We miss you!

I've been at school all week getting ready. During the week, I've also been seeing all my teacher pals and finding out about their summers. The library is ALMOST ready for school to begin--lots of new books, lots of ideas for projects, and some new videos for classes to watch. However, it seems very very strange to be in school this week because THERE ARE NO KIDS!
Come back! I will look for you all on Wednesday.
Ms. Paradis

Text to Text Connections

Hello!
I finally finished reading "Hate That Cat" by Sharon Creech this week. It was the sequel to "Love that Dog," a book that most kids (and me) love. I didn't like this one as much because it seemed too much like the first one and I knew what was going to happen.
Next I read a book called "The Graveyard" by Neil Gaiman. This one won the Newbery Prize for best fiction book last year. It is a lot like the Jungle Book stories where a boy is raised by animals. However, in this book, the boy is raised by ghosts after his parents are murdered. Once I realized that this book was like Jungle Book, I liked it even more because it was fun to pick out the similarities in the plots between the two books.
Do you make these kinds of "text to text" connections when you read? What similar books do you like?

Should we all read the same thing?

Hi Kids,
I just got back from visiting all my sisters and their kids and some friends in York, Maine. We swam (the water in Maine was WARM!) and ate and danced and read books. Many of my sisters and some of my neices are teachers and we are all readers. I think this is why we started talking about whether it was a good thing or a bad thing to have all the kids in a grade read the same book in the summer. Some of the kids who were there said they were not bothered when they had to read a particular and one of the kids said she'd read a book this summer that was GREAT that she would never have read if it wasn't assigned. Other teachers and kids thought you should be able to read anything you want in the summer. What do you think?

It's HOT out!!

Hello,
I don't have an air conditioner so it is TOO HOT to do anything today. I do have a hammock in my yard, so right now I plan to get a big cup of ice water and head outside to read a book. I think I'm going to finish Hate that Cat by Sharon Creech. I will let you know what I think about it. Do you like to read when it is too hot to do anything else?

I've been traveling!!

Hello,
Since I last wrote, I've been out in the world. Last weekend, my family went to Baltimore and Washington D.C. We saw the Red Sox play the Baltimore Orioles, we visited some family and friends in Washington and we toured the city a lot. I went to the Jefferson Memorial for the first time, which was really inspiring. It was fun visiting all the places that we learn about in 4th grade.

As soon as I got back from Washington, I went out to Williamstown for a teacher conference for a couple of days. I love going to teacher conferences because I always get great ideas. Williamstown is beautiful and in the very corner of Massachusetts--just between Vermont and New York!

One of my favorite parts of being away is that I have time to read. I finished a book by Sharon Creech called Castle Carona. It was quite long and very different from her other books--very much like a VERY long fairy tale. Now I'm reading a funny book about 9 year old boys who find a magic cape that turns them into superheroes. It is pretty funny. Have you been any place fun this summer? Let me know!