Friday, February 03, 2012

Book: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Thank you Miss Cowhick for being our Mystery Reader this week. It’s been fun to have staff members read in our room lately. Miss Cowhick the teacher for our first grade Study Buddies. She read a chapter from our read aloud book, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and then answered several questions from our class.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Book: Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton

Mystery Reader:  Mrs. Campbell's Clues

1. I can spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
2. I melt ice cream and M & M's before eating them.
3. I love children's movies. My favorite line from Toy Story movie is "Look Piccaso!" as stated by Mr. Potato Head as his body parts are askew. Makes me giggle to think about it.
4. Books, books, books are great! Children's books, adult books, mysteries, novels, poetry collections, scrapbooks, comic books, educational books...delicious.
5. I have two children and four pets. My children are 19 years and 16 years and my pets are a Shetland Sheep dog, two yellow tabby cats, and one Blue Crown Conure (a parrot).

We had Mrs. Campbell join our classroom this week to read to our class. Her story was a book suggestion from a second grader!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Book: The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg

Mystery Reader:  Darin Feldkamp's Clues

1. My favorite dog when I was a kid was named Poncho.
2. I am the youngest sibling in my family.
3. I grew up on a farm.
4. I am an accountant.
5. I play the guitar at church.

This was the first time that we had a student guess the Mystery Reader on the first clue. Darin came in and did a great job with reading a couple A-Z books for us, and he had some interesting things to share about growing up on a farm!

Friday, December 09, 2011

Book: Math Attack by Joan Horton

Mystery Reader:  Valerie Morstorf's Clues

1. I like to fold laundry.
2. I was the tallest kid in my class all through grade school.
3. I think I am a good cook.
4. My favorite summer past time is camping.
5. I grew in a small town - population 300.
6. I am the youngest of six siblings.
7. I am a teacher one night a week, and a nurse during the day.

Thanks to Valerie Morstorf for coming to our class last week and reading to us. This was a funny story with great illustrations! She did a great job of answering questions for her excellent clues.

Friday, December 02, 2011

Book: by

Mystery Reader:  Elaine Worden's Clues

1. My favorite authors are John Grisham and Danielle Steel.
2. My first job was working in a funeral home (I was 14 years old)
3. When someone ask me to spell a word for them I spell it dictionary.
4. My favorite pass time is playing games on the computer (Spider Solitaire)
5. We just survived seven days without running water.

We celebrated DJ’s birthday with a Mystery Reader, Elaine Warden. She read a few books, answered some questions, and then we had birthday treats. Thanks, Elaine!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Book: The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen

Mystery Reader:  Claudia Nadeau's Clues

1. I make the best grilled cheese sandwich and macaroni & cheese.
2. I grew up on a farm.
3. My first job was breaking a horse so it could be ridden by others.
4. I enjoy camping out with my grandkids.
5. This year I had a pumpkin patch in my backyard.

It was great to have one of our regular classroom volunteers be our Mystery Reader this week, and as a special treat, she even brought us cookies!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Book: Cranberry Thanksgiving by Harry Devlin

Mystery Reader:  Faye Wagner's Clues

1. I used to teach fourth grade.
2. I don't live in Topeka.
3. I'm not very tall for an adult.
4. I have a small white dog.
5. My grandchildren call me Oma.

We had a great treat when Trenton's grandmother came to visit our classroom! She read us a great story and even served us cranberry bread for Thanksgiving, and she answered some great questions.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Book: by

Mystery Reader:  Jolene Shove's Clues

1. I hate bologna but love brussel sprouts
2. When I was in 4th grade I had a 4th/5th split class and my teachers name was Mrs Murphy
3. I have 3 brothers
4. I am a student at KU
5. My kids are all 2 yrs apart, right now their ages are 3,5,7, and 9.

It was a great treat to have Jolene Shove come and visit our class. She read three Halloween stories to our class.

Friday, October 07, 2011

Book: Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs by Alan Katz

Mystery Reader:  Amy Cox's Clues

1. Like Mr. Schrader, I really like the book: Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day
2. My first job as a teenager was dressing up like a bear named Billy Bob for a pizza place.
3. I was the middle child growing up.
4. Our family has a dog for a pet
5. I like to run--and have run a marathon

Our first Mystery Reader of the year came by today, and it was a great treat! With instruments to share, we sang songs from a very funny book!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Book: I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Mystery Reader:  Amy Andrews's Clues

1. I spent several childhood summers wiping down counters and serving coffee in my Great Aunt & Uncle's cafe. My payment was all the soda pop I could drink!
2. I used to go swimming in an indoor pool inside of a convent.
3. My father and his father were both Chief of Police in the towns they lived in.
4. My favorite author is Stephen King and I have collected almost all of his books.
5. I love the flavors of orange and chocolate together. I like to twist orange Starburst with a Tootsie roll or eat orange sherbet with chocolate ice-cream.

We were very fortunate to have Mrs. Andrews share a special book that she read to her son when he was little. We really enjoyed when she sang the song to us!

Friday, December 03, 2010

Book: Grandma Chickenlegs by Geraldine McCaughrean

Mystery Reader:  Betsy Ashley's Clues

1. My younger sister had a book of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe when I was in the 5th Grade, but I was the one who really enjoyed the stories and poems. My five older siblings were too busy with other activities to enjoy the stories I would read aloud to anyone who would listen.

2. Some strange occurrence happened on our back porch when I was in the 5th grade and I wrote a short story about a vampire possum and shared it with my class at Lyman Elementary School.

3. My friend Sally and I decided to dress alike for Halloween in 5th grade. We looked similar even without costumes (blonde hair and small) and the only way anyone could tell us apart when we were in costume as hobos was to look at our eyes. Sally has brown eyes. I have green eyes. To this day I love making Halloween costumes.

4. Although I have never had a pet frog - I had my very own chihuahua and my family had various animals such as a donkey, a monkey, German Shepherds, poodles, rabbits, chameleon, raccoons - I love frogs. I collect all sorts of frogs in various mediums such as jade, stone, plastic and cloth. And yes I do wear frog socks when I can and my favorite color is green.

5. I love being on stage. Theater rocks in Topeka and in New York. I have performed in both cities and I look forward to working with my family on creating some very fun videos mixing stage technique with film. Live from Topeka It's Saturday Night!

Our class had a great time with Betsey. She had a ton of expression in her reading, and the kids absolutely loved her voices for the characters.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Book: Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner

Mystery Reader:  Vicki Lesser's Clues

1. Most of the 5th graders know me.
2. I am a K-State Fan.
3. I am good at hula hooping.
4. I live near the school.
5. My favorite TV show is NCIS.
6. My favorite author is Francine Rivers, who writes realistic Christian fiction.

We were very excited to have Mrs. Lesser join us for mystery readers this week. It was interesting to see the students try and figure out the clues, because at some point we had to say that it was not one of the parents from our classroom. She read a very funny book to us, and you could tell she had to practice saying the words before she came.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Book: I'm Too Big by Lone Morton

Mystery Reader:  Michelle Morrison's Clues

1. My favorite book when I was in fifth grade was Anne of Green Gables.
2. My favorite subject in fifth grade was Reading.
3. I am the only girl in my family.
4. My favorite music group is Shinedown.
5. I love teaching French.

What a treat! Our Mystery Reader this week was Michelle Morrison, who is a French teacher in Topeka. She gave us a great lesson on speaking French and even read us a book in French.

Friday, October 08, 2010

Book: Let's Do Nothing! by Tony Fucile

Mystery Reader:  Mrs. Scharf's Clues

1. I like to bake.
2. When I was in high school I was in choir.
3. When I was in college, I went snake hunting as part of a class.
4. I have ridden a camel.

We are very fortunate to have such great staff at West Indianola. Our mystery reader this week was Mrs. Scharf. This was exciting because it really made the students think about their guess of who it was.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Book: "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" by Patricia Thomas

Mystery Reader:  Yvonne Hartner's Clues

1. I have always loved to read, some of my favorite books as a kid were: "A Cricket in Times Square," "James and the Giant Peach," and "The Phantom Tollbooth."
2. My dad loves literature and he used to have me memorize classic poetry.
3. I had parts in all of my high school plays and would like to try out for the Topeka Civic Theater someday.
4. I love to watch my kids perform whether its music, drama, singing or dancing.
5. One of my favorite family memories is being on stage singing the "MaNah MaNah song" with my daughter.

A big thank you goes out to Yvonne Hartner for being this week’s Mystery Reader. She did an awesome job of reciting a book she use while she was in high school. She had some great clues, and our class had some very interesting questions to ask her!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Book: Punished! by David Lubar

Mystery Reader:  Justin Shaw's Clues

1. To be perfectly honest, I was not much of a reader in my school years, although I managed ok grades. I was much more interested in science and math.

2. I recall reading MOST of Z for Zachariah by Robert C. Obrien, and I also read Beyond Recognition by Ridley Pearson.

3. I'm the youngest of 3 kids -- my wife is also the youngest of 3 kids. Coincidentally, the two of us were class of '94 and both our siblings were class of '88 and '90.

4. Our family's only pet is a betta. However, our 2 year old son is like a very ornery pet most of the time.

5. Our favorite TV show is Friday Night Lights, but I usually get suckered into watching the Bachelor or Bachelorette with my wife. We also enjoy the American Idol - the tryouts much more than the competitive portion. We went as far as to see Daughtry live.

6. We are HUGE Royals fans. For the last 6 years we've been to 10-15 games per year.

We were very glad to have Lexi's dad, Justin, join us for the end of our day and read to us. He read a chapter in our read aloud book, answered some questions, and watched as we ended our day. We were very glad to have him stay around!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Book: Punished! by David Lubar

Mystery Reader:  Penny Moylan's Clues

1. When I was in 5th grade, I enjoyed reading books about heroines from World War II, such as Anne Frank and Corrie Ten Boom.
2. I love love love the ocean.
3. By the time I was in 5th grade, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.
4. My family has a dog, a cat, a hamster and a horse as pets.
5. I like to run marathons.

We are really excited to have our second Mystery Reader of the year join us. Our class was really excited about her clues, and they had a lot of great questions to ask her when she got here! Mrs. Moylan was a great sport at fielding their questions which ranged from talking about her choice of books to what she would do with a million dollars!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Book: Parts by Tedd Arnold

Mystery Reader:  Sarah Reed's Clues

1. When I was in fifth grade I loved The Nancy Drew Mystery books.
2. I love to read and have been known to read a book all night to finish it.
3. I like to scrapbook and take pictures of my children and their friends.
4. I love to swim and want my very own pool one day.
5. My daughter and I don't like to rough it so when the men in the family went to CO to pan for gold, we took a road trip to Omaha, Nebraska and explored the Zoo and Coco's waterpark.

We're so glad to have Sarah join us as our first Mystery Reader of the year. The kids really enjoyed having her round out our week with a story. It was fun revealing her clues throughout the day.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Book: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

During our discussion of our classroom on our first day, we read this book to talk about giving compliments to other people. When someone does a good turn, we can write on a leaf that will be added to our Giving Tree. Over the year, the once bare tree will fill up with compliments.