Poetry Fun!

This month on Mrs. Whelan's Hearing News Blog she invited us to write an acrostic poem about our favorite holidays! If you haven't checked it out yet, the poems are really fun to read!

Since we are writing poems, how abou reading some poems? I think poems are great fun. The language is awesome. We can learn a lot about rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, similes, and metaphors from reading poems...not to mention lots of cool new words!

Sometimes I Wonder If Poodles Like Noodles By Laura Numeroff

is a great collection of poems about silly things in life.

Dogku By Andrew Clements

is a book about a sweet dog. All the poems together tell a story but each poem is a haiku. A haiku is a special poem that has three lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7 syllables, and the third has 5 syllables.

My Dog May Be A Genius By Jack Prelutsky

is a collection of funny poems. Jack Prelutsky is a famous author who has written many books.

Where the Sidewalk Ends By Shel Silverstein

is one of my absolute favorite collections of poetry. I remember reading this when I was young and loving the poems. Shel Silverstein is anothe famous poet who has many different poetry books. This one is my favorite. Some of his poems are icky or gross but I think that's what makes them fun!

Have you read the poems in these books or other poems? Which are your favorite(s)???

**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!

Mrs. Read-A-Lot Update

Hi!  I have not been blogging on Mrs. Read-A-Lot because I wasn't able to access at school with my students.  I decided I am going to try again and see if my students can view it from school and really try and use it with them again.  

Even though I have not been blogging, I have still be reading!  I have read some really great books lately.  Here are some of my favorites:

Graceling By Kristin Cashore

The Year of the Dog By Grace Lin

Love That Dog By Sharon Creech

Seeing Redd By Frank Beddor (Part of the Looking Glass Wars series)

Fly on the Wall By E. Lockhart

I am the Messenger By Makus Zusak

Forever Princess By Meg Cabot (Part of the Princess Diaries series)

I will be back to post some cool stuff about folk literature soon.  I will even have some video!  Should be fun!

What Are You Reading Good (11/20/08)

I was sick last week and didn't post WAYRG.  :(

I had an idea that I am going to do at school and at home.  I'm going to create a poster where I can put up a sticky note with what I am reading good, and then I'm going to ask my students and my family to put up a sticky note to tell me what they are reading good.  You can do this at home with your family!  It's important to share what we read with others!

So...what are you reading good this week? REMEMBER..tell me the title, the author, what the book is about right now. Try to really be more specific than just saying it is interesting or it is fun. Make me want to read the book! Or...really support why I shouldn't read the book, if you don't like it.

This week I am reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.  I read The Thief Lord by Funke which is a great great great book.  I loved the characters and I loved the story.  This book is the first in a trilogy of books about a girl who loves to read and her father who is a bookbinder.  So far I am only at the beginning and her dad just disappeared because he was trying to save a book...sounds like an adventure waiting to happen!

I am also read Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.  I have also read a book by Choldenko before but so far this one is great.  It's about a boy whose family goes to live on Alcatraz because his dad gets a job there.  Can you imagine living on Alcatraz!  I think it would freak me out too much!  This book is great so far!  The boy has a sister who is autistic that he has to take care of and the warden's daughter keeps getting him into trouble!