For our fantasy unit, we have to write an analytical paragraph for each book we read. Today I’m going to tell you what has been challenging and what’s been easy!
The analytical paragraph is like one paragraph of an essay. This makes it much easier, because I have written a lot of essays like this. They all have the same format, which makes it easier for me to know how to structure my paragraph. The format is: Topic sentence, background information, text evidence, page reference, explanation, further analysis, and a concluding sentence. Another thing that makes it easier is that I have been jotting. By jotting you are able to have all possible ideas for the paragraph right in front of you. Throughout the book I like to highlight the most important notes that are good starters for what I should write about.
One thing that is challenging is the analysis section. After explaining each evidence for a couple of sentences, we have to dive further into why it supports my main idea. I find this hard because sometimes I feel that I have already explained the reasoning behind my evidence. To fix this problem, I like to go back to my book and jots and read them over. After that I think, “What is the big idea from this theme?”. This helps tremendously because it makes me notice things I haven’t noticed before that would help make my paragraph even stronger.
Here is the first analytical paragraph I have written!:
I am in a book partnership with max. We are reading the book touchblue by Cynthia Lord.
When we read we write down things we noticed. Something that I wrote down was:
Envisioning I am Tess:
Still shocked by Aron’s reaction I wonder what I said. I might of been to talkative and made him uncomfortable in a new home. As we walk home I look down at the ground and don’t make eye contact or talk to him. I kick the sand feeling guilty.
This stood out to me because when the foster kid Aaron comes to Tess’s home Tess is really nice to him. She made him popcorn, showed him around but Aaron might of felt uncomfortable in a new place. When Tess was going on and on about something Aaron was probably frustrated. When he told Tess to shut up she was super shocked because she thought she was being helpful and nice. This makes me feel bad for both of them because Aaron felt uncomfortable and Tess was doing something nice and got yelled at for doing that.
For our first book partnership I am reading Sunny Side Up by Jenifer L. Holm and Mathew Holm. I am reading this book with Max.
As we are reading we are jotting down things we notice. The biggest thing I noticed in the book was:
When Sunny’s grandpa says “Keep your sunny side up!”
I noticed this on page 215. It stood out to me because when Sunny first comes to Florida she is super excited. She thinks she’s going to make lots of friends and go to Disneyland, but none of that is true. When she comes her grandpa’s town she realizes it is a retirement home! The less time she has fun the more she thinks about her family. Her brother Dale has been doing terrible things. Meanwhile she makes a new friend. Then she is much more happy. At the end Sunny tells her grandpa that her bed sucks like her brother Dale. That”s when sunny confessed that her brother Dale was not like this before. When her grandpa realized this he took her Disneyland to let her to her have fun. So when she leaves to go back home I think it was super important when her grandpa said that because of her brother Dale and because she is going to miss her friend. When he said that she smiled. I also think this is important because “Sunny Side Up” is the name of the book and I think it means to always be happy and never sad.
