{"id":3938,"date":"2026-07-31T07:07:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/?p=3938"},"modified":"2026-07-31T07:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:07:25","slug":"back-to-school-great-students-and-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/?p=3938","title":{"rendered":"Back to School: Great Students! and Novels!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. <\/em><\/strong>
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” <\/em>– Dr. Seuss<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah… time for school to start up once again! Students report on Monday and I’ll be ready to go. My room is set, plans have been made, and I’m looking forward to meeting a – hopefully eager – group of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade boys and girls. After seeing last year’s 6th graders promoted up to junior high (I’ll truly miss that group), I anticipate about 75 students this year. The only class I teach is ELA: English and Literary Arts. But, I think of my class as ELC: English, Literature, and Communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be the usual grammar lessons (English), reading age-appropriate novels, with one assigned book each quarter (that’s the Literature part). And there will be plenty of writing (that’s the Communication part).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first two assigned books for my 6th grade classes will be a first quarter reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream<\/strong><\/em>, followed in the second quarter by A Christmas Carol<\/em><\/strong>, by Charles Dickens. Shakespeare will be toned down to modern English, but this play, as well as the novel will certainly be a challenge, especially for my multi-cultural students. They will need instruction on some of the vocabulary words, as well as the distinctions of British society in the days depicted. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The second half of the year will include a more contemporary novel, The Lightning Thief<\/em><\/strong>, by Rick Riordan. This book will be easier to read than the two mentioned above, but it’s much longer. In addition, because this novel is based somewhat on Greek mythology, we will have a look at a few of those great classical stories from long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My 4th and 5th grade students will be reading a mix of recent authors like Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, Roald Dahl, and others. Also, I really enjoy having the 6th graders read The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em><\/strong>, by C.S. Lewis. This will be their book for the third quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In addition to the quarterly books that will be assigned, students have the opportunity to borrow books from my in-class library. Most of these books are classic novels and Newberry or Caldecott Award winners, a collection of more than 300 volumes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So then, if you are a praying person, please bring my students before the Lord, asking Him to increase their knowledge, their skills and abilities, and that He will wonderfully bless their school year with advancements beyond what they, or I, could ever imagine. Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally\u2026 Check out my new YouTube channel which is dedicated to encouraging parents and grandparents to read to their children and challenging parents to get their children to read great books. You will find me on YouTube: @JeffMichaelsTN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9<\/strong> 2026 Jeffery J. Michaels \/ Plain English Publications<\/strong>
(Quotations allowed with attribution to this blog)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss Ah… time for school to start up once again! Students report on Monday and I’ll be ready to go. My room is set, plans have been made, and I’m looking forward … Continue reading Back to School: Great Students! and Novels!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3938"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3970,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions\/3970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}