Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Next week, we will meeting Steven Layne, author of many children's and young adult books.  Learn more about him here.  Below is an "on the spot" interview from a couple of years ago with Dr. Layne discussing some of his books. 

After learning a little about Steven Layne, take a moment to think about what it means to be an author.  This week you have two choices:

1) Post 3 questions that you would like to ask Dr. Layne (or to any author for that matter)

or

2)  Answer 1 of the following questions:

• Is being an author a difficult or easy job?  Why?
• If you became an author, what lessons would you try to put into your books?
• Where do you think authors get their ideas for writing?

Posts are due by Friday, April 29.

The Power of Words

This week we are thinking about lessons learned from Mr. Peabody's Apples.  In the story, Tommy sees Mr. Peabody take an apple from Mr. Funkadeli's fruit market without paying for it.  Pretty soon the entire town believes that Mr. Peabody is a thief.  

Mr. Peabody asks Tommy to cut open a pillow and shake the feathers out.  Thousands of feathers cover the field, and Tommy is asked to collect them.  Realizing that he can not, Mr. Peabody says that each feather represents a person in Happville that now believe the rumor Tommy started. 

Look at the picture of the crumpled heart at the beginning of this post.  Even though we could flatten it out a little bit, it will never look as clean and crisp as it was when it was first cut.  When we don't think about the words we say, we begin crumple hearts around us. 

Think about the questions written below.  Choose two to answer in the comments.  Comments are due by Friday, April 22.

• What was the meaning of having Tommy cut open the pillow and letting the feathers fly?
• What should Tommy have done when he saw Mr. Peabody take the apple?  Why?
• How are words powerful?
• Can Tommy ever repair the damage? 
• After the feather scene, what would you do if you were Tommy?
• Has anything like this ever happened to you?

I Believe in You.

“I can do anything…
be anything …
create anything …
dream anything …
become anything …
because you believe in me."

- Dalton Sherman

As a 10 year old boy from Dallas, Texas, Dalton Sherman was asked to address a crowd of teachers before the beginning of the school year.  In his speech, he asks teachers to believe in their students.  Watch the video below a post your responses in the Comments.  Comments are due by Friday, April 8.

Next week, you will be facing the MAP test.  As you go into it, be ready for some tough stuff.  But, know this:  you are ready for it.  You have practiced.  You have grown. You are capable. And, I believe in you.

Uncover Their True Identity

                                                                     Blue Xerces Butterfly
In Ace Lacewing, Bug Detective: The Big Swat, we meet a few interesting bugs.  Click on the links below to learn some information about the real versions.

Ace Lacewing - green lacewings
The Stinkbugs - stinkbugs
Xerces Blue -xerces blue butterfly
Madame Damselfly - damselflies
The Pillbugs - pillbugs
Roach - cockroaches
Zito Mosquito - mosquitos
The Tigerfly's - tigerflies
Hoppi Leafhopper - leaf hoppers
Mickey Mantis - praying mantis

Choose at least one to reseach using the provided link and summarize your findings in the comments section.  Comments are due by Friday, April 1 (no fooling :).

Extras:  Click on the book cover. 

User name:  jjtalburt

Password: trial

Search:  Ace Lacewing

View Online

A Bull, a Bee and Being True to Yourself

This week we are reading The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.  Ferdinand is a bull who would rather sit and smell the flowers than fight the other bulls.  A group of bullfighters misjudge him as being ferocious when a bee lands on his back and choose him to be their next challenger.

The book was released just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, and many saw it as a message for peace.  They thought that like Ferdinand, people should stop and smell the flowers instead of being caught up in challenging one another.  Countries who felt the war was necessary even banned the book for a time.

More recently, the book was featured in the movie The Blind Side, the true story of Michael Oher.  Michael was essentially homeless, living among poverty, drugs, fighting and desperation, until a family took him in as their own. The book and the movie both share the same message:

Follow your heart, and just because you're a bull, doesn't mean you have to act like one.

Explain what the message means to you and give an example of how you can apply it to your life.  Posts are due by Friday, March 18.

Faithful Elephants

"Above them, in the bright blue sky, the angry roar of enemy planes returned.  Bombs began to drop on Tokyo once more.  Still clinging to the elephants, the zoo keepers raised their fists to the sky and implored, 'Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop all wars!'"

Earlier this year, we studied the toll that World War 2 took on the Tokyo zoo in the book Faithful Elephants.  For fear that the zoo would be bombed, the animals set free and their people killed, zookeepers chose to put down their own animals.  The author, Yukio Tsuchiya, clearly takes an anti-war stance.  In a short paragraph, use at least three details and/ or from the story to support (agree with) or refute (disagree with) Tsuchiya's point of view. Posts are due by Friday, March 11.

Ueno Zoo Elephant Memorial

 Tokyo, Japan

The Great Kapok Tree

Last week we used nonfiction texts and the tale The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry to study the harmful effects of humans on ecosystems.  Read the questions below.  Select one to answer in the comments section.  Make sure to explain your thinking well.  Comments are due by Friday, March 4.

• Rewrite the ending of the story and tell what would have happened if the man had cut down the tree.  Predict what happens to the animals now that their home is gone.

• Think of some examples of ways humans harm the ecosystem.  If they know what they do is harmful, why do you think people still do them?

• If you were one of the animals in the rainforest, what would you say to the man to try to save their trees?

• Which animal do you think left the biggest impression on the man?  Explain why.