Since I didn’t get a chance to publish this yesterday, we’re doing a double post today! Two days for the price of one.
We did all of our normal Thursday work, like making change and going downstairs, but I want the emphasis to really be on the epilogues the class wrote. Yesterday, after we finished Stuart Little, we decided that there was more to his story that we could share. So, yesterday everyone wrote their own ending to the story and today shared them with the class. It was one of the coolest things I have seen all year.
Sokrates started the sharing by telling us how he thought that Harriet should find another boy her size and, when Stuart found Margalo, they could go on a double date so everyone would be happy. Teddy wanted Stuart to find Margalo and then actually have a nice dinner date. Yianni and Jerome think that Stuart would keep driving around looking for Margalo, while Bisola thought he would fix the boat and look on the river. Timo thought he should go back home to New York and his family there. Tove thought Stuart would go on a long walk and look for more friends. Anja went a little further, saying that Stuart will find Margalo and then they’ll go on adventures together. Paolo broke the mold by suggesting that Margalo would find Stuart instead of the other way around. Niki thought that Stuart will go back home and have that cheese he went looking for in the fridge and then live happily ever after. Rebecca and Gia thought that Stuart would race his boat again, but this time it would break like the canoe did. This wasn’t the happiest epilogue to end with, but it was so cool seeing the class use what they knew of Stuart to make up their own stories. When you read a story at home or watch a movie, consider asking your child to think about how they would add to the story and encourage them to use elements from the story in their additions.
We started our Friday by drawing the covers for our books, which meant we had to select our favorite parts from the book. Timo’s cover was just Margalo, since that was Stuart’s favorite part of the story. Sokrates agreed that Margalo was important, but wanted to have Stuart and Margalo together. Teddy included the canoe, since that was very important to the end of the story. Yianni drew when Margalo saved Stuart, since that was a very happy part of the story. Paolo drew Stuart driving his car, since that was another happy part. Bisola drew Stuart and Harriet with the broken canoe; Niki drew the same thing and explained it was a sad picture because the book was a little sad too. Jerome also focused on the darker part of the story, the part where big kids broke his canoe. I was impressed by the students’ recall and their ability to explain why they made their choices.
After we watched the movie, we compared the book and the movie. Anja noticed that there was no music in the book, which she thought was too bad. Tove pointed out that there were no mouse parents either, which was a big difference she thought. Gia explained that the boats crashed in both versions, but it looked a little different. Yianni couldn’t believe there was no Margalo, since she was so important in the book. Jerome added that there was no canoe or date or even Harriet, so it was very different. This was one of the more divergent movies we’ve watched, so it was great to see how the class grappled with that.
I hope that everyone has a great weekend and continues practicing for the end of the year program (video here). On Monday we’re going to finally discuss our dreams and what we’re going to do to achieve them, so please have a discussion to get ready for it this weekend.
