“Once there was a princess who was very beautiful. She shone bright as the stars on a moonless night. But what difference did it make that she was beautiful? None. No difference."Why did it make no difference?" asked Abilene.
Because," said Pellegrina, "She was a princess who loved no one and cared nothing for love, even though there were many who loved her.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Our reading class is really enjoying the story The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. As we have been reading we have been paying attention to the thoughts, feelings and actions of the character. This is leading us to determine a character's traits. As we hear the narrator describe Edward's thought, we have been asking, "Why might the character behave this way?" In this way, we are gathering evidence to support our ideas about the character's traits. Edward has experienced his first major problem in the story and students are noticing how Edward is reacting to the obstacles and he is developing and changing in the story; this will eventually lead us to the theme of the story.
Students are having wonderful conversations about the book, making predictions and listening and adding onto or respectfully disagreeing with each other ideas. They have been noticing patterns and when the author repeats something. Fourth graders are understanding that this is done intentionally and they are making predictions to what this might really mean, something bigger! This is one of my favorite read alouds!
Ask your child to share with you what they are thinking about Edward Tulane. Encourage them to stop and jot about their independent reading by thinking about characters in their fiction stories the way we are thinking about characters from Edward Tulane.
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