Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Book Club

This month we discussed All Because of a Cup of Coffee.

When I introduced the book last month, they didn't know that Stilton was a type of cheese, so first things first, we did some cheese tasting. I had a blue Stilton and a white Stilton with lemon peel. They liked the white Stilton and really didn't like the blue, especially when I told them what made it blue. However, I expected that and really enjoyed the looks on their faces as they ate it. Then we had string cheese and crackers.

Here the questions I open every book club with:


2. What was your favorite part?

Here are some big concept questions:

3. Geronimo thinks he's IN LOVE with Stephanie von Sugarfur. Do you think he is?

4. Is Geronimo brave? What about when it really matters? Can you still be brave if you're scared?

Craft Question:

5. Some words are a different size, a different font, and a different color. Why does the author do this? Do you like it?

Comprehension Question (my group doesn't have the greatest comprehension skills. I try to ask questions to highlight things I think they missed)

6. Why does Trap know everything that happened at the fortune teller's? (Only 1 kid in the group picked up on the fact that the fortune teller was Trap in disguise. We then went back and looked at the clues.)

7. Does Geronimo like being famous? (I thought they'd realize that, no he doesn't, but then we could talk about how Geronimo's actions towards Stephanie were similar to the lady mice at the end of the book.)

Final Question:

7. Who would you like to be your BFF-Mouse: Geronimo, Thea, Trap, Benjamin, or Stephanie von Sugarfur? (Most of the kids chose mice from the front array with all of the characters, many whom we didn't meet in this book. When asked why they chose them, they said "pretty/looks cool." We then had a talk about how they were no better than Geronimo falling in love with Stephanie because she was pretty and famous, but they didn't see it. Ah well.

The Geronimo Stilton books are translated from the Italian, so we talked about that a bit, and I taught them some fun phrases in Italian! (Which I got off Google Translate. I can pronounce Italian decently because of my years in voice lessons and choir but I don't actually speak it.)

I love this book: Amo questo libro
The library is awesome: La biblioteca è impressionante
This cheese is tasty: Questo formaggio è saporito
This cheese is gross: Questo formaggio è grave
Children Raving About Books: Bambini entusiasti libri (this is the name of our book club, or CRABs)

And then we did a Geronimo Maze. The Scholastic Geronimo site has a TON of great activities and printables.

Next month's book isNo. 1 Car Spotter by Atunike

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