Buckaroo Book Club - "Thank You, Mr. Falker"

Last week we had our second Skype book club.
This time the students discussed Patricia Polacco's fabulous book Thank You, Mr. Falker.

As you can see in the video chat below, this is a fantastic book for making connections and thinking about big ideas and themes.

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Have you ever tried to learn something that was very hard to do at first?

If you have read this book, please share your ideas about it!

What did you notice about the discussions in the book club?

Wanted! - Wayside School Books

If you like funny books, give Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger a try.

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This hilarious book is written by Louis Sachar, who also wrote Holes and the Marvin Redpost books.

Here is a short book talk by "Strawberry" to give you some idea of what the book is like.
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This is the third book in a series, and you should probably read the other books first - Sideways Stories From Wayside School and Wayside School is Falling Down.

You might enjoy watching a reader's theater of one of the chapters from Sideways Stories From Wayside School. It is read by some of Sheriff Salsich's former cowpokes.
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Have you read any of the Wayside School books? If so, what was a part that you really liked?

Can you think of other wacky books that people might enjoy?

Buckaroo Book Club ~ The Garden of Abdul Gasazi!

Last week some of Sheriff Yollis and Sheriff Salsich's students had a nice face-to-face "jaw" about a real humdinger of a book - The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chris Van Allsburg.
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Have you ever read The Garden of Abdul Gasazi? 

If so, add some of your own thoughts about the book.

Have you ever been in a book club? What did you like about it?

 

Video: Tips For Having a Buckaroo Book Club!

Attention all cowboys and cowgirls!

Here at the Reading Round-Up, we are fixin' to circle our wagons and have a Buckaroo Book Club!

First, let's listen to Billy and Clementine. They have some solid book club tips for you!

GoAnimate.com: Book Club Ideas by lindayollis

For some more tips and examples of book clubs in action,
check out this video from Sheriff Salsich's class from last year.

Have you ever been in a book club?

What did you like about it?

What makes for a good discussion?

Transition Trail ~ Help Wanted!

Please help Old Buck! 

If you spot a TRANSITION in one of the books you're reading, publish it here!

Any other help you could offer Old Buck about TRANSITIONS would be appreciated!

If you can, put your transition in bold...Old Buck can't see too well!

Book titles can be fancied up with a little HTML code!

"The Farmer's Luck" - Read by Mr. Salsich's Father

Here at The Reading Round-Up, we like to invite real live readers in to share their love of words and stories with all of us! Being read to is not only pleasurable, but you can learn a lot too!

★ Our first guest in the saddle is Mr. Salsich, Sr.! ★


On Friday, December 3rd Mr. Salsich's class met "the real" Mr. Salsich - his dad, Hamilton Salsich!

It got a little confusing having two "Mr. Salsich's" in the room, so the students got to call their teacher "Mr. Salsich Jr." for a little while. "Mr. Salsich Sr." is also a teacher. He teaches reading and writing to 8th and 9th grade students.

He read a couple of short stories from the book Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth.

The stories in this book are a little strange.
They are supposed to make the reader think about their meaning or message.

The message of a book can also be called its "theme."

See if you can think of the theme of this story from Zen Shorts that "Mr. Salsich Sr." read:

What do you think this story is about?
Does it have a theme?

What book have you read that had a theme?
What was its message?

We've Earned an Edublog Nomination!

The Reading Round-Up just lassoed a humdinger of an honor!

Click on this link to cast your vote!

Best Group Blog - The Reading Round-Up!

(Sheriff Yollis & Sheriff Salsich)