#ReadingCram and Spelling Challenge

Yay for more reading :) I am doing well with finishing Insurgent before the end.  And I caught up on a lot of online reading....though not books--it is nice to know that last night my Feedly was caught up and today my e-mail box only has one e-mail left in it :)

Today Kimberly Faye is hosting a challenge in which you spell a word with your book titles.  I spelled Staff :)

Sense and Sensibility
To Kill a Mockingbird
Angels and Demons
Fablehaven
Feels Like the First Time

Day 4 #ReadingCram and Spine Poetry Challenge

Today I feel pretty victorious---I finished Jane Eyre which translated to me reading about 150 pages today.  I loved how it was for work....so when I got a couple of free moments today--I could read :)  I loved how on my Goodreads--which I finally updated--I just have been lazy--and I have been able to push complete twice in one week.  That like never happens! This is my most successful read-a-thon yet!

Today's challenge is a Spine Poetry Challenge...I might be able to do a picture of these books if I had Sense and Sensibility in its own book...so maybe I will update this post later with a photo since I still have Fablehaven from the library.  It probably feels more like a sentence....but I'm not great at writing poetry. Thanks to Lori @ Writing My Own Fairy Tale for the challenge!

Jane Eyre with her
Sense and Sensibility went to 
Fablehaven in 
1984 To Kill a Mockingbird

http://juliababyjenreadingroom.blogspot.com/2013/12/reading-cram-day-4-spine-poetry.html

Book Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

I finally finished this book!! I loved reading this again from start to finish...even though I started in July.

Title: To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Harper Lee

Genre: Historical Fiction, Classic

Rating: 5 out of 5 (yep...it is rare but this book is awesome)

Why Did I Read? I started it with a read-along....and then I didn't get a chance to finish it. 

Summary: Told from the perspective of an adult Scout, she recounts the events of her childhood around the time her father took on the Robinson trial. It is an interesting time for the family as they deal with racism during the time of the Great Depression. We follow her and her brother, Jem, and their friend, Dill as they explore their world of Maycomb.  We are fascinated as they are with Boo Radley, the loner shut-in down the street. And we watch as their father, Atticus, makes fictional history sticking up for a black man. 

What Did I Love: I have loved this book ever since college.  I read it in high school--but it was just a story about some kid whose dad was a lawyer.  In college, I learned a lot about this book--and realized that though summaries are often all about the Robinson trial--probably because that's kind of the climax--most of the story is not the actual trial and you don't even really realize about the trial until way into the book. 

I also love how well this is written and how much Scout is an adult but not in the book.  Honestly, if you haven't read this book you need to!!

Interesting cover that I haven't seen before
http://books.google.com/books/about/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird.html?id=qx44AAAACAAJ

Reflection on July

This month has been crazy!  The biggest thing this month has been participating in the To Kill a Mockingbird read-along...though I still want to give you an actual review of the book...it has been great fun to read most of it and share some of my ideas.  It has also been the month of traveling, packing, and moving!  So it makes sense that my top three posts this month have to do with that.

#3: TKAM Part 2 

#2: TKAM Reflection Part 1

#1: Homeowner

This month has two challenges in mind for me....the Austen in August and Bout of Books so I am excited to do some more reading this month!! I am going to add Pride and Prejudice to my current read list!

To Kill a Mockingbird Post #3

This is the edition that I have been reading,
picture thanks to the Goodreads!

So I have a small confession about this read-in....I am behind!!! As I have been moving and still struggling with my health, I haven't read as much as I wanted.  So I will post again in the future with some more stuff from the end...but with today being the last day of the read-in, I wanted to talk a little bit more about stuff that teachers can point out.

Harper Lee has a very unique writing style..and I like to point a couple of quotes that highlight this style. This first quote comes from chapter six when Dill and Jem decide to sneak up to the Radley place and peek in the shutters.  When the story starts....you notice the writing to this has slowed down.  She used specific words and punctuation to slow down the reading.

Dill stopped and let Jem go ahead.  When Jem put his foot on the bottom step, the step squeaked.  He stood still, then tried his weight by degrees. The step was silent.  Jem skipped two steps, put his foot on the porch, heaved himself to it, and teetered a long moment. He regained his balance and dropped to his knees. He crawled to the window, raised his head and looked in (71) .  

 And then as you keep reading....we learn that there is a shadow moving towards them.  You notice here that the reading starts to speed up.

Dill saw [the shadow] next. He put his hands to his face.  When it crossed Jem, Jem saw it. He put his arms over his head and went rigid.  The shadow stopped about a foot beyond Jem. Its arm came out from its side, dropped , and was still. Then it turned and moved back across Jem, walked along the porch and off the side of the house, returning as it had come.  Jem leaped off the porch and galloped toward us. He flung open the gate, danced Dill and me through, and shooed us between two rows of swishing collards (71).

If you pick up on the verbs that they are more urgent.  The words come a lot faster too.  It is a great technique! There are other moments in the book too that really point out her writing style...but this is one of my favorites.

TKAM Part 2

From Amazon.com

So today is the check-in for the middle of To Kill a Mockingbird.  Chapter 12-21 is what I will be talking about today.  And as I did in the first part, I will talk a little bit about things that teachers can point out to their English students about this book.

First off, the beginning of this part really starts to set the stage for the trial. We start to figure out Harper Lee's reasoning through Scout's eyes for why people are racist.  In my estimation, it is because we like to stick people in a box. There is a quote in the book that really points this out that students might readily pick up on.

Aunt Alexandra, in underlining the moral of young Sam Meriweather's suicide, said it was caused by a morbid streak in the family.  Let a sixteen-year-old girl giggle in the choir and Aunty would say, "It just goes to show you, all the Penfield women are flighty."  Everybody in Maycomb, it seemed had a Streak: a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak, a Mean Streak, a Funny Streak (172).

If everyone has a streak, then everyone has a box, and we can stick them in that to judge them.  To me racism in the book really comes out because we have to stick everyone in a box...even the Cunninghams and the Ewells.  When Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to church with her, they are stuck in a box because they are white children in a black church.

Not only do we put ourselves in boxes but people get stuck in their ways.  As Scout explains:

The older citizens, the present generation of people who had lived side by side for years and years, were utterly predictable to one another: they took for granted attitudes, character shadings, even gestures, as having been repeated in each generation and refined by time (175).

So it is interesting as Atticus tries to push the envelope of race, he knows he is going to loose because the people are predictable.

Aside from the racism ideas, they are a couple of writing prompts you can use with the class to get them thinking.  For example, at the beginning of chapter 12 Scout describes summer and you can really picture it.  Have the students write their own description of their favorite season--practice sensory imagery.  Or you can have them respond to different things in the story like this quote on page 179. "It takes a woman to do that kind of work." It is interesting for students to try to figure out what she really means by that.  Or having them write about why they think Atticus took the case. There are lots you can do...

What are you reading Monday?

From http://bookjourney.wordpress.com

This is a cool linky that I have seen every once in a while but I have never hopped on.  I am glad to be hanging out with Sheila and all of my fellow readers! One of the biggest reasons I am doing this today is because I am never reading four books at once!! You will have to watch for my book reviews on these books....but I will give little blurbs now.

So what am I reading?

 

This is the second time I've read this...I have been reading it with a book club this month--though I'm behind.  I guess that happens with online book clubs!  But I love this one--if you haven't read it you should!

As mentioned on Friday's post, I am reading this with Roof Beam Reader's read-a-long.

I started reading this again after I reviewed Angels and Demons, but it has gotten so side tracked with the other two!!

And I am listening to...

This is the one that will keep me company as I pack and has been while I drive! This is the only one that's brand new to me on this list.  I am glad to be listening...so far I am loving Rebecca Lowman.  I am not super far into it yet, but I can barely stop listening!

So...what are you reading?!

Picture Links: first three from Wikipedia, last from http://www.nicholassparks.com/books/safe-haven

TKAM Reflection Part 1

Today is the first check-in for TKAM Read-Along with RoofBeam Reader.  I was realizing today that this is my fourth time reading this book, but the first time reading it for fun.  In the past, I have read it for school and to teach so I am very familiar with the book but I am enjoying just reading it for fun this time. While I can't completely turn the teacher brain off, I can read it more lazily.  I am also reading with one that I have marked up already which is nice because then my teacher brain has something to look at.

So I'm thinking that I'm not going to summarize the book in my posts....if you're looking for a good summary Roofbeam has one and so does Leeswammes--so you can go there and read theirs.  I will mention this, the first part of the book that we read--chapters 1-11 really are the set up for the climax of the story (the trial). We are getting to know Scout, Jem, Dill, Atticus, Calpurnia, and the other members of the town like Miss Rachel, Stephanie, the Radleys, the Cunninghams, and the Ewells.

So instead of summarizing the book I will answer Roofbeam's questions, talk about what a teacher would maybe talk about in the story, and my other impressions on the book.

First things first, Scout as the narrator.  A lot of people actually think that because the story takes place when Scout is young that it is being told by a young girl.  However, we have great clues to the fact that this is actually a recollection of what happened.  For example, she says at the beginning: "When enough years have gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discuss the events leading to his accident."  So we clearly know that she is a lot older.  We also have other clues that she is an adult...I love phrases like "dietary affairs" or "monosyllabic". With that understanding, we also have to understand some bias in the story.  It is interesting to wonder how much the memories have been distorted.

Secondly, all of the characters are great but my favorite character is definitely Scout.  I think that's mostly because she is the narrator of the story.  I relate to her well I think and I love her vocabulary.  This is one of the things that my teacher brain gets all excited about. I have so many words circled in my book to go through with students that I teach it to.  Words like: condescended, domiciled, flivver, and taciturn.  My least favorite character is honestly Dill....I have never really gotten behind him...like ever--I miss the maturity that the other characters seem to have.

Finally, the other teacher part of my brain likes to show the foreshadowing throughout the story.  The fact that we meet the Ewells in the beginning, we know about Dill's broken arm before it even happens, and we get to know the town.  All of these components help us to understand what happens in the second half of the story.  Enjoy reading part 2!

To Kill a Mockingbird Day 1

Today I am starting a reading of To Kill a Mockingbird (which will often be referred to as TKAM for faster typing).  This is a great read-along with Roof Beam Reader.  He broke it down that it is about 19 pages a day with different post opportunities.  I am excited to read this book again and offer ideas to teachers for teaching this book.  It is a great book to use to teach a lot of things in English.

So for today I am going to make a quick list for teachers trying to decide whether to use this or not. Basically a list of why they should....and I'm sure I will add to it as I re-read.

• Symbolism
• Foreshadowing
• Perspective (with Scout doing it from adult)
• Understanding historical context with a book
• And of course great writing!!

One of many edition covers you can get...I think each post I might do a different one :P
This one is from Wikipedia

A Review of June and Coming Soon

Wow, can't believe another month has come and gone.  As I typically do on the first of the month, I do a run down of the top posts of the previous month and what's to come up this month.

3. We had a tie for third place...so you get two posts!
Classics Club Meme This one was actually a lot of fun!  I enjoy participating in the Classics Club, and doing little things with them.  It has no pressure and I love that!!
Article Review: Sending My Child Away I was actually glad to see that this one made it on the list. I debated actually posting this one, but I was very impressed by this article and wanted to share it.  I hope that it helps someone out there.

2. Shakespeare Plus Autism Another fun one to write! I love talking about Shakespeare!  I have a new found love for him with my job, as I mentioned in this post.

1. Another Doctor's Appointment I should have predicted that this one would be first, all the rest of my ones about my health issues have been.  It is nice to see that everyone cares.  This gives me an opportunity to catch everyone up on how I'm doing now. I have good days and bad days, and because I was having good days I thought that I would get better on my own. Biggest reason, I am done with doctors!  This weekend was a testament that I maybe shouldn't do that anymore.  So I called today--and I have another appointment next Monday.  I'll update then.

Upcoming this month...July will bring lots of new changes and busy times.  We will be closing on our new house this month!! How crazy is that! So my life will be full of signing and boxes. I have a family reunion that I am looking forward too and hopefully I will get my teaching license renewed this month too.

Blog wise I will be participating in my first ever read-along with To Kill a Mockingbird and RoofBeam Reader. This is one of my favorite books and I want to share some lesson plan ideas that I have had.  Feel free to join in too! I also really need to finish a blanket for a good friend who is having her first baby this month and I will share that too!!  I also hope to hop on some more blog hops. Finally, I am looking forward to possibly fixing up my blog following ways.  I need a better system...I am thinking about Bloglovin' or Feedly.  I can't decide...but I need too because I don't want to miss stuff!  Suggestions?

Our new house!!!