**Watch this YouTube video about Once Upon a Marigold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmbL-to9df8
Skills and Strategies
1) Idioms - an expression having a special meaning different from the usual meanings of the words.
- example: "up the creek without a paddle" - means a situation involving trouble
PowerPoint idioms: click on the idioms ppt file
Online idiom game: http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/idioms/more-idioms-game.html
Paint by Idioms online activity: http://www.funbrain.com/idioms/
2) Idiotic Idioms - idioms that are mixed up
- example: "acting like some big cheese in a small pond" - should be: "a big fish in a small pond"
- list of Ed's idiotic idioms: https://docs.google.com/a/newulm.k12.mn.us/document/d/1BVJUIzEZ1HCEZJG4g8glo3oGSsL7zXyMiAeDghNgBCo/edit
3) Characters - the people, animals, or creatures that play a role in the story.
- Characters' personalities are revealed through: actions and behavior (statements or dialogue), thoughts, and other characters' reactions
- Character traits: see GREEN handout in your Reading notes
- Characterization YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GVgbykf8A
- PPT on Characterization from YouTube video: https://docs.google.com/a/newulm.k12.mn.us/presentation/d/1FFgUpumgG6x-2zMXB-S7lhBFWihQLRDb9IxK2oQvNk8/edit#slide=id.g108c74575_074
- Characterization sheet: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson101/3ElementsofCharacterization.pdf
4) Summarizing - short retelling of the story; tell what is important!
- $2.00 activity - sum up the section in 20 words or less, each word costs $0.10
- Summarizing cube: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/cube_creator/
- Summarizing online video and activity: http://www.tv411.org/reading/understanding-what-you-read/video-summarizing
- Summarizing online activity: New York: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en35spec-game-the-virtual-traveller
- Summarizing online activity: http://www.quia.com/rr/86000.html
5) Theme - the central meaning of the story
- express what the author wants the reader to think about or act on
- endure over time and place
- show the relationship between plot and character
- several subthemes in one story
- theme presentation: http://emilykissner.blogspot.com/2010/11/finding-theme.html
- theme worksheet: http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/reading-worksheets/understanding-theme.pdf
6) Poem Writing - literary form that combines the precise meaning of words with their emotional associations, sounds, and rhythms
- Free verse - has no set meter or rhyme scheme
- Rhyme - the repetition of identical or similar sounds in stressed syllables
- How to write a poem: http://www.tv411.org/writing/creative-personal-writing/how-write-poem/activity/1/1
- Acrostic Poem: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/
- Diamante Poem: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/diamante_poems_2/
7) Cause and Effect - cause is the primary action while the effect is the result of that action
- Cause and Effect online game: http://www.fcatexplorer.com/media/parent/tiplister/flash/tip129a.swf
8) Email - messages distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more
- "Pmail" was used in our novel - sending messages by pigeons
9) Making predictions: quia - predictions
- Activity #1 Making predictions: Sniffy and Fluffy Have An Adventure