Fish in a Tree: Chapters 25 – 33

Tricky_chair_preview_featuredCharacter Hot Seating

You have been in Ally’s world for a few weeks now and have learnt more about her and some of the other characters in the book.  In a classroom students often have different opinions on why or what motivates a character to do and act a certain way. This activity allows you to form opinions about a character.

TASK

1. In pairs choose a character you would like to ask specific questions to.

2. Create a list of 5-10 questions.

3. Have one child at the front of the room sit in a chair.

4. This child assumes the identity of one of the characters from the text.

5. The class then asks the character questions.

6. The child in the seat answers questions in character.

“Texting” in Character!

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This week, we paired up with some students in New York to “text” back and forth in the role of some of the characters. We had a Mystery Skype with them earlier.  Now our students are matched up with assigned characters, in groups of three.  Each one has to imagine actually being the character and “texting” (on a Padlet) about what is going on in the story.  We plan to continue this throughout the rest of the book.

GRA First Week!

So many choices, so much excitement!  Galloway 5th graders loved making such a strong connection with the author through her videos as she read and answered questions. The book is already touching hearts as Ally’s story becomes more and more real to us.  We were able to begin several connections with other classes around the world, through Edmodo, Edublog, and Skype. The Mystery Skypes were a great team-building kick-off!