Aug 26, 2026
Middle school reading classes have been reading selections from the curriculum, reading their independent reading books, and have completed a class novel at each grade level.
The seventh graders read the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Upon completing the novel, the students watched the movie, in which they made a comparison and contrast to the book.
The eighth graders read The Giver by Lois Lowry. The students were able to watch the movie and they too, compared and contrasted the novel and the movie.
Student reactions to the novel and movie have been the following:
“I Loved the movie.”
“The movie was great but different from the book.”
“The movie was ok so was the book.”
“The movie was good, it had a lot of detail but didn’t stick to the book.”
We are about to embark on literature circles with new class novels at both grade levels. Through the independent reading time and with class novels that the goal is for students to find “the reading flow”, (K. Gallagher) which is when you are so into the book/novel that you just do not want to put it down.