Fiction and Non-Fiction

This week we finished our second chapter book read aloud, The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.  We have been reading it for months and the end was bittersweet; we all both wanted to know what happened in the end, but at the same time didn't want it to end.  Here are what some of the girls said about the book:

C.D.:  "It was interesting because whenever there was a really scary part, it always ended up in a good way."
A.N.:  "I thought it was fascinating."
E.L-J.:  "I liked it.  It was pretty interesting."
E.K:  "I thought that it was, like, so... it had so much nature in it!"
L.D.:  "I liked it because it was exciting."
S.C.:  "I liked it when Louis poked one of the people in the butt!"
G.M.:  "I liked it when Louis met Serena and he wanted to talk to Serena but he couldn't because he didn't have a voice."
A.E.:  "I liked The Trumpet of the Swan because most of the swans were very adventurous."
C.M.:  "I liked the Trumpet of the Swan because it was very interesting."
M.A.:  "I liked it because Louis and Serena have a lot of adventures."
M.O.:  "It is a very exciting story."
M.E.:  "I liked it because it was really interesting when Louis made money when he went to work."
M.M.:  "It was a really really good book.  It had sad parts but then it turned into happy parts and then funny parts."
A.W-M."  "It was a good book and I liked it because it was funny when the lady screamed, 'Call an ambulance!'  I even checked it out of the library!"
H.M.W.:  "I liked it because Louis saved Serena because he kind of let her rest for a little bit so she could get a bit of energy to fly away."
I.R.:  "I liked it when the duck fainted."
C.W.:  "I liked when Louis found Serena after she came in with the wind."
L.W.:  "I liked it since it was interesting."
F.S.:  "I liked when Louis went to camp Kooskooskoos."

We also did book reviews.  The girls thought about the characters, how to summarize the story, what their favorite part was and rated it.  Everyone rated it 4 out of 4 smiley faces!

We said goodbye to E.B. White and we are saying hello to Eric Carle, the subject of our author study.  After reading The Very Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Busy Spider, the girls began to notice similarities in his books and his style of writing and artwork.  We charted their noticings on chart paper.

We also watched a few short videos about Eric Carle where he discusses how he gets inspired and  develops his ideas, as well as how he creates his artwork.




He even creates gigantic murals!




From fiction to non-fiction we go!  We are delving into the insect world and are learning all about what makes an insect an insect.  Each girl spent time looking through non-fiction books taking notes on things about insects that were interesting to them.  Then, they chose an insect that they wanted to know more about.  Over the next few weeks, the girls will do further research on their insect and, integrating our author study, will create their insect in Eric Carle's style of painted paper collage.