The Candy Corn Contest (The Kids of the Polk Street School)

Got for my nine year old daughter who's in the fourth grade and I felt reading this was too young for her, but since she is struggling with reading she liked it and worked well for her.It's about a boy, Richard, who's in the third grade and the teacher is having a Candy Corn Contest the last week of school before Thanksgiving. For every page the read from a book they get one guess at how many candy corns are in the jar. Richard, while in the classroom alone, stole three candy corns from the jar on the teachers desk and ate them. The teacher plans on the last day as a class to count how many candy corns are in the jar, but she already has the total of candy corns written on the bottom of the jar. Richard decided that he was going to change the number. Matthew his friend catches him and tells him that he can't cause the writing won't be the same, he doesn't do it. On the last day of the contest and everyone took their guesses, Emily won. Just as they were about to count the candy corn Richard tells the teacher the truth. But just before he does Matthew comes to his rescue with three candy corn to replace the ones he ate. He's teacher felt he was brave to tell her the truth.A very cute story for your youngster, boy or girl. Easy reading with no real hard words.

I started reading this book to my third graders because I was looking for something short to read aloud right before Thanksgiving break. There were mixed reviews on Amazon about this book, but I decided to give it a try. Boy do I wish I would have previewed the book before I started reDi g it to my class! I try so hard to teach my students to be accepting and kind to others. The characters in this book didn’t reflect that at all! I also spend a lot of time teaching my students to have a growth mindset. Some characters in this story called themselves “dumb” and “slow reader”. And the teacher in the story told her students that they couldn’t pick “easy” and “baby” books to read for the book challenge. I have students in my class that are reading well below grade-level and I didn’t want to send a negative message about their reading ability. In the end, after chapter 3 I stopped reading the book to my class. I told my students I didn’t agree with some of the content and that the characters didn’t have a growth mindset about the reading challenge in the story.

Part of what makes this such a nice and engaging story for young kids is the fact that the characters are so real and easy to relate to. My kids tried their darndest to like Jack and Annie, but those two are boring as heck -- even with dinosaurs, mummies, and pirates. Meanwhile, Giff's characters make walking down the hall seem like an adventure.Some people have expressed concern about how mean-spirited some of the characters are. They are kids, and that's how kids are. They are not old enough in the story to understand empathy. We had a child in my son's class who was bullied and we read this book to gain some insight into how hurtful bullying can be. This book does NOT encourage bad behavior. My son came away from it admiring the kindness of one of the teachers and felt like he learned a lot

I gave this as a gift to some of my grandchildren, so I haven't read it. They wanted to guess how many candy corns were in a jar just as they did in the book and had fun doing this. Their mother let them put in a guess for reading so many pages. They told their mother this was their favorite book they had read. So for that reason I give it 5 stars.

I love all of Patricia Reilly Giff's books. I grew up reading the Polk Street School books. I related to the character's feelings and experiences, because Mrs. Giff is so good at getting into their hearts. Her books are very validating to children, while teaching important lessons. This story teaches about cheating, doing the right thing, and how to handle it after you've hurt a friend's feelings.

I discovered this series in my classroom two years ago and after reading Pickle Puss aloud I've decided to invest in the series. I've started from the first book reading it aloud to my third graders during breakfast and they LOVE it!! It's humorous, VERY relatable and great for teaching reading skills as you move through the story. I truly love these stories and all the characters within. I can't wait until we get to the next book...

I am a teacher who purchased this as a read aloud for my classroom. My kids absolutely loved it! They giggled and begged me to keep reading even past the bell! Would recommend!

I used in my classroom. The students lo ed the story!

あらすじはもう書かれているので省略しますが、アメリカの学校の自由な教育方法にうらやましい気がしてなりません。キャンディの数をあてるなんて日本にはない授業ですね。日本の学校ででは、勉強ばかりというイメージが拭いきれません。こんな風にみんながはりきってチャレンジできる授業もあってもいいんじゃないかと思いました。

感謝祭の休暇も近づいてきたある日、ルーニー先生は教室に大きな瓶を持ってきて、「瓶の中のキャンディーコーンの数を当てた人に全部をプレゼント」というコンテストを発表します。図書の本を１ページ読み終わる毎に、１回数を言ってみることが出来るのです。リチャードはキャンディーコーンが大好きですからぜひ当てたいのですが、読み方の補習を受けている位ですから、１日に何ページも読めるティモシーに勝てそうもありません。さてリチャードはコンテストのことも気がかりですが、感謝祭のお休みに計画しているお泊まりパーティーのことにはもっと夢中です。クラス中の男の子を全部招待するつもりなのですが、みんなはリチャードの一番仲良しのマシューの隣りに寝るのなら行きたくない㡊??と言います。マシューはまだおねしょをしますし、お風呂が嫌いなのでくさいからです。お友達に泊まりに来てもらいたいし、仲良しのマシューを仲間はずれにしたくないし．．リチャードは思い悩みます．．．．ストーリーも悪くありませんが、なにより小学校の授業中の先生と生徒のやりとり、防火訓練、アップルソース作りなど、学校生活の描写がとても詳しく、アメリカの小学校を体験しているような気持ちにさせてくれます。キャンディーコーンは日本ではあまり見かけませんが、実物大のトウモロコシの３倍位の大きさの砂糖菓子で、色や形は表紙に描かれている通りです。感謝祭の頃になると盛んに売り出され、trick-or-treaterに配るために各家庭で買い込むようです。私達には、甘いというだけで特別の味や風味は感じられないんですが．．．