Raising Dragons

I loved the story for the week that we were focusing on. The story is Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen. This author is fabulous and has several other books. One book was made into a disney movie called Disney's Balloon Farm. Here is a little summary about this story:

A young girl hatches and raises Hank, a dragon, on her family’s farm.  Hank helps out, but soon the girl realizes she has to find him a new home.  She says good-bye to Hank on Dragon Island, but returns to the farm with a new batch of dragon eggs.  After all, raising dragons is in her blood.

This is one of my favorite stories that we read with my students. I love how it can make them think more creatively and outside of the box. On Monday, the students were given a bag and construction paper to create their own baby pet dragon. I had some models in class for them to go off of as a start. Students started putting wings, fire coming out of their mouths, etc. They each took the task to their own level and I loved watching the fire in their eyes. Then during writing, the students had a manual to complete on how to care for their dragon. After it was finished, it was a nice little flip book.

One thing that really made me happy is that a student took extra care for her dragon. I told them they could take them home but they needed to return the next day for school. I wanted to see how well they could take care of them. She returned with her dragon in gift box along with a pillow, bottle, and blankie. What a cute spin on that!