PALMS (pcsb)

The Blue Ghost

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The Blue Ghost

by Marion Dane Bauer

Lexile 440

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The Blue Ghost
by Marion Dane Bauer
Lexile 440
1. Working together using this wiki
2. Group members:
Title Questions
Author Questions
1. ITBBTA
Authors web site: http://www.mariondanebauer.com/
Book website: http://www.mariondanebauer.com/bkpages/bk_blueghost.html
A link to the teacher's guide from the author's web site tg_bg2.pdf
A discussion guide and teaching outline
1. created by Sara Bates at Melrose Elementary
I have divided the book up into 8 days of reading. Next to each day is a list of page numbers with a list of spelling and vocabulary words, as well as questions pertinent to those pages. Each day has an after-reading activity that is just based on higher order thinking questions. I have also written an extracurricular writing experiment to accompany the book.
Bauer, Marion Dane. The Blue Ghost. Random House, ©2006.
Random House (2005 hardcover) – ISBN 0375831797; Random House (2006 paperback) – ISBN 0375833390
http://www.mariondanebauer.com/
Pages 86, 11 pages per day (4 days per week)
This is a very short book. I would suggest reading it first and teaching the procedures of read aloud over the two weeks. It may move markedly faster than two weeks. Though the book is short, it is littered with advanced vocabulary and figurative language.
Hands on materials (pictures, artifacts) to bring in for each day:
Pre-reading:
1: N. Minnesota, Minneapolis
2: bouquet of wildflowers, picture of house with shingles
3: cast iron pot
4: wavery glass, wooden dresser, oatmeal, wooden bowls
5: trunk, chipmunk, raccoon, chocolate-ripple ice cream
7: kettle
Week Homework experiment:
One: Writers often grab their readers by creating a mystery in the first scene as Marion Dane Bauer has done in The Blue Ghost. Try writing the first scene of a story with a mystery.
Two: Elizabeth travels back in time in The Blue Ghost. What time period would you most like to travel to if you could? Write a story about your adventures there.
1. !
  1. After Reading:
  2. How does this story compare to other mysteries that you have read?
2. !
3. !
4. !
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8. !

Working together using this wiki

Think of this wiki as a shared online whiteboard. Your entire group can share information using this wiki, making your research accessible to everyone. Play around with this wiki: Notice how you can add comments to a page, see what people have changed, and edit all the text.

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Group members:

Flo M.

Michelle K.

Deena W.

Title Questions

Be sure to add the page number.

It was an old house deep in the forests of Minnesota.p1 p
They caught only sunnies and gran dipped them in eggs and cornmeal. p28 pg
She could hear some kind of talking. It was kind of singsong talk that people used to soothe babies.p32 pg
The windowhad 4 panes of wavery glass. p34 pg
"Mama always told me I had a quardian angel. And here you be."p38 pg
One closet was filled with games like Scrabble and Monopoly. p51 pg
A chipmuck with lumpy cheeks ran out from under the house. p52 p
When she lifted the shawl, she found a small handwritten book. p67 pg
She could not read.........she said in a small voice. p69 pg
No school until winter when the master came. p69 pg
Matthew had the croup. p71 pg
The first Elizabeth became a doctor and had 4 children. p76 pg
Matthew became a college math professor.p78 pg
The handwritten booklet was called "Booke of remedys". p83 pg.
She smiled and said"A good story might be the best cure of all." pg 85-86 p
ITB No one called her Elizabeth. p2 pg
ITB The light rested on the curved lid of a large wooden trunk, p3 pg
ITB The woman's hair was pulled back in a bun. p4 pg
ITB Sunlight could barely make its way through the tall pine trees around the house. p7 pg
ITB The kitchen was made of logs too. p9 pg
ITB Her gran said that this house is all about connections.p 16pg
ITB Liz found a salt and pepper shaker set shaped like a chicken and a rooster. 18 pg
ITBBTT we learn how to fry sunnies. (p. 28) DB
ITBBTT we learn that "tears are probably the best cure for a touch of sadness. Or the second best, anyway." (p. 82) DB
ITBBTT the key to open the trunk was hanging on a nail in the window frame. (pp. 78-79) DB
ITBBTT we discover the difference a guardian angel can make in someone's life. (pp. 70 & 77) DB
Her mama's belongings were in the locked trunk ITBBTT. (p. 62) DB
Her great-great grandmother died after the last of her five children were born ITBBTT. (p. 46) DB
ITBBTT we discover that nicknames for "Elizabeth" include "Beth", "Betty", and "Liz." (p. 13) DB

30. ITBBTT Liz was visiting her grandmother in the house that Gran had grown up in. (p.1) JS

31. ITBBTT the woman "sounded sad." (p.6) JS

32. ITBBTT the strange room was made of logs that had been stripped of its bark and polished to a dark gold. (p.8) JS

33. ITBBTT the young girl was "too old to believe in ghosts." (p.8) JS

34. ITBBTT the house was a "hodgepodge." (p.10) With each room added on "the whole house just grew like Topsy." (p.12) JS

35. ITBBTT the kitchen and the small bedroom were the original log cabin. (p.12) JS

36. ITBBTT "she was Liz. Her mother was Beth. Gran was Betty." (p.13) JS

37. ITBBTT the story takes place deep in the forests of northern Minnesota.(p.1)BS

38. ITBBTT the main character forgets where she was, then remembered she was in the house her grandmother had grown-up in.(p.1)BS

39. ITBBTT the only light in the room came from the distant moon. (p.1)BS

Author Questions

Be sure to add the page number.

ITBBTA

A blue light in the book by this author forms into a person. (JackieK)

#In the book by this author a house was for sale that had been owned by one family for many generations. (JackieK)

The author of this book wrote about guardian angels. (JackieK)
ITBBTA the window in the log cabin had four panes of wavery glass. (p. 34) DB
ITBBTA we learn a remedy for the croup. (p. 70) DB
The author of the book sets her story in Northern Minnesota. Name the author. (p. 1) DB
ITBBTA she heard that "someone was trying to quiet them. "Hush," a female voice said. "Hush! The baby is sleeping. You mustn't be so loud!" (p.22) JS
ITBBTA being this far north, the sun didn't set until after ten o'clock in late June. (p.30) JS
ITBBTA "each time she took a step, she squeezed her eyes shut harder. She kept expecting to bump into the wall." (p.33) JS
ITBBTA they ate from wooden bowls. (p.36) JS
ITBBTA she wore a long, pink nightgown that looked like the dresses angels wore in pictures. (p.40) JS
ITBBTA the builder of the log cabin was the grandmother's great-grandfather and the granddaughter's great-great-great-grandfather. (p.43) JS
ITBBTA "the girl, Elizabeth, felt like her secret now." (p.45) JS
ITBBTA they couldn't find the key to open the trunk. (p.50) JS
This author writes that even the sunlight could barely make its way throught the tall pines. (7)BS
Which author tells fo how she pulled her hand back from the wall, as if she had been burned.(8)BS
This author writes that the house just grew like Topsy(12)BS
Name the author who writes that the house is about connections with all the people who came before us.(16)BS