Looking for Book Suggestions?

Kate Messner is a middle school teacher at Stafford Middle School in Plattsburgh. She's also a National Board Certified Teacher and the author of YA books like The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z and Sugar and Ice. Her book blog is a great source of ideas when you're wondering what to read next; she makes great recommendations for YA readers. Check it out!

Adirondack History on the Middle School Stage

Grade 7 students are beginning to write scenes in "play" form that depict Adirondack history. We've been reading excerpts of Adirondack Stories II by Marty Poskoch and Sam Glanzman, and some of the these will form the basis of their work.
Brandon and Donna, from Pendragon, have been working with our students, and their enthusiasm for the theatre is contagious.
The students will present their Adirondack themed plays during the last week of March at the middle school.

More Book Suggestions

The staff at SLMS continues to send me great recommendations. Here's the latest batch:

Mrs. Kennedy suggests:
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

Mrs. Sweet suggests:
The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Girls by Lois Lansens
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Mrs. Meimis suggests:
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Ms. Ordonez suggests:
Away by Amy Bloom

Ms. Varano suggests:
Backwater by Joan Bauer

Ms. Warden also sent me this great review that she wrote of The Snow Leopard by Peter Mathiassen.

School-Wide Read

March is here and this month seventh graders are being encouraged to read Firegirl by Tony Abbott. Many teachers are reading this book as well, and we are hoping to have some good discussions about the issues that this it raises.

Other books being read as part of school-wide read month are The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger (grade 6) and Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes (grade 8).

Beginning to Blog

I've enjoyed keeping a class blog this year, and have now challenged the grade 7 students to try it for themselves.

Each section of ELA 7 will have their own blog. Period 4 here: http://kidblog.org/ELA4/, period 6 here: http://kidblog.org/ELA6/ and period 7 here: http://kidblog.org/ELA73/.

On Friday, John Stack, who blogs for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise will be a guest speaker in class. He'll talk about how he became a blogger, where he gets his ideas, etc.

John is also a past competitor in the Lake Placid Ironman and blogged about that experience here.

Chivalry in Medieval Times

In honor of Winter Carnival, we've been reading about the legend of King Arthur. Today we discussed the idea of chivalry, and discussed whether it still exists. We watched this video clip, which seems to suggest that chivalry is dead.

I was pleased that many students argued that they see examples of chivalry at the middle school every day, including politeness and sacrificing for others.

Here's a link from the BBC that translates the chivalric code into modern terms for students.

New Books

I recently received a shipment of new books that I'm sure will be of interest to middle level readers:

I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown
The Savage by David Almond
Ruined by Paula Morris
Orphan! by John R. Weber
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Undead by Mark Twain and Don Borchet
The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
The Pricker Boy by Reade Scott Whinneem
The Stone Child by Dan Poblocki
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

I plan to read my way through this list and then get the books into circulation through the middle school library. Please see me if any of these titles interest you.