The Swallows Have Arrived!

I just came across Kathryn Fitzmaurice's blog. She is the author of The Year the Swallows Came Early, the book we just finished reading together. We loved hearing what happened to Frankie and Groovy. It was our pleasure to experience their growth and watch them change.

Kathryn Fitzmaurice just reported on her blog that the swallows arrived in San Juan Capistrano on March 19th! You can read her article about it here.

As Frankie says, "They always come back. Without you having to ask them." What do you think Frankie means when he says that? Why would the fact that the swallows always come back matter to Frankie?

Books! Books! Books!

Today is the first day of National March into Literacy Month! Let's celebrate some of our favorite books!

Post the title of the book you just love and a little description of why you love it. Check back often to find out what some of our favorites are!

Reading Partnership Celebration!

Today, we presented our award-show style speeches to thank our partners for all the support they have given us during our November Reading Partnership Unit! We learned so many things from working with our partners over the past month! Here are a few of our thank-you videos.

Are you and your partner planning to continue reading together? What is your plan for continuing your partnership? 

Book Fair Success!

Thank you for your generous book fair donations! Check out some of the fantastic new books we have for our classroom library. Click on the pictures to enlarge them!

Which book are you most excited about reading? Why?

Jacqueline Woodson Visits!

Jacqueline Woodson came to our school today to speak to all the fourth graders as part of the "Meet the Writer" program. We've read several books by Jacqueline Woodson so far this year, so listening to her tell her stories and recite from her books today was certainly a treat. We're still considering where Mama might be in Our Gracie Aunt and the different themes in The Other Side!

To learn more about Jacqueline Woodson, check out her website!

What was your favorite part of Jacqueline Woodson's visit? What questions are you still dying to ask her? 

The City of Ember (by Ellis)

BOOK REVIEW of

 THE CITY OF EMBER

The City is Ember is a really good book about a boy named Doon Harrow and a girl named Lina Mayfleet. Ember is a city underground that the “Builders” built for them. Everyone is always nervous because they keep on getting blackouts. The only lights in Ember are street lamps, lampposts, etc.

And they don’t have enough light bulbs!!!!! The story is about how Lina and Doon escape Ember.

Green Books: Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet

This review is part of the Green Books Campaign. Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco-friendly paper, we hope to raise awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on the Eco-Libris website.

Sometimes kids think that adults control everything and that they are powerless to make a difference. But Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet teaches readers that kids are all powerful. In her book, Canadian author Janet Wilson profiles 10 young environmentalists from around the world who are each taking action to help specific environmental causes. Through these profiles, Wilson shows that kids can do a lot to help the environment and spread the message of conservation! For example, Sam Levine of the United States helped start an organic vegetable garden at a school to connect kids directly to their food.

The stories Wilson includes feel attainable. We hear the story of Janine Licare of Costa Rica who started small, selling painted rocks with a friend to raise money to build overhead monkey bridges. Eventually as the girls wanted to do more, they expanded their operation and opened a store to sell their products and the work of other artists. From their humble beginning, Janine and her friend Aislin have made a world of difference in the rainforest.

Now only does this book profile 10 children, it also contains a helpful reference section in the back. For example, in the "How You Can Help Save the Planet" section, Wilson details ways kids can help save the earth. These ideas include everything from unplugging the TV and going outside to play to writing letters to world leaders to advocate for climate change. And this is just one of the bonus sections in the back! You can also learn how "Kids Create" and how "Kids Take Action."

This book is excellent because it goes beyond just telling ways that kids are making a difference around the world. It also teaches kids a lot about the small steps they can take to make a big difference. For example, Wilson recommends that students become more aware of the products they use that are grown in the rainforest so they can make informed decisions about whether or not to use them. Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet is also significant because usually authors write books about adults saving the environment, but this one has kids saving the Earth, so it's more relevant to the readers. It shows you that you can save the earth too!

Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet is not just environmental in its theme. It's also environmental in its production! It is printed on Forest Stewardship Council Certified paper!

We recommend this book for people who care about the environment and want to save it. This is also a great book for people who don't yet care about the environment and need some serious inspiration. The book is particularly great for kids ages 7 to 13 who want to hear extraordinary stories about ordinary kids.

Kids--Janet Wilson is counting on you to save the Earth, and we are too! Go kids! Save the Earth!

Nerds and The Merman (by Bria and Jane)

Title: The Merman
Author: Dick King Smith
Stars: (One being the worst;  five being the best):





Comments: A very moving story that gets you hooked FAST! It makes you want to keep on reading it for  HOURS! Very EMOTIONAL! You will LOVE the story, THE MERMAN!

-Bria

Title: Nerds 1
Author: Michael Buckley
Stars: (One being the worst; five being the best):



Comments: A great, hilarious story with tons of action! Great characters with real personalities! Will satisfy the reader with a thirst for action!

-Jane

"Belly Up" Book Review (by Leela)

It’s the grand opening of the theme park, "Fun Jungle," and their mascot, Henry Hippo, is a big hit- no matter how grumpy he is.

Until Henry ends up dead. Teddy Fiztroy finds himself in the middle of a plot for money death and daughters.

After getting some highly classified info, he joins Summer on a case, which is far more dangerous than expected.

But, after finding the murder weapon—you have to find out who used the murder weapon—right?

Hold the phone! We have a development in the story!

More animals than Henry have died!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll give you a hint- almost all the animals that died were from the Amazon Rain forest!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With out giving anything else away, who would black mail someone into hiding the fact that they were smuggling emeralds?

Read-: Belly up!

Our Reading Marathon in Pictures

Be sure to check out Michael and Elliot's story about what happened during our Reading Marathon last Wednesday. Here are some pictures so you can see the excitement for yourself!

About the Reading Marathon (By Michael and Elliot)

We waited all through science and our pictures for the one thing...the  funnest thing in the school year so far...we waited for instructions from Katie. We waited for Katie to call us table by table to change into our pj's for an awesome reading period that was 90 minutes long. Once everyone was done Katie said:

''The reading Marathon will begin in 30 seconds.'' The class couldn't wait! Everyone started reading their book while waiting for the food. There were bagels with cream cheese or butter, oranges,bananas, grapes and red delious apples. Katie called us table by table to get our delious food. The foods scent drifted into the classroom and bounced of the cold, smooth walls of the class. Everyone started eating and eating their food while reading because they couldn't take their eyes of their book. It was as if the were hypnotized to read their book. Their eyes went over and over the lines of their book. We saw many kinds of books like Bone, Star Wars, World of Warcraft and Warriors...there were also magazines. The only reason kids would get up was to get a drink or more food. Nor girl nor boy took their eyes of their book. Their eyes were stuck on their page. 

50 minutes left. Their eyes streamed against the page like lightning. the clock turned and turned. "Tick tock tick tock," went the clock. Soon all the oranges and bagels were gone. 30 minutes left then 20 then 10 then 5. The clock went ''TING''. There was no time left!

''YAWN,'' went the class. Katie called us table by table to change into our normal clothes. We packed up our blankets and stuffed animals, sleeping bags and pillows. We sat on the rug to talk about our next challenge for the next Reading marathon. The best thing in the whole school. Well.................................right now.

Reading Marathon Update!

We've made it! In only four weeks of school, our class has officially read OVER 200 BOOKS!

We hit 238 books today!!

Our Reading Marathon will be scheduled for an upcoming morning. We will have a chance to read for an hour and a half, wearing pajamas and enjoying snacks as we read.

I wonder what our next reading goal should be. Any suggestions?

Reading Marathon Update!

Wow! The Fourth Grade Explorers are really going above and beyond when it comes to reading! Students have read 144 books since the second week of school. They're pushing themselves to read for more than the 30 required minutes each night. One student logged two hours of reading in one night last week. Keep up the good work, and we'll be to our Reading Marathon before you know it!

Spaceheadz Online

Spaceheadz, our current read aloud book by Jon Scieszka, joins a new wave of books that are linked closely to the Internet. All the websites mentioned in the book are real sites you can visit! The characters in the book exist as real people online.

You can visit www.mrshalleyscomets.com to see Mrs. Halley's class blog and the art that Michael K and his classmates have created. At www.antialienagency.com, you can see all the costumes and disguises that Agent Umber wears, read classified AAA files and more. Major Fluffy, the classroom hamster and leader of the alien mission to Earth, has his own blog. Jennifer uploads videos on youtube. Jennifer, Bob and TJ (the class comic artist) all have their own Flickr accounts where they post photos. At sphdz.com, you can join the 8,918 other students who have signed up to become SPHDZ and even get your own SPHDZ name!

Do you want to learn more about our read-aloud book? Here's a trailer for the book from www.simonandschuster.com! The playground featured in the book should look familiar!

DonorsChoose.org Chose Us!

Our class is certainly lucky! At the end of August, I posted a grant on DonorsChoose.org for 40 cool new books. On Tuesday, a donor chose to fully fund our class project, donating over $400 worth of brand-new books to our classroom! The books arrived today.

Look at all the great books we received! Click on any of the images to see the picture up close!

Starting tomorrow, I'll be giving some quick book talks to introduce students to the new books we've received. I'll also ask some students to do some book talks about the books since some are books that I ordered on their summer recommendations!

Which new book are you most looking forward to checking out from our library? Why? Leave a comment and let us know! 

If you need to learn how to comment on our blog, click on the "How to Comment" tab on top. 

200 Book Challenge!

We officially kicked off our 200 book challenge today! As a class, we set a goal of reading 200 books. Each book we read will be logged in the back of our Reading Log. Once we hit 200 books, we'll celebrate with a Reading Marathon! We'll wear pajamas to school, eat breakfast in the classroom and enjoy 90 minutes of solid reading. We can't wait!

Each Friday, we'll count the books we've read and watch as we get closer to our goal!