5th Grade Book Recomendations from a 5th Grader May 16, 2013

I read these books in 5th grade and highly recommend them to rising 5th graders or even 4th graders or 6th graders. Some of these chapter books were assigned as classroom reading but most of the books were for free choice reading. If you have summer reading homework as a rising fifth grader, I would recommend any of these books.

5th Grade Realistic Fiction

See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles

Even though this book is sad, I still really liked it.

One for the Murphys by Lynda Hunt

The main character, Carly, had a difficult childhood but in the end, she finds out that she can be anything she wants to be.

Schooled by Gordon Korman

It’s about a kid with an unusual childhood and he has to go into the real world without even being in the real world.

The Candy Smash (The Lemonade War series) by Jacqueline Davies

This book was really easy but it had a nice twist at the end. I met the author at a book talk and she lives near me.

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

We read this book in school and had to do a project on it. There are individual little books inside it that make up one big story.

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

It wasn’t my favorite book but it was good. I wouldn’t have chosen it myself but since it was assigned, I had to read it. It was alright. It didn’t want to really keep reading. If it was my choice, I would have abandoned it. But I never would have picked it in the first place. But it was ok.

5th Grade Action Adventure

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

This was my book club book and it got really, really good at the end. We went trapezing and that was really fun.

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

I met Grace Lin and she taught me how to draw. Her book was good because she has little folk tales throughout the book that were interlinked and made the book make sense.

The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye

This book was very interesting because it was about this princess with a curse and a blessing.

5th Grade Realistic Fiction with Special Needs Characters

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

Oh, this was soo good. It’s about this girl who can’t move or talk but she’s really smart but no one knows that.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

I met this author too. It’s about a boy who has a facial disorder and he has to go through school facing his problems and bullies because before he was home schooled.

Rocky Road by Rose Kent

This book reminded me of One for the Murphys a lot because the mother was bi-polar and the kid had to go through life without a parent figure. It was really good.

Historical Fiction

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

That was really good too. It’s about a girl who has to face the Yellow Fever and struggles through it, kind of, mentally. More mentally than physically.

Chains (Seeds of America) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Oooh, this was our book group classroom reading. It’s a good book. It’s sad. It’s about a slave who has a crazy owner and she gets abused.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

My teacher recommended this book to me. It’s about the Holocaust. The main character is Christian but her best friend is Jewish. It’s about her escape to Sweden.

Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

It’s about a girl who is very shy but finds her voice through her best friend. But her best friend is black and she lives in a segregated community and she has to find ways to see her friend but it’s very dangerous because they don’t support white people seeing black people.

To view any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.

Back To School Shopping for School Supplies August 5, 2012

The list for back to school for 5th grade arrived when I was away at sleep away camp. My mom waited for me to come home because she knew that shopping for office supplies at Staples is my favorite thing to do in the world.

PERSONAL SCHOOL SUPPLIES:

* 2 bound lined composition notebook (not spiral) for reading journals

 Leaf Composition Notebook, $5

* Post-Its – Medium Sized

Star Shaped, $6

* 2 – 1 1/2” 3-ring binders with 5 dividers for each binder (No TrapperKeepers please) preferably the Staples brand “Better” binders

 Flexec, Frosted, $30 for six

Avery dividers, $2.50

* $7.00 for a subscription to Storyworks

Pencils

I tried them all but these sharpen the best.

Ticonderoga, 12 for $3

OPTIONAL CLASS/SHARED SCHOOL SUPPLIES:

* Tissues

$5 for this 3 pack.

* Sanitizing Wipes

My teachers like these wipes because it kills the germs.

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes, $6

* Paper towels

My parents by Bounty at Costco.

Bounty Basic Paper Towels, $18

* Markers Dry-erase markers

 Expo, 16 markers for $15 and these don’t smell funny.

I also need …

Lunch Box

Lunch Box by Built because my friend Helena had one last year.

in Vine, $17

Backpack

I need a new backpack because my old one is too small. I want a North Face backpack like my sister has.

North Face Jester Backpack, $60

4th Grade Books I Liked When I Was in Fourth Grade July 18, 2012

The Bell Bandit from the series The Lemonade War and The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies

This is the most resent book that has came out in this series. This was an easy book for me because I did read this in the end of forth grade. I am a advanced reader so this may be just right for some other kids. This could be also be a easy read like I did.  You could also read this in the begging of forth grade for future forth graders.

The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a book that many people say is inappropriate for young people, but let someone who is a young forth grader tell you. Let me tell you this if you can separate the difference from real and from imaginary your okay. If you will have nightmeers from a scary movie then you are in trouble. It migh be okay if you talk about to your adult but it might be hard for you to get the sad immage out of your head. I am a forth grader going into fith grade and read the whole series and my friends did to and it was perfactly okay for all of us. I aso watched the movie I read the book okay. There was a younger girl my friend how was only in third grade and i felt uncorfirtable for her to see the movie also having her not reading the book. So I woud recomend this book to forth graders no younger then that but maybe better if you were older but forth grade is okay too. Read the book first then watch the movie. Like always the book better but he movie was really good. You have to read the books in order because they will not make any sence if you read them out of order.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

This is a graphic novel. As you know I am the picky kid and I hate graphic novels but this author seems to be the only graphic novel that I like. I liked this book so much that I decided to have my book club book. This is a book that you can finish in about 1 hour if you keep reading on. I asked all my friends if they like it they all love it. They think it is a little gross. I agree but that does not take away the matter of fact that it is a really good book. Even the boys in my class wanted read it. The people in my book club and me are having to lend everyone this book because it became so popular.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

I liked this book because it had a very good plot.

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

I really liked this book because it was interesting to learn about an immigrant who lost everything.

Vanished by Sheela Chari

I don’t usually like mysteries because I find them obvious about who did the crime but this book you wouldn’t expect who really did it.

Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech

She is one of my favorite authors.

Savvy by Ingrid Law

This book was my book club book and I thought it was really good. I don’t usually like fantasy but this was really interesting about their special powers.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

This was a book that I had to read in school but it was really good because we usually have boring books.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

I really liked this book because it told a story from different people’s point of view.

To view any book at Amazon, please click on image of book.

On education blog Cooperative Catalyst June 17, 2012

I posted on No Tests for Kids at the education group blog, Cooperative Catalyst. Please check out my open response essay on why taking standardized tests is a waste of time for kids and teachers here.

The Hunger Games Books and Movie March 31, 2012

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the best chapter book series ever! I read the whole series and watched the movie with my two friends. I am in fourth grade and I know that everyone says that I’m too young for it but it’s really not that scary. Parts of the movie are scary but they are not that scary even though it’s rated PG-13. They don’t use bad language (unless you call hell bad language). Some people say it’s too violent because of the fighting to the death of 12 to 18 year old kids but in the movie, it doesn’t show people dying in a very scary way. And when you read the books, you have a mental picture in your mind so it doesn’t have to be that scary.

I wasn’t supposed to read it at first, but my friend in 4th grade read it and said it was really good. My dad and my older sister also read it. My mom said to wait but I read it anyway. I will never regret reading The Hunger Games because I think its the best book/series I have ever read.

To purchase any book, please click on image of book.

p.s. The official trailer is here.

Sports I Tried January 17, 2012

These are the sports that I’ve done and what I think about them:

Soccer: This sport is my favorite sport that I’ve ever done in my whole life because you get to work with other people and meet new kids. In the beginning, I did NOT want to do soccer at ALL but my parents and my friends convinced me so I ended up loving soccer and doing it constantly.

Snowboarding: I hate being out in the cold winter but I love snowboarding. It’s fun because you get to glide across the snow.

Surfing: If you like snowboarding, you’ll definitely like surfing because you get to be out in the water on a hot day and glide across the water in a fun way.

Gymnastics: I did lots of gymnastics up until I was in second grade. I did regular gymnatics and Rhythm gymnastics. It makes you really flexible but if you don’t do it for one year, you lose all your flexibility. I stopped doing gymnastics because I did too much of it and now I don’t like it anymore.*

Lacrosse: This is my first year of doing lacrosse and it’s just a training session but so far I like it. All my friends are doing it too so it’s really fun because of them too.

Tennis: I did tennis on my vacation in Bermuda and it’s was really fun so I started doing tennis with my two friends and it’s fine but not my favorite.

Skiing: I did skiing before I did snowboarding and it was fun but it wasn’t that much fun. I switched to snowboarding because my friends did it too and one of my friends was going to learn it too so we decided to do it together.

Kickboxing: I just started to do kickboxing with my older sister and my mom and it’s really fun to learn new ways to beat up a bag. I did a little karate before but I wasn’t really good at it and it didn’t really interest me that much so I decided to stop.

Ice Skating: I don’t really like ice skating because I’m not good at it and I don’t like being on blades and going across the ice.

Swimming: I can swim but I don’t want to be on a swim team.

I think kids should try new sports because you can end up liking them like me and soccer.

* Picky Kid Pix’s mom says that she did gymnastics once a week for 1.5 hours. Her Rhythm gymnastics was 2 hours once a week. She only did Rhythm for one year.

4th Grade Chapter Books by a Picky 4th Grade Reader December 11, 2011

These are some of my favorite chapter books that I finished reading in fourth grade.

Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech

This is one of my favorite chapter books. This book makes you want to never put it down. My older sister AND my mom recommended it to me but at first I didn’t want to read it. By the third chapter, I really liked it once they got to Ruby Holler.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

I really enjoyed this book because it was about this girl who got separated from her mom and you’ll have to find out more when you read it. If you liked Because of Winn Dixie, you will like this book.

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

This book is about a dog’s life and he has many adventures with his owners. It’s a book that everyone would like. We read this for Fourth Grade as a class. It’s also a series.

The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies

This is the sequel to The Lemonade War. You will need to read The Lemonade War first to understand this book. It’s about a crime and there is a surprise winner when they go to court.

The Witches’ Guide to Cooking Children by Keith McGowan

This is a scary book so be warned but it’s a good book and I’m in the middle of reading it. My friend Caroline chose it for our book club.

No Cream Puffs by Karen Day

I really liked it because it’s about a girl doing something she loves even though people don’t want her to.

To view any book at Amazon, click on book.