Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Announcements and Reminders:     Welcome to our Seventh Grade Reading Literature Class.                                                                 This is a class for students who LOVE to read.  If you don't, you will want to consider a different elective.  If you do, you will enjoy this class and do well in it.  Please bring a composition book to use for this class.  Also, remember to bring something to write with every day.         Have back-up pens or pencils in your backpack!  See this post: Reading Literature Class 2016-2017: Back-to-School Shopping

Targets for Today:    READ!    Think about and write about the history of my reading.    Receive disclosure document and hall passes.   Learn about some books we might read as a class.

Today’s  Agenda:    Find your seat on the seating chart.       1. Pick up a disclosure document.  Read through it, then start filling out the VIP form on the back.       2.  Time to read and/or peruse the classroom library.        3. Reminder to bring a composition book to be left in the classroom.      4..  Write your own reading history. (Use a sheet of lined binder paper -- with NO spiro-bits.)     The following questions are just to jumpstart your thinking!             Did someone read to you before you could read on your own?            When and how did you learn to read?            Do you remember the first book you read?            What else do you remember reading, and how                  did those things affect you?                   picture books?                   chapter books?                   books designed to help children learn how to read?                   longer books?                   nonfiction books?            What else do you read?            Have you had any bad experiences reading?            What are some of your good experiences?            What else should go into a history of your experiences with reading?            What are your favorite books?      5.  Look at the books we could read.      Bud, Not Buddy    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPhuqUm4V1c           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_P0sThuLEo Great Depression --- Reminds me of -- The Watsons Go to Birmingham    Holes     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0wxCje-Z8c Reminds me of --    The Storyteller’s Daughter Summary:   In a faraway kingdom, a king has been betrayed. Deeply hurt and bitterly angry, he vows never to be deceived again. Unfortunately, the king's plan to protect himself will endanger all of the realm's young women, unless one of them will volunteer to marry the king -- and surrender her life.  To everyone's relief and horror, one young woman steps forward. The daughter of a legendary storyteller, Shahrazad believes it is her destiny to accept this risk and sacrifice herself.  On the night of her wedding to the king, Shahrazad begins to weave a tale. Fascinated, the king lets her live night after night. Just when Shahrazad dares to believe that she has found a way to keep her life -- and an unexpected love -- a treacherous plot will disrupt her plan. Now she can only hope that love is strong enough to save her. Reminds me of -- Goose Girl by Shannon Hale Princess of the Silver Woods, Princess of Glass, and others by Jessica Day George S   The Graveyard Book         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_UUVwTaemk Reminds me of  The Jungle Book (watch a movie, too?)   Stargirl Reminds me of --   Chasing Vermeer This novel is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art. When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen: Seemingly unrelated events connect; an eccentric old woman seeks their company; an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one is spared from suspicion. As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has stumped even the FBI? Reminds me of -- Okay for Now    Touching Spirit Bear      After severely injuring Peter Driscal in an empty parking lot, troublemaker Cole Matthews is in major trouble. But instead of jail time, Cole is given an alternative: a one-year banishment to a remote Alaskan island. This program—called Circle Justice—is based on Native American traditions that provide healing for the criminal mind. To avoid serious jail time, Cole resolves to go. While there, Cole is mauled by a mysterious white bear and left for dead.  Reminds me of -- Deathwatch Never Say Die  Freak the Mighty    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUm_Xg8ZuPo         A Christmas Carol   Gregor the Overlander,        books 1 & 2          In  the first novel of the New York Times bestselling series by Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, young Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building and hurtles into the dark Underland. This strange world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.    Witness   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9i-vOhJRco   Trouble Don’t Last    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-9UEchl2CE   Vietnam #1 & 2: I Pledge Allegiance and Sharpshooter      Morris, Rudi, Ivan, and Beck are best friends for life. So when one of them is drafted into the Vietnam War, the others sign up, too - each with a different branch of the US military.      Morris joins the US Navy, and he makes it his personal mission to watch over his friends from the USS Boston. But the Boston itself isn't safe from attack. And although Morris means to keep his friends safe, he may have his hands full just watching out for himself.   Walk Two Moons Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold--the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.   The Midwife’s Apprentice This novel is set in medieval England. The girl known only as Brat has no family, no home, and no future until she meets Jane the Midwife and becomes her apprentice. As she helps the sharp-tempered Jane deliver babies, Brat--who renames herself Alyce--gains knowledge, confidence, and the courage to want something from life: "A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world." Medieval village life makes a lively backdrop for the funny, poignant story of how Alyce gets what she wants.   The Sign of the Beaver Although he faces responsibility bravely, thirteen-year-old Matt is more than a little apprehensive when his father leaves him alone to guard their new cabin in the wilderness. When a renegade white stranger steals his gun, Matt realizes he has no way to shoot game or to protect himself. When Matt meets Attean, a boy in the Beaver clan, he begins to better understand their way of life and their growing problem in adapting to the white man and the changing frontier. Reminds me of --  Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen    Island of the Blue Dolphins In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it, blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea elephants and sea birds abound. once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind. This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Reminds me of --  The Music of the Dolphins    The Invention of Hugo Cabret   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiXkL0bBcjs   There is a movie.    Maniac Magee?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jroChOAKgWY Vote for the top three books you would choose to read. Small Book Groups --  Also be thinking of a book not on this list that you would like to read in a small group.  If everyone in the class  can get together a group of two or  three or four or five students and find enough books for each of you, we will arrange a time for small book groups.   You'll need to have your books approved by Ms. Dorsey,  but I may be able to help you find the books.

If You Were Absent: See above. Write your "Reading History"/"Reading Autobiography." Look at the books we may read so you can select three of them. Maker sure you receive a disclosure document, and return the signature sheet.

Recommended book (and movie): The Watcher in the Woods

In both the book and the movie, the mysterious events surround  an old manor house and a the woods that surround it.  Thirty years ago, the owner of the home, Mrs. Aylwood, lost her teenage daughter, Karen under mysterious circumstances.  Now a new family has moved into the manor. The elder daughter, Jan is a teen while the younger, Ellie is likely about ten.  Mrs. Aylwood lives on in the caretaker cottage.  It isn’t long before Jan begins to sense something is out there in the woods.  Something that keeps reaching out to her with mysterious visions and words.   It will be up to the three female protagonists to handle it!

https://shanshad1.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/flashback-fridays-into-the-woods/

Ruby Holler? 

     "Trouble twins" Dallas and Florida are orphans who have given up believing there is such a thing as a loving home. Tiller and Sairy are an eccentric older couple who live in the beautiful, mysterious Ruby Holler, but they’re restless for one more big adventure. When they invite the twins to join them on their journeys, they first must all stay together in the Holler, and the magic of the place takes over. Two pairs of lives grow closer and are changed forever.