The One and Only Ivan

Today I finished reading my class The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate and we LOVED it. The kids were asking for extra reading time and we were having awesome discussions around vocabulary and comprehension and inferences. The characters are amazing and we were loving them!

One day last week I used the app iCard Sort to blast the students a huge list of adjectives. Then when we were done reading for the day they worked with a group to identify which adjectives described Ivan. They did an amazing job and I was super proud, they were on task the entire time and I finally had to have them move back to their desks. Each student shared his/her favorite adjective and they had to defend (Common Core :) it. Other students could disagree but they had to be able to say why. The conversation was amazing and we had the best time. I was amazed how students were choosing the same adjectives but were giving different reasons, it is so cool the way they think!

Wonder

Last night I finished Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Wonder is the story of Auggie who was born with a facial deformity and the year he started middle school. The year Auggie started middle school was also the first year he went to school, before this he was home schooled. This is the story of what he knows and learns about people. It is also the story of what people learn from Auggie.

I loved this book and I know it is a story that will stay with me for a long time to come. I highly recommend this book for all middle school children and adults. This is a must read!!!!!!

The Wonder movement of choose kind seems so simple yet so many of us don't. I hope this book makes a difference for you the way it did for me.

http://choosekind.tumblr.com/

Say Hello to Zorro!

Say Hello To Zorro is the story of Mr. Bud and his schedule and how his schedule makes him very happy. Then Zorro comes to live with him and things are different...or are they?

So this book is an amazing read and an amazing book to use for teaching! I think I had as much fun reading and teaching with this book as my students listening and learning. Every page of this book is great for making inferences, using the pictures for feelings, adjectives, point of view, character traits and it has a great lesson. This book basically screams COMMON CORE COME AND GET ME!

When we were done reading the book I had my students choose either Mr. Bud or Zorro and they had to come up with six adjectives. Then they read the adjectives and we had to guess who they were describing. It was a lot of fun and turned into a great lesson about how we can use different words to say the same thing and I was amazed with the different adjectives the kids came up with!

This book is also a 2014 Monarch Award Nominee (Illinois)!

I loved this book so much I think I am going to have to order Zorro Gets An Outfit because how could a book with that title NOT be amazing?

Spring Fever

I just finished reading Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews! It was the perfect spring break/beach read. It was one of those books that sucked me in and I couldn't put it down. I loved the characters and missed then when I done reading.

Spring Fever is about Annajane and Mason and their lives after their divorce from each other as they are moving on with their lives. Even though they are divorced their lives are still intertwined because of a family business and a little girl named Sophie.

This is the perfect spring break or beach read!!