Friday, February 19 - Sunday, February 21

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 5! The Week 5 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and so is the Week 5 Internet assignment (Storybook commenting). Please make sure you get started on those assignments soon; they are due this weekend.

Introduction inspiration. Every Introduction is different, because every Storybook is different... but if you are looking for some inspiration and ideas, you might want to browse around some of these Introductions to Storybooks from this semester which people have already published - I've picked out three Introductions from each class this semester to try to show you the variety of ways people start their Storybooks. Maybe you can find some ideas that will inspire you as you create the introduction to your Storybook!
If you want to browse some more, you can find hundreds of previous Storybooks online - with a huge variety of Introductions to look at, if you are curious!

Storybook Stack. If you turned in a Week 4 Storybook assignment on time, you should have gotten comments back from me now, with points recorded in the Gradebook. If you turned in a late Week 4 Storybook, or an early Storybook for Week 5 or Week 6, it is probably still in the stack. My goal is always to get every Storybook returned before the weekend that is turned in before noon on Friday. Because the Introduction is often the hardest part of the Storybook for people to write, this is the week where it takes me the longest to read and reply to everybody's assignments... but, fingers crossed, I hope I can get through the stack and have comments back to everybody before the weekend for any assignment turned in by noon on Friday. :-)

Week 5 Internet assignment. (repeat announcement) If you did not read the previous announcement about the Week 5 Internet assignment and the Ning Comment Walls, make sure you take a look at those announcements now - you can even get extra credit for making your Comment Wall ready for visitors, both by making some more room on your Ning page, and also by adding a YouTube video to your page if you want, just for fun!

Sunday, February 21: International Mother Language Day. The United Nations agency UNESCO has declared February 21 an international holiday in celebration of the world's languages. You can read more about this holiday and its history at this Wikipedia article, along with an article listing the people who have been awarded the LinguaPax Prize, whose winner is announced each year on International Mother Language Day. Here is a map showing the language families of the world (from Goode's World Atlas); click on the image for a larger view: