Twenty-three chapter books in twenty-three weeks!!! The challenge of all reading challenges!!!
Expectations for
Expectations for
TWENTY-THREE books
2 - Fantasy
2 - Realistic Fiction
2 - Mystery
1 - Historical fiction
2 - Traditional Literature
2 - Science Fiction
2 - Biography
1 - Poetry
9 - Choice
Autumn
This book seemed to be written for entertainment. I don’t think the author wants me to buy a cat or to inform me about what to do if my cat gets hurt and is bleeding.
The book was written almost like a mystery. It sets the story of the cat and then cat and teacher, Ms. Parks, in a new area and then the cat gets hurt and disappears. (I can’t imagine how the lady feels when her cat is gone for SIX weeks! That had to be horrible!) But it is neat that the cat brings together Ms. Parks and Mr. Noton – which solves the mystery of where the cat was. One of the neatest parts of the book was when, early in the book, she describes the scene of what it will look like when Ms. Parks meets her ideal man. Later in the book, when Ms. Parks DOES meet him, the scene is recreated, but in a very interesting manner … did anyone else notice it? I loved it! The illustrations were neatly completed to make it look like pictures, but with perhaps watercolor paints.
For the Love of Autumn
My feelings changed throughout the story. Initially, I felt good about reading a ‘cute’ and happy story. However, when I found out she was a student teacher, I got more interested. Oooooohhhhh…I can relate. I’VE been a student teacher. My interest rose, but then fell sharply when Miss Parks received the letter in the mail receiving a job. That is not how it works. What about her struggle? Why did the author make the event so simple? Maybe the author doesn’t want the focus to be about Miss Parks’ work or her personal journey, but still, as a reader, it frustrated me. I was further irritated by the new school arranging for her to rent a cottage by the sea. NO teacher can initially afford a cottage by a sea and NO school district would arrange that for a teacher. We have to work very, very hard for our place in the teaching world and nothing comes on a silver platter, as it seems to happen in this story.
I realize the story is about Autumn, a cute little kitty that needed a home and love. I enjoyed reading about the adventures and developing relationship between Miss Parks and Autumn, but did not enjoy the very simplified version of life the story portrayed. Plus, this was a very ‘tell’ story. I only found a few sentences that ‘showed’ me through metaphors/similes. Argggghhhh…why is this bothering me?!?! I think because Patricia Polacco is such a celebrated author and it makes me wonder, ‘Why do people love her writing style so much?’
Okay…back to the story. To sum it up, Autumn runs away and is gone for six weeks. Miss Parks and the students are sad. They have a funeral ceremony. Miraculously, Autumn comes back right after the ceremony, only to run away again shortly, then comes back again. This back and forth sets the stage for Miss Parks to fall in love with the man who is the other ‘owner’.
Also, no way can a teacher have her kids at her house to meet a perfect stranger (DANGER!!!!). Nor, can a teacher have her students over for a ceremony or to search the beach….Argh, again.
Oh well, in the end, the story is cute, but it was not for me.
Response A:
Hooray for Diffendooofer Day!
I loved, loved, loved this story. Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite authors. He tells such great stories. My favorite book that Dr. Seuss has written is one called McElligott’s Pool. Diffendoofer Day was pretty funny because of all the crazy teachers in it. They did such funny things. I really like the way each teacher had their very specific thing they do. One teacher jumped on trampolines, another laughed, another yelled, another coughed. They were all so silly.
The story started with all these crazy teachers teaching these very lucky kids. They had a really, really sad principal. The principal had eyebrows that the kids thought he took off at night. Kids learned about flowers and how to trampoline and so many other stuff. The kids were very happy, the teachers were very happy, the principal was not.
Then, one day, something horrible happened. The principal learned that the students would need to take a test! A TEST! The test would be a test that every single student would have to take.
The principal was even more sad than usual. If the students didn’t do a good job on this test, the school would be SHUT DOWN and students would have to go to the dreary school nearby where everyone does the same thing every day. There is nothing different about the school, nothing special.
The test happened right away! It was scary for everyone. But wow, the kids knew everything on the test. They were being tested on flowers and everything else they had learned about from all of their fabulous teachers.
One day the principal announced that Diffendoofer school received the highest score possible on the test and that they wouldn’t have to close! Everyone was so excited, especially the teacher that jumped on the trampolines. She jumped and jumped and jumped and even kissed the principal not once, but twice! She even jumped on the trampoline flipped over his head and then kissed him on the forehead when she was upside down.
The principal was so happy that the school wasn’t going to close down that he called declared that day Diffendoofer Day and he vowed to never, never wear a frown again. He would only be happy from now on.
I love happy endings. I’m glad I read this book. It was really , really good.
Response B:
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
This is one of my most favorite books ever and I can read it a million times over! Every time I read it, I discover something new. Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite children’s authors, as I love rhymes, which this book has (who thought you could find a rhyme for chrysanthemums!).
On the surface it seems to be just a silly book. But when I think about it and look deeper, I think he is talking about our school, the charter! YIPPY! Just like Mr. Lowe, the principal, there are some here who wonder if we are “learning This and that and such and such.” We KNOW that we are learning and when given a special test it will be filled “with all the things That we all knew we knew!” and we will score the “very highest score!”
The illustrations are peppered with older works of Dr. Suess, such as Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat – a great memory for his books I have read and of Dr. Suess, for this book was finished after he died.
The last part of the book shares how this book was written, which is totally cool. It even shows his drafts, both illustrations and writings. He just didn’t write it perfect the first time! This is an excellent example for my students showing that writing doesn’t happen right the first time. It is a process, taking multiple writings.
We continued to focus heavily on deep comprehension this week. For two of the days this week, Laurie (student teacher) and I both read the same picture book, at night, and reflected on our comprehension. We had students read our paragraphs and decide which showed evidence of more understanding of the text. The answers were so incredibly telling. We started with only one day of this, but changed it to two days based on the reactions.
We started our 50 book challenge. Students are trying to each read 50 picture books that I selected. The purpose is to read as much as possible while showing deep understanding of text. Students will be using a grade level tic-tac-toe type standards’ board to respond to their reading.
As always, we focus on deep comprehension of text and simply reading, reading, reading. Our 50 books and 23 book challenge continues to spark a reading frenzy in the classroom. Can we have more time to read??? Please??? If I had a nickel... :). We can’t do it all day, everyday, though I think some would love that!
