Reading Recap

This teacher is TiREd!  And has to get up at 4:15 tomorrow morning for Bible Study leader's meeting!  But we did successfully arrive at Friday, we didn't melt in the heat, and we and read some great books.

The first two are picture books and my chickadees made some fantastic text to text connections between them.


1.  Otto the Book Bear A bear who leaves the pages of his book gets left behind but eventually finds an even more magical place to live.

2.  The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore  We LOVED this story...I can't even describe it.  But here is how it starts,  

Morris Lessmore loved words.
He loved stories.
He loved books.
But every story has its upsets.

3.  The One and Only Ivan My kids are GLUED!  Glued I tell you.  They beg me not to stop and it is the ONLY time of day I have all 35 students' attention!    
From goodreads:
Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.

Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

Happy Friday-I am off to bed!
 

Repeat Read Alouds

"Here are the ones who know magic:

The young

The old

The brave

The honest

The joyful."

We just finished reading aloud Waiting for the Magic, by Patricia MacLachlan.  Oh my goodness, this book is amazingly sweet, but addresses some relevant issues.  Willian, the older brother is narrating the story.  His dad walks out on the family, so William's mom decides they need a dog (the dad never liked animals) they end up with four dogs...and a cat!  Throughout the story, the animals start to talk, but only the ones ready for the magic can hear them.  As a class we guessed which character was the young, the old, the brave, the honest, and the joyful.  And I wish I had pictures of their faces when they realized one of the characters was finally "hearing" the magic.  Precious!

Do you have "must read" chapter book read alouds.  When I first started teaching, I was intrigued by teachers who could read the same chapter book read alouds every year.  Especially with books I just thought were, okay.  Now that I have been teaching for a while I have realized I have started a shelf of chapter books that previous classes have loved so so so much, that I have to read the next year's class and the class after that, and the class after that.....

My two repeat offenders are The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo and Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins.  Both about toys/dolls....hmmm....




And now Waiting for the Magic will be added to the list.

Happy Friday,