Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Book Club began this week!

We started the book club portion of our survival unit! Students are reading either Wild River, Frozen Stiff, Hatchet or Holes. Students that see Mrs. Mariani are working on a survival project.

Each Monday through March, The kids will be participating in a book club where they will be meeting in small groups to discuss the book that they are reading. The discussions will be guided by students' responses to what they have read. We will be discussing characters, events in the book, and other story elements. These literature circles will enable students to engage in critical thinking, to collaborate with peers, and to reflect on what they have read.

Each week, students will be responsible for reading a portion of the book. They will also be responsible for writing a journal entry about what they have read. The journal entry must be from the main character's point of view. They should also be on the look out for new words and record these new words (and definitions) on a post it.


Wild River


"When twelve-year-old Ryan reluctantly agrees to join his experienced older brother Tanner on a camping trip, he could never have dreamed this would turn into the most frightening day of his life.

Ryan’s no good at sports or outdoor stuff. He’d rather be home playing video games. But Tanner says it’s an easy trip. They’ll kayak down the Boulder River, catch fish, and roast marshmallows.

But the river is higher than usual, and the kayaking is scary. Tanner isn’t worried. But soon after, he’s badly hurt in a kayaking accident, leaving Ryan alone and afraid he can’t save his brother’s life. He’s only faced danger in video games. What good are games now when Ryan faces a real-life battle?" - www.goodreads.com


Frozen Stiff


"What begins as a two-night camping and kayaking trek in the untamed Alaskan wilderness turns into a test of survival for Cody and her cousin Derek. While their mothers are in Juneau picking up supplies for Yakutat Lodge, the cousins sneak off in an old pickup. The taste of freedom is soon tainted when Cody's kayak is lost on the rising tide, washing away her life vest and precious supplies. 

With only each other for support, the cousins face hunger and their fears of the unknown region of Southeast Alaska. As an advancing glacier floods the remote fjord, Cody and Derek find themselves facing menacing waves, immense icebergs, and wild animals. A sense that someone is following them adds to the formidable danger." - www.goodreads.com


Holes



Winner of the Newbery Medal in 1999
"This winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award features Stanley Yelnats, a kid who is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake: the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment — and redemption." - www.scholastic.com

Hatchet


Winner of the Newbery Medal in 1988
"Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother has given him as a present — and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart ever since his parents' divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self-pity, or despair — it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive." - www.scholastic.com




Thursday, February 4, 2016

Art Appreciation

The Daredevil Art Appreciation parents did an art project with the students last week based on Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.  The students drew portraits with oil pastels and/ or chalk on black paper and they turned out great!  During your conferences, you can stop by the Mann Gallery in the lobby to see their work.