From the Actor's notebook

My script is based on event in Chapter 22 Pages 289-290

Aunt Nance- (opens door). “ Will! Come in, come in! (Will walks in). Mulled wine?”
Will- “Yeh. Please”.
Aunt Nance- “We’ve missed you coming round. I’ve left Zach’s room as it was”.
(Will nods and blows on his drink).
Aunt Nance- “Doctor Little and myself, we didn’t want to touch anything until you wanted us to. All right?”
Will- “Yeh”.
Aunt Nance- “Good”.
Will- “ Can I ride his bike?”
Aunt Nance- “ What? What did you say?”
Will- “ Can I ride his bike?”
Aunt Nance- “Zach’s”.
Will- “Yes”.
Aunt Nance- “If you want to. You’ll probably have to lower the seat”.
Will- “Yeh. I know”.
Aunt Nance- “I didn’t know you could ride”.
Will- “I can’t. Not yet. But I will”.
Aunt Nance- “It’s in the Anderson. It’ll probably need pumping and oiling up”. you what, you do the dirty work and I’ll lower the set for you.
Will- “Right-ho”.

written by Olivia
Literature Circles round 6 Chapters 21-23

From the Characteriser's notebook

I chose to do my character study on Willie
click on the photo for full size image
written by Oliver
Literature Circles round 6 Chapters 21-23

From the Poet's notebook

I wrote this poem by choosing lines from the story for my poetry lines.


written by Honour
Literature Circles round 6 Chapters 21-23

From the Predictor's notebook

IN THE NEXT BOOK I PREDICT THAT THE WAR WILL END. NOW IS SAFE TO GO BACK TO LONDON.

AFTER THE WAR ENDS TOM TAKES WILLIE BACK TO LONDON TO SEE HIS MOTHER'S GRAVE AND TRUDY’S GRAVE TOO, BECAUSE HE WANTS WILLIE TO REMEMBER HIS MOTHER AND SISTER BECAUSE THEY WERE A BIG PART OF WILLIES LIFE.

ALSO THEY GO AND SEE ZACHS GRAVE TO SAY GOOD BYE FOR THE LAST TIME.

I PREDICT THAT MRS CLARENCE, THE WIDOW, MARRIES TOM AND EACH WEEK END THE FAMILY, TOM, MRS CLARENCE, AND WILLIE GO OFF TO THE BEACH WERE MRS CLARENCE’S OLD HOUSE IS AND WERE THEY ALL MET.

written by Phoebe
Literature Circles round 6 Chapters 21-23

From the Word Wizard's notebook

written by Maria
Literature Circles round 6 Chapters 21-23

From the Discussion Director's Notebook

written by Robin
Literature Circles round 6 - Chapters 21-23

From the Poet's notebook

My poem is an acrostic poem about Willie and Mister Tom.



written by Robin
Literature Circles round 5 - Chapters 17-20

From the Predictor's notebook

My prediction is what will happen after Tom has adopted Willie.

Now that Tom has decided to adopt Will, he is happy and very grateful to be living with Mister Tom.
As the predictor, I predict that there will be an air raid or an attack on Little Weirwold. I think their house that they have lived in for so long will be destroyed, so to keep them out of danger, I think Mister Tom, Will and all of the other citizens of Little Weirwold will have to go into hiding in a place that has not been attacked and destroyed, or a safe place.
I think that Mister Tom and Will, will find a safe place to live for the time-being and live off left over food scraps, but still survive together.
I think there will be some people who will not want to leave Little Weirwold because they don’t want to leave their homes and they might not want to believe that Hitler and his army are attacking their quiet, country town. But I think there might be some people who will not be as lucky surviving or some people who will lose family members.
I think this will happen because there have already been attacks and air raids on other parts of England so I think Hitler will attack on a quieter town. I think some people might die because usually people don’t want to believe the worst and don’t want to abandon their homes and leave their friends.

By Olivia.
Literature Circles round 5 - Chapters 17-20

From the Word Wizard's Notebook

written by Indiana
Literature Circles round 5 - Chapters 17-20

From the Actor's notebook

The scene when Mister kidnaps William and takes him home.

First they go to Doctor Little’s house

William: (sounding sleepy) “Where am I?”

Tom: “We’re at Dobbs field.”

William: “How did I get here?”

Tom: “I kidnapped you because I thought you would be better off here instead of being in a childrens home. “

William (sounding surprised) “You kidnapped me!”

Tom: “Yes boy, I kidnapped you ! (laughs).Go back to sleep now boy, get all the rest that you need to get better.”

William heads off to sleep immediately.

written by Honour
Literature Circles round 5 - Chapters 17-20

From the Summariser's notebook

My summary of Chapters 17-20

After Willie went home Tom went looking for him. He got to the house and tried to get in but no one answered he got the night watch people to come and bash the door down. Sam went up to the cupboard and sniffed.

Tom found Willie in the cupboard with a baby in his arms the baby had been long dead but Tom thought better to tell Willie and make him more upset. Willie went off to hospital with Tom and Sam.

Willie lay in the hospital bed after the injection, he just had to stop him screaming. That night Tom kidnapped Willie and took him back to Little Weir World where he belonged. At home Willie had nightmares about being at hospital and having to have the needle put into his body to put him to sleep. After his had the biggest scream of his life his nightmares stoped and his was getting better and better each day.

Then one day Zach came to see Willie and after Willie had the biggest breakfast he had ever seen Zach went up and the two friends talked and talked. The day after Willie saw Zach He went to Mrs Hartridge the schoolteacher, he went up to the house to say “Hi” then got invited in by her to see her new little baby she was lying down in her pram. Then after Tom came and picked him up.

Tom took Sam, Willie and Zach to the sea to go on Zach new bicycle for a ride. For two weeks they stayed with an old lady by the sea her name was Mrs Clarence they a lovely dinner and breakfast then went off for a walk and picnic on the beach. They went swimming and then decided to by swimsuits. They played cricket on the beach and had fun building sand castles and collecting seashells. One day after spending the day at the beach Tom started reading the paper the front headlines gave a bug shock to Zach “ South West London Blitzed, Malden Badly Hit.” Zach rand up Mrs and Mr Little to see if his parents had rung, they had they were safe and had not been affected by the Blitzed.
After the two weeks they went home sad to leave the sea but glad to get home after such a long time away.

When they got home on the table were lots of welcome home cards and gifts. Then out of the darkness came Carrie she stood back and said out of nowhere “I’ve passed the exam. I got a scholarship. I’m to be a high-school girl.”

On the last Saturday of the holidays, Zach, Willie, George, and the twins they all decided to go to look at Spooky Cott.
When they got to a hose in the middle of the woods they heard a noise like the organ Mr Tom Plays they looked through the door it was very dark in side the little house. They went in the Willie fell back and screamed a man in his twenties with brown wavy hair and blue eyes. After talking with the man Willie told him he loved to draw and paint then the young man said he would give Willie lessons on how to paint and draw Willie thanked him a said he would love to.

When Willie got home Tom had some visitors they told Willie that his mum had committed suicide and that he was an orphan and would have to go into a home. He went up to his room while Tom talked to the people. Willie kept saying to Sam I’m not going, I’m not going! Then he went down stairs here was Mr Tom by himself I’m adoptin’ you boy it means I’m going to be your dad soon.

written by Phoebe
Literature Circles round 5 - Chapters 17-20

From the Discussion Director's Notebook

written by Maria
Literature Circles round 5 - Chapters 17-20

From the Characteriser's notebook

made by Josh
Literature Circles round 4 - Chapters 13-16

From the Summariser's notebook

My summary of Chapters 13-16

It is Thursday evening and after George reminding him, he makes his way to the church for his first Male Church Choir practice. Mister Tom has agreed to play the organ while the singers sung Christmas carols along with him.
The next day is Willie’s first day in Mrs Hartridge’s class along with his friends. He thinks he is the worst in the class because he has just moved in. After Maths and English it is morning break. There are more lessons and then school is over for the day.
The next day Miss Thorne tells everyone what the next Christmas production would be and when Willie gets home he finds a letter from his mum saying he has to go back to London for a while because she is ill. Mister Tom takes Willie to the station and after they say goodbye to each other he gets on the train for his journey to London. When he gets to London he sees his mum and she doesn’t seem too happy to see him because of all his presents and he seems more confident and he has better clothes.
When they get home, they see a baby trying to scream but with tape covering his mouth. His mum gets really angry with Willie for not learning his bible stories properly. His mum also beat him because of making friends with Zach who was a Jew and didn’t go to church. He was locked under the cupboard under the stairs with new bruises.
Back in Little Weirwold, Mister Tom is missing Willie so takes the first train to London and gets two wardens and a policeman to show him where Willie lived. They get there and the policeman kicks the door down, and they enter the house to a very bad smell.

By Olivia
Literature Circles round 4 - Chapters 13-16

From the Predictor's notebook

I am predicting what will happen after the police looked in the hole to see what was in there.

I predict that when the police look into the hole they find William and the baby in there with their mouth’s taped because when Willie was picked up from the station his mother taped the baby’s mouth to stop her from crying. When they find Will, Tom will be happy and joyful. Also I think that William’s mum has hurt him more than usual when he came back to London. His mum may not come back to the house and that the mum may be sick in the mind or that she might be sick from having the baby. Mister Tom might ask for William to come back to the countryside and William will say yes and might never want to come back to London to face his mother because he’s afraid of her. They also would take the baby so she would never get hurt like William has been. Mrs Beech will get arrested for leaving children at home.

By Honour
Literature Circles round 4 - Chapters 13-16

From the Actor's notebook

My act is from the scene when Willie and Jack meet after the meeting in the hall.

Willie: “So what did ya think about the meetin.”
(Willie and Zach slowly approach Littles’Gate)

Zach: “ Well, the meeting was okay but I wasn’t really
listening because I was eating some
gobstoppers.”
(Zach took out a pack of gobstoppers from his
pants and offered Willie one)

Willie: “Thanks a lot.”

Zach: “ Let’s meet at my house tomorrow afternoon
and talk a bit more about what we are gonna
when we go to Spooky Cott.

Willie: “ Ok, so we’re going to meet at your house then.”
“ I’ll hav to check with Mister Tom though.”

Zach: “ All right then, see ya around.”

Willie: “ Ok , bye.”
(Willie and Zach wave to each other and head of
in different directions)

written by Robin
Literature Circles round 4 - Chapters 13-16

From the Discussion Director's Notebook

written by Indiana
Literature Circles round 4 - Chapters 13-16

From the Word Wizard's Notebook

identified some words that I did not know and found out their meanings.



written by Oliver
Literature Circles round 4 - chapters 13-16

From the Travel Tracer's notebook

written by Joshua
Literature Circles round 3 - chapters 9-12

From the Poet's notebook

As the poet, my job is to take a piece of writing from the book and turn it into a poem.

Ice Cold Stormy Night

The sky was as black as the deepest, darkest ocean on a cold winters night.
The rain was as cold as ice, as it fled across the field.
The wind was as strong as the mightiest sea.
As we walked down the path, it roared and rumbled continuously,
until we knew we were home.
Safe.

I got this from page: 129 … The sky was almost black when he and Tom stepped outside. A strong wind tore through the trees whipping the braches fiercely to one side while the rain swept across their faces. Tom put up the umbrella.

written by: Indiana
Literature Circles round 3 - chapters 9-12

From the Discussion Director's Notebooks

As Discussion Director I have tried to ask deep questions, and have based these questions on the 6 thinking hats.



written by Oliver
Literature Circles round 3 - chapters 9-12

From the Predictor's notebook

I made a prediction from the scene where Willie was practising his play.



written by Robin
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Characteriser's notebook

I chose Zach as my character because I felt he was interesting to find character traits for.

click on the photo to view full size image


made in Inspiration by Phoebe
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Actor's notebook

As the actor/actress, I had to choose a scene from chapters 9-12 and change the scene into a script. My scene is the morning of Willie's birthday.

(Willie is sound asleep in his bed)

Willie- (Stirs from his sleep and leaps out of bed) (yawns)

Tom- (comes into Willie’s room) Mornin’ boy! Oh and before I forget, Happy Birthday!

(Tom helps Willie get changed and they go downstairs)

Willie- (sitting by himself at a table writing lines on a piece of paper)

Tom- (walks in and looks over Willie’s shoulder) Practicin’ your writin’ eh?

Willie- (scrunches his face at the paper and then turns to Tom) Ummm… Yes, Sir.. I mean Mister Tom (turns back to the paper and starts writing again)

Tom- (pats Willies head) Such a clever little lad.

Willie- (Smiles but then stares hard at the paper, Tries to sound out the sentence) I..I..am.. am.. Wi.. Wi.. Wi

Tom- What’s that lad? (Takes a look at the paper) Ah… Try sound it out I a-m Wil-li-am Bee-ch.

Willie- (stares hard at the paper) I… am… Wi.. Wi…

Tom- (Picks the paper up and looks at it) That’s very neat handwritin’ you got there boy.

Willie- (smiles weakly)

written by Maria
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Summariser's notebook

My summary for chapters 9-12

Willie’s sixth day in Little Weirwold is his birthday when he receives many gifts from people who he has and hasn’t met. Some of the gifts were sketch pads and clothes. Willie seemed surprised that he received so many gifts.

Tom looked out the window where his son and wife were buried. The memories of them didn’t seem as painful as he thought it would be.

Willie went off to draw and Zach came in and led him to a surprise party they held for him where he ate and said thank-you to the people whom had given him gifts. At the end he suddenly vomitted.

One day, Tom handed Zach a leather brown case that had costumes, his tap shoes and books. Zach showed the twins, George and Willie his tap dancing. They wanted to meet again on Friday. Willie said they might be able to meet at his house if Mister Tom says yes.

Willie didn’t want anyone knowing that he bed wets. Luckily Mister Tom said that it will be dried and cleaned.

When they came on Friday, they were impressed with William’s drawings. George tells them Miss Thorne is casting a play. Carrie then starts to say that boys get all the chances.

George asks William and Zach if they could sing in the church Choir. Zach says that he is Jewish and doesn’t like churches that much. Willie says that he could sing in the church.

Tom came in with hot chestnuts and lemonade. They ate and enjoyed the meeting.

It eventually became closer to November. Willie and Zach were one of the last evacuees left in Weirwold.

Weirwold soon became normal and William was up to the standard of Mrs. Hartiges class in reading though, he had a lot of maths to do.

Miss Thorne was producing an adaptation of ‘A Christmas carol’ by Charles Dickens. Willie and his friends were all apart of the play. Miss Thorne asked Willie to play the part of Scrooge. He did so and everybody thought he was good.

When Willie came home, Mister Tom started to think that he was sounding like him. Tom was asked to play the organ in the concert. William asked if he could play the organ and said that when Rachel his wife was alive and told William about his son and wife. William told Mister Tom that he was in the play and Tom was happy for him.

written by Honour
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Travel Tracer's notebook

Travel events for Chapters 5-8

created by Phoebe
Literature Circles round 2

From the Illustrator's notebook

This is a scene from the book where William goes picking for berries with Zach, George, Carrie and Ginnie.

drawn by Honour
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Word Wizard's Notebook

As Word Wizard I found words that I did not know the meanings of and found out the meanings.

acoustically; of sound or sense of hearing, without electrical amplification acoustic

silhouettes; picture showing the outline only usually, in black on white or cut from paper. black outs ,

flinched: draw back in fear. wince , baulk pneumonia: inflammation of one or both lungs.

suspiciously: prone to causing suspicion

vigour: active or physical or mental strength or energy. fishy, misconstruction

scampering: run or skip move hurriedly. scamper, dart, dash

nonchalantly: calm or casual. nonchalance, calm, cool

written by Joshua
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Poet's notebook

As the poet, I chose do write an acrostic poem


written by Oliver
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Predictor's notebook

I predict that Willie will enjoy staying in little Weirworld more now that he has met Zach, because earlier in the book, Willie told Mister Tom that he had no friends and that all the children picked on him in London. Now that Willie has found Zach as a friend I think he will become more self-confident and socialise more. I also predict that later in the story Willie’s life will be filled with happiness because he will have a lot of friends, but then I think that Willie’s mother will come to visit or ask him to come back to London and wreak his joy in little Weirworld.

written by Maria
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Actor's notebook

As the actor, I have taken a short piece of the story, put it in to my own words, mostly, and turned it into a play scene.


GEORGE: “Look! Look! It’s a swallow!”

WILLIE: “Wot’s a swallow?”

GEORGE: “Up there, look!”

WILLIE: “Isn’t a swallow something you do when you eat or prevent yourself from crying?” He thought.


In Dobbs’ field…
GINNY: “Isn’t she gorgeous?” She said, stroking her mane.

WILLIE: “Yeah?” He said, unsure of wether he meant it or not.

GEORGE: “Cum’on, let’s climb over the gate!” He said, half way up the gate already. “G’d evening Mr Oakly!”

MR OAKLY: “G’d evening George! Like to see the shealter?”
By Indiana
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Illustrator's notebook

I tried to find out what sort of character William Beech is.

click the picture to see larger image




created in Inspiration by Olivia
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Summariser's notebook

written by Robin
Literature Circles round 2 chapters5-8

From the Illustrator's notebook

As the Illustrator, I chose one scene from Chapters 1-4 to illustrate. I chose the scene where Mr Tom and Willie go to the shops. Willie is allowed to buy one sweet and a comic.



drawn by Robin
Literature Circles Chapters 1-4

From the Actor's notebook

As the Actor, I turn part of the story into a drama script. I chose this scene featuring Willie and Tom and wrote the following script.



Tom-Hello Willie why are you huddled under your bed.

Willie-I had a bad dream and wet th bed sir

Tom-Come on boy i’ll carry you down stairs with the sheets.

Willie-Yes sir.

Tom-Are you hot Willie.

Willie-Yes I am mister.

Tom-You look sick.

Willie-I am sir.

Willie-Sorry for wetting the bed sir, Sorry mister, Sorry mister, Sorry mister.

Tom-I’ll take your clothes out.

Willie-I can’t go out without my socks sir pleas mister I can’t.

Tom-Why not.

Willie-My legs mister I don’t want everyone to see the marks of my sins on my legs.

Tom-Fine heres your socks.

Tom-here is your breakfast.

Willie-Thankyou mister.

Tom-Blimmin blue.

Tom-Here willie write a message on this post card for your mother

written by Oliver
Literature Circles Chapters 1-4

From the Predictor's notebook

Being the predictor, I predict that…

the night that Mrs Fletcher knocked at the door for an unexpected visit, will be the night that Willies new found happiness is shattered. I predict this because ... It was a stormy night and Willie had just gone to sleep, when there was a visit by Mrs Fletcher. On a night like this, that would be the last thing you would expect! As soon as Mrs Fletcher walks in the door, there is no time for ‘dilly dally’ Willie will find that he has to go back to London to live with his mother. “Hitler is coming and there’s no time to dawdle!”

Written by Indiana
Literature Circle Chapters 1-4

From the Travel Tracer's notebook

I am the Travel Tracer for round one. In this role I track the route of a character during the events in Chapters 1-4. In this Travel Tracer, I track Willie.



Written by Olivia
Literature Circles Chapters 1-4

From the Characteriser's notebook

As the characteriser, I found evidence of different character traits from the book. I completed my work in Inspiration, and made a character map.


written by Honour
Literature Circles Chapters1-4

From the Poet's notebook

As the Poet, I tried to write some lines related to the events and ideas in the book. I tried to used in these lines of poetry because we have been learning about them.

The grave beside Tom’s house was as quiet as the road in the very early mornings. (pg.14)

The small stone angel’s letters in the grave was as faded as the tip of a mountain of a cold winter’s day. (pg.15)

Young Willie was as quiet as the morning breeze just outside your window on a early winter’s day . (pg.1 )

Old Tom Oakley had a accent as strong as the countryside people who lives in farm and meadows.
(all pages where Tom talks)

written by Jin
Literature Circles Chapters 1-4

From the Summariser's notebook

As the Summariser, I had to find the key points from Chapters 1-4 and write them in a paragraph.

'Willie Beech is a skinny, wimpy little 8year old boy who is an evacuee from London in World War II. He is evacuated, because of the declaration of World War II, to stay with Thomas Oakley, who is known as the village grump/hermit of little Weirworld.

When Tom unpacks Willie’s brown paper carrier bag he discovers Willie’s toiletries, an old bible, a brown leather belt (I bet we all know what this is for) but no spare clothes. Willie’s mother has sewn his winter clothes together and Thomas cuts the thread so Willie can actually take the clothes off.

Willie is afraid of Tom’s dog Sammy because his mother has told him that dogs are poisonous.

Willie wets his pants and has a nightmare that he is going to die. When Willie wakes up the next morning he won’t go anywhere without his socks to cover his sins.

Willie and Tom go into town on a cart pulled by a horse named Dobbs. Tom notices Willie is tired and pale so he lets him have a rest in the back of the cart.

Tom and Willie stop outside the newsagents. Willie can’t decide which lolly he wants because he has never been asked to choose something before.'

written by Maria
Literature Circles Chapters 1-4

From the Word Wizard's notebook

As Word Wizard, I had to find words in the the book that I did not understand. I looked up the meanings of the words using a dictionary and thesaurus.


written by Phoebe
Literature Circles Chapters 1-4

From Discussion Director's notebook

As Discussion Director, I had to think of questions about Chapters 1-4. I used the 6 thinking hats to frame my questions. I used evidence from the book to make sure my questions were the best I could do.


written by Josh
Literature Circles chapters 1-4

Literature Circles

One group of our Y7 class using literature circles to read Goodnight Mister Tom.

During the course of this literature circle, students will take on the roles of:

Discussion Director
Summariser
Word Wizard
Illustrator
Travel Tracer
Character Tracer
Predictor
Scene Writer
Poetic Connector
These roles are rotated over a period of weeks. After each rotation, the students will publish their work related to their specific role.

As blogging is new to these students and for the sake of net safety, all posts are published by a teacher, but they are all the original work of the students.
Follow their thoughts and discoveries here on this blog, and please leave them your feedback.

(This is the one and only blog entry written by a teacher).