My Father's Dragon

     At the end of a great read aloud there has been many instances where the class has cheered.  I know it is a great book when the class claps at the end!  I was shocked after I read one of my favorite chapter books, My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett.  The children didn't clap at the end, they GROANED!  What?! I asked them why....did they not like the ending?  They said that they didn't want the book to end!
     The book is a great adventure about a boy named Elmer Elevator who sets out to rescue a dragon.  The dragon is on Wild Island being held captive by a group of wild animals.  In the beginning of the book, Elmer packs for his journey.  He packs some strange items like 24 lollipops and rubber bands, a hair brush and ribbons, six magnifying glasses, and bubble gum.  He uses each of the items to cleverly trick and/or distract the animals that are holding onto the dragon.  We made predictions before each chapter about how Elmer might use his next item.  It was wonderful to see how the children's ideas got more creative as the book went on because they were starting to see the pattern in the book. 

We used a digital tool called padlet to make our predictions before the chapter.  The students scanned a QR code to get to our padlet link, then from their ipad they could submit their predictions.  As they were typing, all their ideas showed up on the whiteboard in real time.   Then, the students read and shared each others' ideas.  Above is our padlet about how Elmer might use the six magnifying glasses.  There were lots of great ideas.  You will have to ask your child what Elmer actually used the magnifying glasses for!

     Since I got a big groan about finishing the book, I did give the children some good news.  My Father's Dragon is actually the first book in a trilogy!  We don't have the books at our school library but I know for a fact that the Billings Public Library does!  Check them out!