Pre-service teachers used blogs to discuss award-winning Newbery books using reading roles creativiely adapted from Harvey Daniel's 'Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in the Student-centered Classroom'. Contact Anne Davis at adavis@gsu.edu if you have questions.
These blogs were moved from Manila blogs to TypePad blogs. The author shows up on each post as Anne Davis as a result of the transfer. The original posts were made by students and the instructors Lynne Jordan & Anne Davis. The initials on the post title signify who did the actual blogging of the post.
Precipice (page 174)
A high, vertical , or steep rock.
He took a deep breath, then walked the last fifty yards to the giant precipice and touched it.
I chose this word because I think it would be difficult for elementary students to understand its pronounciation or meaning. However, Sachar gives wonderful context clues that enable the reader to create an idea of how the word is used.
The crew needed special tools in order to climb the precipice.
No one said anything except "Thank you, Mr. Sir" as he filled each canteen. No one even dared to look at his grotesque face. (pg 105)
Grotesque means something that is distorted in shape.
I chose to post about the word grotesque because it is a word that provokes a strong visulization but is seldom used or herd.
The pumpkin was grotesque. It looked like it was growing something extra on its side.
When reading through chapter seven I came across the word deftly, which means skillfully or dexterous. Previous to this reading I had never heard or seen the word deftly before.
Holes page 32: He [Mr. Sir] popped some sunflower seeds into his mouth, deftly removed the shells with his teeth, and spat them into Stanley's hole.
My sentence: The magician deftly escaped from the chained box that had been submerged in a tank of water.
A sign on the door said WRECK ROOM. After Stanley dug his first hole, he took a shower and went into the WRECK ROOM to write a letter to his mother. I thought it was funny that it was spelled "wreck" instead of "rec". We found out that this is a recreational area for the campers but they break everything in there so it looks like a wreck on the inside. I wonder, just as well as Stanley does, why do the campers make a mess of the only relaxing place they have at Camp Green Lake? This word should actually be used like this, "Your room is a wreck. You need to clean it."
I love how the person watching over the campers at Camp Green Lake is called "Mr. Sir," who is first seen on page 12. It shows that this character has a lot of authority!! I think it shows that he is in charge and he knows exactly what is going on. He seems like a big, macho man who does whatever he wants whenever he wants, and he has the campers weary of him. I want to see what happens to him throughout the story because he kind of seems like the type of person who is big and bad to some people, but is put in his place by people with authority over him.
