Sigh, I love staring at curriculum documents! HA! Yeah right ... well not that my curriculum documents have been to much of a help either!
So I am enlisting the help of my readers. I have to do a novel study with my grade 5/6 group next year (and by the sounds of it I will be reading the book chapter by chapter to them) and I am trying to decide on a book to read to them for this group novel study.
Now, considering that I have no idea what is popular in the grade 5/6 range .. and I would also need a book that appeals to both girls and boys, this is what I've short listed so far:
1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2. James and the Giant Peach
3. Freak the Mighty
4. Charlottes Web
I would rather do a book that also has an accompanying movie that more or less goes with the book (as watching a video of a book is always a good thing too - especially since we can do some fun compare and contrast activities).
So .. this is my dilemma... do I do one of these four ... or does any one have any other suggestions of books that might work with this age group? Cause, I can't even remember what book I did in grade 5 ... I remember grade 4 .... but not 5.
Let's see, where was I?
1 year ago
15 comments:
A few classics come to mind from the 9-12 age group, favorite books or ones that have good movies...
A Wrinkle in Time
Alice in Wonderland
Bridge to Terebithia
I haven't read these but the movies are good
The City of Ember
Matilda
Neverending Story
and finally, I'm pretty sure there's no movie, but it's a great book:
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Have fun planning for the next year!
Yeah - fun .. planning ... i thought I was supposed to be on vacation ... not trying to guess what my students might know, should know, probably still don't know and what on earth they want to read (as there is no way in Hell I am doing a Harry Potter novel .. I'll do Captain Underpants before that!) :-)
Bridge to Terebithia!
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH! Our teacher read that to us in Grade 4 and it's one of my favorite books. The other one that I LOVE and will soon be reading to my own kids is "The B.F.G" by Roland Dahl, although there is no movie to accompany it.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favourite books as a kid, actually I loved anything by Roald Dahl. And the great thing about his books is they are gender-neutral.
Just a thought, though I am not sure if it has a movie or not... my dad teaches that grade level in PEI and he read The Giver with his class, and they LOVED it... except for the ending. So he had them make up alternate endings etc etc.
I took a Children's Lit. class my last year of university, so we did tons of modern classics (including Charlotte's Web, actually - but that was one of my least favourites). Final thought: I remember one of my favorites from that class being Tuck Everlasting. And I'm pretty sure that has a movie too.
Good luck!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favorites when I was a child and Charlotte's Web was also high on my list.
The original movie for CCF might be a bit graphic for them but the second one is pretty tame. The second movie does follow the book more closely.
I haven't seen the movie for Charlotte's Web. I didn't want to ruin my memories of the book if the movie sucked.
Funny but I remeber ready the book Shane about this time and seeing the movie. (Did he die at the end?). I remember the book and movie were very good if you like that western thing.
Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! Then you can do the Glass Elevator which is the sequal that hardly anyone has ever heard of. And there is 2 movies, lots of opportunity to compare changes in film. Maybe that's too much but... Charlie is still my vote.
Haha - oh .. this is gonna be a challenge!
Matthew / Michelle .. Shane .. I don't recall doing that one ever in school .. so I can't even tell you if the character died or not .. hmm ... looks like I might have to hunt another book down. I wasn't too fond of the CW movie .. Dakota Fanning just annoyed the sh*t out of me in that movie ..
I am thinking it is going to be either Charlie or James and the Giant Peach - just because they are two really good 'classics' and they are more or less 'gender neutral' (if you know what I mean -- no chick books here in my classroom!)
Jackie - I took a children's lit course too in university ... I sat there most of the time mocking my stunned elementary stream classmates with the other two high school stream teachers (we kinda got dropped into the class as we needed a literature course to finish off our ESL certification .. how I wish I would have just taken on another independent study...)
The Phantom Tollbooth! I read that when I was 11. I still love it.
The Phantom Tollbooth? hmm .. will have to research that one too!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and Giant Peach, A wrinkle in Time would all be awesome for the age group.
I think Alice in Wonderland is not very "accessible" anymore; I think it would seem old-fashioned to the kids.
Charlotte's Web is more of a Grade 4 book.
The Giver and Island of the Blue Dolphins are age-appropriate, but I don't think either of them have movies.
Anyway, I have fond memories of reading all of these books, so you can't go wrong with any of them.
THE B.F.G.
just a note...
there is a movie for 'island of the blue dolphins' and, although it's a true story, it's something kids can really get their teeth into (check out online resources).
bridge to terabithia is also great, but it still made me cry.
good luck! i'm sure you've already picked your book by now, but i thought i'd make a quick note anyway.
tara
It is now June 2013 but I would still like to post a comment on this subject- When I was in Grade 5, I went to se a movie entitled "The Secret Garden. I was so captivated by this movie that in later years, I purchased the VHS format available then and also the book, both of which I have read and watched numerous times. Oh yes, I am now 69.
By the way, which title did you finally decide on?
John Perry
ec: Coast Guard Eastern Arctic Sealift 1978 - 2000
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