Day 1 Out Of My Mind by Sharon Draper

The novel opens with a powerful discussion of the power of words and language. 

How does this help capture the reader's attention?

After discussing this question as a group, we created word clouds with our own favorite words. After viewing our word clouds, what can you tell about all of us?  Leave us a comment.

Here is mine:

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

We read Mark Twain's first story called The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

Did you know that this story is based on real people mining at Angels Camp during the early 1800s?  

And did you also know that they still have frog jumping contests to this day at a fair near Angels Camp?  Here's a link to the world record holders http://www.frogtown.org/#!frog-jump 

Watch a few of the frog jumping videos here http://www.frogtown.org/#!videos

What a fun story to read and read aloud!  Here is a link to the story. http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/price/frog.htm

Here is a link to an audio recording.  The words in the story has been adapted but the story is the same.  Enjoy!

http://www.manythings.org/voa/stories/The_Celebrated_Jumping_Frog_of_Calaveras_County_-_By_Mark_Twain.html

Flying Solo

We just finished reading Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher. This book was absolutely fabulous! The characters include a 6th grade girl named Rachel who chooses not to talk after the death of a classmate, Tommy Feathers.  Sean is a friend with a tough home life who really wants a puppy. Bastian is moving to Hawaii and today is his last day.  Today is Friday and their teacher, Mr. Fab is gone.  Unfortunately the classroom has no sub.  The class decides to not tell anyone and attempt to fly solo. How will everyone behave?   Will anybody find out?  Will Sean get a puppy? Read Flying Solo to find out the answer to these questions.

Watch the book trailer that this classroom made after reading the book.  It's awesome!

Global Read Aloud! Here We Come!

We are super excited to be participating in the Global Read Aloud!  In only 12 short days, our class will be delving into the book Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.  I just received my copy in the mail. Waiting for the rest of them to arrive :0)

We have partner classes from Pennsylvania and Tennessee.  Can you find Ben Franklin from North Dakota on the Google Map? That's us!  More information available on the GRA wiki: Global Read Aloud Wiki

Check out the book trailer below from www.booktrailersforreaders.com..

Ready, Set, READ!

Welcome to our blog!   We are a group of about twenty 5th graders in Grand Forks, North Dakota who love to read and share good books that we have delved into.  What kind of books do you like to read? Do you have any favorite authors?  We are excited to hear about it!  This is our teacher's homepage.  Along the right hand side, under blogroll, you'll see a list of blog titles. These are the students' blogs. Please stay and visit!  It's our hope you'll leave inspired to read some of our favorite books!