This post contains affiliate links that help to support this blog. Thank you for using them. Last month at book club, when the teens and I were digging into A Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds as we moved around hexagons, I was reminded of just how helpful these slips of paper are to kids.… Continue reading New for A Monster Calls: Hexagonal Thinking Analysis Activities
Tag: book club
New! Using Hexagonal Thinking Activities for Long Way Down
This post contains affiliate links that support this blog. Thank you for using them. Have you read Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds? It’s a powerful novel in verse about the causes, consequences, and mindset connected to street violence – and the whole story takes place in 60 seconds! I’ve been hearing teachers rave about… Continue reading New! Using Hexagonal Thinking Activities for Long Way Down
NEW: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Graphic Novel Review
This post includes affiliate links. Thank you for using them. Chris Grabenstein has done it again! The new graphic novel edition of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library totally knocks it out of the book stacks! I admit that I was a bit hesitant about this one – I mean, really: how could anything top the… Continue reading NEW: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Graphic Novel Review
Why Strange Star is the Perfect Autumn Read
When the leaves start to change color and the temperature drops, when pumpkins and apples rule every roadside market and suddenly orange is everyone’s favorite color, … one can’t help but think of autumn. Of color and beauty and abundance but also of the coming winter and full moons and stark branches. It can be… Continue reading Why Strange Star is the Perfect Autumn Read
5 Reasons Your Students Need Mock Trials
There are so many reasons I love teaching with literature, but one of the biggest is that it can spark learning in so many ways. That’s what happened when I chose to use The Lemonade Crime with my kids’ book clubs a few years ago – a book that lends itself well to mock trials.… Continue reading 5 Reasons Your Students Need Mock Trials
Book Club, Dystopian Edition: The Hunger Games
One of the things I love about homeschooling is our ability to study literature in any way that we choose – and we choose to make it as hands-on and interactive as possible. Which, of course, has gotten much more complicated with this pandemic and the need for social distancing. That’s one reason I was… Continue reading Book Club, Dystopian Edition: The Hunger Games
The Three Little Pigs Mock Trial Project: Print or Digital Learning
I love planning our book club events; I mean, I really love it. They are some of my very favorite lessons to plan and to hold. Still, the boys surprised me when they asked to hold a trial in connection with one of our books a few years ago, but I dug in and created… Continue reading The Three Little Pigs Mock Trial Project: Print or Digital Learning
Book Club: Hexagonal Thinking with “Peak”
Roland Smith’s Peak amazed me. At first glance, it’s an easy read – a suspenseful survival story great for older middle-grade readers who can handle stories that include death and danger. If you look deeper, though, it’s much more than that. I challenged my students in advance to find the twist in the story –… Continue reading Book Club: Hexagonal Thinking with “Peak”
LitWits – Review
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I love kids’ books, and I love planning fun educational things to do with them. Sometimes, though, my kids need to read books that are, well, … not my favorites. I’m finding this to happen more often as they get older –… Continue reading LitWits – Review
Book Club Leads to Cooking Club: “Secrets & Scones” by Laurel Remington
We started My Big Helper’s book club seven years ago, and it’s still going strong – and it’s growing a bit this year, thanks to a fantastic middle-grade book by Laurel Remington. When I first read Secrets and Scones last school year, I knew it would make a perfect book club read. With themes of… Continue reading Book Club Leads to Cooking Club: “Secrets & Scones” by Laurel Remington