Geisel Voting - Grade 3

Most people have heard of the Caldecott and Newbery Awards, but do you know about the Geisel?

Named after Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), it goes to the best easy reader books of the year. Thanks to DonorsChoose, we have copies of the 2018 winner and honor books. I read them to the 3rd graders, and they chose their favorite of the six. 

Noodleheads See the Future by Martha Hamilton, Mitch Weiss, and Tedd Arnold was the undisputed winner, garnering half of all of the votes. Here are some of the voters and their ballots:

Noodleheads

King and Kayla

My Kite is Stuck

Snail and Worm Again

Charlie and Mouse

What Ms. Moore Read in April

Here are some of the most recent books I've read and recommend for my students. They're all available from the public library, but any donations towards getting them into our collection are most welcome! Cover images and descriptions are from Goodreads. 

Picture Books

The duo that brought you the “bright” and “breezy” (Booklist) Some Bugs is back with a vibrant companion book that’s packed with your favorite pets.

Some pets sit. Some pets stay.
Some pets fetch, And some pets play.

Come one, come all, to the pet show! With dogs and cats, horses and chickens, hamsters and chinchillas—and many, many more!—this book celebrates animal companions of all shapes and sizes. 

In April 2016, The New York Times published an article about an octopus named Inky who escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand through a drainpipe and into the sea. In this charming fictionalized account, Inky, worn out from his exciting life in the ocean, has retired to the aquarium. There he quietly plays cards, makes faces at the visitors, and regales his tankmate Blotchy with tales of his past adventures. Then Blotchy dares Inky to make one more great escape: out of their tank. Will Inky succeed?

Early Reader

In this silly sequel to Snail and Worm, the dynamic duo are back for more fun and giggles in three new comic shorts brimming with quirky humor and unflappable friendship. At turns clever and sweet, these laugh-out-loud stories are perfect for readers coming out of their own shells and making the transition between picture books and chapter books. NOTE: I read this to the 3rd graders as part of our Geisel voting. 

Middle Grade Novels

How do you grow a miracle? 
For the record, this is not the question Mr. Neely is looking for when he says everyone in class must answer an important question using the scientific method. But Natalie's botanist mother is suffering from depression, so this is The Question that's important to Natalie. When Mr. Neely suggests that she enter an egg drop competition, Natalie has hope. Eggs are breakable. Hope is not. Natalie has a secret plan for the prize money. 

Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer are separated by more than a thousand miles. On the surface, their lives seem vastly different... but the two have more in common than they think. They’re both highly gifted. They’re both experiencing family turmoil. And they both sit alone at lunch.

Over the course of a week, Charlotte and Ben—online friends connected only by a Scrabble game—will intersect in unexpected ways as they struggle to navigate the turmoil of middle school. You Go First reminds us that no matter how hard it is to keep our heads above troubled water, we never struggle alone.

Nonfiction

What is the smallest rodent in the world? What is the biggest? How long can rodents live? How do they find mates? In this wonderfully detailed new book from an award-winning author, life-sized illustrations of rodent species from around the world accompany simple, thorough text describing their life cycles, sizes, habitats, and ranges. From ground hogs to guinea pigs and pygmy shrews to capybaras, kids will learn all about the rascally rodents who share our world!

Meet the youngest known child to be arrested for a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963, in this moving picture book that proves you’re never too little to make a difference. Audrey Faye Hendricks was confident and bold and brave as can be, and hers is the remarkable and inspiring story of one child’s role in the Civil Rights Movement. NOTE: RICBA 2019 nominee.

When a group of US Marines fighting in the Korean War found a bedraggled mare, they wondered if she could be trained to as a packhorse. They had no idea that the skinny, underfed horse had one of the biggest and bravest hearts they’d ever known. Soon Reckless showed herself more than willing to carry ammunition too heavy for the soldiers to haul. As cannons thundered and shells flew through the air, she marched into battle—again and again—becoming the only animal ever to officially hold military rank—becoming Sgt. Reckless—and receive two Purple Hearts. NOTE: RICBA 2019 nominee.

Fortunately/Unfortunately with Grade 2

Thanks to https://ideafm.org/ for the idea and the image.

In second grade, we read Fortunately by Remy Charlip, a story that follows Ned through a series of problems and resolutions, and talked about plot structure.

Then we wrote our own version as a class ... the kids much preferred coming up with the "unfortunately" parts!

Finally, the students paired up to write and illustrate even more versions. I'll post pictures of them working together - and their stories - once they finish up. For now, enjoy the stories they wrote as a group:

Room 3

One day, this guy was going parasailing.
Unfortunately, the parachute broke in half.
Fortunately, there was lots of grass on the ground.
Unfortunately, he saw a rattlesnake.
Fortunately, he missed it.
Unfortunately, he landed on a metal trampoline.
Fortunately, he bounced in the middle of it.
Unfortunately, the metal trampoline ripped.
Fortunately, he fell through to the grass.
Unfortunately, there were bears.
Fortunately, he stayed still and tried not to be scared, because he knew this was what he should do.
Unfortunately, more rattlesnakes appeared.
Fortunately, they all became friends.


Room 2
One day, J.L.'s Batman bear was walking.
Unfortunately, he got kidnapped.
Fortunately, the kidnappers brought him back to J.L.'s house.
Unfortunately, the kidnappers played a trick and threw him into the water.
Fortunately, he found a mountain to climb onto.
Unfortunately, there were venomous snakes on the mountain.
Fortunately, he got to ride a horse and be above the snakes.
Unfortunately, he fell off the horse.
Fortunately, a polar bear named Snowball helped him find his way back to JL.
Unfortunately, Snowball then ate JL.
Fortunately, he pooped him out.
Unfortunately, someone grabbed JL and pulled him somewhere, and he was lost.
Fortunately, JUL found a dragon to fly him back home.
Unfortunately, the dragon was ready to drop him into lava.
Fortunately, his Batman bear came to get him.

Inaugural Rooster Games

Thanks to all of the students who read RI Children's Book Award books and participated in the first annual Rooster Games, a test of their knowledge of plots, characters, settings, and illustrations. We had so many kids qualify, we had two teams! Thank you to Kristina Bachner and Jessica Mathias for serving as team managers and keeping the kids on track. 

Here are some photos of the night, and some students' reflections:

Teams rotated through 5 stations

Most of Team 1 - Harini S. read all of the books!

Alumni sibling sighting!

Team 2 - Payton M. read almost all of the books!

Team 1 matching up settings and characters

Team 2 matching up books and characters

Team 2 making a decision

Team 1 narrowing down their choices

Younger sibling sighting!

Older sibling sighting!

• "It was an amazing experience to be in the Rooster Games with my friends. The library had so many things to do, it was great." - J.R., 3rd grade
• "It was loud and fun." - W.M., 3rd grade
• "It was really fun when you challenged another team." - P.K., 3rd grade
• "I loved when everybody yelled, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! for the countdown at the end of each round." - N.J., 3rd grade

• "It was very fun to go from station to station, and it helps you socialize and work together with other kids you might not know." - A.F., 5th grade
• "The game was fun, and I saw a lot of friends from other schools, [so] overall I'm not sad about losing." - J.L., 4th grade
• "My goal is to read all 20 books next year." - J.M., 3rd grade
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Grade 1 Wockets

I like to have the kids create pages for our own version of mentor texts; they copy the structure of the model and add original words and illustrations. The latest edition of Dr. Seuss' There's a Wocket in My Pocket (Continued) by first graders is now available for checkout! You can preview below: 

 

This may be the most brilliant of these I've ever seen.