Spangled Banner."

http://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/interactive-flag.aspx

 

Comment to let me know what picture book you like best so far and why!

The Walk Home

Wow!  We finished Wonder!  Goodbye Auggie.  I don't think I've ever had classes stand up and cheer at the end of a book, but today two classes gave the book a standing ovation!  It's been a really special experience these last weeks sharing Wonder with you all.  I'll never forget it!  I really believe books can change lives, and this is definitely one that changed me.  How has it changed you?  Whose point of view do you wish we had heard from?  Who was your favorite character besides Auggie and why?  Who do you think changed the most and how?  Any last thoughts?

We'll do a few more things with Wonder, so keep checking back.  We'll start our next read aloud soon, so we'll be blogging about that one, too.  The next read aloud is (drumroll please)......

Kinder Than Is Necessary

BEAR

All classes are at the same point in Wonder  now, and we will be finishing it tomorrow!  I'm excited to finish it, but I'm also sad.  What an experience this read aloud has been!  I just finished my favorite chapter with my favorite sentences from Mr. Tushman:  "If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place.  And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God."

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Fantastic Friday

  
This month students started reading mysteries, adventures, or action books.  Here are our group books:
     





Some books students picked as their independent books during this unit:


   
  





 

Spin Cams  of independent books and small group books:
http://spincam.net/s/dfx7
http://spincam.net/s/uryb
http://spincam.net/s/o54s

Camp

Wow!  These camp chapters are intense!  Auggie's encounter with the 7th graders is really scary.  What a surprise that Amos, Miles, and Henry showed up to help Auggie and Jack!  What are some of your predictions about what will happen when they all get back to school?  Will everything go back to normal?  How will Julian react when he find out what happened?  What will Amos, Miles, and Henry do when they get back?  Do have connections with the overnight camp story?  Have you ever been to an overnight camp?  What was it like?  How do your experiences help you understand Auggie better?