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

Movies and Books

Hello Class!
Welcome back from vacation!
Today it was apparent that many of you had seen "The Lightning Thief" at the movies. Many of you said you were disappointed in the movie. I would like to hear from you all if you liked it or not and why. It would be interesting to hear from those of you that saw it but had not read the book as well.
If you did not see it, can you comment on how you feel about books being made in to movies? Are there any that you liked the movie better? What about the book better? Why.........tell me more!!!!
Mrs. S

The Sweetest Fig by Chris Van Allsburg

I thoroughly enjoyed our reading together today of "The Sweetest Fig" by Chris Van Allsburg. It is always fun to read a new book by an author that I already like.

So far we have read together two of Van Allsburg's books, "The Sweetest Fig" and "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi". In both of those books, Van Allsburg creates characters that make me feel strongly about them. In today's book, I took quite a dislike to Bibot. How did you feel toward the two characters? It is important to think about how we feel toward the characters that we are reading about.
Can you think of another book that made you feel strongly about a character? Maybe you can think of a book where you felt indifferent to a character. What does an author do in his or her writing that makes you feel strongly, either like or dislike, toward a character?

By the way,here is a link to the author's homepage....some neat stuff to check out.....
Chris Van Allsburg

Different Angle

Ok history buffs, you have learned about a different side to an event in history. You read about Christopher Columbus from the point of view of the native people as well as people who witnessed the events that we have read about. You even read Columbus' own words in his journal. I think we can all agree that you are all feeling pretty negative about events that happened and Christopher Columbus himself.

I would like you to try to look at it now from another angle. What reasons might Columbus have had to act the way he did? I would like you to really push your thinking here. Try to think of things around him, or things that might have happened to him that would have caused him to make the choices that he did.

Many historians paint Columbus as a great man. Did he do anything to warrant that? Try to find some positive things that he did. See what you can come up with........

Social Studies and Columbus

Hi Class!
You asked if I would post a blog about our wonderful class discussion today, led by our own Sarah O'Connor. Many of you had wonderful thoughts, questions and impressions to share. If you were not able to share, or you would like to add more to the discussion, please feel free to here.

The chapter we read and discussed was from Howard Zinn's "A Young People's Guide to History".

Fluency

Hello Readers!

You have been so engrossed in your independent reading books we have not had too many discussions in class. However, I have greatly enjoyed your blog discussions on protagonists and antagonists and am especially proud of your ability to read each other's posts, reflect on them and agree or disagree in a most respectful and mature manner! What amazing students you all are :)

We are going to be talking about fluency in the next few days. What does fluency in reading mean to you? Is it something you have heard before? If not, do a bit of research and see if you can figure out what it means. Why do you think we might be talking about it in class and why might it be important.

Happy Blogging, I can't wait to read your responses.............
Mrs. S

Wow, Wow, Wow......

Wow, Wow, Wow......you all are really blowing me away with all your excellent blogging and conversations! I am so excited to see how good you have all gotten at this.

I have read your posts on antagonists and protagonists and someone asked if there has to be an antagonist. Does there? What do you all think?

Does an antagonist have to be a person...can it be something else? If you think it can, give me an example.

Can there be more that one antagonist? Why or why not? Can you give an example?

Is an antagonist always bad? Do a little research, see how many definitions you can find and let me know what you think. Thinking about all the books you have read in the past might help you answer this question.

Protagonists and Antagonists

Hello Room of Readers!
I did enjoy reading "The Cay" with you, but am also glad to get back to more independent reading time. I get to hear about more books that way. ( I LOVE books :)
Today we read "The Garden of Abdul Gasai" by Chris Van Allsburg. We talked about what antagonist and protagonists are again.
A protagonist is the main character of a story.
An antagonist is the one who opposes that character.
You all decided that Alan Mitz was the protagonist, and Fritz the dog and the magician Abdul Gasai were both antgonists.

Tell me about the protagonist in the book you are reading. What is he or she like?
Is there an antagonist, or more than one? What is he/she/they like?