Just a CLASSic

It has been over a year since I have written a blog entry.  I guess sometimes life gets a little busy.  Please do not think that this is the only book that I have read since then.  By no means at all! I have read so many wonderful books--children's books, teaching books, books about life.  I just have not found (or made) the time to record my thoughts on a book.  It is amazing though what four snow days can do. Since it has been a year plus since I last wrote, here is a quick update. Over the summer, I spent one final summer as a camp counselor at the camp that I have been working at for the past four summers. Through it all, I would say it was my favorite summer both in the connections that I created and connections that I further developed and in the children that I got to work with week after week.  I miss it--working there and interacting with the people daily. If you have been following this blog, you'll remember that I was in a teaching pr...

These past few weeks, I have been enjoying winter break.  Well in a way.  Most of the time my mind has been racing with the upcoming semester when I will be student teaching and taking over a class. I am very excited, but yet a bit nervous too.  I have read countless blogs giving advice about classroom management or project ideas.    From all the teachers that I know (including two of my own elementary school teachers), I have eagerly asked for any advice that they could possibly give me. Also I have been spending quite a bit of time thinking about where I would like to teach next year, whether that means scouring the district's websites or filling out applications or updating my resume...again. However, in the busyness of everything, I have had a few quiet moments to read a good book. This particular book, Because of Winn-Dixie,  I actually read out-loud as my mom and I were traveling up to see the rest of my family.  It is a very qui...

There are several reasons that I am writing this post (and possibly the next few that I will be writing). So without further due, I will simply tell you. 1.  It is now fall break and why not do something that I really enjoy that is not really related to schoolwork? 2.  I went to my first literary conference yesterday.  For the entire day, I was surrounded by teachers learning about incorporating children's books into the curriculum. Ah.  What can be more inspirational to write about and read children's literature than receiving a wealth of knowledge about children's literature including words from two authors? (More about those authors at a later point, I am sure) 3.  Today, when I went to the library, I nearly walked out without having any books.  This felt wrong and utterly disappointing especially since the book that I so desperately wanted was not to be found. (Don't worry, the story gets better, just to reassure all my very concerned read...

Simply put,  The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson is a story about a lonely boy and his new friend, Leslie, who moves next door.  This realistic fiction is well written where the characters become the reader's own friends. SPOILER ALERT:  Because of the nature of this book, the rest of this post will be dealing with the main theme of this book. If you do not want to know what happens at the end (and have never seen the movie) but have always wanted to read this book, stop reading now. Base your decision on if you read the book on the back cover blurb rather than this post.  The rest of the post is dedicated specifically to concerned parents who have heard what happens in the book. As many, of you know, this book is about a child experiencing death; in fact, his close friend Leslie dies from a tragic accident. Several years ago, I saw the movie with my brother.  All of the previews that we saw emphasized that this was a movie about ...

Growing up, I watched the musical movie version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang starring Dick Van Dyke.  Who can really resist such a charming story about a technological car told through high energy music and dance numbers?  I f you are one of those people scratching your head at this moment thinking "Huh?  Well I never saw this film,"  then click here and watch for yourself one of my personal favorite songs "Toot Sweet" complete with an entire factory of dancing candy makers.  From the very start this movie is fun and very family friendly, and the humor of Dick Van Dyke is truly irresistible. However, I am not here to tell you all about this great movie, but about the book of the same name. Having already shared my love for the movie, one can imagine the surprise and delight that I had realizing that there was a book.  Who knew? Well come to find out this book is by the same author who created James Bond.  Though the story takes some time to ...

Of all the books that I have so far reviewed, I would say that this book has been my favorite.   My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve is the most recent winner of the Batchelder Award, an award given to children's books that are originally written and published in another language and country. This particular book was written in Germany in 2007 and only recently, in 2012, translated into English by Tamni Reichel. This book follows Franziska Mangold from when she is ten to about when she is seventeen. She is a Protestant child with Jewish heritage living in Germany right before World War II after Adolf Hitler gained power.  Because of her Jewish ancestry, though she believes in Jesus, Ziska (her name in Germany) and her family experience the violence that Hitler instituted against the Jewish people. The very first chapter opens where Ziska and her friend Rebekka Liebich jump out of a tree to discover escape routes in case of an attack against them as Jews. ...

For one of my class assignments, I needed to create a multi-disciplinary unit (basically a unit for a certain grade that incorporates multiple subject areas). I chose to do mine on colonial communities.  I used four of the Young American series books ( Caesar's Story: 1759  is one of the books in the series put out by Colonial Williamsburg) as the basis to divide the class into four reading and research groups to discover the daily life of the colonies. This story is from the point of view of Caesar who is a slave in Carter Grove's plantation. When Caesar was young, his best friend, Nat, was the master's son.  However, at the age of seven, Caesar must take on the role of the slave, and Nat takes on the role of the master. Caesar must learn that he is no longer able to play with his best friend, no longer able to tell a funny story.  He goes from being a field hand to being a house slave where, though he is on the same plantation, he cannot see his fami...