It was a busy first week back from break in room 206 but
I read so many good books over break and I couldn't wait to recommend them to my readers this week. One of the best gifts over Christmas break is the extra reading time. I miss reading so much when life gets busy!
On Monday, the book I recommended was one I read over the summer but hadn't had a chance to discuss with my students yet. The book is titled Circus Mirandus
and your fantasy readers won't be able to put it down. It's magical and heart warming and so, so sweet!
And when I came across this AWESOME YouTube channel (Whoa! I wanna read dat!) I just HAD to show it off to my readers. These book trailers are silly, engaging and way better than listening to me read the back of the book! Check them out if you have time!
On Wednesday, I recommended The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate to my readers who love historical fiction and animal stories. Callie and her brother have such a tender heart towards animals and I can't wait until my youngest animal loving daughter is able to read this story about strength and overcoming stereotypes.
It was so cute when we visited the school library later that day. Several of my girls found the first Calpurnia Tate story and begged me to check it out and read it next. So of course I did! I have some weekend homework to do now friends!
On Friday, I recommended Fuzzy Mud
by one of my all-time favorite authors Louis Sachar. Holes and its sequel Small Steps and There's A Boy in the Girls' Bathroom
are legends in our classroom.
This book is perfect for readers who love suspense, crime and a bad kid turns good (typical Sachar) storyline! My boys grabbed it before I even shelved it in our library.
With all this reading going on in Room 206 we had to take some time to update our blogs! Read this post HERE to learn more about student blogging.
We are focusing on identifying the type of conflict in our fiction books as well as the turning point where the conflict is faced/realized and the character is changed.
We just had to blog about all of our deep thinking. My students L.O.V.E writing about their reading on social media (well social to room 206 classmates only) and commenting on each others posts. The reading journal has evolved folks!
Click HERE to read more about using blogs in the classroom.
Well I better get started on my homework (Calpurnia Tate #1). Happy Sunday to all my teacher friends and I hope week two is less tiring than week one. Please say I'm not the only teacher who is utterly exhausted by the end of the first week back from a break?!?
Click HERE to read more about using blogs in the classroom.
Well I better get started on my homework (Calpurnia Tate #1). Happy Sunday to all my teacher friends and I hope week two is less tiring than week one. Please say I'm not the only teacher who is utterly exhausted by the end of the first week back from a break?!?
Thank you so much for sharing this youtube channel! I am always looking for book trailers - I've done a few of my own, but this guy is so engaging. I know my kids will love them!! So excited to share some this week.
ReplyDeleteJanie
Are We There Yet?
You're welcome, he has 29 book trailer videos so far. I can't wait to show more!
DeleteThose books sound fantastic! I have been trying to find some good books to recommend to my students and these sound great!
ReplyDeleteMy students are loving them and I hope yours do too!
DeleteWhat do you use for the student blogs? I think this is such a great idea and would love to start using student blogs in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI use kidblog. When I signed up for it awhile ago, it was free but everyone keeps telling me that they are charging a fee now so I'm just waiting for the notification to come. I've heard the fee is $36 for the year. We use it so much that I will probably end up paying the fee and writing it off. I used to use weebly a few years ago. It's free but students need their own email address. I then had to link all of their accounts to our classroom website so they could click on each other's blogs to comment. It worked and they loved it, but kidblog is so much easier.
DeleteI am also interested in your student blogs. I teach two classes of 5th grade ELA and I'd love to incorporate this into my class.
ReplyDelete