The Campfire Chronicles

reported by Miss Camp

January 25, 2002

For a quick link to a specific area of the newsletter, click on an item.
Scout of the Week	Reader Buddies of the Week	Journey to the Write Stuff
Jupiter's Weather Report	Blasting Off: Reading Adventures	T-Chart of Problem & Solution
Sample Book Report	The Plot Thickens...	Subtraction in Action

SCOUT OF THE WEEK

Royden

Royden is our Scout of the Week because his behavior has been a good example to others all week.

Royden, a new student in our class, is very polite and respectful to others. He does not laugh at other people’s mistakes. His kindness to others is one of his special qualities.

Royden was on Safety Patrol this week and did an excellent job.

Congratulations Royden!

READER BUDDIES OF THE WEEK

Ryan Str. and Alison S.

It was very difficult for Miss Camp and Miss Hover to choose “Reader Buddies of the Week” this week. We were impressed by so many of the pairs.

We saw a first grader (who often has a tough time paying attention) absolutely transfixed by the storytelling of a third grader who was reading a story with such great expression. We saw two reader buddies examining and discussing the picture of a frog in a book about animals. It was fun to see such great reading!

We finally decided to give this week’s award to Ryan Str. and Alison S.. We appreciated their quiet voices and the good time they had reading together. After Ryan (the third grader) read a book to Alison (the first grader), Alison then read a book to Ryan!

Congratulations Ryan and Alison!

JOURNEY TO THE WRITE STUFF

This week’s featured writer is Ryan Str. If you remember the clip from Ryan’s story in last week’s newsletter, and how he built suspense, you will be glad to hear how it all turns out! His story, now displayed on the “Journey to the Write Stuff” bulletin board outside the cafeteria, is published below:

Congratulations Ryan!

The Snowboarding Accident

Once upon a time there lived two boys who loved to snowboard. They went off jumps together and did 360’s. One of them went off track and crashed into a car. His brother went to a payphone and dialed 911. The ambulance came and couldn’t find him or his snowboard.

Suddenly his hand came out from under the snow. Then the rest of his body came out from under the snow and he was all right. He still got hurt because while he was doing a 360 he fell and broke his arm. He got a cast on his arm and he didn’t snowboard for a while.
By Ryan Str.

JUPITER'S WEATHER REPORT

During morning announcements, being given by Camp Linus this month, everyone expects to hear the day’s weather forecast. Since it was so much fun to surprise everyone last week by announcing the weather forecast for Mars, we decided to do the same thing again this week! Alexis and Ryan Schr., our two announcers, gave the forecast for Jupiter!

Today’s weather forecast is for a low of negative 250 degrees and our 300-year-long hurricane continues! Oops! That’s the weather report for Jupiter! Here on Earth we are expecting sun and clouds with a high of 37 degrees!

Nice job Alexis and Ryan! :-)

CAMP LINUS BLASTS OFF INTO READING ADVENTURES!

This week we began small literature groups that meet for about 30 minutes each day during a 90-minute block of independent literacy centers. Two groups are reading Midnight on the Moon (a Magic Treehouse book), and one group is reading Space Explorers (a Magic School Bus chapter book).

Books like these help us to learn about science at the same time that we are working to improve our reading comprehension strategies and our writing skills.

We began by reading the prologue (or introduction) with the purpose of searching for the 5W’s of the story (who, what, when, where, why, how). Together we filled out a graphic organizer with the information we found. (Students may use this graphic organizer as their “book report” for books they read independently during their literacy centers.)

Next we will use the T-chart graphic organizer to begin looking for the small problems and solutions that happen throughout the story. With the whole class, Miss Camp modeled this using The Hobbit:

THE T-CHART: PROBLEM and SOLUTION (using The Hobbit)

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

THE BIG PROBLEM IN THE STORY:
Old Smaug has the dwarves’ gold.

LITTLE PROBLEMS ALONG THE WAY (so far):

Bilbo wants Gandalf to leave.
Bilbo oversleeps.
Trolls capture them.
Stone Giants are throwing stones.
Goblins capture them.
Bilbo vs. Gollum
Wargs and Goblins, trees on fire
No food in Mirkwood Forest

THE BIG SOLUTION IN THE STORY:
They’re going to get the gold back.

SOLUTIONS TO THE LITTLE PROBLEMS:

“Come back tomorrow.”
Gandalf helps.
Gandalf saves them.
Hide in a cave.
Gandalf saves them.
The RING of invisibility
The Eagles rescue them.
??? (we haven’t gotten that far yet!)

If we list all of the little problems that Bilbo and the dwarves have to face in their attempt to solve their BIG problem (getting the gold from Old Smaug), we end up with a list of the “events” that take place from beginning to end of the book. Since we haven’t finished the book yet, we can only predict how they will solve their BIG problem and get the gold from Old Smaug.

A SAMPLE BOOK REPORT (using THE HOBBIT)

WHO? (Characters) Gandalf, Bilbo, 13 dwarves, Gollum, Old Smaug, goblins, Beorn, elves, wargs, trolls, eagles, Stone Giants	WHERE? (Setting) Misty Mountains, The Hill, The Water, Mirkwood Forest, Wilderland	WHEN? (Setting) Present (or) Time of Middle Earth
WHY? (Problem) Old Smaug has all the dwarves’ gold.	HOW? (Solution) Get back their gold. (We don’t know exactly how yet because we haven’t finished reading it!)	WHAT? (Plot) Bilbo, Gandalf, and the 13 dwarves go on a journey (adventure) to get the dwarves’ gold from Old Smaug.

“THE PLOT IS THICKENING!”

When making dough, whether it’s for cookies or bread or play, it starts out kind of soupy. As ingredients are added (such as flour, baking soda, sugar, etc.), the dough gets thicker.

It’s the same way with a story. In a story, the ingredients being added are the “events” of the story. Each time something new happens in the story, the plot thickens! (The plot is what’s happening in the story.) We often say “the plot thickens...” when something happens in the story that is very suspenseful. For example, each little problem in the story creates suspense because the reader wants to know how the problem gets solved. If you stop reading before the problem is solved, you are “left hanging” and very curious to know what happens next!

Just like ingredients make dough thicker, events in a story make its plot thicker!

SUBTRACTION IN ACTION

THE PROBLEM:

-	100's	10's tens	1's ones
	5	4	3
	1	2	7
.	.	.	.

THE PROPS: Base-10 Blocks (unit cubes, ten rods, hundred squares)

THE ACTORS:

Tiano is the 3. He holds 3 of the unit cubes. (He’s the ones place.)
Melissa is the 40. She holds 4 of the ten rods. (She’s the tens place.)
Ryan Schr. is 500. He holds 5 of the hundred squares.
Brennan is the 7. He wants to take 7 of the unit cubes from Tiano.
Nikki is the 20. She wants to take 2 of the ten rods from Melissa.
Jenna is 100. She wants to take 1 of the hundred squares from Ryan.

READY, SET, ACTION:

Brennan “Tiano, may I have 7 of your unit cubes please?”

Tiano “No, I don’t have 7.”

Brennan “What? You have five hundred forty three and can’t give me seven? I want seven!”

Tiano (turning to his neighbor, Melissa):“Melissa, may I please have one of your tens?”

Melissa “Sure!” She hands one over and says to herself: “Now I only have 3 tens left!”

Brennan (to Tiano): “Wait a minute Tiano! Now you only have 4 blocks in your hand. The three that you had plus one from your neighbor. I still need 7!”

Tiano “No this one from Melissa is worth 10. I have to trade it in for 10 of the unit cubes so it’ll be dressed the same as the others in this family.”

Tiano (to the banker):“I want 10 of the unit cubes for the ten rod please.”

Banker “Here’s five.”

Tiano “No, I want a fair deal, and Even-Steven exchange. This is worth 10. Give me 10.”

Banker “Well, okay, if you’re going to be that way about it!”

Tiano (to Brennan): “Okay, now I have my 3 plus the 10 I got from my neighbor, so that means I have 13. I can give you 7 now.”

Brennan “Well it’s about time.” (takes 7)

Tiano “Now I only have 6 ones left!”

Nikki “Melissa, may I please have 2 of your tens?”

Melissa “Here you are. Now I only have 1 ten left!”

Jenna “Ryan, may I please have 1 of your hundreds?”

Ryan “Here you are. Now I only have 4 hundreds left!”

THE SOLUTION: Ryan, Melissa, and Tiano are left holding 4 hundreds, 1 ten, and 6 ones, or 416.

Click on Snoopy Typing to go back to the Directory of Campfire Chronicles! Click on the Beagle Scout to go back to Camp Linus!