Ending Tom Sawyer

Well, we finished on August 18th and watched the movie, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". What a great movie. A least the kids understood the dialect after reading the book. Jodie Foster was Becky Thatcher. Overall, the kids love the activities along with the reading and had a wonderful experience venturing through a literary classic! What an accomplishment. Congratulations to all my book club kids!

Starved Rock Adventure

Well, to continue, the book club went to Starved Rock to see a recess cave. Also, we played in a waterfall in St. Louis Canyon at Starved Rock. The kids had a blast! The last activity will be a treasure hunt in our backyard. Then we will watch the movie with Jodie Foster! Can't wait to see the students reactions and connections to the movie. Every year we wait to watch the movie after we read the book and the connections to the book are fascinating! The conversations during the movie are exciting and they get it!!!

Talk soon!

Marcia

potato sack races and built a mini wood raft

As we continue The Adventures of Tom Sawyer we see Tom and Huck have run away because of what they saw at the graveyard and their adventures on the raft and on the island. Today at bookclub we built a raft out of sticks and string and had potato sack races! Fun for all!!

cemetery visit for the Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Yippee!

We are half way done with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer book. Although, it is challenging for the students they seem to be grasping it and their exposure to a literary classic is a good thing!

We visited the Wheatland Township Cemetery on Tuesday and everyone had a ghoulish time! The girls' thought the head stones as old as 1800 were cool! It was creepy and peaceful at the same time. However, when I asked the students what their favorite part of the book was so far approximately half the students said the graveyard scene! Who would have thought.

Next week building a raft and potato sack races! Should be fun...

Mrs. M.

Tom Sawyer update...

Well today we painted the fence (whitewashing). The weather was perfect for painting and the girls had a great time! The paint and tools were all ready for us (from the owner of the house, Stu), and I brought some drop cloths and other essentials. We got the job done and the fence looks great! Thanks to the girls for volunteering their time!

Found a fence to paint!!

Well I found a fence in Plainfield, IL to whitewash (Paint).  My daughter and I finally got enough courage to walk up to a door in historical Plainfield, IL and talk to the owner about his white picket fence that needed painting.  He was very kind and volunteered the tools we needed to do the job!  Of course the labor is volunteer work, but it seemed like I was supposed to go up to this house!

We are so excited!

Well, The adventures of Tom Sawyer reading club is underway.  We reviewed slavery and a brief synopsis on the Civil War.  We made homemade butter and spread it on fresh bread!  Yummy!   We are still looking to volunteer and paint a fence!  We contacted the Park District, State Representatives, Township and Food Pantry, still to no avail.  I may have to go door to door.  The ideal thing would be to find an elderly couple or individual to help them with the summer cleanup!  Still searching...  Each week the students are given a list of nine vocabulary words to look up and fill in the sentences provided.  Good job so far!

Update next week....