Book Club Project

Sixth graders just finished their first book clubs this year. The first semester we focused on informational texts, and I was ready to move to fiction. One group chose Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's book Halfway to the Sky – one of my favorites. This book is about a girl named, Dani who runs away from home in search of answers. She begins her journey at the beginning point of the Appalachian Trail on Springer Mountain, Georgia. For their culminating project, they chose to make trail mix. Each group member was responsible for bringing an item for the mix, and then they presented their project to the class. Here is there rationale:

Jesse chose Cherrios to represent the tears on the trail. He also chose M & M’s to symbolize the rocks Dani stopped at to rest.

Austin chose peanuts because it represents the hard times between Dani and her mom disagreeing. Also, he chose marshmallows because they represent the little white flowers on the trail.

Samantha brought gummy bears to represent the hard times the characters had getting up the mountain because they are hard to chew. She also brought chocolate chips to represent all the sweet times in the story.  She also brought

Grace brought pretzel sticks because they represent walking sticks. She also brought candy corn to represent the mountains they had to climb.

slice #1

Time for another dedicated month of writing! I loved reading everyone's posts last year & the way it challenged me as a writer. 

Today was my first Saturday home since the beginning of February. We were in Hawaii the first 2 & I was in Ohio for the Dublin Literacy Conference last weekend. Today I had planned on sleeping late & spending a leisurely day hanging around the house. But, plans change. I got an early phone call from my mom asking if I wanted to visit my grandparents this morning. How do you say no to that? So the morning I spent visiting & catching up with them. Much better than my plans of being lazy!

This evening I had more plans of laziness, but we ended up going over to my mom & dad's house for pizza & game night with my sister & brother-in-law. We always had game nights growing up, so it was fun reliving those memories! Again, much better than the lazy plan. 

Sometimes changed plans are a good thing. Today was one of those times. 

#dublit14

As always this year's Dublin Literacy Conference was outstanding! Thanks to the conference committee for all their hard work! There was so much great learning & thinking that it's hard to sort it out in just a few short hours. I decided to sum up my day of learning by sharing my favorite quotes/thoughts I jotted down from the presenters.

Penny Kittle:
"How do we charm them back to a love of reading?"
"You have to hear the voice of a book to know if it's right for you."
"If you learn this pattern of not reading, then you're missing the joy."
"Change the trajectory of their reading lives."

Don Brown:
"Real stories about real people."
"It's the stories. I love stories."
"The point of research? Finding the basic historical truth."
"The essence of writing is rewriting."
"There is a magic of words & pictures together."

Bryan Collier:
"The little things we do matter."
"Who wants to make a book? What are you doing about it? What are you really doing about it?"
"When you first walked outside today what color was it? What color was the day?"
"When we dream about things for ourselves that's only 50%... the rest is for them... for the kids."
" The dream doesn't just stay in a pocket - it zooms around the world."

So much of what Bryan said settled deep within me! I'll be thinking about his wisdom & session for a long time.

Bud Hunt:
"If you give them a reason to say something, then they'll figure out how to say it."
"These are everybody's standards... they just happen to say literacy on them."

Making Connections

To launch our adventure into realistic fiction, I chose Wonder by R.J. Palacio for my read aloud. Due to the weather, we’ve had many stops and starts. (Although I am not complaining about snow days!) This week, we finished part 1, told by August’s point of view and began part 2, told by August’s sister Via’s point of view. I could tell the students were disappointed to leave August, but recovered quickly when they were able to learn more about August from his sister. We are practicing making connections while we read in order to understand and make meaning. Our connections should help us empathize with a character or understand how an event in the story is important to the unraveling of the plot and author’s purpose for writing.

To summarize: August just overheard someone who he thought was his friend, share some hurtful comments to another student, Julian. Julian has not made it a secret that he doesn’t care for August. Also, Via tells us what it feels like to be August’s sister. She relates her four week trip to Grans while August has one of his many surgeries. She confesses that Grans considers Via her favorite since August already has many angels looking out for him.

Here’s what the students said:

Jessica: The part where August walked into the room and overheard Julian reminded me of when I walked in on my parents talking about Christmas because they didn’t know I was there.

Carlie: The part where August heard them (Julian & Jack) talking about him reminds me of the time I walked up on people talking about me. It made me sad just like they August felt sad when he heard them.

Kai: The part where August heard Jack talking to Julian like he doesn’t like him (August) reminds me when people talk about me behind by back. Just like August, I was made fun of.

Taylor: When I read the part about August and Via’s grandmother dying so quickly, it reminded me of my uncle dying to quickly and unexpected.

James: When I read the part about how August shows emotions by certain movements, it reminded me of how people that can’t hear show emotions with certain movements.

Phebe: When I read about August having so many things wrong with him, it reminded me of the book You Had Me at Woof because the lady that owns the dog, Otto, has problems just like August.

Cassidy: When I read the part about Via going to the hospital to see her grandmother, it reminded me when I went to the hospital to see my great aunt and she was dying when I got there.