The blog posts for Chapters 7 and 8 must be done using some of the reading strategies we have learned about this year.

Chapter 7 - making connections

• make 6 connections to the book so far *these can be from the book that we have read up to this point


• have 2 of each type of connection (text to text, self and world)


• For each connection, explain the part in the book and the connection

Chapter 8 - making predictions

• after reading chapter 8 make some predictions about the outcome of the book


• your response must be  full paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting details and a concluding sentence

Jeremy is learning a lot about his new dragon...but will he learn enough to really take care of her.  In this chapter, we learn that Tiamat is a girl and that she appears invisible to Jeremy's mom and best friend Spess.  I want you to think about what you would do if you were Jeremy.  Would you tell your mom? Why or Why not?  Would you tell Spess? Why or Why not?

There are several strange things happening in these two chapters.  Jeremy thinks that his mom can't see his new pet dragon and then the children's librarian Miss Priest seems to have just what he is looking for.  I'd like you to reflect on what you think Miss Priest knows or will do in the book by answering these questions. 

1. Why do you think Bruce Coville put a librarian in his book as such an interesting and mysterious character?


2. What do you think Miss Priest will do to help Jeremy?


3. Have you ever known someone so interesting that seems to have all the right answers and everything you need?

Finally, if you were Jeremy, you would get to be creative and give your Dragon a name.  What would you name your dragon? Why?

So Jeremy hatches a real live Dragon.  It's hard to believe!  If you were in his place and you had to leave your newborn baby dragon with a babysitter (a certified Grade 6 student of course), what instructions would you leave.

Your task today is to write out your babysitter's instructions to care for your Dragon.  Make sure to include the feeding, sleeping, playing and emergency information that all babysitter's need to know!

Don't forget to name your Dragon and let the babysitter know what nicknames your baby Dragon answers to.

The plot thickens....

Jeremy buys this colourful sphere and when he gets home and reads the note attached. He realizes that it is a Dragon's egg that he has to hatch.  Wow!  how did Mr. Elives know what his name was?

Your task today is to give your readers some instruction.  Pick and activity - making something, playing a game, performing a task, etc... and write out specific "How To" Steps.  The activity you pick must have at least 10 steps.  Don't forget to include a description of what it is that you are making/playing/etc and a list of any materials or equipment that you would need to perform the activity.

Good Luck!

Wow! What a crazy day for Jeremy...the art teacher yelling at him for taking another piece of paper, reading the note aloud, Mary Lou wanting to kiss him, Howard and Freddy chasing him and then the strange Magic Shop.  Have you ever boon in any of these situations before?  In grade 4 a boy wanted to kiss me...I was terrified and embarrassed...especially when my friends tried to hold me so he could kiss me...YUCK!

Your task today is to write for 6 minutes pretending you are Jeremy writing in his journal.  Pick one (or more) of the things that happened to him today to write about.  Your writing should be at least 6 sentences long and show hoe Jeremy was feeling. Some sentence starters are:

• Today was the ______ day of my life....


• I can not believe what Mr. Kravitz did today.  He...


• I really love drawing, but....


• I will never pick up a note again...


• My legs are aching...


• You would never guess what happened today...

Multiple Intelligences are one way of showing where your strengths are.  Please take these two quizzes to find out where you have strengths.  For both quizzes, print off your results (double-sided) and put your name at the top of the page.

http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm

Your writing assignment for this week is to build on your strengths.  We can recognize a strength when we:

1. We feel a yearning BEFORE the activity


2. Time flies DURiNG the activity


3. We feel envigorated AFTER  the activity

Form our Workshop on Monday, please blog about one thing that makes you feel strong.  What can you do to build on this strength this week.

Mrs. Sherwin's post:

I feel strong when I teach a lesson that has been well planned.  This week, to build on my strength I will spend from 3:15 - 4:00 ensuring that my plans are totally complete for the next day (even photocopying!).   If I can feel strong at the end of every class, that means I will feel envirgorated 5 TIMES a day.  This will give me motivation to work on some of my other strengths.

Last Thursday night, a meteor was spotted in areas across Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Our own classmate, Ashley saw the sky light up when she was in Kindersley shopping with her family.

  The meteor was very bright and appeared red, blue, green and white to some while streaking through the sky.  It looked very close to many of those who saw it, but scientists say that it was probably 60 km up in the sky (that's from there to Unity).

Your writing assignment for this week is to write a journal entry as though you were driving in your vehicle and saw a fireball in the sky come flying past you.  In your journal entry, tell us how you felt during this experience.