Rate this book

School Days According To Humphrey (2011)

by Betty G. Birney(Favorite Author)

4.31 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0399254137 (ISBN13: 9780399254130)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Putnam Juvenile

series

According to Humphrey

review 1: This book is appropriate for Second Grade and Up. Written in the perspective of Humphrey, the classroom hamster. Excited to be in Classroom 26 are. He believes that they are in the wrong room, but finally understands that these kids are his new classmates and so he wants to learn all about them. Activities:1) Why do you think Humphrey believes the students are in the wrong classroom?2) Have you ever had to adjust to a new setting? How were you able to transition?3) How did Mrs. Brisbane's class go from being the worst class to the best class in the world?4) Why didn't Mrs. Brisbane's class from last year get a new hamster and frog for their new classroom. Do you agree, why or why not?Provide a list of possible class pets that your students can choose from. Then have each s... moretudent write down one of them on a piece of paper. Split the students into groups based off of which animal they chose. Have them create a letter to you to try and convince you as to why their animal is the best choice. The winner is the group who has no spelling mistakes, good word choice, good sentence flow, etc.Birney, B. (2011). School Days According to Humphrey. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
review 2: I really enjoyed this installment! I loved that Room 26 had a whole new class of students, with a whole new set of problems. I also appreciated that it took time for Humphrey to get used to his new classmates. Even as an adult, sometimes I have to remind myself that you can't compare people you've just met with people you've known for years and years. Friendships take time to develop. I especially liked the way Mrs. Brisbane handled the two students whom Mrs. Wright accused of misbehaving. I have very strong childhood memories of feeling like I was treated unjustly by a teacher, usually because the teacher made an assumption based on a moment's observation, and I was too shy or too scared to speak up for myself. I so very appreciated the way Mrs. Brisbane took the time to calmly speak with the students to get their sides of the story. While I read this book with the enthusiasm of potentially giving it a 5-star rating, in the end I had to go with 4 1/2. One reason was the annoying overuse of the word "unsqueakably". When Humphrey first used that word in previous books, I thought it was cute! But suddenly, in this book, he seems to be using it all the time. Also, I get that Humphrey is supposed to help out the class, but maybe the way he helped out Mrs. Brisbane in this book would have gone over better if Mrs. Brisbane had been a new teacher, like Ms. Mac. I just thought it was ridiculous that Mrs. Brisbane, a 30-year teaching veteran praised for being a great teacher, wouldn't herself know how to best match up students for classroom jobs! less

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