Friday Reconnect: Trumpet Week Two

By Oliver Perry, Read to Them Staff

Happy Friday friends! Can you believe today marks the end of our second week of reading The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White? The story has gotten quite exciting. Louis learns to read and write and to play the trumpet, he falls in love, he goes on a camping trip, gets a job in Boston, and even spends a night at a hotel. What an adventure! What has been your favorite part so far? What do you guess will happen during our final week of reading?

In today’s activity, we’re going to be doing something very important: saving money! There are many ways to do this effectively, but we’ve come up with a couple that we think are as fun as they are useful. One way we suggest is by making your own money. You can do this by drawing and cutting out your own dollars and cents with pieces of paper. After you give it a name, you can use this new currency at home in a bargaining system. For example, you get paid 2 bucks/week for chores, and 6 bucks can get you a movie night. If you’d rather do something else, check out this video on how to make a paper origami wallet right here to save your money. Already have a wallet? Click here to make a piggy bank out of an old soda bottle and some toilet paper rolls. Right here is a guide to make one out of a coffee container. The moral of all these activities: save your money! It’s always good to have some cha-ching on a rainy day, even if it’s just loose change.

To get you paddling into the weekend, here are five writing prompts to get you writing. Don’t worry, you don’t have to write on a slate.

• Choose an instrument that you don’t currently play that you would love to learn. What would it be and why? Now, say you get very popular, like Louis. Write about what your career would be like with that instrument. Where would you play? Who would you play with? Would you have tons of fans? Would you tour the world? Write about it!

• If you could travel anywhere in the world for a day, where would it be? Who and what would you bring? What would you do? What would you see? Write as much as you’d like.

• Create a new camper to attend Camp Kookooskoos. Describe them in detail. What’s their name? What do they look like? How old are they? What do they like to do? Would they be friends with Louis? What would their favorite camp activity be?

• Try doing a little poetry/songwriting exercise. First, choose a subject. Nature? Your friends? Family? School? A hobby? It can be anything. Now, do the best you can at making a groovy song or a nice poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme. In fact, it can sound however you want! Be creative!

• What is your dream job? Explain why? Now, make a plan to get there. What are the first steps? The next steps? Make a short plan about how you can achieve your goals and get your dream job.

Have a lovely weekend and we'll see you in next week's posts to close out our reading of The Trumpet of the Swan.