Summer Reading Projects

We've been thinking about the summer reading projects we want to do. Here are some of our ideas! AJ: I want to read a ton of books by Dave Pikley because they are really funny and they include comics that are funny. Sometimes I read them by myself, and then I'll talk about them with my mom. Arya: I'm going to read the Harry Potter series. I like that it's all full of adventures. I'll read them on my own, and I'll keep a notebook about the series. I'll put in the pressures Harry is facing and information about the powers and how they change. Asa: Generally I like to see what books we have and read those, but I am interested in fantasy books. I like books with made-up adventures in our world. Sometimes they inspire me to take action or draw or to build something. Asia: I'm going to read books by the author of Floors, Patrick Carman. He writes Mystery books that are filled with clues you have to find out. I'll read them with Layna and some other friends. We'll meet to talk about them a few times over the summer. Dante: I think fiction reading makes the most sense for me. I want to read the Hunger Games series. I also want to read books about drawing comics and work on drawing those as I read. Edison: I will read the Shredderman series. It's funny, about how a kid opens his own website and gets and bully in trouble. I'm really going to focus in on the bully find study him. I think what he does is so important to the whole book. Freya: I might read a bunch of books by Kate DiCamilo because she makes stories that are realistic but not completely. She has some good secondary characters that I could study and write about. I could also try to think about the purpose of the characters and how the books would change if they weren't there. Gerrit: I'm going to read books by Suzanne Collins because I find them very entertaining. I want to make a chart showing the Hunger Games and Gregor the Overlander. I want to see how the problems match between the two books, because it might help me figure out what Suzanne Collins's life was like. Greg: I'm going to San Fransicso and I don't know much about it, so I'm planning to read about different places we could go, tourist attractions, and just all about it. Hadi: I want to read a lot of books by Rick Riordan because I think they are really interesting. He always has a really clear focus--books about the gods-- but with different information in each book. I'll think about differences and similarities across the books. Hayden: First I want to finish up the last two books in the Artemis Fowl, Jack Blank Book Two, the Serpent's Shadow, and Athena's Mark. They are all fictional books that turn everyday things we know about into crazy things that aren't really real. I'll pay attention to things thaw appear one way but are really another way. Jack: I love the Calvin and Hobbes books. I think they are really funny. I started them last year, and I want to finish them. Sometimes you see Hobbes in his natural way and sometimes as a stuffed animal. I want to study what's real and what Calvin imagines. Jake: I want to read several times a day. I want to read the Bunnicula books. If always been interested in them, but I've never gotten a chance to get to know the characters. I've never heard of killer rabbits before. Kate: I'm going to read dystopian novels, novels about strange futures and science fiction. I read the Hinger Games which is a dystopian novel. I'll pay attention to the differences and similarities between now and what the author wrote. I'll start conversations about it with my family, and we'll just talk about it for a long time. Also, I could just jot down my thoughts and grow off of those ideas whenim in bed at camp and about to go to sleep. Louise: Since I'm going to go to Argentina is summer, I'm going to read all about Argentina. I'm going to read a lot of books by Wendy Mast and Gordan Korman because the books I've already read by me them have been really good. Madison: In my camps, I want to find some friends to read books that are dramatic, like Hungeer Games. We could read the Hunger Games or The Divergent Series. We could me together and talk about it. Each of us could study one group of people in the books and become an expert on them. Malinee: I want to start by finishing the Hunger Games series. I also want to read the 39 Clues series. I like how they are really mysterious. I'll be thinking about power because the power changes a lot. I'll write about it because I have a few pages left in my readers notebook. Natalija: I want to read the Chronicles of Narnia because I've watched the movies but I've never read the books. I like how they are kind of realistic fantasy, where I doesn't seem so far fetched. I'll write about the big, main ideas and the characters' flaws. Parker: I love books by Seymour Simon. I loved his books about storms. I could read a lot of books by him. I'd study the important facts that would help me with my job after college. Sofia: I just got the whole Harry Potter series for my birthday, so I'm reading the series. I want to study about power and position and perspective while I read. I'll write about what I figure out. Spencer: I want to read all the Tintin books because I really like the series. My mom has all the Tintin books, but in French. I want to see how the main characters have different amounts of power, and find out who has the most power. Veronica: I want to finish the Hunger Games series and then take on the Harry Potter series. I tried it before when I'm younger, but I think I'm ready for it now. I'll read a book and the watch the movie that goes with it so I can see how it's done differently as a movie. I'll keep a notebook of what I think. Will: I'm going to have a book club with Zora where we read the Molly Moon series together. We can chat over Skype to make plans for what we read, and then we can skype again to talk about our ideas. Character relationships will be huge to pay attention to because often they help her survive. Wriley: I already ordered a lot of books for the summer. I'm going to be away in Montok, and I've always wanted to study the birds there. I could study the birds there, and just birds more in general. I'd pay attention to what kinds of birds they are, and even make a map of what kinds of birds there are and where there nests are. Zora: I was thinking about doing a book club with Will. We would choose a book and read the whole thing and talk about it at the end. I also got three new books from the library that classmates have read, so I'll read those and lots of other books too.

Spring Break Reading

It's Spring Break! That means we have 10 extra days to read! What are you reading over the break? Leave a comment to tell what you are reading, and check the comments to see what other people are reading!

Fantasy Book Clubs (by Dante)

The books we're reading for our fantasy unit are fantasy and fiction, which means they're fake and anything can happen. We are paying attention to pressures and character flaws. In this reading unit, some of our reading helps us with our upcoming fiction writing pieces.

This reading unit is especially interesting because we read certain books of our choice and stick to that series. Also, our class gets to use their own book club identity name including: The Book Emperors, The Geeky Gummy Bears, The Magical World, etc.

The book club part helps us readers discuss the problems and present them to our groups.

This is a fun unit, and it is very interesting.

What is your favorite part of being in a book club?

Social Issue Book Clubs (by Freya)

Social issues in our books aren't just naming the social issues. They teach us different ideas about the social issues. Like "Sammy and the Time of the Troubles." Sammy still knows war is horrible, but he starts to get used to it. Other books show war as something that scars your body because your family and the people you live die. Another example is the social issue death in "Esperanza Rising." Her father's death scars her life forever because after he dies, Esperanza and her mom are at the mercy of their mean and horrible relative. In other books like "The Bridge to Terabithia" it is a big pressure to Jess when his only and best friend dies.

Social issues teach you something important, but some ideas conflict. Which ideas do you agree with?

Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving, Class 4-324 is thankful for all the new books we just got from the Scholastic Book Fair! Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to get a variety of fiction and nonfiction books to add to our classroom library. Many of us already took these books home to read over Thanksgiving weekend!

Which books are you most excited about reading? Why? 

New Books!

Thank you for all the beautiful books that have already been donated to our classroom via our Amazon Wish List! It's been so much fun for us to get new books in the mail. These books will be so beneficial for our upcoming nonfiction studies!

Which books are you most excited about reading? Why?

Reading Marathon: Week One

We're sprinting fast toward our goal of reading 200 books as a class! We've already read 61 books! 

What's your favorite book that you've read so far this year? Tell the other readers a bit about it so they can decide if they'd like it too!