Activity #2: Which literary element matters most?

Chapter 1 Unit
Linda Manzo, N

Your Buddy’s Page:

Read your Buddy a favorite picture book. Then, ask your Buddy these questions and
write down your Buddy’s responses. Watch your Buddy’s emotional responses carefully
as he or she answers these questions.

( Do You Believe in Unicorns? By Bethanie Deeney Murguia)

1. How does this book make you feel? Why? `

- good, because of the unicorns and you know I love unicorns.

2. Where is the most exciting part of this book? Why?

-That the unicorn took off his hat because it’s just my favorite part.

3. Who is your favorite person or animal in the book? Why?

- The unicorn, because I like Unicorns. They have sparkly horns and they are so fluffy.

4. Where does this story happen? Would you like to go there? Why or why not?
-Um where horses live, except horses, aren’t there, only unicorns. Yes because I want
to see unicorns and they sleep in the castle.

5. What’s your favorite picture in the book? Why?

- The page with the sand and the water and the castle and the hats because the unicorn
finally takes off his hat.

Then, ask your Buddy about his favorite DVD or TV show. Ask the same questions
except for #5 (changing “book” to “movie” or “show”) and record your Buddy’s
responses. You might watch a little bit of the show or DVD with your Buddy before
asking these questions.

(My Little Pony )

1. How does this movie/show make you feel? Why?

-Good, because of the song they sing “My little pony, MY LITTLE PONYYYYYY!”

2. Where is the most exciting part of this movie/show? Why?

- At the trees with the apples because it’s so funny because applejack was picking
apples and one apple fell on her head. She really loves apples but all tha other ones
really like berries.

3. Who is your favorite person or animal in the movie/show? Why?

-Pinky Pie because her name kinda sounds like pinky pie and that kinda means it
sounds like we are gonna eat pink pie. She’s funny and she’s silly.

4. Where does this story happen? Would you like to go there? Why or why not?
- It looks like a castle and there are apple and grape trees. Yes, I always want to go to
see ponies. I want to see what it actually looks like but I can’t go because we don’t know
where it is.

5. What’s your favorite picture in the movie/show? Why?

-They go to watch a show about a bad pony. They are outside and the bad pony is on
the stage during the daytime. It's funny because even though the pony was bad it still
made a funny show.

Finally, observe your Buddy in play. What are your Buddy’s favorite toys? What type of
play does your Buddy enjoy most (make-believe, building, arts and crafts, outdoor play,
etc.)? Do you see any influence from your Buddy’s favorite books or favorite movies/TV
shows in his or her play? If you’re not able to observe your Buddy in play, speak with
your Buddy’s parent, guardian, or teacher about your Buddy’s play habits. Write a
paragraph in which you describe your observations/feedback.

-Her favorite toys include her Peppa pig, George, and Suzy sheep figures. They also
include her two Rainbocorns as well as many different sized houses and barbies with
accessories. She really enjoys make-believe play the most but she understands that
she's pretending. She however is a big fan of arts and crafts and tends to mix the two. I
see her interest impacting her play throughout. For example, her favorite book is “Do
you believe in unicorns?” and she picked up a rainbocorn toy at one point and made it
have an argument about how it was really a unicorn even though the barbie didn’t seem
to think so. She also has my little pony figures and though they aren’t her most prized
toy but she uses them from time to time. During observation, she could be heard
reenacting just small portions of the show that she remembers but adding her own twist.
She is a big youtube watcher and she hears a lot of different things on youtube which
she could tell you more about than any tv show or book. While copying most of what
she hears the ponies do on the show she also throws in parts that she has seen on
videos of her favorite YouTubers channel. My book buddy happens to also be my sister
so it made observing her easier because she felt comfortable with me just sitting in the
living room where she plays like I normally do. However she was not very interested in
answering my questions when it came time for it because she was in such a rush to go
back to playing that having to sit and think was driving her crazy. She plays mostly on
her own at home because there are no kids close in age with her. She does also played
with her cat, his name is Sebastian and she made him sit with her and play his part as
the bad guy. She usually does not come up with her own names for the characters but
just repeats what she's heard others call them. Unless they are barbies then sometimes
she calls them her friends names.

Your Page:

Based on your Buddy’s answers and your observations, which literary element seems
most important to your Buddy? Is your Buddy most excited by plot, what happens in a
story, character, the animals or people in a story, setting, where the story takes place,
style, how the story is presented or told, or theme, what the story means or the lessons
it teaches?

-Linda pays a lot of attention to the characters in books and tv shows. This is something
that she did with both her favorite book and movie. This can be shown with her
response to question number two asking about what her favorite part about her favorite
book is and why. In her response she states “That the unicorn took his hat off and it's
just my favorite part.”.The response wasn’t the most descriptive she could probably
have given me and her reasoning was not the greatest however it does prove that she
pays attention to the character because she realized what he did. It can also be seen in
her response to the same question except this time about her favorite tv show “My Little
Pony”, where she responds with “At the trees with the apples because it’s so funny
because applejack was picking apples and one fell on her head. She really loves apples
but all tha other ones really like berries.” This too shows that she was paying attention
to characters because though she didn’t go on to tell me exactly what applejack looks
like she knew that applejack was picking apples and that she got hurt. She also knows
applejack loves apples but that the other ponies really like the berries that they pick. So
she pays attention to the things that they like which are part of their different
personalities.

The book’s setting was harder for her to describe because it didn’t have a
specific name for it. However she did describe the setting as best she could in her
response to question number five about her book which asks what her favorite picture in
the book is and why. She stated it is “The page with the sand and the water and the
castle and the hats because the unicorn finally takes off his hat.”. It is also shown in her
response to the same question but this time about her favorite tv show where she
responds with “They go to watch a show about a bad pony. They are outside and the
bad pony is on the stage during the day time. It's funny because even though the pony
was bad it still made a funny show.”. She again noticed the new character because she
said there was a bad pony and she noticed the setting because she saw that they were
outside during the day time and that there was a stage as well. In her first response to
question number five, she pointed out that there was sand and water as well as a castle
and hats.

She was more excited to tell me about the setting for my little pony and I think
this had more to do with the fact that she was able to think more easily about how she
wanted to describe her favorite picture in it. She had to stop more and think about her
response when responding to the same question about her favorite picture in the book. I
think this is because it has been a while since she has seen sand or heard the word
castle because thanks to corona she was only able to see sand once earlier this
summer and when she reads her book usually no one asks her about the castle and the
book doesn’t really focus on it so she easily can forget what to call it. When she has to
think too hard about how to respond to things she starts to show discouragement and
she gets more anxious about wanting to be done.

She did not however pay much attention to the theme of each though at other
points during the time that she has had her favorite tv show she has told me about small
lessons they learned like how to share. Theme just hasn’t really shown to be something
she is as interested in. She pays no attention to the style of the book yet but I think it
could be said that she does pay attention to the style of her show because she knows
the author of her show creates episodes and that there is a song at the start of every
episode. There still is not a huge importance put on the style for her.

Lastly, plot is an element she pays a lot of attention too. This is mostly shown
more in her play than in her verbal responses. She often remembers the plot of the
story, like how they came to the problem, what it was and how they solved the problem.
When playing her often she will even use a plot from an episode of “My Little Pony” or a
plot from a video of one of the youtubes she subscribes to. For example today while she
was playing she had all of her favorite toys out and she watches a youtuber named
Stephen Sharer. She calls the channel “Share the love” and in their recent videos, they
have talked about how bad guys took their lamborghini that they call the Sharerghini
and how they had to get it back. They have to do different things and tasks in order to
get it back from the bad guys they call “pond monsters”. She incorporated what she
watched into her play today. She tried recreating the different settings like their trap for
the pond monsters with whatever she could from her toys and then pretended the rest
was there and then using her figures she went through the different obstacles and tasks
and eventually got the car back. The way that the book is written though she loves it can
only have so much done with it in her play but with youtube and My Little pony she does
a great job remembering plots and following the just of them almost perfectly. She can
even remember what was said at certain points word for word. I think the character and
plot elements are the ones most important to her and she really enjoys it the more the
characters are developed. She really starts to connect with them when she can slowly
see their personalities grow and show more.

Rank plot, character, setting, style, and theme in order from most important to least
important for your Buddy, and then defend your ranking, using your observations and
your Buddy’s responses as support. What conclusions can you draw about your
Buddy’s understanding and appreciation of literary elements in stories based on your
results? Do you think these conclusions would be typical of your Buddy’s age group?
Why or why not?

-I would rank plot as the most important element to her. As I shared before this can be
seen in her play. She incorporates the plot from her tv shows, books, and youtube
videos into her play almost every single time she plays. It could be smaller parts like just
what lead up to the problem and the problem itself and then she comes up with her own
solution or it could be the entire climax. One most recently shown was from a youtube
video that I shared previously where a car was taken by bad guys and the YouTuber
had to do different things to get it back. She used her toys to reenact the entire plot
minus a couple of minor details. Though she didn’t have everything she needed to have
it exactly the same she created the best version of the setting and characters that she
could manage to put together with what she had and then went onto reenact what she
viewed. I know this is intentional because in previous times she has done this she has
gone back to watch the videos or episode to see what happens when she forgets a part.

However, it can also be seen in her responses above. She stated for her answer
to the question that asks about where the most exciting part of the book is and why that
“That the unicorn took off his hat because it’s just my favorite part.“. Though her
reasoning is probably not the best she could have given, she did recognize part of the
plot when she mentions the unicorn finally taking his hat off. Another example was the
answer to the question that asked what her favorite picture is and why. This was about
her favorite tv show and she responded “They go to watch a show about a bad pony.
They are outside and the bad pony is on the stage during the day time. It's funny
because even though the pony was bad it still made a funny show. “ Though I don’t
think that she interpreted the scene exactly she did understand that there was a bad
pony causing problems and she thought that the pony was pretty funny to watch. If I
recall this episode correctly the pony wasn’t putting on a show but was interrupting an
event in ponyville and was causing a scene. This was part of the plot of that episode
because that pony coming around was the problem because she brought upon
problems. Though she might not have completely recognized it exactly she knew that
the pony was part of the problem. The plot includes the problems that take place.
 Linda is still in her early childhood years which means that she is still building the
foundation for her future learning and her success in life. I believe her recognition of
these smaller parts of the elements is the proof that she is creating a part of the
foundation to build on for her future learning. By having this understanding now she will
be able to continue to build on her knowledge of these different elements throughout her
journey through both middle school and high school.

The second most important to her would be characterization. She really pays
attention to the characters. She at the moment I asked her the questions she did not
really give very many details about their appearance but my book buddy is my sibling
and she, later on, has gone onto tell me what the characters in her favorite show and
some of the youtube videos she likes look like. She mainly paid attention to what the
characters were up to or parts of their personalities. In her answer to question number
two about the most exciting part of her favorite show, she said “At the trees with the
apples because it’s so funny because applejack was picking apples and one apple fell
on her head. She really loves apples but all the other ones really like berries.
“ She paid attention to the character's name and the things that the characters enjoy.
When sharing the little that she did her emotions said more than her words. She was
almost offended when I asked if applejack was picking apples because all the ponies
like apples as if I was supposed to know that the other preferred berries or grapes.
When she talked about how pinky pie she was smiling and even laughed. She talked
super fast and her tone slightly raised in excitement.

Setting is given some importance to her as in her questions above she shared a
little about the setting of her favorite book and the setting of her favorite show. For the
book, she mentions the castle, water, sand, and hats. She also mentioned that it was a
place where horses go except it was unicorns. For the show she mentioned the apple
tree and then mentioned that at one point in the show it was daytime, they were outside
and there was a stage. She also mentioned grape trees. These all show she was paying
attention to smaller details of the environment/setting.

The next important element is style which she doesn't necessarily give much
attention to when responding to the questions except for mentioning the song played at
the introduction and that the show is in episodes. The last most important thing is the
theme which has little importance to her/ she doesn’t really speak about. She only
mentioned later on after the questions that they had to learn to share which was the
theme she took away from an episode. I believe she still has a lot to learn. She is most
worried about things that are visually obvious like characters and what is occurring
throughout the episode or book. She is concerned with what the characters will go
through because she can visually see that and so she worried about them. She is not
very aware of things that take deeper thought like the theme which takes more thought
about because it isn’t visually obvious. At her age, her attention span is not very high so
her patience with answering the questions was not very helpful. She does like to have to
sit and think much about things unless she sees it as something beneficial to her that
she wants. She doesn’t really understand what theme is or style is really. I think if it was
explained to her that she might have a better understanding of what it is and be able to
pinpoint them in her favorite book and show.