Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Mentor Text: Voices in the Park

Buy it on Amazon
The book "Voices in the Park" by Anthony Browne has been sitting on my shelf for several years. Until this week, I haven't found a real reason to use it for instruction. I was pacing around my room thinking about perspective and point of view and had that AH-HA moment. I'm almost positive I said, "I'VE GOT IT!" out loud and completely startled my students. By now... they've become used to my outbursts. I knew I had the perfect book to illustrate the difference between point of view and perspective (something we are stuck on in 5th grade). 

I closed my mini lesson on the difference between point of view and perspective by reading aloud and dissecting Voices in the Park. It was a great discussion! However, it wasn't until later that day when the magic happened...

An avid writer in my classroom (such an avid writer that she had to get a NEW writer's notebook this year because her other one was full!) approached me and asked if she could write a "Voices in the Park" story. We brainstormed what her location could be in the story and we settled on the school cafeteria. Then, she was off! Writing a fictional story about the cafeteria from four very unique perspectives.

Last night as I was thinking about my plans for reading time - it hit me! Why aren't we ALL doing what my little writer is doing? What a great lesson!

From there... the lesson was born. We discussed how to brainstorm a location, time of day, or time period in our life. Then, we picked logical "voices" to play the roles in our short stories. 


The lesson lent itself to great extra mini lessons on voice, dialogue, and character development. We pulled Wonder off the shelf as an additional mentor text. One student piped up, "my character is like Justin from Wonder, he NEVER writes capital letters." 

Our finished products will be published on our blogs next week. I'm equally excited for my kids to publish their stories and be able to read and comment on one another's. 

Have a great week!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Part 1: Getting 'em Hooked on Historical Fiction

Happy February teachers! We, here in the Midwest, are experiencing unusually warm temperatures this weekend and I'm beginning to think it's Spring. So... I'm wearing shorts today, but tomorrow I have to wear socks and long pants again? Hmm.. I'm confused.

Source
Now, enough of the weather talk! During our reading block, we are rockin' and rollin' with our historical fiction book clubs. A few years ago, I posted about my first try with historical fiction + Dear America + Prezi. You can read about that unit here.  This year, with help and collaboration with a fellow 5th grade teacher we gave our historical fiction unit a HUGE boost. 

Let me start from the beginning....

This quarter, we are focusing on students reading informational text (specially RI 5.3.. anyone else struggle with this standard? Whew - it's a big one!) While brainstorming how to tie in this standard to our instruction, my colleague and I thought this was a great opportunity to start book clubs for the quarter. Using historical fiction books during our informational text unit gave us an opportunity to bridge together informational text and fictional reading. The overarching goal of the book clubs is for the students to analyze how an author uses fictional details to tell a "true" historical story. Throughout the study, students are actively researching the time period (reading information text) and actively engaged in a book club of their choice. Emphasis on the word choice. 

Last week, I started gathering multiple copies of historical fiction chapter books. The piles started to grow around my classroom and the questions started to flood in...

"Ms. Furnell, why are those books in a pile right there?
"Are we starting book clubs again?"
"Can I read this book?"
"When do we get to read these books?"

....You get the idea.  

Finally, it was time to introduce our book clubs. I placed stacks of books around the room and instructed my class to walk around the room and read the backs of as many books as they could. Eventually, students started to gravitate towards the books they really wanted to read and some even starting claiming them before time was up! Once everyone had enough time to read through several books, small reading groups began to form around the room. Sure, some of them came together because their BFF was reading the book... but the majority of my groups were formed by a shared interest in the subject matter (SCORE!) 

Within seconds of groups forming, students were finding cozy spots around the room and reading immediately. A teacher's dream! I am 100% confident in saying that I know the enthusiasm for this project has so much to do with their choice in the book selection and partners. It's a risky gamble as a teacher to loosen the reigns and let kids make their choices but for this unit it's paying off big time. 

Check back over the next few days and I'll share different mini lessons and activities associated with our book clubs!

Happy Sunday!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Theme Resources Round-Up!

Yesterday, I blogged about our current study of Theme. In addition to using fables and poetry, I've also utilized video clips and music videos to help students visualize theme - everywhere. Plus, these videos led us to great conversations about Sally (not a real student...) and John having different interpretations of the same video. They didn't have to agree on one specific theme - instead, they had to back up their thinking with evidence (or proof) from the video, story, or poem. 

Below you will find some of the videos we used. These led to great conversations - and often times had us rushing to the box of tissues. 

P&G "Thank You Mom": Grab your tissues, you'll need them for this one. 


Death Crawl: Prepare to be motivated. Oh, and... you'll need those tissues. 


Christian the Lion: You'll need more tissues. 


Music videos: Using songs like "Brave" by Sara Bareilles and "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkson, we discussed the way artists use songs to share a message. We have a growing list of songs that "teach us" something. Other notable songs include: "Happy" and "Compass". 


DirectTV commercials: sure, the idea is to purchase DirectTV... but what can you learn from these clips? 

How do you practice determining the theme of stories, dramas, or poems in your classroom? 

Monday, February 3, 2014

CHOOSE KIND.


I know this isn't the place for me to make excuses - and it is the one place where I don't have deadlines, requirements, due dates, or rules of any kind. However, one thing had to get shifted to the back burner this year, and sadly my blog has gotten the short end of the stick. Oh well! Life goes on and I shall blog when I can blog. 

That being said, my students and I are completely immersed in a literature study of Wonder and our hearts and minds couldn't be happier. Right now, we are hearing things from Summer's point of view and the students are pretty steamed with Jack Will right now (if you're familiar with the plot). I'm anxious to keep reading and continue eavesdropping on the incredible conversations happening everyday. 

Stay warm, USA! 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

My Reading Life Lately

Thanks to this beautiful season called summer and the conclusion of my online summer classes, I've had lots of time to curl up with a good book.. or two.. or three. Earlier this year, I had the honor of listening to Donalyn Miller speak at a conference where I live. She mentioned the power of having a reading community: others you can talk to about books, share ideas, share titles, etc. All of the titles I've read lately are from book club picks or suggestions from friends. How lucky am I? 

Here's a look at a few titles I've read lately. 


The Expats by Chris Pavone

The Expats was a book club choice and I highly recommend it! Read as Kate, a former C.I.A. agent, begins to unfold secrets about the husband she thought she knew...

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

A friend of mine wrote a riveting review of The Light Between Oceans on Good Reads and I knew I HAD to read it. Now my book club is reading it this month. Grab the tissues... you will need them.



The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

I picked The Silent Wife because my Real Simple magazine suggested it would cure my Gone Girl withdrawal. I was foolish to believe this would compare to Flynn's book, but it's still a compelling read about a troubled romance filled with deception.

Tell me folks, what are you reading now-a-days?

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

What I'm Reading Wednesday

It's been a few months since I've updated you on my current read! Sheesh, once again I've neglected to inform you about my book club. For the month of May, we decided to pick a book that didn't involve family drama or murder (our last few picks...) so we went the nonfiction route. A friend of mine recommended "Spoken From the Heart" by Laura Bush


I just finished reading about Laura and President Bush's wedding and the birth of their twin girls Barbara and Jenna. If you're weary about reading a book regarding politics, I'll leave you with the Las Vegas Review Journal's recommendation on the back, "It doesn't matter if you are Republican or Democrat, the history and legacy this admirable woman leaves behind will forever be part of our country's tapestry."

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

My Favorite Delivery

...when, what to my wondering eyes should appear?
An Amazon box full of eight (I mean 12) tiny reindeer (I mean books). 


Next time I complain about my bank account, someone come and slap me - figuratively. I just can't help filling up my shopping cart with great books to bring to my students. I'm planning my first Book Drawing tomorrow to select the lucky students to check these little guys out first. 

I'm thinking about "Wonder" for my next read aloud. Has anyone read it? Thoughts? My second choice is Skeleton Creek. Then, I may get my students hooked on another series. 

Thoughts teacher friends?

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Reading Graffiti

Last week I had the pleasure of watching Donalyn Miller speak at a conference here at the Lake of the Ozarks. I blogged briefly about it here. Thanks to her presentation, I've been inspired to try out a few tricks in my classroom. She also introduced her participants to several resources, one of them being The Nerdy Book Club blog. If you're not following, you should be! 

I loved Donalyn's idea for a Reading Graffiti board. Using a large piece of black paper and metallic sharpies - reading magic is made! Students can write one quote per book per student. This challenges them to find the perfect quote. Below, you see our first being written... 


As of yesterday, we had six quotes written on our board. Students are so excited to add quotes and find that PERFECT one. I've had a few tell me they've found quotes, but they aren't quite sure what to write on the board. I've also had one gentleman who has shown me a quote on each page of his current read. When students find a quote, I've asked them to come read me the quote first. This has given me another glimpse into what type of reader they are. It's interesting what quotes and lines from the story they pull from the pages. 


Do you have any type of reading graffiti board in your room? Share your tricks!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Chocolate Rhubarb

Do you have a reserved time for read aloud time in your classroom? During my year in second grade, we read a story, if not several, each day and my students loved it. I worried as I transitioned into an upper grade that my students wouldn't quite love read aloud time as my second graders. Boy, I was wrong. Whether I'm thumbing through a picture book to jump start a unit or caught in the middle of an incredible chapter book - my students enjoy it. Fifth graders may get pegged as the "older" kids, but they are still suckers for a good book, too. 

Our current read aloud is Drizzle written by Kathleen Van Cleve. We picked this book because in Missouri it is recognized as a Mark Twain Nominee. We reached Part Two this afternoon and I knew I had to share it with my fellow teachers - because you might not be aware of this little gem!

Here's what you would find on the back of the book:
"Eleven-year-old Polly Peabody needs to make it start raining. For her entire life, it has rained at exactly one o'clock every Monday afternoon on her family's magical rhubarb farm, until one Monday, when it stops. And then Polly's brother gets sick, really sick. Polly has to figure out how everything is connected and make it rain before her beloved Aunt Edith sells the farm.  She has help from the farm itself, in the form of the plants and insects, including her best friend, Harry, a chocolate-tasting rhubarb plant.  They all push Polly to confront her fears.  But is it enough, and more importantly - is there enough time?"




I had my reservations prior to starting this book. Honestly! I thought, "a magic farm? chocolate rhubarb? a best friend that is a plant? oh boy!" It wasn't one I would have picked up in the library on my own. Thankfully, I have smart students who can spot a good book from a mile away. Not to mention, it's FULL of rich language  to use during writing time. 

I'm even anxious to get back to school tomorrow to continue on - my mind is swirling with the possibilities and FATE of this poor farm!

What are your favorite read alouds?

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Let's Make an Inference

First! A big congrats to my beloved Missouri Tigers for beating Alabama tonight in their first SEC match up! Big win for our basketball team. MIZZOU-RAH!

This week, our reading time is focused on making inferences and writing thoughtful responses. To start off, I used the 'ol "What's in my bag?" lesson plan. I showed my students a bag and pulled out items one by one. Inside the bag was a pair of sneakers, headphones, shorts, a t-shirt, and water bottle. As I pulled out each object, I asked the students to use clues from the bag to figure out what the purpose of the bag was. They all were able to conclude that my bag was for the gym, a run, or maybe even a hike!

Next, we watched the Pixar Short Film, "One Man Band". In short, the video (roughly 4 minutes long) is about a little girl who has one gold coin to give to street performers. There are no words in the film... only music and incredible animation. We watched the video once all the way through. Then, we watched again and paused to jot down notes on our graphic organizers. After our second viewing, students shared their ideas and inferences with the group.


Here are some great student quotes that stuck out to me. Yes, I prompted them to use "I infer":
"I infer that she's making a wish in the fountain because that's what I always do when I have a coin next to a fountain."

"My inference is that this takes place in Italy because of their clothing and the way the village looks."

"I infer that the little girl has little money because of her clothing and that she only has one coin."

...And so on and so on!




As a closer activity, I asked the students to write in their Reading Spirals to the following prompt: "Describe what you think the little girl did with her new bag of coins. PROVE IT!" (When I ask the students to prove it, it means to use details from the story to support their answer). While reading their responses this afternoon, I was floored by some of the things that I read! I was very impressed by their imaginations and their elaborate thinking and more importantly.. how they were able to WRITE ABOUT IT! 

Now, my teacher friends! How do YOU teach inferences to your students? How do you get them to read between the lines and identify what the author isn't telling us?

Thursday, October 18, 2012

What I'm Reading... Thursday

Earlier this year, my book club picked Bill O'Reilly's thriller, "Killing Lincoln" as our monthly book. We were all captivated by the novel! Not only was it historical but riveting at the same time. On October 2, O'Reilly released his lastest historical thriller, "Killing Kennedy" about out beloved former President John F. Kennedy. I'm roughly 50 pages in and I'm HOOKED. I glued my buns to my couch to watch the entire mini series on the Kennedy's... now I can't peel my eyes from this one. Prior to Lincoln's book, I was never a fan of historical literature. I'm a changed woman! Hand 'em over... I want to read about the past!


I highly recommend this one. If you're wondering, yes it talks about everything: Jackie, Marilyn, Cuba, Civil Rights... and on and on. 

In my classroom, we are reading another incredible story. The book is "Out of My Mind" by Sharon Draper. It happens to be a Mark Twain Nominee this year (for you Missouri teachers!) as well. It's about an 11-year old girl with cerebral palsy. The story of Melody is fictional, but as the author says on her website, she represents so many individuals with intelligent brains and uncooperative bodies. While reading yesterday, I could feel the tears forming in my eyes while reading about Melody's obstacles. It's an incredibly phenomenal story. I HIGHLY recommend this as a read aloud. I have had five kids check it out at the library and finish it on their own because they couldn't wait! 

Check out "Out of My Mind" on Sharon Draper's website here

Off I go to tackle my mountain of laundry and feed my growling stomach. It's almost Friday, folks!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

What I'm Reading Wednesday

Seriously, I can't get enough of the Olympics. I actively avoid twitter and any newsworthy website during the day so the primetime events aren't spoiled for me. Every night at 7, I turn on the tube and make sure my night revolves around Olympic events. 

I'm now completely involved in the Fab 5's everyday lives. Their instagram pictures and twitter feeds are so heartfelt and full of joy. I just can't help but get sappy when I read them. I'm not even a Corn Flakes fan, but I'm on my way to the store to pick up one of these little numbers. I kind of need the Olympics to end so I can have a life back - emphasis on the kind of. 



In my ACTUAL life, not the life I've revolved around London 2012, I met with my book club tonight. It was a great evening at Panera after a wedding packed weekend and a short but certainly sweet visit to STL to visit my bf. 

We finished the Kite Runner and had much to talk about. It's an incredible story full of heartbreak, friendship, loss, shame, and so on. Sometimes, it seems like the more challenging the story the is... the easier it is to talk about. I received several comments about The Kite Runner that many have read it as well. 

Since school is starting this month (captain obvious), we decided to keep it light and go for humor. A few months ago I pinned "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson. We decided to give it a whirl this month. 


Turns out Jenny Lawson has a pretty hilarious blog of her own. You can follow her life and her rants over at her blog The Bloggess.

I read one page and was already laughing out loud. I think this will be the perfect companion book for the month of August! What books are on your shelf this month?

Monday, July 23, 2012

Conference Recap #2: Nonfiction Biographies

As some of you may (or may not) know, I attended a literacy conference this past weekend. You can catch up on another session I attended here

As a graduate student, I was required to participate in an action research project. My research revolved solely around the importance of nonfiction in the classroom. My goal was to encourage students to pick nonfiction on their own. I attempted several research-based strategies and found some success, but it was tricky to get all of my second graders to enjoy nonfiction. For example, we had nonfiction read alouds every Monday and spent an entire month writing our very own nonfiction books based on Gail Gibbons. 

The best part of the project (I can say this now that it's over) was finding research to support what I was doing in my classroom. I found oodles and oodles of articles written about the importance of nonfiction and how dominant fiction is overwhelmingly in the classroom. For me, personally, I was always reading fiction stories aloud because those are the ones I enjoyed the most. I, too, had a perception of nonfiction that it was boring and girls just wouldn't care for it. I was very wrong! Through my research I found several nonfiction titles about math, science, social studies that made perfect read alouds that were engaging for all of my students. Plus, these stories opened up doors of communication with my class. Maybe someday, I'll devote a blog post to my research project. It was a year full of blood, sweat, and tears. Trust me. 

Now, you're obviously aware that I think nonfiction is the bomb.com. At the conference, I attended a session presented by an educator from Eastern Kentucky University.  She is on the NCTE's Orbis Pictus nominating committee and introduced me to several fascinating titles. Her session was specifically about strategies to use with biographies. 

Biographies, huh? One genre of nonfiction books that I have skated around. I have a few in my classroom, but I have never used them in read alouds or suggested them to students. Here are a few of my favorites that she presented:

Lincoln Through the Lens by Martin W. Sandler


Hangin' with the Lincolns. 
Side note: I'm a big fan of Abe Lincoln. My bf and I even went to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield, Illinois. After reading Bill O'Reilly's book, "Killing Lincoln", it was the perfect field trip. 

Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom by Chris Van Wyk


Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau 


Those were my favorites from the list. Then, I started searching for biographies on my own. Here's a few that I think sound pretty interesting!

The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life With Chimps


Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet


Harry Houdini: The Legend of the World's Greatest Escape Artist by Janice Weaver


Me...Jane. by Patrick McDonnell


One of the keynote speakers rattled off several authors that she was a fan of. I quickly jotted them down and here are the nonfiction authors she recommends.

Nic Bishop (several titles by him)


Sneed Collard III


Do you love nonfiction as much as I do? What nonfiction books do you use in your classroom?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Conference Recap #1: Strong Female Characters

Happy Sunday, friends! As I mentioned here, I attended a jam packed literacy conference this past week/weekend. It was hosted by the National Council of Teachers of English and held right here in the great state of Missouri. I was surrounded by educators from all over the country. Several traveled from Georgia, New York, Iowa and so on.

Over the next couple of days, I'll be sharing the AWESOME information and ideas I took away from the conference. I had to pick between 5 (give or take) sessions each time slot. Sometimes it was a tough choice. A real coin flipper!

First, I'll talk about the session titled "Strong Girls Read Strong Books: The Jennifer Project" This was presented by an excellent group of educators from the University of Iowa. In this session, the Iowa educators presented their research on females in stories. In their home districts, book clubs were created outside of school with females to promote a love of literacy. In addition to listening to their fascinating research, we were given a reference list of oodles of great books to read.

To begin the session, we were asked the question, "What is a strong girl?" Followed by, "What is a strong female character?" Is there a difference? What strong female characters can you think of? Immediately, we all thought of Katniss from The Hunger Games. Any Hunger Games fans can agree that Katniss is one strong and independent soul. I jotted down this note in my journal, "A strong character doesn't mean she is loud or assertive. She can be quiet but strong willed and determined." Sometimes, strong characters can even be those females who we can all relate to.

Don't we all wish that we had an infinite bank of money to purchase books with? My classroom library consists of many books because of garage sales, scholastic bonus points, and generous donors. I'm always searching for powerful books to include in my library and boy-oh-boy... I've got some great titles for you. Click on the title and I've linked it to Amazon for quick purchase. Now, I just need to win an Amazon giftcard for $1,000.

Amber was Brave, Essie was Smart by Vera B. Williams


Night Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic by Robert Burleigh


Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai


The Firefly Letters by Margarita Engle


The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron


Dyamonde Daniel series by Nikki Grimes (a speaker at the conference!)


Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes




My Mother's Voice by Joanne Ryder


Call me Hope by Gretchen Olsen


Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine


Do you have any titles that you would like to share? Please post them in a comment. I would love to hear about rich literature that you're using in your classroom.


Thursday, June 14, 2012

What I'm Reading

It's 11:00 AM and I've only been awake for roughly 45 minutes. I honestly think it takes me the whole month of June to catch up on sleep from the entire school year. OR! I am just really lazy. I'll keep telling myself that I'm "tired".  I'll just keep sleeping until someone stops me.

Anywho - my book club picked a new summer read last week. After finishing "Heaven is Here" (amazing!) we are going to read, "Little Bee". We weren't really sure what the book was about going into it because this is the book's description:


WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.
It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.
Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:
It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.
The story starts there, but the book doesn't.
And it's what happens afterward that is most important.
Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.


I'm also reading a few teachery-books. It's more fun reading teachery-books on my own agenda and schedule. You know, my schedule is quite hectic this summer. Ha!


What books are you reading this summer? I love a good book recommendation. 

Monday, April 30, 2012

Nonfiction Matters!

I'll let you in on a little secret about me. I absolutely love teaching nonfiction. I'll let you in on a second secret about me, I didn't really have any feelings towards nonfiction until last year. My action research project for my Masters program revolved solely around the importance of nonfiction in the elementary classroom. After reading gobs and gobs (gobs x 100) of research on nonficion, I quickly grew to love it.

After our Jaguar unit, I wanted to dip into nonfiction a bit. So, guess what? We did. Have you heard of Stephanie Harvey? Most of you probably have, you may even own this book --


Well, I used Harvey's book Nonfiction Matters to develop a little quick review on nonfiction for my kids. Here's an overview of what we did.

Day one: Anchor Chart! Woot woot. I love anchor charts too. We answered the age old question, "Why do we read nonfiction?"According to Harvey, here are some stellar reasons WHY we actually read nonfiction:

Yes, I spelled acquire wrong. Whoops!
Day Two: We tackled those pesky expository text structures. Harvey suggested using an example of "goosebumps" for each text structure. As a class, we created a foldable and labeled each type of text structure. Then, inside the flap, students wrote down and illustrated an example of the text structure with goosebumps. Make sense? Not quite? Okay, let me back up.


For example, one expository text structure is cause and effect. We wrote the follow example:
"The temperature dropped to 45 degrees. I got goosebumps." This is an example of cause and effect. Harvey lists an example of each structure relating it back to goosebumps. It was an excellent illustration of the different ways nonfiction can be written.

NEXT time, I would like to start the year off with this activity. First, we can identify WHY we read nonfiction and the various text structures. Then, the next day, compare reading nonfiction to fiction! We can answer the question of why we read fiction and compare how fiction stories are set up much differently. I'm getting all tingly on the inside just thinking about it. Stop me before I get too nerdy.

Sounds like I've got a week planned for the fall!

What exciting nonfiction lessons do you do with your kiddos?

Monday, April 23, 2012

Hangin' in Brazil with Jaguars


We just wrapped up our literature study on Roland Smith's Jaguar and it was a BLAST! Not only were my students captivated by the story, but they engaged in meaningful discussions about the story. It was an awesome two weeks!

To begin our lit study, I started with a mini lesson on using post it notes. We brainstormed different ways we can use post it notes while reading chapter books. After coming up with a vast list (connections, questions, predictions, etc.), we decided (with my influence) to write a summary after each chapter.

Along with the story, I distributed a packet of comprehension questions and strategies. Each day, or every other day, had a different focus. For example, the first day we discussed questioning. As a group, we brainstormed questions prior to reading Jaguar. Then, I sent them on their merry way. The next day, I had small groups read the assigned chapters and determine story elements. After small groups had time to collaborate, we met together as a group and shared our ideas.




The discussion parts of the day were my favorite! Since I was reading the story with my kids, I was just as into the mystery and drama as they were. Some were begging to read more!! 

Throughout the two weeks, I had students read in small groups, in partners, independently, and I read chapters outloud. I definitely saved the last three chapters as a read aloud. It was so fun to participate WITH my students in the excitement. 

Thanks to my awesome high school teacher friend, Kelley, she helped me with ideas to make my kids "think outside the box". To wrap up our literature study, I gave my kids two different tasks. First, they had to dig deep into character analysis and write a haiku on Jacob, free verse poem about Taw, or create a comic strip detailing Jacob and Doc's relationship. I will admit, they struggled with the comic strip. This is something I would like to try again with a different approach.



As a final task, students were asked to create a new book jacket for Roland Smith's story, Jaguar. Inside the book jacket would contain a summary of the story and a mini bio on Roland Smith (an author my kids have grown to love!!) We can all thank my sweet friend Kelley for this idea as well. :)


I look forward to doing more literature studies similar to this one next year. Have you completed in any lit studies in your room? What types of activities and/or tasks do you assign to your students?

I posted this unit on my TpT account, but if you email me.. I'll send it to you for free! :)

Happy Monday, folks!

Add This

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...