Famous Last Words Week 7

This week has been a pretty good week, except for the weather. Yes, I like when class is cancelled, but I would much rather it be sunny and warm. My dog is tired of being stuck inside because of the snow.

This week, I have really noticed writing stories has gotten a little easier. Each week, I learn something new about writing. This makes it interesting and keeps my eyes open for suggestions. Everyone’s comments are very helpful. They are helpful in the sense of encouragement and constructive criticism. I really do read the comments given to me and take in consideration what was said. Needless to say, I have learned a lot about comma use. However, I am still not perfect at commas. I try to do my writing in places where it is quite. This helps me think and lets me really use my imagination. Also, when it is quite, I am able to focus more and not get distracted.

I have noticed how well all of the projects in our class are going. Everyone has such a different perspective of writing and topic for their storybook or portfolio. I think they people are successful when you can tell if they have used their imagination. I am overly impressed with how unique every story I read is. I like how everyone takes on stories from a different point. Even changing the smallest detail can change an entire story.

I am looking forward to next week, since it is a review week. I am hoping to work ahead so I can focus more on my other classes. However, it is midterm season, so I have a lot of tests and assignments to do. Also, next week, I believe that it is supposed to warm up later in the week.  This needs to happen because yesterday (Sunday March 1^st) was the first day of spring. I am more than ready for spring weather. 

(Spring Flowers)

Storytelling Week 7: The water dance

There once was a group of animal friends who all lived out in the forest next to a lake and a river. The animals were a lion, tiger, wolf, jackal, tortoise, and elephant. They had all lived together their entire lives. They did everything together, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, sleep, play, and relax.

The lake and river were on opposite sides of the property. The water was the animals’ favorite part of their habitat. All of the animals enjoyed bath time and loved to go for a swim when it was warm outside.  The animals would always play games in the water like colors and Marco polo. They were just like little kids. The river was their drinking water as well. It was pure, clean, and cold water.

One summer there was a frightful drought. The animals were very frightened because they did not want their lake and river to dry up. They relied on the water for drinking, bathing, and for fun. They were all so sad and did not want to play with each other.

(Drought)

As the summer went on, their river and lake started to become very low. The animals went on an adventure to try to find more water in surrounding areas. They would be gone for a day or two. However, they were very unsuccessfully in finding water.

There was only one month left of summer when the river and the lake dried up. The animals were devastated. How were they supposed to live with no water? They did not know what to do. They all sat around of a couple days doing nothing because they did not have any water.

One night, they all met up and had a meeting. They all brainstormed ideas on how to bring the water back. The lion had the best idea of doing a rain dance. They had all heard about them from friends in other areas and heard that they do work. However, they were skeptical because they did not think that dance could bring water back.

They all danced together; in a circle, in a line, with partners, individually, in every which way. They were determined to dance until they saw water. But after an hour, there was zero water. So, they all took a break to brainstorm some more. They decided to dance again and really believe that the dance was going to work. All of the animals danced and told themselves, the dance will bring back all of the water.

All of the animals danced for about two hours when all of the water appeared back in their lake and river. The animals were all so ecstatic; the dance actually brought back the water!

Author's Note:
The original story, The Dance for Water, was about a drought where the rivers dried up and the springs did not even give water. The animals did not know what to do, but looked to find drinking water. However, they were unsuccessful. One of the animals had the idea to go to the dry river to dance to bring the water back. Most of the animals danced until water was brought to the surface. However, the rabbit did not dance so the other animals believe that she should not have water. One night the rabbit got some water while the other animals were sleeping. They were very unhappy and planned to kill the rabbit. In the end, the rabbit got away free. 

In my story, I kept the original characters, but adding more to the beginning of the story to show the relevance of the water to the animals. I made it where all of the animals participated together in the dancing, and took out the part where they tried to kill one of the animals. I did not want any violence in my story.

Bibliography:
The Dance for Water
This story is part of the South African unit. Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).

Essay: South African Folktales

South African Folktales

This week I read, South African Folktales. These stories are a lot different than the fables and tales that I have been reading in the past. However, the one connection that I can draw from all of the readings that I have done this year, except week 1, all have animals as their main characters. I think that this really makes the stories interesting and brings the animals to life. In this unit, I liked how many animals were brought into single stories. In all of the stories combined, I bet that there were 15 animals mentioned. This makes the readings more fun because you are not just reading about the same two animals.

In this unit, I was able to connect the stories to the background of Africa. In the past, I was relying on the notes provided to do this for me, but this week some of the connections were made a lot clearer. For example, The dance for water, was very easy to connect back to African culture. I believe that there is no extra background information needed for this unit. Most of the stories were very straight forward and were easy to understand. There was however, one story that I had to read more than once to understand. This does not mean that it needs notes, because it could just be how I read it the first time.

Overall, the readings for this unit are very easy and not boring. This unit is suitable for most people. The information given about this unit is very accurate and helpful in choosing a unit. I do believe that you can decide if you are going to like this unit or not by the information provided on the first page.

Another thing that I noticed in this unit that I enjoyed was the pictures. All of the pictures provided

for each story really did a good job of representing the story overall. They helped in picturing what

was going on. 

(African Animals)

Reading Diary B: South African Folktales

South African Folktales

The Dance for Water
This title is very catching. One I love water, so I was not sure if it was going to be about drinking water, rain water, or lake water. I was really hoping lake water. However, the first line of the story tells you about the setting of the story, a drought. The first paragraph was very powerful in letting the readers know how serious the drought was. I enjoyed the fact that the animals would dance to try to bring water. This is very related to the culture of Africa, which makes this story perfect for this unit. I also really enjoyed the picture provided for this story. It was very fitting for the drought and the animals as the main characters. (Pictured below)

Picture Information

Elephant and Tortoise

This story was very interesting. There were a lot of animals involved which made the story very entertaining. The dialogue helped the flow of the story. I was surprised that the tortoise was able to stand up to so many animals before the lion beat him up. The ending of the story took a complete different turn than I expected. It was kind of weird how the tortoise was able to kill the elephant after the elephant ate the tortoise.

When Lion Could Fly
The title of this story was very catching. I could not wait to read a story about a lion being able to fly. What a picture that put in my mind. This story was interesting because the lion thought that the frog took away his flying powers. Overall, this story was okay.

Reading Diary A: South African Stories

South African Folktales

The Monkey's Fiddle
I really enjoyed this story. It was about a great adventure starting with just the monkey. However, once the story went on and progressed there were more animals introduced. This made the story more interesting and dynamic. I like how the Wolf was trying to get the bow and arrow through the Jackal by lying. This adding some suspense into the story. I am glad that the monkey ended up with what he wanted in the end and all of the animals were scared he would keep playing music.

(Vervet Monkey)

The Lion, The Jackal, and The Man
By just reading the title you can tell that there are going to be three main characters. I believe that by having more than two characters, it makes a story more interesting and more tempting to keep reading to find out what is going to happen next. With all of the dialogue throughout the story, it really made it easy to picture what was happening. This was also good in making it seem more practical.

Tink-Tinkje
In this story I learned that tink-tinkje is a type of bird. I liked it because it was birds practically judging each other by what they are capable of and what they looked like. More than half of the story was dialogue which I thought made the story flow very well.

Jackal Fools Lion Again
In most of the first half of the unit, the Jackal is either the main character or a has a big role in the story. In this story it shows how much of a trickster he can be.