Mr. Gall's Second Grade Class

Chapter Book Read Alouds

2009-05-25T08:47:00.003-04:00

Last week each student in my second grade class ranked their top five favorite chapter books that I read aloud during the school year. I totaled their rankings giving 5 points for a 1st place vote, 4 points for a 2nd place vote, etc.

Here are the results from their rankings. (Sorry for the blank space. Scroll down a ways to see the rankings.)

Rank	Title	Author	Poll Points
1	Where the Red Fern Grows	Wilson Rawls	60
2	Miles to Go	Miley Cyrus	57
3	Holes	Louis Sachar	38
4	The Tale of Despereaux	Kate DiCamillo	38
5	Shiloh	Phyllis Reynolds Naylor	28
6	Poppy	Avi	26
7	Summer of the Monkeys	Wilson Rawls	23
8	My Side of the Mountain	Jean George	18
9	The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane	Kate DiCamillo	15
10	Stone Fox	John Reynolds Gardiner	13
11	The Best Christmas Pageant Ever	Barbara Robinson	13
12	Wayside School (series)	Louis Sachar	12
13	Junie B. Jones books (series)	Barbara Park	9
14	Weird School books (series)	Dan Gutman	4
15	Flat Stanley	Jeff Brown	3
16	The Incredible Invention of Hugo Cabret	Brian Selznick	2
17	Scholastic Chapter Book Biographies	Peter Roop	2
18	Now You See Me . . . Now You Don't	Dan Greenburg	1
19	Ready Freddy – The Pumpkin Mystery	Abby Klein	0

In the many years that I have done these end-of-year polls, Where the Red Fern Grows has never finished anywhere but first. Although it was way closer this year than usual, probably in part because I just finished Miles to Go.

Edward Tulane should have finished higher, but I read it a LONG time ago and I think they kind of forget after a while. Also, many students really enjoyed the Wayside School series, but if I separate the three books it's hard to get consistent votes for them since students are only voting their top five overall books. I don't think lumping the three together gives perfect results though either - it sort of takes away from voting for a certain book.

I also read Holes last fall. It must have held up pretty well. It is REALLY good!

So So Excited

2009-05-13T15:00:00.002-04:00

Today it was inside recess because it was raining outside. In 2 more days it is going to be our field trip. I am so so excited to go. I am so so excited because I'm going to get to taste some choclate. After we go to the choclate factory we are going somewhere else. We don't know our groups. I think it is going to be so so so much fun. -Anna's journal

Read to Self

2009-05-12T15:00:00.002-04:00

At school it was very fun. I played with Elizabeth T. at lunch recess and last recess. We did Read to Self time today. I have good books to read. They are easy books to read. At school we are going to have a field trip. It will be on Friday. At the end of the school year we are gonna go to teh park. I had lots of fun today at school. -Yizel's journal

Baton

2009-05-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

Today I played with Erica. We played Bild a Bear Work Shop. But I scraped my nee. It really hurt. I read Poppy too. Tomorrow I get to go to Baton. My dad dosen't like when I have to go to Baton because he misses me and I miss him. -Miranda's journal

Spring Break

2009-04-14T15:14:00.002-04:00

On spring break I was soposed to go to the water park. But we actualy went to the mall and Hacienda and I went window shopping with Abby, Scott and Maddalin. Maddalin is, well, she can't talk and she does not walk. And the next day I went to the Hanna Montana movie. -Carly's journal

On spring brake on Monday I spent the night at my grandmas and grandpas. me and grandpa and my uncul Nick played the Xbox 360. The video games that we played were Monster Madness, Kande and Lench Dead Men, Star Wars Forse Unleasht, Marvall and Call of Dudey 4. -Logan's journal

On spring break when I went to my dad's house we made an opsticel course. We started at the botum of the hill. We went around a track twice. Then we got off our bike and went up the hill. then we went and pushed a plastic jeep. Next we stopped pushing the pastic jeep and jumped thrue two trackter tires. Then we ran up a ramp and zig zageged thrue chairs and got a lawn mower. We had a cotton ball and a spoon and drove the lawn mower to the other side and dropped the coton ball in a basket. We did that four times and if y ou beat the person who you were facing you win a football for first place. If you got second place then y ou got a parachoot rabbit. For the constlashon prize me and my brother tide. -Wyatt's journal

High Over the Bricks

2009-03-27T08:36:00.002-04:00

Today was fun. I played Kick the Ball Over the Fence. I caught a lot of soccer balls. I caught T.J.'s kick two times in a row. I caught some soccer balls when someone tipped it or when nobody was going to catch the ball I ran my hardest to catch the ball. -Evan's journal

Today was cool. We got to work on our non-fiction books. And I get to go to my Daddy's house. I went bowling last night. I won a clow game and I won a rag doll. Last night was fun. -Miranda's journal

Today I played tag. It was really fun. I only got tagged one time. I had to jump over the bricks so I didn't get tagged. I had to jump high over the bricks so I didn't fall. There were about 15 people. A few of them were Bryce, David and Nathan. -Cole's journal

A Funny Joke

2009-03-17T07:43:00.002-04:00

Today was fun! Ryan made a funny joke. This kid walks in to an ice-cream shop with two fake pistols. He says, "Give me vanilla." The ice cream man said, "Whats vanilla?" He says "give me some chocolate." "What's chocolate?" the ice cream man says. Give me some whipped cream, said the boy. What's whipped cream, says the ice-cream man. "Give me some peanuts with m&ms." said the boy. "What's peanuts with m&ms?" said the ice-cream man. The end. -Evan's journal

It Was Fun Until . . .

2009-03-11T15:06:00.002-04:00

Today was great, but I had a fite with my friend. And we had library. I got a book on panthers. It is good so far. I came to this page where the panther was up in a tree. And then I saw a page wear the panther was laying down in the grass with a man and the panther had sergery. -Miranda's journal

Today we played Indiana Jones. Me and Migel and Hunter played it. Today Jack went to Florda. I was sad because me and Migel and Hunter were the only ones playing. It was fun until we got in a fite. -Wyatt's journal

On Friday our class is going to go to the economy sale. I am going to get 27 dollars. But we get fake money. You get 30 dollars to start with. But each time you get a mark, you lose 1 dollar. It is in the 5th grade hallway. There are cookies, cupcakes, rice crispy treats, candy, nachso, and lots of other goodies. It is going to be fun (at least for me!) In between each economy this happens (except for the 27 dollars I have and the goodies don't come in between the economies.) -Evan's journal

A Shower From a Horse

2009-03-06T15:03:00.004-05:00

Today after last recess we went to the high school for Ag Day. there were a lot of animals. There were horses, puppies, cows, chicks, goats, a bunny and some goldfish. I got to pet a goat, horse, chick and a puppy. I got to hold a puppy. I got to pretend to drive the tractor. It was a fun day! -Evan's journal

Today my class had Ag Day. We had it in the High School. Ag stands for agruculture. When we got inside of the bilding they talked about farming. After they talked to us we went down the row and they talked about pizza and we got to eat pizza. After that we went in where the animals are. There were lots of animals. Some of them were puppys. I got to hold one. I also got to hold a chick. And Miguel got a shower from a horse. It was fun! -Jack's journal

Today after last recess we went to go to Ag Day. I got to pet a pig and I got to pet a goat. It was fun and I got to hold a chicken. I got to pet a dog. There was a tracter. I got to sit in it. It was fun. I had a great time. -Wyatt's journal

Today Was Great

2009-03-05T08:24:00.001-05:00

Today was great. I played on the swings. It was fun. And I read Junie B. First Grader Dumb Bunny, that's the title. I also did lisen to reading. -Miranda's journal

Hugo Cabret

2009-03-03T15:08:00.001-05:00

Today was an excelant day. Mr. Gall started a new book called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. he read a lot of it. He read 2 chapters of the book. The books has a lot of picters. -Tori's journal

II Get to Ride the Bus

2009-02-18T15:36:00.002-05:00

Today was fun. Did you have fun? I can tell that Mr. Gall did. We are doing our journals. It is olmost 3:00. I can't wait!!! Because I get to ride the bus home. Did you ever get to ride the bus? I love school. -Ashley's journal

Presidents Day

2009-02-16T15:48:00.002-05:00

Today is Presidents Day. We wached a vidio about Presidents Day. We have had 44 presidents. My favorite president is G.W. Bush because he was the president when I was born in 2001. -Miranda's journal

Abe Died

2009-02-06T15:01:00.001-05:00

Today we wached a video. It was a pretty good bideo. I was writing something and waching the video. One of his kids died. At the begining of the video both of his kids jumped on him. And at the end of the video Abe died. -Cole's journal

2009-02-04T08:24:00.002-05:00

Today we had one outside recess and one inside recess. The outside recess was the first recess and the inside recess was the last recess. After lunch recess Mr. Gall read us a book. The book was called Wayside School. When Mr. Gall read it Mrs. Jewels was so mean that she asked crazy questions. She asked, what is the capital of England. She asked, how do you make pickeles. She asked, well I think I forgot but she thretend Leslie that if she wouldn't get all of those queshtions right she would pour pickle juice over her head but just before she could pour it a boy just saved her pigtails. Instead Mrs. Jewels poured it on herself. -Carly's journal

A Good Substoot

2009-01-30T15:40:00.000-05:00

Today we had a substoot. Her name was Mrs. Buck. She is a good substoot. We didn't have gym because we had a two hour delay. At the end of the day we worked on our February calendar. I didn't get to finish mine. And at the end of the day we did journal. -Maria's journal

The Surprise

2009-01-28T15:11:00.002-05:00

Mr. Gall is reading Wayside School. The name of the author is Louis Sacher. We had a fire drill. The fire drill was after last recess. Lunch recess was cold. So was last recess. It was fun. At school we did practice tablit a lot of times. I lerned a lot of math. It is good to lerne about math. It makes you get smarter every time you do math. It is fun to do math more than one time. You should read a lot to gt smarter. And to get better at reading. -Yizel's journal

Today we were reading Wayside School. It is a book. Mr. Gall was reading it. In the book a boy always brings his food but he did not one day. He had to eat the spechal which was mushroom surprise. He got some and all the kids were standing there. He ate a bite and the kids thought that he would throw up. This girl whose name is Dede was trying to get out of there but there were too maney people in the way. Then a foow minets later they all left. Then he took another bite and his eyes turned a difernt coler. And it does not say what happins. I was mad. That is how my day went. -Brady's journal

Today we had a fire drill. That's why we put our coats on befor the fire drill. Sierra shut the door. Justin turned off the lights. Sierra was the last one in line. I think Evan was the first one in line. It was cold out there. -Maria's journal

Today was so fun. I can't tell you what we did. But I will tell you. Here I go. We did Daily 5, recess, we had a fire drill. Mr. Gall read a book. It was funny. For lunch in the book it was Mushroom Surprise. The surprise was KISSING!!! Everybody laft in the class. I love school. -Ashley's journal

Where the Red Fern Grows

2009-01-23T15:03:00.002-05:00

Spoiler Alert: Some of these tell the end of the story.

In a cupel days I am going to my grandma's house! Me and my couson Shannon are going to spend the night at my grandma's. -Tori's journal

Today we finished Where the Red Fern Grows. It was a very good story. The story was sad because Old Dan died and Little Ann died becaus she got in a fite with a cougar. And Old Dan died because he got split open. And Billy tried to protect the dogs, but the cougar was too strong. -Luis' journal

Where the Red Fern Grows is about Little Ann and Old Dan. The book was sad because Old Dan and Ann died. My favorite part was when the boy gets his dogs. -Anna's journal

Mr. Gall finished a book called Where the Red Fern Grows. The mane caracters were this kid named Billy and his two dogs. One dog is a boy. The uther dog is a girl. They are hunting dogs. The boy dog is named Old Dan. The girl dog is named Littel Ann. In the book the dogs fought a mounten lion. The author is named Wilson Rawls. It is a good book. -Jack's journal

Today Mr. Gall finished Where the Red Fern Grows. It was very sad when Billy's dogs die. It was a very good book. It was the best book of the year. I like it. It's a good book. Did I menchen I got the Bremen Honor Award. -Maria's journal

It Fell Out of My Hand

2009-01-22T15:02:00.003-05:00

Today we went swimming. Almost everybodey went on the diving bord. Mr. Gall and Mrs. Roobert had a ball they were throwing and we were trying to cach it. Nathin and T.J. caught it off the diving bord. I allmost caught it but when I hit the water it fell out of my hand. And a lot of people were yelling Brady, Brady. It was a fun day. -Brady's journal

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T15:08:00.003-05:00

Today is Inauguration Day. That means we get a new presedent. His name is Barack Obama. He is our 44th presedent. Cool hu? We wached it on TV and he also got sworn in. After that we made paper valentine bags. -Sierra's journal

Today we had inside recess. It was fun. After that we went back to our classroom. Then we all got to decerate our Balintine bags. Then after all the other stuff we all had to do journals. When we all got done with that it was time to go home. -Andrea's journal

Today are class started making our Valintine bags. I put a big hart and my name on my bag. Mr. Gall made one to. His bag had squars and his name on it. I'm going to show you mine and I'll show you the back. Making bags is fun. -Maria's journal

Today was alsome. My teacher Mr. Gall read my class a book called Where the Red Fern Grows. In the middle of the story there was a part where this boy named Reuben was running to stop a dog fight. He was carying an ax to kill this other boys dogs. The owner of the two dogs name is Billy. His dogs were killing Reubens dog. But on the way Reuben tripped on a stick and when he landed the ax blade ended up in his stumick. And did I mentchan Reuben had a brother named Rainy? -Carly's journal

I Got 2%

2009-01-09T15:47:00.002-05:00

Today were were woching a videow. It was called Bill the Smart Guy. Today we lerned about Ealechec. Did you know that pecel led can be Ealechec? This is how you do it. If you get two C baterys then you get two Ealechec cordes and tape it on the baterys. Put it in two glasses of water. It should bubble. -Brady's journal

Today I played in the snow. It is fun. My sox are soked. But it feels good but wet. It was fun because we played football. And my team won Bad!!!!!! And I was snowey and wet! I was on my cousings team. His name is Bryce. He is nice to me because I can BEAT him up. But not at school, at his house or at my house. I like to beat him because he fights back. And my mom makes me walk him to his house sometimes. And I trip him and he jumps on me. Then I shove him. And he shoves me back. And then we get in another fight and I win. And I almost made him cry one time. -Cole's journal

Today at school we had a time test. I got 48% and we had a spelling test. I got 2% on my spelling test. -Miranda's journal (Second graders are not experts at figuring percentage.)

Such A Baby

2009-01-08T07:46:00.002-05:00

My teacher Mr. Gall is reading Where the Red Fern Grows. We're at chapter six and this boy called billy got dogs. -Wyatt's journal

Today we had a math test. We only had 5 minutes to do a 100 math probloms. Do you know how many math probloms I got done? I only got 50 problems done. Evan got 95 problems done. Logan thought he wrote 48 problems but he really got 38 done. -Maria's journal

On Christmas day I visited my Great Gramma. I love her. I love my Great Gramma. She lives in a nersing home because she has Alzimers and I vizit her. -Miranda's journal

For Christmas break I had a hocky turnumint. It is called the three on three turnumint. My team won. We had good people. It was fun. There is a team we beat them so BAD that they had to put all of there players in. And my team didn't put all of the players in. the score was 17 to 0. That team is bad because my team beat them bad. One of there players was crying. He is a sore loser. Just because we won that bad. He is such a baby. -Cole's journal

Not Kick the Ball Over the Fence

2008-12-17T15:18:00.003-05:00

Today I'm going to church and we are having a Christmas Party. Then we are eating dinner ther. Then we are going hom. -Hunter's journal

Today I played in the snow. It was really fun. I played with Luis, David, and Brady. We made a snow floor because we didn't have to make anything. We rolde in the snow. And I rolde into a fence. It hurt. -Cole's journal

8 more days untill Christmas. Today I stayed inside for recess. Today I worked on my calender. Today I watched a video. It was funny. I like the video and the book. Today I mite go to my cousins. -Anna' journal

Today before we went to lunch the lunch ladies said that lunch resess was going to have reses outside. So we got our stuf on. After lunch they said that reses was going to be in the gym. So we plad in the gym for a wile. Then we lined up and went to our classroom. It was fun! -Jack's journal

Today at lunch recess they said it was outside recess but it was inside. At last recess they said it was inside but it was outside (the opisite.) I got so confused I couldn't think straght. In our classroom we have a timeline. It has things like when Squanto (a Native American) was born, when Barack Obama was born, and when John McCain was born too. It's fun having a timeline. -Evan's journal

Today at last recess me and Victoria played kickball, not kick the ball over the fence kickball, regular kickball. Some poeple not in are class but in a diffrent class like Mis. Dumphs and Mis. Mackenzy's played too. I'll tell you the kids that played with me. Andrea, Kristofer, Casondra, Role, and thats most of the people that played with me. -Maria's journal

Its Funniest Part

2008-12-10T15:03:00.002-05:00

Today was alsome. We had library. We finished a book called Ms. Holly is too Jolly. It was a really good book. This was its funniest part Andrea kissed A.J. And we are starting this new book called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I rote a note to Santa Claus. I colored three picters. One was Merry holding Jesus. The other one was a kid on a rocking horse. The last one was a Christmas tree. -Carly's journal

Today we had library. Then Mr. Gall picked us up from library. When we got downstairs Mr. Gall finished that book we were reading yesterday. The name of the book was Miss Holly is too Jolly. Oh and did I menchin Andrea kissed A.J. -Sierra's journal

I like the turtles. The turtles like me. -Harold's journal

Yesderday was fun. Evreybutey had fun. Today was fun too. It is olmoast time to go home. As I was saying what made yesderday so much fun was that I had Girl Scouts. And I even love school so so much. Did I ever tell you that I am in Mr. Gall's class? It is fun. -Ashley's journal

Crying in Our Milk

2008-12-02T15:29:00.001-05:00

Today I had 5 dollers. Do you know why I had 5 dollers? Because are class went to the bake sale. I had to spend one doller to get a hot dog and I had to spend three dolelrs to get like twenty cookys and then I looked for pop but I didin't find nun. -Maria's journal

Today we had the bake sale. The prices were 50 cents, 25 cents, 25 cents. I spent $1.00 in all. I bought a cupcake, a bag of popcorn, and a rice crispy treat.
Harold can find anything. He found our soccer ball. If it weren't for Harold we would have been crying in our milk the rest of the year. -Evan's journal

Today was fun. I loved it. I gess evereyone loved it. It is oamost time to go home and it is oamsot 3:00. I can't wait intil school tomrrow. School is fun this year. It is so so fun. I love school so much. -Ashley's journal

Today we had the bake sale. I had a bag of popcorne and some chocolate cuvord pretls. It was good. -Cole's journal

Today it was the bake sale. Cole and me shared because I didn't have eney mony. We got popcorn and got prtsols with choclit all over. It was fun. Coles mony fell in his popcorn. Then we saw a video. It was fun to but the bake sale was better. -Luis' journal

Today we went to the bake sale. My mom gave me mony for the bake sale. There was a long line. I bought a got dog, popcorn, and a browny. I had to pay 2 dolers for all of it. -Jack's journal