I fixed my countdown on my website. Summer Break started 37 days ago and the first day of school in in 49 days. I am going to probably cry when the countdown starts to turn and there are fewer days left before school starts. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy school. I do enjoy sleeping in though! I can't believe how easy it is to fall into the routine of staying up late and sleeping in late. Maybe instead of having early out days for the beginning of the year, we need late start days. Kids are not used to waking up early especially for school.
Anything But Typical - This book is told from an autistic twelve-year-old boy's point of view. It is one of those books that really shows you what life is like from another person's viewpoint. I know that sometimes I don't consider that other people's point of views are different from mine and that they might not see everything exactly like I do or respond in the same way. I enjoy this type of book that opens my eyes and makes me see that I need to think more about how others "see".
Stalker Girl - Pretty typical teenage girl situation. Her boyfriend breaks up with her and she is heartbroken. Brian starts dating another girl and Carly becomes obsessed with finding out everything that she can about this new girl. She follows her in the park and she searches online for any information. Unfortunately, she takes it too far and the police become involved. One of the things that I enjoyed about this book was that it didn't have a happy ending. You know how some break-up books end up with the boyfriend and girlfriend getting back together? Not this one. This one is realistic. Another thing that I enjoyed was that this book didn't try to tell us the theme and make judgements about what you should learn from reading this book. Stalker Girl allowed you to make your own judgements which potentially could be different for each reader. (Connection to the lesson that I learned/relearned from reading Anything But Typical - Each person sees things differently.)
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms - I do not recommend this book to any of my students. It's on this list because I just finished reading it. It is not a book that I would have read except that I had to for my on-line class. While it was published in 2010, I feel that it is already outdated.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Summer Reading Part 2
When I look at my website counter, it says that summer break began 21 days ago. It seems like it has been longer than that. Only 21 days? I'm enjoying my break. Remember when I said that I missed school and the routines? I'm doing just fine with no routines right now! I do miss the people though. I love being able to see students at their summer activities. I was able to have a rather long texting conversation with Mrs. Matzke this week. Yes, we did talk about books. We compared what books we have been reading this summer.
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan - I would recommend this book to any 7th grader who enjoys suspense. Three characters: Blake, Shannon, and Marissa. Blake and Shannon are the couple with Marissa being Blake's friend. When Blake and Marissa team up for photography projects, they obviously become closer and Blake learns something really intense about Marissa life that he promises to keep confidental. Of course, Shannon isn't too happy about this close friendship that Blake has with another girl. The secret becomes becomes even more intense and eventually requires Blake to break into his father's office which is a morgue.
Unlocked by Ryan VanCleave - Great prose novel about school violence. The cover's quote, "If you heard the rumor, would you stop the shooter?", made me want to read the book to find out the answer for the main character. While you do find the answer that Andy, the main character who is a nobody, there are several twists that are unexpected.
click here to find out how i survived seventh grade by Denise Vega - Remember that little kid book where Harriet wrote everything in a journal that accidently gets shared with everyone in her school? Similar situation here. Erin spills her guts to her computer creating a blog that she plans to never publish. Good lesson to learn from this book: Never put anything down on paper/computer that you don't want the world to read.
Divergent by Veronica Roth - Loved this book! Once again, futuristic science fiction keeps my interest. If you enjoyed Life As We Knew It, The Hunger Games or Legend, you will love this book. I have the sequel, Insurgent, but I'm waiting to start it. I wanted to wait until I have enough time to sit down and read the book without any interruptions. That's how much I loved the first book. Unfortunately, Mrs. Matzke said that most of the kids that she has talked to, didn't like the second book. I'll saving it for vacation and I'll let you know what I think.
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan - I would recommend this book to any 7th grader who enjoys suspense. Three characters: Blake, Shannon, and Marissa. Blake and Shannon are the couple with Marissa being Blake's friend. When Blake and Marissa team up for photography projects, they obviously become closer and Blake learns something really intense about Marissa life that he promises to keep confidental. Of course, Shannon isn't too happy about this close friendship that Blake has with another girl. The secret becomes becomes even more intense and eventually requires Blake to break into his father's office which is a morgue.
Unlocked by Ryan VanCleave - Great prose novel about school violence. The cover's quote, "If you heard the rumor, would you stop the shooter?", made me want to read the book to find out the answer for the main character. While you do find the answer that Andy, the main character who is a nobody, there are several twists that are unexpected.
click here to find out how i survived seventh grade by Denise Vega - Remember that little kid book where Harriet wrote everything in a journal that accidently gets shared with everyone in her school? Similar situation here. Erin spills her guts to her computer creating a blog that she plans to never publish. Good lesson to learn from this book: Never put anything down on paper/computer that you don't want the world to read.
Divergent by Veronica Roth - Loved this book! Once again, futuristic science fiction keeps my interest. If you enjoyed Life As We Knew It, The Hunger Games or Legend, you will love this book. I have the sequel, Insurgent, but I'm waiting to start it. I wanted to wait until I have enough time to sit down and read the book without any interruptions. That's how much I loved the first book. Unfortunately, Mrs. Matzke said that most of the kids that she has talked to, didn't like the second book. I'll saving it for vacation and I'll let you know what I think.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Summer Vacation/Reading Has Just Begun!
We're not even officially one week into summer vacation and I already miss the routine of school! I had such an incredible group of kids this past year!
Summer vacation means lots of extra time to read! My husband looked at the huge stack of books on our dining room table yesterday and asked if they were all new books for school. He had to laugh when I explained that they were the books that I wanted to read this summer.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox was my first summer read. "She wasn't supposed to survive the accident. But she did." This quote from the book intrigued me. I enjoyed the book. It's very similar to the books like Unwind and The Pretties series. Obviously, Jenna was in a car accident and thanks to her parents' money and medical intelligence, she survived. They had to move across the country though and basically live in hinding because all the country's medical rules weren't followed during the medical reconstruction. Uou know that something is different when Jenna calls her grandma a definitely inappropriate word and doesn't even realize that she shouldn't have said that word. The book does take a slight twist at the end, but it is fairly predictable.
Rubber Houses was one of those books that that I started reading on the ride over to the river on Saturday and finished on the ride home. Quick, easy read written in prose. Very quickly into the book, the main character, Kit's brother dies from childhood cancer. The rest of the book addresses how she and her family deal with this loss. The very best part of the book is the last poem/chapter when you finally figure out why the book is titled Rubber Houses.
I just finished reading Playing With the Boys last night. Lucy is the main character. She moves with her father from the east coast after her mother dies from cancer. (Interesting that moving from the east coast to the west was in the first book that I read and cancer was in my second book. They came together in this third book which is completely unconneted.) Lucy struggles with all the normal things that a sophomore moving into a new high school would. Even though she's the best kicker, she doesn't make the soccer team. The soccer coach encourages her though to try out to be the kicker/punter on the football team. Interesting twists occur throughout this book and Lucy tries to discover where she fits in this new school that definitely has its own set of rules.
So, which book would I say was the best? The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I'm still loving the science fiction/futuristic genre. It kept my interest and had enough unpredicatability that I was always making predictions.
Summer vacation means lots of extra time to read! My husband looked at the huge stack of books on our dining room table yesterday and asked if they were all new books for school. He had to laugh when I explained that they were the books that I wanted to read this summer.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox was my first summer read. "She wasn't supposed to survive the accident. But she did." This quote from the book intrigued me. I enjoyed the book. It's very similar to the books like Unwind and The Pretties series. Obviously, Jenna was in a car accident and thanks to her parents' money and medical intelligence, she survived. They had to move across the country though and basically live in hinding because all the country's medical rules weren't followed during the medical reconstruction. Uou know that something is different when Jenna calls her grandma a definitely inappropriate word and doesn't even realize that she shouldn't have said that word. The book does take a slight twist at the end, but it is fairly predictable.
Rubber Houses was one of those books that that I started reading on the ride over to the river on Saturday and finished on the ride home. Quick, easy read written in prose. Very quickly into the book, the main character, Kit's brother dies from childhood cancer. The rest of the book addresses how she and her family deal with this loss. The very best part of the book is the last poem/chapter when you finally figure out why the book is titled Rubber Houses.
I just finished reading Playing With the Boys last night. Lucy is the main character. She moves with her father from the east coast after her mother dies from cancer. (Interesting that moving from the east coast to the west was in the first book that I read and cancer was in my second book. They came together in this third book which is completely unconneted.) Lucy struggles with all the normal things that a sophomore moving into a new high school would. Even though she's the best kicker, she doesn't make the soccer team. The soccer coach encourages her though to try out to be the kicker/punter on the football team. Interesting twists occur throughout this book and Lucy tries to discover where she fits in this new school that definitely has its own set of rules.
So, which book would I say was the best? The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I'm still loving the science fiction/futuristic genre. It kept my interest and had enough unpredicatability that I was always making predictions.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Historical fiction used to be my favorite genre, but I think that science fiction has taken the lead! There are so many good science fiction books right now. I just finished Article 5 by Kristen Simmons this week. Mrs. Matzke recommended this book before Spring Break. She hadn't read the book, but thought that the book sounded interested. On the back, it lists the 5 moral statutes of the United States of America for a futuristic country. The statutes are very conservative and rigid.
ARTICLE 5
Children are considered valid citizens only when conceived by a married man and wife.
This sounded like a book that I might be interested in, so I ordered it for Spring Break reading. Unfortunately, it didn't arrive until after I left on Spring Break. I had another unfortunate problem though on the way home from Spring Break. I had finished all of the books that I had brought and we still had 5+ hours to drive. Lucky for me, there was a bookstore in the town that we stopped for breakfast. I placed my bagel order at Panera, took one kid with me, and walked to the bookstore. (In case you're wondering, I did splurge on calories and order a cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese. There are just some things in life that you have to say yes to.) At the bookstore, I picked up Article 5 to get me through the rest of the trip.
Immediately in chapter 1, Ember and her mother are viciously removed from her house by the Moral Militia because her mother violated Article 5. The book slowly moves along while Ember is taken to a reformatory school, escapes, and tries to find her mother. Halfway through the book, I felt like this was going to be another book that I just finished because I should, not because I wanted to. I was wrong. I finished the book because I wanted to have certain questions answered. The book became exciting and I began to relate more to the characters.
While I stress to kids not to finish a book that they aren't interested in, I usually don't follow my advice. I usually finish what I started. In this case, I was glad that I did. How about you? What do you do when you are reading a book that you are just not connecting with?
ARTICLE 5
Children are considered valid citizens only when conceived by a married man and wife.
This sounded like a book that I might be interested in, so I ordered it for Spring Break reading. Unfortunately, it didn't arrive until after I left on Spring Break. I had another unfortunate problem though on the way home from Spring Break. I had finished all of the books that I had brought and we still had 5+ hours to drive. Lucky for me, there was a bookstore in the town that we stopped for breakfast. I placed my bagel order at Panera, took one kid with me, and walked to the bookstore. (In case you're wondering, I did splurge on calories and order a cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese. There are just some things in life that you have to say yes to.) At the bookstore, I picked up Article 5 to get me through the rest of the trip.
Immediately in chapter 1, Ember and her mother are viciously removed from her house by the Moral Militia because her mother violated Article 5. The book slowly moves along while Ember is taken to a reformatory school, escapes, and tries to find her mother. Halfway through the book, I felt like this was going to be another book that I just finished because I should, not because I wanted to. I was wrong. I finished the book because I wanted to have certain questions answered. The book became exciting and I began to relate more to the characters.
While I stress to kids not to finish a book that they aren't interested in, I usually don't follow my advice. I usually finish what I started. In this case, I was glad that I did. How about you? What do you do when you are reading a book that you are just not connecting with?
Monday, April 2, 2012
Spring Break is over!
Well, Spring Break is over. I did finish reading Dead End in Norvelt. On the cover, Dave Barry is quoted as saying that this is "a brilliant book". It's written by Jack Gantos who is considered a good young adult author. This book didn't keep my interest as much as I wanted though. This book takes place after World War II and there is discussion about different aspects of the war such as Guadalcanal which my Grandpa fought at. If a reader didn't have knowledge about World War II though, the connections probably wouldn't make sense. The main character and his family are rather strange. Mom is an absolute control freak and even Dad seems to cower to her. The main character develops a close relationship with Miss Volker who had promised Eleanor Roosevelt that she would write all the obituaries for all the original citizens of Norvelt. (Interesting fact...Norvelt was named after Eleanor Roosevelt and is an actual town.) Miss Volker can't physically write, so Jack becomes her "hands". Many of the original citizens are passing away and Jack becomes suspicious. There are many different suspects in this plot, but it's rather easy to figure out who the author is going to pin for these murders. The ending is predictable, but not believable. I would think that someone who had a role in the death of more than 4 people would probably have the cops after them. Not in this book. So, would I recommend this book? I'm not sure. I almost want someone else to read it and let me know what they think. Maybe, I'm missing something in this book. I did read it while sitting on the beach or riding in a car home from Spring Break. My mind might have been elsewhere, especially when we were driving through Atlanta traffic.
I also finished reading The Lying Game. This was a much better book. I've never seen the TV show, but wanted to read the book because an 8th grader recommended it. The only thing that I didn't like about this book was that the conflict isn't solved. I guess that you have to read the second book to find out the climax.
I also finished reading The Lying Game. This was a much better book. I've never seen the TV show, but wanted to read the book because an 8th grader recommended it. The only thing that I didn't like about this book was that the conflict isn't solved. I guess that you have to read the second book to find out the climax.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Spring Break
It's Spring Break! Today is promising to be another fabulous day at the beach! What do Literature teachers do over Spring Break? Read lots of books! On the way, I finished Curveball by Jordan Sonneblick. Absolutely amazing book! When I finished, I immediately texted one of my fellow Literature teachers.
"Nothing better than driving through Georgia reading Curveball with tears running down your face, your husband shaking his head because he can't understand how anyone could cry over a book, and your daughter asking to read it when you're done."
Reading is social! I want to talk about good books that I've read and I need to be sure that I give students the opportunity to do this in my classroom. It's been amazing to see the conversations on Facebook right now about The Hunger Games. These kids are talking about books. While many of the kids are reading the book because of the movie, they are reading the book. Most of them are discovering very quickly that the book is so much better than the movie. I better stock up on Catching Fire before I get back to school.
I also have read As Simple as It Seems by Sarah Weeks and Unwind by Neil Shusterman. As Simple as It Seems is written in a very similar style as So B. It. It was an easy, predictable read. I enjoyed Unwind much more. It's strange, but science fiction is becoming my favorite genre. At times, I became confused with all of the characters. The book is separated into chapters that are titled with the character's name that the chapter is about. The character's lives intertwine throughout the book. Connor, Roland, and Risa are all kids who were on their way to be unwound which is a kind way of saying that they will be killed and their body parts will be divided among our people. Abortion is illegal in the United States at this point, but parents can choose to have their children "aborted" or unwound before they turn 18. Each of these kids have different stories, but end up together as they try to escape being unwound. While this book wasn't as easy to read as As Simple As It Seems, it was easy for me to turn the pages because I wanted to find out what happpened to the characters.
I plan on taking Dead End in Norvelt to the beach today. I'll let you know how it goes. My guess is that I'll be distracted by the beautiful scenery, but I'm hoping that the book can draw me in.
"Nothing better than driving through Georgia reading Curveball with tears running down your face, your husband shaking his head because he can't understand how anyone could cry over a book, and your daughter asking to read it when you're done."
Reading is social! I want to talk about good books that I've read and I need to be sure that I give students the opportunity to do this in my classroom. It's been amazing to see the conversations on Facebook right now about The Hunger Games. These kids are talking about books. While many of the kids are reading the book because of the movie, they are reading the book. Most of them are discovering very quickly that the book is so much better than the movie. I better stock up on Catching Fire before I get back to school.
I also have read As Simple as It Seems by Sarah Weeks and Unwind by Neil Shusterman. As Simple as It Seems is written in a very similar style as So B. It. It was an easy, predictable read. I enjoyed Unwind much more. It's strange, but science fiction is becoming my favorite genre. At times, I became confused with all of the characters. The book is separated into chapters that are titled with the character's name that the chapter is about. The character's lives intertwine throughout the book. Connor, Roland, and Risa are all kids who were on their way to be unwound which is a kind way of saying that they will be killed and their body parts will be divided among our people. Abortion is illegal in the United States at this point, but parents can choose to have their children "aborted" or unwound before they turn 18. Each of these kids have different stories, but end up together as they try to escape being unwound. While this book wasn't as easy to read as As Simple As It Seems, it was easy for me to turn the pages because I wanted to find out what happpened to the characters.
I plan on taking Dead End in Norvelt to the beach today. I'll let you know how it goes. My guess is that I'll be distracted by the beautiful scenery, but I'm hoping that the book can draw me in.
Monday, October 31, 2011
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