summer of the sea serpent by mary pope osborne

I also think it would be fun to have the students create a mythological creature. The students can present their information through a poster and include pictures. I would have my students research a mythological creature, stating the origin, physical characteristics, and interesting facts about these creatures. The different animals can represent different strengths or characteristics tied to the mythological creature, and it would be cool to learn about them.

Whether it's half horse, half fish, or half seal, half human, mythological creatures are interesting to find out about. Then, the students could create their own poem, including both similes and metaphors.ģ) research projects on mythological creatures By talking about metaphors, you could easily discuss similes and other poem features. For example, the sword represents peace, and the ghost's gray cloak is actually fog. The story includes metaphors and symbolism. With this lesson, I could pull specific quotes out of the book where Jack and Annie thought Merlin's clues were literal, but were actually figurative. I really did enjoy reading this, and I'm sure I will find myself reading another one from the Magic Tree House series, too.įrom a teaching standpoint, there are several topics that I could teach through this book: The few illustrations throughout the book also kept my attention. I also felt like the descriptions were vivid enough that I could imagine myself there. I loved that at the end of each chapter, they left cliff hangers that kept me wanting to find out what would happen next. Last semester, I was introduced into the Magic Tree House series, but I never finished an entire tree house book with a class. They're just very well done and a great support to these wonderful stories. They add so much to the stories, to see how the kids are dressed or what the fantastical creatures look like. I've always liked the images in the MTH books, but the Merlin Mission books seem to have more frequent and more detailed pictures. The illustrations in the Merlin Missions have been really great as well. Jack and Annie are getting old fast, it's been a year a a half since the Merlin Missions began. Maybe reading stories like this helps that along. On the other hand, sometimes things come out of my guys' mouths that are so sweet and perceptive that I am truly humbled. Sometimes these kids seem impossibly wise. Such a great fantasy at any age, who wouldn't want to try that? Plus another very exciting transformation (ravens and flying in the last book) into seals swimming in the sea. I love the mythology! What a fun way to introduce kids to selkies and King Arthur's sword and more.

Summer of the sea serpent by mary pope osborne