Our First Read Aloud Novel!

Ban This Book - Alan Gratz

This week, we began our novel study/read aloud for Alan Gratz’s Ban This Book. The novel follows a student named Amy Anne, who must find her voice in order to speak up against censorship. When Amy Anne’s favourite book is taken off her school library’s shelves, she takes matters into her own hands by creating a secret banned book library.

As we read this novel, we will discuss censorship and representation in children’s literature. Did you know that the Captain Underpants series is one of the most banned books across North America?

If you want to learn more about the importance of reading, you can watch this persuasive Ted-Talk speech from a 9-year-old student. Do you agree or disagree with their ideas?

Extreme Writing: Day 2

Our Extreme Writing Challenge continues! Our topic(s) were…

  1. What is a song or genre of music you could listen to forever and never get bored? Why do you love that song/genre so much?
  2. Write a story from the perspective (POV) of a black cat.
  3. What are some superstitions that you have heard of? Do you believe in bad luck? Why are black cats considered ‘bad luck’?

Extreme Writing: Day 1

Our class is working on eliminating ‘writer’s block & brain freeze’ when writing! We will be doing an ‘Extreme Writing’ challenge each day before Language Arts. The goal is to increase our writing confidence and fluency by getting as many words down onto our page as possible in 5 minutes!

Here was our prompt for today:

  1. Describe everything you see in this image. Infer what is going on.
  2. Write a ‘story’ about the man in the pumpkin boat. Where is he going? Why a pumpkin?
  3. Write a story about growing the world’s largest pumpkin. What would you do with it? Make a huge pumpkin pie? A Jack-o-Lantern? Sell it?

 

Our goal for next time is to increase the number of words we can write in 5 minutes, and to find something we are proud of in every piece of writing!

Spooky October Reads: Ms. Ward’s Recommendations

If you enjoyed Coraline by Neil Gaiman, I suggest trying out these other spine-tingling reads (check our classroom & school libraries for a copy)!

Nightbooks: Amazon.ca: White, J. A.: Books

Nightbooks by J. A. White is a nightmarish fairytale that takes inspiration from “Hansel & Gretel” and “1001 Nights”. When a young boy becomes trapped in a witch’s house, he must tell her a scary story every night to ‘earn his keep’. But will he be able to plan his escape before he runs out of stories? And who is the mysterious girl who is also a prisoner of the witch?

The Jumbies: Baptiste, Tracey: 9781616205928: Books - Amazon.ca

The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste spins Caribbean folklore into a spooky story about the mysterious creatures, called “jumbies”, that lurk in the darkness of an island paradise. Corrine isn’t afraid of anything, especially not the stories of “jumbies” used to scare younger children! But when a mysterious woman emerges from the forest, Corrine must face her fears in order to save her family and her home.

The Witch Boy: Amazon.ca: Ostertag, Molly Knox: Books

The Witch Boy series by Molly Knox Ostertag blends fantasy, friendship, and the unknown in this graphic novel. Aster’s community has always had one rule: boys learn shapeshifting, and girls learn witchcraft. But Aster, even though he is a boy, is fascinated by the magic of plants and spells and must keep it a secret. A not-too scary story about identity, friendship, and courage.

The Witches: The Graphic Novel: Amazon.ca: Dahl, Roald, Bagieu, Pénélope: Books

The Witches graphic novel by Penelope Bagieu (story by Roald Dahl) is a colourful adaptation of the classic novel (and soon upcoming movie starring Octavia Spencer and Anne Hathaway). A young boy and his grandmother work together to try to stop the efforts of a coven of witches from their evil goal… to turn all the children in the world into mice! A great mix of action, fairytales, and spooky fun!