Posts tagged ‘school’
26. Emily’s Art by Peter Catalanotto
Retell: Emily loves to paint. She enters her painting of her dog Thor in the school art contest. After narrowly losing the contest, Emily vows never to paint again. With her help from her friend Emily realizes that she should continue doing what makes her happy.
Topics: art, contests, friendship, school, painting, self-esteem
Units of Study: Realistic Fiction, Talking and Writing About Texts, Social Issues
Tribes: attentive listening, appreciations, personal best
Reading Skills: inference, making connections, interpretation
My Thoughts: I feel like I’m coming across a lot of books about young artists lately (see post on Ish). I’m a big fan of books with illustrations that not only support the text but enhance it. At the beginning of the book the illustrations of Emily are vivid and opaque. However, as soon as she loses the contest, the illustrations of Emily are transparent, conveying the idea that she feels alone and invisible. Another cool feature about Emily’s Art is how the book begins. It reminds me of the Harry Potter films. The story begins with a scene that draws the reader into the story and then like the opening credits in a movie, the title page appears. I plan on using this book early in the year when we do a lot of community-building. It’s a great book for showing how far appreciations can go.
20. Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler
Retell: Mrs. Cooler’s class is getting antsy and cranky. She asks a few misbehaving students to do 10 acts of kindness at home. The next day during show and tell, others are inspired to do random acts of kindness. Eventually the project includes acts of kindness at school and throughout the community.
Topics: kindness, school, community, helping, volunteering, 100th day of school
Units of Study: Character, Realistic Fiction
Tribes: appreciations/no putdowns, mutual respect, community building, personal best
Writing Skills: using rhyme and rhythm
My Thoughts: I think I just found my 100th day of school read aloud. The 100th day of school always creeps up on me and I end up doing a last minute project. This year, I think I’ll use Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler to launch a Random Acts of Kindness Campaign. In the book Mrs. Ruler’s class tries to do 100 kind acts at home, school, or in the community. She puts each act on a paper heart and they have a celebration when they reach 100. Since the 100th day of school usually falls close to Valentine’s Day, a Kindness Campaign could be a good way to turn a commercialized holiday into one that promotes a good cause. Thanks Ms. Cuyler.
14. There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom by Louis Sachar
Retell: It is easy to dislike Bradley Chalkers. He beats up other students, lies about everything, and refuses to do his homework. Bradley’s life begins to change when he meets Carla, the school counselor who inspires him to be a gold star student.
Topics: school, counseling, disagreeing, lying, making excuses, power, trust, friendship, homework, imaginary friends, partnerships, fights, confidence, putdowns, name-calling, safety, sibling issues, self-esteem, rewards, gold stars, asking for help, just right books, love of reading, affirmations, trust
Units of Study: Character, Literary Essay, Talking and Writing about Texts
Tribes: mutual respect, appreciations/no putdowns, right to pass, personal best
Reading Skills: inference, interpretation, empathy, making connections, synthesis
My Thoughts: My heart still aches after reading this book. It’s not a depressing book it’s just that I spent the book fearful that Bradley was going to keep digging himself into holes (not literal holes that’s Sachar’s other book). As you can see from this post’s tags, there are so many ways that one could use this book during interactive read aloud. The book lends itself very well to examining character relationships. Many of the secondary characters make significant changes that affect Bradley. I think many students will be able to make connections to Bradley’s complex relationship with his sister, Claudia. Sachar encourages his readers to try and understand the bully rather than demonize him/her. Bradley reminds me of one of my former students. I think I’m going to buy this book and send it to him.
Teachable Texts 