Twelve kids — six boys and six girls — showed up last week for our first book club. That’s half of third grade at our little school. How amazing is that?
Tomorrow is the first day for my fourth and fifth graders. You may recall some silly fifth-grade guys telling their classmates that book clubs are for girls. Really! My eyes-glued-to-their-books-when-it’s-time-for-lessons boys, too. We’ll have to see who shows.
Here’s the list of books we’ll be reading.
assigned due
1.Pedro’s Journal * 9-10-09 10-8-09
Pam Conrad
Book level: 5.8 / AR points 2.0
2. A Stolen Life * 10-8-09 11-12-09
Jane Louise Curry
Book level: 5.9 / AR points 8.0
3. Sign of the Beaver 11-12-09 12-10-09
Elizabeth George Speare
Book level: 4.9 / AR 5.0
4. Freedom Crossing * 12-10-09 1-14-10
Margaret Goff Clark
Book level: 4.6 / AR 5.0
5. On the Banks of Plum Creek 1-14-10 2-11-10
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Book level: 4.6 / 8.0
6. Riding Freedom * 2-11-10 3-11-10
Pam Munoz Ryan
Book level: 4.5 / AR 3.0
7. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple 3-11-10 4-15-10
Karen Cushman
Book level: 5.8 / AR points 7.0
8. All-of-a-Kind Family 4-15-10 5-6-10
Sydney Taylor
Book level: 4.9 / AR points 5.0
*school copies will be available
You will notice that the book levels fluctuate throughout the year. Why are students not reading material from easiest to most difficult? I’ve focused our reading on historical fiction and am taking students on a “journey” in chronological order, from Columbus’s voyage to New York City in the 1920s.
sounds excited!
I hope that the boys don’t cave to the peer pressure and gender bias. It’s too bad that it starts so young– if they were a little older you could have used the “well, maybe the girls you LIKE will be there” rebuttal.
…exciting, not excited. Apparently I’m not reading either, anymore 🙂