Because of Winn-Dixie

              For such a small book, there is a lot going on. Indian Opal goes into a grocery store and a stray dog comes into the store. So, the dog does not have to go to the pound, Opal decides to adopt the dog and call him Winn-Dixie. Opal takes the dog home to her dad, who is a preacher. The reader finds out that Opal’s mom left them when she was a baby. Opal does not remember her mom and wants to learn more about her. She asks her dad about her mom and finds out ten things (ten things because she is 10) about her mom. As Opal gets use to the new town she is in, and befriends Winn-Dixie, she makes new friends and finds out that her life is not the only one with problems. She befriends the old lady that works at the library, who tells her stores. She befriends and works with Otis, the man at the pet shop, who gives her a job to buy a collar and leash for Winn-Dixie. She finds out that Otis had gone to jail for playing music on the street. She also becomes friends with Gloria Dump, a lady that lives by herself. People think that Gloria Dump is a witch, and when Winn-Dixie runs into Gloria’s yard, she finds out that there is more to her life than just a beautiful garden. Gloria shows Opal a tree with bottles hanging from the branches. The bottles represent all the trouble she has caused. She even befriends a little girl that she thought did not like her, but finds out that the little girl lost her brother a year ago, and is having a tough time with it. 

These can all be very hard topics to talk about with students. Students might have someone who has or is in jail. Students might be living with one parent because of a death or leaving. How do you talk about those situations with your students? I think that those situations are tough to talk about, but they should be talked about. Talking about tough situations teaches others to have empathy. But, how do you go about talking about tough situations? I would start with explaining that there are different reasons, like different reasons why people go to jail. I would ask talk about how people handle situations differently. I would also ask how they would feel if something like a family member leaving would make them feel. That is a tough subject, but could provide interesting answers.           

         In the book, Opal creates two different list. One list is ten things that her dad told her about her mom. The second list was ten things that she knows about Winn-Dixie. She created the Winn-Dixie list when she thought Winn-Dixie ran away during a storm. I would ask students to write a list of ten things that are special about someone in their family, a friend or even a pet. I think they could even make several different lists. It would be interesting to see what things the student sees as important when creating a list.

         I liked this book. For me this was a very easy read, but there was so much to create themes and lessons around. I think students would like this book, and it would keep them interested.

Wonder part 2

                Wouldn’t it be great to know what other people thought about you? I know I would love that sometimes. What do people really think about when they meet me or after they spend time with me. In Wonder, R.J. Palacio, allows the reader to hear from different characters, not just the main character. The reader reads about that character’s life and how they interact with the main character. In the second part of Wonder you hear from Jack Will and how he is trying to repair his relationship with August. Because Jack still wants to be friends with August and he punched Julian in the face, people started a war between the boys. This is fifth grade, should there really be any kind of war or bad blood between students? If this is what it is going to be like every year for August and his friends, well school is going to feel really long.

              The next character we get to hear from is Olivia’s boyfriend, Justin. I thought this was a very minor character to put into the story. I think that it is a very interesting chose to put this character into the book because he gets to not only interact with Olivia, but August as well. I don’t think Olivia really prepared Justin very well for meeting her brother, he seemed very surprised by seeing him. One of the lines that I think stuck out the most in Justin’s chapters was when he was remembering what Miranda told him she said, “the universe was not kind to auggie Pullman.” She is right, the universe was not very kind to Auggie.

             After we hear from Justin we hear from August again. Auggie ends up getting hearing aids because he is starting to lose his hearing. He does not like them at first because it would be another thing to make him standout, but it turns out that he really likes them. Then Auggie’s dog Daisy dies. Daisy was always there for Auggie, and there to comfort him. Losing Daisy was really hard for Auggie and the rest of the family. Another big part in the book was when Auggie and Olivia’s mom finds out that Olivia is going to be in a play. The problem is that Olivia did not want anyone from her family to go. She knew if her family went then Auggie would be there and she is trying to keep her home and school life separate. She never came out and said the reason she did not want her family there because of August, but it was very much implied. They did end up going to the play, and Olivia did great. One of the most touching scenes in the book was at the end. At the end of the book, Auggie goes on a weekend trip with his class and there are other schools there too. Some seventh-grade students from another school start making fun of Auggie. Auggie stands up for himself and Jack, but that does not stop the seventh graders. Some other fifth grade students that are not really friends with Auggie come by and help him. They end up running away. The most significant part was that when they came back to finish watching the movie everything had changed between the other fifth grade students and Auggie. They saw Auggie as one of them. At the end of fifth grade they have a graduation and at the graduation Auggie receives an award called the Henry Ward Beecher medal which is about recognizing greatness. When he gets this award, people start clapping and giving him a standing ovation. Then at the very end his mom says something so touching. She says “Thank you, Auggie,” …”For everything you’ve given us. For coming into out lives. For being you. You really are a wonder, Auggie. You are a wonder.” Sometimes having a parent say something to you that is heartfelt is worth much more than an award.

           As I was reading this book, I was trying to come up with an ideas for assignments, but I got so into the book I sort of forgot. I think that sometimes just reading the book and having a discussion is all you need, especially for a great book like Wonder.  I think that different parts of the book, split up into characters, could be a great assignment. What I was thinking is for students to write themselves into the book as a character. How did they meet August? What is their relationship with him? How did they see him when they first meet? How do they see him now? As a friend? As weird? What is something that they learned by being friends with August? Does their perception of people with disabilities change after meeting someone with a disability or deformation? I think this activity would get students thinking and get them to be creative. I also like the assignment the teacher had the students do in the book. The teacher had students write their own precepts. I think having students do this activity gets them thinking about what they find important in life and something they feel can be inspirational.

          I loved this book. I could go for hours talking about all the parts I loved, that made me sad or made me laugh. I think that this is a book all students should read because it is so great and very inspirational.

wonder part 1

        

               Growing up being teased and made fun of is never something you want to go through. I was teased all the time growing up for either being really tall or being white in an all Hispanic school or just for being shy. I never had any abnormalities like Auggie does in Wonder, but the author writes this story with so much feeling that the reader feels like they are like Auggie. Reading this book, I felt like I knew what Auggie was going through. There were points that I cried, points where I was sad, and others times where I was smiling and laughing.

           Auggie has been sheltered all his life by his parents because of his health problems and also because they know the weird looks Auggie gets. Now it is time for Auggie to start 5^th grade and his mom thinks that he needs to go to a school. Auggie is not to thrilled with this idea (and I would not be either). He ends up going to school, and everywhere he walks people look at him like he has the plague. He gets some friends because he has a great personality, but there are some kids that still make fun of him. On Halloween, Auggie was so excited to wear his custom because he could feel normal, the mask made him feel that way. He walked into class thinking that this was the day he was not going to be made fun of, but he overheard someone he thought was his friend making fun of him and saying he did not know why Auggie was following him around. Auggie eventually forgave Jack for what he said. (I don’t think I could forgive Jack).

          This book has so many emotions going through it. I like that the story starts off with Auggie and his story then leads into other people. The other people’s stories get told, but then they talk about how they interact with Auggie and what they thought about him when they first saw him. Auggie’s sister is a sad story because she feels like she does not get as much attention as Auggie. She also wants to start high school with no one knowing how Auggie is because well she says she is not ashamed of him, but she is at times.  She talks about going to her Grandmas’ house for two week because Auggie had a surgery. When she comes home she talks about seeing Auggie the same way everyone else sees him like, a monster.

         As I was reading this book, I was wondering how I can make this book into different lessons. I think that it would be very insightful to have students write about a time where they felt like an outsider or different because of something about them. I also think that it would be interesting for students to write about how they would feel if someone like Auggie was in their class. How would you interact with them? Would you try to be their friend or ignore them? Would you be scared of them like everyone else? I also would like to do a craft project by drawing a self-portrait making sure they got all their features, and show everyone how different everyone is. I would also talk with the students about respect and bullying. These are very important topics and sometimes not talked about a lot. I would like students to write about what bullying means to them, then as a class create a document of things they will do to stop bullying and how they will hold themselves responsible if they are caught bullying someone. Then have the students sign it. There are so many great lessons in this book, especially on how to treat others.

         I think that this is a great book and all students should read this. It is not hard to read and the chapters are very simple. I think that the book captures different emotions and gets you think about how you treat others. Such a great book and I cannot wait to read more. 

Wednesday Wars Part 2

I have always loved reading. You can gain so much from reading. You can get so invested in the characters that sometimes you might forget they are in a book. There are some books that I never want to put down and would pick up to read over again. But sometimes you find a book that does not hold your interest like others.

At first I was into Wednesday Wars, but as the book went on I wanted something else to happen. Holling at first was a character that I wanted to see what happened next to him. He was always in these weird situations like the play or the rats getting out of the cage. But somewhere along the way I lost interest in Holling. I gain more interest in Mrs. Baker and we were only given so much information on Mrs. Baker. I wanted to know her Olympic experience, and about her husband. I also wanted to know more about what was going on in history around Holling. They talked about the presidency and Martin Luther King Jr., but Holling never really talked about what he thought of everything, just what his sister thought. I also became mad at the dad, for not helping his daughter when she ran away and then wanted to come back home. I don’t know what I was looking for in this book, but it never came, whatever it was. At the end of the book Holling wanted a Barometz like his friend because it was a moment to become a man. I wanted to have a bigger moment, something that was memorable or words that I could come to over and over again. There were moments in this book that were great, but most of it could be easily forgotten.

With all that said I think that it is important that students know it is okay to not like all books. The thing that I really think you need to emphasize is that there should be a reason not just “because I didn’t”. I would still have my students read to book to see if there was something they did like about the book. I also think someone who does not like the book can provide great feedback and discussion; they could provide a different point of view. I do have to say though that I did like they added in different parts of history. These book leads well in to social studies. These parts of history in the book can lead to teaching about the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr. or Kennedy. Ask the students what they might know about any parts of history they talk about. I would even have student’s choice different historical parts from the book, and do a report on it. You can ask “What are the most significant events of the Vietnam War?” “What was Martin Luther King Jr. marching to Washington for?” The questions could go on and on.

The Wednesday Wars

     Wednesday Wars. There are so many things I thought of when I read this title. I thought that there was going to be a war between schools or teachers. I did not expect the type of experiences and stories that I am getting when reading this book.

      Wednesday Wars is about a middle school boy named Holling Hoodhood. I know weird name and they have not really said what the meaning of the name is or even if there is a meaning. But Holling is a Presbyterian, so he does not get to leave school for church on Wednesday. He gets stuck staying with his teacher that he believes is out to get him. She even makes him read Shakespeare.  To me that does not sound fun at all, but Holling is really into it. At first Holling is against read the book, but he has to because his father is trying to get a contract to build a building for Holling’s teachers family. I should probably tell you the teachers name, her name is Mrs. Baker. Even though Holling believes that Mrs. Baker is mean and is out to get him, the truth is she is really nice and wants the best for her students.

There are some great stories that Holling tells, like the time the rats got lose and him and Mrs. Baker had to stand on the desk. There was also the time where Holling was clapping out some chalk board erasers and the chalk floated in to the classroom and got all over the pastries. I think my favorite one was Holling getting in to a Shakespeare play and playing a fairy. Holling wanted nothing to do with the play after he got the part of the fairy, but did it because he needed money for pastries for his class. These stories make you smile because so many things go wrong for Holling, but even though Holling thinks that Mrs. Baker is out to get him, she is the one that helps him out the most.

I do not know a lot about the Vietnam war, so even for me it would be great to talk about or look up. I would use the fact that the Vietnam war was talked about to turn it into a chance to talk about a part of history. I would turn it into a teaching point about how certain people were treated. In the book, there is a little girl named Mai Thi, she is not treated very well by one of the cooks. When all the other students got hot chocolate, Mai Thi did not get any because she is from Vietnam. This would be a good time to talk about how we can make others feel like outcast just by small things that we do. You could have one student picked out (make sure to talk to that student beforehand and tell them what you are going to do) and not give them something, and see what the other students say or do. Is there a student that does something or says something about that student not getting what everyone else has? I guess you could talk about Shakespeare, but for elementary students it might be hard to understand the books they are reading in the Wednesday Wars.

The interesting thing about this book is that there are so many different things that deal with parts of history. At first I did not know when this book took place, but then they started talking about the Vietnam war.  

I think that this book is interesting. At first I was not very into the book, but as it went a long I have seen the little important pieces of this book. You get caught up with the characters. I want to know more about Mrs. Baker, I want to find out what happens next to Holling. I think that some students many not be into this book and some it may take a while to get into, but it is a good read (so far).

Hatchet part 2

                 Have you ever been in a situation where you just have to do whatever it cost to survive? It could be as simple as a school assignment or as hard as surviving in the wilderness. Brain had that thought of having do anything to survive in the hope that someone will find him. It seemed like Brian was willing to try anything to get someone to find him, but as time went on he started to give up hope. Brian faced many hard and scary situations. He faced animals that were watching him or wanted to hurt him, like the bear or the moose that went and attacked him. At that point I would have given up or ran far away. Brian was also very resourceful. He found food all over the place with eggs and berries. There was one time when Brian invented a bow and arrow to catch fish. Brain had to think really hard about the bow and arrow being in the water because you think you know where the fish was but it was in a different place caused by the bending of the water.

At one point I thought Brain would have given up completely. A tornado came through and

destroyed a lot of what he had, and almost killed him. At that point and time, even thought it was a disaster, it gave Brian hope because the tornado caused the water to move and the plane to be exposed.

 There brain was able to gather more supplies from the plane. There was one thing that I thought was really interesting in this whole book, Brian said that he was the new Brian. The line that I thought was so important to Brian’s new found identity was, “He was not the same. The plane passing changed him, the disappointment cut him down and made him new. He was not the same and would never be again like he had been. That was one of the true things, the new things. And the other one was that he would not die, he would not let death in again. He was new.” That sentence shows that Brain has made a transition from old too new, and I think was a great line.

There are many great lines in this book, and many great experiences that Brain goes through. Most experiences, we would never have to experience. I think a great activity would be for students to find a situation that Brain has gone through, and then write about how they would get through that experience. Maybe it was trying to find food. What kind of food could you find? What animals would you have to share the food with? Another great activity is to change the location of the plane crash. What if the plane crashed in the desert or jungle? What food would you find? What about the shelter? This would require some research by the students, but could be fun and interesting to see what the students come up with.

I truly thought this book was great, and kept me guessing what would happen next. I would recommend this book to students, especially students that are not interested in reading because this will keep them hooked.

Hatchet part 1

Have you ever been so scared of being alone? Has there ever a time that you thought that you were going to die because you were in a situation that you were uncomfortable with. That was what Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy experienced when his plane crashed in the middle of the woods. Brain was traveling to see his dad in Canada after he saw his mom with another man. In his mind he was dealing with a lot. Then the pilot had a heart attack as they were flying. Brain was freaking out. I was freaking out for Brain. When the plane landed in the water Brain had only a few things left with him, one of those things being a hatchet.  

What do you do when you are so desperate, and need of survival? Do you just sit back and wait? Do you make the most of it and figure out how to survive? Or do you just give up? These are some of the questions that I think Brian was asking himself not only when the plane landed, but as time went on and no one was coming. I would even turn these questions into questions for my students. Depending on which one they picked, I would have them design a plan of action. If they were to just sit back and wait for someone to rescue them, what would they do with their time? Would they need a shelter and food? If they were to build a shelter what would it look like? What food would they find, and how would they get that food? What about other animals in the wild? So many questions can come from this book and so many activities. If you are wanting to know what the shelter would look like, provide some material and have students design their shelter. To make it hard have them consider rain or other weather elements. Also have them write or tell why they built the shelter the way they did; make it so they have to think about it.

This book kept me interesting and wanting to keep on reading, so I could see what happened to Brian. This is a great book to make predictions with.

There is one line in the first half of the book that I loved. Brian was thinking about what Perpich use to tell him, “You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.” I thought this line was great because you are one of the most valuable asset you can have while surviving. Thinking quick on your feet, and thinking about every situation either before or after something happens is important. I think this is a great quote for students and one that should be talk about with the class. Some students have different assets to them. Some are more physical that could, most likely build the shelter or move logs. While others are more of the visual, they can see what the shelter could look like before they actually build it. I can see a teacher putting this together as a project. A group of students is stranded in the forest each of you has a different job. What job would you have and why? I think that would be really fun and great interaction among students.