Number the Stars

Our newest read aloud has been Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. Lois Lowry is one of my favorite authors, having written Gathering Blue, one of my favorite books. Gathering Blue is set in the future, much like The Hunger Games, and society as we know it has disappeared - replaced with poverty, government rules, and fenced communities. The main character is also a female who is brave beyond her age and circumstances.

Anyway, back to Number the Stars. In this book, we meet Annemarie, a young girl living Copenhagen during World War II. Annemarie has a Jewish best friend whose life is in danger because of the Nazis. Annemarie learns that sometimes it is easier to be brave by not knowing all the details - such as when the soldiers come in during her "Great-aunt Birte" funeral night and ask her a question. Since she knew she was lying it was much more difficult to be brave and tell that lie then it would have been if she thought that was the truth.

Do you agree with her Uncle Henrik - Is it easier to be brave when you don't know all the truth? Why or why not?

Advocate

advocate - 


The definition of advocate:noun |ˈadvəkit|a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy :he was an untiring advocate of economic reform.• a person who pleads on someone else's behalf : care managers can become advocates for their clients.• a pleader in a court of law; a lawyer :Marshall was a skilled advocate but a mediocre judge.verb |-ˌkāt| [ trans. ]publicly recommend or support : they advocated strict adherence to Islam.

Being an advocate is something we all do at some point in our lives. I personally advocate for students reading EVERY DAY! I encourage this by having reading time in our classroom, bringing in books for our classroom, reading to my students, offering rewards to readers, allowing podcasts to be posted about the books we have read, modeling being a good reader, hosting read-a-thons, and much more. These are all examples of ways I try to advocate reading. Some ways are subtle - you may not realize that by offering reading time I am advocating reading - other ways are very obvious - a student is required to read 30 minutes every night!
What are you an advocate for and how do you advocate for that thing? Please watch your spelling and I expect AT LEAST 5 sentences describing the thing you advocate and how you advocate. Remember - it can be in small ways or big ways.