However, you hopefully also realized that each story had its own larger message. Did the author of The Three Little Pigs want you to just think that the message was that you should use bricks to build your house?! If so, you missed the point! If you thought the message of Pinocchio was that you shouldn't create wooden puppets because they will just lie to you, then again, you missed the point. Rest assured, the message of Little Red Riding Hood was NOT that wearing red capes makes you more stylish. Lina Mayfleet may beg to differ though. There's a danger that comes when we miss the point. We don't learn what we're supposed to, and this puts us at a disadvantage. The kid who succeeds is not the one who can quote random lines from The Three Little Pigs. It's the one who understands the theme of The Three Little Pigs and puts it into action. The theme, of course, is that the work you are willing to put in today will pay off in the future. Themes are in everything we read and watch, and next week, we'll spend some time discussing the themes of some of our favorite books and movies.
I hope you're starting to realize that my Weekly Updates also have larger messages hidden within them. Some weeks, I might write about spelling. Other weeks, I might write about punctuation. However, within each update, I try to give you a real-world lesson to walk away with. It's the students who understand the bigger point of these updates that often have the most success. Start looking for themes within these updates (past, present, and future). That's my challenge to you.
On a final note, don't forget that you should re-read the Weekly Update from last week (about Dr. Seuss). I will give you a quiz on Monday regarding this update and the previous one.
-Ms. Sanford