Wander into Wonder By:Audra Lozina

The Mega Minds are reading aloud and harvesting interesting words from the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Wonder is a #1 New York Times Bestseller about a boy named Auggie who was homeschooled for his whole life until he gets to fifth grade. The Mega Minds love reading the book together because it is a group activity where they can all share ideas as a class.

Wonder is in a trilogy of books with, Auggie and Me and 365 Days of Wonder. Auggie and Me is a book that is divided into three stories, featuring Julian, Pluto, and Shingaling. Each story is retold in a different perspective from the characters.

365 Days o f Wonder is a full year of precepts from Mr. Browne, Auggie’s teacher who just loves precepts. The first precept in the book is:

“We carry within us the wonders we seek around us.” -Sir Thomas Browne

The Mega Minds are harvesting words because they were inspired by the book The Boy Who Loved Words. Here are some of their exceptional word choices:

Word #pg #votesElective 17 1Schlep 32 16 Padawan 57 3 Heaving 87 1 Diva 27 1Precepts 24 0Aversion 70 3

The children visualize every part of Wonder like they are watching a 3D movie. They feel they can “wander their way into Wonder.” What’s your favorite Wonder word?

Crazy Spelling Projectsby Cordelia Watson

In classroom 205, there were some crazy spelling projects made by the Mega Minds. The kids in the class took their spelling lists and made different spelling projects. Some of the projects the kids made were: matching games, a monopoly like game, and Flick It (a game where you Flicked a coin that landed on a definition. Then you and had to find the word that went with that definition).

Others students wrote a stories using their spelling words. Ryan wrote a story about a scientist that went to college. Ryan remarked, “It took a lot of time and you needed to know the meaning of the spelling words to write the story.”

When interviewed, Violet commented on what she liked best about the projects, “I liked how Mrs. Armbruster wrote letters to the children about how good their games were and how the note made me feel happy.”

J.J. Wright reported, “The games were hard to make and took a lot of time, but they are a lot of fun to play.”

There will be monthly spelling projects due at the end of each month for the Mega Minds. Students will have to use the new lists of spelling words each month and using at least 10 spelling words (five from each spelling list) to make a game, write poems, or create a story. I wonder what crazy spelling projects 205 is going to make next time.