Examples of Excellent Student Posts

Example #1

At home, I am reading The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. It is about a boy named Shasta and his father who live in a small home on the plains outside of Narnia. Shasta wants one thing, to see what lies north. Nobody in they're villiage has ever gone towards the north or have even wanted to see. Shasta though, has some curiosity, he badly wants to see what is there. One day a Tarkaan or a strong knight, comes by the house, and tries to buy Shasta as a slave. The father and Tarkaan go inside alone and talk, meahnwhile Shasta listens in and finds out that the person who Shasta thought was his father, wasn't! He gets furious and reilizes why is so different, why he is curious. He is from the north. Shasta gets on his horse and leaves, he leaves for the north.

I am very suprised at this twist! I would have never expected that he wasn't living with his real father! I realize now, why Shasta is so different, he is from a different place, he is from Narnia! I am not suprised that Shasta ran away, someone who was not your father was going to sell you away and even if you didn't, you would have to farm all day, Shasta seems happy that he has an adventure. It would be hard for me to do it though, being as a kid, having to survive on what you find, it would be very hard, but if it meant not being a slave, I would probably go. I think that Shasta will end up having fun in Narnia, hopefully he will find his father, and hopefully he will meet the kings like Peter. I think this is definetily a different life style than normal, but I think Shasta thinks it is a better lifestyle.

Example #2

Uglies
I am still reading the book Uglies by Scott Westerfield. Tally is trying to help Shay make her pretty face on their "computer" but all Shay wants to do is go hover boarding with Tally so and Shay doesn't even want to become a pretty! Right now I am at the part where Shay goes hover boarding with Tally into the suburbs. The problem is that Uglies are only allowed to go to the suburbs once they turn 60. In the suburbs the people living there are old and have children called Littlies. They have a HUGE garden for there Littlies to play in and Shay just loves to get in trouble so she tries to go into the suburbs. Tally knows that hover boards don't work in the suburbs unless you know how to control it VERY well and Shay loves hover boarding but has no idea how to control it. Shay meets up with a very unfriendly looking creature and they have to face a BIG challenge.

Connection: A connection I have with this story is to another book called Drums Girls and dangerous pie. The main character goes on a "journey" with his brother and he has to face a challenge just like Shay and Tally do.

Reaction: When I found out that Shay and Tally got caught I was scared because I did not know what was going to happen next. I was also surprised because Shay usually has a good plan and gets away with things easily but this time they were stuck.

Opinion: In my opinion if I were Shay I would not have tried to go hover boarding into a place that I knew I cant go to. I would have at least tried to hide!!! I think Shay Likes to get in trouble because throughout this book I've noticed that

Prediction: I predict that Shay and tally will be banned from pretty town or any other town and end up in "jail" and since Tally and Shay worked so hard (or at least one of them did) there dreams of becoming a pretty will be ruined

Question: A question I have is how come Shay and Tally never really get along throughout the story anymore? I thought they were best friends but when I was reading I noticed that Shay and tally became almost enemies.

Comment: I think that this is my favorite part of the book because it is unpredictable and shocking. I really want to keep reading! Whenever I read this book I have lots of reactions and one I had the most was surprised

Example #3
dear class,

I'm almost done with my book Among the barons... his fake parents, his fake ID's parents want Luke to go back in hidding, luke doesnt know what to do and the grants and really powerful barons. Luke is thinking about maybe trying to escape and he has just decided that he doesnt have to do anyting the Grants tell him to do.

I'm longing to see what new idea Luke will try out this time and how Haddix will put her interesting twist to my predictions. I really wasn't predicting the Grants would want Luke to either follow every comand they think of or go back in hidding. I feel really bad for luke, it reminds me ohf when i have to make hard decisons, i know how it feels.

Getting Started

Hi Kids!

We are taking reading response journals into the 21st Century! No more pencil and paper journal entries! Each week, you will be expected to post one response to your reading material on our class blog. You will be given time in class on your assigned reading response day but can work on it from home, too.

Here are some things to remember about writing a reading response journal:

1. You can write about the books you are reading independently at school or home, your thoughts about other things you read (newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc.), or a topic we discussed in one of our reading lessons
2. Each entry should share what your thoughts are/were about the reading you're doing
3. Start your entry by summarizing what you've read so far this week (so the rest of know a little bit about what you're responding to!)
4. CROP-QV is a good way to make sure you're doing an in-depth response post
   Explain WHY for each of the CROP-QV letters that you use in your post
   C- Connection (this reminds me of when . . . .)
   R-Reaction(This made me feel . . .)
   O- Opinion (I think . . . .)
   P-Prediction (I think this will happen . . . .)
   Q - Question (This makes me wonder about. . . OR write a fat question that you would use in a literature circle discussion
   V- Visualization (When I was reading, I could really see/hear/smell . . .)

Once you post your response, your classmates and I will be able to post comments about what you wrote. We will do a mini-lesson on posting comments soon!

Happy Reading!
:)
Ms. English