ELA with Mrs. Lowenstein's Class at YOSS

The Fifth Grade students in Mrs. Lowenstein's ELA Enrichment class have focused on BookClub meetings this year to study several books. The two clubs work independent of each other reading different books. BookClubs are student run and evaluated. Assignments, leadership, and discussions are managed on a rotating basis. Each book completion has emphasized a different type of writing to follow up.

The current book, The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, is the first book both clubs are reading concurrently. Known to be a zany book of much nonsense about worlds turned upside down and conventions totally reversed, The Phantom Tollbooth is great fun and evokes much laughter. Writing to accompany it is also funny; the students are writing a parody about school.

In fact, to break one convention, the students took their second drafting activity to the new school building's Conference Room, (with permission) which is reserved for important meetings. Their writing session was quite important, of course, and great work was accomplished in such a dignified setting, despite occasional peals of laughter. Note: Students were careful not to spin completely around in the executive chairs.