Reading Response Blog #11

11/30/2014

Dear Students,

Reading can be so much fun! However, it can also be challenging, especially when you get confused by the text.

Sometimes readers get confused because the author wrote in a complex way.

Example: "Complete darkness, not a hint of the silver world outside, the windows tightly shut, the chamber a tomb-world where no sound from the great city could penetrate." (by Ray Bradbury)

Readers can also be confused because they don't know certain words.

Example: With her kids running around the waiting room screaming, the mother secretly prayed that there was a sedative in the juice boxes she was opening.

Sometimes readers are confused by figurative language (similes and metaphors).

Example: "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." (by Marcel Proust)

Other times readers don't have enough background knowledge to understand what the author is describing.

For example, if you're reading a story that has a scene that involves Formula 1 racing, and you know very little about race cars at all, you may be confused by the author's descriptions.

We all need strategies to help us battle confusion in our reading.

This Week's Prompt:

Describe a time you were confused by something that you read.
Why was it confusing? Then, describe what you did to clear up your confusion.

I look forward to hearing about your strategies for clearing up confusion in your reading. Happy responding!

74 Comments

Alec

12/1/2014 07:26:41 am

Dear Class,
A confusion that happened in my story is, "power-hungry snake." It was a curse. What was it supposed to mean? It was confusing because a powerful hungry snake, how could it be a curse? It doesn't sound mean or offensive.Then, I decided to find out what it meant. I didn't get the meaning but it doesn't sound good. I don't think I want to know the real meaning.

From,
Alec

Ms. Kimball

12/2/2014 09:09:01 am

Dear Alec,

By "a curse", I'm assuming you meant that whomever said that phrase meant it as an insult. Did a character call another character a "power-hungry snake"? To figure out the meaning, you definitely need to know the "context" --how it was used and the stuff around it.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Alec

12/5/2014 12:40:19 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,
Yes, a character did call another character 'power-hungry snake." Hazel muttered it for Octavian.
From,
Alec

Talia

12/5/2014 12:50:16 am

Alec,
What book does this line come from?
Talia

Julia

12/1/2014 07:28:04 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,

The ending of the book When You Reach Me is very confusing. It is confusing because the author just throws a bunch of big parts at you in a sort of small amount of text. One way I clear up confusion, is by rereading the confusing parts. Sometimes I have to read it over and over again before I can completely understand whats going on. Another strategy I use is to slow down my reading, so that I can drink in every word so it makes sense.

From,
JULIA

Ms. Kimball

12/2/2014 09:14:35 am

Dear Julia,

I like how you described reading as drinking each word. Cool!

I totally agree --the ending of When You Reach Me was confusing. Authors often try to connect the mysteries from within their stories at the end, sometimes a little too "quickly" for readers. Slowing down definitely helps, but I found myself flipping back to parts of the story where I may have missed an important detail that the author refers to at the end. Flipping back is like pressing the rewind button while watching a movie. If you missed something, you can always go back to clear it up. That helped my confusion. I do it throughout stories, too, not just at the ending.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Julia

12/3/2014 10:13:37 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,

I agree with you about the flipping back strategy. I also used that one as well.

Sincerely,
Julia

Rheona

12/1/2014 07:48:29 am

Hi Ms.kimball,
A time I was confused was in the book GREGOR THE OVERLAND ER. The part that confused me was that he was going in and out of these confusing rooms with giant Cockroaches and it was dark then light then dark then light again. What I did to help myself was I asked someone to read that page to me and explain what it meant in there words. This helped me because it was much more clear reading it and knowing or think you know what it means.

rheona

Ms. Kimball

12/2/2014 09:19:28 am

Dear Rheona,

When you say "he" I'm assuming you mean Gregor. (Am I right?)

That is a cool strategy --hearing the confusing part out loud. Reading takes a good amount of brain power. Sometimes hearing something instead of just reading it takes pressure off of our brains so we can focus more on visualizing what we hear.

Also, hearing someone else's thoughts is a good strategy. Sometimes you can see things in a new way when you hear someone else's reaction to events.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Rheona

12/3/2014 08:16:27 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,
Yes you are right, when i said "HE" I meant Gregor. Thank you for the compliment! What is your favorite strategy?

rheona

Ms. Kimball

12/3/2014 08:44:46 am

Dear Rheona,

My favorite reading strategy that I used to clear up confusion is the good old "flip back and reread" strategy. I can't tell you how many times I have zoned out while reading and then I get to a part where I realize I have no clue how I got there. I flip back through my books a lot!

Thanks for asking!
Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Rheona

12/5/2014 12:40:00 am

Dear Ms.kimball,
I really hate it when I zone out right in the middle of a really good book. It really annoys me because you know you zoned out but you forgot what you read and have to go back and re-read what you already thought you read!

Rheona

Amy

12/5/2014 12:55:21 am

Dear Rheona,

I also ask someone for an explanation when I don't understand something. Maybe you can try to reread the part you don't understand. That's what I always do before asking for help. GREGOR THE OVERLAND ER sounds like a great book.

Sincerely, Amy

Amy

12/1/2014 07:48:33 am

Dear Ms.kimball,

I was confused In the book Found, when Jonah said that chip got two of each letter. I was confused because Jonah got only one of each letter. I read back in the text and saw that since Chip had moved, the person who sent the letter sent it to his old address and his new address. The way you can solve your confusion is by looking back in the text.

Sincerely,
Amy

Ms. Kimball

12/2/2014 09:22:53 am

Dear Amy,

When you say, "chip", I'm assuming that is a character whose name is capitalized. (Chip, right?)

Looking back in the text is my favorite strategy! Sometimes I zone out when I read and miss important details. The author will assume I know something (like Chip received two letters at two different addresses), so when the detail is mentioned again, I'm confused. I'll think, "Wait a minute! Huh???" That's my cue to go back and reread.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Amy

12/5/2014 12:44:19 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,

I agree! When i'm reading, I too zone out but keep my eyes reading the page. When I come back to the book I am so confused. I always reread something if it doesn't make sense to me.

Sincerely,
Amy

Rheona

12/5/2014 12:48:02 am

Dear Amy,
I noticed that a lot of people used the look-back method. Do you have any other favorite or new strategy for reading?

Rheona

Sage W.

12/8/2014 11:22:35 pm

Dear Amy,
That does sound confusing.I totally agree that to solve confusion you should look back in the text.

Danny

12/1/2014 10:12:03 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,
When I was reading, the first book in the Wings of Fire series, there was a part that confused me.
The dragons, Clay and Tsunami, were swimming under water down the river, so they wouldn't get caught by their guardians. I didn't understand one of the words. I don't remember what the word was now, but what I did was I used common sense. For example, if the author used the word baffled in a sentence and I didn't know what it meant, I would look back and use the other words in the sentence to try to figure out what it meant. it usually works, but if it doesn't I hope for the best.
Sincerely,
Danny

Ms. Kimball

12/2/2014 09:27:06 am

Dear Danny,

Unknown vocabulary word is one of the top problems for readers. If you don't know a number of words, you lose the meaning of the text. I agree that using other words in the sentence to DECIPHER the meaning is helpful. (OOoo! Look, I used a challenging word in that last sentence. Can anyone guess what it means??)

Another strategy I use when I don't know a word is I try to replace the unknown word with words that make sense in its place. Most times I can get the GIST of it. (OOO, another tricky word.)

Lastly, I always use the surrounding sentences to help me. I hope you try these strategies, too!

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Danny

12/5/2014 12:51:42 am

I think that "DECIPHER" means to figure out

Alec

12/5/2014 12:43:11 am

Dear Danny,
I also sometimes use the same strategy. It works pretty well. Keep up the good work!
From,
Alec

kaela

12/2/2014 02:41:11 am

Dear Ms.Kimball
I am reading the one and only Ivan. I was confused about if in their point of vew all humans are mean or if only some of them. It confused me because the main things (humans or animals in this case animals) of the story make a big impact with what they think. I found my answer when I read about the little elephant ruby’s story about how the people saved her that I knew that after that they could not HATE humans too much because they saved her. She also said that not all humans are mean the people who saved her were nice humans and the people who put her in the big top mall as a circus animal, those were mean humans. So now I know that in there point of view there are bad humans and good humans and that sounds just totally right.
sincerely Kaela

Ms. Kimball

12/2/2014 09:30:31 am

Dear Kaela,

It sounds like your strategy for clearing up confusing parts is to analyze what you have already read and break it apart one piece at a time. That's a good tactic. Reading the text more closely can help too.

Also, it sounds like you put yourself in the character's point of view to make meaning out of what the character said. That is very helpful! Often characters say or think things that sound weird or crazy. However, if we put ourselves in their shoes, we may be able to understand why they said or thought what they did.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Kaela

12/5/2014 12:49:28 am

Dear ms.Kimball
I haven't got much farther so I will definitely try to use your strategy for the reading. And i did put myself in the characters point of view and I have to say it helps understand what they thought of humans. Thank you for all the helpful strategies and the nice comments.
sincerely Kaela

Julia

12/3/2014 10:18:42 am

Dear Kaela,

I liked the way you used different parts of the story to clear up the confusing parts. I haven't read The One and Only Ivan. Would you suggest it?

Sincerely,
Julia

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:21:06 pm

Dear Julia,

I definitely suggest The One and Only Ivan! You'll love it. It's about a gorilla stuck in captivity, written from his perspective. It was one of my favorite stories I've ever read.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Kaela

12/5/2014 12:43:53 am

Thank you. Julia that was a very nice comment. I would suggest it because even though I haven't finished it yet I really do like the book.
Again thank you for the comment Julia!!!
sincerely Kaela

Talia

12/2/2014 02:49:39 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,
I am reading School of Fear. The line that was confusing was this; But both where fruitless. I don’t understand that, because the word fruitless means that something doesn’t have something on it. How the word fruitless was used in the book is not saying that something had nothing on it. I think in the book it was used to say that something was useless. Even though I have an idea of what the line means, it is still confusing.
From,
Talia

Ms. Kimball

12/2/2014 09:34:50 am

Dear Talia,

Yes, I agree. Unknown words can really confuse readers! It sounds like you tried to analyze (break down into parts) the word itself, fruitless. When I first read the word, I thought it meant "without fruit." That meaning made no sense! So I thought about it more, and substituted words that would make sense. I read the sentences around it for extra context. Figuring out unknown words is like a puzzle --you have to fit different pieces together. I think your guess of "useless" totally makes sense. If you're really motivated, consult a dictionary! I improve my own vocabulary that way and I find it fun. I love learning new words. They make me sound smart when I use them :-)

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Talia

12/5/2014 12:46:02 am

Ms.Kimball,
I totally agree! I sometimes find cool words in the dictionary and use them while talking to my sister who is in 7th grade and she doesn't understand them. It's really fun to stump her with tricky words.
Talking about words, what does the word dictionary come from? Maybe I should check it in a dictionary!

Nathan

12/3/2014 09:47:10 am

Dear Talia, :)

That is pretty confusing. I would have seen "fruitless" as no juice, no flavor nothing interesting about these 2 things. In that circumstance, I would likely just go on a website to check it out, would you?
Yours truly, Nathan Mansfield :)

Olivia D.

12/2/2014 08:50:59 am

Dear ms.kimball,

What I find confusing is when the author uses words such as "anachronism" or "patho's", and I cannot seem to figure out the correct meaning. My strategy for this is to reread the sentence repeadedly and get an idea of what the word might mean.

Sincerely,
Olivia D.

Ms. Kimball

12/3/2014 08:48:25 am

Dear Olivia,

Those are some tough vocabulary words! I love learning new vocabulary words, so if I know I'm reading a book with tough words in it, I'll keep a dictionary device next to me while I read. I remember when I first read the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, I confronted a plethora of words I didn't know (hehe, I used a big word there!). I was checking the dictionary almost every other page. It helped me understand what the author was really trying to say.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Olivia D.

12/4/2014 09:46:48 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,

Another strategy I may use when I am stuck on a word is I would write down the meaning and when I have the time I would check the definition in a dictionary. I'll try out your strategy next time I read though.

Sincerely,
Olivia D.

Sofia

12/5/2014 12:38:56 am

Olivia,
That's a strategy I usually don't think about, but I'll be sure to use it more often!

Sofia

Sage W.

12/2/2014 09:42:59 am

Dear Class,

When I was reading MockingJay I got really confused when there was a bombing in the capitol. What I did was I reread the part that really confused me and tried to pull clues from the text to make sense of it. I also asked a friend who had read the book to clarify it for me and tell me if my inference about it was right or not.

From,
Sage W.

Ms. Kimball

12/3/2014 08:51:24 am

Dear Sage,

Good strategies Sage! Action sequences can be hard to follow in books. Have you ever tried to write an action sequence? Try it sometime! I have and it's a challenge to get all the details straight yet keep it fast-paced to simulate the action. I bet professional authors struggle with that too, which is why we readers often get confused.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Olivia D.

12/4/2014 09:52:34 am

Dear Sage,

Nice strategies! I am defiantly going to take that idea into consideration next time I read my book.

Sincerely,
Olivia D.

Nathan

12/5/2014 12:46:50 am

Sage,
I also ask people what a word might mean. Do you go to a dictionary or computer when you are confused?
Yours truly, Nathan Mansfield. :)

Marc

12/5/2014 12:53:39 am

Dear Sage,
what was confusing about the bombing?

From,
Marc

Nathan

12/3/2014 09:41:35 am

Dear Class,

Although I cannot think of a particular book that has confused me, I do know that some books can be confusing at times, and these are the strategies that I find helpful. I hope you find them helpful too:

When I am reading a poem or play I like to read it aloud. The rhythm and rhymes seem to to give meaning/clarity. For example, Macbeth For Kids, By Lois Burdett, Is fun but uses Old English. As I said If you read it out loud, it seems to make more sense.
“I have a story from long ago, A tale of misery, heartache and woe My play is glutted with hatred and greed, And has a moral we should all heed. So sit back my good friends, and
I will unfold, A saga of passion that went uncontrolled.”

When I read a technical or scientific book, like my favorite architect book, sometimes I have to look up the meaning of words in a dictionary or a website or ask someone I know.

Sometimes I use my “looking for clues” strategy. If I don't understand a word, I look around the word to see if it mentions anything about the word. For example, the word might have a pronunciation and meaning in parentheses (pronunciation; meaning)

The final strategy, Is that some books have visuals, these can help me understand the words. I even use the theme to see why they would use that word.
Yours truly, Nathan Mansfield

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:27:56 pm

Dear Nathan,

What great strategies! That was so helpful to hear specific examples. I totally agree that reading poems or plays aloud is an important strategy. Authors of poems and play expect their work to be read aloud anyway. Plus, rhythm and rhyming are also fun to hear aloud!

You must read a decent amount of informational text. Those texts often have very big words that mean very specific things. Sometimes texts like that have glossaries in the back. Checking a glossary is a good strategy that I use often for scientific or historical texts.

Thanks for sharing!

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Nathan

12/5/2014 12:43:23 am

I agree, rhythm is fun to read with a group! one thing that really bug me is when a song is in a book and I have no idea how to read it! Sorry, SING it. I think Glossary's should be used more in books. especially when the book is directed to a younger audience.
Thank you for the feed back :D
Yours Truly, Nathan Mansfield.

Kaela

12/5/2014 12:55:00 am

Dear Nathan
Wow! Thats a lot of really good strategies. I will try to use them when I read. I am wondering what your favourite of your strategies is. Thank you for all the cool statives.

Mikey

12/3/2014 11:47:36 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,
I got confused when I read the book The Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac. I got confused because the author used many big words. I also got confused because he wrote an entire page of only dialogue and rarely said who was talking.

Sincerely,
Mikey

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:29:03 pm

Dear Mikey,

Big words and extensive dialogue are definitely things that confuse readers. What do you do to make sense of it all?

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Danny

12/5/2014 12:54:25 am

Dear,Mikey
that happened to me in my book two people were talking but it didm't say who was talking

Sofia

12/4/2014 05:09:18 am

Class,
In When You Reach me, Sometimes things can get a little confusing because the author talks/refers about/to what happens later in the book, which I didn't understand. I think for some books you have to reread a little, and sometimes just continue reading and you may find out later why that confusing part was really there.

Sofia

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:31:01 pm

Dear Sofia,

Stories with flashbacks (or in your case, flash forwards!) can get pretty confusing. You're right, sometimes you just have to continue reading and the confusion will be cleared up further in the story.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Sofia

12/5/2014 12:43:37 am

Ms.Kimball,

Sometimes when I don't understand what it means at all, and I don;t even understand that it's a flash forward, I'll try to think about how it was introduced, who said it, and how it was introduced, which will sometimes hint at how it is meant.

Sofia

Rheona

12/5/2014 12:51:26 am

Dear Sofia,
Do you ever think that it is annoying that he hints what is about o happen? if you where to re-write the book would you do that also or not also what else would you change.

Forrest

12/7/2014 10:04:37 am

Dear Sofia,

I never encountered that situation before but it sounds challenging. What types of things dose the author refer to? Does that happen to you often when you are reading this book? Great job Sofia!

Your class mate,

Forrest

Layla

12/4/2014 06:02:24 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,
I just finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Long Haul by Jeff Kinney. One confusing thing that the narrator (Greg) does sometimes is talk about times and experiences in the past. That is confusing to me because it's easy to forget that he's talking about something in the past because he tells the stories with a lot of detail and that makes the stories long.
From, Layla

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:32:52 pm

Dear Layla,

That's good point! I'm guessing Greg has a lot of flashbacks. The jumps in time can be hard to follow for many readers. What do you do to help keep track of it all?

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Sage P

12/5/2014 12:47:20 am

Dear Layla,
I can see how flashbacks are a little confusing. Do you have any stradegies for your confusion? I really like Diary of A Wimpy Kid books, do you?
From,
Sage P

Forrest

12/4/2014 07:39:23 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,

I am reading Where The Mountain Meets The Moon by Grace Lin. The author tells the story from two different perspectives. The author tells the story from the main character Minli’s perspective and then jumps to Minli’s parents (Ma and Ba’s) perspective. She does this in almost every chapter. For example in one chapter a tiger was jumping at Minli. Just as it was getting interesting and I was about to fall off my seat because I wanted to know if Minli would get caught the author switch to Ma and Ba’s perspective. At first it was really hard to keep switching perspectives throughout the story. My strategy was to stick with it because after a while I got use to it. It is good to know what is happening at home when Minli is away.

Yours truly,

Forrest

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:38:51 pm

Dear Forrest,

Switching perspectives in a story can be really hard to follow. Like you mentioned, a big challenge is when you're at a really exciting part and then suddenly the author switches to telling the story from the perspective of different characters, who are at a less exciting part. A book I read over the summer did that all the time! Sometimes the author wouldn't go back to the perspective of the character that I wanted to read more about until many chapters later. Once you get the hang of the switching, as you said, it's easier to follow. Also, then you get to see what other characters are up to in the meantime.

Thanks for sharing!

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Forrest

12/7/2014 09:55:28 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,

I agree that it is hard when it is very exciting. That happens a lot in this book and in the beginning it got really annoying! I really enjoy that you can see when Mini is doing something and when Ma and Ba are doing something. Thanks for your comment.

Yours truly

Forrest

Marc

12/5/2014 12:48:31 am

Forrest,
your strategy was a great option for this book! I once had to read a book like this and it got very confusing too. However, I used the same strategy as you did and I got through the book. Great choice Forrest!

Sincerely,
Marc

Forrest

12/7/2014 09:48:49 am

Dear Marc,

I really think that the strategy is useful and it lets you keep reading the book. Thanks for the comment Marc!

Your Class mate,

Forrest

Sage P

12/4/2014 09:02:22 am

Dear Class,

One time I was reading a book (I don’t remember the title) and I realized that I didn’t understand a lot of the parts in the book. Also, I didn’t know most of the vocabulary in the book. To deal with all of the confusion you should do the five finger test. You read about two pages in the book and if you come across more than five words that you don’t know, you should pick a new book. Another way to deal with your confusion, is read the part over. If you read the part over about 4 different times and you still don’t get it, you should pick a different book. Another way to deal with your confusion on the book is to see if your book is on your reading level. All you need to do is ask your teacher about the book and see what she/he thinks.

From,
Sage P.

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:46:34 pm

Dear Sage,

That is such a good point! Many times readers get confused for a good reason --because the book isn't "just right" for them. There is no point in forcing ourselves through a book that is written with language more complex that our brains can handle.

I remember one time I chose a book because I loved the cover art. I tried to read it, but had no clue what was happening. Every page had more than 5 words I didn't know, I couldn't follow the long sentences, and I didn't have much background knowledge on the topic. I should have given it up a lot sooner than I did, but I wanted to look cool reading it. So I trudged through the first part of it, was totally lost, then finally gave up. If only I had known your strategies. Two years later, I picked the book up again, and it made much more sense. I just needed to get my brain ready for it!

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Sage P

12/5/2014 12:39:27 am

Dear Ms.Kimball,
Thank you so much,for all of the great feedback! I hope you always pick the right book for you, not just to look cool. I have learned all of these ways to learn how to see if a book is to hard, from you! You helped me learn the 5 finger stragedy, Thank you!
From,
Sage P :)

Arim link

12/4/2014 10:59:01 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,

I sometimes get confused when I'm reading when I don't get something and think that the author made a mistake. Or, when I read the same line over again andante confused why there was the same thing. Or, when I keep reading and I get something when you can't forget something but I did, I don't get why they said it or why they did it.

These are the time I get confused.

From Arim.

Ms. Kimball

12/4/2014 01:55:29 pm

Dear Arim,

Some of those things happen to me too! What are some strategies that you use to clear up your confusion?

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Arim link

12/5/2014 12:41:23 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,

Some strategies that I use is see why I see the same line over and over again. Or when I forget something I read, I go back and see what they are talking about. And when I think that the author made a mistake I keep looking at the sentence and see if it makes sense. These are the strategies that I use to help myself, hope there good one.

From Arim

Layla

12/5/2014 12:37:07 am

Dear Sage W.,
That is a good way to clear up any confusion or questions. Maybe I should try that sometime.
From, Layla

Layla

12/5/2014 12:41:08 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,
To help keep track of all the flashbacks in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I reread the previous page to figure out if Greg is telling a story, or if he's talking about something in the present.
From, Layla

Sam

12/5/2014 12:56:30 am

Dear Ms. Kimball,
a book that I read were the author was very detailed and said things in different ways was Hugo by R.J. Everything was in different peoples perspectives so some times it could get confusing. I also didn't get that the chapters of the of the book were put in different peoples perspectives after I finished the book. I read the book for a second time and it all made sense and was very funny, interesting and sad. don't make my mistake when reading books see you soon.

Sincerely,
Sam

Marc

12/5/2014 09:11:50 am

Dear class,
A very confusing part in the maze runner is when Alby shot Ben in the head with a arrow. At that moment Thomas knew Ben was dead. However, a few days later Ben tried to attack one of the baggers, while they tried to bag him up. I got very confused by this because, the author had pretty much said that Ben was dead. What I did to clear this up was to reread. When I reread, I realized that the author had said that he looked lifeless. I think that rereading was a very good option for this, because one word can often throw off the whole text.

From,
Marc

Ms. Kimball

12/5/2014 09:19:00 am

Dear Marc,

So the author described the character Ben as "lifeless" and you interpreted that to mean "dead." You are so right that one word can throw off meaning. That has happened to me before and I did the same thing you did: reread. It can be just a word or a whole phrase that readers misinterpret, even if we know the meaning already. I'm glad recognized that something went funky in your understanding.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kimball

Yubin

12/6/2014 05:19:01 am

Dear Ms Kimball,

I read the book called, "You're Toast" by Nancy Loewen. At first, I thought the boy named Cory in this story was teasing his sister that she looks like a "Toast", but when I read the whole page, I learned that when Cory said his sister was a "Toast", he meant she had no chance of winning him. So "You're Toast" was a kind of a metaphor.

Sincerely,
Yubin

Sam

12/8/2014 10:40:50 am

Dear Yubin,
the book sounds very advanced in all the confusing reading and weird metaphors. But at the same time the book sounds like it has a very yet humorous plot. A question that I have on the book is does Cory really mean all the hurtful names he called his sister, let's hope not. Hope you're enjoying the book.

Sincerely,
Sam

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for
Ms. Kimball's Grade 5 At Underwood, 2014-2015

Relive the greatness of this unforgettable group of students, my fabulous fifth grade class from Underwood Elementary School in Newton.