#EveryDayinMay - Flora & Ulysses For The Win!

If you know who this cute little guy is,
we can be BFFs! Photo from the PDF Teacher
Resource file found here.

It's Monday! And we're reading! I love that my 4th Grade Reading Club meets every Monday afternoon -- it's a terrific way to start out the week. We're only on our third week together, and don't have much time left, so I'm hoping to get through as much of Flora & Ulysses as possible. You may remember that we've been reading it; if not, hop on over to the Poetry Friday post where I first announce my love for all things DiCamillo!

#IMWAYR hosted by Teach Mentor Texts

So here's the basic idea behind Flora & Ulysses: Flora is a cynic (oh man, have we had fun in our reading club trying to decide what that word means!) who witnesses the birth of a rather unlikely superhero -- Ulysses. Hilarity ensues. And perhaps Flora's cynicism will melt away a bit, too?

We're excited to find out.

Last week before we read, I asked club members to draw a two-panel comic book predicting what might happen next in the story. Afterwards, they drew a 2-panel comic of what actually happened. Today they'll be creating their own superhero through brainstorming, writing, and sketching. We're having tons of fun with this book -- I'm only sad we won't get to finish it together before school ends!



One thing I just love about DiCamillo's books (You do recall Because of Winn Dixie, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and my all-time fave, The Tale of Despereaux, right??) is her word choice. Flora & Ulysses is no different -- rich, full words that give a young reader a mouthful to relish and think about deeply. I love guiding my readers to discovering meaning for themselves -- no dictionary necessary -- and they seem to enjoy it as well. It's amazing what a reader will do for themselves when they are enjoying the learning because it is fun!

Time to go read up on my favorite superhero's adventures! What are you reading this week?

Crystal and I are blogging together every day in May!