On Thursday, we began reading a class novel, called The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I asked students to use a "First Impressions" reader response record, as we read the first chapter together. We talked about the many ways we can respond to what we read, as well as the many different reading strategies we use when we read, to make sense of what is going on.
After I read the first chapter aloud, we discussed some of our observations (It's set in Germany! Bruno's family seems to have a lot of money. Bruno seems to have a typical brother/sister relationship with Gretel.) We also shared some of our wonderings (What does Bruno's father do for work? What is going on in the room that is Out Of Bounds At All Times With No Exceptions?)
We will continue reading this novel together, and use it as a tool to learn many things: elements of fiction, for example, as well as gaining a better understanding of people's behaviour.
We began If I Grow Up in block 6, and did all of the same activities described above. We noticed that there are many characters introduced in Chapter One, and we made a chart to get their relationships straight. We wondered what the significance of the window stop is, and we thought maybe that Marcus would try to find out what really happened to Darnell.
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