Lions At Lunch Time

Giovanna in 5th grade just finished this book and really seemed to like the character Annie.

"This is a very funny book because Annie and Jack went on a mission to Africa. However, they were scared of the lions. My favorite part is when Annie saw the beasts trying to get to the other side of the river and she helped them. she started swimming and the beasts followed her."

Giovanna, thanks for sharing.

I wonder if Annie is a flat or round character. What do you think?

The Kite

This week k1st students read this lovely story to Grade 5 students.

Title: The Kite
Author:Alma Flor Ada
Illustrator: Vivi Escrivá

Why Picture Books Are Important by Alma Flor Ada
By combining the magic of story with a visual aesthetic experience, picture books offer children a most fulfilling opportunity for enjoyment. Picture books are one of the best gifts authors and artists have ever conceived for children and we must be grateful to the publishers willing to grant them the quality printing they deserve.

Picture books can be enjoyed by children of all ages. The very young can be attracted by the images and discover the promise of reading by attempting to decode their message. Older children can discover how the images compliment or augment the information of the text and begin to become familiar with different art styles.

Picture books offer parents the possibility of sharing moments of joy with their children, moments that contribute to indelible memories and powerful bonding.

Al

Alma Flor Ada

Ramona Quimby Series

I’ve been reading  “Ramona Quimby Age 8”. This book is written by a famous author in United States called Beverly Cleary. On the cover of the book, there is a newbury award medal of famous books. I love the Ramona series!

Ramona has an older sister called Quimby, her mom is called Ms. Quimby, her father is called Mr. Quimby, and her babysister is called Roberta. Ramona is going to 3^rd grade, but at a new school ,and she doesn’t feel prepared enough. On her 1^st day of school she knew some of her class members. They were from her old school. The next day her sister became the most famous girl in the school so she thought that she was going to be the 2^nd  most famous girl of the school, but she was not. Ramona was very upset. Ramona is a very unlucky girl she doesn’t understand why her sister is so popular and she’s not.          

         One day her teacher asked all the class members to say what they would like to be when they grow up. Ramona said she wanted to be a teacher, like Ms Kenwood (her teacher).

If you want to know more about what happens, read the books.

Visit the site: http://www.beverlycleary.com/

By Luiza

Pourquoi Tales

This week our grade 5 authors read their porquoi tales to K1st students. The authors explained the elements of this genre and read tales about rainbows,leopards and their spots,ladybugs and many more.
Here is a reminder of the elements of this amazing genre.

Pourquoi tales have a few elements:the story is always designed to explain why or how a condition came about and often involves a change from a more generic condition. In pourquoi origin stories outside the canon of specific folk characters, characters are never named, but rather are referred to using their species as a proper name: Leopard, Man, Woman, Giraffe. They are representations of archetypes, rather than unique individual characters.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8475556_three-elements-pourquoi-tale.html#ixzz2eFzGllqd

On these sites you can read some pourquoi tales and watch some videos.
http://whystories.wordpress.com/pourquoi-examples/
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/HowTheHoneyBeeGotTheirStinger-Cherokee.html

Suggestions of some favourites.

Making Connections

The book has a part which led me to make a connection with my experience as a student. The protagonist,Jack has a conflict with a group of bad guys in school.
I connected this with my friends and I, when we have conflicts with students from other classes.
Daniel (Grade 5)

I wonder how Jack and Daniel resolve their conflicts.

Thanks for sharing Daniel.

Favorite Authors

This is what Tcha Tchen has to tell us,"Dan Gutman:his book titles all mean crazy and rhyme. For example Mr. Hynde is Out of his Mind  and another is Ms.LaGrange is Strange!

Michael Morpurgo has written wonderful books such as War Horse, Rainbow Bear and Little Albatross. As a writer he is dedicated and has rules for writing. he loves writing in bed!

Drica Pinotti writes books that offer tips. She was born in São Paulo and now lives in New York.Her books are adored by young teenage girls.

Elisabetta Dami,the famous writer of the Geronimo Stilton series gets her ideas from her own life experiences."

Other popular authors in our class are Mary Pope Osbourne, author of the Magic Tree House Collection, Lincoln Pierce who wrote Big Nate,Barbara Park who created Junie B Jones, Megan McDonald who wrote the Judy Moody series and we love many more authors!


Grade 5 book worms! ~^

Me on the Map

This week, Grade 5 students helped  K1st students read "Me on the Map" by Joan Sweeney.

Me on the Map Quicktime2.mov