Book Talk Thursday ~ Christmas Trolls

This week for Book Talk Thursday, I am also linking up with my friend Carla at Comprehension Connection for her Thematic Thursday.  This week her focus is Gifts from the Heart, and what a perfect time of year to focus on that!

Last week I focused on one of my favorite books, The Trouble With Trolls by Jan Brett.  You can read this post by clicking {here}. I thought it would be great to highlight another adventure with Treva.  This week I am focusing on the book Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett.

In this book, Treva and her brother Sami are getting ready for Christmas.  As they are getting ready, they realize that Christmas items are missing.  Enter the hedgehog.  If you look along the bottom of the pages, he is taking items from the house.  {That is one of my favorite things about Jan Brett books!}

Treva and her brother go out to find their Christmas things.  Lo and behold, two trolls, Mig and Tig, have taken the things because they want Christmas.  Treva shows the trolls how to have Christmas and even how to get along with each other.  While Treva was showing the trolls how to have Christmas, the hedgehog took all of their items back to the sleigh.

Treva gives the trolls her prized possession, her red horse, to show them kindness at Christmas.  Though she will miss the horse, the trolls have learned so much about Christmas.  On Christmas Day, she receives a special gift from the trolls, delivered by the hedgehog.

This book really shows how gifts from the heart really do matter in this world. When we show people love and attention through what we do and say, that gift cannot be taken away.

After reading the book to my fourth graders, we began using one of Carla's products (actually 3 of them) ~ her partner scripts.
    
Before reading them, we talked about how we can use ideas from the book to understand each of them.  We connected ideas to what each script.  Then they filled in the thought provoking sheets to get them ready to read each script.

The best part has been listening to them read the scripts together.  They will practice each day and then present the scripts to each other.  I also love that they have question sheets and writing sheets to keep kids thinking even after they are finished reading the scripts.

Each Christmas season, we focus on having fun, and this is another way to have some fun and still incorporate some learning.  And it's a great way to work on fluency, one of the things our fourth graders really need!

So, don't forget to give gifts from the heart this Christmas!  And link up again this week here for Book Talk Thursday!

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Book Talk Thursday ~ Ira Says Goodbye

  Today I cried more than I imagined I would.  My husband and I bought a perfect home 13 years ago, or at least that is what I thought.  We were the first owners, raised our children here, and made so many memories here.  But today we left it all for a home that is even more perfect.  Now for Book Talk Thursday!

A couple of years ago we thought we might move away but changed our minds.  We would miss our home too much.  I remember reading this particular book to my group of second graders and crying.  Then I called my husband and said, "It's not time to move."

  Ira Says Goodbye is a wonderful story about a young boy whose best friend and next door neighbor moves away.  The emotions he goes through as he tells his friend goodbye really hit home for me.

Though his friend is not going too far away, Ira still feels pain as his friend leaves.  He then realizes that his friend is close enough to go visit, and all is OK.

You see, my son is the friend who is moving away from our next door neighbor.  They have been friends since they were 4 and are now 11.  We are moving 5 minutes away and not changing schools, but they can't just go over to each other's houses whenever they want.

Zack went with Alek's family on vacation this year.  Here they are together!

And I am losing a close friend next door to me.  His mom is one of my closest friends, and I spend a lot of time with her talking about life and enjoying time together.

Robyn and I out on Thanksgiving Night!

So, today I cried, not because I am going to miss my house, but because I am going to miss the relationships I have built.  Now it's time to make some new memories and relationships!

Don't forget to link up again for Book Talk Thursday!


 

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Book Talk Thursday ~ Word Callers

For Book Talk Thursday, I am sending you over to Adventures in Literacy Land to check out our book study for the book Word Callers by Kelly B. Cartwright.

This book has been a complete eye opener for me as I work with students who read really well but don't comprehend any of it.

Click on any of the pictures below to take you to the posts for each section.  The final post will be tomorrow, so stop by as we finish up the book!

And don't forget to link up again this week!

   

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Book Talk Thursday ~ Best Books for Preschoolers

This week I am not only writing Book Talk Thursday, but I am linking up with my friends for the Summer Blog Party to share some of my favorite books to read with my preschooler.  I am also going to do it a day early, so everyone can join in the fun too!

My daughter loves to read many different books and have books read to her.  I have worked hard to instill that love of reading in both of my children, and I really enjoy spending that time with them.  Here are some of my favorites to read with her.

We love to read Giraffes Can't Dance.  It is so full of fun and rhyme as Gerald tries to find the right dance for his clumsy self!

Alphabet books are also great for preschoolers.  My daughter LOVES Eating the Alphabet: Fruits &; Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert.  She loves to look at all of the food in the book, and now when we go to the store, she actually looks for those fruits and vegetables in the store.  How fun!

This is my daughter's new favorite:  The Pigeon Needs a Bath! by Mo Willems.  She laughs out loud every time we read it!  How can you go wrong with a pigeon book?

And this is one of her absolute favorites:  Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go by John Langstaff.  My daughter loves to rhyme with the book and then make up new rhymes for different animals.  What fun!

Preschoolers have so many fun books to read and enjoy.  These are just a small sampling!

Link up for Book Talk Thursday and share some of your favorite books.  Please only link blog posts. 

   

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Book Talk Thursday ~ The School Yearbook

This Book Talk Thursday may be a little different than many of my others.

I have spent the past two and a half weeks proctoring SOL tests here in Virginia.  Now that it is done, I finally can hand out our school yearbooks.  Not because testing is done, but because I finally got them in!  Yeehaw!

This is the one book I can get almost ALL of our students in the school to purchase.  They love it!  Why?!  Because they have reason to love it.  Their pictures and memories are there.  Today I am going to share 5 reasons yearbooks are important.

Students will want to remember these days for the rest of their lives. I put a lot of thought into the pictures I take to put into the yearbook.  I still go back and look at my old yearbooks to remember those fun times.

So many times our students don't have the chance for real social interaction.  They interact over the Internet or phone.  I love watching the students in our school with the yearbooks.  They suddenly start reading together and talk about the things that happened during the school year.  It is truly a blessing to watch them read their yearbooks together.

School pride is something these students will always have.  Looking back at their yearbooks will help them hold that school pride forever.  They will be proud of their accomplishments and the things they did throughout the year.

Whatever it takes to get a book in the hands of reluctant readers!  The students who order the yearbooks don't always want to read at any given time.  But yesterday I saw kids reading the books they had just gotten, and they were reading it together.  The best part of it all was when I got five phone calls from parents of reluctant readers who will send in money for a yearbook!  Yes, those students will have another book in their hands!

Students will have the memories with their yearbooks for many years to come.  But the yearbook also helps them to reflect on the past year.  This reflection allows them to think about what they did throughout the year and see what next year will be like.  They can "meet" their teachers for next year and be prepared for the next year.

Students love their yearbooks and cherish them forever.  The reasons for a yearbook far outweigh the reasons to not have one!  What a great book for any child!

What do your students love about their yearbooks?

Don't forget to link up this month for Book Talk Thursday!


   

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