It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (1/16/17)

Thanks to Jen and Kellee for hosting this idea on their site.  Here is a link to their site...

                

 http://www.teachmentortexts.com/

Books I Read this Past Week…

The Girls by Emma Cline

*Novel Published for Adults (3 STARS out of 5 Stars)

My Book Review





Books I Will (continue to) Read this Week…    

Chester and Gus by Cammie McGovern

*My Middle-Grade Novel

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

*My Young-Adult Novel

Almost Paradise by Corabel Shofner

*My Middle-Grade Novel

The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman

*My Young-Adult Novel

The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian

*My Novel Published for Adults

The Girls by Emma Cline

How I Heard About It:  This seemed to be a much buzzed about novel of 2016.  Everywhere I looked, read, and browsed; the title came up on many lists.  I added it to my TBR list, but didn't get to it during 2016.  During my last visit to the public library, I saw it on the audio shelf and decided to give it a try to see what all the buzz was about.  

What It Is About:  Fourteen year old Evie is a child of divorce and living with her mother in the late 1960's.  She is a lonely girl and isn't sure where she fits in.    When she sees a group of girls in a California park, she is curious, enthralled, and drawn to them.  A friendship begins between Evie and an older girl named Suzanne.  Evie feels like she has finally found a place she can call home.  As Suzanne and the other girls take Evie in and "under their belt", Evie meets the leader of their group, a man, who has quite a control over these young girls.  Evie begins to spend more and more time at their "ranch" while retreating from her life she knew with her mother.  When she realizes what the group is capable of, it may be too late for Evie.  

What I Thought Of It:  This was an enjoyable listen.  When a novel gets so much advanced praise I go into it with very high expectations.  I think that was the case with this book.  Overall, I enjoyed the story and the "life" of the cult.  There were times during my listening that the story dragged on a bit and had too much detail for me.  The book is quite long, but did provide me listening enjoyment while driving to and from work at the start-up of 2017.  I did think the writing was excellent and there were many beautiful lines, passages, and pages.  

Who Should Read It:  Adult readers of "serious" fiction would be the perfect audience for the book.  The story-line might appeal more to the female reader, but certainly has elements that fiction male readers will find satisfying.  Happy Reading!  

Rating:  3 STARS out of 5 Stars

Friend Friday #172 (Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan)

Hi!  I'm Aneira and I read the book called Save Me A Seat written by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan.  


I thought this book was AMAZING because I loved the book so much and enjoyed everything about it.  






My favorite part in the story was Friday pizza day because that is when he became a different person and changed for the best.     


The character that I liked best was Ravi and Joe because they were both really nice to people and brave to stand up to the bully.  


I think the author wrote this book because they wanted to write a book about meeting a new friend, being yourself, and fitting in at school.  


I would recommend this book to my friends because it is a great book.  Many kids read it for our book club but I would tell my other friends about it.  Once you start you won't be able to stop reading because it is so good.  


Reading to me is fun because I like to read and learn about different things.  I also like reading because it takes you into worlds that you normally wouldn't be able to go to in real life.  


*This is our current "Breakfast with Book" book club selection.
*We will be Skyping with both authors on Friday, January 20th.
*Aneira was one of my readers to first finish the book and she had such high praise for the book.
*I always love to get the perspective of the reader on a book that I loved.  
*Aneira did such a great job of capturing the story!  

Life Lesson #15 (Be Giving)

"Be Giving"

*This is the fifteenth Thursday of our school year together and that means it is "Life Lesson" Thursday.

*I probably have said it about other "life lessons", but this one is one of my most favorite ones.

*It takes awhile, and several views, for my fourth graders to truly understand what is happening in the "story", but once they get it, they really GET IT!  

*I love this story, hope it is based on truth, but even if it isn't, the message is one that I carry on a daily basis.    

*Each Thursday I share a short video clip with my writers.  The clip has some type of "lesson" I want to share and teach my fourth graders.  

*I set aside time during each day for us to work in our writer's notebooks. 

*We talk about what types of writing we can do in the notebook.  Here are some of the possibilities...

-What we notice in the video

-What we wonder about

-Connections we have to the video

-Thoughts, feeling, emotions about the video clip

-Reminders we have from the lesson/message

-Create a fiction story about the video

*Once the video is shared with the writers, we spend a few minutes "talking" about what we observed.

*My writers set up their HEADING in the notebook and we get busy writing.

*During the start-up of the year, I have my students write for about five minutes.  We slowly build our stamina for writing and slowly add time to the writing block. 

*At the end of the individual writing time, we call on a few volunteers to share their actual writing and/or further thoughts about the video we watched and wrote about.

*If there is time, I sometimes share the video clip with my class at the end of the writer's notebook time.  

Life Lessons for 2016-2017…          

Week #1 - Be Brains -                                                Click Here for Week #1 Lesson
Week #2 - Be Kind to Others -                                   Click Here for Week #2 Lesson      
Week #3 - Be Safe -                                                   Click Here for Week #3 Lesson
Week #4 - Be Responsible -                                       Click Here for Week #4 Lesson
Week #5 - Be a Friend -                                             Click Here for Week #5 Lesson   
Week #6 - Be Courageous -                                       Click Here for Week #6 Lesson
Week #7 - Be Life Changing -                                    Click Here for Week #7 Lesson
Week #8 - Be Spooky -                                              Click Here for Week #8 Lesson
Week #9 - Be Kind -                                                   Click Here for Week #9 Lesson
Week #10 - Be Courageous (To Continue On) -      Click Here for Week #10 Lesson
Week #11 - Be Motivated -                                       Click Here for Week #11 Lesson
Week #12 - Be Inspired -                                          Click Here for Week #12 Lesson

Week #13 - Be Merry -                                              Click Here for Week #13 Lesson

Week #14 - Be a Team -                                            Click Here for Week #14 Lesson

Trailer Thursday #172 (Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper)

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper 

(Trailer Created by Fourth Grade Readers Milana)

*Milana is such a fun reader to work with.  She doesn't "like" to find her own books, and this is something we are working on.   What she does like is when a book "stack" is presented to her and she can choose from that collection.

*During a recent "stack" discussion she and I had, she picked this book out of the pile, began reading, and had a very hard time putting the book down.  One of my most favorite things to witness in a reader.  

*Our goal is to create a book trailer a week that we can share with our classmates.  

*We are collecting all the trailers we make and putting them into our Schoology Site.

*Each student will have their own album where they can keep all of their trailers.  Then the other readers will be able to browse those trailers and find a new book to read.   

*As the year progresses we will learn what should be included, and not included, in the trailer to make them the best they can be.

Here are Some Other Trailers that Promote the Novel…

Wonder Wednesday #172 (Reading in the Sun)

Wonder Wednesday - Reading in the Sun

*My family and I were lucky enough to spend a week in the Dominican Republic from December 26th - January 2nd.

*We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and wanted to spend some quality time with our two college age children.

*After checking into our all-inclusive resort, we spent the seven days sitting poolside and on the beach just relaxing, chatting, and of course I READ as much as possible.

*Here are some images from my vacation that capture that special "extra" reading time I had over the holidays...

 My first read of vacation was actually a "reread" of Save Me A Seat.  Our "Breakfast with Books" book club is currently reading it.  

 I was so excited to read this ARC that I received at #NCTE16.  Once I started, I could not put it down.  It is now on a "book journey" with some Twitter friends.  

 One of my favorite spots to read was poolside.  What an amazing view!

 When not reading by the pool, I found the perfect spot on the beach to continue reading.

 Once I was settled in my chair, I would either read or enjoy the "views" from above.  

 This was an "unputdownable" book.  

 I brought my ARC of this book and shared with my daughter.  She doesn't get a lot of time to "free read" while in college, but she LOVED this reading experience.  

 She enjoyed these reading spots as much as I did.  

 Watching her devour this novel brought me such joy!

 This novel published for adults brought me hours of enjoyment.  

 

My young-adult novel was read right down there poolside and on beach.  Such a beautiful place to do some much needed "hard-core" READING!  

Picture Wednesday #17 (Ghost Rainbow)

"Ghost Rainbow"

*This is the seventeenth Wednesday of our year together and that means it is "Picture Wednesday".

*While on Twitter, I ran across this image via "Fascinating Pictures".  It caught my attention and knew it would do the same for my students.

*One of the best things about using images for writing, it is creates such a powerful thinking opportunity for my students.  

*I set aside time during each day for us to work in our writer's notebooks. 

*Each Wednesday I feature a photograph, image, or graphic.  My goal is to have my writers do some thinking, reflecting, and writing about the image.

*We talk about what types of writing we can do in the notebook.  Here are some of the possibilities...

-What we notice in the image

-What we wonder about

-Connections we have to the picture

-Thoughts, feeling, emotions about the visual

-Reminders we have from the image

-Create a fiction story about the picture

*Once the image is revealed to the writers, we spend a few minutes "talking" about what we see.

*My writers set up their HEADING in the notebook and we get busy writing.

*During the start-up of the year, I have my students write for about five minutes.  We slowly build our stamina for writers and slowly add time to our writing block. 

*At the end of the individual writing time, we call on a few volunteers to share their actual writing and/or further thoughts about the visual in front of us.

Our Images from 2016-2017...  

Week #1 - Back to School -                              Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #2 - Be Kind to Others -                         Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #3 - Be Safe -                                          Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #4 - Be Responsible -                              Click Here to see IMAGE
Week #5 - Animal Friendship -                         Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #6 - A Helping Hand -                            Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #7 - A Running Jump -                           Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #8 - Stand-UP/Unity Day -                     Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #9 - Home Sweet Home -                       Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #10 - Camouflage -                                 Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #11 - Dream Big-                                    Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #12 - Sidewalk Biking -                          Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #13 - HUG -                                            Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #14 - Happy Frog -                                  Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #15 - Hair Dryer -                                    Click Here to See IMAGE
Week #16 - Goodbye 2016/Hello 2017             Click Here to See IMAGE