Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! And moving on....

Ok...I confess...I have stopped doing the book study. Just not into it for some reason. Plus, I feel pretty good about the dendrites I am building in my classroom right now!

So, no more guilt about not posting my chapter responses (hence the long absence from posting since I figured I should be posting about the book study!!! Aaaah...shoulda, woulda, coulda...) and moving on to new things...

I have recently started reading the book The Secret World of Og by Pierre Berton to the class. Have you ever read it?

click here to find it online

It is a true Canadian classic written in 1961. It is the story of four children who go on an adventure to rescue their baby brother who went through a trapdoor in the floor of their playhouse. The trapdoor leads to a secret underground world filled with mysterious little green people.

I am loving reading it again and am really enjoying watching the faces of the students as the adventure progresses. One of these days I am going to get them to draw what they are visualizing as I read since I know that their imaginations are in overdrive listening!

This book holds a special place in my childhood memory. In grade 5, I found myself  in a new school, that I really didn't like, with a teacher named Mrs. Gordon whom I didn't really like all that much either! I think she might be one of the reasons I went into teaching as I seem to recall the teachers I didn't like more than the ones I did. I guess I was inspired to NOT be like them!!!! But I digress....

One of my only positive memories of that year is of Mrs. Gordon sitting in the front of the class on a stool, reading to us from her copy of The Secret World of Og. Back then it had only been around for around 20 years (do the math and you can figure out how old I am!!!!) After she read us the book, we wrote letters to the author and Mrs. Gordon sent them off to his publisher. I will always remember the day the reply arrived. A letter for us! Written by Pierre Berton! On bright Og-green writing paper with a little drawing of a man from Og in the bottom corner. Oh! The excitement! 

The only other late elementary memory that comes close to topping my Og one is when Gordon Korman came to talk to our class about his book This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall. He was only about 18 years old and had already written a chapter book (at age 12!) and published it! Wow! But that is a story for another day....  

Anywho, if you have never read The Secret World of Og then what are you waiting for? Go read it!!! And, if you have read it, go read it again! You won't be sorry. I promise!

Cheers!

Olwyn