The WRAD

My son Quinn Sternberg and Charlie Ballantine at The Back Door #Unrelated Photo

     Thursday was World Read Aloud Day 2018.  Our awesome librarian, Judith, AKA @JudyBookLady, arranged for several authors to Skype with classrooms.  The Thirdlanders were lucky to get to talk with Emma Otheguy, the author of Marti's Song for Freedom. After we read this fabulous book (published by Lee and Low) the Thirdlanders worked with partners to generate questions and important ideas that they wanted to talk more about.

        They also generated a list of connections to their own lives.  Students have had relatives that fought in war and some of them have "warred" with people they know.  Other connections included:  the desire for independence, being homesick, being a writer, visiting New York City.  I especially liked one Thirdlander's connection with Jose Marti, "I also want to change the world some day."  We spent some time on Writer's Wednesday writing about our connections in our notebooks.

Whenever we read a book for our History Trail, we make bumper stickers about the book's message or ideas.  After Ms. Otheguy read her book to us on Thursday morning via Skype, we read our bumper stickers to her.  It was powerful to hear the Thirdlanders calling out their bumpers loudly and proudly---Fight with Song Not War, Be an Eagle Not a Snake and Independence for All People---to the actual author of the book.  I'm so happy that the Thirdlanders were able to have this amazing experience.  I can't thank @JudyBookLady enough for arranging this for us.  #LIBRARIANSROCK