What Are You Reading?

Here at YSEL camp, an important component is the Reading class.  Students develop their reading skills and move beyond basic word recognition to a more in-depth understanding of reading a book such as understanding the main idea, characters, setting, writing responses to what they read and develop critical thinking skills about what they read.  Below are just a few responses from some of our readers at camp.

By The Great Horn Spoon, by Sid Fleischman.  “This book is about the California Gold Rush and tells about the journey of one boy and his friend from Boston to California by way of Cape Horn.  I find this book very interesting—the journey on the ocean, how people traveled to California. It is also helping me develop my reading skills. If I can finish this book, I can read many more books.”  Dawit Mekonen, Maychew, Tigray region

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.  “The book is more interesting than the movie.  There are more characters in the book and some of the actions were different.  I find the book a bit challenging to read because of many new words and some of the concepts.  We have 7 chapters left to read in the book and I look forward to finding out what happens in the end.”  Duguma Yeshitla, Adama, Oromia Region

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo.  “I like this book because it is different from the first book we read (Seed Folks).  The main character is a horse named Joey and we know how he is feeling since he is telling the story.  In a specific amount of time, Joey learns a lot of things about war and people.  He gets separated from different people and Joey learns about life from these experiences. The setting is in Great Britain and France during World War I.  I’m learning about this period of time so it is interesting for me.  We saw some of the movie and it is a bit different from the book.  We are almost done with the book and I look forward to finding out what happens in the end.”  Redeat Moges, Addis Ababa