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About carriegelson

Elementary teacher passionate about all things literacy.

Let’s Read and Find out Science Books

Our reading group has been exploring many books in the classroom.  This past week, they really enjoyed reading some of the books in the Let’s Read and Find out Science bin.  In pairs or on their own they selected a book, wrote down some questions before reading, took turns reading out loud to their partner and wrote down some of the most interesting facts in a web.  We all learned so much about a wide variety of topics.  Living things were a popular thing to study:  frogs and tadpoles, fireflies, night animals, and dolphins.  Others explored different science topics such as what makes a magnet, thunder and lightning and the sun. Check out some of our work!

Josiah’s choice was The Sun, Our Nearest Star

sun

His questions before he read:

  • If you walk on the sun, will you crumble?
  • How far is the sun?
  • What is the sun made of?

Some of the interesting facts he included in his web:

  • Other stars are farther than the sun
  • A spaceship will turn into gasses if it gets too near the sun
  • It will take more than 3 years to reach the sun

Jenny and Scott chose to read this book:

Jenny and Scott’s questions when they looked at the cover:

  • What is lightning made of?
  • When does lightning come?
  • What happens when lightning zaps you?

Some facts from their web:

  • People used to think lightning was the fiery finger of an angry God
  • Watch storms from a safe place
  • A car is safe because when lightning hits it, the electricity goes through the car and not through you

We have many more of the Let’s Read and Find out Science titles in our class and predict that they will be popular books to choose during independent reading time!

Howard B. Wigglebottom Listens to His Heart

Howard B. Wigglebottom Listens to His Heart written by Howard Binkow and illustrated by Susan F. Cornelison definitely spoke to us.

HBW2_FrontCov_2

In this story, Howard learns to do what makes him feel good about himself even though his friends made fun of him at first. Howard loves to dance and finds out from his grandfather that he comes from a long line of dancing Wigglebottoms. He practices and practices and wows all of his friends at the Sock Hop!

When Howard does what he loves – it makes his heart sing!

Students wrote responses to this story – writing about the message of the book and/or about an activity that makes them feel really happy and why.  From Howard, we learned that we can celebrate and be proud of who we are!

Jena: I think that the message of this book is that you should do what you want to do and it doesn’t matter what other people say. Just do what you want to do. I’m good at reading because when I read I start to fall into the book like I’m with the character. I feel great when I’m reading.

Alyson: The message in this book is do not listen to other people’s opinion. Listen to your own. My favourite sport is hockey and soccer when I’m playing with me Dad. And swimming!

Annie: I’m good at running and when I run, I feel like I can run around the world. When I was little I kept on practicing at running. Last year I got a little fast. Then I got faster and faster. Now I’m the third fastest runner.

The Secret of Platform 13

Right now we are reading The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson

Under Platform 13 at Kings Cross Station is hidden a quite remarkable secret. Every nine years a doorway opens to an amazing, fantastical island. Nine years ago, the island’s baby prince was stolen on the streets of London. Now a rescue party, led by a wizard, a fey, an ogre and a young hag must find him and bring him back. But the prince, raised (and spoiled) by nasty Mrs. Trottle is not an easy boy to like or to rescue.  Can he be rescued before time runs out?

Fantasy stories are fun to read – full of magical creatures, whimsical places and lots of imagination! To learn more about this genre, read:

Parent Guide to Book Genres: Fantasy

Reading Out Loud Advice from our Reading Group

Our morning reading group has been practicing reading out loud to a partner.  Students have noticed that reading out loud is a skill that each of them can work on.  We’ve come up with some specific advice for being a great oral reader:

  • Take a breath/pause at the punctuation (. ! ?)
  • Use a loud enough voice to be heard
  • Read with a clear voice
  • Use good expression (no robot reading)
  • Read slowly so others can hear you clearly and understand what you are saying
  • You should kind of “act” when you are reading
  • When you get stuck, stop and reread/sound out/think about what you read
  • Change your voice when reading dialogue