40 Book Challenge

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Forty Book Challenge 2020-2021

On our tea party day, we celebrated our reading success! Our community read 1,064 books this school year, an average of 59 chapter books per person.  One of the memories this year was how special it was for each of us to complete reading an entire book (or more) of the Bible.  The students also particularly enjoyed the Geronimo Stilton collection, the Who Was series, Mercy Watson, lots of graphic novels, Hardy Boys, Boxcar Children, Magic Tree House, joke books, and a lot of nonfiction books about topics of interest.  I wonder what great books we will tackle this summer!

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Two More Wild Readers!

Mrs. Shedd and Miss Blessing crossed the “finish line” of the Forty Book Challenge this week!  Yahoo!  In their interview, they collaborated on favorite places to read.

***When I was in third/fourth grade, I loved to read . . . . 

–up in my favorite climbing tree along our field (Miss B)

–in my pink gingham windowseat in my room (Miss B)

–on the sofa in the living room (Mrs. Shedd)

***Some unusual places we have read. . . . 

–at the gas station while my husband is pumping gas (Mrs. Shedd)

–in every line or wherever I am waiting for people no matter where it is (Miss B)

–on the ferry to Newfoundland (Miss B)

–in my bunk at Camp Maranatha (Mrs. Shedd)

***Places we love to read now . . . . 

–my recliner (Mrs. Shedd)

–laying on the couch (Mrs. Shedd)

–in my hammock (Mrs. Shedd)

–in a comfy chair by the ocean in Maine (Mrs. Shedd and Miss B)

–on the porch in a rocking chair, even when it is below freezing (Miss B)

–out in the garden among the flowers (Miss B)

***We keep books everywhere–by the bed, by the chair, in the bathroom, in the car, in the kindle on the phone, at school, at work–so no matter where we are, we can read, read, read!  Leave a comment about where YOU like to read!

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Forty Book Challenge SuperReader Ethan!

Our fourth  SuperReader passed 40 books in the Forty Book Challenge today!  Congratulations, Ethan!

In his reading interview, Ethan commented,

“I recommend reading a Superman book.  There is a lot of action, like Superman saves buildings from falling over, and saves boats from crashing into icebergs, and saves trains from falling off broken tracks.  It includes interesting details in the graphics, like the colors and the shadows.  They blend the colors in to make a new color.  I really like these stories because they have interesting words and super-long words.  Some examples are “kryptonite” and “Krypton.”  I really didn’t know that Superman was an alien.  I had only heard he was a superhero on earth.  So I learned new things about him in the graphic novel.

This was a fairly new genre to me this year, although I had read the Wings of Fire graphic novels before.  I really like it and want to read more.”

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Congratulations, Mary, Reader Extraordinaire!

Mary crossed the Forty Book Challenge “finish line”, and she’s now on to 50, 60, 70 great books this year, . . . . who knows!

In her reading interview, Mary shared, “I would like to tell you about the Magic Treehouse series, as it is one of my favorite series.  I like how it has history mixed up in the story.  For example, they might go to America for the first Thanksgiving, or sometimes they go to random places where it has a research book to find out different things.  I think I have read around twenty of the series so far.”

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Forty Book Challenge Finish Line (and Onward!)

Our first mighty reader has conquered reading forty books or more!  Congratulations, Joshua!

Interview with Joshua:

I love reading!  One of the reasons I love reading is because it’s more healthy for your eyes than a tv.  You can’t have too much screen time with a book, so you can read as long as you want.  Ha ha.  It’s always satisfying to finish a book.  It helps you to learn.  It helps you practice imagining things and making a story picture in your head.

I recommend My Side of the Mountain for people who like the wilderness and want to learn more about surviving in the wild.

I really liked getting a special pencil from the principal today to celebrate making the Forty Book Challenge.  Reading is really awesome!

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Another Victor in the 40 Book Challenge!

This week Joshua conquered the Forty Book Challenge!  Here is a little interview with him about his reading.

My favorite book this year was the 40th book, Magic Tree House Hurry Up Houdini.  Of course, I’ll still be reading more books even though school is almost over.  My favorite place to read is our rocking chair, with me upside down.  I recommend the book No Children, No Pets.  Thank you, Miss Blessing, for the encouragement.

Sincerely, Joshua
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Howe Library, Readers’ Delight

The second and third graders celebrated our Forty Book Challenge success on a perfect spring day!  The Howe Library welcomed us with open arms.  We danced, explored, read, investigated, listened, laughed, and tasted.  What a day!

Here we are about to embark on a Geometry Photo Scavenger Hunt around Hanover.  Who can find real life examples of rectangular prisms, obtuse angles, and parallel lines?  Stay tuned to further posts for the results . . . .

We enjoyed lunch in the Children’s Garden.

After exploring this roomy library using their Library Hunt, each group chose a comfy silent reading spot.  The book selection was irresistible.

Our START volunteers met us at the Howe for our final math session.  Here we are with our symmetry partners after doing some spectacular mirror dancing.

One of our host librarians treated us to a hilarious animal folk tale and an intriguing picture book about George Washington’s teeth.  She also shared an idea we hope to follow up on, combining our book recommendations from all our reading this year into bookmarks on various topics like animal stories, family stories, or robot stories.

We topped off this perfect day with a strawberry feast.