Peregrine Falcons and Frightful: Frightful quickly becomes a constant companion for Sam. She is a peregrine falcon. This National Geographic page gives you more information about the peregrine falcon. For example, did you know that peregrine falcons can live for around 17 years? On that page, there is an audio file you can click on to hear what the peregrine falcon sounds like!
There are so many videos on youtube.com about peregrine falcons. Here's one video of a falcon being trained to hunt, just like Sam had to train Frightful to hunt. What other interesting falcon videos can you find? If you find a video we should all watch, post a link to it in the comments!
Thoreau: Bando calls Sam Thoreau. Here are some resources for you to investigate about Henry David Thoreau. Philosophy Slam has a biography of Thoreau. Here are some quotes by Thoreau. Why is Thoreau a fitting name for Sam?
Questions to Ponder/Answer:
1. Sam faces many challenges living in the wilderness alone, far from civilization. If you were on Sam's journey, what do you think would be most challenging to you? Why? What would you most look forward to?
2. Why do you think Sam wants to tell Bando about the Baron and Jessie C. James so badly? Does this relate to Sam heading out on the road to town without even thinking about it (In Trouble Begins)?
3. When Frightful flies off and doesn't immediately return, Sam says to himself, "She was more than a bird." What do you think he means by that?
4. Look back on your earlier theory. How have you had to revise your theory or strengthen it, based on the new information you've learned? What big idea are you growing now about Sam and the book?
5. Bando says "Desdemona" when Sam reveals his feast. Desdemonda is a heroine from Shakespeare's "Othello." Desdemona takes things at their face value and trusts people. Why do you think Bando says this?
Remember to keep looking back on your classmates' thinking, reading and responding to ideas that other people share! Make this into a conversation, and come back often to read, add on to, and question what we have to say!
I think going back to week one, the mountain helps him find his way because he wants to show that he could do something. Frightful seems to help him find his way. I been thinking that Sam wants to be a true man. One thing that I saw that Ellis wrote was that Sam takes risks and that is true and I think being a man you have to deal with taking risks.
ReplyDeleteFrom,
Bria
Bria,
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the way you kept what you learned from Week One reading "My Side of the Mountain" alive. I can tell you went back and re-read the ideas from last week, and it seems like you took some new ideas away from your reading! Your theory seems to be developing further. I'm curious about your idea that both the mountain and Frightful might be helping Sam find his way. I'd love to hear more about that. What from the book led you to that idea?
Keep reading and thinking!
-Katie
I agree with Bria that Sam wants only to prove hes not a little kid anymore, so his family might not underestimate him snymore. I also think that Sam is lonley and thats why he goes to town. It doesn't say in the book, but I think Sam despretly wants "The jacket boy" to come to the woods. I wonder why That boy knew where Sam was? In answer to question 3, I think that what Sam means by, she was more than just a bird, was, that, even though hes mostly deprived of human company and friends, he has been rewardeed by the fact that he can find true companions in animals, like Frightful, The baron, and Jesse C. James. I think that if Sam had ever been truly lonley, he would have returned home a long time ago.
ReplyDelete-Leela
I think that Sam is a bold and independent character. He seems like he is brave and bold enough to step up to the wilderness, and is willing to get food at a risk of getting seen and having his most feared drought he didn't want to happen to him happen. He knows he has to get food, and how he does it is amazing. He knows how to respond to nature when it acts, and he's bold to do it. He was independent in making his home, and training Frightful. He also was a good teacher to Frightful, and taught his signs to Frightful as easy as like a trainer of a seal at the New York Aquarium. And most of all, he knew what to do and when,and how to survive. And that's why I think Sam is a bold-and independent- character.
ReplyDeleteFrom, ERiC@home to kCLEMENTS
Leela,
ReplyDeleteWhen your theories go beyond the book, they are always richer! And when you share and grow your theories with others, they get even stronger! I love all this group thinking that is going on.
I'm interested in your idea that even though Sam has been deprived of human companionship, he's finding the company that he needs in the animals. This seems like a big trend that we'll be able to continue to follow in the book. Do you think this is the same for Sam as it was in the first section, or has this changed?
I noticed that you called the boy the "Jacket Boy." What do you think about the idea that Sam doesn't know the real names of the people he interacts with?
-Katie
Eric,
ReplyDeleteYou made such a fascinating connection between Sam training Frightful and a New York Aquarium worker training a seal that helped me understand what the training process might have been like even more!
It seems like you're growing a big theory that Sam is a bold and independent character. Do you think he is all independent? Leela raised an interesting idea that he might be kind of dependent on the animals in her blog comment above yours. What do you think about that idea?
-Katie
I think that he found companionship in the animals during the first section, but really formed a bond snd found comfort in them Throughout the second section. I think that about him not knowing the names of people, it's kind of helpful because then, if he wants them to stay longer, he doesn't actually have a name to connect the face he misses with, but it unhelpful because if he needed them, he couldn't ask anyone if they had seen them.
ReplyDeleteI think what led me to that idea Katie is the name of the book because it sounds like it's all about hope and finding your way to be a man or who ever you want to be. I also think that Sam went out in the woods for a reason because why else would go if no one is there to help you, he just a kid.
ReplyDelete-Bria
I think that the reason that Bando called Sam "Thoreau" is because of the famous man named Thoreau who decided to live in the wilderness, to live a simple life and, like Eric and others said about Sam, to be independent. I went to Walden Pond in Massachusetts this weekend, and saw the area in the wilderness where Thoreau's house was, and realized how much one can do in nature by oneself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leela, and think the Sam is not completely independent, and that he depends on not only animals, but what he knows, what he loves, and to his idea of running away from home.
Adding on to a earlier theory, I agree that Sam wants to become an adult but I also think that Sam discovers how much he can do as a kid.
As the book continues, I see more and more how attached Sam immediately becomes to what he finds and does and how he is always wanting to do and explore more to be able to survive. Sam seems curious and eager to make new friends and learn new things.
-Mayu
What would be most challenging for me is trying to find a home, because it would be really hard to find enough recources to give me enough materials to build a house or a pole to fish or materials to make a net to catch a deer or a rabbit.
ReplyDeleteWhat I would look forward to is being in nature, just like Sam is enjoying, and how at the end of the chapter: How A Door Came To Me he was just enjoying the night sky of stars and the earthworms.
From, Ellis
Mayu,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you shared that you went to Walden Pond in Massachusetts this weekend. I think that would really help you envision why Sam might have been called Thoreau. I'm going to see if I can find a good picture of Walden Pond to share with everyone. If you have a great one, you could email it to me!
I like how you're considering these major discrepancies in Sam's life, such as whether he is independent or dependent and whether he wants to be an adult or a child. These are really interesting theories. Keep adding on to your theories and supporting them with evidence.
-Katie
PS. I love how you read the comments of your classmates and added on to them! Keep it up!
Ellis,
ReplyDeleteThe moment you highlighted sounds particularly beautiful to me. I don't think I've ever been in a place quiet enough to hear the quiet plip plop of the earthworms as they push through the ground. I can only envision what that must have felt like to Sam!
Have you had to revise your theory since the first section of the book? Or, have you found more evidence to support your original theory?
Keep reading all the blog comments, adding on to them and asking people your own questions!
-Katie
I think that Sam definetly made a good choice with
ReplyDeletefrightful.period. But the relationship between the
baron and frightful might become a problem.(example)
Frightful dead.
I hadn't considered that idea before, so I'm glad you raised it. Do you think Sam has considered that the Baron might kill Frightful? Why do you think Sam keeps up the relationship with the Baron?
ReplyDelete-Katie
I agree with Mayu that Bando called Sam Thoreau because of a man who had also survived in the wilderness. I think that if I mysteriously saw a little boy in the woods I would be quite suprised and I think the name Thoreau was the first thing that popped into Bando's head when he first saw Sam.
ReplyDeleteI also have something to say, I don't think it was very smart that Sam had a halloween party and invited all of the animals and exposed all of his precious food like that. I don't think he was thinking clearly because animals in the wild are very vicious about food. So I think he should of thought that through. But, I could understand why I wanted to have a party, because maybe he missed spending the holidays with other people, in this case "animals".
From,
Ellis
I am going to camp so will not be on the blog. I still think Sam is a city boy. He meet a man Bando who is a college teacher and likes talking to him and made a good friend with him. Maybe Sam was just running away from home. I think Ellis is right that Sam misses people.
ReplyDeleteI will be back in two weeks. Have fun everyone.
Jason
Jason,
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding some new ideas to the conversation. It's interesting to think that maybe, no matter how hard Sam tries to live in the woods, he might still be a city boy at heart. Maybe that has to do with him missing people.
Have a fantastic time at camp! We'll be excited to hear what you are thinking about the books when you get back in a few weeks!
-Katie
Ellis,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you brought up the Halloween party that Sam threw for the animals. That seems like such an important idea to discuss, and we haven't even mentioned it here yet!
Everyone--Take a look at what Ellis has to say about the Halloween party Sam throws (a few comments above this one). What do you think about that idea? How does that prove/disprove your theory?
-Katie
I agree with Leela that Sam is not an all independent character. He needs Frightful for catching a lot of the small game. And he has made a friendship with Frightful. But he is independent in the making of the deer and big animal traps. So Sam is independent and dependent.
ReplyDeleteFrOM, eRiC@ HoMe to MsOtM readERS