Summer Reading Workshop Begins On June 29

Welcome to another summer of reading on Team Vista. Check the blog at least once each week on Monday to keep informed about the latest happenings in summer reading. All the necessary forms for reading workshop are located in the second column of the blog entitled Pages. Click on the Spelling and Reading Workshop Forms to print out copies of a reading list, someday list, and summer reading log.

Remember to read for 30 minutes per day, seven days per week, and at least a minimum of twenty pages per day. Summer reading logs are due on the first day of school, Monday, August 24, 2009.

Also under the Pages column of the blog, keep informed about all Vista happenings by clicking on the Google Calendar. I’ve also posted a link for the school district’s calendar for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.

If you are looking for a good book, check out all the sites listed in the summer letter—a copy of it is also on the Spelling and Reading Workshop Forms page. I highly recommend the student book blog of the Center For Teaching and Learning. That’s the school Mrs. Peterson and I visited in October 2009. The kids have posted book reviews of books that they rate at least a nine or a ten.

Center For Teaching and Learning

Click on:

•Kids Recommend

•High School Reader

or

•Book Blog

If you want short read and a book that might make you cry but will certainly move you, get a copy of reaching for sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. It is about a girl with cerebral palsy. Written in free-verse poetry, it tells “the beautiful story of a girl, a proud family farm reduced to a garden, and a year of unforgettable growth.” The author was a special education teacher. Click on the link below to go to her Web site:

Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Several students on Vista read the book in June and all rated it at least a 9 out of 10. The first person to read it read it in about 65 minutes—remember, it just might make you cry.

Final Thoughts: Marie In the Shadow of the Lion

What did you learn from the story: Marie In the Shadow of the Lion? What was your reaction? What surprised you? What shocked you? What do you think the world or our country should do about the issue of child soldiers? Think back to Invisible Children, how has your viewpoint changed since your original response to the movie?

If you could design the school of your dreams, what would it look like? How would learning take place? What would you study and why?