Lovedtodeath Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Tell me about it. I am intrigued at an idea of novels for gifted kids, as spouted on the page, but I see Amelia Bedelia, Curious George and Junie B. Jones on the list for second grade. Pippi Longstocking and Encyclopedia Brown for 3-4. Really? I am confused. Is one meant to do all of the stories in one year, or do you pick and choose, or are 2-3 years worth included in the guide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Tell me about it. I am intrigued at an idea of novels for gifted kids, as spouted on the page, but I see Amelia Bedelia, Curious George and Junie B. Jones on the list for second grade. Pippi Longstocking and Encyclopedia Brown for 3-4. Really? I am confused. Is one meant to do all of the stories in one year, or do you pick and choose, or are 2-3 years worth included in the guide? I have to say that although I love the MCT LA materials, I haven't been particularly tempted to buy this particular book. I read through the library as a kid and don't much need suggestions on classic children's lit (and really - Junie B Jones? That's not lit, it's barely a book. I'm a bit shocked to see that mentioned), and I find resources that are book-specific limiting. I bought Teaching the Classics instead (though I must find time to finish watching the dvds... ) Though maybe someone else who has actually bought and read the book has something else to say... :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I have a long post here comparing Teaching the Classics (TtC), REading Strands, Suppose the Wolf Were An Octopus, and Deconstructing Penguins. I'm sure you'll find it w/ my username, I believe it had Teaching the Classics in the title. Let me know if you can't find it. Capt_Uhura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuovonne Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I have a long post here comparing Teaching the Classics (TtC), REading Strands, Suppose the Wolf Were An Octopus, and Deconstructing Penguins. I'm sure you'll find it w/ my username, I believe it had Teaching the Classics in the title. Let me know if you can't find it. Capt_Uhura Is this it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 yes! :001_smile: Capt_Uhura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 Thank you. I am still recovering from the shock by the idea that these books are for gifted kids. Maybe I should look at more of that page... I got stuck on those booklists and couldn't get past it. I will check out that post. DD is an odd one. Amelia Bedelia and the such were "baby books" by the time she turned 5, but she balks at work so vehemently that I have had to put her down into SL 2 Intermediate just to be sure that she gets reading in as a subject. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christine in al Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Suppose the Wolf. is Royal Fireworks Press, written by Michael Bagly and is NOT a Michael Clay Thomas book. I am dissappointed in the readling level, but , as I am new at Literary analysis, I am liking that all the books came in a bundle for in-class reading and come with questions. This will make my life so much easier that it is worth it as an entry level. I have Suppose the Wolf were an Octopus ( 1-2 and 3-4)and I'm looking at a borrowed TtC syllabus, AND I have coming from Amazon Deconstructing Penguins. At this point, come January, we are going to start one of the in-class reading books from Royal Fireworks Press. It is worth a great deal to me at first that it is at least a complete package and I can get going with the process. I wish SWB had a literary study to accompany WWE. The books she uses in WWE are wonderful. ~c. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 Suppose the Wolf. is Royal Fireworks Press, written by Michael Bagly and is NOT a Michael Clay Thomas book. Thanks for pointing that out. Though no one said that it was. We expected it to be similar since it is supposed to be for gifted kids and is by the same publisher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I bought the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th grade books this year to use with a kids' book club I'm running, and, honestly, I'm kind of disappointed in them. Other than a few pages of introductory material, all they are is lists of questions for different books. I don't love the book choices (there are a bunch of Judy Blume books in the 3rd/4th grade level, ranging from Freckle Juice to Blubber....my son has read and enjoyed the Fudge books, and they're fine, but I don't think of them as especially deep. For another thing, Freckle Juice and Blubber are targeted at completely different reading and maturity levels; it just seems strange to me that they're even in the same book). I also wasn't particularly impressed with the questions. A great many of them are simple comprehension questions; the suppose the wolf was an octopus type questions are very rare (maybe one to two per book). The level of analysis it calls for doesn't seem very challenging at all to me. It's all based on Bloom's Taxonomy, so maybe my real issue is with Bloom ;). It's also filled with typos and, more annoyingly, in a lot of cases the author doesn't seem to have actually read the books very carefully before writing the questions. For Stuart Little, he asks, "Suppose the little cat was mean and nasty? How would that have affected Stuart's life?" It's hard to imagine anyone reading Stuart Little and coming away with the opinion that Snowbell isn't "mean and nasty." I mean, his meanness and nastiness is a pretty major plot point. For James and the Giant Peach, he suggests, "Predict what the aunts will do when they find out where James is." Well, since they die at the beginning of the book, my guess is they won't do a whole lot. So, yeah. I was disappointed, especially for the price I paid. You can do as well looking around online to find discussion questions for most of these books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 DS loves the selections in WWE too. I often get the entire book for him to read. Me too! It's amazing how reading the selections gets my son interested. WWE has been a fabulous addition to our homeschool because of this unexpected bonus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kls126s Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Me too! It's amazing how reading the selections gets my son interested. WWE has been a fabulous addition to our homeschool because of this unexpected bonus! I was just thinking that very thing this morning. I put Caddie Woodlawn in my daughter's school box for this week and she read a page and then remembered it from the WWE assignment. "Yes! I wanted to read this book!" she said. That's happened several times around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I've been to another website which sells SUppose the WOlf....and it wasn't billed for gifted kids. No where in the books does it even use the word gifted. It simply uses BLoom's Taxonomy which works for anyone is a differentiated approach. SOme kids will be at the lower levels and some at the higher levels, it has questions for all. I think b/c it's meant for schools perhaps it uses more current books such as Amelia Bedelia. Personally I prefer TtC, Dec Pen, and REading Strands...those are all in a similar class. Suppose the Wolf...is more of a lit guide for several books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christine in al Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 :ack2: I just bought the bloody thing. I think I REALLY want to get the DVDs of Teaching the Classics.. but ,, durn, I just just just bought Suppose the wolf and the wolf pack of books.. okay, WHY would anyone BOTHER to do literary analysis on these books. when there are beautful Newberry winners and fine fine books out there? Why did they waste their time and why are they wasting mine??!?!? sigh, I guess we'll do a few of them, ' cause I just can't stand spending yet more money on TtC when I have this brand new stack of books, ARGH.. I am completely loving the MCT LA,... I wish.... oh well. thank you, back to your regularly scheduled program now. c. in al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 sigh, I guess we'll do a few of them, ' cause I just can't stand spending yet more money on TtC when I have this brand new stack of books, ARGH.. I am completely loving the MCT LA,... I wish.... oh well. Do they not have a return policy at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepymommy Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Ugh, I just bought suppose a wolf too. I got mine from Rainbow Resource, but I don't think it would be worth it to spend the money to return it or worth standing in the long line at the post office. I knew I should have checked in here first. Oh well, I'll still read and glean what I can from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyDuck103 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 This thread reminded me of a quote I heard from another mom. "You can write a PhD thesis on Jack & the beanstalk". Any piece of literature can turned upside down and torn to pieces & be quite satisfying. I have a bright DD who is very, very, very sensitive.She couldn't watch fairy tales till she was about 6-7. Too scary. We avoid the Old Testament. The story of Samson was a disaster recently. So even though she can read at 4-5 levels above grade, I have to be careful about which books she reads. (Treasure Island and Moby Dick made her mad.) As a result most of our book choices tend to be benign (Ramona et al) but I try to make up for that with interesting, thought provoking questions. We actually had lots of fun with Junie B 2 years ago. (As an aside, why can't 'good' literature be happy? I'm still recovering from the trauma of reading Lord of the Flies in high school. Actually, I couldn't finish it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christine in al Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I'll look into it. hard to think clearly in the middle of a rant. Thanks. ~c. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 So even though she can read at 4-5 levels above grade, I have to be careful about which books she reads. (Treasure Island and Moby Dick made her mad.) As a result most of our book choices tend to be benign ... (As an aside, why can't 'good' literature be happy? I'm still recovering from the trauma of reading Lord of the Flies in high school. Actually, I couldn't finish it.) Same here. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Thanks to everyone for their reports. I'm grateful as this book was on my wish list. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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