Check Out My Student Guest Bloggers #BookSnapsWk3

By Tara M Martin

May 24

Wow, the Spring 2017 #BookSnaps Challenge has been a memorable event! Thank you to all of the participants. You have really taken #BookSnaps to a whole new level, and I LOVE IT!  We had over 1100 tweets made to our three-week #BookSnaps Challenge hashtags. WOWZERS! You guys ROCK MY SOCKS OFF! Check out the hashtag #BookSnapsWk3 or view our Storify presentation below for last week’s entries.

Lisa Belcher, Kara Gruff, and Stevie Sagmeister’s class won the GHO Visits! I have had so much fun learning from the students while sharing a little bit about me and my #BookSnaps adventure. See images below.

Now, for that which we have all been waiting…

Please, welcome our #BookSnapsWk3 student winners–my guest bloggers! I’m honored to have you all writing with me and sharing your authentic connections to the text using #BookSnaps.


What would you do if the first day of school kept repeating? In the book, First Day Of School… Forever! by R.L Stine, Artie Howard has a weird experience. Here are some things that happened to him on the first day of school.  He hit his head hard. He got syrup in his hair.  He put on a baseball cap and when he pulled it off his hair came out. He got splashed with a puddle and it looked like he wet his pants. If that was not enough, he got himself embarrassed.  Read the book to find out how Artie gets embarrassed and if he is caught in the first-day school…. Forever!

I liked creating #BookSnaps because it gets you thinking about your book and you can express your learning with others.

Gage, 4th grade

Wisconsin


We’re All Wonders

Written and Illustrated by R.J. Palacio

Hi our names are Amelia A. and Bella R., we are in 4th grade. We live in NY. Today we are going to share our thoughts about our book and #BookSnaps. Our favorite part of the story is when Auggie (the main character) goes to his own universe where the creatures look just like him. This showed us that he fit in somewhere. The problem was that people didn’t accept him for how he looked. This part made us feel sad, mad, and emotional. We thankfully have never experienced what Auggie felt but if we did we would feel twice as unaccepted as Auggie. Readers should read this book because it’s an addicting book and will be sure to catch their heart.

We like to create #BookSnaps because we use them to express our thinking about the books.


Is That a Dead Dog In Your Locker?  By Todd Strasser

The problem is that school has an NFA (No Furry Animals) rule.  When Layton, Wade and Daisy try to hide a dog in Daisy’s locker, they run into a lot of problems.  When a very snobby girl named Fibby is allergic to dogs, she is smelling what Layton, Wade and Daisy are hiding in their school.  Barton Slug finds out this top-secret mission and used the information to make a deal with the animals lovers.  Read to find out if they get caught in hiding their furry friend, Wheezy.  I like doing #BookSnaps because I get to see what other people are reading and see if I want to read what they are reading.   

Shelby V.

3rd Grade, Wisconsin


Lindsey and Madysen

5th Grade, Lawrence, KS

Wonder by Raquel J. Palacio

Our favorite part was when Via got introduced because she is very strong, passionate and protective over her brother Auggie. There was also another part that was our favorite when Jack stood up for Auggie because he was getting bullied by Eddie because of the way his face was shaped. We think that he made Auggie feel good because everyone’s face is shaped a different way and was all perfect the way we are! Well there are a lot of problems in this book but the big one is that August is struggling to make friends in his school because of his deformity.  We also feel that when all those other characters stuck up for him that made us feel good. We liked creating #BookSnaps because it helped us express how we feel and what stuck out to us in the book. Why should readers read Wonder? Wonder expresses different feelings and you should read it because it will help you feel how August feels in his situations.


Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

In the book Bud Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis, a 10 year old boy named Bud Caldwell is living in an orphanage called “the home.” He can’t stay with his parents because his mother named Angela died, and he never met his father. Then one day, Bud looked at a flyer with a man named Herman E. Calloway. Bud believes that Herman is his father.

Bud went through many obstacles just to meet Mr. Calloway. Bud went to a place called Flint where he would ride trains with his best friend Bugs. While they both attempted to ride a train, Bugs made it on the train but Bud did not. When Bud was leaving Flint, he was hiding in some bushes.

A man drove up and called for Bud to come out of hiding. The man’s name was Mr. Lewis. His friends called him “Lefty Lewis.” It turned out, that Mr. Lewis knew where to find Mr. Calloway, who is a fiddle player in a band.

When Bud finally finds Mr. Calloway, he confronts him and tells him that he’s his dad. Mr. Calloway does not believe him! However, one day, Bud and Mr. Calloway were in the car together. Mr. Calloway had a collection of rocks that he showed Bud. Bud was amazed because he had the exact same collection of rocks! Mr. Calloway asked Bud how he got the rocks and even accused Bud of stealing them. This is when Bud yelled that his mother, Angela, gave him the rocks! It was at this moment that Mr. Calloway realized that Bud is his grandson because Mr. Calloway’s late daughter was named Angela. This was a life changing moment in the book for Bud.


Thank you all for participating in Week 3 of the #BookSnaps Challenge. Your writing inspires me; I’ve enjoyed having you as guest bloggers on R.E.A.L. 

Please feel free to leave comments below for the student guest bloggers.

Click here to see a Storify presentation of all #BookSnapsW3 entries! Enjoy!

Check out the pictures while Google Hanging-Out with students, across the nation, this week. I’ve enjoyed EVERY minute of this challenge!

Thank you.

About the Author

I am an educator who values the individuality and uniqueness of others. Writing the blog R.E.A.L. is an outlet for me to pay it forward by sharing ideas, influences, lessons learned and exposing a little vulnerability while encouraging others to maximize their R.E.A.L. potential, as well.