Castle in the Attic: The Magic Token

In this week's readings, we find out more about the magic of the token the Silver Knight took from Alastor. William uses the token to keep Mrs. Philips from returning to England. Was that clever? Was it mean? What do you think about his actions?

Eventually, William decides to join the Silver Knight and Lady Elinor in the castle. He packs up some supplies: 

one recorder, one bear, one box of candles, one toothbrush, one jar of Marmite, one box of tea bags, four loaves of bread, two bottles of water, one pair of hiking boots, one large box of matches, one pair of binoculars, and a change of clothing. (page 88)

Can you think of anything William may have forgotten? If you were going on William's journey, what would you bring?

I keep thinking about that magic token and what I'd do with it if I had one. I think I'd shrink my car so I could park it in my pocket and I'd always be able to find it and drive away quickly. What would you make smaller, and why?? Leave answers to this question (and maybe others) in the comment section!

Castle in the Attic: The Story Begins!

This week, I hope you and your family have begun to read The Castle in the Attic. What do you think of the character of William? Is he a pretty typical ten-year old boy? I was a little surprised at the method he used to try to make Mrs. Phillips change her mind about leaving - and was very happy he made the situation better by the end of Chapter 1!

Here's a picture of the (real!) town that Mrs. Phillips is from in England. Do you remember the name of the place? William used to say it every chance he got because he liked "to roll that funny name around on his tongue..."!

Mrs. Phillips' home in England: Stow-on-the-Wold
by Jim from London [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

See all those words in the caption? I had to put them there because it's not my photograph to post. But the photographer, Jim from London, said I could - as long as I put his name and the attribution, which is all those other words. It's sort of like copyright, only it's called Creative Commons, and the creator makes it easier for others to use and to share his work. So thanks, Jim from London!

Two mentions of food in the chapters puzzled me. In Chapter 2, William was eating ketchup on his noodles. Ketchup? If you've ever tried that, leave us a comment and let us know how it tasted! Also, Mrs. Phillips puts something called Marmite on her toast. I've never heard of that before. So I ordered some on the internet. Maybe we can try it!

Fact Monster

Yesterday, in a review of information gathering, fourth graders used Fact Monster to review some key concepts. They wanted a link to it, so here it is.
http://www.factmonster.com/

One Book/One School

Books went home on Friday and, hopefully, you and your family have had a chance to begin reading aloud The Castle in the Attic. We hope it's a book that will appeal to all ages - grown-ups too!

Written answers to the week's trivia questions are due in school on Friday. Questions for each week were sent home in your packet of information. Also, downloadable copies are below if you find you need them.

Week 1: Chapters 1-3
Week 2: Chapters 4-6
Week 3: Chapters 7-9
Week 4: Chapters 10-12
Week 5: Chapters 13-14
Week 6: Chapters 15-17

A short blog post will be coming on Chapters 1-3 midweek. Stay tuned!

Marty Kelly!

Wasn't Marty Kelly's presentation wonderful? I really learned a lot about what it means to be an author and illustrator! My favorite part was when he showed the rough drafts of his writing. He sure is a messy writer at first - but remember, he was just getting ideas down, then revising and revising to get his writing just the way he wants it. What was your favorite part of his show?

Here are the Marty Kelly books we have in our Library Media Center:
Spring Goes Squish!
Summer Stinks
Fall Is Not Easy
The Messiest Desk
Twelve Terrible Things
The Rules

Marty Kelly has a website, here. Check it out! If you want to see his Summer Stinks! video again, it's in the music section!

Thank you, NHCS PTO, for bringing Marty Kelly to our school!

We ❤ Seuss!

This is Read Across America Week! In ICT this week, in addition to their other tasks, most classes had a chance to briefly visit Seussville, the website devoted to all things Dr. Seuss-related. At this extensive site, there are games and activities, links to books and movie trailers, and even a spot where children can create their own accounts so they can save their online creations. My favorite place is the "Mulberry Street Parade", with music and sound and a host of characters from each of Dr. Seuss' books. I promised the children I'd post the link - so if you're looking for a fun and appealing site to use with your children, check out Seussville at http://www.seussville.com/!

My Favorite Book

Second graders used Kidspiration, a graphic organizer program, to outline the elements of their favorite picture books. After each section was filled in, students used the program's picture database to enhance each area. In the process, they learned how to search for appropriate pictures and place them in a  designated spot. After writing a short reflection, they exported their work as a picture file, a jpg, so it could be saved to their digital portfolios.

Cyberbullying

Fifth graders have been learning what to do when they encounter communications online that make them feel uncomfortable or badly. Students discussed what cyberbullying might look or sound like at the start, then brainstormed ways to handle the situation. Here are some of their solutions:

Tell a teacher or parent. 

Put on safety chat.

Don’t respond back.

Report them to the administrator.

Ask them not to do it again.

Come back later.

Tell the principal.

Turn off chat.

Print it.

Finally, the class talked about the positive results that could occur if the situation were dealt with quickly and effectively.

As a way to represent a hypothetical situation-action-result, students used a free online educational comics generator to make a three or four frame comic. Here's one student's work.