White+Wave

Pre-reading Activities:
===The main character in this story discovers that he has a magical helper that he is not allowed to see. Imagine what it wold be like to have a helper like this. Go to [|our class blog] and blog about not only what you would want the magical helper to do but also how you would feel about having a magical helper.===

Vocabulary - As you read the story, find and highlight each of these vocabulary words.
flourished, shrine, remain, harvest, earthenware, goddess, gleaming, rippled, longing, eager, desired, cascaded, scattered, stumbled

Choose 1 of the following activities to complete on your own paper.
 * 1) Group and Regroup - think about these words. Use all of the vocabulary words listed and 5 more words of your choice and create a Tree Map showing 5 ways you could categorize these words. Some words may fall into more than 1 category. (i.e. Words that Describe a Character, Nouns, Words with More Than 3 Syllables, etc.). Every category has to have at least 2 words in it and every word must be placed in at least 1 category.
 * 2) Vocabulary Analysis - Choose 5 words to work with. For each word create a Tree Map with the following headings: Definition, Part of Speech, How Used in Story, My Own Sentence
 * 3) Target Words - complete a Word Target for Flourished, eager, longing, and 2 other words of your choice from the list above

Directed Notes Activity
During the second reading of the story look for places that show places where Kuo Ming makes a GOOD choice and mark them with a G. Also look for places where Kuo Ming makes a POOR choice and mark them with a P. Be prepared to explain why you marked the places you did. After your second reading write a post in our class blog OR answer the following question on paper:

What do you think was the ** best ** of the GOOD choices that Kuo Ming made and why? What do you think was ** worst ** of the POOR choices that Kuo Ming made and why?

Remember that your answer is your opinion and is your Claim. Be sure to give Evidence from the text and Reasons for your thinking.

Comprehension Activities - Choose one or more of the following:
 * 1) Create an art project based on the story. You may use any medium you choose. Your art should represent a part of the story that moved you - it could be the goddess, shell, shrine, Kuo Ming, or any other part of the story that you feel is important. Attach a written description of why you chose to create this particular of art as well as the medium you used to create it.
 * 2) Stories often have more than one character and each person sees what happens from their own perspective. Complete a SWBST summary from Kuo Ming's perspective and another one from White Wave's perspective. Extra challenge - also write a SWBST from the perspective of Kuo Ming's wife or children.
 * 3) Create a Shrine. In our story Kuo Ming built a shrine in honor of White Wave to honor her importance in his life. Think of all the people that have importance in your life. Choose one person that you would like to honor. Design a shrine that would honor this person - you may just draw a picture of the shrine or you may build a model at home and bring it to class. Then write what you would want to say on the dedication plaque that would stand next to the shrine explaining why this shrine is dedicated to the person you chose.
 * 4) Kuo Ming worked in the rice fields. In many ways the rice grown in the fields of China today is very similar to how it was grown long ago. Conduct some research about how rice is grown in China today. Create a Keynote presentation to share what you have learned.