Our silent movie SKELLIG

This is our silent movie called SKELLIG

My speech

School uniforms  

Are you a primary or high school student, do you think that school uniforms are a bad idea I’m Bella and I’m here to talk about school uniforms. I have three main points

so about the looks most school uniforms are not very good looking including ours and it’s hard to find a full uniform that you fit feel and look good in especially since the sizes go up in twos

now for the cost! Why should we have to pay so much on uniforms when we have perfectly good clothes at home and worse yet high school uniforms can cost over three hundred dollars so that can come to over one thousand dollars imagine what else you could do with that

and I know for a fact that everyone has a personality! so when you are in class every single person wears the same colour and style clothes every day. if teachers think that not letting student show personality is good for learning think again because personality also affects our learning and how we learn it too

so if you want to look terrible pay hundreds and not express yourselves then go ahead, get a uniform!

my novel study #1

                 SKELLIG

Written by David Almond

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When you work:

- Use full sentences in every answer

- Check the story carefully for your answers

- Be ready to explain your answers

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Week 1 - 2: Chapters 1 to  15

Front Cover: List all the thing you can see on the front cover. On the front cover I can see a cloud looking ghost in front of a clock tower.    √

Prediction: What do you think this story is going to be about? I think that this story is going to be about some sort of painting maybe    √

Chapter 1:

1. What does the narrator discover in the shed? In the shed, the narrator discovers a man behind some tea chests        √

2. What happened to the previous owner of the house?     The previous owner died under the table      √  

Chapter 2:

1. In your reading book, draw a SMALL sketch of the shed and label at least 5 of the things described in this chapter.    √

2. Why wasn’t Michael allowed in the shed? Michael was not allowed in the shed because his parents didn’t know if it was safe        √

3. Read the last chapter. Why is Michael annoyed at the baby? Michael is annoyed at the baby     because it gets so much more attention because it was born early and michael doesn’t really get any         √

Chapter 3:

1. Why does Michael call the doctor Doctor Death? Michael called him Doctor Death because the man has a grey face and black spots up his arms and the name suited him better        √

2. What do YOU think that Michael finds in the shed? I think that Michael finds gigantic teddy in clothes….        √

Chapters 4 and 5:

1. What are three things that have now changed in Michael’s life? Three things that have changed in Michael’s life are:

1.  new school         √

2.  new house        √

3.  new little sis        √

Chapters 6 and 7:

1. The author mentions death several times in these chapters (eg. Page 17: ‘He sighed like he was sick to death of everything’). Why do you think he writes about these things so early in the book?

I think that the author is writing about death because the first owner died and the sister might die as well.        √

Chapter 8:

1. Why did Michael order ’27 and 53’ from the Chinese takeaway? Michael ordered 27 and 53 because that was what the guy in the garage asked for.        √

Chapter 9:

1. What sort of person is Mina (her personality, her looks, her interests) These words describe Mina

     Personality smart enthusiastic        √

    Interests drawing and birds        √

    Looks short black hair        √

2. What colour is a blackbird? Do some research. A blackbird has these colours brown, black and yellow        √

3. What does this tell us about the difference between Michael and Mina?

    Mina is interested and engaged in what she does        √

    Michael is ah go to the next thing        √

Chapters 10, 11 and 12:

1. What does Michael now notice about the blackbird? Michael now notices that the blackbird that it has a lot more than just black       √

2. What information do we now learn about the person in the shed in this chapter? In this chapter we learn that he is mostly Arther now. He likes Chinese       soz spelling mistake    √

3. Why is Michael so interested in shoulder blades? Michael is interested in shoulder blades because he thinks that maybe they were for wings from Angels      √

4. What do other people tell him about shoulder blades? Other people tell Michael that their parents told them silly things        √

Chapter 13:

1. What does Mina show Michael? Mina shows Michael an old building with owls in it.    √

2. Why do you think she shows him? Mina shows Michael to show that she trusts him?    √

Chapter 14 and 15:

1. Why are Michael and his dad tidying up the back yard? They are tidying the back yard to make room for improvements.     √

2. What does Mina tell Michael about shoulder blades at the end of the chapter? Mina tells Michael that that thats where your wings were.    √

3. How does Mina feel about homeschooling?  Mina feels that home school is better than normal school.     √

4. How does Mina feel about Michael’s school?  Mina feels that Michael’s school is like being locked in a room to learn    √

4. Interview two people plus yourself (3 in total) in your reading group about what they think about home school and ‘normal’ school. Use PMI (plus, minus and interesting) and write the responses below.

YOU

Normal school

Plus: that you can find lots of friends

Minus: that everything is done in a certain way

Interesting: that there are certain classes that you have to be there    Interesting ideas

Home school

Plus: that you have a teacher you like

Minus: that you and/or your siblings or friend are the only ones in the class

Interesting: that you are at the exact level you are supposed to be

PERSON 1

Normal school

Plus: you meet new people

Minus: your are trapped in a cage

Interesting: that we do too much work

Home school

Plus: you’re at home

Minus: your all by yourself

Interesting: that you learn at home

PERSON 2

Normal school

Plus: You have friends there.

Minus: you might not want to learn that way as the others.

Interesting: We do a lot of work.

Home school

Plus: your at home

Minus: no friends

Interesting: you learn at home     What did you think about the ideas of others?

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS for Week 1

How would you describe Michael’s family?

What are the reasons for this?

‘Doctor Death’ enters the story throughout these chapters. what reasons do you think the author has for this? Think of foreshadowing and the emotions of the characters.

Where do you think that the person in the shed comes from?

How has he survived over the years?

What do you think is his role in the story?

What do you think will happen to him and why?

The author has repeated several ideas so far and these are very significant to the rest of the story:

- blackbirds and owls

- death

- shoulder blades / wings

- secrets that both Mina and Michael have

Predict how these will guide the rest of the story

EXTRA FOR EXPERTS : Choose one or more (or talk to Mr M about your own idea)

Investigate something in the story (Chat with Mr M if you are not sure about a topic for this).

Create 5 tricky questions about the story so for others in your group

Create a possible family tree for Skellig (go back at least 4 generations)

My poetry anthology