The first Grand Discussion of the year was held on Thursday night and what a night it was! We had 42 students and parents come in to discuss Barbara Kerley's book Greetings From Planet Earth. The book is from 2007 and I kind of forgot how much I liked it. When we began kicking around titles for the year, none of the new stuff really struck me as being good for this event, so in looking through my reading journal I pulled this one out. Lots of questions is one of the themes in the book so it really worked well for our group.The initial reaction to the book was "Why did you pick this one!?"
My response was always, "Keep reading."
The final reaction upon finishing the book was always, "Ohhhhhhh, I get it, good choice."
We enjoyed a lively conversation. I was very impressed with the exchange of ideas between kids and adults. Sometimes, we big people think our ideas are WAAAAY better than our kids and we just need to be quiet and listen. That was the atmosphere at Thursday's discussion. As you can see in the picture, everyone is engaged, that's my discussion partner Joyce in the white vest.
One of the young men at this table came up with the interesting theory that everything in the story revolved around the eating of french fries! He was able to tie everything that happened to Theo and the discovery of his father back to that event in the book. When I listened and thought about what he was saying, I was amazed at how right he was! See, just be quiet and listen, these kids are smart!
All in all, it was a "grand" evening spent with awesome kids, fantastic parents, yummy chocolate chips baked on parchment paper, and intelligent conversation about a wonderful book. Here's the group with a salute to Barbara Kerley for her fabulous book!
