Sideways Back-to-School Stories from Lafayette LMC

It’s the first day of school.  Our imaginations and our backpacks are packed. Our minds and our pencils are sharpened. We’re ready to travel the literacy superhighway, and we're planning to explore some scenic reading backroads, too. Welcome to Lafayette School Reading Road Trip!  This year, our reading adventures will take us all over the map and across the timeline of history.  Fasten your seatbelts and get your bookmarks in gear.  And remember:  where we’re going, we don’t need roads!

Let’s get started with a few sideways back-to-school stories from one of Lafayette’s favorite authors, Louis Sachar:

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar (RL 3.9). Humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.

Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar (RL 3.9). More humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, where students learn to tango, face the cafeteria's dreaded mushroom surprise, and study a hobo during show-and-tell.

Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar (RL 3.3). Unusual things continue to happen in the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.

Use your noodle!  Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School and More Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School (RL 5.1) contain oodles of math puzzles and brainteasers.

Check out this Sideways Stories comedy short, featuring Reading Road Tripper Charlie T. and his Dad, a Lafayette LMC volunteer:

Dig into an award-winning book!  Holes by Louis Sachar (RL 5.1).  As further evidence of his family's bad fortune, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a nightmarish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.  Reading Road Tripper Mila C. recommends this Newbery Medal winner to friends who are looking for adventure and suspense—and buried treasure-- in their reading!   


Let’s try our hand at a Holes-inspired treasure hunt: The Treasure of Green Lake. When we’re tired of digging, we can take a break with the Holes Match ‘em up Challenge game.  Just click on the red-highlighted words.

Back-to-school books by Andrew Clements are very cool!

Frindle by Andrew Clements (RL 4.8). When he decides to turn his fifth-grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control.

No Talking by Andrew Clements (RL 5.0). The noisy fifth grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth grade girls to a "no talking" contest.

Lunch Money by Andrew Clements (RL 5.4). Twelve-year-old Greg has always been good at moneymaking projects.  He’s surprised, however, to find himself teaming up with his lifelong rival Maura to create a series of comic books to sell at school.

Troublemaker by Andrew Clements (RL 4.4). When his older brother gets in serious trouble, sixth-grader Clay decides to change his own mischief-making ways—but he cannot seem to shake his reputation as a troublemaker.

 


Visit Andrew Clement’s Website to read an author biography, to learn more about Troublemaker and other books, and to explore some fun extras.

Meet new friends in the LMC! Daphne’s Diary of Daily Disasters by Marissa Moss introduces fourth grade diarist and doodler Daphne Davis… she’s sure to become a Lafayette favorite!

In The Name Game! (RL 2.8), Daphne uses her diary to chronicle her first day of fourth grade, which does not turn out to be as wonderful as she expected, thanks to a series of unfortunate mishaps.

In The Vampire Dare! (RL 3.6),  Daphne Davis draws and writes about her attempt to stop classmates from thinking she has cooties after what she thought would be a "cool" vampire outfit makes her the laughingstock of costume day.

Looking for a fun and fast-paced book?  Hang out with the NERDS! The madcap NERDS series by Michael Buckley combines the excitement and adventure of international espionage with the challenges and misadventures of elementary school. NERDS features a group of unpopular students who run a spy network from inside their school.  With the help of cutting-edge science, their nerdy qualities are enhanced and transformed into incredible abilities!  We can spend time with the NERDS at their official Website.  And while we’re getting nerdy, let’s pay a video visit to NERDS author Michael Buckley:

NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society (RL 5.3). Five unpopular misfits combine their talents and use cutting-edge gadgetry to fight evil around the world.

M is for Mama’s Boy (RL 5.3). Led by Duncan "Gluestick" Dewey, the NERDS team uses brain power and courage rather than gadgets when they face off against super-villain Simon, his band of savage squirrels, and Albert, a middle-aged computer genius who lives with his mother.

The Cheerleaders of Doom (RL 5.1). Matilda "Wheezer" Choi, an asthmatic who uses nanobyte-enhanced inhalers and hates anything girlie, must infiltrate the cheerleading squad when former member of NERDS turned villain, Gerdie Baker, becomes a cheerleader and starts pillaging other worlds with the assistance of a device the criminal mastermind Simon helped her make.

Lafayette School's Library Media Specialist Mrs. Cifrodella—and trusty library aides Mrs. LaChance and Mrs. Massam—welcome you to the Lafayette LMC.  We invite you to join our Reading Road Trip. Lafayette Reading Road Trip… It’s Where the Reading Meets the Road!