Dear Class,

Authors write for many different reasons. Many authors write humorous or exciting stories and articles to entertain readers. Other authors write news stories, articles, and other non-fiction to inform and educate readers. Sometimes authors write to share their experiences. Sometimes authors want to teach readers a lesson or get a message across. Other times authors want to persuade readers to think a certain way or perform an action. Most times authors try to do a combination of these things whenever they write.

Choose a text that you have read recently and state the title, author, and the genre of the text. It could be anything --a story, a news article, an instruction manual, an advertisement, an essay, an opinion piece, or other text.

Why do you think the author wrote the text? There may be more than one reason.
Explain why you think this and support your thinking with specific examples from the text. Make sure your examples clearly show us instances of the author trying to do what you think he or she is trying to do!

I look forward to hearing what you think about why authors write!

Picture Citation: Snoopy writing by Charles Schultz. http://www.jeffcalloway.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/the-writer2.jpeg

Strong characters are what make a good story. Without interesting, dynamic, driven characters, a great plot can really flop! On the flip side, well-developed characters can make simple plots more exciting.

One of my favorite book characters is Miggory Sow from "The Tale of Despereaux". Miggery is a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish to be a princess. Even though Miggery is a secondary character, her parts were the most interesting to read, especially because she overcomes so much hardship but doesn't really know it. She was sold into slavery and beaten by her master, but she always kept a positive attitude. She's a bit dim-witted, often dumbfounded with surprise by what happens to her. The author shows this by having her say, "Gor!!!" all of the time, which is just a nonsense sound. Even though Miggery isn't clever, agile, or attractive like many other book characters, she's lovable and admirable because of her determination to achieve her extremely unlikely dream of becoming a princess. 

Choose one of your favorite book characters. Describe the character and explain why you like this character so much. 
How does this character make the book so enjoyable?

I look forward to hearing about your favorite characters!

We finally finished The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. Yay! This book is filled with many opportunities for "power thinking" and deep inferences. I hope you all enjoyed our read aloud of it. I sure did!

Even though we finished the book, there is still so much to discuss. 

Choose one of the following questions to answer. Explain your thinking and make it "deep". Use specific examples from the text to support your thinking.

1. What do you think the title "The Tiger Rising" means?

2. Why do you think Rob screams at, kicks, and punches his dad at the climax of the story?

3. Why do you think the author had the tiger die instead of letting it run free into the woods in the story? (Like seriously, I wanted the tiger to live!!!)

Then... Pose one of your own questions about the story at the end of your response for us to try and answer!

I can't wait to read your reflections on the end of the story!

Welcome back from the Winter Break! I hope you all did some exciting reading during your time off. I finished two books over the break. Having time off is a great opportunity to focus on your "reading life" --your time spent relaxed and reading. During the school weeks, I spend a lot of time preparing lessons, grading, and doing other tasks associated with being a working adult, so I don't find enough free time to read. I love school vacations so I can spend time diving into books I love for hours at a time!

Give us an update on your "Reading Life". 
Write about your "reading life" by describing what you have been reading recently, what it is about, and how you like it. Basically, you summarize what you are reading and then evaluate your experience reading it.

I can't wait to hear about what you all have been reading recently!

Happy Responding!