Owen's Marshmallow Chick by RJ

This is a book that I recorded using iMovie. iMovie is an app that lets you take pictures then record yourself and stretch the picture to match the words. We sent the video to a kindergarten class so they can read along.

Precepts by Sal

Precepts are important because it's like a motto. It's a ground rule. It's something you live by.

They're also important because they tell you what to do. Not in a bossy way like your hockey coach, but a rule to follow. And I basically just said the same thing twice, didn't I?

And that's why precepts are important. Stay classy Jersey Shore.

The video below is of our class precepts.

  The video above includes posters of student-written precepts being read aloud by the student author. The class precepts were inspired by one of our favorite books this year, Wonder by RJ Palaccio. We've also just finished reading the companion to Wonder, The Julian Chapter. We highly recommend it for children and adults. It's a story you'll never forget. 

Wemberly's Ice-cream Star by Megan

I made an iMovie about the book Wemberly's Ice-cream Star. The reason I chose this book was because I liked the cover.

When I was reading the book, I had to think about not going too fast or too slow. I practiced reading the book until I thought it was perfect. I liked recording the book in iMovie. I hope you enjoy it.

The Debater by Sophie

For the past two months in class we have been doing two or three debates.

In the debates, first we read a book together as a class, having two ideas about the character and collecting evidence about why that character is being that way.

The photo above is of Sophie's evidence for two conflicting ideas, that the tree is strong and the tree is weak. She collected the evidence as we read The Giving Tree.

After that, we share some of our evidence with our reading partner. Soon, after that, we get in a caucus and order our evidence. Later, we get with our debate partner and we both get about two minutes to speak. Then we get with our caucus and figure out ways to fight back. After that, we get back with our debate partner and say what we came up with with our partners.

I think this is a good way to learn about perspectives because it teaches us that there is no wrong or right answer and many people can have different perspectives. Maybe if you get fifty people in a room, maybe they could all have different perspectives about the same thing.

The video above contains images and video from a recent debate. The video was compiled by Sophie.

Social Issues Celebration

For the past month, we've read with a focus on social issues. We grew the chart below as we read across many books this year, identifying in clubs or whole class conversations the issues, ideas, and concepts hidden in the text we read.

Our work during social issues focused largely on determining what each text taught us about the issues and then pushing ourselves to be the kind of readers who change our own ideas as a result of reading the text.

During this unit, in addition to returning to favorite read alouds and rereading them (many we know by heart, practically), we read Wonder by RJ Palacio. (We're sure you know this already, as it's been a favorite in our class and most likely mentioned at home by now.)

In Wonder, one of Auggie's teachers, Mr. Browne, has precepts for each month. Similar to our class agreement - our precept - If you work really hard and are kind, amazing things will happen - Mr. Browne's September precept was "When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind."

To celebrate our work for the past month on social issues, each student chose an issue, idea or concept from our chart and wrote his own precept. This felt like an appropriate way to end our time together. We share them with you in the video below.

The Closet by Arabella

Please enjoy Arabella reading aloud her picture book The Closet, an independent project of hers during writing this year. Arabella is both the author and illustrator of The Closet.