Extension+Ideas

Here are some great ideas for exploring the events of the novel in depth. These may appropriate for school projects or free time. Use the ideas presented here to better understand the historical context of //Dragonwings.// Maybe you'll even want to suggest your own ideas for activities or create your own pathfinder to direct others.

Glogster
Check out my Glog for this pathfinder on the home page. You can create your own with a little work using the free [|Glogster] tool. These attractive, interactive posters can serve as a way for you to motivate others to read the book. Collect photographs from the suggested websites on this pathfinder to find photographs or videos you may want to include in the your poster. You may decide to share passages from the book, sketch your own characters, or add take on the themes.

Create a Podcast
Script an interview with Moon Shadow. After you have read some eyewitness accounts of the earthquake, go back into the novel and consider how Moon Shadow felt in the wake of the disaster. Use [|audacity]to record an interview with Moon Shadow and share it as a podcast online.

Letters
Letters are very important in //Dragonwings.// With e-mail and texting today, there is not near as much letter writing. Write your own letter to a friend after you have completed the flight simulator interactive. Explain to your friend how you felt flying. Or...... take a letter or two from the novel and transform them in text messages, emails, or status updates. Reflect on communication changes through the years.

Create a Book Trailer
Check out this [|book trailer] for //The Earth Dragon Awakes//. Once you've looked it over, choose your own book and a flip cam and get busy. You may want to set it up as a series of images or video shots. Be creative.

Get Cooking
//Dragonwings// is about sharing cultural traditions. One tasty way to share cultures is with food. Research some authentic Chinese recipes and prepare a meal for your family of friends to share Chinese New Year or any day of the year.

Create a Kite
Make your own kite and go fly it. There are several [|websites] that have how-to instructions or videos. Check one out, gather the materials, and make your own kite. Recall how free Windrider, Moon Shadow, Miss Whitlaw, and Robin feel on the day that they fly kites.

Technologically Challenged
Go back in time and experience life some of what Moon Shadow did in his life. Once you visit [|PBS's Technology in 1900] website, take it upon yourself to give up television and video games for a day or two. If you make through that challenge go without some light and listen to some ragtime.

Comic Life "Book Report"
Chose a scene from the novel and graphically display it. Go to [|Comic Life], set up your account, and make your own graphic novel page. You may choose to import photographs or sketch your characters from the novel. Use a scene that you think is important in the novel.