Up and Away - hard copy

 Up and Away

Discussion and Activity Guide for The Twenty-One Balloons
By William Pene DuBois

 Grades 4-6

     Professor Sherman, a nineteenth century math teacher, seeks to escape the world by taking a one-year hot air balloon trip. His trip is interrupted by his untimely crash on the volcanic island of Krakatoa. He finds a secret and highly civilized group of people there, with a hoard of diamonds and an incredible method of organizing and improving their lives. He stays with them until the volcano erupts and all must flee the island. The Twenty-One Balloons is the story of his 40-day adventure.

     This guide (18 page teacher section and 14 page student section)includes vocabulary words and discussion questions for each chapter, writing prompts, and ideas for hands-on activities. See the table of contents given below and a sample page from the guide.

Table of Contents
 

I. Introduction
II. Activities for before reading.
    A. Investigating hot air ballooning
    B. Investigating volcanoes
    C. Theme discussion
III. While Reading
    A. Vocabulary lists
    B. Chapter questions
    C. Activities

       1. Geographic landform study
       2. Design your own invention (Speech writing)
       3. Make a story map
       4. Write a poem

IV. Activities for after reading
    A. Writing Prompts

       1. Newspaper writing
       2. Descriptive writing
       3. Character analysis
       4. Theme essay

    B. Art and design

       1. Design a balloon conveyance
       2. Design a ballooning pamphlet
       3. Painting a before and after picture of Krakatoa
       4. Make a poster of Sherman's next balloon

Appendix
 
Student Section
    Sample page from "Up and Away," a discussion and activity guide for The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene DuBois
IV. Activities For After Reading

 
A. Writing Assignments
     There are 4 suggested writing prompts given in this section. You may choose any or all of them for your student depending on his interest and academic needs. The actual prompts are given in the student section on pages 10-13. Listed here are general descriptions of the writing required for each prompt.

   1. Newspaper report of Sherman's talk: the student pretends he is a news reporter assigned to cover the great event of Sherman's speech before the Explorer's club. This could be a little more informal writing, done in a feature story style.
   2. Descriptive paper, the eruption: the student pretends he is a scientist assigned to investigate the eruption of the volcano. The student may use first person to relate his observations of the eruption and its results. In order to better imagine and describe the results of the eruption, the student may want to find magazines or books with pictures and descriptions of the Mt. St. Helens eruption.
   3. Character analysis: the student collects information from the story to write a paragraph describing a characteristic of Professor Sherman.
   4. Theme essay: the student decides on a main idea for the story and writes his paper to explain and defend his idea. This is the most formal of the four writing assignment choices.