Catch up Sunday: Read-alouds and October General Conference 2017

A few favorite read-alouds
There are so many great books out there that it is always nice to hear about ones that were really popular with students.

"For centuries, the evil Shadow Lord has been plotting to invade Deltora and enslave its people. All that stands in his way is the magic Belt of Deltora with its seven gems of great and mysterious power. Now, Leif, Barda, and Jasmine must unite to find the seven gems and save Deltora from an eternity of darkness." -Goodreads

This series is one of the few that my anti-reader little brother actually enjoyed reading and that my mom didn't have to pay him to read. I had originally found this series at a Scholastic Book Fair when I was in elementary school. It was my mom's idea to read these to my 4th-grade class. 

It took maybe 3 chapters (definitely by the end of the prologue) for my class to be hooked. They really enjoyed solving the puzzles in the books too. The books are engaging and adventurous, with some mystery thrown into the mix. 

The downfall of this series is that there is a cartoon of it out online. 

We were reading the 4th book when several kids came in and said they didn't want to read the books anymore because they watched the entire series online and knew what was going to happen. The district I was in was super strict about what was shown in the classroom, so there wasn't the option of comparing and contrasting the two.

"Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better." -Goodreads

One of my 4th graders wanted me to read this book really badly before she moved. I was surprised how much I liked it. Usually, I like to read the book before I read it out loud; however, I figured since it was a Newberry Award winner I would be okay. I would be wary of reading this book only because there were a few moments that were intense, but impactful. I would avoid this one if the group is K-2. We did have some interesting discussions about what we read.  This book is definitely a good addition to any upper-grade classroom. 

Andrew Clements is a pretty popular author with elementary teachers. I've already talked a bit about Frindle here. The Last Holiday Concert was another that my students really enjoyed. 

"For Hart Evans, being the most popular kid in sixth grade has its advantages. Kids look up to him, and all the teachers let him get away with anything -- all the teachers except the chorus director, Mr. Meinert. When Hart's errant rubber band hits Mr. Meinert on the neck during chorus practice, it's the last straw for the chorus director, who's just learned he's about to lose his job due to budget cuts. So he tells the class they can produce the big holiday concert on their own. Or not. It's all up to them. And who gets elected to run the show? The popular Mr. Hart Evans. 
Hart soon discovers there's a big difference between popularity and leadership, and to his surprise, discovers something else as well -- it's really important to him that this be the best holiday concert ever, and even more important, that it not be the last." -Goodreads

 What I like most about Andrew Clements' work is that the kids involved in the story and the adults all learn lessons from each other. This particular concert was also great to get the students in the holiday spirit in December.

  "Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.

   When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: 'They are different, and they live differently.'"  -Goodreads

This book was a lot of fun with my 5th graders; however, our 5th grade had a copy of the audiobook, so I used that for this book. Either way, this book is engaging and had my students begging for more. It was fun to do an audiobook since it was something different. The great thing about this book, besides the lessons it teaches, is that there are many resources available for classroom use to extend the story beyond the pages. 

LDS General Conference 2017

As a presidency, we decided to build a packet of activities for the primary aged kids to use during conference this October. There are numerous options for activity packets, so I just took a few things from the activities I liked the best. 

Who doesn't enjoy coloring? You can find these coloring pages free here!

Life's Journey To Perfection has several conference activities, two great ones are here and here. 

I really liked this last one that has A-Z activities for kids to do. This would be great for senior primary aged kids or to do together with junior primary kids. Find it here.