If I were...Billy Raven!

Now that Charlie has gone to Bloor's Academy for a few days and ends up having to serve detention over his first weekend instead of being allowed to leave for the weekend. He meets some of his new classmates and finds out that they too are "endowed" in some way. One of these classmates is young Billy Raven, who always stays at Bloor's every weekend. His "endowment" is that he can talk to animals.
For this blog post, you are now Billy Raven. What is the animal saying in the photo below?

Photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/

Have fun and be creative!

If I were Charlie Bone! #2

We are getting deeper in to the book Midnight for Charlie Bone, and Charlie is getting ready for his first day at Bloor's Academy. When we left Charlie, his mother and Grandma Maisie were having some fun with him and his "endowed" powers by having Charlie listen to the photographs of famous celebrities in magazines, which upset Grandma Bone.
We are calling upon you again to "listen" to photographs and give your impressions of the photograph below.
Be Creative and Have Fun!

If I were Charlie Bone! #1

This week, we have started reading aloud, Midnight for Charlie Bone. We have read that Charlie has an interesting gift, one that allows him to hear what's going in the photographs that he sees. Can you imagine what that would be like, hearing what people are saying while the photos are being taken?
Pretend that you have the abilities of Charlie Bone, and you can hear what is happening in photographs. Use your new found ability to be like Charlie and tell what you "hear" from the photo below.

Be Creative and Have fun!

This is the first of what will hopefully be a weekly entry into our blogs called the "If I were Charlie Bone!" entries. Check back next week for a new picture and all those new "voices" it brings with it.

The Preserve of Fablehaven

We have just finished a read aloud of the book, Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. There is a promise at the front of the book that none who enter Fablehaven will leave unchanged. How did their experiences at Fablehaven change Seth and Kendra? Most of us were able to make a lot of connections with the characters in the story, because of our curiosity and imaginations. What do you take from the book? What was your overall opinion of the novel? And, does this make you want to read more of the series?

From the Pages to the Screen

With the holiday movie season fast approaching, there are some new movies that have come out that are based on children's books and there seem to be more and more every year. Last year there were movies such as City of Ember and Coraline, this year the movies, Where the Wild Things Are, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Vampire's Assistant are all based off of popular children's or teen books. When we watch movies that are based on books, there always seems to be several differences between them. What is your opinion about books that are made into movies? Do you feel that they are generally better or worse than the books that they have came from?
If you were a big movie producer and you needed to find the next great Hollywood blockbuster, what book or book(s) would you want to make a movie based on it? Why would you chose it and what makes you think it would be a hit with kids?

Image from www.empireonline.com

Independent Reading

During reading class, we are working on building stamina during our independent reading time. We are currently up to 20 minutes. Why do you think that it's important to be able to build stamina while you are reading independently? I have been keeping a journal of the books each of you have been reading and am noticing that some of you are changing books quite often. Starting at the new nine weeks, I will be holding reading conferences with you to discuss some of your strategies during reading and you will be setting reading goals as well. Tell me, what have you been reading during this time? What is one thing that you can make a connection with as you are reading your current book?

Photo from: www.cheapusedbooksonline.net

International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Ahoy mateys! Tomorrow is the official "Talk Like a Pirate Day". To celebrate, our reading group has rewritten some of our favorite nursery rhymes using some of our newly acquired "pirate vocabularies" - arrrr...don't worry it's all clean. Here are our examples of the newly piratized nursery rhymes! Feel free to post ye own rhyme but keep it clean, or we'll make ye walk the plank, you scalywag.