Sara's Classroom Reads

Saying Goodbye

2010-01-03T10:43:00.004-06:00

While I did enjoy reading this summer and blogging I have discovered I am just not cut out for blogging on a regular basis. So this will be the last entry for Sara's Classroom Reads. I thank everyone who followed and checked in with me. I will be focusing more on my crochet blog as I begin to focus more on creating toys and dolls. So if that interests you at all visit Bouncing Off Of Yarn Walls. Thanks again for your interest and remeber you can always visist my sis at Carrie's YA Bookshelf and get your book fix.

CONTEST WINNER!!!!!!!

2009-07-16T18:28:00.003-05:00

I am so sorry that this post is a few days late--some family happiness, hampered by some family sadness. But I have chosen the winner for my very first contest and am ready to post my second contest.

The winner of three great books: The Talented Clementine, Scaredy Squirrel, and Pumpkin Soup is. . . drum roll please . . . Dawn M.!!! Congratulations Dawn. I have sent you an email for your mailing information. Thank you to everyone who became a follower, left comments, and added me to your side links.

I promise to become a more consistent follower---so beings my next contest. Come back tomorrow for details. Thanks again to everyone!!!

Clementine's Letter

2009-07-04T11:33:00.002-05:00

Clementine's Letter by Sara Pennypacker

Clementine can't believe her ears--her beloved teacher, Mr. D'Matz, might be leaving for the rest of the year to go on a research trip to Egypt! No other teacher has ever understood her impulsiveness, her itch to draw constantly, or her need to play Beat the Clock when the day feels to long. And in his place, he's left a substitute with a whole new set of rules, which Clementine just can't figure out.
The only solution, she decides, is to hatch a plan to get Mr. D'Matz back. If it means ruining her teacher's once-in-a-lifetime chance---well, it'll be worth it. Won't it?

In Sara Pennypacker's third Clementine book you get to see a sweet kindness in Clementine that sometimes I think we can forget children posses. She is trying to make everyone feel happy and in turn figures out that this makes her happy. She does try to ruin her teacher's chances for his trip to Egypt but in the end decides to make him happy too. I still love all the vegetable names she comes up with for her brother, never being cruel, just being a kid.

As a teacher I can appreciate Clementine's problem with trying to figure out a new teacher's set of rules. In our building we often talk about how we assume to much and don't directly teach enough when it comes to rules and procedures. I guess we need to figure out the problem first and then find the solution, just like Clementine.

I highly recommend these books, so run my friends don't walk to the nearest library or book store and pick up a copy of Clementine's Letter, you won't be disappointed.

ROAWR!

2009-07-02T21:04:00.003-05:00

ROAWR! by Barbara Joosse and illustrated by Jan Jutte is an absolutely delightful book.

A Crack! Snap! ROAWR! awakens Liam in the middle of the night. Oh, dear, Papa is away and Mama is snore asleep. Mama is delicious to forest things. And Liam is just a boy--too small to fight them off!

What can Liam do?!

He'll dig a hole, bring sticks and string, and creep on furry feet to trap --Bear! Would that keep Mama safe? No. Liam may be just a boy, but suddenly he has an even bigger idea. Will it work?

Well, will it? This is a really fun book, it took no effort at to picture Liam plotting and creeping around on those furry feet. The story is a delight and the illustrations are amazing. I love the bear, especially his eye patch. My friends don't walk, run to the nearest library or bookstore and pick up ROAWR!

This would be a great story starter for writing narrative text. How would you solve the problem? Where did the bear come from? Why is the bear wearing an eye patch? Will Liam have more night time adventures?

Faithful followers don't forget my contest which will end on July 15th.

The Talented Clementine

2009-06-28T12:17:00.003-05:00

The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

When it comes to tackling third grade, Clementine is at the top of her game---okay, so maybe not all the time. After her teacher announces that the third and fourth graders will be putting on a talent show, Clementine panics. She doesn't sing or dance or play an instrument. She can't even hop with finesse. And as if she didn't feel bad enough, her perfect best friend, Margaret, has so many talents, she has to alphabetize them to keep them straight.

As the night of the big "Talent-palooza" draws closer, Clementine is desperate for an act, any act. But the unexpected talent she demonstrates at the show surprises everyone--most of all herself.

I L-O-V-E, love Clementine. She is such a great, fun kid without being a brat. I love how she seeks out her talents, only to surprise herself in the end. I also love that she continues to call her brother by various vegetable names, not out of meanness, but just as if they were his real name.

I am so happy that this book has been nominated by the Greater Kansas City Association of School Librarians for their 2009-2010 KC3 list. I think I will start the year off with this book as our first read aloud and then start a discussion with my class about our talents--the obvious and the not so obvious.

So my friends, once again, Run don't walk to your nearest bookstore or library and pick up this great book that will leave you with a huge smile on your face.

Don't forget about my contest that ends July 15th, you could win a copy of this great book.

Not a book, but still fun

2009-06-22T22:37:00.003-05:00

Every fall in my class we get to know each other by sharing information about ourselves. I always bring in my crochet scrapbook and share my hobby with my class. I usually try to make them each one thing each year, didn't happen last two years, but will try this year. Anyway, I decided to make something for my sister to give away in her Zombie deal this September. I thought I'd share the picture with you all, mainly because I'm pretty proud of the little guy.

I want to give credit to Christen Haden author of Creepy Cute Crochet, for the body and head. I also want to give credit to Elishabeth A. Doherty author of Amigurumi: Super Happy Crochet, for the wig idea. Promise a book posting tomorrow. (That's blood coming out of his mouth, not his tongue.)

First Ever Classroom Reads Contest!

2009-06-21T17:08:00.010-05:00

My sister says a great way to get people to read my blog, other than updating it, is to host a contest. So here goes, my first classroom reads contest. I will be giving away a paperback copy of the following books to one lucky person:

The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

In her second adventure, Clementine is the only untalented student in her third-grade class, with the talent show fast approaching. She hints that her family may be leaving Boston and moving to Egypt on Friday if her father takes the building manager job at the Great Pyramid, but her teacher just laughs. Her friend Margaret offers her tap-dancing lessons, but her improvised beer-cap tap shoes don't work. Her baby brother (variously called by vegetable names) always laughs when she sings like Elvis, but her parents veto the leash she needs to keep him on stage. It's Mrs. Rice, the principal, who finally shows everyone where the child's talents lie. Clementine is a true original, an empathetic human being with the observant eye of a real artist and a quirky, matter-of-fact way of expressing herself. Whether shopping for new shoes with her mother, saving the talent show, or dining with her parents at the Ritz-no-crackers restaurant, she is laugh-out-loud funny. Frazee's line drawings are plentiful and just right. Libraries will need multiple copies of this one, because early chapter-book readers will jump at the chance to spend another eventful week with Clementine.

Scaredy Squirrel by Melaine Watt

Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. It's way too dangerous out there. He could encounter tarantulas, green Martians or killer bees. But in his tree, every day is the same and if danger comes along, he's well-prepared. Scaredy Squirrel's emergency kit includes antibacterial soap, Band-Aids and a parachute. Day after day he watches and waits, and waits and watches, until one day ... his worst nightmare comes true! Scaredy suddenly finds himself out of his tree, where germs, poison ivy and sharks lurk. But as Scaredy Squirrel leaps into the unknown, he discovers something really uplifting ...

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

There's a good smell of soup, and at night, with luck, you might see a bagpiping Cat in the window, and a Squirrel with a banjo, and a small singing Duck. Everyone has their own jobs to do. Everyone is happy... or so it seems.... until one day Duck, the littlest one, decides it's his turn to stir the soup

There are 4 chances to enter:
+1 Comment and include your email address
+1 Become a follower
+1 Blog about my contest and please include a link
+1 Add me to your blogroll

I'm very excited about this contest and gathering new followers. The winner for the contest will be chosen on July 15th. Good luck!!

Those Darn Squirrels

2009-06-20T10:52:00.006-05:00

I know, if you look at this regularly, you are probably falling out of your chair: two posts in one day. Yes, two posts in one day. After finishing Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, I decided to pull out one of my new picture books, and boy am I glad I did.

Those Darn Squirrels by Adam Rubin is a wonderful book about a very grumpy old man.

Old Man Fookwire has a plan. He'll build some bird feeders and fill them with yummy seeds and berries. That way, the wild birds he loves so much will stick around for the winter--instead of flying south. But there are other hungry creatures in the forest, and they have plans too....Those darn squirrels! In this whimsical picture book, a grumpy old man and some mischievous squirrels math wits--with hilarious results.

I have to hear a picture book, so I read this one aloud to my cats. They sat patiently and seemed to be very interested in the bird pictures. I love Old Man Foodwire, he actually reminds me of my mom a bit. He' grumpy, doesn't like much but his birds, and is fighting with those darn squirrels. Very few people know that squirrels are the cleverest of all the forest creatures. They devise many a plan to steal birdseed for the winter and when the finally chase all of the birds off they come together to cheer up their enemy Old Man Fookwire.

Run, don't walk to your nearest book store and pick up this great read.

How do I plan to use this in the classroom? Glad you asked. I would read this book along with the Scaredy Squirrel books, then I would have my students compare the squirrels in Rubin's book to Scaredy. We would also ask ourselves some questions: would Scaredy steal from Fookwire, would Scaredy be helpful devising plans, would the other squirrels like Scaredy?

Clementine

2009-06-20T09:05:00.006-05:00

A great book about a kid, who is, of all things, a kid!

Clementine by Sara Penny Packer

Clementine is having not so good of a week.
* On Monday she's sent to the principal's office for cutting off

Margaret's hair.

* Tuesday, Margaret's mother is mad at her.

* Wednesday, she's sent to the principal...again.

* Thursday, Margaret stops speaking to her.

* Friday starts with yucky eggs and gets worse.

* And by Saturday, even her mother is mad at her.

Okay, fine. Clementine is having a DISASTROUS week!

I absolutely love Clementine. She has difficulty paying attention, loves art, calls her brother by different vegetable names, and comes up with what she thinks are great ideas to help her friend Margaret. As a teacher I'm tempted to label her ADHD, by as an aunt to some awesome nieces and nephews, I just call her a kid. A great, fun kid, who does kid stuff. None of the things Clementine does are to over the top or even mean, she just tries to help her friend Margaret and her help backfires. I love that she doesn't see herself as not paying attention but that others don't pay attention. They don't see the cool clouds, people's neat shoes, or think of tattoos.

I'm getting ready to start the next Clementine book and just can't wait to see what great ideas she comes up with. I plan to read this book to my class in the fall and talk about the difference between having an idea and following through with an idea. It would also be a great jumping off point to talk about how to help out friends.

Thank you Sara Pennypacker for writing a kid, who's just a kid. She's not a brat, she's not mouthy, she's not mean--she's just a great kid, one I wouldn't mind having in my third grade classroom.

The Many Adventures of Scaredy Squirrel

2009-05-07T20:54:00.018-05:00

I love books with animals. Any kind of animals will do, but the more ridiculous the better. I came across this book at my sister's bookstore in the spring of 2006 and bought just because of the title. I do this sometimes--I'm a freak. Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt.

When I got home I opened it--not kidding here. I laughed till I nearly peed my pants. I love this book. I took it to school the next week and read it to my kids. We laughed till we cried. This is one scared squirrel. I used this book to review several concepts that year to my kids. The book is great and includes not only one fabulous story but tons of springboard ideas. For example, Scaredy has a very strict schedule, so my kids and I wrote out our daily schedule for school and then one for home. We later wrote our dream day schedule. All these schedules were complete with clocks that had to be labeled with the correct time and the kids had to use less than 6 words to describe their activity. This made choosing the right word very important.

Next Scaredy is, well, scared of a lot of different and weird things. So each of my kids had to create their own scared of list--one silly and one serious and illustrate. We all got to talk about what we are scared of and that a lot of us shared the same fears--great team building.

Scared has a plan for everything, including a plan on what to do if attacked by any of the things he is scared of--so we made escape plans for our silly fears.

Finally the kids wrote their own Scaredy Squirrel adventures. It gave us yet another opportunity to work on story writing skills, editing, revising, finishing and finally publishing --complete with illustrations. We had some great stories.

Melanie Watt is a genius as far as I'm concerned and I knew this would be a book I'd use year after year, all year long. And I have but did Melanie stop there, no she didn't. My classroom now is home to all of Melanie's Scaredy Squirrel stories and my kids are just praying she'll write many more.

Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend

It's hard for a squirrel who's afraid of everything to make friends--but he does. We did all the above activities but also wrote about and role played ways to make and keep friends.

Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach

Scaredy wants to take a vacation but you guessed it--he's afraid of everything that has to do with vacations. What he comes up with is great. We added a personal narrative writing about a time we had to improvise a home vacation and how me made it work out for the best. Personal narratives are on our state test--it's the 3rd grade performance event--big points.

Scaredy Squirrel at Night

My class just received this book before state testing began in April. We've actually read it twice and it has prompted us to reread all the Scaredy Squirrel books. The class is once again working on Scaredy Squirrel adventures and we are going to be writing letters to Melanie Watt to be for more Scaredy Squirrel stories.

Well it's been awhile since I posted but boy did I have a lot to share today. So run out and get the Scaredy Squirrel books--they are great, funny stories with tons of outlets for more writing, scheduling, listing, illustrating, etc, etc. Scaredy even has his own web page: http://www.scaredysquirrel.com/

Why My Sister if Awesome

2009-04-26T10:34:00.003-05:00

So Carrie, my sister, talks me into to starting this blog. Knowing full well I won't keep up very well during the school year, but I started it. For anyone out there still checking it--I will be updating daily starting in early June, once school is out. So please have patience with me, and in the mean time check out Carrie's awesome blog, which is updated daily--Awesome Carrie

Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken

2009-02-11T06:07:00.010-06:00

On our state test and in our reading series our kids have to be able to answer questions using details from the story--no so hard. They also have to make inferences about setting--yeah right. I finally found a good book to help with setting inferences. One of my classes favorite authors is Kate DiCamillo--We love Tale of Despereaux! So I finally bought her new picture book Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken. First this is a beautifully illustrated book with short fun chapters. Louise has several adventures including being captured by pirates. Pretty much anyone who knows me can tell you pirates are a full time obsession of mine.

She longed for adventure. So she left her home and ventured out into the wide world. The pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar.
Yet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine . . .
She was brave. She was fearless. She was feathered. She was a chicken.
A not-so-chicken chicken. Her name?

Louise. She sets off on a ship headed out to sea only to be captured by pirates. She joins the circus as a high wire act, but what happens when she tumbles towards the jaws of a lion.

As I read the book my students knew they would have to be able to list three details from each of Louise's adventures. They also would have to make inferences about how she was feeling during her most perilous moments. To make inferences about setting I would ask them for each chapter if her adventure would have been different had she not been: on a ship, at a circus, etc. But they also had to tell me why. A good example was an answer from one of my PEP kids: "If there had been no ship for Louise to get on, then pirates wouldn't have captured her, their ship wouldn't have sunk, and Louise would have already been safe in the chicken house." Yeah my kids are pretty awesome.

So rush out today to your local bookstore, library or amazon and buy Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken and start making those inferences.

Just had to include Louise and the pirates.

The important thing about...

2009-02-10T06:53:00.001-06:00

I always start each new school year off with The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.

The important thing about The Important Book--is that you let your child tell you what is important about the sun and the moon and the wind and the rain and a bug and a bee and a chair and a table and a pencil and a bear and a rainbow and a cat (if he wants to).For the important thing about The Important Book is that the book goes on long after it is closed.What is most important about many familiar things—like rain and wind, apples and daisies—is suggested in rhythmic words and vivid pictures. ‘A perfect book . . . the text establishes a word game which tiny children will accept with glee.’

I read the book to the class. First we look for a the pattern, every item described in the book begins with the phrase "The important thing about _________ is that ____________" and then the description ends with "But the important thing about ____________ is that __________." We talk about how the author described the objects in her book. Then we start thinking about ways we could describe ourselves. Finally we write our own important paragraphs using the line "The important thing about me is that I am me" and ending the paragraph with "But the important thing about me is that I am me." I tell students they need at least 4 or 5 things about themselves in the paragraph.

This assignment lets me evaluate several things at the beginning of the school year: paragraph format, following directions, handwriting, sentence development, spelling, and grammar. It's a quick short assignment for the beginning of the year that gives me a lot of information. It also helps me pick out the kids who may need a bit of a self-esteem boost.

Pete & Pickles

2009-02-09T19:49:00.001-06:00

Every year on our state assessment students have to write a friendly letter. They usually have to write as one of the characters from the story they have read. I try to prepare my students for this by reading them books with multiple characters, then letting to them choose to write as one of the characters. I found a great new book that I used for this assignment this year.

Pete & Pickles by Berkeley Breathed is a fabulous book that lends itself to so many different areas of the classroom. Friendship, differences, sacrifice. This wonderful book is the story of Pete the very practical pig and a impulsive elephant named Pickles.

Pete is a perfectly predictable, practical, uncomplicated pig. At least, he was . . . before a runaway circus elephant named Pickles stampeded into his life, needing a friend. Pickles is larger than life and overflowing with imagination. She takes Pete swandiving off Niagara Falls. (Sort of.) And sledding down the Matterhorn. (Sort of.) Pete goes along for the wild ride and actually begins to enjoy himself . . . until Pickles goes too far. And Pete tells her she must leave.

Yet sometimes the simple life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Before I read the story I told my class that they would become one of the characters either Pete the pig or Pickles the elephant. They would write a friendly letter to me telling me all about their new friend, Pete would write about Pickles and Pickles would write about Pete. They must give three details from the story about their new friend and then make an inference based on the ending about whether the friendship will last.

I read the story aloud once, just for the fun of reading. As a class we compared Pete's personality to Pickles personality. Then students gathered paper and pencil and I read the book again. This time they would choose who they were writing as and begin taking notes on their new friend.

Finally the class wrote their letters, remembering the five parts of a friendly letter and to sign their letter as the character they choose to be while they wrote. The letters turned out wonderful. I was so thrilled with the results that I plan to post the letters around our classroom.

This book like other favorites of ours has been placed on bookshelf 12, a place for all our favorite books and authors.