Our New Read Aloud: Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

This week, we started our new read aloud: Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. This realistic fiction/humour/mystery novel follows Aven, a 13-year-old girl who was born without arms. So far, we’ve learned that Aven has a very strange sense of humour (like telling people she lost her arms wrestling alligators) and has worked her whole life to be self-sufficient. But when she moves to a new school, her classmates either try to help her, avoid her, or stare at her because she is different.

Many people are born with disabilities (and different abilities), just like Aven. Feel free to watch the video below of Sophi, a girl who was also born without arms. She is an amazing, independent, and confident person!

Please remember: not every person who has a disability is the same, and not every disability is one that you can ‘see’. We should treat everyone with respect, understanding, and empathy.

Vincent Van Gogh

Today, we read a story based on the life of Vincent Van Gogh. We learned that most people did not appreciate his artistic talents, and thought he was too strange, too foolish, and too unique to be a famous artist. He only ever sold 1 painting during his entire life, and suffered from mental illness. But now, he is considered by many people to be one of the greatest artists of all time. His paintings are worth over $100 million. Here is a video of the ‘immersive’ exhibit in France. Maybe, one day we can see it in person!

Extreme Writing: Day 2

Our Extreme Writing Challenge continues! Our topic(s) were…

  1. What is a song or genre of music you could listen to forever and never get bored? Why do you love that song/genre so much?
  2. Write a story from the perspective (POV) of a black cat.
  3. What are some superstitions that you have heard of? Do you believe in bad luck? Why are black cats considered ‘bad luck’?

Extreme Writing: Day 1

Our class is working on eliminating ‘writer’s block & brain freeze’ when writing! We will be doing an ‘Extreme Writing’ challenge each day before Language Arts. The goal is to increase our writing confidence and fluency by getting as many words down onto our page as possible in 5 minutes!

Here was our prompt for today:

  1. Describe everything you see in this image. Infer what is going on.
  2. Write a ‘story’ about the man in the pumpkin boat. Where is he going? Why a pumpkin?
  3. Write a story about growing the world’s largest pumpkin. What would you do with it? Make a huge pumpkin pie? A Jack-o-Lantern? Sell it?

 

Our goal for next time is to increase the number of words we can write in 5 minutes, and to find something we are proud of in every piece of writing!

Spooky October Reads: Ms. Ward’s Recommendations

If you enjoyed Coraline by Neil Gaiman, I suggest trying out these other spine-tingling reads (check our classroom & school libraries for a copy)!

Nightbooks: Amazon.ca: White, J. A.: Books

Nightbooks by J. A. White is a nightmarish fairytale that takes inspiration from “Hansel & Gretel” and “1001 Nights”. When a young boy becomes trapped in a witch’s house, he must tell her a scary story every night to ‘earn his keep’. But will he be able to plan his escape before he runs out of stories? And who is the mysterious girl who is also a prisoner of the witch?

The Jumbies: Baptiste, Tracey: 9781616205928: Books - Amazon.ca

The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste spins Caribbean folklore into a spooky story about the mysterious creatures, called “jumbies”, that lurk in the darkness of an island paradise. Corrine isn’t afraid of anything, especially not the stories of “jumbies” used to scare younger children! But when a mysterious woman emerges from the forest, Corrine must face her fears in order to save her family and her home.

The Witch Boy: Amazon.ca: Ostertag, Molly Knox: Books

The Witch Boy series by Molly Knox Ostertag blends fantasy, friendship, and the unknown in this graphic novel. Aster’s community has always had one rule: boys learn shapeshifting, and girls learn witchcraft. But Aster, even though he is a boy, is fascinated by the magic of plants and spells and must keep it a secret. A not-too scary story about identity, friendship, and courage.

The Witches: The Graphic Novel: Amazon.ca: Dahl, Roald, Bagieu, Pénélope: Books

The Witches graphic novel by Penelope Bagieu (story by Roald Dahl) is a colourful adaptation of the classic novel (and soon upcoming movie starring Octavia Spencer and Anne Hathaway). A young boy and his grandmother work together to try to stop the efforts of a coven of witches from their evil goal… to turn all the children in the world into mice! A great mix of action, fairytales, and spooky fun!

 

 

 

Persuasive Writing: Should We Eat Insects?

Would you ever consider snacking on a beetle larvae? Would you ever order a cricket taco for dinner? Our class began exploring the pros and cons of entomophagy (the practice of eating insects). We learned there are many people who already consume insects (over 2 billion people around the world).

But should Canadians be more open to eating insects? We all have our own unique opinions on the subject. Students are continuing to create a persuasive paragraph either encouraging or discouraging entomophagy. We will begin editing our drafts this upcoming week, so please remember to bring your rough copy with you to school!

For more information, feel free to access the articles linked below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mdQSG-eNYL4GGVTGSyVr2pi2wa1K47ggWUASxEVLGZ0/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TM0YY6top6CM5eYyKxhsGpcof1KzwAYUcUAFgbSsrEs/edit?usp=sharing