Summary Glogsters

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please enjoy Cheyenne's Summary Glogster!

Here's Joseph's Summary Glogster!

Here's Jay's Summary Glogster!

Glogster Example

Want some extra help with Glogs? Try this page!

Correspondent Letters

Ladies and Gentlemen,


Some of the letters are too long to be written as a comment, so I'll post them in this post. 
~ Mr. Moore


Dear Pam Munoz Ryan,

I loved your book so much I barely stop myself not going on in the book and reading the amount of pages I have to in Guided Reading! I loved how you wrote your book, how you made the book different from most books, instead of rags to riches, you made the book from riches to rags.

I had a few questions to your book. One of my questions were, do you ever talk and really plan on things that are a lot of time away? I had this question while I was reading Esperanza Rising because it says on page seven, paragraph one, "When they were all together, they talked about one thing: their Quinceaneras, the presentation parties they would have when they turned fifteen." It also says in part of another sentence, "They still had two more years to wait, but so much to discuss." So, theirQuinceaneras were a lot of time away, but they still talked about it, their Quinceaneras. My answer was, yes, I do plan and talk about things that are a long time away. The thing I talk about is my birthday. The things I plan and talk about my birthday is usually who is going to come to my birthday, when I will have my birthday party and what we are going to do, and what I want to get for my birthday. I usually have my birthday before or on my real birthday. On my birthday, I usually play outside, playing soccer, football, basketball. I also play games like tag, and lava monster, which me and a few friends made up. On my birthday, I usually like to get video games, soccer or footballs. I usually invite my closest friends, but I have never invited a school friend to my party, because even if they are my best friends, it sort of feels awkward having school kids over. This is the special occasion I talk and discuss and plan about even though it is very far away. Do you have a special that you plan about that is a lot of time away?

I have a few connections and a few differences with Esperanza. One connection I have with Esperanza is, like Esperanza has a mother like Ramona, Esperana's mom, I do to. Another connection I have with Esperanza is that Esperanza has many friends and family to help her and her mother, so do I. But one of the few differences I have with Esperanza is, Esperanza has not learned a few things that seems so easy to us. It says in page 116 of your book, paragraph two, "In her entire life, Esperanza had never held a broom in her hand." This is one of the things that seems so easy and normal to us, but Esperanza cannot do. When I read that Esperanza could not sweep with a broom, I thought whoa! Esperanza does not know how to use a broom? I had thought that you would at least know the motions, and like the book says on page 116, paragraph two, "But she had seen Hortensia sweep and tried to visualize the memory," I thought that if Esperanza had seen Hortensia sweep, she would at least know the basics. Like when I first used the broom, I could at least create a pile with all the dust and things with a broom. But Esperanza could not even make a pile! But I now understand that if I were Esperanza, and I were like a king, and had servants, I understand why Esperanza could not sweep. It is because she had servants, and she probably did not even have chores, so Esperanza did not even need to try. Do you have any connections or differences with Esperanza?

I also have a few questions for you. One question I have for you is, how did you come up with the idea "riches to rags," instead of rags to riches? I think that you did that to make your story a bit different than other stories. I would love to do that to. I think that being different is more exciting than making stories same as every other story. Being different is not to bad. What do you think? Also, another question is, do you have many connections with Esperanza? Did you get some ideas for Esperanza from yourself?

 I hope that this letter encourages you to come to our school, East Elementary. 

From,

Jay

GR Discussion 1

GR Discussion 1

Summarizer

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For this post, you'll be writing a summary of your book - but don't blow the ending! I am open to all sorts of ideas for this summary. One idea is to create a comic to summarize your book. Another idea is to create illustrations from some of the most important parts of the book to use in a voicethread project. You'll need to get a username and password for this project.

Below I'll add one example.



If you like, you  could also choose to write a traditional summary, but then we could simply post a video of you reading your work.

Here are just a couple of other ideas to use for a possible summary project. Today in class, I shared http://edu.glogster.com and http://beta.middlespot.com/index.php#.

There are so many ways to create your summary; if you have better ideas, please share them with the group by commenting below.

One last thing - you may not do this job until you have completed the other posts.

~ Mr. Moore

Discussion

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please let us know what you think about this video clip of your group's discussion. Do not use names in your comment. Make your comments about the group in general.

What did your group do well in the discussion?
What might be improved for the next discussion?



 I was very proud of this discussion, but I definitely saw some ways to make it even better.

~ Mr. Moore

Correspondent

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the Correspondent, your job is to write a letter or an email. Your letter can be to the author (we'll actually send them or email them if possible) or you can pretend that you are a character in the book writing to another character in the book. If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear about it. Make sure to talk to me so that I can approve the idea and offer it to the rest of the group as an option. If you can't find an email or snail mail address for the author, we can try the publishing company.

In any case, your letter needs to demonstrate some advanced thinking. If you choose to write the author, choose one interesting or challenging excerpt from your book. Describe your thinking, questions, and inferences. Then ask the author to enlighten us! (Not sure what enlighten means? Look it up!) If you choose to write to a character, share your predictions and give the character advice about what to do next.

Please write your letter in a document and save it before you post it to the blog so that we can have a nice printed copy to send in the "snail mail" if necessary.

10 Billion Bonus Points will be awarded for any actual comments or responses you generate from students outside of East's fifth grade, and Double Bonus Points will be awarded if you can convince an author to visit and post on our blog! (The bonus points are fake - but wouldn't it be great if the real author commented on our page?) Consider using LOCAL 5 as one way to garner comments from outside of our 5th grade. 

You only need one approved comment to this post by the end of the literature circle.

Here are some helpful links for Esperanza Rising:
http://www.pammunozryan.com/esper.html
http://www.pammunozryan.com/contact.html

Thanks!

Mr. Moore

Word Finder

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the Word Finder, it is your job to draft comments that let the group know that you have been able to locate special words. By the end of the book, you will need to have at least 2 comments to this post accepted by Mr. Moore. 

Whenever you find a word that is new, different, interesting, funny, hard, or unique, you will post a comment here. In your comment (one for each word) you will need to explain exactly where you found the word. Please list the page number as well as the paragraph number so that we can all go check out your great word! 

You will also need to make a prediction about what it means and then give a final definition for the word. Make sure to cite your definition. This means that you need to explain exactly when and where you got your definition. Websites change over time, so it is important that you let people know when you used the website. 

One more thing about definitions: if the definition uses words you do not know or understand, then the definition is not helpful. This means that you may need to look up multiple words in order to understand a definition. If you do this, please explain the process you went through as part of your comment. 

In your comment, explain how you came up with your prediction. It is always a great idea to include a quote from the book. It helps with your prediction and it helps others see why you chose the word. When you have a discussion day, you can use your words and thoughts as part of the discussion. You can also ask other group members about your words.

One warning though - a word will only be posted one time! In other words, you cannot repeat words that others have already posted. This means that it is a good idea to get this job done quickly as possible. It is also a good idea to make sure that your word has not already been posted before you start working on your comment. 

Below, I will post an example of what I expect as a comment for this post.You do not need to copy it exactly, it is just an example to show the quality that is expected.

Thanks,

Mr. Moore

Dear Mr. Moore,

As I was reading last night, I came across the word "flabbergasted" on page 37, paragraph 4. When I read the word flabbergasted, I thought that it meant that a character had a strange look on their face. I had this prediction because I read the sentence,which said "...the flabbergasted look on their faces was shocking!" I looked  up the word flabbergasted at http://www.definitions.net/definition/flabbergasted on Monday September 9th, 2010 at about 8:15 am. I found that it means appalled, amazed, or stunned. I can see that I had a pretty good idea of what the word means. However, I did not understand the word appalled. I looked it up at 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/appalled 

and I found out that appalled means being filled with fear. 

 I think I might be able to use this word in my own writing to replace the word scared, especially when a character is also surprised.  Also, it will fit into my personal narrative since one of my main characters is flabbergasted when they find out that they had their bike stolen. 

Sincerely,

Investigator

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As investigator, reading Esperanza Rising, your job is to ask and answer questions. You will need to have at least one comment approved for this post in which you ask at least three great, higher-level questions. For each question you ask, you need to provide your own answer/opinion. The answer needs to include evidence from the text to support your opinion. If the answer to your question is stated directly in the text, your question is too easy, and so it will not be posted. Each question is really more like a paragraph with your explanation of the answer you think is correct. That means that this post requires three big, fat, juicy paragraphs! Plus, you need to complete the second part of the directions.

You will also need to answer one question each from at least three different people. Your answers should definitely use evidence from the text. Make sure to let the group know where your evidence comes from by writing the page and paragraph number. Your responses require multiple sentences. Each response will be a separate comment - one big, fat, juicy paragraph for each answer!

Some of you have asked for some help with analysis and synthesis level questions. Here is a short list to get you started...

* What change would you make to solve _____?

* How would you improve _______?

* What might happen if _____?

* Can you elaborate on the reason for _____?

* Can you propose an alternative idea for _____?

* Can you invent _____?

* How would you adapt_____ to create a different _____?

* How would you change or modify the plot?

* Suppose you could _____. What would you do?

* How would you test _____?

* What do you predict will happen if _____?

* Why do you think _____?

* What are the features of _____?

* How is ____ related to _____?

* What is the character's motive for _____?

* What inference can you make from _____?

* What evidence can you find for _____?

* What is the relationship between _____ and _____?

* What ideas might justify the opinion that _____?

Thanks,

Mr. Moore

Welcome!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the Guided Reading Blog!

~ Mr. Moore