FINAL Prabe Post

Well, I feel bad that it took me the whole class to finish my Divergent book but I finally did it.

Chapter 34Tris and Four were taken by Eric and Dauntless. They go to meet Jeanine and she has a new mind-control serum for Four. This new mind-control serum works on Four by controlling what he sees. But since Tris is already shot, Jeanine decides they should just execute her.

Chapter 35Jeanine then decides to execute Tris through drowning her. Tris's mom shows up and rescues her. Mom gets her out of there and reveals that she herself was Divergent. While they're running away, some Dauntless almost catch them. Tris's mom sacrifices herself so that she can get away and find her dad and brother that are in a basement close by.

Chapter 36After losing her mom, Tris freaks out and runs away and is followed by the sleepwalking Dauntless soldiers. She runs into Will and she shoots him in the head. She finally finds the basement where her family is hiding and her brother said he researched the serum and found out what was going to happen. Tris’s dad takes the bullet out of her shoulder. There are other Abnegation people also hiding in the basement including Four’s dad. Tris tells them they have to destroy the computer at Dauntless headquarters that is running the simulation. If they do that the Dauntless sleepwalkers will wake up.

Chapter 37 Tris, her dad, her brother and Marcus (Four’s Dad) take a train to the Dauntless headquarters and sneak in. Thankfully there are very few guards there. Peter is there and Tris’s captures him so he can tell her where the computers are.  Peter tells her he will tell her but she has to promise to take them when they leave. They see some guards and Tris’s dad sacrifices himself so she can get to the computers. When she gets there she finds Four operating the computer simulation.

Chapter 38
Four is still being mind-controlled and Tris tries to break through. First she tries to destroy the computer, but that doesn’t work because Four is a better fighter. She tries to talk to him and decided she can’t shoot him and so she gives him a gun.

 

Chapter 39 Four doesn't shoot Tris, but wakes up from his mind-control because he's Divergent and she reminded him. They kiss and Tobias shuts down the mind-control program. He also gets a little hard drive with data on the simulation so they can show it to people and prove what Erudite did. Since the computers are shut down the Dauntless are free but confused. Four runs into his dad again and it is super awkward. Tris tells Marcus to get away from his son but they need to get away from Dauntless headquarters. The whole group gets on a train - Tris, her brother Caleb, Four, his dad Marcus, and Peter. And they're off to Amity to see if they can help them.

Overall, I thought this was an outstanding book. I am looking forward to the next book and the movie coming out soon. I liked this book almost as much as the Hunger Games series. I like how we are required to take time out to read. As a mom of triplets, full time student, substitute teacher, and homemaker it is hard to find time to do anything for myself. I have really enjoyed this class and look forward to using a lot of what I learned in my future classroom.

Chapter 27 - 32

Chapter 27

So in the beginning of the chapter Four comes into the cafeteria and ignores Tris which bugs her because they kissed. She starts wondering if her even likes her. He then decides to put all of the initiates into a fear landscape again. It is a landscape with another girl named Lauren. She has like 10-15 fears.  One of her fears is being kidnaped and so Tris freaks out and can’t get out so Four yells at her and she slaps him.

Chapter 28

She is all worked up so she leaves to go see her brother at Erudite. She takes the train to see him where she runs into him. They go to a park close by to talk. He is not overly excited to see her. He warns her that something big and wrong is going to be going down soon. She asks Caleb to look at the simulation serum. Tris also asks to meet the leader of Erudite, Jeanine Williams. She also designed the aptitude test and wants to find the divergents.

Tris lies to Jeanine and says she agrees with Erudite about how bad Abnegation is and so she decided to let her go. When she goes back to Dauntless she gets yelled at by Eric for leaving without asking. Four comes in and tries to get her out of trouble by telling Eric that she was embarrassed and she wasn’t plotting against Dauntless.

Eric leaves and Four and Tris make up. He tells her the cafeteria thing was just so people wouldn’t know they were together. They decide to meet later that night.  She goes back to her dorm and Cristina tell Tris that Will kissed her. Tris and Four take a train ride and he tells her that the Erudites found a secret computer he found a secret computer about the Dauntless starting a war for Erudite.

Chapter 29

There is a big party at Dauntless that has a lot of food and alcohol to celebrate initiation day.
After the party they have to go through their fear landscape.

Chapter 30

After Tris passes she is made to have a tracking device. She goes back to Four’s room to hang out and relax and they start to have a conversation about the reason he has not had sex with her yet is because he really likes her. She tells him that he was part of her fear landscape. They then show each other their tattoos and Four has all of the fraction symbols.

Chapter 31

Back in the dining hall, Tris meets up with her friends. They discuss what jobs they might want if their ranking is high enough. Those with higher rankings get first pick. They rankings come out and of course Tris is on top. Her enemies Molly and Drew don’t do very well so they get kicked out of the faction. Four then decides to go public with their relationship and kisses Tris.
 
Chapter 32
That night, Tris wakes up to see everyone sleepwalking. She doesn't know what's going on, but she follows and pretends to be just like everyone else. The sleepwalkers grab guns, get on a train, and head out to the Abnegation section of the city.
On the way Tris finds Four, he's of course is pretending just like she is. The Dauntless army gets to Abnegation and starts killing everyone! Eric is not sleep walking either and he is getting ready to kill for and Tris shoots him in the foot. Tris and Four try to get away but she gets shot in the sholder and they get caught.

 

Chapter 20-26

Looks like I forgot to post this last week? I had it but for some reason I didn’t copy it over from my word document. So this post will be double the information.

Chapter 20
Tris has to go through her fear simulation again which is messing her up giving her nightmares. This simulation she is drowning in a glass box and everyone is just ignoring her. Instead of drowning Tris breaks the glass which is not supposed to be possible in the simulation. Because she does this Four figures out that she is a divergent. He doesn’t tell her he knows that.
Tris goes to talk to Tori again about what happened in the simulation. Tori tells her that being Divergent means that she knows she's in a simulation and can change things. She also tells her if the Dauntless leaders find out they will kill her! The same thing happened to Tori’s brother and she knows he was murdered. So Tris thinks, is Divergent or he knows about Divergents.

Chapter 21

Four continues to put Tris through her fear simulations, including burning at the stake, drowning in the ocean, watching her family die, and shooting them. Four starts talking about his family and says he doesn't miss his family, which is a little strange.
Back in the dorm of the dauntless, the rankings are posted and Tris is number 1.  She is beating Peter because she gets out of her fear simulations so quickly. Peter attacks Tris, and tells her friends that she's just manipulating them by pretending to be weak. They may be friends, but they're still competing.
Tris’s friend Al, is ranked last and pretty down about being last. Tris decides to hang out with her Dauntless friends Uriah, Lynn, and Marlene. She goes out to get a drink and then gets attacked by Peter, Drew, and (her friend Al). They drag Tris to the chasm and dangle her over the railing. Peter starts to molest Tris, and Al resists and helps. Four comes and stops this by beating the heck out of Drew.

Chapter 22

Tris wakes up in Four's room, where he tells her that he beat Drew up after her attack.  He also tells her that her friend Al betrayed her and why. When Tris became stronger than him it made him feel weak. Four also tells her that she has to keep safe and when she gets a chance, she should destroy her enemies.

Chapter 23

That night, Tris stays in Four's room, and starts to realize she really likes Four. After the attack she pretends to be weak and scared by Peter's attack.
Four takes the initiates through the glass building above the Pit, to the place where they'll be tested in the final part of the initiation. They'll have to go through their fear landscape that's been built up for them from their simulations. Think of the worst obstacle course and that would be what this is. Everyone going through the obstacle course know they're in a simulation which might help.
When they all get back Al tries to apologize to Tris, but she tells him not to come near her again.

Chapter 24The next day, they find that Al has killed himself by jumping down the chasm. Tris feels bad since she basically told him she did not accept his apology. Eric gets up and gives a speech about how courageous Al was to go face death.

Four tries to talk to Tris and explains that he wasn't taunting Tris in earlier in the book in the knife throwing incident but that she's stronger when she's acting selflessly. He tells her that he wants to frighten her because fear makes her feel alive.

Chapter 25
At the beginning of the chapter Will, Christina, and Tris get new tattoos. Tris's tattoo this time is of the Abnegation symbol.
She sees Four and follows him to the fear landscape room. And he invites her into his fears so she can learn about him. He fears heights small spaces, shooting a woman and his abusive father (who is Marcus, the leader of Abnegation. This means that Four was born into Abnegation family, but transferred to Dauntless.
During the simulation she helps Four get out of all his fears. They call him four because he only has four fears.

Chapter 26

I love this chapter because four and Tris finally kiss. J  In the beginning on the chapter Tris and Four are walking hand-in-hand. Four tells her that his aptitude test came back Abnegation, not Divergent. She thought for sure he was Divergent. He believes that they are compatible. If he is Abignation and she is Dauntless, you can be brave and selfless at the same time.

Chapter 16-19

Chapter 16

At the start of chapter 16 Tris starts to talk to Al and he basically spills his guts about how he has a crush on her. He gets frustrated because she doesn’t feel the same and it gets strange.  He talks about his family and how they wanted him to join dauntless.
Later they start talking about the test they had to take and of course Tris lies but her other friends from Candor can tell she is lying. Four comes in and tells them all the rankings and Tris is 6 out of 9 which she seems to be ok with. Peter and Molly are mad at their rankings.
After a little bit the number #1 ranked guy Edward gets stabbed in the eye which of course ruins everything for him. Causing him and his girlfriend to dropout making them fractionless.

Chapter 17
The team of Dauntless gets on a train and on the starts talking to a girl Shauna and Zeke who are also dauntless. They start zip lining and have a great time. When she gets home Al and Christina wonder where she has been and what she has been doing.

Chapter 18
So in chapter 18 the Dauntless have to do the second stage of initiation. It is a mental aptitude test. They do a simulation that makes you face your biggest fears. It is a private test with just Four and Tris. The next part uses a simulation serum and a transmitter is injected into her.  Her first hallucination she is in an empty field and is attacked by crows. Apparently you get to end your hallucination when you get your fear under control.
Four and Tris discuss fear and realize that the crows are just a symbol of something she is actually afraid of. Then they discuss Dauntless and how it used to be about courage, but now the leaders are more into cruelty. I guess this is why Eric is in charge of the new initiates, even though Four was ranked above him when they first started.

Chapter 19

Chapter 19 basically just talked about Molly and how she gets revenge on Tris for beating her by telling lies to a reporter that her parents abused her. Will prevents Tris from fighting her and they go get a tattoo instead. On the way home they run into drunk Dauntlless along with Four. He tells Tris she looks good. (I so hope they get together!)

Chapter 12 - 15

Chapter 12

At the beginning of chapter 12 they have to go on another field trip. This time it is a paintball challenge. Eric and Four are the two captains and they pick teams. Of course Four chooses Tris! Tris decides to climb a Ferris Wheel to see where the other team had their flag. Tris does see where the enemy team is.  On their way down, a piece of the ladder of the Ferris wheel comes off and Tris almost falls. So Four rescues her. Tris tells her team where the flag is located.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 was pretty insane. Eric (the bad guy) is teaching them a lesson on knife throwing. Tris is really good at it but her friend Al is not at all. Eric decides to teach Al a lesson and starts throwing knifes at Al. Tris steps up and has him do it to her instead. Then it is Four’s turn and so he throws the knives, narrowly missing Tris. And Tris thinks he's trying to make her fail by teasing her.

Chapter 14This chapter starts with the day before Visiting Day. Tris trys on a bunch of clothes and they do not fit. Then she goes into the dormitory wearing just a towel, she gets bullied by Peter, Molly, and Drew. Peter grabs her towel away from her.

Next they go to the training room and Tris gets a chance to fight against Molly. Tris has been studying Molly's fighting technique so with that and the advice Four gave her Tris wins.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 was a bigger chapter. It's Visiting Day when the parents come to see their kids. Tris is not expecting to see her family. Her mom actually comes though and she seems ok with her switching to Dauntlass. She tells Tris that she thinks Four is handsome.
The chapter also talks about Tris’s friends and their family, Christina, Will and Al. Tris’s Mom's final asks  Tris to find her brother in the Erudite compound and wants her to ask him about the simulation serum.

Chapter 8 -11 in Divergent

Chapter 8 started with Dauntless training. Four teaches them about guns and they learn to fights. She starts seeing PDA which is strange for her since it wasn’t allowed in her fraction. They go to lunch and then to boxing practice. Four keeps teaching them how to move quick when they are boxing. ( I think she has a crush on him) After the boxing training, Christina takes Tris to go shopping and to get makeup. Tris runs into Tori the girl that gave her the aptitude test and gives her a tattoo of three birds flying.

Chapter 9

The next day the fighting starts between the people in Dauntless. Tris’s friend Christina tell her that Peter, Molly and Drew are all bad news. Eric and Four have a conversation about what it means to be brave. Molly (the bad one) and Christina starts to fight but when Christina trys to give up Eric decides to make a lesson out of Christina. He tells her to go out over the railing and hang over the pit for five minutes. Tris wants too much to help her friend but she is afraid she will get in trouble.  They start cheering her on and Christina makes the five minutes.

Chapter 10

Tris wakes up from a nightmare about Christina hanging over the pit. Peter continues to be a jerk and writes “Stiff” on Tris’s bed when she is in the shower. Tris talks to Al and she basically doesn’t want to hurt anyone. On this day Tris has to fight Peter in the boxing ring. Everyone thinks she doesn’t have a chance and they are right. He knocks her out and puts her in the hospital. Tris wonders if her family will come visit her in the hospital.

Chapter 11

The next day the Dauntless initiates take a field trip to the fence around Chicago. Tris has another nightmare about Peter torturing her. After the train to the fence they see it guarded by Dauntless people with guns. They wonder what they are trying to keep out. They start examining the fence and then some farmers come through. Tris starts to talk to him and tells him she doesn’t really care to be happy. After that, Four tells Tris that in a fight she needs to attack first.

Divergent Chapter 4-7

So I have been reading Divergent still and loving it. I start back with Chapter 4. Beatrice is back in the Abnegnation neighborhood and she starts to think if she wants to be there. She wishes she felt like she could be ok with just wearing grey and boring.  When her parents ask her how the test went she lies to them. Beatrice’s dad starts venting about his government job and how his coworker Marcus’s son Tobias left Abnegation fraction for Dauntless because Marcus was abusing him.

After the aptitude test is the choosing ceremony when 16-year olds have to choose their fraction. At the ceremony, each 16 year old gets cut and puts some blood in a bowl symbolizing one of the fractions. The bowls are filled with grey stones from Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless, and glass for Candor.  

Marcus (Beatrice’s dad’s coworker) gives a speech about democracy and choice. Caleb goes before Beatrice and surprises everyone by choosing Erudite. So now Beatrice feels like she can't abandon her parents… but she chooses Dauntless anyway.

Chapter 7 starts after the choosing ceremony and Beatrice leaves with the Dauntless. She then starts the initiation into the Dauntless.  To get to their home, Beatrice has to jump on a moving train. Beatrice gets help from another transfer, a girl from Candor named Christina. They see another transfer not get on the train which means he's factionless. Then they have to jump off the moving train, which is initiation challenge 2. Beatrice helps Christina jump and another candidate misses the roof and falls and dies. Initiation challenge 3 is jumping from the roof into a big hole in the ground. Beatrice wants to show she can be brave, so she jumps first. At the bottom of the hole Beatrice meets Four, who is an important guy in Dauntless. He was impressed that she was brave enough to jump first. At the end of the chapter she gets to pick a new name and she chooses Tris. 

No To White Queen - Yes to Divergent

So I made a huge mistake and started watching the Starz version of the White Queen and now I can't seem to get back into the book. Normally, I like to read the book before I watch the movies. I was recording all the episodes but I couldn't hold out.
I have been hearing all about the new book series by Veronica Roth. Divergent, Convergent and I guess Allegiant comes out soon. I bought the first two books a few months ago and I didn't know when I would get around to reading them. This PRABE gives me a good opportunity.

So I started reading Divergent and I need to just stick with it. It started to confuse me. In the beginning we meet the main character Beatrice Prior.  For some reason they have only one mirror and it is normally covered up. They start talking about how Beatrice was born into the Abnegation fraction and she has a brother Caleb. Beatrice doesn't seem to like to be in that fraction?
Now that Beatrice is 16 she will take a test to show what faction she belongs in and then be able to choose her faction. This choice is FOREVER.

In chapter 2 the aptitude test starts and it tells you what fraction you fit in the best with. You can choose what it says or you can choose a different one. No one gets to see how they do on the test. Beatrice waits for her turn and she was born in the Abnegation family but she doesn't think she fits. She then meets this girl Tori who is a Dauntless. So the test starts and it is in like a virtual reality where she chooses what to do. For example she comes up on a dangerous dog, does she give it cheese, attack it with a knife, or does she play submissive so it wont attack her.

In chapter 3 the girl Tori that gave her the test is confused by her results. Beatrice starts to freak out because she doesn't want to be fractionless.  They told her she had three options Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite. Since she is some of all this means she is Divergent. So then she has to choose which fraction she will choose. Tori tells her to keep her Divergence super secret because it's super dangerous.

So this is about how far I got...super good but all the fractions are really confusing.

New Class New PRABE blog - The White Queen

Well, here we go again! Now that I am taking four classes my homework load has increased dramatically. My time to read has also gone down but I guess I need to start up again I guess.  They are showing a mini series called The White Queen. I had heard that they were making a series based on the books, The White Queen, The Red Queen and the Kingmakers Daughter. I have always been obsessed with any book from English history based on the kings and queens. So before the mini series got released I wanted to read the book. My mom had the book, The White queen so I started it this week. The problem is that I didn't want to do anything but read this book. Basically, this is the story about the kings and queens before the Tutor's. Elizabeth Woodville is a Lancaster and after Edward of York defeats the current King Henry VI he comes upon Elizabeth on the side of the street.  Elizabeth not only succeeds in getting Edward to return her lands to her, but also causes Edward to fall in love with her. A Lancaster woman and a York king. Elizabeth swears that she is too virtuous to be Edwards mistress and so, since he decides that he must have her, he marries Elizabeth in a secret ceremony.

I can't wait to continue this story to find out what happens after this secret marriage.

OH MY GOODNESS -GONE GIRL

Ok I am so not going to ruin this for you! Holy Moly you have got to read this book soon. I am really loving it. I didn't get a ton read but what I did it is changing entirely! So instead of giving you an overview of Gone Girl I will tell you about the Parents Magazine I read. It didn't take me an hour but I promise I read my other book for more than an hour. I could hardly put it down. I am going out of town this week so hopeful I can finish it!  

The article that was probably the most entertaining was "Disney Three Ways". This is because My family is taking a trip to Disney over Christmas this next year. Basically the article talks about three different types of Disney families. These three types of travelers it tells where to stay, play, eat, and how to save.

One is the Park Pro - My family is far from that! I have only been to Disney once in my life and it was when I was in my 20's and had 3 - 20 month old triplets. Disney Fun....I would not say that! STRESSFUL is more like it! This time I think it will be so much easier because we don't have to worry about diapers, bottles, missed naps etc. A park pro is one that has taken several trips to Disney but needs new ideas.

The next is the Newbie Traveler - This is basically the expert guide for first-time families. You could research for months and be overwhellmed at planning a trip to disney. This is why this time around I am hiring a travel expert to help! With school, triplets, working two part-time jobs, etc...I have no time to plan a Disney vacation.

The next category is the Disney lite traveler. For those that just want a little Disney. Basically saying that you can come but you can still go but stay off park property and go to places like Animal Kingdom, Fantasyland etc.

I'm looking forward to the trip but reading this article gets me excited to think about it.

6/18/13 - 9:00-10:00 Parents magazine
6/17/13 - 8:00-8:45 Gone Girl

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

I have been wanting to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn for a long time. I have seen this book on the best seller list for a while and my friends have also said it was worth a read. So far it is living up to the hype. The book starts out with two main characters, Nick and Amy. They both meet in New York City and are both authors. With the internet taking off both Nick and Amy lost their jobs. Nick convinces Amy to move back to his home town in Missouri. Nick borrowed money from his wife's trust fund and opened up a bar with his twin sister. They live together unhappily for a year until on the day of their 5th wedding anniversary he gets a phone call at the bar that his front door is ajar. The ottoman has been overturned, and the police discover evidence of blood, lots of it, spilled and cleaned up in the kitchen. As the police investigate, and begin to suspect Nick is the killer, I think that too!  There’s something very fishy! He is arrested — wrongfully, he insists over and over again he is not the killer.
The book goes from one chapter in Nick's perspective and then the next chapter is pulled from Amy's journal that talk about their dates when they first met. That is about as far as I have got so far.
As sleepy as I was this book kept me up wanting to read more. Can't wait to continue!!
June 10th -10:00pm - 11:00pm, June 11th 11:00pm-1:00AM

Beautiful Creatures Finished

This week has been crazy! Three kids with pink eye that are stir crazy to be out and about. This mama is going a little nuts.  Earlier in the week, I traveled to Great Bend, KS where we will be relocating to later next month. We just accepted an offer on our house today!! Thankfully, when I travel it gives me plenty of time of uninterrupted reading time. That doesn't seem to happen very often. I am a night owl so when my entire family is sleeping I can go in the lobby and relax with my book. I finally was able to finish my book, Beautiful Creatures, by  Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

I really wanted to finish the book soon because the movie is releasing on DVD soon. The book ended up being pretty good. I am not sure yet if I will read the following books but I might. There are two other books that are part of the set. I did not enjoy this book as much as the last teen series I read, Divergent and Convergent by Veronica Roth but it was still entertaining. I always like to read books before they are movies.

To the summary, during a reenactment of the Civil War Battle of Honey Hill. Sarafine (Lena's mom) starts her plan to turn her daughter dark. If Lena goes Dark at sixteen, all her Light Caster relatives will die. If Lena goes Light, all her Dark relatives—will die. During the confrontation between Lena and her mom, Sarafine stabs Ethan. With Ethan dead at his girlfriend Lena's feet, (basically the same thing that happened to Lena's mom and her husband over a hundred years earlier). Lena repeats Genevieve's mistake and uses The Book of Moons to resurrect Ethan. In doing so, Lena goes unclaimed, and she seems to be both Light and Dark.  Ethan, meanwhile, is resurrected. Because Lena went unclaimed, Sarafine and the other Dark Casters live, setting up the sequel.

It sounds all very confusing but trying to summarize half a book into a few paragraphs is hard. I am looking forward to the movie. I have a feeling that the book will be a lot better than the movie.

Monday, June 3rd. 9:30-12:30

Beautiful Creatures - By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I have just started a book Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I have actually been wanting to read this book for awhile. I have seen the middle school kids with the series of these books and it peaked my interest. Some of the best books I have read in the past few years have been from recommendations from my middle school kids. Once I found out Beautiful Creatures was going to be turned into a movie it made me even more interested. I love to read books that they turn into movies. Nine times out of ten the books are so much better than the book. I was told this book was a twist of Twilight series and the HBO series True Blood. I LOVE both of these!

The books starts out in Gatilin in South Carolina. A boy Ethan Wate is bored in his small town and can't wait to leave. He has dreams of a girl falling, and Ethan can't seem to save her. Then a new girl comes to town that he can't seem to get off his mind. Lena Duchannes is shy and reluctant and Ethan struggles to get to know her. Ethan has a series of flashbacks to a civil-war era, triggered from a cursed locket. Basically telling the story of Ethan's great-great-great-great uncle and Genevieve Duchannes, Lena's great-great-great-great-grandmother. Genevieve, the old grandmother, decides to use magic from The Book of Moons to help her boyfriend and it goes all wrong and Genevieve's future family is cursed forever.

After their flashback experience, Lena tells Ethan that she's a spell-caster. She has all sorts of magical powers, some she can control more than others. She can manipulate the weather and surge electricity.  Lena's family can also do magical things, from shape-shifting to healing, teleporting to telekinesis.  Lena is afraid of her own sixteenth birthday, which is coming up super fast. Thanks to Genevieve, when a Duchannes turns sixteen, she is Claimed. That means that The Book of Moons chooses whether she will be Light or Dark. If she goes Dark, she will lose everything she knows.

That is all I know so far. Pretty good book so far. The cool thing about this book is that it is narrated from the point of view of a boy and creates an entirely new type of teen romance hero. I really enjoy teen books because of books like Twilight, The Hunger Games, Insurgent are quick easy reads.

I was crazy busy last week so I had to do all my reading on Friday night. After the kids go to bed is my only time I can think let alone read a book I want to read. Normally if a book has not snagged me by this point I am out but I really like this one. I think I will continue.

Friday, May 31st 9:00pm-11:45.

PRABE Blog - I can teach my child to read

Here is the start of my PRABE blog. This happened at a great time because my sister-in-law just wrote a book. She started a parenting blog years ago and has thousands of viewers.

I can teach my child to read - Jenae Crowley

I just finished reading my sister's new book. I can not tell you how well-written an amazing this book is. Having three kids the same age and trying to teach them to read is a stressful undertaking. This book gives basic, simple and fun ways to teach your kids. It is a quick read and a must have for any parent that has a infant - school age child! Her book took me a little over an hour to read and went by super fast! A few of the things that stood out to me were the following:

 Rule 1 - If a book is based on a popular movie character or toy, it is probably not a high-quality piece of literature! 

I completely agree...it have a lot of these books at home expecially for the boys. They LOVE superheros and one way to get them interested in reading at night is to start off with a book that they WANT to read. Most of these books, as she said, are not very well written. I try and only read these books if I have too! 

Rule 3- Explore the Classics
 I am obsessed with the classics...I grew up on a lot of these same books and they still are my favorites. Caps for Sale, Where The Wild Things Are, Harry the Dirty Dog. I own as many classics as possible. As she said, these books will stand the test of time. My kids favorite book is Going on a Bear Hunt. I can understand why Jenae calls this a classic! 

Rule 5 - Use Begining Readers in moderation 

This is a good one for me to read. Since I am trying to get the kids to learn sight words I have really been pushing these Early Readers. They get very excited when they know a word on the page. The Bob Books are some of their favorite because they get a sense of accomplishment when they realize they know all the words on the page. I need to make sure that I do not only work with these but throw in some others. 

I also enjoyed the section 5 Teach your Child to read for meaning and comprehension. 

It was a good refresher to make sure when you are reading to ask questions, have the children infer and predict what might happen to the characters, having them summerize the book etc. Don't just read but teach! 

Section 10 about Classyifying books also was very interesting to me.

Making sure kids comprehend what they are reading. She also mentioned how with the new updated state standards in public schools about nonfiction texts. Under new standards children by fifth grade, informational or nonfiction texts will make up 50% of students reading and narritive fiction the other half. This seems crazy to me that the state is moving more to nonfiction books. I don't really understand this!

I could go on and on about how helpful I thought this book was. I think it is neat that this book came out at the same time I am taking this class. I am a very proud sister-in-law!


 http://www.icanteachmychildtoread.com/


TIME READ: 1 hour -30 min  SATURDAY, May 25th 10-11:10