Welcome 5th Grade!

I am so glad school has started back again!  Mom has been telling me all about her new 5th graders and she can't stop telling me about you all!  My name is Harley and RRRRReading is my favorite thing to do...well besides chasing a ball, sleeping, doing tricks, and eating!  I can't wait to get started with Reading class and meet all of you!  We are going to have a really exciting, fun, and adventurous time reading all of our books, meeting our goals, and learning new things.  I turned 3 years old this year and I am really getting good at my reading skills and comprehension.  My favorite books of all to read are about dogs!  Getting to read books that are interesting to me are the best to read and keep me wanting to read more.  I am so glad that mom made this blog so that I can be a part of your class and get to know you and stay in touch with you and what your learning.  So, let's start by you telling me a little about yourselves...

1. What is your favorite kinds of books to read?

2. If you read over the summer what books did you read?

3. What is your goal for Reading this year?

4. What can you do this year to improve from last year?

I can't wait to hear from you all and get to know more about you!  We are going to have so much fun this year!  Happy Reading! Your  Pawl~Harley the Reading Hound

Passionate Poetry!

We have learned not only to become passionate about poetry, but to also learn just how to read it and really honestly understand what it means.  We have learned that poetry can have many elements, but some that we have recently focused on are mood, tone, consonance, line breaks, rhythm, rhyme scheme, alliteration, and repetition; just to name a few.  You have also written at least two poems by this point.  Our first poem was an acrostic poem, where we used our own name to create a thematic list of words or phrases that described us.  We had a lot of fun with those and I learned so much about you all!  The second poem we have written is called a found poem.  So far the ones I have seen are WONDERFUL!  Please post your found poems here and include what elements you think they have!

Our unit on poetry has turned out so well!  I have really enjoyed the poetry that you have all written and decided how better to share it then to have you post it right here in our blog!  Just remember NO last names and don't forget to give the author of the book you used credit!  I can't wait to see them here!

~Mrs. S

Inspiration of an Author

Have you even been inspired?  What were you inspired to do?  I often am inspired to write poetry, books, blogs, and even paint paintings!  Different things in nature or events that have happened in my life and even people inspire me to do these things.  Jerry Spinelli is no different.  He gets inspiration from a number of places when he begins writing a book!  I recently learned that the seed to his inspiration of
Maniac Magee came from a song written in the 1960's!  It was called "Dancin in the Street" by Martha and the Vandals.  He states that it was his fictional expression of his vision for everyone-of every race and every background-dancing in the streets, that the song evokes.  Maniac even bears a close resemblance of one of Jerry's childhood friends.  This friend was an orphan and often became restless during class.  This student was allowed to get up and take a lap around the classroom.  Jerry said he remembered him running practically every where.  Amanda Beale came from a student that Jerry met while visiting a school as an adult.  The 6th grader he met that day did actually carry around a whole suitcase of books to keep them safe from her siblings.  So you see as writers we can funnel inspiration from any part of our life and experiences.  Set the writer inside you free!

What's in a Name?

Have you noticed how many of the characters in Maniac Magee have nick names?  Almost everyone in the book has a nick name.  Jeffery at one point even gets worried about being called Maniac, because he is afraid he will lose his name and that is the only thing left that his deceased parents had given him.  Amanda even begins calling Mars Bar Thompson "Snickers" after he loses his fierceness.  Notice who does and doesn't have a nick name in our story. How do they earn them or lose them?  How do you feel about having a nick name?  Notice who calls Jeffery Maniac and who doesn't.  Is there a reason for this? Check out these websites about nicknames here.

 Now that we have read all through chapter 13 we need to check our comprehension.  Please click here to take the test for chapters 6-11.  You have all done a great job with our first book club!  I hope you are having as much fun as I am!
-Mrs. S. :)

Home Run Maniac

In order to better understand what we read, we must first be able to understand the elements of a story.  To begin today's lesson first fill out your exit slip answering the question: I think plot is...  Then with your partner research on the I pad here what the elements of a story are.  Record your answers in your journal.

Now that Maniac's legend has begun to unfold we have found out many things about Maniac's character.  Describe Maniac.  What do you think he looks like physically?  Now describe his personality traits.

One of the most important events to the story happened early in the book.  Shortly after introducing us to Jeffery we find that he has become an orphan at the age of three.  After staying a while with his aunt and uncle who wouldn't speak to one another he went on the run. As a result of him leaving, poor Maniac is now homeless.  Homelessness affects many people.  It may affect more people than we realize.  In fact there is probably a good chance that someone you know is without a home. It doesn't necessarily mean they live on the street.  It just means that they do not own or rent a home of their own. Using the I pad research homelessness and answer the questions linked to the scavenger hunt on this topic.   If you used the I pad for the last task allow your partner to use it this task.  Click the word homeless to play the game.  Please record your answers in your journal as well.  Be sure to post your answers to this blog as well.

If you finish these two tasks explore the links related to the underground railroad and slavery.

Maniac Makes a Friend

Wow, let me first say that my new fifth graders have not let me down and I never expected you to, but you all have went above and beyond what I expected for these first few weeks of school. Your blog comments on our first post are proof that this year is going to be great!  They are top notch!

We have just finished the first 4 chapters of our first book in our book club and we have already found some very interesting things about our main character.  What kid would not want to acquire the abilities that Maniac has?  However, most of us would not want to be in his situation!  An orphan, homeless and running...

We have discussed previously what theme is, but we haven't found a theme interlaced in our new story yet.  After reading chapter 3 we should have an idea of a theme that is beginning to develop in our story.  Maniac meets Amanda Beale, who he borrows a book from.  What is different about Amanda?  Well we find out that she is not white as Maniac is and because she wonders why a white kid like Magee is in the east end of town where it is primarily black, we can assume that there must be segregation.  What is Segregation?  If you are not sure click the word segregation within  the blog and research it.  Racism is a dominate theme throughout Maniac Magee and a major part of our story.  Have you ever been discriminated against in anyway-on the basis of race, religion, or social class?  What do you believe was the root of this discrimination you experienced?  What emotion may have been the cause?  Share your experience of discrimination if you wish. 

Once you have finished reading to chapter five in the book, during class take a quiz over these chapters.  Click here to take the quiz.

Welcome New 5th Graders!

Welcome to our class blog.  What is a blog you say?  The dictionary definition for the word blog states that it is a web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites.  So this really is just a fancy writer's journal we could say. This is a neat way we can learn about Reading and talk to each other about our books.  I will write posts and you will get to comment or answer questions that I post here on the blog.  Make your questions and comments great ones, because comments that are not directly related to Reading will not be posted to our blog.  I think you will find this to be a really fun way to practice being a writer.

Wow!  How lucky I am to have such bright new students this year!  I just know it is going to be a great year!  After all we have been going from good to great here at Lewisburg, so I guess that makes it pretty fitting.  We are going to be doing some really fun stuff in Reading class and I can't wait to get started. 

Let's practice  blogging today to see what it will be like.  What kinds of books do you like to read?  Did you read any over the summer?  What has been your over all favorite book read?  Don't forget to add your name to your blog so we will all know who posted a comment!