The Real Adventure

Book: Doll Bones

By Holly Black

One of the first of the children's books I read for this blog and a book that truly drew in my interest when it spoke of ghosts and adventure, this book is a must read for any child in your class who has an active imagination.  For some reason this book has been on the backburner for my to do list to add to this blog and I really want to emphasize that it isn't at all because I didn't enjoy reading this book or because I felt it wasn't good for the classroom.  Trust me, this book truly earned te John Newbury Medal and I truly recommend it for a variety of reasons.  The most obvious reason is because it has an original style plot that can easily hook readers (who doesn't love a good ghost story) and the fact that main characters get to turn their once imaginary stories into a real adventure really shows the value of one's imagination and the fact that even if it isn't always clear adventure really is around every corner and that you don't have to be from a mystical land to be a hero in a story.  

If I had to pick a negative quality it would be that the book seems to take a while to hook the reader with the revelation that it was a true fiction book not occurring until a few chapters in when we hear the ghost story and how the doll had the bones of a girl in them.  What drew me in initially was the fact that it sounded like it would be a ghost story filled with adventure and while it ended up fitting the bill I wasn't sure of that until almost halfway through the story.  However, this can also be a compliment to the book and show even more the hidden message that adventure doesn't only occur in story books, and the fact that the story was so realistic (besides the ghost) with the children camping in the woods and having to keep track of how much they were spending, and having to steal a boat to get across the river, and even having to break in through an unlocked window to get into the library really kept the reader from feeling as though it were just another fiction book.  It truly felt like an adventure story that had merely one or two elements that made it fictional wich I really felt was a huge positive to the book.  Overall, like I've said this is a great book to show to any reader who you feel has a thirst for adventure.

Lexile Reading score: 840L

Recommended Grade Level: Grade: 4 or 5

Teaching Suggestions:  I recommend this book highly for a small group guided reading discussion.

Before the Reading

A great activity for the students would be to use the image of the front cover as well as any additional images from the text to have the students guess at what the story will be about and make predictions on what the doll will have to do with it and their adventure.  After the students make their predictions show them the video of the book trailer included below so that they gain an understanding of what the story will be about and how the picture actually tied in.

During the Reading

At the conclusion of each chapter have the students draw a picture that they feel summarizes what happened in the chapter or that they feel represents a key point in the chapter.  Then have them write 3-5 sentences that summarize what happened and what the picture represents.  At the end the teacher can stape all the pages together so that they each have their own version of the book based on their different takeaways.  You can add a lot of discussion here and have students explain to their groups/partners why they choose to draw what they drew for each chapter and have them discuss what they feel was important information and "filler" information

After the Reading

Make a research project for the students to do after reading the book to tie into the book, you can offer them multiple options for a topic so that they have choice in what they want to do.  Some ideas for a research topic would be looking up china bone dolls and to reflect on how this artwork is used in real life and find the history of it.  The students can also esearch to find a book that they feel has the same overall message as Doll Bones.  Or the students can research the author of the book and the reason she choose to write this story.

Great Electronic Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xqXfGOepQE

This is a great book trailer for getting readers interested in the story and for giving them an idea of what the book is about so they won't regret choosing it for a book.

https://quintessentialantiquedolls.wordpress.com/history-of-china-dolls/

This link gives the history of bone china dolls and will help give students an understanding of hhow the doll plays a role in the story, it's also  great way to introduce them to the idea of doing research before reading a book.

Important Vocabulary Words to Go Over

Apparatus - the equipment needed for a specific activity

Contentious - Likely to cause an argument

Daunting - Intimidating, looks impossible to do

Exhilarating - Thrilling, get's someone very excited and happy

Exasperated - To be very annoying to the point that it angers others

Ominously - Menacing, threatening, scary

Silhouetted - The dark shape and outline of someone or something

Tentatively - Done without confidence, hesitantly

The History of the Train

Book: Trains

By: Lynn Curlee

My recent discovery in my school's library was the book Trains by Lynn Curlee, the book, surprisingly, talks about the history of trains from it's very first days to it's role in todays society.  To be completely honest I had very low expectations for this book and put off reading it until now onl because it was almost overdue and I didn't want to waste a good reading opportunity. After reading it all I can say is that I'm so incredibly glad that I choose to read this book because I had no idea how great it would be as a history book, I really thought it was going to be heavily focused on types of train but it instead taught me so much about the history behind the train and even why travel by train is almost unheard of in the United States now a days.  

For that reason and so much more I would highly recommend this book for any classroom because it's a great way to integrate a historical book into your vast array of genres and also because it a great book for a Guided Reading session with a more advanced 5th grade group or for a 6th grade group that feels like a simpler read with the book being a large book and the vast amount of images.

Lexile Reading Score: NC1260L

Recommended grade level: 5 or 6

Teaching Suggestions: I highly recommend this for a guided reading activity in small groups.

Before the Reading

Before you introduce the reading come up with a plan of how you're going to run the Guided Reading by first identifying the parts where the children will struggle (depends on the class and group) and help them think about what they want to know as well as what they allready know about trains.  If this is the first guided reading then it can be making a list of everything they know about trains or it can be a list of what they recently learned about trains.  

During the Reading

As they are going through the reading mark points in the text where you will ask individual students what happened to determine if they understood the part and if they didn't understand it provide additional support, if they got it then give them some positive feedback and move on to the next child.  Make sure that your interventions are very brief though or it will prevent any ongoing learning from actively reading.

After the Reading

Have them discuss what they learned from the reading and to summarize what they read as well as talk about what they liked/found interesting and what they disliked/didn't find interesting.  After they've discussed the reading have them do an activity where they come up with all of the major details a train would need in order to be safe to have people ride in it.  If they've completed the book then have them talk about what there would need to be for people to safely ride a bullet train.  After discussing possible options have them research bullet trains for homework.

Great Electronic Resources

http://tunaruna.com/train/history_1800.htm

A website focused on the history of trains, very interactive and perfect for children to use to research the trains or to compare information they read in the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl0lxIMMb9E

short video on the creation of the transcontinental railroad, perfect for children ad great for a homework assignment or for students to watch while working with another group.

Words you may need to define for the class or go over with the class:

• Depot - where people get on and off a train or where the train picks up or drops off it's cargo.
• Locomotive - The front car in a train which does the job of pulling the rest of the trains
• Commerce - the act of buying or selling especially in large amounts
• Piston - a small cylinder that moves up and down against a liquid or gas to create motion.
• Loom - a device used to make fabric by weaving yarn or thread
• Tonnage - weight in tons, especially for cargo on a train

The Power of Candy: Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot

Eye-opening, Interesting,
Great Read
Beneficial, Encanting

Book: Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot

by: Margaret Theis Raven

Illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen

Happy belated World Read Aloud day everyone, this was my first year of openly being a part of the yearly tradition and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I recently got the chance to start my second clinical experience at Hebron Elementary School with a 5th grade class and had very little time to talk to my teacher about possible class activities, so unfortunately I wasn't able to tie in a little something extra to expand on the learning.  Regardless though, the book my teacher helped me pick out, Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot was an eye-opening book which heavily inspired both the class and I.  As I read the book and told the class about the challenges the people of West Berlin faced I could see on their faces how shocking all of this was, but also how interesting.  I loved the feeling I got every time I finished a page and looked out at them, seeing their interest as they leaned forward, eyes locked on the pages, and heads resting on their hands eager to hear more, eager to know what happened to Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot.

The book talks about a young girl in West Berlin three years after World War II and the fall of Berlin.  The Soviet Union, in an attempt to claim all of Berlin after splitting the country among the four Allied nations, blocked off any entrance by ground into Berlin, thus starving it's members and forcing the United States, Britain, and France to give up West Berlin.  In a desperate attempt to prevent the spread of communism the three countries setup a system of plane supply drops of food to West Berlin known as the Berlin Airlift.  The hope was to being enough to feed all of Berlin (at least to a degree) without using any form of force which risked initiating World War III.  One day, the man who would come to be called the chocolate pilot began dropping candy from his plane with little parachutes to the children of Berlin and before long it became a daily tradition of his and he was getting candy from all over America to give to the children of West Berlin.  The book talks about a girl Mercedes and how she longs for a piece of candy to give her hope in such a difficult time.  It's an extremely powerful piece and I highly recommend it because of how eye opening it is but also because it's a great way to communicate to children the reality of war and how just one piece of candy meant more to these children than gold does to any of us.  I can't say enough about how happy I am to have found the book and to have been given the opportunity to educate my class on it's history.

Lexile Reading Score: 850L
Recommended Grade Level: 5

Teaching Suggestions: without a doubt this should be a whole class read aloud.

Before the Reading

• Get them into pairs and have one person in each pair read about the author while the other reads about the illustrator.  Then have them explain to each other what they read, while they're doing this pull up an image of Germany during the cold war divided among the four Allied Nations.  Explain the importance in knowing about the author and illustrator and then ask them to work for 5 minutes coming up with ideas for what the story could be about.  Once they're finished have them share some of their ideas and then educate them on the major details of World War II and read over the prelude to the story.

During the Reading

• Find areas in the book that would be great discussion points and mark them ahead of time.  When you reach that point in your read aloud stop and ask the students either what they think about the decision made or what they think will happen (depending on what points you choose).  Explain to the students that they should be respectively debating about what they think and so they should be using words like I agree with and I respectively disagree with.

After the Reading

• One key detail in the book is a letter Lt. Halvorsen receives from a boy named Peter Zimmerman who is asking the Chocolate Pilot to please drop candy over his house with a drawing of a map for how to find the candy.  In the story the Lt. couldn't find the house based on the drawing and so he simply sent a package to Peter with candy by mail.  Have the students write a letter to the Lt. asking for candy to be dropped off at any place they want and have them describe the area as best as they can with words, then with a drawing.  When they finish they can look up the location on google maps and see just how easy it would be to find the location using their map and directions.

Great Electronic Resources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmanS-4nc4Y

Video of interview wit Lt. Halverson aka the chocolate pilot, talking about his first interaction with the German children and how he got inspired to start dropping them candy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfqTZ3e8d6Y

Recording of the book being read aloud

Words you may need to define for the class or go over with the class:

• blockade – When one group controls who and what goes into or out of a place by the use of any army or navy 
• scold – blame with angry words 
• translate – Change from one language into another language 
• linger – Go slowly, as if unwilling to leave 
• fragile – Easily broken, delicate
• rubble – chunks of stone and cement mainly from demolished buildings

The Pains of the Mentally Ill: A Corner of the Universe

 

Powerful, Educational,
Emotional,
Inspiring, Heartwarming

Book: A Corner of the Universe

    by: Ann M. Martin, 2002

  Hi everyone, sorry it's taken so long for me to get this post up, I've been so focused on actually reading books that I haven't taken the time to actually post about them so there will likely be a few posts in the coming week as I catch my blogs up with my reading and I plan to give reflections on each of my readings from here on out.

        The second book I read won the 2003 Newbery Honor Book Award for it's heartening portrayal of a 12 year old girl whose mentally ill uncle shows her the power to lift the corners of the universe.  The book reminded me a lot of the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" with the main character faced with the challenge of being a friend to their relative whose mentally ill and who the town sees as both a freak and a joke.  The book did a really great job of setting the scene for the entrance of Adam and making the reader cherish the fragile moments where everything went right and get yanked in whenever Adam cracked.  It felt like a flow of ups and downs and centered the piece well around the carnival, and the Ferris Wheel.  I won't say too much more for fear of spoilers but I can very easily see why this book won the Newbery Honor award and I truly feel it's a great way to help children understand the challenges people who are mentally ill face every day, and the reason they just can't live a normal life.

Lexile Reading Score: 750L, recommended grade: 6 

Teaching Suggestions:  Have them read it independently and discuss the material in small groups

Before the Reading

• Ask the students the following question, "would you lock something up if it meant it would stay safe" and have them write their response on a piece of paper that gets sealed in an envelope with their name on it.  This will draw their interest into the book and will give them something to think about during the reading of the book that will call on their use of inferential comprehension

During the Reading: 

• Have the students working in small groups of 3-4 people and every day when they get together give each group an envelope that they can open from Betsy (the main characters friend she sends letters to all summer) inside are 4 different questions Betsy has about what's happening to Hattie and how her summer is going (the questions will ask the group to tell Betsy what happened in the reading they did for Homework).  Have the students write a letter that answer's all of Betsy's questions and that has one question of their own that the teacher can answer for Betsy in the next letter.  This will encourage the students to use their direct and indirect comprehension while giving them the freedom of choice in how they answer the questions (if they work together one by one or split it up among the four of them and combining their work onto one paper) and in making their own question for the teacher each time.

After the Reading: 

• Once they finish the reading have the students open the original envelope they made before they stated reading the book and have them read it over knowing what they now know about Hattie and Adam.  Ask the students to now talk in the group about their opinions and to come up with a group decision for the question, "would you lock something up if it meant it would stay safe."  Once all the groups have an answer have them say to the class what their opinion was and defend it in a class discussion.  Make sure to emphasize that they me words like "I agree with..." "I respectively disagree with..." and "can you explain what you mean by...".

Great Electronic Resources:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/corner-universe-discussion-guide

-a discussion guide for the book with a list of questions about character, setting, and theme, and even with a list of similar books the children can read.

http://www.scholastic.com/annmartin/

-The author's website, a great place for the students to learn more about the author as well as to find more books by her if they really enjoy the book.

Words you may need to define for the class or go over with the class:

• rational - what makes sense to do, logical
• scandalous - something that is disgraceful and causes a lot of outrage
• mentally ill - not able to function normal in society, the person has a variety of problems in                   their head that result in them acting weird and that they have very little control over.
• boardinghouse - a house that people can pay to stay in and be fed
• cotillion - a social dance
• brood - to think deeply on something negative