Megan

=Book Log=
 * # || =Book Title= || =Author= || =E, JR, C= || =Date Completed= ||
 * ==1== || Kelsey Green Reading Queen || Mills || Jr || summer ||
 * ==2== || Fortunately, the Milk || Gaiman || C || summer ||
 * ==3== || charlie bumpers 1 || harley || jr ||  ||
 * ==4== || jack finds a clue ||  || jr ||   ||
 * ==5== || dork dirrys 1 ||  || jr || not fineshed ||

Mrs. Palmieri recommends...

 * ==#== || ==Book Title== || ==Author== ||
 * ==1== ||  ||   ||
 * ==2== ||  ||   ||
 * ==3== ||  ||   ||
 * ==4== ||  || **....** ||

Dear ms.p hi hope you had a grate winiter vacation I did i just finished the lemonade war it was a good book me and my mom have been working on my book talk wright back you friend Meg

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 11, 2015 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**

hi ms.p i wanted to tell you about the book i am reading it is the book dork dirys it is the first one but i plan to read all of the books also the book has like 300 pages that is a big book for me and the book is just right for me and you should read it to the class well it is definitely a girls book but i would like to see what the boys do and say it would be funny PS i loved Charley bumpers have a good weekend love,megan

October 13, 2015

Hi Megan-

I hope you had a great weekend! I"m so glad that you enjoyed __Charlie Bumpers__. I very much enjoyed that book. I think I mentioned in class that I'm always bummed out by books where the teacher is the bad guy. I was glad in the end that we saw that Mrs. Burke wasn't mean after all. Do you think that Charlie kind of overreacted about the whole thing?

Have you found a new book to read?

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**

9/30 /15 Dear Coach, I am almost done with Charlie Bumper. If I could talk to Charlie I would ask him if he ever gets along with his brother Matt. Also I would ask him if his desk stayed clean. I suggest you read Charlie Bumper. Sincerely, Megan

September 10, 2015 Dear Megan,

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 C