Varjak Paw

Varjak Paw is a Mesopotamian Blue kitten. He lives high up in an old house on a hill. He's never been outside the house. No-one in his family has, not since their legendary ancestor Jalal. But when the sinister Gentleman and his two black cats come to the house, Varjak must go outside alone into a dark and dangerous city to get help..

1. How is Varjak different from his family?  If you were to analyse his character, what three traits would you use to describe Varjak so far? 
2. Julius, Varjak's brother, seems particularly hard on Varjak.  He points out Varjak's differences to everyone whenever he can.  Varjak is made to feel somehow "lesser" by this.  How does this treatment of Varjak relate to our society?  What is Julius doing?
3. Search the internet using Google to find what the "Seven Skills in the Way of Jalal".  List and explain what you think they mean.

As usual compose your answers in MS WORD and use WORD TALK to proof read it and check it for COPS before you post.  Don't read other student's posts until after you have posted.

Rules: What Does Catherine Learn?

Click on this link and watch the video.  Then read the following and answer the questions as best you can from your memory of the story.

"...Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life, which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"---in order to head off David's embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?"

Here are some questions I would like you to think about and answer two of them.  As usual, use MS Word and Word Talk BEFORE you post.  Remember your name (first only) after your entry.  Try to be original in your answers and ideas, and give details; don't read other posts by other students. 

1. What choices does Catherine make near the end of the book that show growth on her part?
2. Why does Catherine risk in inviting Jason to the dance? Do you think that risk was worth it? Why or why not?
3. What does Catherine give up at the dance? What does she give up in the final chapter with David?

Rules By Cynthia Lord: You Choose...You Tell...

Here are some questions based around the book we are reading in class right now, Rules by Cynthia Lord.  It is a difficult book which deals with some difficult situations.  Sometimes the author makes us feel uncomfortable for Catherine, or David, or Jason.  Here are some questions I would like you to think about and answer three of them.  As usual, use MS Word and Word Talk BEFORE you post.  Remember your name (first only) after your entry.  Try to be original in your answers and ideas, and give details; don't read other posts by other students. 

1. What are Catherine’s strengths? What are her weaknesses?
2. Name at least three characters who exhibit prejudice in RULES. What do they say or do which shows that prejudice?
3. How do Catherine’s feelings change toward Jason as the book continues? What causes that change?
4. What do you think would’ve happened if Catherine had been honest right away with Kristi and told her about Jason? Why wasn’t Catherine honest? What do you think she was afraid of?
5. Catherine is not the only character in the story who is not always honest. How do the other characters avoid dealing with problems or act in ways that are not completely truthful?
6. Do you think it’s true that “Leaving out isn’t the same as lying?” If not, is it ever true?
7. Some of Catherine’s rules are what we might call “unwritten rules,” comments on how people behave, such as “Sometimes people don’t answer because they didn’t hear you. Other times it's because they don’t want to hear you."  How do people learn these rules?  Why do we have them?
8. When Kristi has David dance in Catherine’s room, is she being mean? Since he wasn’t upset by it, should Catherine have stopped the music?

Smaug - Character Analysis

When you look at characters in a book, you often make a choice about which type of character they are: Protagonists or Antagonists.  Protagonists are characters that help solve the problem in the story.  If the character causes a lot of problems, they are the antagonists. 

1. Is Smaug a protagonist or an antogonist in your opinion?  Why? Give some evidence that you have heard from the story that supports your point of view.
2. You can usually tell whether a character is a protagonist or an antagonist by looking at their traits or personality characteristics. List 3 Characteristics or Traits of Smaug and then give 2 pieces of evidence (quotes or a paraphrase) to support each of the 3 personality traits you think fit Smaug's personality.  You can go from your memory from listening to me read at lunchtime, or from this online summary of Chapter 12 (When Bilbo meets Smaug in the Lonely Mountain).

Compose your answers in MS Word.  Finally proof read and correct any COPS errors with WORD TALK, before you post.  Remember your name :-)

 

The Hobbit: Mirkwood, Flies and Spiders.

1. Before the dwarfs and Bilbo entered Mirkwood, what were Gandalf's final cautionary words as he bade farewell to them?
2. What connections can you find between The Hobbit and other texts so far... Are there any authors out there that you think may have taken inspriration and ideas from the Hobbit?  Who are they and what books have they written that contain similarities? (for instance: Bilbo's mother was called Belladonna Took...Wizards, Spiders, skin changers...quests...etc. etc. etc...)
3. How has Bilbo's character changed so far in the story?
4. So far, what are your thoughts and feelings on the novel? 
5. Would you recommend this novel?  Who would it be suitable for?  How would you rate it (develop your own rating scale and explain it.)

Compose your answers in MS Word.  Finally proof read and correct any COPS errors with WORD TALK, before you post.  Remember your name :-)

Chapter Six: Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire

1. How might you use the power of the golden ring if you possessed it?
2. Explain the significance of the title of this chapter.
3. Why would the ring not protect Bilbo from the wolves (Wargs)?
4. Who helped Bilbo escape into the tree?
5. Create your own character for The Hobbit and discuss what they would look like. 
• What sort of personality or character would they have - how would they behave? (You can use the Character Traits sheet here to look up words that tell about someone's character). 
• What quirks would they have (remember Bilbo is always hungry and quite whiny when he doesn't get his own way). 
• How would you include your character in the story - what role would they play? 

Some readers might have already noticed the dearth of female characters in the novel. (Look up "dearth" if you do not know what it means!)

Compose in MS Word.  Finally proof read and correct any COPS errors with WORD TALK, before you post.  Remember your name!

The Hobbit: Riddles in the Dark

Bilbo, lost in the caves of the Goblins, stumbles in the dark to the edge of a subterranean lake.  There he meets a creature called Gollum.  Gollum intends to eat Bilbo, but Bilbo challenges him to a Riddle duel.  If Bilbo can't answer a riddle set by Gollum, then Gollum will kill and eat him; if Gollum can't answer a riddle set by Bilbo, then Gollum must show Bilbo the way out of the Goblins' caves.

How would you do?  How many of these riddles can you solve?

1. What can you catch but not throw?
2. What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days? 
3. Inside a burning house, this thing is best to make. And best to make it quickly, before the fire's too much to take! ...  
4. I am related to the water, but I am not wet. I am an illusion, but I show what is real. What am I?  
5. What goes first but then follows? What fills in holes and blocks out the sky? What hides shadows, but runs from the sun?  
6. I have holes on the top and bottom. I have holes on my left and on my right. And I have holes in the middle, yet I still hold water. What am I?
7.  If you have it, you want to share it. If you share it, you don't have it. What is it?
8. I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I? 
9. I am all about, but cannot be seen.  I can be captured, but not held.  I have no throat, but I can be heard.

Do not post your answers; instead, type them up with a title and a footer (all Golden rules..) in MS WORD and print them off.  Leave them on the printer.  I will collect them later.

Just for you, Kobe

It's not a McLaren, but it's a quick little car, made out of carbon fibre, glue and a powerful engine.  It's light and fast.  Not bad looking either, but the owner needs to wash it!  I saw this at Newland's Corner today while I was eating another iced cream with a flake chocolate bar in it...mmmmm!

It's a Lotus Elise R...I'm still looking for another McLaren...One more day until spring break for you guys...See you soon.

Mr. N

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

Thanks for the comments, everyone:  so many questions :-)

1. JK: it's great that you got a new hockey stick.  Is it a composite?  Let's hope you get lots of pucks rippling the net!
2. Hi, Lindsay: no I haven't seen any Apteryx Mantelli (Brown Kiwi birds) because they're not indigenous here; they're from New Zealand.  But I have seen some Buteo buteo, Milvus milvus, and my personal favourite, at this website....
3. Hi, Ryan: my middle daughter had to rush off the island to get here; she came later than me and Clementine. We were worried that the wind would shut the ferries and float planes down, but she managed to get to Vancouver last afternoon and fly out.  Where are you going from Seattle?  Have fun, and keep the reading up.
4. Hi, Catherine: I'm glad you are enjoying Mrs. Knight at school. I'm sorry to hear about the snow!  I'm hoping that when we get back it's warmer and spring is on its way!
5. Hi, Mrs B!  Nope, I'm not in the jail; in fact, it is a very expensive house now.  The dog does live there, and is very friendly, no doubt hoping for a hand out!  I think the flower pots would h have to be a class project; it'd be too expensive for every student!  They're actually famous characters over here: Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men!  I remember watching the tv show when I was child :-)
6. Kobe, I'm usually driving when go past the McLaren factory, and don't have time to snap a photo - I saw another McLaren today - a kind of burnt orange colour.  He was fast...tooo fast!  I'll try to get some snaps soon.
7. Thanks, everyone, for the comments.  I've got a couple of snaps I took today.  Today I picked up my middle daughter at Heathrow airport, and we went for a walk by a river where we did some geocaching.

Here's a bird for you, Lindsay: do you know the latin name for this one?

We also went Geocaching: we found three (that's Gillian - who is seriously Jet-Lagged having just landed an hour before this, Clem and my Step Father, John).  This is the first one we found. 

Have a great day!  Mr. N



Hello Div 4 from Mr. N.

Surprisingly, I couldn't help thinking of you guys today in sunny England; I hear you've had some nasty weather.  I hope you're all doing fine and you're treating Mrs. Knight well.  I got here on Sunday, and, since then, I've seen a few things I thought might interest you, so I took some snaps.  The super-model in some of them is not JM, but Mr. N!! 

While we were reading The Hobbit, if you remember, Bilbo had to cross a FORD.  We talked about what a ford is, and today I crossed one...

Also, it is quite warm here (17C), so we went for a walk, and during our walk we discovered a few things:

There was an old prison house from 100's of years ago, and it even had a convict - at least he had a convict's markngs! 

He was very cute and friendly and seemed to be enjoying his day...

The couple below were made completely out of flower-pots:

And yes it's warm here!!  That's my daughter Clementine.

Finally, before I go though, I thought Kobe would be interested to know that I saw two McLaren MP4-12's yesterday leaving the McLaren car factory in Woking - both driven by the two formula drivers Jensen Button and Lewis Hamilton!  Cool!  Unfortunately, by the time I remembered to get the camera out, they were gone...Tooo fast.

Keep looking...I'll update the blog with more snaps soon...

Mr. N

The Hobbit: You Translate From Rune To English...

Thorin, Bilbo and the dwarves find a map. On the map is some writing.  The writing is in the Dwarf language and written in rune-letters.  The letters are a code.  Not only that they are written in moon ink:

"Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them," said Elrond, "not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, and what is more, with the more cunning sort it must be a moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written.

For this blog post, you must translate the two following passages...telling what they say using this code:

Here are the messages:

Message#1:

 ...And message 2:

Do this is MS WORD.  Use WORD TALK to proof read your answer BEFORE you post it.

Fraction and Decimal Review for Tomorrow's Quiz

 

 

Please click on the following links to do the quizzes for Lesson 5, Lesson 6 and Lesson 7 for Math Chapter 7.  Please do all three quizzes and post one comment on a question that you found difficult or challenging:

For the question that you found challenging please write out the question and post the possible choices.  Which one did you choose and why?  What was the correct answer?

Proof read using Word Talk BEFORE posting please.

Science CH4 Review Quiz - Respiratory System

Take a quick Science review quiz for Chapter 4 - The Respiratory System.  It has 15 questions: test yourself here.   But first read the rest of these instructions! 

http://www.nelson.com/bcscienceprobe/0176282807/student/quizzes/ch4.htm

Please post a comment on one question that you found more challenging than the rest.  Include the question and the answer in your post. 

Math Fraction Review

Before Wednesday, February 22nd, please complete the following fraction review quiz here.

Please post the number of the question that you felt was the most challenging and explain why it was tricky.  What was one idea that you learned from taking this test?

Remember, there's no school for students on Monday or Tuesday, so think about what that means for you: when are you going to do this, so that it is completed before Wednesday at 8:30?  Hmmm.  Personal organization, accountability, and self discipline. 

Starclimber Blog Entry#2: The Movie...

Why are Sir Hugh Snuffler, Chef Vlad, Miss Evelyn Karr, and Haiku chosen for the maiden voyage into outer space? Why is Miss Simpkins left behind?

If you were to produce a movie of Starclimber, which actors and actresses would you cast in these roles?  Explain why you would pick them (How would they suit the roles?).  Who would you select to play the starring roles of Matt and Kate? Give reasons for your choices.

Compose in MS Word.  Include one example of each of the five dressups you have learned this term.  (You can view the dressup sheet here). 

Finally proof read and correct any COPS errors with WORD TALK, before you post.  Remember your name!