We are off to a great start with our blog posts! Students are using the tablets to log into our classroom kidblog and respond to the question posted to them on the blog page. They are absolutely loving the use of technology and the idea of "blogging" their answers. You can check out our kidblog here http://kidblog.org/MrsAppletonsGrade4Class/.
We celebrated International Dot Day by reading the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. After reading, we discussed what the message was in the book. The students came up with a few different messages: never give up even if you think something is difficult, encouraging others can really have an impact, and approach tasks with a positive attitude. We reflected by making text-to-self connections and blogging them on our classroom kidblog! We also e-mailed the author and asked him a number of questions that we had after reading the book (thanks to Mrs. Blanche for the wonderful idea). He responded to all of our questions! Here they are...
Mrs. Appleton, Sienna, Ramin, Bella, Megan, Kaleb, Jocelyn, Jacob, Ebrahim, Riley, Rocco, Vishnu, Zarah, Shay, Kyla, Dylan, Macy, Saham, Erika, Ali, Matthew, Michael and Makayla! Thanks for writing! I am so happy you liked my book, The Dot! I hope it encourages you all to be brave and listen to your own voice - but also care for others too. Have you read the other two books in the Creatrilogy? Here are my answers to your questions: What inspired you to start writing children's books? My daughter, Sarah LOVED me reading to her when she was little. When I ran out of books to read - I would just use my imagination and tell her stories. One day, I decided to write some of them down! What was your favourite book that you wrote and why was it your favorite? That is a tough question. They all are special to me. The North Star though is perhaps one of my favorites. It is about learning how to think for yourself and navigate a great life journey. How have you made your mark in the world? Wow, you ask some cool questions. My books are a way I think I have made my mark. The books are now in many languages, so my ideas can travel the world and millions of people will think about creativity and kindness. That makes me feel very good -and hopeful! I want humans to be more generous and kind to each other. From what age did you start writing books? I was perhaps six when I started writing stories. I waited until I was a grown up to turn them into books. I should have started earlier! I hope you all start now! Who inspired you to start writing? As I shared earlier, my daughter, but I had some great teachers who inspired me along the way. My math teacher in 7th grade encouraged me to write a story to teach math. I had never thought about using my writing to teach! What a great use of my words and pictures! I dedicated my book, the Dot to him as a way to say thank you! Have you inspired a lot of children to make their mark in the world? I hope so! This year we had almost 2 million educators and teachers participate in International Dot Day! They al made art, shared art, thought about how THEY will make THEIR mark... that inspires ME! How do you come up the creative and simple titles of your books? I love naming my books! I try to pick a titles that reflect the "big idea" from the book. "I'm Here" is one of my favorite titles. A lot of lonely kids out there (and adults) want to be noticed and be treated with kindness. Thanks for writing! Your friend, Peter Students listened to a read aloud about a Hyena named Pinduli. Pinduli lives in Africa with a number of animals who are all different. Some of the animals make fun of Pinduli because of her large ears and mangy fur. By the end of the story Pinduli teaches all of the animals a valuable lesson about treating others with respect and about self-image and acceptance. As students listened to me reading they thought about questions they can ask to help them have a better understanding of the text. Some excellent examples were: why are the animals making fun of Pinduli? Why is Pinduli not standing up for herself? When we finished reading and discussing the questions asked while reading, we asked ourselves one final question to reflect about the lesson that was learned in the book. We reflected on our self-image and blogged (using the classroom tablets) an answer to the question: what is your favourite thing about yourself and why? Parents/Guardians we invite you to share a little bit about yourselves and answer the same question. Add details into your writing and share with us what your favourite thing is about yourself and why! Comment here...
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