Homework Assignments for 5/24

Hey Audrey! I am Xiaojie (Emma) from Beijing office. I am posting for Ashley since she can't access our forum.

Ashley  homework

In the beautiful fairy tale, I really like Fern and Charlotte. They are both the friends of Wilbur-----one is human and the other is animal. They are big gifts for Wilbur.

Fern is stubborn, kind, enthusiastic and responsible. While Wilbur did not have any help, Fern gave him a hand. Although Fern is too young to take care of Wilbur, she tried her best to raise Wilbur up and protect him by her own ability. I am really appreciated that and I also realize that this is the difference between a child and an adult. Maybe adults just think of themselves and less sympathy. We should keep a pure heart to deal with anything. She is also a good listener. She could totally hear what did animals say. In our daily life, the world is too noisy. We should calm down and listen more what did other people say. Remember if we talk less listen more, we will know a different world.

Charlotte is a smart, friendly, selfless, pure and independent. She is the only animal to stay with Wilbur when he was lonely. She did not laugh at Wilbur like other animals. She just stayed with Wilbur and cheered him up. She used her clever brain to find out the way to save Wilbur’s life. She made Wilbur become a incredible pig, but she got nothing for herself. Even before she died, she still stayed with Wilbur firmly. She is pure, “you are my friend” is the only reason that she always be with Wilbur. I think it is impressive. I bet that almost no one can do it. At lease I am not so selfless as her.

I don’t really like Templeton. He is selfish. He did not care for others. However, I sympathize him too. Because he did not friendly to others, no one would understand him and encourage him, so he had to live alone. So we should be kind to others so that everyone we do the same thing to you.

Ashley, you've done a great job!  I wrote you this in the email, but I want to praise you again for getting help with the forum right away when you couldn't post.  

Your essay is well thought out and nicely arranged.  With every statement you made, you backed it up with an example, proof, or your opinion.  This is a mark of good writing.  I also love the lessons you talked about learning from the book.  You made a good point about the difference between children and adults; we will discuss this further in class.  I'm looking forward to discussing the discussion questions you've written too!  

I just wanted to go over a few simple grammar/spelling points that you can watch out for in the future: 

1. Make sure "chapter" is spelled with a p instead of a c.  It is easy to confuse "chapter" with "character."

2. If the word "a" comes before another word that starts with a, e, i, o, or u, it turns into "an."  (I think you know this, but just forgot: "She made Wilber become AN incredible pig.")

 1. At the end of the book, why Wilbur said none of the new spiders ever quite took Charlotte's place in his heart?

 2. When Charlotte died, why everywher were soon deserted?

 3. Because of what, the reviewers charged their opinions on Wilbur? (the reviewers first gave the first prize to Uncle)

I like the scene that talked about Charlotte’s children were born. It moved me a lot. The little grey spiders are very cute. They were Charlotte’s painstaking effort. When the little spiders were climbing out of the egg sac, I really felt warm at that moment. And I also admired Charlotte very much. She was a selfless, warm-hearted and a great mother. I don’t like Templeton very much because he is a greed, envy and selfish mouse. He always think about himself and don’t care about anyone’s feelings. But this book needs this character. Every book needs a bad character that’s why people will be interested in the book or the novel. I think I learn a lot throughout this book. It tells me the love between humans and animals. I know that we should be a selfless person and always care about others feelings. From Charlotte, I also know that a mother is very brave and they will try their best to protect their child and let them to grow healthy and happily. We should thank to our mother. We should be a clever, calm person like Charlotte. She never felt discouraged and was always positive.

Nice work, Kitty.  Charlotte's babies being born is one of my favorites too.  It's hard to think of spiders being so cute, but E. B. White accomplished it!  You're right about Templeton; every story needs some sort of an antagonist to make it better.  

I like your discussion questions, but I would like to clear up number 2.  Do you mean "why did the fairgrounds become deserted?"