**Unfortunately, I was not able to upload with the captions at the bottom...but you can read it here:

“What Are You Reading Good?” comes from a man named Ken Stamatis who’s worked has worked with our district and presented on reading and writing. Mr. Stamatis would always ask his students, “What are you reading good?” This week I would like to talk about what I’m reading good and hopefully you’ll share with me what you have been reading good!

Today, I am wearing my tie-dye t-shirt because one of my 7^th graders just finished reading Schooled by Gordon Korman. The main character, Cap, is a hippie living in today’s world, so the whole class made tie-dye t-shirts. Gordon Korman has lots of great books for kids.

I am also reading The Tale of Despereaux with my 5^th grader. We are still only at the beginning but we’re already in love with the main character, who is a special mouse named Despereaux Tilling. He’s not your average mouse. He can read and talk and has fallen in love with the princess of the castle he lives in. I love to share what I’m reading and hear what others are reading, so, how about you? What are you reading good?!?

It's What Good Readers Do - Background Knowledge

Click below to see my first installment of "It's What Good Readers Do!" This week I'm talking all about background knowledge!

Wordless Books

Have you ever heard of a wordless book? It sounds like an oxymoron, two opposite words next to each other. Books without words? There is such a thing and they are a great way to spark you imagination!

These books tell a story with pictures, it's your job to create the words or the text that goes with the pictures. Sometimes it can be hard because you really have to look at the pictures and create a story that puts all the pictures together. Usually they are lots of fun because you create the story! Here are some great wordless picture books:

Sidewalk Circus By PaulFleischman

Illustrated By Kevin Hawkes

Sector 7 By David Wiesner

The Snowman By Raymond Briggs

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

By Chris Van Allsburg

You can look for these at your local or school library or wherever you buy books! If you do write your own story for one of these or another wordless picture book, make sure you stop by Mrs. Whelan's blog so you can post your story and read what other students wrote!

2009-2010

The 2009-2010 school year is officially under way! I can't believe we have already made it through the first quarter of this school year. The beginning of the year is always busy, and this year definitely was. Now that we're starting second quarter, I am going to focus on updating the blog again.

I have decided to change what this blog is about a little bit. In the past I posted books I have read and talked about some of my favorite books mostly for middle school students. I will continue to do this from time to time, but I am going to focus more on different kinds or genres of books and also talk about what good readers do. I will also be doing some video blog posts to make this more fun and interactive.

Please feel free to comment or ask questions. Part of reading is being able to talk about what you are reading. I know when I read an exciting part in a book, or a sad part, I can't wait to tell someone about it. I love to hear what you are reading that you like or don't like and what you do that works for you.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you find something worthwhile here at Mrs. Read-A-Lot!