Novel study

In the Kaupeka hub this Term the teachers decided to incorporate in the learning a novel study. In each class we had a choice of 5 different books, these books were chosen from the teachers and there was only a limited number of books for each group. I chose Goodnight Mister Tom, when I was listening to the books from the summary at the back this book really caught my eye. Although it is a very long book, it sounded very interesting to me.

I chose this book because of the background behind it because it talks about what children lived like back then and the hardship they went through in their everyday life. For example Willie went to the new country with scars on his leg, he was afraid to show people. These scars were from his mum whipping him from all the bad things he did. Willie was one of the kids who went through a lot because his mum thinks that Willie's a sinner, so she always expects him to behave. It really got hold of me because most children now go through their everyday life with their parents loving them. I really felt for these people. On the picture at the front of the book it shows of a kid holding suitcases by himself with a background of a different country behind him. The cover of books always show and tell a lot of the book and I could tell that this book was for me.

So far I have read 76 pages, I was right in choosing this book because it is very interesting. This book is about a kid named Willie who lived in London but World War ll had just started over there. So his mum sent him over to another country. This story tells us about the man Willie lives with and the emotions Willie is feeling. 

The start of this book has been amazing, I loved how they describe where they are and how they are feeling. Although it is sad about Willie and how his mother treated him at home, this book has just kept me reading. 

With our novel study this Term our teachers decided that we should have literacy circles. At first when they told us this, I wasn't too fond on the idea. But as they described what was happening and how we were doing it in our groups. I understood and I thought that it was a really good idea. The books we had chosen to read over the Term would be done in groups of people who chose the same book as us. In these groups we will assign people into their jobs. These jobs will be for different things like answering questions with the group, illustrating a paragraph in the book or finding words that people don't understand. We would discuss this in our groups so that everyone in the group would understand. I have found that the literacy circles have been helping me because if I were to do this by myself I would've gotten confused with most of the questions. In this group we make sure that everyone understands the book and we are all on the same page. 

I am looking forward to finishing this book in reading this Term because I am really excited to know what happens within the book and the twists that go through it. Reading this Term has been a lot more interesting than last Term because we are doing something a lot different but it is helping me with my learning. 

What do you do as reading at your school or what have you done in the past??