We begin our journey by discussing my second graders feelings about 3rd grade -- some are nervous and afraid the work will be too hard. Some are wondering if their teachers will be nice. Some students have also heard that in 3rd grade you have to take very important tests.
In our novel, How to be Cool in the Third Grade by Betsy Duffey, our main character Robbie has some definite opinions about being cool as well as some very big challenges to overcome to get there. I won't post a pic of the book cover until my next post - the students are challenged to make a picture in their own mind of what Robbie and his friends might look like.* At this age students are becoming readers and they often reject books because of the illustrations. This year we have worked very hard at making pictures in our own mind of how the characters may look. Our students will recite, "don't judge a book by it's cover," as we all do, but all too often emerging readers don't allow themselves to read books because of the cover picture. This is a great book to talk about so many different themes including self-perception, school and bullies as well as would you have selected this book if you saw the cover. We are on the 4th chapter and the students are thoroughly enjoying the story. In addition to reading, there are many different skills that we learn in library class including how to select books and not limit ourselves to specific genres and covers that look cool. This is a perfect book to do just that.
*(Note: We did the same earlier this year with Donavan's Word Jar!)
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