Bonus Online Discussion

Give your opinion!  Participate in this online discussion by Friday, May 6th to earn three bonus points on your upcoming Touching Spirit Bear or Petey novel test.  Please make sure you complete all of the following in order to receive the bonus points!

1). You must answer one of the following questions using complete sentences (at least three sentences or more in order to clearly elaborate on your thoughts.

2). You must put your first name at the end of your discussion (leave off your last name, but put the first letter of your last initial if there's more than one classmate that also shares the same first name as you) so I know who to give credit to.

3). Make sure to read the entries posted before you so you do not post a repeat/identical entry.  You need to write with originality.

4). Be specific and detailed in your response

Questions (You Choose to either answer Set #1 or Set #2):
1. What was your reaction to the movie Soul Surfer  (loved it?  not your type of film?  how many stars would you give it?  thumbs up or thumbs down?)  What was the most memorable scene or the scene that had the biggest impact on you and why?  What would you say is the overall theme of this story?  Were you impressed with the acting abilities of the actors in the film? Why or why not?

2. Out of the three novels we read as a whole class (Go Big Or Go Home, Fever 1793, or Touching Spirit Bear) which one was your favorite and why?  What was the most memorable scene from your favorite novel and why?  What is a novel you would recommend to your classmates that you read outside of class?  What makes this particular novel a great read?

Click here to review Touching Spirit Bear Vocabulary!

Quizlet Flashcards!  Ten out of the 20 words need to be learned by Monday's (April 18th) quiz.  You will be tested on all 20 words on your novel test (Friday, May 6th)!

Click here to vote for your favorite Golden Sower Nominee

Have you read at least four of this year's Golden Sowers?  Then you can vote for your favorite by April 14th.
Here are this year's nominees:
Chains
Home of the Brave
The Boy Who Dared
Peeled
A Thousand Never Evers
The Hunger Games
Go Big or Go Home
Steel Trapp: The Challenge
Artichoke's Heart
Fakie

Soul Surfer: Click here to check out the movie's offical webpage!

If you want to learn more about surfer Bethany Hamilton's true story of surviving a shark attack, read on!  The film Soul Surfer that will we see during our field trip on Wednesday, April 20th is based on the published memoir with the same title.  Here is a synopsis of this nonfiction piece::

From the Publisher

The amazing story of the thirteen-year-old surfer girl who lost her arm in a shark attack but never lost her faith -- and of her triumphant return to competitive surfing.

They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the tremendous passion that drives her to surf? How else could one explain that nothing -- not even the loss of her arm in a horrific shark attack -- could come between her and the waves?

That Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii -- a glorious part of the world, where it's hard to deny the divine -- Bethany responded to the shark's stealth attack with the calm of a girl with God on her side. Pushing pain and panic aside, she immediately began to paddle with one arm, focusing on a single thought: "Get to the beach...." Rushed to the hospital, where her father, Tom Hamilton, was about to undergo knee surgery, Bethany found herself taking his spot in the O.R. It's the kind of coincidence that isn't mere coincidence to the Hamilton family, a clan whose motto could easily be "the family that surfs and prays together stays together." To them it was a sign someone had a greater plan than the one they'd been working on themselves -- which had been to scrape together whatever resources they could to help Bethany rise to the top of her sport. When the first thing Bethany wanted to know after surgery was "When can I surf again?" it became clear that her unfaltering spirit and determination were part of a greater story -- a tale of courage and faith that this modest and soft-spoken girl would come to share with the world.

Hamilton, Bethany.  Soul Surfer.  New York: Simon & Schuster. 2006.