Younge House

We are currently preparing for our concluding E.B. White project. Many of us have read all three of E.B. White’s novels for children, along with several articles and essays by and about the author. We have started to look for similarities in theme across all three novels. We first met in book groups depending on whether we had focused on Trumpet of the Swan or Stuart Little as our second EB novel. We created charts that showed the similarities and differences. Then as a class we developed a larger Venn diagram that looked at all three books.

So what did we decide these books have in common?

• Each book features many different types of animals
• There are many birds
• There are many animals described as “white” (Wilbur, Snowball, and the Swans)
• The animals display human characteristics
• The animals have friendly relationships with humans and humans who take care of them
• In each book, a life is saved
• Each book has an element of adventure and adventurous characters
• There are deep, caring friendships
• Each book develops the themes of change and life and death
• E.B. uses lists to make his writing descriptive

Next we will take these ideas and, inspired by the work of Joseph Cornell, create E.B. White themed collage boxes. Stay tuned for some well-thought out art work!

Yesterday we finished reading Charlotte’s Web – the first time around. Now in the spirit of true literary scholars we will return to the book, chapter by chapter, annotating this fine piece of writing. What are we looking for? Well, we know that life and death, friendship, and change are big themes, so we are looking for examples of those. We are also noticing where White uses foreshadowing and irony, or where there are detailed descriptions and comparisons. Click on the pictures below to see what we have found so far:

Last week we started our year-long foray into poetry. As a class we have brainstormed what we already know and think about poetry. We noticed that poetry can be rhyming or not, simple or complicated, short or long, use special patterns, evoke different emotions, and make us laugh.  It can be about pretty much anything and there really aren’t any rules (unless you are writing a diamante or haiku).

Together we wrote a class poem about poetry, which is harder than you think! Everyone contributed one line and then we practiced revising. Lots of different ideas and opinions were thrown out. You can tell we got a little silly – but hey sometimes that is what poetry is all about!

Get Serious

Big Dalton is amazing
Laughing and smiling
Friendships fill the halls

PE is beast – oh snap!
People wearing bow ties with purple bananas

Little Dalton is a memory
Hallways crowded with kids
We’re having a blast at Big Dalton

The food is great
You have to peel bananas to go go bananas
Teenagers hunt the halls like cats
Climbing the stairs
with a jungle of kids

Smiley face
Roasted!  Wikiwiki werd

Get Serious!
Laugh Out Loud!! (LOL)

It’s the final frontier
Raise the Roof!

Poof! There it is….

~ By Younge House

This week we will work on our own poems about poetry while continuing to read and share our favorites by lots of different authors. Do you have a favorite poem we should check out??

To kick off the year, Younge House has begun its study of beloved author E.B. White. All of us are currently enjoying his children’s classic, Charlotte’s Web, and will soon delve into his other novels, Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan. Meanwhile in class, we are also reading other articles he has written, some on these works, as well as articles written about him, deepening our understanding of White’s life, motivations, and writing process. So what have we found out?

E.B. White was born in Mt. Vernon, NY on July 11, 1899. His father thought he was a lucky baby because he was born on the 11th day of the 7th month. He died on October 1, 1985 of Alzheimer’s disease.

His entire name was Elwyn Brooks White, but people called him “Andy” because the president of Cornell University was named Andrew White, and students with that last name earned the nickname.

He married Katharine White. They met while working at The New Yorker. They had one son named Joel.

E.B. White had a farm in Maine and raised animals, including pigs, on it.

He once found a spider, watched it form an egg sac, took both the spider and the egg sac home, and witnessed the birth of the baby spiders.

E.B. was the 6th child and youngest in his family. (Wilbur was also a “runt”.)

Our E.B. White fact board is certainly growing. Do you have any
facts for us to add?