The Cat Ate My Gym Suit-Vocabulary Enricher-Malaika

Page 26 Paragraph 3: Tranquilizer: Medicinal drug, taken to reduce tension or anxiety.
Page 38 Paragraph 2: Derivation: Action of obtaining something from a source or origin.
Page 38 Paragraph 2: Loquacious: Tending to talk a great deal, talkative.
Page 38 Paragraph 2: Erudite: Having or showing great knowledge or learning
Page 37 Paragraph 12:Pigsty: Very untidy, dirty, disgusting room.
Page 33 Paragraph 2:Propaganda: Information especially of a biased or misleading nature used to promote a political cause or a point of view.
Page 42 Paragraph 1:syndicate: A group of individuals or organizations combined to promote a common interest.

Summariser

This chapter talks about Marcy at school and home. Basically in school they did a lot of fun activities and things in Ms. Finney's class,all the kids liked her classes and the way she told them to be who they are and not someone else, to show their emotions and not hide them. Sometimes when principal comes in they try so hard to raise their hands and behave better and how the principal wants them to. At Marcy's home it was not really good, her father was really disrespectful ulted her and her brother all the time. When she got home from Smedley[the club Ms. Finney was organizing]  she had a idea to do the activity with her family at home, but her dad was not so happy about it so he started insulting her and her brother, and like every single time that happened they both ran to their rooms and started crying, the their mother heard them and told them that their father is sorry  and that they can buy whatever they want, Marcy did not care about money she wanted to be happy with her family. Next day at school she found a substitute instead of Ms.Finney, the principal came in and told them that she wouldn’t come to school anymore, they all started crying and were not so happy about it, so Marcy stood up and protested about it, principal called her mom because of her behaviour.

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit- Isidora- Connector

This 6 day rotation, my job was to make connections between Marcy and me. It wasn't very hard to do that, since we are around the same age.
1. We both have arguments with our dads. Marcy has bigger arguments and a very big problem, so that's the only difference. My dad and I have minor arguments, but I think that's normal.

2. As well as Marcy, I am not very talented at sports. But I don't try to skip P. E. with excuses. I'm more like Ms. Finney, I try very hard.
3. Just like Marcy, I have a younger brother.

Jelena-illustrator

This is the picture of Marcy talking to Joel
about Ms.Finney. Her dad is yelling at her because she got up from the table during dinner.

The Cat Ate My Gym Suit by Paula Danziger- Alannah: Travel Tracer

For this Literacy Circles meeting, I was the travel tracer, meaning that I describe the places where the book and the protagonist go to:

The book starts at Marcy's school, which is a very large school with many children. I imagine the school as a large cement institution with many wide windows with a white lining. Marcy says that there are many students in each classroom, causing chaos, as many of the students enjoy disobeying the rules. 

The book then goes to Marcy's home, which she describes as loud. She has a four year old brother who idolises her and who desperately wants to be her best friend. Her father also always shouts at her because she is overweight. This causes insecurity about her body shape.  

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit Page 1-25 Literary Luminary-Isidora

 This six day rotation we read pages 1-25. I was Literary Luminary. I picked the following passages:
 Page 1 paragraph 1:  I think it important because Marcy introduced herself to  us and we can see how pessimistic she is.
page 14 paragraph last: I chose this because it's so weird how Ms. Finney can act. She can sometimes forget what the chalk is and start smoking it! I don't have an explanation for those habits, so I'd be really scared if I was there, but Marcy isn't.
page 23 paragraph 6: Joel told Marcy she has a nice smile! This is proof she really shouldn't be insecure, but she is. She could have more friends, for instance, Joel.
page 24 paragraph 5: This paragraph makes me think. Does she really need to be insecure? I agree with Nancy. In my opinion, Marcy shouldn't be so insecure, she has no reason to be.

Malaika-Discussion Director

1. Why do the children like to give the substitute teacher a hard time?
my answer: I think this is because they find it amusing and they are tired of having substitutes and they want a real teacher for once.
other students: I think this is because the other students want a permanent teacher who will stay with them and not leaver every two days.

2. How did you feel when Marcy was on the bench during gym class?
me: I felt kind of bad for her because she had to watch all the other kids play volleyball and she couldn't participate. I also felt mad at her because she had a not very good reason to not participate and she could participate if she wanted to.
other students: I didn't really feel anything because it is her fault she doesn't participate, she could participate if she wanted to and her reason is not very good.

3. How and why do you think Marcy came up with the excuse "the cat ate my gym suit" 
me: I think she must have come up with that because she didn't want to participate and she may have come up with this excuse at the last minute and didn't really have time to think about it.
other students: She might have came up with that using the exercise "my dog ate my homework" and she just transformed it and it became "my cat ate my gym suit"

4. Why do you think Marcy is so insecure?
me: I think Marcy is so insecure because she is really fat and she has no friends so she thinks that everyone hates her and she is ugly, so she is so pessimistic about everything. Also her dad is mean to her.
other students: I think this is because her father always shouts at her.

5. What do you think will happen next?
me: I think that she might become girlfriend and boyfriends with Joel, and get some friends because of Smedley.
other students: I think she will get more confident and she will get some friends and stand up to her father. She might also start a diet and exercising and will get thinner.

My drawing represents Marcy the main character and her interests, it is a part of the book where she talks about herself and what she dislikes and likes, how she looks like and basically her personality. She said she has wire frame glasses, mouse brown hair, acne and that she is fat. She likes to read, she dislikes her dad,school,dancing and questions.Marcy is really insecure about her look and she thinks everybody hates her.