H.J. Alexander Community School

Grade 5



Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts

Sunday, February 5, 2012

How the Zebra got it's Stripes!

Long, long ago before human walked the earth, all animals lived in a peaceful city called Animaltropolis.  This city wasn’t like other cities, the animals did not fight over food, but they shared everything they had with each other. 
It wasn’t until the Zebra came to live in Animaltropolis, that things started to change.  The Zebra was a beautiful animal with a shiny coat of white fur.  He was proud of his shiny coat but he was boastful.  Other animals wondered how he got his coat so shiny, but the Zebra would not share his secret.
One morning, a little baby monkey, woke up to find his bowl of cereal empty.  He called out to his mother, “Oh my, oh my …. Where did my cereal go to?”  Mother searched and searched but could not find even a flake of cereal.

The next day, a little baby panda, woke up to find his bowl of cereal empty.  He called out to his mother, “Oh my, oh my …. Where did my cereal go to?”  Mother searched and searched but could not find even a small piece of his mini-wheat.
On the third day, the animals were gathered together trying to solve the mystery of the disappearing cereal.  All of a sudden, the Zebra strutted about and his shiny coat looked even shinier.  The animals asked him if his cereal went missing but he didn’t say a word.  It was a suspicious answer and the animals kept watching his actions for the following days.

On the night of that third day, Zebra was walking around the city with a bag in his hand. The fox was closely watching all the animals in search of clues on who could be stealing the cereal.  The fox saw the Zebra’s bag and wondered what could be in the bag.  He used his nose to smell and he was sure that it was the distinct smell of Lucky Charms.
The following morning,   a little baby lion, woke up to find her bowl of cereal empty.  She called out to her mother, “Oh my, oh my …. Where did my cereal go to?”  Mother searched and searched but could not find even a single Lucky Charm. 

The fox heard about the missing lucky charms, his suspicions were pointing toward the zebra.  He called out “The zebra did it, the zebra did it … oh my gosh, the zebra did it!”
The other animals charged out of their homes and joined the angry mob, except for the Zebra.  They knocked on his door but he didn’t answer, they searched the streets but they couldn’t find him, he was nowhere to be found.  Everyone thought the Zebra left town and moved onto a new home.  Cereal was once again safe, or so they thought.

The following morning, in the king’s palace, he woke up to find his bowl of cereal empty.  He called out to his guards, “Oh my, oh my …. Where did my cereal go to?”  The guards searched and searched finding the Zebra eating the king’s cereal in a dark corner of the palace. 
The guards stomped toward the Zebra and yelled for him to drop the cereal and slowly back away.  But Zebra looked toward the guards and ate a final spoonful of cereal.  The guards slapped the spoon out of his hand and grabbed him so that he can’t escape.  They marched Zebra to the king by grabbing him by the ear.  Zebra cried and screamed all the way to the king, yelling out, “let me go, I’m innocent!”

The guards present Zebra to the king, and an empty bowl of cereal.  The king’s face turned cherry red and steam was coming out of his ears, he was furious!  He shouted out, “How dare you take MY royal cereal!”  The king commanded the guards to take Zebra to the royal dungeon, but he forgot he didn’t have one.  The zebra tried to explain that he needed cereal to keep his coat beautiful and shiny.  As punishment, the king took his magic stick and gave the zebra stripes to remind him of prison bars.  From that day on, all zebras had stripes to remind them that they are not to eat other people’s cereal.
The End!
Written by all students in Grade 5 -
Mr. Jacinto's 2011/2012 school year

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Lets write our own FOLKTALE!!!

Writing your own Folktale:

Pick an idea to write about:
·         How did the zebra gets its’ stripes?
·         Why is the moon and sun in the sky?
·         How did the leopard gets its’ spots?
·         How did the giraffe get a long neck?
·         Why does the sun rise in the morning?
·         Why do salmon swim upstream to lay their eggs?
·         How did the elephant get its’ trunk?
·         Why do crocodiles have hard/rough skin?
·         Why does the ostrich stick his head in the ground?
·         Why do fish live in water?
·         How did the cheetah get its’ name?

Stand by for the "shared writing story" that will be published once it is finished!
These are the following Folktales that we read aloud!
  
Mei Ming and the Dragon's Daughter by Lydia…
Asian Folktale
Image Detail
African Folktale


Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, Bushnell Theater, Hartford CT

African Folktale
Image Detail
Aboriginal Folktale

What is a FOLKTALE?

Lets begin by reviewing the Characteristics of Fairy Tales:

·         Begins with Once Upon a Time, Once long ago, Long, long ago etc.
·         Story setting is usually in a castle, forest or town
·         Story has good / nice characters
·         Story has mean / bad characters
·         Many of the characters are animals or members of royalty
·         Story has magic
·         Story has the numbers 3 or 7 in it
·         Story has a problem
·         Problem in the story is solved
·         Good wins / outsmarts bad
·         Ending is "happily ever after"

In order for a story to be a Fairy Tale it must have most of these characteristics - 6 or more.

From Class discussion and reading four FOLKTALES the class came up with the following ideas of what they thought were the characteristics of a FOLKTALE:

Characteristics of Folk Tales: (ideas from students)
          ·       There is a lesson at the end / or in the story
·        There is a conflict
·         The characters are people
·         Some characters can be animals as well
·         Some things are symbols for emotions/feelings (sweetness = love)
·         Very old story
·         Explain how things originated
·         Sun/rain can be characters
·         Teaching you a something using not real characters (sun)
·         Begins with Once Upon a Time, Once long ago, Long, long ago etc.
·         The characters are mean or good
·         Some pictures are realistic
·         Bad person usually loses and good people usually win
·         Usually story comes from somewhere
·         Stories come from different cultures
·         Weakest characters can solve the problem
Characteristics of Folk Tales:
·         Originates in the oral tradition
      ·         Characters are drawn very clearly, and are generally depicted as symbols
           of good, evil, wisdom or foolishness, power of weakness
·         The magic in the tales lies within the people and creatures being shown
      as they really are, not as results of wishes or dreams
·         Natural good, intelligence and goodness generally outsmart evil
·         Magical power is limited
·         Evil does not win, but receives its due or is recognized as evil
·         Plot structure is clear, with chronological sequence and repetitive phrases, or cumulative patterns with predictable problem-solving structure

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

What is the author's message?

We have read the following stories in class with the intention of figuring out the author's message.
Listen and review the story again and again!

The Lorax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soRbNlPbHEo

The Great Kapok Tree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-j9RRSWS1U

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Summary for a Narrative

This is the format that we are using in class to create a Summary for a Narrative.



After reading the story "The Visitor", we created a summary using the same format from above.