Evie+T

=Book Log=
 * # || =Book Title= || =Author= || =E, JR, C= || =Date Completed= ||
 * ==1== || A tangle of Knots || Lisa Graff || C || Summer ||
 * ==2== || I Survived || Tarshis || E || Summer ||
 * ==3== || The land of Stories ||  || JR || February 24, 16 ||
 * ==4== || Night Divided || Jennifer A. Neilson || JR || January 7, 2016 ||
 * ==5== || Hunger Games || Suzanne Collins || C || October ?, 2015 ||
 * =**6**= || Catching Fire || Suzanne Collins || C || January 4, 2016 ||
 * =7= || Mocking Jay || Suzanne || C ||  ||

Mrs. Palmieri recommends...

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Hi Mrs. P

For our new guided reading book ,The Young Man and the Sea I definitely do not like Tyler Croft. This boy who is definitely a snob and a bully. This is shown in on page 12 and 13. Tyler says that Skiff is always crying, that he lives in a shack and a bunch of things a nice boy like Skiff should not have to listen to or be called names like that. At the beginning of the book Skiff said "all it does is make me want to whomp his head with a hard green apple because that would make him cry. Im telling the whole wide world he shouts back over his shoulder. Little Skiff Beaman cried like a baby" I predict that Skiff will get the big tuna and will become rich like Tyler and actually throw the hard green apple at Tyler and actually hit him.

Also, I did read The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck. I never got to read the sequels. The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck was really good.

January 25, 2016

Hi Evie,

I wish I had more time to read at home, but it was funny over this weekend I found myself thinking about __Hiding Out at Pancake Palace__. I was thinking about what would happen next and I'm getting really excited to finish it! This is what happens when I get hooked into a book! I wasn't sure I loved this book at first. At first, I thought Cecilia seemed strange (alright, she IS strange) and I wasn't sure if I would like her as a character. I have found that if you don't like the characters in a book, it can make it very hard to want to keep reading the book. //I like your observation that she is strong and independent and I agree that those are admirable characteristics. Always better to be yourself, then try to be someone you don't want to be.//

This happened to me last year when I read aloud my class the MCBA, __The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck__. Did you read that one last year? The female main character of that book was Laurie, and she was quite unlikable! She was snobby, kind of nasty, and altogether kind of tough to tolerate. It took a little while but class and I really go into the story and soon I better "understood" why Laurie acted the way she did. We liked the book so much, we decided to immediately read the sequel, __The Magician's Bird__. Reading that was easy because we already knew and understood the characters. Do you find that you like to read sequels or books in a series because she kind of already know a lot about the characters?


 * Feel free to tell me about a character in the book that you just read/or are currently reading

Back to Cecilia- so at the beginning she seemed strange, but now I find myself feeling sorry for her. She is lonely and kind of an outcast. I'm sure it's not easy to be her- and it definitely feels like she really wishes she had friends. On page 125 it says, "It wasn't like Cecilia wanted to be friends with Natalie. All she wanted was to wave and have them wave back." It's such a simple thing- you don't realize how much it might mean to someone just to be friendly towards them.

What are your thoughts on our read aloud?

Your friend, Mrs. P

Dear coach snoopy,

In A Night Divided i think the theme is that it is to believe in family and never stop believing. In the Pancake Palace I do think that the theme is to never change who you really are and never let anyone chose who you are. I am really enjoying __Hiding out in__ __Pancake Palace.__ I f I was Cecilia, I would have not told RJ. In The character that I admire is the most is Cecilia she is strong independent and doesn't care what anyone else thinks of her. I also predict that Elvis/Arrin is going to teach Cecilia how to play a musical instrument and then she will be able to hear the songs of the trees. I like how not only this author but almost every author says " Suddenly  or  Right then '' it tells you that something is going to happen.

January 3, 2016 Hello Team 7-

Welcome back from vacation!

I found myself thinking about our new read aloud during this break. I always get excited when I'm reading a new book out loud to my students that I also haven't read.

Several of you were talking to me about your book talks before we left for vacation. I know specifically people were wondering about how to figure out a book's "theme" or "author's message". This sometimes feels like it will be hard, but might not be as tricky as you think. Think about what the author is trying to teach you, the reader, through the story; what big life lesson do they want you to know. One of the themes in __Silverwing__ is teamwork, or believing in yourself.

What do we think might be the message in __Hiding Out at Pancake Palace__? Let's think about what we know so far. Elvis is cutting off and coloring his hair- something he is famous for and he has to hide away from the world because of this embarrassing thing. I wonder if the message might be something about "being true to oneself" like don't be pretend to be something else, be who you want to be. I'm also wondering if Elvis really wants to be this famous star- or is this something his dad really wants? Again, since I'm reading this with you guys I'm just guessing (speculating)

I don't think we know as much about Cecilia yet- but I predict she and Evis (Aaron) are going to help each other in some way. She wants to find out if the trees sing- he likes to sing.

Guess we will read more and find out!

Your friend, Mrs. P

December 14,2015

Dear Mrs. Snoopy

I'm reading A Night Divided and it is such a great book to read. I admire Gerta because she is daring,hopefull and very determand. Gerta lives with her eldest brother, Fritz and her mama on the side of east Berlin ,Germany. Her papa and the middle child Dominic live on the west side of Berlin. Gerta and her family need to escape to west Berlin. Recently Peter (Gerta's friend, Anna's big brother and Fritz's friend) had just got captured by the boarder guard, but Fritz knew about the escape so he got called in for questioning. I love this non-fiction story because of the plot line and that this could actually happen.

Your student, Evie

December 6, 2015 Dear Evie- As Christmas approaches, I often like to reread some favorite holiday themed books from my own childhood. When I was your age and a little younger, I loved to read __The Little House on the Prairie__ series. These wonderful stories are from the childhood of the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, as she grew up in the late 1800s in places like Wisconsin, Kansas, and eventually the Dakota Territory (today South Dakota). This time of year can be so busy and crazy and I always enjoy seeing how simple this pioneer family made their holidays. Sometimes we get so caught up in "buy, buy, buy" or " I want" that I really like reading these descriptions of the simple food and presents that they had and the happy holiday they created as a result. Here is a quote from fifth book in the series called, By the Shores of Silver Lake. Chapter 19 "Christmas Eve"-

"It had snowed all day and soft, large flakes were still falling. The winds were quiet so that snow lay deep on the ground, and Pa took the shovel with him when he went do the evening chores. "Well, it's a white Christmas," he said  "Yes, and we're all here and all well, so it's a merry one," said Ma  The surveyors' house was full of secret. Mary had knitted new, warm socks for Pa's Christmas present. Laura had made him a necktie from a piece of silk that she found in Ma's scrap bag. Together in the attic, she and Carrie had made an apron for Ma from on of the calico curtains that had hung in the shanty. In the scrap bag they found a piece of fine, white muslin; Laura had cut a small square from it, and secretly Mary had hemmed the square with her fine stitches and made a handkerchief for Ma. They put it in the apron pocket. Then they wrapped the apron in tissue paper and hidden it under the quilt blocks in Mary's box."

Descriptions like these really help me imagine what it would have been like to make gifts like Laura and her sisters did. Life was very different then. ***But when you read the descriptions of the family making and eating their meals and celebrating, it makes you as teh reader feel like maybe life isn't that different after all.**


 * When I want to read these books, I usually pull out my little paperback set of all the books that I bought in book order when I was a student teacher. I was recently excited to discover __A Little House Christmas Treasury: Festive Holiday Stories__ was published. This is one book that contains all of the holiday stories from the author's different books. Perfect!**


 * I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family.**


 * Your friend,**
 * Mrs. P**


 * October 14,2015**
 * Hi Couch Snoopy**
 * I'm reading The Land of Stories and the title says to me that the 2 main characters ( Alex and conner ) are going to some how are going to go to this fairy tale world. The character I like the most is Alex because she shows that even though she is very smart does not mean she is not like able. I don't now how conner does not enjoy bieng in a fairy tale world. I predict that the " BIG BAD WOLF PACK" ( Witch the twins or the main characters just meet but nothing has happend yet ) is going to be defeated by the twins because I think that the twins are going to have magical powers. I think you would like this book. What do you think will happen next? Do you think that the " Big Bad Wolf Pack will defeat the twins?**


 * Hi Evie-**


 * Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I love all the deep thinking you are doing about Silverwing. Authors are crafty and they do often give us little clues to things that will be important later. I think you are definitely on to something about Cassiel needing to be rescued. We're already 2/3 of the way done with the book and there is still a ton of adventure left! Shade realized pretty quickly that trusting Goth and Throbb was a bad idea and he and Marina will spend the rest of the book trying to escape them!**


 * At home, I'm still reading Elvis and the Underdogs. I've had a harder time getting in to this book and found it a little boring. I actually haven't even got to the part where Elvis the dog is introduced. I HATE to abandon books, so I'm hoping if I pick this up now that I might be ready to give it another shot.** We could compare the main character, Benji, to Shade from Silverwing. Benji is small and sickly and his mother kind of smothers him like Ariel does to Shade. I wonder if Benji will kind of break away from his mom and have an adventure like Shade?

Talk to you soon, Mrs. P

PS- Your book log looks a little empty- what are you reading right now? I would love to suggest some books for you. Let's chat about what you enjoy.**

Bonjure Mrs.Palmieri, Silverwing makes me think about being nicer to others and to not fight about things that are little.The auther got me very interested when the auther told me that Cassiel is alive. I wonder why the auther told me that Cassiel is alive, I think it is a clue for later. It seemes to be that the auther is giving me another clue, I think they are going to have to save Cassiel. I love this book so far. Do you think that they will find shades dad?

September 10, 2015 Dear Evie,

I am so excited to be sharing __Silverwing__ with you this year as a read aloud. This is definitely one of my all time favorite books, which is probably why I can’t imagine starting a school year without sharing it with my class. *The genre of this book is definitely fantasy since I don’t believe that bats and owls have wars or detailed adventures together. I also consider this to be a genre of my own invention- called Animal Adventure. I love the character Shade; he’s one of my all time favorites. *If I could talk to Shade, I would ask him if he thinks it was worth it to break the law and see the sun, especially after what happens to his colony as a result. What do you think of __Silverwing__ so far?

Your friend in reading,

Mrs. Palmieri J