We’ve created some new Eva Ibbotson fans!

Posted on January 28, 2011 by carriegelson

We finally finished the very popular Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson. Students were happily surprised at the ending (the details of which we can’t disclose here as we don’t want to ruin the surprise for anyone who hasn’t read this book yet). But we can share that there were cheers, big smiles and celebrating in our room as we read aloud the last two chapters 🙂 We had lots of laughter and some dramatic moments along the way but were very pleased to get a happy ending!

Eva Ibbotson wrote many books in her career. Sadly, she just passed away in October 2010 at the age of 85.

I think many students will be searching for new titles of hers to read on their own. The two I want to read next:

Award winning, Journey to the River Sea is said to be a dramatic adventure about a lonely orphan named Maia who sails into the jungle to live with relatives she has never met. Living in the Amazon seems to have affected them in some very odd ways. . . . And why was it that they wanted Maia to live with them in the first place?

In The Star of Kazan, we meet Annika who is abandoned at birth and brought up in the house of three eccentric professors and their two servants. Then one day a woman arrives claiming that Annika is her long lost daughter and she is whisked away to live in a mansion in Germany. But soon Annika becomes suspicious about this new life . . .

What do our little thinkers think of Little Ant Big Thinker?

Posted on January 25, 2011 by carriegelson

I love when I have so many books in my “must read” pile, that when we have a spare 5 or 10 minutes, I know just the book to choose! Today it was Little Ant Big Thinker or Where does the Ocean End? by Andre Usatschow and illustrated by Alexandra Junge.

As we’ve been working on asking questions as we read, I thought this would be a great time to read this book about a little ant with some very big questions. The book begins with the little ant wondering if the ocean ever ends and if so, where? He begins to get anxious – how can he ever know, if he never can see the end? An elephant happens along and despite their attempts at peering out over the water on tiptoe and climbing a tree for a better view, the two of them cannot see the end of the ocean. A fish swims up and scoffs at their worry: “The ocean ends right here!” he explains. Okay, problem solved. Until of course the question pops into the ant’s head: “But where does the ocean begin?”

We quite liked this book.

Catriona, always summarizes so nicely: “It begins at the end and ends at the beginning!”

Alyson notes: “Wondering is a great thing. Little people can think big too!”

Jeremiah has his own question about the little ant: “What if his brain gets so big from all of that wondering, and he tips over?!”

Hmm, what if . . . ?

Old Mother Bear inspires lots of questions

Posted on January 18, 2011 by carriegelson

Division 5 has been practicing asking questions as we listen to a story. Armed with our pencils and mini notebooks, we gather at the carpet to listen to great information story books like Old Mother Bear by Victoria Miles and illustrated by Molly Bang.

So far we have read about how the mother Grizzly tunnelled a den out of the mountainside to sleep through the winter and birth her cubs. The cubs are born and nurse and snuggle with their mother until they all emerge from the den in the spring and begin searching for food.

A sample of the great questions we had (and who asked them) as we read the first half of the book:

How do bears dig the den? (Manny)

Does it hurt when the mother feeds? (Miami)

How do the mother bears make milk? (Hajhare)

How do they feed from their mother if they can’t see? (Josiah)

How many babies do they have at one time? (Lisa)

Where is the Dad? (Hailey)

When do they leave their Mom? (Jeremiah)

How do the cubs know not to hurt each other when they play fight? (Edwin)

How long can a bear survive without food? (Ricky)

We look forward to finishing the story this week!

Picture Books we read this week

Posted on January 17, 2011 by carriegelson

While searching through the library for interesting picture books, I came across Oma’s Quilt. I pulled it off the shelf because it is illustrated by Stephane Jorisch (who also illustrated Suki’s Kimono – one of my favourite books). Then I noticed it was written by Canadian author, Paulette Bourgeois (author of the Franklin books and Big Sarah’s Little Boots) This book was bound to be a good one! I tried it out with our reading group. The story: Emily’s Oma (grandmother) has to move to a retirement home and she is very reluctant to do so. What about her precious things? Her neighbours? Cooking apple strudel? Even the bowling alley at the home doesn’t change her mind (smelly shoes!) While Emily and her mother are sorting through Oma’s possessions, Emily has a wonderful idea. Why not make a memory quilt for Oma!? Some students made text to text connections to Eve Bunting‘s The Memory String. This book received a big round of applause. Look for it in the library!

We have been reading a lot of Howard B Wigglebottom books to help us learn about ourselves and our relationships. Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns about Bullies teaches us about the importance of asking for help when bullying doesn’t stop. Howard has a little voice inside his head that tells him Be brave, Be bold, A teacher must be told. But it isn’t always easy to trust our intuition and Howard suffers many unpleasant interactions with the Snorton twins before he finally decides to report their behaviour. Finally, he can sleep easily, knowing that he was brave, he was bold when his teacher was finally told. “I am okay. I am safe.” he assures himself at the end. Such an important book!

This book tells us about Winston, the bear from Churchill, Manitoba who decides to mobolize a group of polar bears to teach the tourists who come to see the polar bears about the effects of global warming on the melting ice in the Arctic. “Ice is nice!” the bears chant during their protest march. We learn that we must all do our part to protect the Earth. “Recycle!” “Walk, Bike, Ride!” “Solar Power!” “Turn down the furnace!” Winston of Churchill by Jean Davies Okimoto was the winner of the Green Earth Book Award. This book is also in Seymour’s library.

Happy Reading!

January books at my house

Posted on January 16, 2011 by carriegelson

January seems to be full of wet weather and cold days. Perfect reasons to stay in and read a book or two! In fact, I have two read alouds going with my own children. Some evenings we read from just one, other nights we read a bit of both. Both are hard to put down!

This is the third time I am reading Susan Patron‘s The Higher Power of Lucky and I continue to like it better each time. The beauty of a book is simply by opening it up at the beginning, you can experience it again. This is one of those books that deserves many readings. I first discovered it when Ms. Hong popped it into my box with a sticky note attached: “Think you will like this” I started reading it and finished it in one sitting. Last year this was a book club selection (so there are multiple copies in our school library!) Often we read really great sections out loud at our meetings – the trouble with this book, almost every sentence was so well written, it deserved to be read out loud! We shared many giggles and smiles over the text of this book.

Now I am enjoying introducing my children to Lucky – especially because there is a sequel Lucky Breaks sitting on our book shelf that I hope they will read on their own when we finish this book. This book won the Newbery Medal and many other prestigious book awards so it has many fans behind it. Pick it up and meet Lucky, a ten year old girl who lives in Hard Pan, California (population 43) with her French guardian Brigitte and her loyal dog, HMS Beagle. Lucky manages to keep very busy in this small town – collecting bugs in specimen jars, writing about the terrible fate of the tarantula when it meets the tarantula hawk wasp, chasing snakes out of the clothes dryer and spending time with her quirky friends like Lincoln (destined to be president according to his Mom) who is obsessed with tying knots. But what occupies Lucky’s thoughts most of all is the worry that Brigitte may want to abandon her job as Lucky’s guardian and return to France because, unlike actual Moms, guardians can resign. Lucky hatches a plan to keep Brigitte in California and it all begins with running away in a red silk dress in the middle of a dust storm. We love this book!

Kathyrn Lasky wrote the popular Guardians of Ga’Hoole series about a powerful war between the owls. This book Lone Wolf is the first in her new series Wolves of the Beyond. We started reading this book to see if my son may want to read it on his own but about 12 pages in and we realized that we all wanted to read the book and now! Who could read it first? There was no fair way to decide so we are sharing it as a read aloud and are equally addicted to the dramatic story. Faolon, a newborn wolf pup is born with a twisted paw. The laws of the pack are that there can be no weaknesses and the little pup is abandoned to die on an icy riverbank. He is swept down river and rescued by Thunderheart, a mother bear who has just lost her cub. She decides to raise him! A big grizzly raising a wolf pup! We are just on chapter seven and have already learned so much about wolves and bears and their survival. But we feel the story has much more in store for us as many parts of the story hint at how special Faolan is and we suspect he is going to return to the world of wolves that rejected him. This book is a fast paced adventure ideal for strong readers who like stories with lots of action and suspense.

Happy reading!

Books about relationships help us explore strong feelings

Posted on January 7, 2011 by carriegelson

Our reading group has been enjoying stories from our Connect book bin. We found two books about friendship and sibling relationships that we could really relate to as the characters had feelings just like we do: frustration, impatience, jealousy, regret and forgiveness. All such normal feelings as we interact with friends and brothers and sisters.

Matthew and Tilly, written by Rebecca C. Jones and illustrated by Beth Peck explores the feelings of friendship and forgiveness. This is a short but powerful story about best friends that argue, as friends do, but then find it easy to forgive each other when they realize that favourite activities are just not the same without a friend. We discussed the story and wrote responses.

Lisa writes: “I think Ms. Gelson put the book in the Connect bin because everyone could have an argument but then after, we say sorry.”

Kevin explains: “The message of the story was: if you get mad at each other, take a break and you will feel better.”

Judy Blume‘s The Pain and The Great One is a humourous account of a brother and sister told from each perspective. Each thinks the other is loved more by their parents and explains clearly why it is just not fair. The Great One thinks her younger brother is a messy slowpoke who is super annoying – doing things to her like singing and dancing around her when she talks on the phone. The Pain thinks his older sister is a bossy know-it-all who unfairly gets to do things that he can’t. like feed the cat just because she knows how to use the can opener. Big issues in his little world!

Catriona summarizes the book clearly: “The Pain thought The Great One was a know-it- all. And the Great One thought The Pain didn’t know anything!”

Recent books I’ve read to my own children

Posted on November 14, 2010 by carriegelson

Sometimes, I discover books to read to the class when I read great books with my own children – although they are in Grade 3 and love to read independently, I still read to them everyday! Check out some of the books we’ve read this fall – maybe one will interest you!

This is one of the Magic Shop Books by Bruce Coville. Last year I read Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher to my class and our book club read The Skull of Truth – also engaging, hard to put down books in the Magic Shop series. In The Monster’s Ring, Russel Crannaker buys a “monster’s ring” from a strange magic shop he stumbles upon. He follows the instructions that come with the ring – whispering a magic chant and twisting the ring on his finger. All of a sudden, he is sprouting horns, growing claws and speaking in a husky, snarling voice. He realizes that with the ring, he has the power to turn back and forth between boy and monster. Will he be cautious and follow the special instructions to not use it on the night of a full moon or will the urge to outpower Eddie, the school bully be too much for Russell? Every chapter ends in a cliff hanger urging you to read on. If you dare . . .

Ms. Hong has many of the Magic Shop titles in our school library.

We love Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine books and delight in the fun illustrations by Marla Frazee. So when the latest Clementine book was released, we had to read it! In Clementine, Friend of the Week, Clementine is thrilled to finally have her turn as Friend of the Week in her classroom. She gets to do special jobs like be the line leader, feed the fish and collect the lunch money but what she is really excited about is the book her class is going to write about her. But then, as she thinks about it, she begins to get a little nervous. What will her classmates say? How will she get everyone to say amazing things? In typical Clementine fashion, she has some very interesting ideas about how to get the best Friend of the Week booklet ever. But then, something happens that just might spoil her plans. . .

This book is in my collection at home but we have the other three Clementine books in our classroom collection.

When I was pregnant with my children I read my Grade 3 class Silverwing. They loved it! In fact, many went on to read the next book in the series Sunwing which was at the Scholastic Book fair that year. I remember thinking – when my children are in Grade 3, I am going to read them Silverwing . . . So the night before the first day of this school year, we started. And . . . they loved it too! For me, it was just as great on the second reading. The main characters are Shade, a young Silverwing bat and Marina, a Brightwing bat Shade befriends on his journey to find his colony after he was lost in a storm on the winter migration south to Hibernaculum. On their way they meet Goth and Throbb, two huge, bat eating, jungle bats who threaten Shade’s chances of ever finding his colony again. This book is an award winning fantasy that is impossible to put down. Perfect for readers and listeners eight years old and up! And the first in a series – look for all of these books in the school library.

This is the book we have just started. After reading the first chapter, we are hooked. In the first eighteen pages of this book, Piper McCloud a nine year old girl who lives with her Ma and Pa on a farm, decides to take a running leap off of her roof and discovers that she can fly! This isn’t a big surprise since she has been able to float and hover in the air all of her life. But actually flying is a whole new experience! We can’t wait to find out what is going to happen next.

Happy reading!

Howard B. Wigglebottom Listens to His Heart

Posted on October 26, 2010 by carriegelson

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

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

Posted on October 23, 2010 by carriegelson

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: