“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
― Dr. Seuss
― Dr. Seuss
HERE'S SOME NOTES FROM TODAY:
Today, we re-watched two short, wordless films: "Up" (the first part) and "The Invention of Love."
Then, we compared the two films, specifically looking at:
Then, we compared the two films, specifically looking at:
- character
- setting
- theme
- conflict
- protagonist
- antagonist
- static characters
- dynamic characters
We also filled out plot pyramids for each story. As promised, here are the answers:
READING RESPONSE:
SOMEBODY WANTED, BUT, SO, THEN... SUMMARY
Reading Response: R.A.P. Your answers!
If you're working on a reading question, there is a simple way to answer it!
RAP it!
R--Restate the question
A--Answer the prompt
P--Prove it!
Look at the document below for precise instructions and examples.
RAP it!
R--Restate the question
A--Answer the prompt
P--Prove it!
Look at the document below for precise instructions and examples.
Story Elements
Today we started to learn about the five story elements:
Character:
Who's the good guy or the main character (usually the protagonist) and who's the bad guy or the person/thing who is against the protagonist (called the antagonist)?
Are the characters static (they stay the same) or dynamic (they change)?
Setting
When and where did the story take place?
Plot
What are the events in the story? What happened?
Exposition: The author is setting up the story's situation (the setting, the characters, what's going on...)
The Inciting Incident: This is the point in the story where the problem starts.
The Rising Action: The events that lead up to the climax.
The Climax: The most tense/exciting part of the story. It makes you wonder, is the problem going to get fixed or not.
Falling Action: The events that happens after the climax that are leading to the resolution and end of the story.
Resolution: The end of the story (usually when the problem is solved, but not always!).
Conflict
The conflict is the problem in the story. The problem can happen internally, such as when someone is against himself (man vs. self). The problem can also be external conflict, such as man vs. man (two people against each other), man vs. society (a person against the people or rules of the world they live in), or man vs. nature (when someone is against a disease, a ghost, or the weather).
Theme
The theme of the story is the message or the lesson that the author is trying to teach us. We often use a truism for this, but it can also be a few words. Here's some examples:
love, hate, forgiveness, being alone, starting over, moving to a new place, or regret.
Here's a truism (theme) example:
"Failure is success' mother." --Mike Ju
- - - - - - - - - - - -
If you'd like some extra information about the elements, here's a few resources:
Our notes from class (on a prezi)
A great music video that explains the elements (the words are below)
"Five Things" by Flocabulary
Setting, that's like where it's going down,
Could be the train compartment, a castle or a town,
Could be the Arctic winter - like To Build a Fire,
The temperature's dropping, excitement is getting higher,
Setting sets the scene so the scene seems set,
Could be the Italian restaurant where we met,
Setting gives us the where and the when,
Could be modern day, the future, or way back when.
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
Plot is the action, the quest for satisfaction,
What's going down, what's going to happen.
Four men at sea in an open boat,
Rowing and hoping that they can stay afloat. The plot:
They have to make it to the beach,
But the waves are big, and the shore seems out of reach,
Plot is a series of events... like Lemoney Snicket,
It could be crazy, wild or straight wicked.
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
Knock knock, who's there? Oh, it's the characters,
The people in the story who carry out the action.
Characters can be pretty, tiny or clean,
Characters can be silly, whiney or mean,
Juliet is a character, and so is Romeo,
Pokemon has characters and so does Yu-gi-oh,
Characters could be dogs, lions, or hippos,
JK Rowling chose Harry Potter. "Why?" Who knows!
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
Uh-uh! Put your snack back in your backpack we're not finished!
Something gone wrong! That's the conflict kids,
A struggle in the plot, now who's on top,
Could be a fight for money, like some robbers and cops,
Could be an internal conflict - a struggle inside,
Like I don't want to tell the truth but I don't ever want to lie,
Flick something in your eye, now you're conflicted,
What created drama? The conflict did.
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
The theme of the story is the main idea,
The central belief or the topic that's in there,
It's usually something abstract like sacrifice,
Isolation or resurrection: we're back to life,
Like don't lie, don't practice libel,
The theme of To Build a Fire is survival,
Survival on your own like Fievel Moskowitz,
Flocabulary's something that you HAVE TO GET...
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
Character:
Who's the good guy or the main character (usually the protagonist) and who's the bad guy or the person/thing who is against the protagonist (called the antagonist)?
Are the characters static (they stay the same) or dynamic (they change)?
Setting
When and where did the story take place?
Plot
What are the events in the story? What happened?
Exposition: The author is setting up the story's situation (the setting, the characters, what's going on...)
The Inciting Incident: This is the point in the story where the problem starts.
The Rising Action: The events that lead up to the climax.
The Climax: The most tense/exciting part of the story. It makes you wonder, is the problem going to get fixed or not.
Falling Action: The events that happens after the climax that are leading to the resolution and end of the story.
Resolution: The end of the story (usually when the problem is solved, but not always!).
Conflict
The conflict is the problem in the story. The problem can happen internally, such as when someone is against himself (man vs. self). The problem can also be external conflict, such as man vs. man (two people against each other), man vs. society (a person against the people or rules of the world they live in), or man vs. nature (when someone is against a disease, a ghost, or the weather).
Theme
The theme of the story is the message or the lesson that the author is trying to teach us. We often use a truism for this, but it can also be a few words. Here's some examples:
love, hate, forgiveness, being alone, starting over, moving to a new place, or regret.
Here's a truism (theme) example:
"Failure is success' mother." --Mike Ju
- - - - - - - - - - - -
If you'd like some extra information about the elements, here's a few resources:
Our notes from class (on a prezi)
A great music video that explains the elements (the words are below)
"Five Things" by Flocabulary
Setting, that's like where it's going down,
Could be the train compartment, a castle or a town,
Could be the Arctic winter - like To Build a Fire,
The temperature's dropping, excitement is getting higher,
Setting sets the scene so the scene seems set,
Could be the Italian restaurant where we met,
Setting gives us the where and the when,
Could be modern day, the future, or way back when.
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
Plot is the action, the quest for satisfaction,
What's going down, what's going to happen.
Four men at sea in an open boat,
Rowing and hoping that they can stay afloat. The plot:
They have to make it to the beach,
But the waves are big, and the shore seems out of reach,
Plot is a series of events... like Lemoney Snicket,
It could be crazy, wild or straight wicked.
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
Knock knock, who's there? Oh, it's the characters,
The people in the story who carry out the action.
Characters can be pretty, tiny or clean,
Characters can be silly, whiney or mean,
Juliet is a character, and so is Romeo,
Pokemon has characters and so does Yu-gi-oh,
Characters could be dogs, lions, or hippos,
JK Rowling chose Harry Potter. "Why?" Who knows!
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
Uh-uh! Put your snack back in your backpack we're not finished!
Something gone wrong! That's the conflict kids,
A struggle in the plot, now who's on top,
Could be a fight for money, like some robbers and cops,
Could be an internal conflict - a struggle inside,
Like I don't want to tell the truth but I don't ever want to lie,
Flick something in your eye, now you're conflicted,
What created drama? The conflict did.
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
The theme of the story is the main idea,
The central belief or the topic that's in there,
It's usually something abstract like sacrifice,
Isolation or resurrection: we're back to life,
Like don't lie, don't practice libel,
The theme of To Build a Fire is survival,
Survival on your own like Fievel Moskowitz,
Flocabulary's something that you HAVE TO GET...
Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme,
Setting, yes these are the 5 things
That you're going to be needing
When you're reading or writing
A short story that's mad exciting. (x2)
metacognition
Thinking about our thinking!
Real Reading is text + thinking!
We have been learning to THINK about our THINKING. It's called metacognition and the more we use it, the better thinkers and readers we will be!
Schema
it's what's in your brain!
It's everything you know.
You are unique--there is no one else exactly like you! You have seen, heard, tasted, done, things and even been to places that no one else has. Our schema grows and changes as we have more life experiences. This makes you see the world, think, and process differently than anyone else.
Our schema helps us to interact with what we are seeing, experiencing, and READING. Using our schema can help us make meaning and understand what we read. GOOD READERS activate their schema before, during, and after reading.
Our schema helps us to interact with what we are seeing, experiencing, and READING. Using our schema can help us make meaning and understand what we read. GOOD READERS activate their schema before, during, and after reading.
Making meaningful Connections
Today, when we were reading with partners, we made connections on sticky notes. Then, we took our best connections and wrote "long" about them in our reader's notebooks. Here's how we did it:
INFERRING
SCHEMA + EVIDENCE =
A THOUGHTFUL GUESS (AN INFERENCE)
Here are some cool videos we used to practice inferring.
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questioning
Questions guide our thinking and reading
Here are some things we've learned about questioning:
- Great thinkers ask questions all the time.
- Questions are the key to understanding.
- Questions help us when we want to clear up confusion.
- Questions make us want to know more.
- Questions move us forward when we are reading and make us want to read more.
- Asking questions gets us interested in what we're reading.
- Good readers ask questions.
- We need to think about questions before, during, and after reading.
- Our questions are important--they matter!
We are really good at questioning--just look at all our questions about everlost by Neal Shusterman!
Here's how we talk about reading:
Take one last look...
It's time to move on to some other units and we've run out of room in our classroom! So, down it all comes. Just because it's not there anymore, doesn't mean we won't keep using and talking about all these wonderful reading skills!