Sharing Story Elements

Every book we enjoy reading has an element that draws us to it. Sometimes it is a particular character, sometimes the setting, sometimes the problem, or even the genre. Right now I am reading a book and the element that is drawing me in is the problem. In this book, The Shadow of the Wind, the main character is trying to find out what happened to the author of a book he finds particularly interesting. The problem is that there is little information about this author in the story. I am interested in the book as it shows little by little more and more about the author of the novel within my book.

Tiger Topic:
Think about the book you are reading. What is it that makes the book interesting to you? Is it a character, the setting, the problem, or something else? Please share this in your blog post. I can't wait to find out more!

See you all Tuesday!

Authoring a story..

Authors rely on past experiences to inspire them to write the books they write. Below is a game I created at Gamestarmechanic.com. It takes place as a miner mines for gems and minerals. Play the game and create a story based on the mining experience. Obviously, this story is fiction. Write your short story and share it on the blog this week. Good luck! Enjoy

Character Development

Characters have feelings too!

Characters in books change over time. Typically a book character has life going a certain way and then something occurs that forces that character to change in some way. The character usually resists change and then over time changes or grows in some way by the end of the novel.

Think about the book you are reading and think about the main character. As you read, look at how these changes occur and what causes the character to change.

Write a short reflection about how the character in your novel acts and what changes you notice as you read. Are there things you relate to about your character? Are their things you don't understand about the main character? How does the character change over time? Respond to your secret blog buddy and I hope to see you all this week!

Tigers Talk Books Blogging Club Is Back!

Good morning! Today we begin blogging about independent reading again. I look forward to hearing all about the book you are reading at this time. Add a comment letting us know the title and author of your book, what genre the book is, and one interesting thing about the book so far. Hopefully this will get some great conversations going about books!

Each of you should have a secret blog buddy. Look for your blog buddy to comment and be sure to let them know you are their secret buddy for the week and make a comment about the information posted by your blog buddy. Remember, we want to talk about books in our comments. You may have a connection to what they are reading or the book might remind you of a funny story..be creative and get blogging!!

I look forward to getting a glimpse at what each of you are reading! I am reading a book called The Life of Pi. It is about a boy in India who gets stranded on a small boat with a Tiger! So far, the boy is explaining his life growing up as a son of a zookeeper. I am excited to read more! Enjoy reading this week!

Mrs. Swartz

Tigers Talk Books Reflection

Click here to take the survey!

Our first session of book blogging is done! Hard to believe! Take the survey above, and we will begin our second session the week of January 10th! Have a great holiday break!

Mrs Swartz




Tiger Topic:
What are you planning to read over break? Perhaps you have a great book to recommend to others! Place it here!

Point of View... How did it happen??

Imagine this scene. You are playing in the basement with a friend and one of your siblings. Suddenly an argument breaks out over what you should do next. Suddenly someone is crying. Your mom comes and asks what happened. There are 4 points of view to this scene. Yours, your sister’s or brother’s, your friend, and your mother’s way of explaining what happened according to what they know. The same is true with books. Authors tell stories from one or more points of view. This point of view effects the story in many ways!

Tiger Topic:

 Think about the story you are reading. Who is telling the story? This is the point of view of the story? How would this story change if a different character told the story? What if you told the story to someone else? How would that change the story?

Thanksgiving Poems

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family. Here is a link to some Thanksgiving day poetry. Poems can be fun to read, and fun to write!

Tiger Topic: Read through these poems and try writing one of your own on our blog site! Enjoy the break!