Lunar Chronicles & Graphic Novels

I wanted to share this since I have quite a few students who have recently gotten into The Lunar Chronicles series (you can read my thoughts about it here). The author, Marissa Meyer is making a graphic Novel series following a character, Iko, after the books take place. Graphic Novels are taking the literary world by storm, with many graphic novel versions of popular books coming out. Below, I list a few graphic novels my students might be interested in. However, I wanted to share a preview of the graphic novel for The Lunar Chronicles -- Wires and Nerves. Enjoy this sneak peek, and hold tight until it's released in January! (WARNING: SPOILERS TO LUNAR CHRONICLES IN THE LINK!)

http://www.avclub.com/article/lunar-chronicles-make-their-comics-debut-wires-and-246506

Graphic Novels You Might Like 

Percy Jackson Graphic Novel Series

Legend Graphic Novel Series

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Series Graphic Novel Series

A Wrinkle in Time

Sooo many books have been turned into graphic novels. Just search to see if your favorites have been revamped!

Thankful

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I want to say that I am thankful for my wonderful students. Working at Merchantville these past 4 years has been amazing. I love the building I work in and the people I work with. But most of all -- I love the students I get to interact with on a daily basis. I try my hardest to make class exciting, interesting, challenging, and educational for all the students. I always wish I could capture some of the best moments in my room, but most of the time, I don't have my phone on me or am too busy getting involved in activities. Here are a few snapshots I have of my students doing some activities this year.

My 6th graders said they like practicing skills by finding their answers on puzzle pieces

    

My Algebra class learning about rate of change by doing an experiment based on Aesop's Crow and the Pitcher Fable.

   

 They used desmos.com on our chrome books to graph the results

My apologies to my 7th grade math class. I took pictures of them doing the card sort activity they really enjoy, but somehow those photos went missing :(

I know it's early to make a New Year's Resolution, but I think one of my goals should be to start taking more photos of my students doing activities. It'll remind me of the cool things we do in the classroom and how thankful I am for students who are willing to put the effort in to learn!

Book Club Bookmarks

The Pageturners, Merchantville's Junior High book club had some fun making corner bookmarks. They came out so well that I had to take photos to share!

A corner bookmark is like origami and marks your place by wrapping around the corner of the page, such as below:

I showed a few examples, including an intricate Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon. Look at how amazingly they turned out!

Here are some more great bookmarks!!

 

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

I haven't done a book review for quite sometime, and I've had a few students ask about my opinion on this book, so I figured I would type up my thoughts on this *play* here (not a book!)

I feel like I need to include this disclaimer: I knew every plot point and twist in this play prior to reading. My close friends are all die-hard Harry Potter fans, so I knew that the next time we met, they would want to talk about the book. I didn't want to be confused, so I read a detailed summary of everything before I read the play about a month later. That might have affected by reading because I knew what was going to happen. That being said, my opinion of this story is that it is ..... okay.

You  have to go into your reading of The Cursed Child understanding that it is not a JK Rowling book. It is a play with her help in the writing. It doesn't have the intricate plot and wonderful language and details that readers have become accustomed to with Rowling's writing. It doesn't paint that beautiful, vivid image in your mind because it just a play. We get character dialogue, set descriptions, and some stage prompts. 

The plot is interesting to consider -- what would it be like to be the son of "The boy who lived"? What would it be like if he were a Slytherin and not a Gryffindor? What would it be like if a time turner still existed? It's got some fun ideas about how times could change by affecting one thing in the past. 

One thing I LOVED about this book: Scorpius Malfoy. Yes, the son of Draco Malfoy. He is by far the most interesting and relatable character in that book. He is not like Draco in the books. He is kind, and sweet, and charming, and admits to being "an enormous geek". He is self depricating in a way that brings so much humor to a relatively dark story. He is one of the best developed characters in this story, and I would definitely read a book just about him because I loved every scene he was in. 

However, the rest of the story is not as great as Scorpius. First of all, I thought the play did not depict Harry in a way that I imagine him to be as an adult. It didn't feel like Harry, based on what he does and says. Aside from Harry, the plot itself seems awkwardly paced and jumpy at times. Some plot twists seem so contrived; it's unclear whether you're reading a Harry Potter story or what seems almost like fan-fiction.

Overall, Harry Potter fans will not say no to reading this book. Who doesn't want to revisit that magical story? But I think all Harry Potter fans need to go into a reading of this by understanding it's not going to a Harry Potter book. It's just a supplement. I think that will help taper off any disappointment in the story.