There are several pros to using a Home Reading blog rather than a Home Reading worksheet. One advantage of using a home reading blog is that you have more time to complete it (Monday through Sunday, rather than Monday through Friday for a home reading sheet). Another advantage is that you get to communicate with other people in your class about your reading. Also, you get to practice your typing. These are all the pros that I can think of.

There are also several cons to using a Home Reading blog rather than a Home Reading worksheet. One disadvantage is that it only takes about ten minutes to fill out the home reading worksheet, but it takes me an hour or more to complete my work on the blog. Another disadvantage is that it takes an extra long time if you have slow (dial-up) internet, which is all that is available in our area. Also, the blog requires that you have a computer handy, while the home reading worksheets can be done anywhere (even in the car!). Finally, the blog drives my mom nuts because it puts me in a bad mood and she has to proof read my work, while I can be more independent on the home reading worksheets. These are my thoughts on blogging.

I am reading The Witches by Roald Dahl. In my last reading, the little boy and his Grandmama moved from their house in Norway to the little boy's old house in England. The little boy and his new friend built a tree house together. Later that day, he met a suspicious lady with a green snake. He thought she was a witch. One of the questions that I had was, will the boy meet any more witches? I wouldn't want to meet a witch. One of the other questions that I had was, will the boy get to go back to Norway? I don't think he will. I wonder if the kids' grandmother will tell him more about witches. My prediction for this week's reading is that the boy's grandmama would plan something fun for them to do. I think that because his grandmama realized that the kid didn't want to leave Norway, so she planned something fun for both of them so he would be happy.

When I read, I found out that the boy's Grandmama did plan something fun, but it was canceled because she got pneumonia. I also found out that they didn't move back to Norway and the little boy did not meet any more witches (yet). Instead of going back to Norway for the summer, the boy and his Grandmama went to a fancy hotel in England, and the Grandmama gave her grandson two white mice to play with. That made the hotel manager very unhappy with them. As I was reading, I had trouble with the word corridor. I read around it and looked at the picture and thought it meant hallway. Mom said I was right.

I am reading The Witches by Roald Dahl. In my last reading the narrators' grandmama was telling him how to identify a witch and how dangerous they can be. One of the questions that I hope to answer in my next reading is, will the little boy ever meet a witch? I would not want to meet a witch! What would a witch try to do to him if he met one? I wonder why his grandmama knows so much about witches. Maybe it has to do with her missing thumb. I think that my next reading will be about the kid meeting a witch. I think this because his grandmama told him that he might meet a witch like she did.

When I read I found out that grandmama did not tell her grandson about her missing thumb, but she did tell him about the grand high witch and how she controls every witch. The grandmama and her grandson moved to England, where he had lived before his parents died. I also found out that the little boy did meet a witch that had a snake. He got away from her fast. One of the words I had trouble with was pheasant. I looked at the picture and decided that a pheasant is a type of bird people eat. I asked my mom and she said that I was right.

I am reading The Witches by Roald Dahl. In my last reading the narrator's grandma was telling him how dangerous witches are. She said that witches squelch kids and make them disappear. I wonder what his grandmama will tell him next about witches. Will she tell him about witches she has seen? How do you even know if someone is a witch? I think that in the next chapter the kid's grandmother will continue her story about witches. The reason I think this is because she tells him about witches every night before bed.
When I read, I found out that the grandmama told her grandson all the ways to recognize a witch. First, witches wear gloves because they do not have fingernails. Second, because witches are bald they must wear a wig. Third, witches have big nostrils for smelling kids. Fourth, witches' pupils change colors. Fifth, witches' shoes don't fit well because they don't have toes and their feet are square. Lastly, their spit is blue and they can write with it. I still think his grandmama is making it all up. One of the words I had trouble with was conceal. I read around the word and found out that it meant to hide. I asked my mom and she said that I was right.

I am reading The Witches by Roald Dahl. In my last reading the narrator's Grandmama was telling him how dangerous witches were. One question I had was will the boy stay in Norway? I predict that he will because he is living with his Grandmama now and her house is in Norway. Another question I had was how do witches make children disappear? I wonder if the witches eat them like in the B.F.G.

In my reading this week, I discovered how witches make children vanish. Grandmama and the boy (who are still in Norway) talked about five children that Grandmama saw disappear over the years. The first child went away with a tall lady with white gloves on. She was never heard from again. The second child ate an apple from a strange lady. The next day she disappeared and was found feeding the ducks in an oil painting. The third child started growing feathers and turned into a chicken. The fourth child turned to stone, and the last child turned into a porpoise. I would be freaked out if any of those things happened to me. Being a porpoise might be sort of cool though. As I was reading I wondered what the word fjord meant. I read around the word and looked at the picture, which made me decide that it must be some kind of body of water. I looked it up in the dictionary and found out that it meant "a narrow inlet of sea between cliffs and steep slopes". I wonder if the boy will meet any witches in my next reading...

I am reading Witches by Roald Dahl. Before I began reading I predicted that this book would be about a bunch of bad witches who went around casting mean spells on people. Will this book be similar to the other Roald Dahl books I've read? Will it take place in England like some of his other books? I hope to find these things out as I read.

When I read I found out that the witches only cast spells on kids. I also discovered that the book mostly takes place in Norway. The narrator of the story is a little boy. His parents are killed in a car accident, so he goes to live with his grandmother in Norway. She tells him stories about how witches carry children away. The little boy thinks his grandmother is making these stories up, and I did too. While I was reading I had trouble with the word barghest. I read around it and decided that a barghest is a bad, magical person. My mom and I looked for the word barghest in the dictionary, but it was not there. We looked it up on the internet, and it said that a barghest is "a monstrous dog with huge teeth and claws from the area around Yorkshire, northern England. It only appears at night."
(from www.pantheon.org/articles/b/barghest.html). Now I know what a barghest is. I'm looking forward to reading more of this book.

I've been reading To Walk The Sky Path by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. In my last reading, Tiger and Mush Jim went to their old island to find a new spot to build a chickee for Abraham and Sihoki. They found out that hunters had established a camp on the old island already. Abraham was so upset that he sat outside of the chickee all day and all night without eating. How will the family make him feel better? Will the family find a better island for Abraham and Sihoki to settle on? I wonder what Abraham is thinking about. I predict that in my next reading, the family will find a new island for Abraham and Sihoki to settle on.

This week, I read the rest of the book. I found out that the family did not find a new island, but that Abraham died. The whole family was sad. I can relate to this because my family and I were sad when my grandfather died last fall. The men and boys in the family carried Abraham's body in a canoe to a faraway island in the Everglades to bury him. He was buried with his favorite things but they had to be broken first to release their spirits to travel with him. Billie thought about Abraham still being alive in spirit because of the stories he had told and the memories he left. A word that I needed clarified was limpkin. I read around it and figured out that it must be some kind of animal. My mom told me that it was a bird. We looked it up in the bird book together.