Book Title: Shiloh

Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Publish Date: 1991

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Series: Shiloh Trilogy Book #1

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Awards: 1992 Newbery Winner

Suggested Grade: 5th grade

Suggested Format: Small group, class instruction, independent reading

Synopsis: 
Marty Preston lives in a small house in West Virginia, in a time when cars and TVs are common, but the internet has not yet taken hold. While exploring the hills and dirt roads near his rural home, he finds a beagle who follows him home. Suspecting that the dog, whom he names Shiloh, is being abused by his owner, Marty decides to hide him away and take care of him.
Marty faces many hard decisions - is it ever OK to lie? What do you do when a dog is being abused? Can he save the dog he loves? Do any adults even care?

Teacher's Notes: 
A shorter, easier to read chapter book, this is perfect for guided reading or a class book study.
A few parents expressed discontent with the fact that Marty lies to his elders in the book. In my class, we address this by discussing Marty's feelings of guilt and eventual admission and apologies for his behavior. Several characters in this story own or use guns, but in a realistic and historically accurate context (hunting for food and target practice).

Overall: 10/10
The classic "dog and his boy" book with a generic happy ending.

How I Got the Book: Purchased for my classroom

Suggested Interests: Animals, fiction, realistic fiction

Animals Fiction Newbery Realistic Fiction YA Book Reviews

5:54 PM

Can it be possible???  July is nearly over???

I have teamed up with 40 fabulous stores for...

This is a FABULOUS 4 day event that is full of sweet deals, savings and 4 amazing giveaways!

Here's a peek at what you are being treated to...

8:00 AM

It's once again time for the Teachers Pay Teachers Appreciation Sale! 

Starting tonight at midnight and running through the 6th at midnight, you will find that many sellers have their entire stores marked 20% off. On top of that, if you use the code TPTXO, you will get an extra 10% off all your purchases, for a total of 28% off!

I've linked up with Flying Into First and First Grade Nest to help bring you a list of stores that are on sale just for you.

7:01 PM

Working with children and schools, we know that our jobs change all the time. I've taken on a new position, working online with students who can't always make it in the classroom, often due to medical issues. These students work with their parents at home on some curriculum, and spend part of the time online with me in a virtual classroom as well. This year, I have several students who have spent extensive time at Arkansas Children's Hospital and at home due to various medical conditions. Teaching students from home is always a challenging task, and even more challenging is teaching parents how to incorporate all the new and innovative things that we do in our classrooms, like Brain Breaks!

Luckily for me, GoNoodle has that one covered. I signed my families up for GoNoodle accounts and let them go crazy with the Brain Breaks! I use these Brain Breaks in my classes and with my extended home stay students, and I have seen amazing results. In class, students are refreshed and ready to continue studying, and they look eagerly toward our next break. At home, parents and students rave about the options they have to move around. A mix of energetic and calming brain breaks, even my most bedridden students can participate in the various Common Core aligned activities.

My personal favorite is BodySpell-a fun, interactive game where students spell words with their bodies along with the screen. Such a great way to get my reluctant readers thinking about words! My kid's favorite part? The little monster that you get to level up as you complete activities. They love to see the little sayings every time we log in, and beg to work on leveling him up to see what he'll look like next!

Want to use GoNoodle with your students? Check out this link and sign up for your FREE account, available to teachers EVERYWHERE!

Brain Breaks Parent Involvement

7:17 AM

I'm always talking about Close Reading, and I love using it in my classroom. Today, I wanted to share with you this checklist that I created for my students to put in the front of their close reading folders.

You can download the checklist in a variety of background choices HERE.

If you do download the checklist, be sure to come back and leave me some love in the comments section, and feel free to share the freebie with your friends via Pinterest or Facebook!

Enjoy!

-Jillian

3:31 PM

One of the biggest confusions my students show, no matter what their grade level, is how they are supposed to know how closely to read the text. We practice annotating our reading, but then I ask them to read for fun, or give them a time limit on their reading. And then the next day I ask them to read several passages extremely closely, and to synthesize new information based on their reading.

I broke Close Reading down into 4 stages to help my students out.

STAGE 1

Casual or FUN Reading

This is reading that you do to enjoy reading. You are not looking for new information. You can skip words or even whole sentences, and you can skim or even read the book out of order.
These books may look like:
          *Comic Books
          *Fiction Books
          *Nonfiction Books you are interested in
          *Magazines

STAGE 2

Reading for an Answer

This is reading you do to find one or two simple answers. You might be looking to answer a question such as WHO, WHAT, WHEN, or WHERE. You may only read part of the passage, depending on what information you are looking for. You might read with a highlighter only to find specific information.
These books may look like:
          *Nonfiction books about a specific subject
          *Product Manuals
          *How-to Instructions
          *Blog Posts
          *Magazine Articles
          *Fiction books you want to understand more
          *Newspaper Articles
          *Directions for an Assignment

STAGE 3

Detective Reading

This is reading to find more complex answers to more complex questions. You might be looking for the answers to questions such as HOW and WHY. You may read all of a passage, and will pay specific information to each sentence. You will look for specific word choices that deliver specific meaning, as well as word choices such as similes and metaphors. You will most likely read with a highlighter and pencil.
These books may look like:
         *Nonfiction books
         *Biographies
         *Memoirs and Auto-Biographies
         *Primary Documents (letters, journals, maps, annotations, etc)
         *Secondary Documents (what other people have said about an event they did not witness based on their research)

STAGE 4

Archaeologist Reading

This is reading to find complex answers when you don't even always know the questions. You might be researching a specific topic using several different sources, or you might be looking for facts to support your synthesis of new information into a Secondary Document of which you are the author. You will read every word several times, and will notice every word choice, syntax choice, etc. You will always read with a highlighter, pencil, and notebook.
These books may look like:
         *Primary Documents (letters, journals, maps, annotations, etc.)
         *Secondary Documents (what other people have said about an event they did not witness based on their own research)

These 4 Stages have not only helped my students to focus their skills during a Close Reading assignment, they have helped the entire classroom (including myself) to think about how we plan to read and take notes on every text we pick up.

Close Reading

1:27 PM