Tag Archives: corona virus

Mar30

Day 8: The Lost Secret of Fairies Online Novel Study with Summary & Character Handouts

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Chapter 13 and End of Book Questions today!

Greetings everyone! It has been a challenging couple of weeks, but I hope you and your child have enjoyed reading my book, The Lost Secret of Fairies. Today, on Day 8, I’ll be helping to wrap up the story and novel study. I’ll be including some downloadable worksheets to be used in response to finishing the book, and tomorrow, will include an essay test that your child should be able to complete on their own from doing the activities. The activities can be done over the next few days with the essay test given at the end of the week.

Let’s start today with the final journal response questions:

Chapter 13 & End of the Book Questions:summer1

  1. Summarize in a paragraph the book The Lost Secret of Fairies. Use a topic sentence, list the events, and use a closing sentence.
  2. How did you like the Lost Secret of Fairies? What was your opinion of the book? Describe your opinion with supporting details and examples from the book.
  3. What is the theme or message from the author of The Lost Secret of Fairies? Name examples from the text that are clues.

Bonus: Do you want to read the next book? Why or why not?

Now, for the end of book activities. These can be done over the next few days, with one a day, as a lead up to the final essay test. I’d suggest the summary first, followed by the Character trait essay answer, and then going through the journal response questions to get an idea of what the book was about in their minds. Then, in a few days, have them do the essay test. I will post the test tomorrow. They will be able to use their journal response pages to take the essay test. Of course, they should use the book to find examples and details.

Downloads for End of Book Activities:

Summary Fill In Handout for The Lost Secret of Fairies

Character Change Writing Response WS

The Lost Secret of Fairies- Webbing Graphic Organizer

Paragraph Writing Lesson Support

(Through my online store on TeachersPayTeachers)

Free Book Review Handout: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Real-World-Book-Report-Book-Review-971473

Writing Opinion Packet: (Only $0.99)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Paragraph-Individual-Packet-3029120

Paragraph Parts Review Packet (Only $0.99)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Paragraph-Parts-Individual-Packet-3028939

Diorama Book Report/Home Project Extension (Only $0.99)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Diorama-Book-Report-3074161

 

I hope that helps set the rest of the week for reading response and writing for your child. I’ll post the final test tomorrow that can be the wrap up for this novel study. The other activities included above are great follow ups for the book and extension activities.

Thank you for following along with this novel study. I hope it has helped bring reading and learning to your little ones during these strange times. I’ll be posting the last day of the novel study tomorrow, and I welcome all of your feedback and comments below. It will help me plan for future instruction to help out during the pandemic.

Until then, keep reading and writing,

-Mrs. Turner

***Tiffany Turner is the author of the children’s fantasy series, the Crystal Keeper Chronicles. She has had 18 years experience teaching in California as a public elementary teacher. She is currently tutoring in the private sector and continuing to write full time. 

UPDATED March 31, 2020:

The essay test will be posted on Wednesday, April 1 now. I’ve added a lesson on theme and message, and posted it today. It is on the essay test, so I wanted to make sure I included a lesson on themes. Thanks for following along with the novel study. Please let me know how I’m doing in the comments below.

March 31, 2020 Post on Theme/Messages

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mar27

Day 7: The Lost Secret of Fairies Online Novel Study with Distance Learning & Homeschooling Support

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Study Guide Questions for Chapters 11 & 12 for Online Novel Study

Welcome to Day 7 of the online novel study for my novel The Lost Secret of Fairies. We’re nearing the end of the story now, and I hope you have been enjoying the journey with Wanda into the World of Fairy. I also hope you are being safe, locking down with your family, and washing your hands often. It can be hard when something like this pandemic is going on and being inside is the safest thing, but it’s important to stay inside. I know spring is happening outside, but you can go on a daily walk for exercise with your family for many of the lockdowns going on around the United States.

springbee

Spring bee pollinating cherry blossom on my daily walk for exercise today.

Hopefully, your family is able to take exercise walks from time to time. Like PE, it’s important to get some fresh air and exercise daily which is allowed for most of the lockdowns, as long as you keep 6 feet distance from those you don’t live with.

zeta&teddy

Zeta & Teddy look out my front window for kids to spot during a bear hunt neighborhood walk.

 

 

I had a chance to take some pictures of cherry blossoms along my daily exercise walk today. I have leash trained my cat, CATherine Zeta Jones, and she enjoys walks around my condo complex too. We always keep 6 ft. from my neighbors, especially the dog walkers. But we smile and wave at each other. That is still allowed too. Kindness and friendship is important still, but at a distance.

Plus, maybe people have started putting teddy bears in the windows so you can go on a bear hunt with your family. I’ve placed my childhood teddy bear in my window. He’s over 50 years old, and my cat has a new buddy to sit next to while she watches the world through the window. Remember, just like in PE, it’s important to stretch your legs, walk and keep your body in shape. There are even online free dance classes or video games that can get you moving. Here are some links to some free online homeschooling PE activities:

https://freedomhomeschooling.com/health-pe/

Note: Star Jumps are called Jumping Jacks in the US.

 

And now for today’s:

Study Questions for Chapters 11 & 12

  1. summer1Who do you think is the mysterious voice? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
  2. What kind of magic powers do you think you would have as a Keeper?
  3. Name some obstacles that Wanda had to overcome in the book so far. How do you think they have changed her?
  4. How do you predict the story is going to end?

Bonus: What would you do if you were a Keeper like Wanda?

We’re nearing the end of the novel study, but I’ll continue to post parent distance learning and home schooling support to the blog. Plus, if there are any areas you are interested in seeing, please let me know.

I also am considering posting my Young Author’s Fair Writing Unit that I developed over the years. I was also the coordinator at my school for several years, and would love to support a Young Authors Fair online if people were interested. Kids can write stories through the online unit, and as part of the fair, they can read their stories on YouTube, and I’ll link them on the site. At the end, I can post a downloadable certificate of completion.

What do people think? Would your child like to participate? Would they like to write a story and then read it in a YouTube video to share with others? Of course, the reading would be voluntary just like it was in my classroom, and of course, only with parent permission.

Just a thought I wanted to put out there to see what you think.

Until next time, keep reading and writing!

-Mrs. Turner

**Tiffany Turner is the author of the children’s fantasy series, The Crystal Keeper Chronicles. She is a credentialed teacher in California and has had 18 years of public classroom experience. She currently is semi-retired from teaching and spends her day writing. Of course, her cat still gets lots of attention and the daily walks on her leash.

 

 

 

 

Mar26

Day 6: The Lost Secret of Fairies Free Online Novel Study & Distance Learning Support

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Day 6 of the Lost Secret of Fairies Free Online Novel Study

Welcome to Day 6 of my online novel study for my first book in my children’s fantasy series, The Lost Secret of Fairies. Today, I’ll be including a blog post activity to go along with the next set of study questions.

Here is a link to a blog post written by me on legends and myths in children’s literature. It is part of the standards to study myth and legends in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. Novel studies and using real nonfiction blog posts is part of the standards approach to reading. To note, fifth grade does study Tale Tales and US folktales for its fairy/folktales. It is called: “Using Legends and Fairy Tales in Books”. I originally wrote this post to be used in this novel study and to support other teachers to have online nonfiction reading material.

Here are the activity directions. It can be used in conjunction with the novel study or as a separate children’s reading activity.

  1. Read the blog post “Using Legends and Fairy Tales in Books” by Tiffany Turner
  2. Print out the blog post if possible. Circle or highlight evidence or details you think are important.
  3. Now, answer the question about the blog post below. Write as many details as you can to support your answer using examples from the blog post.
  • How does an author use legends and fairy tales in their book?
  • Use evidence and examples from the blog post to support your answer.

For ELD and/or Special Learning Needs, I would often write out a framed language fill in answer sheet. Below is a handout that can be used for the above question to help create a full paragraph answer using supporting details from the nonfiction article. But this paragraph response sheet below will help all children in language structure and for building academic language.

Once your child or student as filled in their answers, they can recopy the paragraph in their best writing to learn the structure for academic language.

Paragraph Response to Using Fairy Tales

summer1Chapter 9-10: Study Guide Questions for The Lost Secret of Fairies

  1. What was decided at the Crystal Council?
  2. Who is Balkazaar? Why do you think he is behind the Queen’s disappearance?
  3. What are germites?
  4. What would you do if you were in Wanda’s place?

Bonus: Predict how you think Wanda will save the Queen.

Tomorrow, will be more study guide questions and more activities to go along with the novel study. Please comment below to let me know how you and your child, class or other distance learning students are enjoying the novel study and activities.

Until then, keep reading and learning!

Mrs. Turner

(Tiffany Turner)

 

Mar24

Isolation & Psychological Fallout During Corona Virus Pandemic: Poem and Journal Activity

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I want to thank everyone that has been following along in my blog for the last week. I started self isolating on March 12 due to the fact I’m over 50, and have a heart condition. I went through a battle to get back to health through most of 2015, and I really don’t want to go back there. I’ve been through an induced coma, pneumonia, septic shock, all due to my heart blood clot. But I’m not sure if my body could survive COVID-19. So, I isolated or how it feels to me, am hiding from getting this disease.

Then, I saw this poem today on Facebook being passed around. So many people are sharing their art. I would like to share it with you.

“History will remember when the world stopped.

And the flights stayed on the ground.

And the cars parked on the street.

And the trains didn’t run.

 

History will remember when the schools closed.

And the children stayed indoors.

And the medical staff walked towards the fire.

And they didn’t run.

 

History will remember when the people fought.

For their old and their weak.

Protected by the vulnerable.

By doing nothing at all.

 

History will remember when the virus left.

And the houses opened.

And the people came out.

And hugged and kissed.

And started again.

 

Kinder than before.”

By Donna Ashworth

The poem above helped me this morning. Creating art, blogging and writing,  is helping me. But I also feel like I’m waking up in the middle of a dystopian novel each day, and it’s making all the zombie shows and apocalyptic shows more real. I guess this is because I live a lot of the time in my imagination which really helps my writing self. But for a real pandemic, it is creating a fear that I have to face daily.

But now, reality is partially like fiction these days. That makes it kind of weird. Like expecting the vampires and zombies to show up next. I’m sure marshal law is just around the corner like in the Handmaid’s Tale, and too many things in fiction are making an appearance in real life. Maybe the jokes on me, because I imagine all this and write stuff down. Some of it has go to come true, right?

I’d like to give credit to Donna Ashworth and say thank you for the use of her poem. I contacted her on Facebook after I read it, and can see the story of how her poem is spreading and helping others. I’d like to present you with some journaling questions for parents and children in use with the poem to help with journaling on this subject:

  • How are you feeling about being in isolation or the soon to come shelter in place for your area?
  • Write down some of how you’re feeling about the corona virus in your journal. How are you feeling? What fears do you have? What experiences have you had over the past few weeks?
  • How does art help you?
  • What kind of art can you create to express your feelings or experiences about being in isolation or fears of the corona virus?

Feel free to comment below. If you like, you can talk with your children and see if they would like to use the poem above as an inspiration to write in their journals today or create some art. They can paint, write a poem, story, a song, dance, or create what they feel is right.  I taught on 9/11/01 and the days that followed, and I had my students journal their feelings as that disaster in our nation’s history unfolded. This is another time where journaling our feelings can be helpful.

Feel free to use the questions above or even add questions below in the comments. This can be a discussion for my blog community following along with my novel study and homeschooling activities. I’d love to hear how you are feeling.

Take care, and be kind to each other.

-Tiffany Turner

(Mrs. Turner)

For more information on Donna Ashworth, please visit her website/blog:

Ladies Pass It On.

 

Mar23

Day 5: Lost Secret of Fairies Novel Study & other home schooling resources

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Study Questions for Chapters 7-8

Greetings everyone! Hope you had a safe and healthy weekend. As more of the US hunkers down and isolates, I’m hoping this will help keep the education of your little ones at home going through the next few weeks. And of course, after all this is over, teachers and parents are still welcomed to use this for educational studies.

First off, I’d like to offer the next set of study questions for The Lost Secret of Fairies novel study. Hopefully, your child is writing down notes and details as they read each chapter in their journal. They can go back and look at the notes they took to answer the questions.

summer1Study Questions for Chapters 7-8:

  1. Summarize the story so far. Pretend you are talking to a friend and describing the story to them. Include who the characters are, setting, main problem, and plot events so far.
  2. Why does Wands tell Jessica she’s going to build a pond in the backyard?
  3. How do the fairies help her escape and get the water?
  4. Was it worth getting into trouble for the spring water? Support your answer with details from the story.
  5. Why do you think Wanda stopped to face her fears?

Bonus: Have you ever had a time where you have had to face your fears?

I’m also including a vocabulary building worksheet. As your child has been reading the story, they’ve been writing down words they don’t know into the area at the bottom of the journal entry sheet. They can now go back to those entries, and pick three words that they don’t know to look up in the dictionary. The following worksheet can be downloaded and printed out for them to fill in the words. Then, they look up the word usage and meaning from the dictionary. They can do this activity every 3 chapters.

Lost Secret Fairies Definition Fill-In WS

Tomorrow, I’ll have another blog post activity that will relate to Legends and Fairy Tales. This is a standard for many lower grades, including fourth and third grade. It’s also a great review for the upper graders, and ties into their prior knowledge.

Until then, remember stay safe and healthy! We’ll get through this together!

-Tiffany Turner

(Mrs. Turner)

Mar19

Day 4: Online Novel Study, Blog Article Activity & Study Questions

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Look for other story projects on my blog in the coming days. Please follow to not miss them!

Welcome to Day 4 of The Lost Secret of Fairies novel study. Today, I continue with study questions for the next few chapters, and am featuring a blog article activity that goes along with the novel study. I have three auxiliary activities that go along with reading The Lost Secret of Fairies. They relate to science, author craft, and literature, specifically fairy tales and legends. So, let’s begin with the first activity followed by the study questions for chapters 4-6.

This is a link to a blog post written by me in how I get my ideas as an author. It is called: “How Do Writer’s Get Their Ideas?”

Here are the activity directions. It can be used in conjunction with the novel study or as a separate children’s reading activity.

  1. Read the blog post “How Do Writer’s Get Their Ideas?” by Tiffany Turner
  2. Print out the blog post if possible. Circle or highlight evidence or details you thing are important in regards to writers getting ideas.
  3. Now, answer the questions about the blog post below.
  • What are some examples that Mrs. Turner uses to explain how she got her ideas?
  • How do you get your ideas for your stories?
  • Bonus: Think about writing your favorite author about how they get their ideas. What would you ask them?

summer1Chapter 4 – 6: Study Guide Questions for The Lost Secret of Fairies

  1. What are character traits of Brewford that make him unusual?
  2. How does Wanda over come the obstacles she faces getting the spring water?
  3. What would you do if you had to face off those bullies?
  4. What would you say to Brewford if he was your cat?

Bonus: Have you ever been creek walking?

Tomorrow, I have a fabulous author and picture book to introduce you to, with more study guide questions and advice on how to keep a school at home routine.

Until then, keep reading and learning!

-Tiffany Turner

(Mrs. Turner)

Mar17

Day 2: Online Novel Study and Other Activities

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Welcome everyone. Today is day two of activities and information for my online novel study for my book, The Lost Secret of Fairies. I’ve written several writing activities and lessons that are available through the website, Teachers Pay Teachers. I’ve put every lesson in the story on sale for 20% off (the most discount I’m allowed to give). There are writing story units, book report activities, and free writing download activities. The sale runs today, March 16th through March 19th. Check it all out here:

Making Writing Fun-Mrs. Turner’s Writing Lessons and Packets Online Store

Plus, I wanted to post the links for the full Spooky Story online unit that I wrote a few years ago to go along with Halloween. It is still fun to do all year long, and can take up to a week to complete. There are downloadable graphic organizers in the free blog edition, with more detailed instructions and worksheets in the store edition. I hope it helps in creating learning experiences for your little one(s) at home.

haunted character

Keep the kids learning at home with this Spooky Story Unit.

Day 1: Spooky Story Unit

Day 2: Spooky Story Unit

Day 3: Spooky Story Unit

Day 4: Spooky Story Unit

Day 5: Spooky Story Unit

Tomorrow, I’ll have some comprehension questions for those of you that have started reading The Lost Secret of Fairies. Until then, happy reading and writing.

-Tiffany Turner

 

 

 

Mar15

Day 1: Online Novel Study for The Lost Secret of Fairies

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Free novel study to go along with The Lost Secret of Fairies.

Greetings and welcome to Day 1 of the Online Novel Study for my book, The Lost Secret of Fairies. I am posting an online novel study to help and support the parents that are looking for activities for their children at home for the next few weeks because of the pandemic break due to the corona virus. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting activities, questions and online resources that will be offered for FREE to go along with my first book in my children’s fantasy adventure series, The Lost Secret of Fairies. 

I have been an elementary teacher for over 20 years. I’ve taught in the US school system in the state of California for 18 years, and I’m a credentialed teacher. Due to health issues, I had to retire from the classroom, but do work part time now in a local tutoring center, which all has shut down due to my county being a hot spot for corona virus.

So, in the spirit of trying to help with this crisis, I’m putting up some of the novel study unit I developed in the classroom for my book. I taught the unit twice before I became ill, and am happy to offer it now to teachers, parents and others that would like to teach my book, The Lost Secret of Fairies, at home, as a home school project, or in the classroom later when, hopefully, we return to normal.

Here’s the book trailer so your child can get excited about the story. I made it myself, and wrote and play the harp music in the trailer.

To begin with, here are the links to the ebook, The Lost Secret of Fairies. Paperback covers can also be purchased and used for the novel study. I have made the ebook available at a deep discount of only $0.99. Most of my books are available at $1.99 or $2.99 later in the series. So, if your child or students wish to continue in the series, copies for all the books are available online. I always kept additional copies of later books in the series in my classroom library and in the school library so any child could continue if they wish. I self published these books myself over the course of twelve years. So, they are part of my life’s work. So, please understand that I still need to keep them at a reasonable price to recoop some of my costs in editing and publishing them.

**Note: These lessons can also be used if you already have a copy of the book.

Fairycvrkindle

The Lost Secret of Fairies is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Links to The Lost Secret of Fairies:

Reading Level is AR 4.6. Children that are high readers in third and up can read this themselves. Children younger will need it read to them. Recommended for 3rd grade and up.

Ebook Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1425146716

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lost-secret-of-fairies-tiffany-turner/1019317884

Apple/iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1503006160

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-lost-secret-of-fairies-1

-Paperback edition also available at above Amazon listing.

Paperback Links:

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lost-secret-of-fairies-tiffany-turner/1019317884

***Note: I am currently publishing an updated edition with new formatting for the ebook editions. When they become available, I will post them in this section.

When you have the book available, you are ready to begin the study. Just download the official journal entry master page to begin. You can print or make copies of this original master to create a journal to keep while your child/student reads the book. The pages can be put in a three ring binder or stapled together to form a journal. You can attach a blank page to create a journal cover, and your child can decorate it.

PDF link to copy of master below:

Journal Entry Form

After the journal is put together and a copy of the book has been achieved, begin the novel study by reading a chapter a day or in sections of 2-3 chapters a day. This will depend on their reading and grade level. I would start with one chapter a day and see how they do with that. If they can handle 1 or 2 a day, change to that.

I will be posting discussion and response question worksheets for 3 chapters at a time. I will also have additional activities to go along with the novel study which will include reading from other blog posts on my blog.

It will be a fun and engaging couple of weeks for any child or student that finds themselves at home due to the corona virus. Or in the future, any child being schooled at home or later for teachers in the classroom to use.

I will also be including links along the way to past activities I have posted, such as my Spooky Story online unit, and to other children’s authors that are making activities and lessons to go along with their books.

Please feel free to post comments and questions below on how the novel study is going for you.

***Please follow my blog to make sure you receive all the info about activities and lesson plan links. Look for the next post with study and response questions with additional activities in the next few days.

UPDATE April 4, 2020:

So folks, to help you out even further, I have managed to find a way to get the ebook for my book, FREE, for a limited time. From now until the end of the month, The Lost Secret of Fairies ebook is FREE. Yes, you heard that right. I’m giving it to you as a gift, along with the entire free online novel study, to help promote reading and learning during these hard times for the world. It is my gift to the world to hopefully help us all get through together. I’m sure fairies are something we all need now, helpful keepers of the Earth.

Link to Smashwords Free Ebook

Offer lasts until May 31, 2020!

Just remember, wash your hands, stay safe, and be kind to everyone because the world needs that right now. Oh, and fairies. We need the fey. So, enjoy, read and write!

Until next time,

Tiffany Turner