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.

Dexter the Tough

We have just finished reading the novel, Dexter the Tough. This is a nominee for the 2009 William Allen White Award. Let me know what you think about the novel? Is this a good nominee? Do you think others your age would like it? Tell me your opinion of the book. Finally, I would like you to MAKE CONNECTIONS with the book in some way. We have been taking about making connections in whole group.

OSCAR begins again!

Well, it's a new year of school and with it brings another great OSCAR reading group. This summer has been a very busy one for me that included a lot of reading, some for entertainment and some to learn information from. I'd like to get to know all of my new readers a little bit better. Tell me some about your reading habits:

- What types of books do you like to read most often?
- What has been your favorite book that you've ever read?
- Where in your house, is your favorite place to read?

Please leave a comment answering these questions in complete sentences and give any other information that you'd like to about reading. Reading is a lot of fun, it's time to GET HOOKED ON READING.

Another Year of OSCAR

Another year of OSCAR Reading Groups are now over, and you are ready to move on to the next year of your schooling at the middle school. Regarding your 5th grade OSCAR experience, what are thoughts? Did you like the novels that we read during our literature circle times and are there some that we should skip for next year? What did you think about the read alouds that we had this year, did you enjoy them and did they hold your interest?
We had the opportunity to create, collaborate, and share many different things about our reading through the use of technology. Did you like using the technology? We used blogs, wikis, made movies, created comics, characters, and communicated with other classes. What was your favorite thing to do? If you could be in our reading group next year, what would you be the most excited about using?
Lastly, what was your over all opinion of your 5th grade OSCAR class? What do you wish could have been different? What would you keep the same for next year?
Thanks for all of your meaningful input and thoughtful comments as we have progressed throught the year.

Read Aloud - Savvy

We have just finished the novel, Savvy, by Ingrid Law. We have had several good discussions about this novel in class and you've had a chance to do some predicting and reflecting in your journals as well. We even emailed, the author, Ingrid Law, herself because we were curious as to why she chose Salina as a setting for the story. Now that we've completed this story, I want to know, what did you think of the book? Let's hear your opinion. Do you have "I Wonder" statements about what we've read aloud together? If you could ask some questions of the author, what would they be? We've had the discussion about the author's use of similes in the story, can you use the author's writing style to come up with a description of Savvy by using your own similes?

Below is the Wordle that we created for the novel. You may want to click on it to get a bigger view of it. The words that are biggest are those that you felt were the most important. Is there any thing about the Wordle that surprises you?

Reading Class Technology

We have been reading about how advanced technology has become and have had several discussions about how it has made life more convenient for everyone. How has technology impacted your lives so far? How do you use technology in your everyday life? Do you think that the advancement of technology has had any bad effects and why?

Unsolved Mysteries

Bigfoot, Yeti, Loch Ness Monster, Chupacabra, Jersey Devil. Are these creatures real? We have been reading some expository texts about these cryptozoologial creatures. You've even had the chance to become an expert about one of them. After your readings and our own research (looking at pictures, checking out eyewitness accounts, video "evidence") what do you think? Do these creatures really exist? Despite being called crazy or other things, scientists and enthusiasts are always on the lookout for these elusive creatures. Why do you think people are so fascinated with these types of creatures?

Testing is Over!

Congratulations, you've just finished your experience taking the 5th grade state reading test! I know that everyone really took the time to do their best and I saw some great use of strategies that we've practiced in the classroom. How do you think you did? What did you think of the test? Were there any surprises or anything that you weren't prepared for? What are your general feelings about taking these state tests, do you feel like they are able to show the amount that you have learned over the course of 5th grade? If you could give advice to next year's 5th graders about testing, what would it be? If you were in charge of creating a test, what would you do differently or would you test student's knowledge in a different way? Now's your chance to express your opinion!

What Next?

Now that we have finished the Lightning Thief, what were your thoughts? Are there any questions that were left unanswered that you have been wondering about? Did the book spark enough interest that you would want to read the next books in the series?

What is a Hero?

Our read aloud, The Lightning Thief, deals A LOT with heroes and what people have done to become a "hero". Percy has the opportunity to become a hero himself.
What is a hero? One dictionary defines a hero as one noted for courage, greatness, etc. Another dictionary defines a hero as a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.
What would it take for someone to become a hero? Who do you consider as a hero to you and why?

The Lightning Thief

As we have been reading the Lightning Thief as a read aloud, a lot of things are starting to happen as the story begins to get a little more complicated. Percy and his friends are having to use some quick thinking and make some tough decisions in order to meet up with Hades. What are some things that surprised you about the kids' meeting with the Lord of the Underworld? What things have happened in our latest reading that have changed the story's plot and what do you predict will happen next?

If nothing else, create an "I Wonder" statement about what you are thinking as we close in on the end of the novel.

They Keep Coming and Coming and Coming...

While we were in Social Studies today, more worms hatched from their eggs. A total of nine in all today. Amazing! After our chow firmed up enough, we did put a little dollop of it in the dish. As soon as we did the first five worms went running straight for it. Within minutes, four more eggs had hatched and those worms were attacking the food as well. Almost as if they were waiting for it. If you enlarge the picture to the right, you will be able to see some pretty cool details, including the holes in the eggs where the worms came out of. SO COOL! Mr. Boyer was able to catch one on video coming out of it's eggs with the digital camera. The picture was kind of grainy because we had to use the TV screen to enlarge it. You can watch the video by clicking below

Silkworm Hatching

Making Silkworm Chow

Well, now that we've got these little rascals, I suppose we've gotta feed 'em now. Luckily, the company we bought the worms from sent a bag of Silkworm Chow with it. Morgan decided that she wanted to try her hand at making this silkworm delight. I think she got more than she barginned for. Upon opening the package, there was a horrible smell that was a combination of old, cut, wet grass, dirt, and a hint of doggie poo. She and Jordan created the mixture using the step by step instructions provided (good technical reading by the way - WINK WINK). We had to get the microwave and cook it. Man it stunk up the whole room! The finished product didn't look very appetizing either. Green and slimy -it actually did look like baby poop. Now we have to put it in the fridge to firm up a little before giving it to the little worms.

They're ALIVE!!!

It happened today. Riley was the first to notice something different about the eggs on the TV screen. He said, "Hey look, one egg is glowing." It had turned white. Little did we know that out of the view of the camera, a little worm had emerged and was foraging for some food. It was Jonathan who announced to everyone, "Mr. Boyer, I think we've got a live one here!" after he went to take pictures of the dish for the day. Sure enough, not only had one worm emerged from it's egg, but two had hatched. They were crawling around and moving around the petri dish exploring their new world. Well, as you can imagine, we were very excited to see that our eggs weren't duds as we were starting to wonder. Wow, two baby silkworms. We are now proud parents. *Sniff Sniff* Tear.