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Letters written between an US 5th grader and his teacher

The following are the letter exchanges of a 5th grade student (Ben) and his teacher (Ms. Tanya) in an US elementary school.

The student's letters cover two of the 5th grade writing objectives: Literature Review and Letter Writing.  Through this project, the teacher promotes reading, teaches the skill of summary of the book, literature review and letter writing convention.  She also does a good job in students' character building.

[[i] 本帖最后由 小鹿 于 2009-10-4 14:16 编辑 [/i]].

Letter 1

[align=right]9/17/2009
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Dear Ms. Tanya,

        Right now, I am reading "Going Solo" by Roald Dahl.  It is an auto-biography, and is about when Roald Dahl served the RAF in World War II.
I just finished "Going Solo".  I wonder why Roald Dahl wanted to sign up for the RAF.  It would be cool flying around in a fighter plane like him but I don’t want to die or anything, so I wouldn’t.

        In the middle of the book, Roald crash-landed in Fouka, which gave him a brain fracture.  I would say that he was lucky he crash-landed because later on he had to go home because of all the big headaches he was having.  If he didn’t go home, he could have been shot down and killed, during the last three years of the war.

        I like the ending when Roald Dahl went back home and “flew down the steps of the bus straight into the arms of the awaiting mother.”  I liked it because it was a very happy ending.

        I also just finished a book called “Tiger”.  It is about five young monks who have each mastered a different animal’s kung fu style.  Each book in the series is named after the main character’s fighting style, like “Tiger”.

        There is a character in the book that I really dislike.  His name is Major Ying, who used to be Eagle, when he was the monks’ brother.  He is very ugly and hideous with his forked tongue, long claw-like fingernails, and scaly face.  And he betrayed the monks and now wants to find them and destroy them.  He is very untrustworthy.
                                                     
[align=right] Your student,
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[align=right]                                                                Ben[/align].

[align=center]9/21/2009
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Dear Ben,

        I really enjoyed your letter.  The RAF is the oldest independent air force in the world!  The RAF has a significant role in supporting the British military.

        You wrote that it would be cool to fly a plane, but you wouldn’t want to die.  [color=DarkOrange]Would you fly a commercial plane?
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        The ending to “Going Solo” by Roald Dahl does sound happy.  It’s always a blessing to make it home alive after fighting in a war!

        In “Tiger” by Jeff Stone, you mentioned a character you really dislike: Major Ying.  He sounds evil!  [color=DarkOrange]What about the other 4 young monks?  Are any of them of good character?[/color]

                                                                                Sincerely,
                                                                                Ms. Tanya.

[align=right]9/22/2009
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Dear Ms. Tanya,

       I would like to fly a commercial plane,  or any other plane as long as it wasn’t in a war.  

        Major Ying actually isn’t one of the five monks, so there are still five.  They are all good.  The main character in “Tiger”, Fu, is short-tempered but he is still good.

       Right now I am reading “Air Raid! – Pearl Harbor!”. It is about the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor in World War II, and the events that led to it.

        So far, I have read to December  5, two days before the raid that stunned the world.

        Admiral Yammamoto put Vice Admiral Nagumo in charge of sailing the ships toward Hawaii.  In Washington D.C., “Purple” (a machine that decodes Japanese code) discovered a message that was important to the Pearl Harbor Attack.  It wasn’t passed on to Admiral Kimmel or General Short in Hawaii.  I wish it had, that way Pearl Harbor would have defense and Japan wouldn’t have succeeded.

        On December 7th, 1941, Nagumo sent the planes out.  They attacked Pearl Harbor, dropping bombs and shooting bullets at the ships and patrol planes.  It took five whole minutes for the officers to realize what had just happened.  I don’t think they expected Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, since Pearl Harbor was at least a thousand miles away from Japan Mainland.

       Even though I don’t very much like Japan, I think the Japanese people are very brave, especially the ones attacking Pearl Harbor and later in the war.  They were suicide pilots who had the courage to dive the plane straight into their target and blow it up.

                                                                               Sincerely,
                                                                                Ben.

[align=right]9/24/2009
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Dear Ben,

       Your letter was well done.  You really make me think and [color=Red]that’s good[/color]!

        [color=DarkOrange]What was the secret “Purple” message that was never received by the American Admiral and General?[/color]

       I love how you noted that the Japanese were in fact very brave, especially the suicide pilots.  Those pilots willingly gave up their lives for their country.  When countries go to war, each side is convinced their way is the right way or their ideas are the right ideas.  If mankind could be tolerate, then there would be no wars.

        [color=DarkOrange]How did the Americans recover from the surprise attack?[/color]
  
                                                                              Sincerely,
                                                                                Ms. Tanya

[[i] 本帖最后由 小鹿 于 2009-10-4 14:22 编辑 [/i]].

Because of the limitations of the editor tool here, I can't get the date and signature of the letters in the right place.

[[i] 本帖最后由 小鹿 于 2009-10-4 14:40 编辑 [/i]].