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Read Wayside School Is Falling Down (1990)

Wayside School Is Falling Down (1990)

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Rating
4.16 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0380731509 (ISBN13: 9780380731503)
Language
English
Publisher
avon camelot

Wayside School Is Falling Down (1990) - Plot & Excerpts

1. Fantasy2. In this wacky school, where the students in Mrs. Jewls's class must climb 30 flights of stairs to get to their classroom, all kinds of things are always happening whether its Benjamin (whose just moved here from Magadomia!) who pretends that his name is really Mark Miller so that he doesn't upset his new teacher Mrs. Jewls's, or students taking up the whole lesson talking about socks, or Dana whose not quite sure whether or not she likes humans or not, even though she is one! These silly stories will tickle your elementary students to the core! 3. Critiquea. The wackiness of these stories is appropriate for young readers. Their silliness is perfect for grabbing young attention spans and are written so that they are mini stories within a larger one.b. The stories are about school related events with something silly thrown in the mix which is really why the reader keeps reading and why they picked up this book in the first place. There is a broad range of characters for readers to read about and with no real plot or suspense, the reader is left to choose the character and story they relate to most or like most. And there are lots to chose from!c. "...It's what's underneath that counts." "Underneath?" asked Stephen. "Yes," said Mrs. Jewls. "If you want to be great and important, you have to wear expensive underpants." "Oh," said Stephen. 4. I would use this book to talk about adding humor to our writing. I would ask that the students write about a regular topic, such as school, and then add wacky and silly parts to make it funny. They could write mini stories about an event that really happened and then add in parts that are make-believe in nature to make it funny.

In the next installment of the Wayside School stories, we are introduced to some new characters such as Mr. Kidswatter, the principal, and the new kid, Mark Miller, who’s too shy to tell everyone his name is actually Benjamin Nushmutt. The reading of it is made better by the illustrations of Joel Schick. The kids are really really cute. So cute that they could be mistaken for monkeys (see the illustration of Myron with the adorable black button eyes and bowtie). And I could almost taste those Tootsie Roll Pops. Orange was the worst, chocolate was the best.The screwball storylines still exist such as Sharie bringing a hobo to school for show-and-tell, Paul’s pigtail fetish getting a little stronger, and a dead rat stopping the schmaltzy I love yous exchanged between Dameon and Mrs. Jewels. There are more “adult” themes like tattoos, kissing, and an existential crisis about freedom and imprisonment. And we finally learn what occurs on the 19th story since there are 3 stories about the 19th story. Though not as enjoyable as the first book, Wayside School is Falling Down is still a clever book. There are a lot more jokes and references being carried throughout the book and Sachar plays a bit more with the grotesque such as more dead rats and throwing up prune juice. There are also good lessons about honesty, stealing, helping each other, friendship, being open-minded, and self-confidence. I learned “if you want to be great and important, you have to wear expensive underpants” (146). And if you don’t like this book, you can "drop dead, Ketchup Head”.

What do You think about Wayside School Is Falling Down (1990)?

Sachar, L. (1989). Wayside School Is Falling Down. New York: Avon Books.0380731509Continuing with the Wayside Series, what’s interesting with the second book is that, while the majority of chapters are still character sketches, there is more overlap and continuation of conflicts among the chapters. (The same is true for the third book as well).Students that liked the first book will undoubtedly like the second and third books as well (however, usually disappointments about with the fourth book). Readers get to see more into the mysteriously missing nineteenth floor, the school basement, learn more about the characters and their families as well as have fun with language.Rereading these books, I always want to re-check Sachar’s biography. With his writing, I feel like he has spent more time as a teacher.Activities to do with the book:The entire series is great for dramatization or having students write their own chapters or stories in response.An unexpected lesson of these books is best for teachers. Within the first three books of the series, multiple teaching styles are presented. Teachers can take away views of teaching and discipline from the child’s perspective, which is always a wonderful view to keep in mind.Favorite Quotes:“You don’t hate stories, Dana,” Mrs. Jewls told her. “You love stories. I wish everybody laughed and cried as much as you” (p. 65).“Miss Zarves assigns us a lot of busy work so we don’t have time to think. She makes us memorize stupid things so that we don’t think about the important things. And then she gives us good grades to keep us happy” (p. 102).For more reviews, visit sjkessel.com.
—Shel

Have you ever attended a school with thirty floors and no elevator? What’s even weirder is that there’s no nineteenth floor? How can that be, a tall thirty story building with no nineteenth floor? Is that possible? It sure seems to be at Wayside School, and the students and teachers are all a bit strange themselves. Every chapter is wackier and funnier than the previous ones.In the very first chapter the janitor of Wayside School carries a heavy package all the way up to the top floor, the thirtieth floor for Mrs. Jewels. He loves the students, so he does his best to clamber all the way up the stairs, sweating and breathing heavily. Once he reaches the classroom door, it takes quite a bit of time for someone to help him with the door. And once he finally drops the box off, Mrs. Jewels opens her classroom window and demonstrates gravity. How? She drops the heavy package out the window, which finally lands on the school playground. The janitor’s mouth drops and his shoulders slump. 3rd through 6th graders will enjoy this story. Louis Sachar knows humor and knows how to make kids laugh out loud. His characters and teachers are super silly, all of whom readers will enjoy getting acquainted with. There’s no real plot in the whole story, instead each chapter is an episode in itself, a short story within a story. This helps to keep the readers’ attention, as well as all the mysteries of the school, especially chapter nineteen. This chapter will have the readers scratching their heads in delight.
—Benjamin

Those zany Wayside kids are at it again. A nugget: "Who would like the triangle?" asked Mrs. Jewls. Joe raised his hand, and Mrs. Jewls gave it to him. "Why is it called a triangle?" asked Joe. "I don't know," said Mrs. Jewls. "Maybe because it's shaped like a triangle," suggested John. "No, that can't be it," said Mrs. Jewls. "Then the tambourine would have to be called a circle." "Maybe it was invented by a person named Joe Triangle," said Rondi. "That's probably it," said Mrs. Jewls. She held up the next instrument. It was a glockenspiel. "Who would like the glockenspiel?" she asked. Sharie raised her hand. Nobody asked why it was called a glockenspiel. It was obvious. Mrs. Jewls gave the bells to Stephen. "Why are they called bells?" he asked. Nobody knew.
—Lafcadio

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