The Finisher

The Finisher

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Finishers Welcome Their First Guest Reader!


The November meeting was held at Fuddrucker's in Calumet City. Desmond Smith, our first Guest Reader, made a good meeting great! We discussed Among the Hidden, a book that got 4.5 stars and was profoundly moving. It sparked a deep conversation, touching on topics like injustice, genocide, slavery and totalitarianism. All this brilliance from boys aged 9-12!

On a lighter note: the boys enjoyed learning about Desmond's Kindle and they created a Finisher's theme song!

We're delighted that Desmond will be joining us on occasion for other meetings!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Finishers Earn Their Shirts!


The bad photo to the right shows the triumphant Finishers modeling their new shirts! They earned the shirts by completing the summer project. The bad photo is the result of Mari forgetting to bring her camera.

The October meeting was held at Leona's, where the Finishers ate--not pizza--but huge burgers and discussed Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. The book got 4 stars from the guys!

We've read Among the Hidden for November's meeting and the book chosen for the December meeting is The Wizard of Oz.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Vote for the December Book!!

You've probably seen the movie, but do you really know the story of the Wizard of Oz? What about Alice in Wonderland or the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

This month's choices are all books from which movies were made. Let's learn the real story. How much did the movies leave out? Would the missing pieces have made a better movie or just a LONGER one?



The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Follow the adventures of young Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto, as their Kansas house is swept away by a cyclone and they find themselves in a strange land called Oz. Here she meets the Munchkins and joins the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion on an unforgettable journey to the Emerald City, where lives the all-powerful Wizard of Oz.









Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
What happens when the five luckiest children in the entire world walk through the doors of Willy Wonka's famous, mysterious chocolate factory? What happens when, one by one, the children disobey Mr. Wonka's orders? In Dahl's most popular story, the nasty are punished and the good are deliciously, sumptuously rewarded.


Alice in Wonderland
The strange adventures of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world full of peculiar, yet engaging, creatures. Many of these characters, including the White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter and March Hare, are known to almost all of us. But, do you know the Jabberwocky?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Big Changes for the Finishers!


The Finishers Read!

The boys have an official club T-shirt and a new motto: F3P. F3P is pronounced "F cubed P" and means Finishers have Faith, Focus and Perseverance.

The shirts must be earned (the boys have to prove they are Finishers by completing the summer assignment).

New October Book

Mari is happy to report that the Finishers changed their minds! Instead of reading Twilight for the October meeting, we will be reading Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz.




The September Meeting

The Finishers' back-to-school adventure was a trip to Radke's Orchard in Michigan City Indiana, where they enjoyed a couple of exciting tractor rides and picked apples and pears (sorry, no photos--the photographer was picking apples and pears, too). The boys agreed that the trip should be an annual event.

Then it was on to Denny's in Michigan City for lunch and a discussion of Gifted Hands, the autobiography of Dr. Ben Carson. Mari's sporting the new shirt; she finished the summer assignment!

Last, but not least:
Congratulations to "I" for making the school basketball team!!!


The Book for November

The voting was close; at one point we had a two-way tie.
The winner and book to be read for November's meeting is....

Check next month to vote on the book for December!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Finishers' Summer Project





Finishers' Summer Project
Book Report




What you need:
1 spiral notebook
1 pen

What you do:
Write one paragraph (at least 3 sentences) for EACH chapter of the book. There are 22 chapters.

What's the BIG IDEA?
In each paragraph, give your thoughts on the chapter. What was the main point (the BIG IDEA) of the chapter.

The Title Page:
The first page of your notebook (the title page) should contain:
1. Your name
2. Title of book
3. Author or authors
4. Publisher and city
5. Copyright date

Introduction:
One or two paragraphs, in your own words, introducing the subject of the book.

Next:
Your BIG IDEA chapters come next, one on each page. Remember to put the title of the chapter on the first line of each page.

Last, but not least:
Make a MY REVIEW page. Here's where you give your opinions on the book: what you thought, what you liked, what you didn't.

OK, Finishers, this is a big project, but you've got TWO months to do it. YOU SHOULD HAVE FINISHED THE BOOK BY NOW!

The next book club meeting is the kick-off for the school year.
It will be Saturday, September 18, 2010. Expect something special!!

The book for October, chosen unanimously by the Finishers (who ignored Mari's objections) will be...


The November Books


Black and Blue Magic
by Zilpha Keatley Synder

You'd think that someone with a name like Harry Houdini Marco would be clever and skillful, but Harry could only occasionally catch even an easy fly ball without making some dumb error. On top of that, most of his friends' families were moving to the suburbs. It would have been a long, dreary summer, but then a Mr. Mazeeck showed up and Harry got the gift of flight.


The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a decent jumpshot, spends his time lamenting life on the "poor-ass" Spokane Indian reservation, drawing cartoons (which accompany, and often provide more insight than, the narrative), and, along with his aptly named pal Rowdy, laughing those laughs over anything and nothing as best friends do. When a teacher pleads with Arnold to want more, to escape the hopelessness of the rez, Arnold switches to a rich white school and immediately becomes as much an outcast in his own community as he is a curiosity in his new one.


Among the Hidden

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.

Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows -- does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?


Soldier Boys

by Dean Hughes

Parallel stories follow teenagers Spence Morgan, a farm boy from Utah, and Dieter Hedrick, a farm boy from Bavaria. Stirred by complex feelings of patriotism and adolescent insecurities, both young men find themselves fighting for their respective countries in World War II. The first part of the story follows Spence from his small-town life to the rigors of basic training as a paratrooper; Dieter has left his family in order to supervise other Hitler youth, digging trenches on the German border. Then suddenly, both teens are thrust into the chaos and carnage of the Battle of the Bulge.


Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The First Finshers Meeting


The Finishers read The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan for their first book club selection in March 2010. They enjoyed a meal at Panera Bread before the meeting.