Let Us Learn

This week I read three books: The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, and I am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai. 

The Girl Who Could Fly was recommended to me by one of my 7th grade students last year. She said it was one of the best books she read and that she’d recommend it to anyone. I have to agree that it was a pretty great book. The book focuses on Piper McCloud a young girl with a special gift, she can fly. She ends up at a private institute that she believes is supposed to help her with her flying skills. As the book progresses though, Piper begins to question the purpose the institute. Suspense is built as you try to figure out who Piper can actually trust. 

A Long Walk to Water has been on my To Read list for a while. It was so engaging that I read it in a single sitting. The book intertwines two narratives. Each chapter starts with the story of a girl named Nya who is living in Southern Sudan in 2008. Nya’s story focuses on her daily walk to the watering hole (which she makes twice a day) and her dream to go to school. The main narrative follows a boy name Salva and begins in Southern Sudan in 1985 and follows him as he flees the war torn area and becomes a lost boy. Eventually, the two narratives intertwine and end in the year 2009. The story is based on the true story of Salva Dut, but the narrative itself is based not only on his story, but also those of other lost boys. 

This week I read Stormbreaker (Alex Rider Series Book 1) by Anthony Horowitz and Lost in Babylon (Seven Wonders Book 2) by Peter Lerangis. Both of these are awesome adventure (with a little mystery) books for middle school students. 

Stormbreaker starts off with the main character, Alex Rider, discovering that his uncle isn’t what he seemed after he dies in a “car accident.” Alex then gets sucked into his uncle’s mysterious life as a spy and must complete his mission. The story includes mystery, intrigue, action, and humor. The book is easy to read and students will get sucked into the mystery as they try to figure out what is going on, who Alex can trust, and how Alex will complete his mission successfully. If you’re using the book in the classroom, there is also a movie to show when you’re done reading. Additionally, this is the first book in the series, so if it really hooks a student there are several more books for them to read. 

For the second week of summer I read No Summit Out of Sight by Jordan Romero and Artemis Fowl (Book 1) by Eoin Colfer. 

In No Summit Out of Sight, Jordan Romero tells how he climbed the Seven (actually 8) Summits. The book is written in his voice and it's like the reader is right there with him on the mountain. This is a great nonfiction text for students many of whom already know about Jordan because of his feature on Disney Channel. 

My goal is to spend quite a bit of time this summer reading, so I can make recommendations for my students. My school participates in Accelerated Reader and we require our students to meet their personalized AR goal each quarter, which generally means reading about 2 books at their reading level each quarter. This summer I will be reading books that I intend to teach in my language arts and/or literacy class this coming year as well as books that I think my students would enjoy. 

For the first week of my summer I read Wonder by R.J. Palacio, The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Named Eel by Deborah Hopkinson, and Chomp by Carl Hiassen. Keep reading for my thoughts on each book. 

My 8th graders take the SmarterBalanced ELA Assessment tomorrow. I’m crossing my fingers.