Family Book Club: Because of Mr. Terupt

Last night we had our Family Book Club for the book Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea (we learned it's pronounced Boo-Yay! How fun is that?!) It was a cute book about the antics of a fifth grade class and their teacher. Lots of lessons are learned along the way and friends are made, then lost, then made again. And, of course, there's "the accident." The book has 8 main characters and they each share their perspective on different events that happen each month. It was just screaming for a little discussion on character development and how a book should show growth from the beginning to the end in the main characters. So of course Pinterest had some great ideas that I borrowed. We made a chart to help us discuss each of the characters and get a better idea of who they were. We brainstormed about their main character traits, strengths, weaknesses/conflicts in their lives, and lessons learned. One of the cool things this book points out is that you may know the kids in school, but not know what their home life is like. It's that whole idea of being kind to everyone because they might be fighting battles you know nothing about. I was really impressed with how well the kids seemed to understand the characters.

Then we had to play a dollar word game. In the book, Mr. Terupt assigns them to find dollar words. Each letter of the alphabet is worth something. A is 1 cent, B is 2 cents, etc. You have to find a word where all the letters add up to exactly $1. It's actually pretty darn hard! So to make it easier a lovely teacher from the website teacherspayteachers has made a free downloadable page that has clues written on dollar bills. For example, one said pachyderms which would help you figure out that "elephants" is a dollar word. Or another compound word for barbeque (cookout.) Or another word for grouchy, irritable or ornery (grumpy.) We had lots of fun playing with those and the kids were so excited whenever they found a dollar word, especially Zac since he has been trying to come up with dollar words for the past few days just on his own. The closest he has gotten was something like Beautifulaaa, which isn't exactly a word! It was a great game for making math exciting.

Then we had Snowballs for dessert. A snowball plays a pretty big part in the Main Event. Not to give anything away or anything, but Drake was acting out the incident with his snowball!

We had a fun time with this book and with the discussion night. I really hope my kids picked up on the concept of being kind to everyone because you don't want to add to their burdens. Next we are going to read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. I read it a few years ago and loved it. I'm just hoping my kids are old enough to understand it. It's got a wee bit of a twist! We shall see!