Day 50: Summitting Mt. Everest

Our classroom reached two exciting milestones this week!! First, we reached one of our mini Reading Streak goals-- 50 consecutive school days!! This goal also coincided with a second amazing accomplishment. We successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest! Let me explain...

Last year, my class was introduced to the topic of Mt. Everest courtesy of one of our favorite class Mystery Readers, Nicholas' mom. She read a book called, To the Top! Climbing the World's Highest Mountain to my class. Immediately, my class became engrossed with the topic of Mt. Everest. They just wanted to devour any and all information about the peak that they could find. As we explored some of the other resources that our school library had to check out about Mt. Everest, we came across a great find on Sinking Springs' library shelves: Worst-Case Scenario, Ultimate Adventure: Everest, You Decide How to Survive! , a choose your own style book where readers are faced with real life decisions on their journey to try to reach the top of Everest. With only one path through the book to successfully reach the summit and return, it takes quite a bit of research, decision making, and thoughtful discussion to accomplish this task successfully. It took our class several unsuccessful tries, but eventually, we made it!

Check out the book trailer for a sneak peek of what adventures we encountered in this book:

Since my class could not get enough of this book last year, I decided to try it again with this year's group of students when I needed a new read aloud book. To help prepare them for their ascent, we started by reading some non-fiction books about Everest to give them some background information.

The Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest by Steve Jenkins

To the Top! Climbing the World's Highest Mountain by S.A. Kramer

 We also referenced, but didn't fully read, To The Top: The Story of Everest by Steven Venables.

Once my students had learned more about the real life perils on Mount Everest, they were eager to begin their climb. I was pleasantly surprised by the care and thought that they put into their decisions throughout the reading. Sometimes kids think it's fun just to see how many bad decisions they can make to lead themselves to the quickest ending for laughs, but my class didn't! They discussed, debated, used facts and evidence they had gained during our research, had me go back and reread parts of the informational knowledge to hear it again and listen for specific details-- all to make their way to the top. And they did it too! Almost on the first try. (We made it to the top on our first try, but made a tough decision and froze on our way back down the mountain, so we didn't successfully complete the mission, technically.) We nailed it on our second attempt.

 I love sharing choose your own adventure type books with my students because it starts great conversations among students and encourages them to support their opinions with details and evidence from the text. (The teacher in me has to sneak some extra learning in somehow, of course!!)

I typed up this quick worksheet for students to record some of their thinking and practice explaining their thoughts along with supporting evidence in writing. It's free to download if you're interested.

Also, this style of writing help get my students interested in a new type of book that holds their interest. When I went to pick up my students from library last week, the librarian told me suddenly my class just couldn't get enough of choose your own adventure books when it came time to check out books.

If you're not familiar with these types of books, there are a wide variety to check out. Some of the most popular ones can be found at the Choose Your Own Adventure website. It lists all the books in this series (for both younger and older readers alike) sorted by reading level, topic, etc. Another series, You Choose Books, is based on historical events or time periods. There are also even a few more books in The Worst Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure Series: Mars, Amazon, and a new one being released this month (yay!), Deadly Seas. Personally, I love the ones based on real life experiences that can tie fiction and non-fiction together for students and help them make connections in their reading and learning. But, there again, that's the teacher in me talking.

Happy Reading!
Mrs. Hartman

PS- Satellite view and travelers' photographs from some of the Everest Base camp trails are available on Google Maps. Another way to connect your readers to their setting and adventure while adding some geography lessons to the mix as well!!


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Day 29: We Enter the Catacombs!

Reasons I Love 39 Clues #8,574: All of the real life settings that the adventures of Amy and Dan Cahill allow readers to discover and travel to as they follow the series.

The first cool place that my students had never heard of, but were able to experience through our reading together? The Maze of Bones, aka the underground network of Catacombs in Paris, France.

I gave my students the teaser at the beginning of the book that The Maze of Bones was a real place that Amy and Dan would have the opportunity to explore. Every day since they had been asking when we would get to the Maze of Bones part.

Finally, on Day 28 of our streak, we reached it. The Catacombes de Paris. The Maze of Bones.

But you know what made the experience even cooler for my students? Google Maps. Thanks to the street view images from Google Maps, entering the catacombs of Paris was a much more eerie and exciting experience than it would have been otherwise. Their satellite and street view maps provide a great view of what different locations look like that my students may never otherwise have the opportunity to visit or see.

To set the scene and help my students better visualize where Amy and Dan's clue hunting adventures were leading them, I typed in the address for the Catacombs' entrance. (1 Avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, Place Denfert Rochereau, 75014 Paris in case you wanted to sneak a peek yourself).

Screenshot of the entrance to The Catacombes de Paris on Google Maps

Before Amy and Dan ventured down into the underground tunnels lined with human bones, our class got the chance to check out the entrance to the Catacombs, along with other visitors' photographs of the passageways below.

My students got to see the entrance sign to the catacombs that Amy and Dan read before entering...

 walk down the street to see the nearby Metro station that their rival clue hunters arrive from...

and the visit the dimly lit, narrow tunnels, lined with skulls and bones lining the walls in intricate patterns that Amy, Dan, and Nellie must walk down in search of their next clue.

Pairing these images with the detail described in the book helped my students to have a much better understanding of the setting and events happening in the text. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

And, since all of the 39 Clues books have Amy and Dan traveling the world to exotic and unique locations, readers' journeys can continue in each book.

With all of the new technology tools available, reading can become a much more interactive journey than ever before. I love taking a virtual field trip to Paris with my class on a Tuesday afternoon.

What new and exciting settings have you traveled to through your reading? Have you checked it out on Google Maps yet? Do share!

Happy Reading!
Mrs. Hartman

PS-- And just in case you were wondering...it was a dark and rainy day for our entrance to the Catacombs reading so we were able to read in our own personal classroom "Catacomb" space. Just like we'd hoped for!