What are you reading?

Currently, Ms. Lawver is reading Dies the Fire by SM Sterling (geared for adults, but ok for 8th grade advanced readers).  This dystopian book starts off like the new show Revolution where all of a sudden all of the electricity goes out and planes fall out of the sky.

So, what are you reading?

Tell us the title of your book, author, and a few sentences about it in the comments of this post.  Don't forget, if you are a kid, don't post your full name, first only!  My current students can get a goodie ticket for a good comment!

Revolutionary War

A great resource we have in this area is war re-enactor, Dr. Roy Wells.  Today he came and spoke to the 8th grade students about the different uniforms, weapons, and about life in general for soliders during the Revolutionary War.

Here is Evan as a Patriot.

Dr. Wells

Tea.

Special thanks to Kailey for great pictures!

6th grade archeologists!

Another great activity we did in 6th grade was an archeological dig.  The students set up their "dig" boxes as a group, burying "artifacts" (aka, man made items).  The next day a different group had the opportunity to excavate the box and discover the different clues to "ancient civilization" that left these artifacts behind!  (Of course, playing in the dirt was the highlight!)

Here you can see the girls recording the artifacts they uncovered.

This group is ready to dig with their box gridded off (with the string) and a ruler ready to get the details.

Ready to find out what is in this box!

6th Grade Cartographers

One of the first assignments the 6th graders did this year as groups was to create a map of the world from memory!  They could only use glue and paper, so they had to tear out the shapes of the continents.

Mosaics

While studying our unit on Rome and the Byzantine Empire, the 7th grade class made mosaics to represent their cultures.  Here are some shots of them working!

Delaney and Daisy Duck!

A few students used their devices to help them find images of their ideas.

The California Poppy is a great symbol to represent our state!

What Ms. Lawver read this summer.

I hope everyone had a great summer full of reading!  Here is a re-cap of what I read this summer.

I started off finishing George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, with A Dance with Dragons.  This series (for adults) was a bit long, even for me, but I did enjoy it.

Sleepaway Girls, a perfect light summer read for girls.

Trapped, this book was a bit intense as 5 students are stranded at school in a blizzard.

The Lying Game, this was also a good mystery.  I need to read the next book so I can find out who the killer is!

Epitaph Road, a dystopian novel where women rule the world and very few men and boys actually survive...

Queen Bees and Wannabees, this is a good one for parents of teen girls.  It discusses the drama and cliques of adolescence.

Out of Sight out of Time, the fifth book in the Gallagher Girls Series, another great adventure.

When You Reach Me, I can see why this is a popular book (also a mystery), but I didn't love it.  It was good, but not a favorite for me.

The whole Dead is...  series.  I was really surprised with how much I liked these.  It is a paranormal series with great mysteries.  The series actually has a second set (books 6 and 7 are out), with new main characters, I look forward to reading those too.

Not pictured:

Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen.  Probably my least favorite of my summer reads, it was a heavy novel dealing with older teen issues.

Uncommon Criminals, by Ali Carter.  I am halfway through with this, and like the Gallagher Girls (same author), it is a great adventure/mystery with strong female protagonists.

"Ms. Lawver, you read too many girly books!"

- I know... sorry, boys... I will have some recommendations for you too soon.  Trapped and Epitaph Road were both "not girly" (really!) and I keep meaning to read the Ranger's Apprentice books... 

Jacob

Jacob says there aren't enough 7th graders on this blog.  He is right... I will work on it!