Thursday, February 25, 2010

Guiding Principles and Protagonists



Hello Class!
Today we brainstormed what the 6 guiding principles look like in our classroom and chose two class goals for each. We also worked on our comparison chart for our Chris Van Allsburg picture book unit. We almost have all of our protagonist's characteristics listed out. ( all except Walter so far.....)

Thinking about the guiding principles,
Respect
Honesty
Responsibility
Fairness
Compassion
Courage

Do you see any patterns in the main characters that we have read about so far in Van Allsburg's books? Does a lack of one certain principle, or existence of one certain principle keep popping up in his protagonists? Let's hear your thoughts on this......
Mrs. S

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

One pattern that I see in Van Allsburg's books that we have read this week is that all of the main characters or protaganists were boys. Also, a couple of his books, the protaganists were really kind of mean. Like in The Sweetest Fig, Bibot was very mean to his dog when he made his dog walk up the stairs while he went in the elevator. In Probuditi, Calvin was mean to his little sister when he when he put the toy spider in her bed. My favorite book so far was The Sweetest Fig. I liked this book the most because it was funny and I like funny books.

Fred Figglehorn a.k.a. not Gianna if dats wat u tink!!!!

Anonymous said...

I think the Stranger has most of the principles. He is respecful because he didn't yell at farmer Baly when he hit him with his truck. I don't known how he was honest. I also do not know how he is responsible. He is fair because he helped with work to show thanks to the family for taking him in. He is compassionite because he was sad when he had to leave the family. I do not know how he is courages.

ALEX LUMIA

Anonymous said...

I noticed that all of the protagonists have been different. Bibot in "The Sweetest Fig" was a mean man. In "The Stranger" the protagonist is very strange. In "Just a Dream" Walter is at first very selfish and at the end he becomes nice. In "Probuditi" Calvin is a real jokester and in "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi" Allen seems like an average boy.
now you know what I mean.

Six point five (6.5)

(*Katherine*)

Anonymous said...

I agree with Alex L that the stranger dose have most of the principles. Walter in Just a Dream didn't show much responsibility and respect In the start of the book. A the end he did show both of those two things and he used courage when he was having his birth day party by showing his friends his tree. The pattern I see is in the end something good happens to one of the characters.


~ Justin

Anonymous said...

I think each character has a lack of respect except Allen, because they are pretty much lazy or does things there little siblings. Since there lazy they don't have much responsibility. I don't think the characters Chris Van Allsburg puts in don't have much any of the guiding principles, he puts in poor people in his books I think thats what makes his books so good? I don't know.

P.S Eddie House got traded to New York and I am so mad, but Rajon Rondo gaurded him!!

Rajon Rondo

Anonymous said...

will.p will.p

#1
Well I think we all kind of realized that almost all of his books that we have read, has a dog in it. Now that I'm thinking about it they all have boys or men in the books. I kind of agree with Fred Figglehorn A.K.A Gianna, some of the protaganists were mean and some of the protaganists were not mean like "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi." Allen was not mean but Mr.Gasazi was.

P.S.
He is a good good good writer

★Anna★ said...

One pattern I have seen is that all the protagonists are boys. I think there is a lack of responsibility in Walter from "Just A Dream" because he does not sort the trash and he throws his wrappers on the ground. There is also a lack of compassion in Walter because he tells the girl who gets the tree for her birthday (I forget her name) that he would never want a tree for his birthday. I also just see a pattern in his books. That pattern is he always leaves you with a question.

.:~Anna Thee Banana~:.

Anonymous said...

One thing I see in this pattern is that ever book we have read together of Van Alsbrug's books is that ever main character is a boy. A character that I really connect with is Calvin because its just like Billy and I,because we always fight with each other than the next day we will be nice to each other and go do something together. I really love Van Allsburg's books because he is very interesting and his books can be a little bit confuseing when you read them to your slef.But ya I really love the books and I cant wait for the next book we can read.

henry said...

I agree with Fred Figglehorn. I liked The Sweetest Figg the most. The characters are always missing something like Calvin in Probuditi he has no respect for his sister. I thought they were all diffrent. I thought the stranger was lacking courage because he couldn't look at a tree. Henry

Anonymous said...

will.p
will.p

Dear Mrs. S,
What book have you read that has a lot of Respect, Honesty, Responsibility, Fairness, Compassion
an, Courage?
Would you recommended it for any one?(If you think I'll like it can you tell m.Thanks:>0
(Last thing.)
Do they have anything in common?

P.S.
I just said all that stuff because I wanted to see how we feel.

Anonymous said...

I noticed most of the portagonists in the Chris Van Allsburg books have courage. Allen went up to Mr. Gasazi's door and Bibot tried a fig.
My favorite Chris Van Allsburg book so far was "The Sweetest Fig". I liked it because it was very confusing. It was also unordinary the way that the figs made Bibot's dreams come true.

Six Point Five (6.5)

(*Katherine*)

Anonymous said...

All of his main charchters are boys and they have a important place on the world.At the end of all of his books they have a little twist at the end.I am suprised that When the straner guy got hit he didn't yell at Mr.Bally.In the sweetest fig the guy was a really big jerk to his dog.In some of his books there are pussitive charchters and grumpy charchters.

By Will Donnell

Anonymous said...

All the characters in his book are in a way lazy, I think it's because maybe Chris Van Allsburg is maybe lazy I don't know? I think it does because all the principles come together in a way. If you don't have Honesty you don't have Respect, if you don't have Honesty you don't have Responsibility, Honesty kinda matches with all of them because if you don't Honesty you're not helpful.

Rajon Rondo

Anonymous said...

I think Chris Van Allsburg uses all of those princibles in his books. A pattern I see is there has been a dog in each one of his books we've read. Sometimes its alive and sometimes its a Stuffed animal. There is usually a problem in most of his books (in the beggining). Then the problem gets solved and its a happy ending!

Herb