All Summer in a Day, by Ray Bradbury is a very creative story that takes place on the Planet Venus. Ray Bradbury wrote this story in 1954, when little was known about the planet. Today, the students analyzed the setting of the story. We discovered that it is actually about 860 degrees Fahrenheit on the planet! We researched to discover that the highest temperature in New Jersey was in 1936, at 110 degrees. The top temperatures in our country were shown in California (134 degrees in 1913) and in Arizona (128 degrees in 1994)! So let's just say Venus is extremely hot! We discovered that in reality, the planet is too hot for rainfall and the clouds actually appear to trap heat!
Before reading, students each chose a vocabulary word to teach the class. They needed to make a quick presentation of their word to ensure their classmates understood the new word.
As we read today, we decided to act out the conflict of the story. Check out our stormy setting below. We enjoyed the sounds as we pretended to be on the planet Venus while reading. We pretended to "lock" the main character in our secret closet, and then went out to play for a few minutes. Students were able to empathize with not only how horrible this plot event was for Margot, but what the other students must have felt once they discovered what they had truly done!
We were able to make connections to the other stories that we have read and talked about how each story had a villain. Every story has a conflict, and many times, these characters are needed to help show that. Each of the stories that we have read have taught a valuable lesson about treating others how you would like to be treated. In Wonder, Julian picked on Auggie; in Fish in a Tree, Shay was mean to Ally and Albert; and in this story, the whole class was cruel to Margot. In each story, the characters were unique in some way, and the antagonist(s) were jealous of the main character. Through reading these stories, the students were able to empathize with the characters and understand that people should treat others how they would like to be treated. As we continue to write our own stories, we will be sure to incorporate this strategy in our own writing. I love to read and learn with Korten's Crew!
Before reading, students each chose a vocabulary word to teach the class. They needed to make a quick presentation of their word to ensure their classmates understood the new word.
As we read today, we decided to act out the conflict of the story. Check out our stormy setting below. We enjoyed the sounds as we pretended to be on the planet Venus while reading. We pretended to "lock" the main character in our secret closet, and then went out to play for a few minutes. Students were able to empathize with not only how horrible this plot event was for Margot, but what the other students must have felt once they discovered what they had truly done!
We were able to make connections to the other stories that we have read and talked about how each story had a villain. Every story has a conflict, and many times, these characters are needed to help show that. Each of the stories that we have read have taught a valuable lesson about treating others how you would like to be treated. In Wonder, Julian picked on Auggie; in Fish in a Tree, Shay was mean to Ally and Albert; and in this story, the whole class was cruel to Margot. In each story, the characters were unique in some way, and the antagonist(s) were jealous of the main character. Through reading these stories, the students were able to empathize with the characters and understand that people should treat others how they would like to be treated. As we continue to write our own stories, we will be sure to incorporate this strategy in our own writing. I love to read and learn with Korten's Crew!