Independent Reading Book Post #1

Title: The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake
pgs 1-43

Summary: This is my first post for my independent reading book. We are finished with book clubs right now but we are not finished with reading. In my class we all had a goal to try and read 25 books this year. So far no one has reached that goal but the more books we finish the closer we get to meeting the goal. So, so far my book is really good. The main character of my book is Maleeka Madison. She is a dark skinned girl that is not wealthy and almost the whole school makes fun of her for one reason or another. If it is not about her clothes, then it is about her skin. Maleeka is in Middle school and she can't stand her teacher Ms. Saunders!(pg5) Maleeka doesn't have many friends, but she is friends with this girl named Char that treats her like dirt! (pg15) I really don't like the way that Char treats Maleeka, she is always putting her down.(pg 17) Maleeka and Char are only friends because Maleeka kind of begged Char to be her friend so that the people in school would stop picking on her.(pg 23) I also met a character named Caleb. He is the boy that Maleeka thinks is really cute! The Skin I'm in is very entertaining! (Historian) This week many events happened in my book but the one that I want to discuss is Maleeka's fight.(pg 30) Maleeka had a fight with another girl because Char was kissing her Boyfriend. Char stood right there and watched the fight she didn't get Maleeka out of the fight and Maleeka didn't tell on Char. That led me to think about(Deep Thinker) this new word that everyone talks about in my school...SNITCHING. Maleeka didn't Snitch on Char and she got her but whipped. What do people really gain by not snitching on someone else? The kids in my school think that it is bad to be a snitch. As I was the Word Smith this week I found the word chronicling on page 24. This word means.....Making an account of events in the order of their happening.

Prompt: When I compare Pictures of Hollis Woods to the Skin I am in I see some similarities. The one thing that I would like to talk about on today deals with how both of the main characters think of themselves. The main character Hollis Woods didn't think that she was pretty at all. She hated that her hair was bushy, she had freckles and she had a big scar on her face from an accident that she had. Maleeka in the Skin I'm In doesn't think that she is pretty either. She hates the fact that she has really dark skin, and the kids in school tease her about her skin color and the clothes that she wears.

Blog Post #4

Title: Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly
Pgs. 109-166
Summary: Josie liked the new house that she and Hollis were staying at, but she sometimes expressed that she was homesick. Hollis didn't want to go back to Josie's house because she knew that if they went back, the agency lady would be coming to take her away from Josie. Hollis finally flashed back to explain why she left the Regans! There was a mountain at the summer house that Hollis really wanted to climb. Steven asked Hollis to go to the river with him one day when the Regans had been out for the day. Hollis decided that she didn't want to go with Steven. She said that she would rather do art work for the day. When Steven left, Hollis decided that she would finally attempt to climb the mountain. She climbed the mountain successfully. However, she fell down the mountain when she was celebrating that she had finally made it to the top. When she fell that is how she got the gash in her head(it took 5 stitches to close it) and she hurt her ankle so bad that she couldn't walk. She was just laying on the side of the mountain bleeding and crying out for help. Some how Steven knew that she had climbed the mountain and he took the Regan's truck up the mountain to get Hollis. On the way down the mountain Steven lost control of the car because no matter how hard he pressed the brakes it would not stop. The truck flipped down the mountain and left Steven unconscious. (pg.125)
When the Regans pulled up Hollis limped to them trying to tell them what had happened. She wanted them to know that it wasn't Steven's fault but they wouldn't listen to her. Mr. Regan was blaming Steven even though he was hurt very badly and they were not sure if he was going to make it. At that point Hollis blamed her self for everything and decided that when they got back from the hospital that she would be running away. She felt like she was the reason that Steven always got in trouble with Mr. Regan even though it had nothing to do with her. Steven pulled through even though he had a few broken ribs and fractured bones in his arms.(pg137) As soon as Mrs. Regan dropped Hollis off at the house she packed her things and ran back to the agency. Mr. Regan came and tried to get Hollis to come back home, but she refused thinking that she was the reason that the Regans almost lost their only son.
So the book ends with Hollis learning that Steven knew that she had run away with Josie back to the summer home. Hollis and Josie were in the newspaper as missing people and as soon as Steven heard that he knew that she would run back to the summer home because she loved that house. Steven had stacked the house with food and everything for Hollis. As Hollis was flashing back she realized that Mr. Regan really loved Steven even though they fought a lot. She came to realize that Mr. Regan and Steven's relationship had nothing to do with her. As soon as she realized this she told Josie that she was going to walk to the phone booth. On her way to the phone booth she saw Steven. She was so happy to see him! They talked and he confirmed that she had not ruined the Regan's lives. Steven went with her to the phone booth. They called Beatrice(Josie's cousin) to make sure that she would come and take care of Josie. Then they called Mrs. Regan so Hollis could ask her if she could come home! The Regans took Hollis back with open arms!

Opinion: I loved this book! At one point in the book it got a little boring, but I am so glad that I kept reading to find out what the final outcome of the book would be! When Hollis asked Mrs. Regan if she could come home I almost cried! I almost cried because the author did a really good job writing about Hollis and making her seem so real to me. I couldn't imagine what it would feel like being a foster child and never feeling loved by your real parents. So I was so happy that Hollis Woods finally was able to become Hollis Regan and get the love that she wanted so badly! When you first start reading this book you don't know what happened to Steven because Hollis just keeps talking to him in her head. I thought that the book was going to reveal to me that the truck accident had killed Steven and that is why Hollis left the Regans. I was relieved to find out how the truck accident really happened and that Steven was still alive!

Prompt:What was the best thing about this week's reading? What surprised you about this week's reading What Big Idea did your group make based on this week's reading? The Big Idea that What kind of ending does your story have? Did the ending surprise you? Would you recommend this book to anyone?

Post #3

Title: Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly
pgs.63-108
Summary: This week in my reading the book really got interesting! My main character Hollis Woods really changes during this weeks reading. The lady that dropped Hollis off with Josie realizes that Josie is not capable of taking care of Hollis because she is so forgetful. The lady shows up to the house unannounced and finds Hollis home from school. She then takes Hollis to school to find out that Hollis has not been to school in a month of Sundays. The lady goes back to her office and finds another foster family for Hollis to go and live with. She calls Hollis the next day to let her know that she will be coming to get her to take her to meet her new foster family. Hollis doesn't like this new plan at all. At this point in the book Hollis feels like Josie needs her more than she really needs Josie. Hollis expresses that she is afraid that if she leaves Josie that Josie will burn the house down, or forget to put gas in the car, or forget where she lives. She refuses to leave Josie. She then sits and comes up with this elaborate plan to save herself and Josie. She decides that they will run away together! When she lived with the Regans they had a summer home in the mountains. She decided that is where she and Josie would go live happily ever after! She took all of her savings and filled up the car, packed her clothes and Josie's clothes. She also made sure that she packed food for her, Josie and Henry (Josie's cat to live off of. They traveled at night to make sure that they were long gone, by the time that the lady would have arrived at Josie's house to get Hollis. The trip was a success and my reading ends with Hollis doing all that she possible could to make sure that she does not get taken away from Josie!

Opinion: I enjoyed reading my book this week. I thought that it was great that Hollis has finally allowed her self to love Josie enough that she feels the need to take care of her. In the beginning of the book I felt like Hollis kept running away from her families because she never wanted to give anyone the opportunity to ever leave her again as her real mother did. In the beginning of my book I didn't really care for Hollis because of the way that she would act towards the other people in the book, but now I like her because she is no longer acting out. she seems to have turned over a new leaf!


Prompt: What is one question that the deep thinker discussed with the group in this weeks meeting?

What kind of connections did the question allow you to make? Explain your answer

Who is your favorite character in the book? Why is that character your favorite? Explain your answer.

What was the best thing that happened in your book this week? Or what surprised you the most about your book on this week?

What Role did you play this week? What was one thing that you did this week to help your group be successful? Explain your answer.

Blog Post #2

Title: Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly pgs. 27-62
Summary: This week my book talked more about the relationship between Josie and Hollis. At first Hollis wasn't happy about living with a new foster mother. However, the more time that Hollis spends with Josie she is staring to really enjoy her company. Josie is not like any other foster mother, she likes to have fun. She does not give Hollis rules or regulations. They do a lot of spur of the moment activities. pg. 30 "Hollis tonight we are going to go to the movies Josie said." "That was alright with me, but I had never been allowed to hang out on a school night before thought Hollis." Pg. 35 "This morning Hollis we will go down to visit the river that I own Rosie said." Being that Josie always takes Hollis on these spur of the moment adventures, Hollis never goes to school. Hollis is still flashing back to the old family that she had but I still don't have a clear understanding of why she had to leave her old family. When she flashes back she only thinks about the good times that she had with her old family (The Regans). During this weeks reading I was introduced to a new character named Beatrice. Beatrice is Josie's cousin. Until Josie got Hollis Beatrice was the individual that was looking after Josie. You probably wonder why I say was looking after Josie. The most important thing that I learned in my reading this week was that Josie is very forgetful. That is why it never dawns on her that Hollis is missing school. Hollis learns that Josie really needs Hollis more than Hollis needs Josie. This is so important because it makes Hollis for once feel good about herself. She went from wanting someone to take care of her to being the one that enjoys taking care of someone else.

Opinion: This week I struggled a little to read my book. It started dragging to me. Around page 50 it picked back up though! I really can't wait to see why Hollis had to leave the Regans. I love that Hollis is becoming more mature. My father says that all things work together for our good. I feel like that is the case for Hollis. She had so many problems when the book first started. The household that she was placed in, is really changing her personality. She had a reputation for running away from foster homes in the past. Now she knows that Josie is forgetful and if the agency finds out how forgetful she is they will take her away from Josie. Hollis doesn't want that and works very hard to protect and take care of Josie. I am really enjoying this book. I like the way the author keeps you making predictions about what will happen next!

Prompt: How did your first book club meeting go? Today we had our first official book club meeting. Most groups did very well in 808. In 807 it was a little more difficult because some kids get pulled out for ESL, and it is hard to have a productive meeting without all members of the group.
What went well? As I looked around the rooms and sat and met with groups, most students were on task. I heard accountable talk going on within the groups and I saw most students following the guidelines for a good book club meeting.
What didn't go so well? For some groups it was hard to have a book club meeting because everyone was in a different place in the book. Some groups didn't prepare properly for the meeting and that made it hard to discuss what was going on in the book.
What were two things that you heard in your club meeting that you agreed with? Who said it? What were two things that you heard that you didn't agree with? Who said it? What do you think is going to happen in next weeks reading? I predict that next week as I read.....Hollis is going to explain why she could not stay with the Regans. I also have a feeling that Hollis is going to try to do whatever she has to do to make sure that she stays with Josie. Tune in next week to see what else happens in my book.......

Book Club Post #1

Book Club book: Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reily
pgs:1-26

Summary: My book is about a a young 12 year old girl named Hollis Woods. The main character of my book was abandoned by her family as an infant. For 12 years she has been transferred from one foster home to another. The agency that finds her the new homes refer to her as a "mountain of trouble" (pg 6) because she likes to cut school and she runs away from the foster homes that she is placed in. According to Hollis she just wakes up some mornings and feels like she can't take any more of the place or the foster family that she has been placed with so she grabs her knap sack and runs away. (pg. 12). When the book opens up it tells you that Hollis was being dropped off at a new foster family. Of course she is not happy about this but has no choice but to go where they take her. Her new Foster mother is a lady named Josie Kale. Josie is an older retired woman that use to be an art teacher. Hollis likes to draw so she finds that her and Josie have something in common. In the second chapter of my book Hollis flashes back to an old foster family that she had. So far I can't tell why she left their house but the book leads you to believe that she liked that family and that is why she can't get them "The Regans" out of her thoughts or her dreams!

Opinion: I had seen this particular book in the class library for quite some time and I never read it. The moment that I saw that it was about a child in foster care trying to find someone to love her, I wanted to read it. I personally think that it is really sad that people have children and then have no desire to love and nurture them like good parents should! As soon as I started reading the book I was intrigued by it (it got my attention) because it doesn't actually tell you everything in the first chapter, but the author just keeps on making hints and leaving clues so you keep reading to see what is going to happen next. For example on pg. 18 Hollis flashes back to the days when she felt what is was like to have a brother named Steven. The book doesn't just come right out and tell you what happened to Steven. You know that she is not with Steven or that family anymore because she now lives with Josie. I am so excited that I just want to keep reading to see what the book is going to reveal about this Steven character.

Prompt:How do you feel about this new unit of Study? How did your book Club group perform this week? What role did you get the chance to play this week and how did that go for you? Tell me at least two new words that you learned this week as you read your book.
So far I love this new unit of study! One reason that I like this unit of study is because I like to read. Another reason that I am excited about this unit of study is that I worked hard to find books that fit the needs of the students and that is helping them stay committed to reading them faithfully. They all have books that are interesting to them. During Independent reading time everyone is usually engaged in their books and you could hear a pin drop in our class! This week most groups cooperated really well to make sure that they could all meet their reading goal and finish their As You Read worksheets! This week everyone worked on learning the role of the Deep Thinker and the Historian. Two words that I learned this week were hermanita (pg 18) which means little sister in Spanish and whittling (pg 20)which is kind of like carving.

Post #12 Bog Reflection Post

Every post that we worked on in this unit was based on information that we found after reading the media. When we first started this unit, I was really nervous about blogging. I had never blogged before and I felt like I was the only one that didn't know what I was doing.
The thing that I liked best about blogging was that I was able to read and blog about a topic that was interesting to me. I loved reading new things everyday and keeping up with what was interesting in the media! The worst thing that I experienced in this unit of study was trying to find an article to read, and then read it, and then blog about it. I felt like that was too much work for one period
I learned so much during this unit of study. I learned how to include hyper-links in my blogs to enhance them. Thanks to Franklin Rodriguez I also learned how to put pictures inside of my posts! We had lots of practice with summarizing in this unit of study as well, so I think my summarizing skills improved!
We are now finished with this unit of study and now believe it or not I am sad! In the beginning I was in intimidated by blogging and using the computer everyday. Now I feel comfortable with blogging ! Blogging was a wonderful experience! Thank you Mr. Wagner for all of your help and encouragement!

Post #11 Bowling Trip

Today we went on a school trip to the bowling alley! I had so much fun. We left school at 9:45 a.m. We walked to the train station and took the train to 161st street. The train ride was quick. When we got off the train the teachers paid for us to bowl, and then we were told the area that we could bowl in. We had the whole top floor to ourselves. Everyone was told to get into 4 groups. After we got organized into our groups we put our names into the computer and then we were ready to bowl.

Ms. Jenkins, and Tevin of class 808 were on my team. In the first game, Ms Jenkins came in first, Tevin came in second and unfortunately I came in last. In the second game I really wanted to win. I was in the lead all the way to the last frame. I was celebrating and laughing at Tevin because I thought that I was going to beat him! To my surprise he beat me by two points. I had 107 and he had 109. And guess what? Ms. Jenkins beat us both!

When we finished bowling, we went to Mc Donalds to eat lunch. While we were eating lunch there was another school there MS390 I think. They were all having so much fun together dancing and getting light(that is what they call the new crazy style of dance that all the kids are doing). MS 390 asked Ms. Batchelor her name, and she told them her name. Then they called her out into the circle to dance. To my surprise she jumped in the circle and was dancing with the kids from the other school! It was so funny! Then two of our students from Ms Batchelor's class got in and showed their skills!
To end the trip we walked back to school. We got back at 2:20 exactly! I am so glad that the weather was nice! We had such a wonderful school trip!