Book Talk Tuesday: Mom Made Us Write This

I'm linking up with Mrs. Jump for another Book Talk Tuesday...

Please please please click on the book cover below to check out my post from Sunday raving about this new series about twins Max and Maggie... Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer by Ali Maier

Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer

I am SO excited to share about a wonderful book today! Introducing a new series "Max and Maggie" in their first journal-story entitled Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer by Ali Maier. I LOVE stories that encourage students to write and this is one that most definitely will! It even includes a section of pages at the end where readers can start their own journal!
I plan on reading this at the end of the year (this year) to encourage my kiddos to write over the summer and then next year I will read it at the beginning of the year to help kiddos come up with some great journaling ideas about their summer experience. I think I will use my document camera when reading aloud so my students can see how interactive the story is.
I would categorize this story with Gooney Bird Green in it's future importance in my class for writing motivation!

In Maier's children's novel, twins Max and Maggie just started their summer after fourth grade. Their mom, who is a former English teacher, gives them a journal in which they must write throughout the summer. WRITING... TOGETHER... IN THE SUMMER.... yikes!!! They each have to write 12 entries, switching who picks the topic. They are expected to read each others' entries and are allowed to comment on each others' entries (as long as they're polite). The back and forth comments between Max and Maggie in addition to seeing each twin's perspective keeps the reader engaged! Their comments to each other are funny and sarcastic and keep the narrative moving. I guarantee your students will love the uniqueness that the opposing views, different handwriting, variety of doodles and more. Max and Maggie are very likable characters and I found myself wanting to know even more about them!

Journaling books are super popular right now (and honestly, I LOVE them!) and this book is certainly accessible and of interest to students in grades 2-6 which as a 2nd grade teacher is a huge deal for me.

I find that many journaling style books although high interest, are not necessarily as accessible or "appropriate" for 2nd and 3rd graders, so I'm loving the possibilities this series will present for my 2nd graders who can't seem to get away from the journal type books no matter who the intended audience is!

This journaling story is also unique because of the two different views... this truly is a book that boys AND girls will enjoy equally! Not to mention ANYONE with a sibling!!!
Do you want to check out this book yet? You should!!!

Reading Level: This book is very new and has yet to make any lists with DRA, Guided Reading or Lexile levels. I will update this when one of these levels is available.
Everything I read said this story was appropriate for grades 2-6.

Teachers: here are some resources to help you use this book in your class...

Web Resources:

• Video - Show this video of a 4th grader reviewing the story to get students excited about reading Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer
• Character Blogs - Okay so the website for this book is outstanding... it includes character blogs... how exciting for students to be able to interact with the book's characters after reading!?
• Journaling - Yet another source from the book's website... this page offers a set of links for using a journal at home or at school!
• Book Website - All of the above resources are available through the book's website, which has even more for you to look through, so go check it out!
• Facebook Page - go check out the facebook page for this series so you know all about it when a new book comes out! Right now there are create your own journal books available as a part of the series.

 Vocabulary:
As I read, I jotted down any words students might need exposure to ahead of time or could be great words to ask students to create a 4-square for (during reading) and maybe even jigsaw to help ALL your students understand the words. Your need to focus on these words will certainly depend on the grade level & ability level of your students.
All words that I chose are tier 2 words... exceptional, interchangeably, innocent, hysterical, irritated, defiance, sarcastic, excessive, petrified, arrogant.

Activities:
Before Reading: Have students discuss their experience with keeping a journal.. Have you ever had a journal? What did you/would you write about? Would you ever share a journal with someone?

During Reading:

• Choose an entry and have students compare and contrast Maggie and Max's points of view.
• Choose an entry where Max and Maggie have opposing views. Ask students to discuss why they think Max and Maggie have different points of view. This would be a great opportunity to discuss point of view in regards to characters in reading as well as problem solving issues between classmates when there are differing points of view!

After Reading:

• Launch student journals after reading this book!
• Use the pages at the end of the story for students to brainstorm what they will include in their journal and answer questions about their journal.

I really enjoyed this book and I hope you will consider using it in your classroom! You can purchase a copy on Amazon. I see no better way to encourage students to write than using books like this one that are both about children writing AND high interest!

Book Talk Tuesday: Books on Books on Books

I'm linking up with Mrs. Jump for Book Talk Tuesday and I have a unique post for you today.

As some of you may know my blog started out in college as a blog to review books and offer teaching suggestions and resources.

I recently updated my "Great Books" tab to include a direct link to every book I've ever reviewed or posted on Book Talk Tuesday. I hope this will serve as a resource to those of you who are looking for a great read aloud or book for your students to read. Included with every "review" is reading level & resources. In addition, most of the book links include vocabulary, web resources, before/during/after reading ideas & more.

If you don't want to go check out the Great Books tab now... here are picture links to a few of my favorite books that I've posted about...

Enjoy!

Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade

Some things just don't change when moving grade to grade...

Lots of things have changed from 2nd grade in room 2B to third grade in 3B. In  Suzy Kline's, Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade, one of those changes is NOT
how horrible Harry can be, especially to his "sworn enemy," Sidney. When Sidney kills Harry's pet spider, their relationship only gets worse! But in typical Harry fashion, he comes up with a plan of revenge that will take place on the class field trip to a copper mine with a creepy history. I'm sure you will enjoy Harry's antics in Horrible Harry Moves up to Third Grade. And if you enjoy this book, you'll enjoy the other Horrible Harry books!

Reading Level: Guided Reading L
                          DRA 28
                          Lexile  460L

Teachers... here are some resources for you...

Web Resources:

• Here is a freebie from me filled with comprehension questions for each chapter.
• Check out this multiple choice quiz for quick comprehension after each chapter.
• Suzy Kline's author site has a few ideas, scroll down to find Horrible Harry Moves up to Third Grade.
• Check out how this teacher used Miss Mackle's memento assignment in her classroom!

Vocabulary:
 Chapter 1: archway, boulders, phony, bouquet, wastepaper basket
Chapter 2: monitor, employment, temporarily, memento, magmum opus, souvenir, revenge
Chapter 3: cellophane, abdomen, cringed, sneered, pleaded
Chapter 4: rocky, bargain, dashed, peered, dreaded
Chapter 5: fossil, courtyard, counterfeiter, ransack, musket, groped, frayed, handkerchief
Chapter 6: chaperone, smear, pronto, compliment, can (bathroom)

Activities:
Before Reading:

• If your kiddos have read Horrible Harry books before, make a list of things that they predict will be the same or different in this book.
• Preteach some of the vocab. My students had difficulty with phony and abdomen in particular

During Reading:

• Keep track of what is the same and different from last year and 2B and this year in 3B. Especially in the first chapters there is a lot of mention about what has and has not changed. This activity will be even better if the kiddos have read Horrible Harry books before.
• Ask kiddos what kind of memento they would bring in and why.
• Have a discussion about the interactions between Harry and Sidney. Who would you "side with" and why? Who has the upper hand? What would you do if you were Harry or Sidney?

After Reading:

• What do you predict will happen between Harry and Sidney as the year goes on?
• Write a part of the story from Harry or Sidney's perspective.
• Write about what Sidney was doing when he disappeared from his perspective.

Across the Curriculum: Science

• Does your grade level have a rocks unit? Perfect companion fiction book for it!
•  Have your kiddos read a nonfiction book or article on the black widow and brown recluse or other spiders.

The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room

Richard is a "stay-back" will he ever fit in?

When Richard "Beast" Best has to stay back and be in class with "babies" then finds out his old friends aren't interested in his friendship anymore, Richard isn't sure he's going to survive! But then it gets worse, he has to go to the special reading class. Will Richard be able to stay out of trouble and help his new class win the good behavior banner? Find out in Patricia Reilly Giff's The Beast in Ms. Roney's Room.

Reading Level: Guided Reading - M
                           DRA - 28
                           Lexile - 340L

Teachers... here are some resources for you...

Web Resources:

•  Reading A-Z: If your school district or you have a reading A-Z account, use this lesson plan and worksheets to help you teach with this book.
• Freebie from me. Enjoy these Comprehension Questions that I use with my reading group/club when they are reading this book.
• Richard is a perfect example of a character who changes throughout a story. Use the freebie from me for character development.

Vocabulary:
gigantic, wondered, banner, assembly, auditorium, poke, tough, asparagus, midget, silky, skidded, exception, faucet, remedial, clamped, cement, inched

Activities:

Before Reading:
Ask students to preview the book looking at pictures and reading the first line or 2 of each chapter. Then have students write down questions or predictions they have.

During Reading:
As helpful as comprehension packets are for reading groups and book clubs, sometimes it is SO much more telling for the kiddos to have a discussion. As a teacher, it's really hard not to jump in and correct or redirect, but after some practice, the kiddos can run their own book talks. Try introducing this conversation menu (based on 2nd grade CCSS, but can easily be applied to other grades) to help focus students' comments during discussion. Also use this "adding to comments" sentence starters to help students appropriately add to or respond to others' comments.

After Reading:
This book is GREAT to focus on how a character responds to major events and changes. Use the freebie above to organize the ways Richard changed throughout the story.

Penguins & Holidays!

I'm linking up with 5 for Friday today with a little penguin & holiday fun...

I've been dying to weave my love of penguins into my curriculum the past 2 years and this year, with a unit ending 2 weeks before the break and not wanting to fully start our next unit gave me the PERFECT opportunity! Especially since we are moving from fiction to nonfiction... I could read fiction penguin books, make the transition to non-fiction, then compare fiction and nonfiction, oh how I love when the stars align!

Thanks to Amy Lemons' penguin unit I have all kinds of craftivities and printables to use this past week and this coming week to help us try to enjoy this cold! Click the photo below to get your own copy!

New door decs for December! Penguin themed of course. My kiddos made these craftivities from Amy Lemon's unit above! I loved that one of my ladies picked the big blue bow tie to put in their penguin's hair!

Much love to Scholastic for their points that have been helping me build my classroom library over the past 2 years. This time, they helped me to buy presents for each of my kiddos. I loved that they had a "2nd grade" pack with multiple copies of multiple levels so that I could get a just right book for each kiddo.

Gotta love snow days (except for when you're making them up in June!) See my last post to get the recipes for these delicious goodies!

 

Be on the lookout for posts this weekend on some of my kiddos latest guided reading picks...

Now it's time to get snowed in for the weekend with the hubby & the puppy!

Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball

When I discovered that I had a set of Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball by David A. Adler hiding in my classroom library, I was giddy with excitement! I LOVE Cam Jansen but didn't have the money to buy sets of Cam Jansen along with the Flat Stanley, Henry and Mudge, Toad and Frog and Horrible Harry sets I was creating in my nearly bare classroom library last year. This year, changing schools, and briefly going through the books left in the room, it completely went unnoticed that I had this set of Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball. I came across them during my not so fast crawling process of leveling my library in the midst of everything else that needs to be done during the week...

Okay, enough chatting, for those "great books" fans of the past (if you didn't know this is how my blog started) and fans of the present, here's a book review and classroom ideas, hooray...

Photographic Memory & Baseball

Introducing Cam Jasen, whose real name is Jennifer, but earned the nickname "Cam" because of her photographic memory (think - Camera!) She is a curious and smart and loves nothing more than solving crimes with her best friend Eric.
This mystery involves a hobby show, a very impressed crowd and a missing baseball signed by none other than Babe Ruth! When Cam and Eric meet Mr. Baker and see his baseball collection, Mr. Baker becomes quickly impressed with Cam's ability to memorize and tell all about a baseball player after one glance at a baseball card. In the excitement of a crowd asking Cam to memorize various cards, Mr. Baker's most prized possession, his signed Babe Ruth baseball, disappears. It is up to Cam and Eric to find out who stole Mr. Baker's baseball! Get caught up in David A. Adler's mystery series in Cam Janeen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball.

Reading Level: Guided Reading: L (and so are all the other Cam Jansen mysteries which I find much more convenient than the series that jump around, it's hard to tell a kiddo well, you'll enjoy and be comfortable with this book in the series, but not this one)
                          DRA: 20
                          Lexile: 500L

Teachers... here are some resources for you.

Web Resources:

• Teacher Resources: This link within David A. Adler's website is just for teachers! It includes ways to introduce mysteries, discussion questions and activities to go along with Cam Jansen books.
• Monthly Planning: Why not make it a Cam Jansen year?! Here is a planner to help you pair up Cam Jansen stories month-by-month.
• Teacher's Guide: Some overlap from the above links but lots of other activities & printables as well, and all free (unless you've surpassed your max number of free views on Teacher Vision)
• Vocabulary: A free vocabulary printable companion for this story focusing on context clues.

Freebie from me! Comprehension questions chapter by chapter. This is the exact packet I am currently using for the guided reading group reading this book.

Vocabulary: Same as words in vocabulary link above.
Chapters 1 & 2: hobby, exhibits, autograph, photographic memory, upset, valuable
Chapters 3 & 4: amazing, apology, reached, explain
Chapters 5 & 6: avoid, lobby, confused, flier
Chapters 7 & 8: complaint, proud

Activities
Before Reading: Access background knowledge: Do you know anything about Babe Ruth? If not, what can we infer about Babe Ruth based on the title of the story? What is a mystery? Do mysteries have the same story parts as a narrative/What are the important parts of a mystery?
For the last question, use this guide to mystery elements from Teacher Resources link above.

During Reading: Have kiddos read one chapter at a time, prereading questions from the freebie packet then discussing afterwards. Make sure students know they can/how to go back and access the text to find answers. Depending on your students' level of experience with answering comprehension questions in written format and accessing text, you may want to model with a think aloud and answering questions together for the first chapter.

After Reading: If this is the first time your kiddos are reading a mystery story, be sure to find out what they thought about mysteries and if they would want to read a mystery again. It is important to know your students' interests so that you can build a classroom library that will encourage your students to read!

Bad Kitty Runs for President

Hilariously Educational!

Nick Bruel takes us on a hilariously entertaining (yet educational) journey with Bad Kitty as she learns about the election process in Bad Kitty for President. This children's graphic novel if filled with fantastic (an also hilarious) illustrations as the narrator talks Bad Kitty through the election she is running in against Big Kitty, since Old Kitty has already served his 8 years and can't run again. Big Kitty hits the campaign trail: kissing babies, throwing fits, getting donations and more. But does Bad Kitty (or Big Kitty) have what it takes to become president? Find out who wins, while learning an awful lot about our own election process, I promise you will laugh (and probably learn something too)! And seriously teachers, what better way to teach your kiddos about the election if it is an election year or if teaching voting is in your Social Studies curriculum (like it was for me in 2nd grade this past year!)

Reading Level: DRA 40
                      Lexile 690L
                      Guided Reading R
*I think the reading level is so high because of all the content vocabulary, my second graders loved this book and could handle reading it with some help on the content words.*

Teachers... here are some resources to help you to use this book in your classroom...

Web Resources:

• Activities: This link provides some fun activities you can do with your class after reading.
• Trailer: Show your class this hilarious book trailer video before reading!
• Series Website: Find out about the author and the other Bad Kitty books here!

Vocabulary: All these words (with really fantastically funny definitions from Edna) are in the back of the book. Be sure to directly teach these words as without vocabulary instruction this book will be difficult for many 2nd and 3rd graders.
President, office, primary, election, nominee, party, delegates, convention, caucus, 527 group, debate, moderator, polling station, ballot, write-in candidate, register, absentee ballot, democracy

Activities:
Before Reading: Create a KWL with your class with the title: Voting and Elections. Have your kiddos generate responses for what they know and want to learn about elections.

During Reading: (This could work as an after reading activity too)
Have your kiddos create a vocabulary journal for an election.
Students can write the word, write their own definition then draw a picture to help remind them what the word means.
When I teach with a book with so much vocabulary, I often break the class into 4-6 groups and give each group a word. Each member will write the word, their own definition and draw a picture. When the groups are done, they will "jigsaw" (mix the groups up so one member of each word group is now in the mixed group i.e. you have a group for president, office, primary and election, there are 4 kiddos in each group. When they jigsaw EACH group will have one member from president, office, primary and election)
The kiddos teach their new group about THEIR word. If there is time, the students can choose one or more of the words they learned from a group member and add the word to their vocab journal.

After Reading: Finish the L from your KWL, having students generate responses to what they learned about elections.
Discussion/Journal: Do you agree with who became the Cat's president? Why or why not?

Cross Curricular: Social Studies
You are already teaching a Social Studies concept just by reading this book to your class, but why not take it a step further?

• Have a class election: Read some other great election books such a Duck for President or Grace for President. Have your kiddos run for president of the class. What kind of power will the president have? How will the class hold the election? You can have lots of fun with this!
• Instead of voting for a person, vote for what the class can do as an extra activity. The trick is, the class has to figure out how they can get the ideas down to only 2 to vote for. How will they promote their favorite idea? How will they tally the votes?
• Find out if your local town hall will give your students a tour through the voting process: standing in line to vote, filling out the voting card, submitting it into the machine, etc. Maybe they will even let your kiddos vote in a mock election!

Flat Stanley

Flat? But how?

I can't believe I haven't posted about Jeff Brown's first in the Flat Stanley series, Flat Stanley. This was one of the first real chapter books I read with my higher readers at the beginning of the year in guided reading. They got hooked, and even when they were more than able to read tougher books, they were determined to read as many in the series as they could before the year was over.

In Jeff Brown's first of the MANY to follow Flat Stanley books, Stanley goes to sleep a normal, 3-dimensional boy, only to wake up with a bulletin board on top of him, leaving him completely flat. The doctor had no idea what was wrong, and other than being flat, Stanley was perfectly healthy. Stanley finds he can do many things as a flat boy that he couldn't when he was normal size. Find out about Stanley's mail adventure, police work and even being used as a kite. Will Stanley ever go back to normal? Find out in Flat Stanley, and I'll bet you get hooked and want to read more and more of the Flat Stanley series!

Reading Level: DRA 24
                       Lexile 640L
                       Guided Reading M


Teachers... here are some resources for this chapter book...

Web Resources

• Fun for Students: Check out these fun online games and activities your students can use to get even more into the Flat Stanley series!
• Flat Stanley Community: Use this resource to find out about great Flat Stanley apps (have an iPad in your classroom?). This website also tells you how to use Flat Stanley to teach about Earth Day, Symmetry and more (Click resources & teaching materials)
• Printables & more!: Find vocabulary, word searches, discussion questions, and more. (Not every link here works, but many do!)
• FREEBIE from me: Comprehension questions using T.A.P. (turn it around, answer it, prove it)

Vocabulary: altered, bulletin, disguise, dread, grating, jealous, jostle, ordinary, portable, recent, wedge

Activities

Before Reading: Discussion or journal: In the picture on the cover, Stanley is coming out from under a door. What other things do you think you could do if you were flat?

During Reading: Discussion or journal: How is Stanley's brother Arthur feeling? Why is he feeling that way? Pretend your Arthur. How would you feel and why?

Have a class "debate." One group tells why it would be great to be flat while the other group tells why it is better to be normal size.

After Reading: Compare and contrast Stanley and Arthur. Create character maps for each of them.

Arthur came up with a great idea for how to make Stanley not flat anymore, can you think of other ideas for how you might have helped Stanley? Illustrate your idea(s).

Across the Curriculum: Social Studies

• Classroom Adventures: Use these ideas to have your own traveling Flat Stanley in your classroom. Maybe you could send Flat Stanley to relatives of students in your class who live in other parts of the country or world. Use a map to keep track of where Stanley visits. Use your traveling Stanley as a way to introduce geography and other Social Studies content!

Happy Reading (& Running!) =)

Amber Brown is Not a Crayon

Will Amber Brown survive without her best friend?

Amber Brown and Justin Daniels have been best friends since Amber can remember. They are the perfect pair. Justin helps Amber with fractions, while she helps him with spelling. Amber has better handwriting, and Justin is a much neater gluer. The friends have known Justin would be moving eventually, ever since his father moved for a new job. Secretly, Amber has been hoping Justin's family's house would never sell. But then, when it does, their friendship begins to change... What will happen in Paula Danziger's Amber Brown is Not a Crayon?

Reading Level: Guided Reading: N
                        Lexile: 720L


Teachers... here are some resources for you...

Web Resources

• Extension Activities: these are great activities to complete with your class after reading Amber Brown is Not a Crayon. The last activity "Takeoff" goes great with Social Studies, yay for cross-curricular ideas!
• Reading A-Z: If your school has a subscription to Reading A-Z, here is a link that will take you to a lesson and discussion questions for this story.
• Literature Enrichment: These activity ideas create great extensions that you could do as a whole class, in reading groups or book clubs depending on how you choose to use this book in your class.
• FREEBIE from me! Here is a comprehension sheet using T.A.P. (Turn it Around, Answer It, Prove it) It's a google doc and you can easily get rid of the T.A.P. icon if you don't want it  or message me and I can send you a copy without it.

Vocabulary: Here are some words you may want to pre teach, point out, etc. before or during reading.
active imagination, anchovies, applauds, charity, combination, contributed, debate, defend, gory, immature, imitate, obnoxious, promotion, sarcastic, torment (you can find more words through this link)

Activities
Before Reading: Discussion or journal: In this story, Amber Brown's best friend Justin is going to be moving away. Have you ever had a friend move away? How did you feel? How would you feel if your best friend moved away? On the cover art of one edition of this book, it says "fighting with your best friend is no fun" why do you think Amber and Justin might be fighting in this book, based on what you know about someone moving away?

During Reading: Discussion or journal: Amber and Justin stop talking to each other when Justin starts packing. Why does Amber Brown stop talking to Justin? Do you think she is making a good or bad decision by not talking to him? Why? What would you do the same or different?

After Reading: Amber Brown and Justin now live far away from each other. What are some ways Amber Brown and Justin could stay friends? Pretend you are Amber Brown and write a letter to Justin about how things have changed now that he's gone. Pretend you are Justin and write a letter to Amber Brown talking about your new school.

Cross Curricular: Social Studies See the link above for a great Social Studies connection... think, traveling in your classroom just like Amber Brown's class does!

Happy Reading (& Running!)

Fairy Tales

Once Upon A Time...

My second to last ELA unit was by far my favorite! I was required to teach fairy tales, yay!

Focus Standards:

• RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures and determine their central message, lesson or moral.
• RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

Introducing Fairy Tales:

Class discussion... what is a fairy tale? What fairy tales have we read? What makes a story a fairy tale?

Books we read:

3 Versions of the 3 Little Pigs...

 

Click for the 3 Little Pigs journal we used. I can't remember where I downloaded this from (if you're the author let me know so I can give you credit!) I made 2 addition copies of the describe the pigs/wolf and story map pages and put them together so the kiddos could describe all 3 stories. I also created this page and put it after the "describe" pages for the kiddos to complete if they had time after each story. You could also use this in the Cinderella journal below if you choose.

3 Versions of Cinderella...

Click for the Cinderella Journal we used.

3 Versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears...

   

Click for the Goldilocks and the Three Bears Journal we used.

After We Read each story...

After we read all these fairy tales, we read The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales and talked about fractured fairy tales.

I did a lesson on creating our own fractured fairy tales.

We used a simple brainstorming web to think about what story we would like to create a new version of and how we would change it.

Students then completed a story map identifying who the characters would be, the setting, problem and solution.

Students also created a graphic organizer identifying what would happen first, next, then and last.

Students finally created a rough draft of their story.

When they were done with their rough draft, they conferenced with me and I helped them to edit their stories.

Finally they copied over their story with our corrections onto a final draft. They also had the opportunity to illustrate a cover page for their story.

The kiddos conferenced 2-5 minutes with me after completing each step, but our "editing" conferences took closer to 15 minutes for some students. Some of my kiddos loved this and finished in about a week. Others worked very hard to finish taking nearly 2 weeks. They were so proud of their final pieces!

You can grab my fractured fairy tale mini unit at my TPT store!

Our fairy tales bulletin board (combination of our journals and fractured fairy tales) & door decoration...

Happy Fairy Tale Reading (& Running)