Bloopers

We had a few minutes left after we filmed so the kids wanted to do a "bloopers" video!

The Treasure Map Makers

The other group researched and created treasure maps that were probably similar to the maps used by the pirates and scallywags in our book The 13th Floor. 

Captain Crackstone visits our room!

As we finish our book The 13th Floor we have produced a few products. This group was made up of talented script writers, a very organized producer, a creative and insightful camera man and 2 very talented actors! 

Cool Lego Website

On this website you can make your own Lego comics!!!!

http://pharaohsquest.lego.com/en-us/comicmaker/Default.aspx

Pirate Ship Cross Section

We have been reading the book "The 13th Floor". This is a cross section of the pirate ship The Laughing Mermaid done by V. Kaponski.

What is Going on at the 13th Floor?

The main characters from the book The 13th Floor, are Buddy and Liz. Buddy is 12 years old and he is an orphan, so is his older sister Liz who just got out of law school. The setting started at San Deigo bay. They got a mysterious message on the phone from their ancestor Abigail that  had been on trial for being a witch. Also Buddy's grandpa had seances trying to contact Captain Crackstone. Captain Crackstone was Buddy and Liz's pirate ancestor that buried his treasure. The reason they are trying to contacted Captain Crackstone is because their dad had to pay a lot of bills and they need to pay them off.
So don't forget to come in an check what we have blogged next time. It will still be a mystery.  

So Far.....

Is there a 13th floor in our story The 13th Floor? Buddy and Liz are orphans who need cash. Their parents died and they are left with a big old house. Their parents hadn't paid any of their debts. They have a "death book" that  says that they have an ancestor that was a pirate named Captain Crackstone who buried a treasure. One night they walked in the door and found a message on the phone. It was from a relative named Abigail Parsons who was accused of being a witch at age 10 back in 1692! The message said that Abigail was in trouble and that Liz, who is a lawyer, should meet her at The Zachary Building on the 13th floor. Liz did not come back from work one night and usually Liz calls Buddy if she is going to be late. He felt scared . When she wasn't home in the morning he got really worried. Stay tuned to see the rest of the of the story!

What is a Graphic Novel?

After talking to the kids today in reading group, a few mentioned that their parents weren’t quite sure they knew what a graphic novel was so…

Scholastic magazine explains…“A graphic novel, like a regular novel, is a stand-alone story that is published as a book. It’s easy to get confused, though, because some people will still use comics for the whole genre or graphic novel for any comic-style work that’s handsomely published, even if it’s just a collection of superhero stories.”

Graphic novels powerfully attract and motivate kids to read. Educators have reported outstanding success getting kids to read with graphic novels, citing particularly their popularity with reluctant readers, especially boys—a group traditionally difficult to reach. At the same time, graphic novels with rich, complex plots and narrative structures can also be satisfying to advanced readers. In fact, graphic novels are flexible enough that often the same titles can be equally appealing to both reluctant and advanced readers. Providing young people of all abilities with diverse reading materials, including graphic novels, can help them become lifelong readers. 

The notion that graphic novels are too simplistic to be regarded as serious reading is outdated. The excellent graphic novels available today are linguistically appropriate reading material demanding many of the same skills that are needed to understand traditional works of prose fiction. Often they actually contain more advanced vocabulary than traditional books at the same age/grade/interest level. They require readers to be actively engaged in the process of decoding and comprehending a range of literary devices, including narrative structures, metaphor and symbolism, point of view, and the use of puns and alliteration, and inference. Reading graphic novels can help students develop the critical skills necessary to read more challenging works, including the classics. 

Check out these sites for a list of graphic novels for kids.

http://www.graphicnovelreporter.com/content/complete-list-core-graphic-novels-kids-other

http://www.scholastic.com/graphix/Scholastic_BoneDiscussion.pdf  (we have many of these at Center)

Intro to Graphic Novels!!

Here is a peek at what we have been doing in reading so far this year. We introduced Graphic Novels and discussed characters, setting, plot and theme. The kids made superheros as a warm up to creating characters. Then we tried making a 4 panel short story. We tied everything we learned so far into them - facial expressions to show emotions, settings, colors (or lack of) to show a mood, beginning, middle and end. They did really great. Very creative group!!!
The next step is to map out their stories on a graphic organizer and start planning the plot, setting and characters for their own graphic novels.

Also... we will be starting the chapter book The 13th Floor. It is a great story about ghosts and time travel. We will work on reading fluency and answering comprehension questions.
Stay tuned for more exciting posts as they start to create their graphic novels.