We are going to be flexible and rethink reading for the 4th quarter. You've done such a phenomenal job and some of my favorite moments of the year were talking, giggling, and learning at my tech desk while Book Talking with you. Here is our plan for reading.
Week 1: Complete READING SURVEY via google forms
I'm not sure what sort of resources you have on hand at home. Some of you have huge libraries, ebooks, audio, etc. Some may not. We are going to figure this out the best we can, but I first need to figure out what we're working with.
*RESOURCES TO HELP YOU FILL OUT THE SURVEY CAN BE FOUND UNDER THE TAB "READING RESOURCES"
Week 2: Complete "Reading Proposal"
For this assignment, you will tell me your proposed reading plan for the time we have left. Remember, we are going to do the best we can and it will probably look and feel different than our usual routine.
Week 3: Get Busy Reading!
- Follow your reading proposal
- After each completed book, you will complete a BOOK PROJECT!
- We will check in along the way- it could be in the form of a short answer writing, a book club Google Hangout, a flipgrid, etc.
- At the end of the year, we will review your original proposal and you will assess yourself as a reader in a short writing/project (TBD)
Week 1: Complete READING SURVEY via google forms
I'm not sure what sort of resources you have on hand at home. Some of you have huge libraries, ebooks, audio, etc. Some may not. We are going to figure this out the best we can, but I first need to figure out what we're working with.
*RESOURCES TO HELP YOU FILL OUT THE SURVEY CAN BE FOUND UNDER THE TAB "READING RESOURCES"
Week 2: Complete "Reading Proposal"
For this assignment, you will tell me your proposed reading plan for the time we have left. Remember, we are going to do the best we can and it will probably look and feel different than our usual routine.
Week 3: Get Busy Reading!
- Follow your reading proposal
- After each completed book, you will complete a BOOK PROJECT!
- We will check in along the way- it could be in the form of a short answer writing, a book club Google Hangout, a flipgrid, etc.
- At the end of the year, we will review your original proposal and you will assess yourself as a reader in a short writing/project (TBD)
When you finish a book, celebrate by completing a project of your choice. I made sure to include a variety of projects because you all have different sorts of resources at your house. Have fun and get creative OR challenge yourself with more difficult projects, like the Burning Question Essay. Some projects are easily submitted to the Google Classroom, while other artistic or 3D projects are not; we will figure it out together, promise! Please submit all projects into the BOOK PROJECT drive found in your google classroom. As always, this is a big experiment so, please be patient and we will problem solve together!
Classic Book Talk Forms
If you'd like to do a book talk, print and complete form. Please take a clear photo of the front and back to submit, OR find a way to make it digital in a google document. Check out my example book talk before you get started.
If you'd like to do a book talk, print and complete form. Please take a clear photo of the front and back to submit, OR find a way to make it digital in a google document. Check out my example book talk before you get started.
|
One-Pager
This is an artistic way to celebrate your book and get literary! You can make One-Pagers as detailed and creative as you like, or go a more simple route with color, symbols, and neatness. The directions and template are included below. There are many different templates for the assignment and if you need more inspiration, you can research "One-Pagers" online. They are very creative but remember to incorporate LITERARY ELEMENTS! Think BOOK TALK WORDS!
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PRINTER:
you could easily recreate the template of your choice on a piece of paper. Just use a ruler and make it as neat as you can!
This is an artistic way to celebrate your book and get literary! You can make One-Pagers as detailed and creative as you like, or go a more simple route with color, symbols, and neatness. The directions and template are included below. There are many different templates for the assignment and if you need more inspiration, you can research "One-Pagers" online. They are very creative but remember to incorporate LITERARY ELEMENTS! Think BOOK TALK WORDS!
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PRINTER:
you could easily recreate the template of your choice on a piece of paper. Just use a ruler and make it as neat as you can!
One-Pager Templates and Directions | |
File Size: | 9968 kb |
File Type: |
Comic Strip
Below you will find two PDFs- the instructions for a comic strip based on your book and a blank comic template. It says "rough sketch" but if you wanted to print it and use it, you could. Honestly, it's probably easiest to fold a piece of paper into eighths and go from there! Make sure you follow the directions. You have two choices: 1. Make a strip of the ENTIRE book or 2. Make a strip of a particular part. Whichever you pick, make sure you use your analytical eye and select important events or critical parts of the novel as you only have 8 squares (7 really, because the first is for a title/illustration). Make sure to use color and dialogue!
|
Create a Prezi Plot Diagram
Prezi is a fun, digital presentation tool like Power Point or Keynote. You can embed video, images, etc. and make your presentation colorful and exciting. For this project, you will create a Prezi that focuses on all the parts of your plot diagram plus literary terms.
Your Prezi should have a "slide" for:
exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
*Please provide a quote and page number for inciting incident and the climax, just like our last book talks*
Explain what's happening during that part of the plot. Visuals would be great!
You also need the following information somewhere in your Prezi:
title of book, author, genre, point of view, conflict, and setting.
Make sure to explain the terms and how they relate to your book.
It's almost like you're taking a boring old book talk, and make it come alive with a prezi!
In order to create an account, you log-in with your student google account. DO NOT BUY PREZI. Use the BASIC VERSION! I included a screen shot below! They initially try to trick you when you begin building presentations and send you to the premium version that costs money. YOU DON'T EVEN NEED THE FREE TRIAL FOR STUDENTS.
Prezi is a fun, digital presentation tool like Power Point or Keynote. You can embed video, images, etc. and make your presentation colorful and exciting. For this project, you will create a Prezi that focuses on all the parts of your plot diagram plus literary terms.
Your Prezi should have a "slide" for:
exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
*Please provide a quote and page number for inciting incident and the climax, just like our last book talks*
Explain what's happening during that part of the plot. Visuals would be great!
You also need the following information somewhere in your Prezi:
title of book, author, genre, point of view, conflict, and setting.
Make sure to explain the terms and how they relate to your book.
It's almost like you're taking a boring old book talk, and make it come alive with a prezi!
In order to create an account, you log-in with your student google account. DO NOT BUY PREZI. Use the BASIC VERSION! I included a screen shot below! They initially try to trick you when you begin building presentations and send you to the premium version that costs money. YOU DON'T EVEN NEED THE FREE TRIAL FOR STUDENTS.
Here's a Prezi to refresh your memory about plot diagramming.
(it's also a great example of a Prezi.)
(it's also a great example of a Prezi.)
Book Trailer
Time to put your directing skills to the test! For this Book Project, please turn your book into a MOVIE TRAILER! Basically, you are making a commercial to sell the book!
There are many ways to accomplish your goal and this is a tech heavy project. You should use the technology and software you're most comfortable with (for example, I'd probably film with my iPhone and put my trailer together in iMovie). I've attached some resources to get you started below. Many of you have had Mr. Smeader and Mrs. Boydston; use what they've taught you :) You can find many examples and resources online as well!
General Hints for a Successful Trailer
Making a trailer on Adobe Spark
Out of My Mind Book Trailer
Hunger Games Book Trailer
Time to put your directing skills to the test! For this Book Project, please turn your book into a MOVIE TRAILER! Basically, you are making a commercial to sell the book!
There are many ways to accomplish your goal and this is a tech heavy project. You should use the technology and software you're most comfortable with (for example, I'd probably film with my iPhone and put my trailer together in iMovie). I've attached some resources to get you started below. Many of you have had Mr. Smeader and Mrs. Boydston; use what they've taught you :) You can find many examples and resources online as well!
General Hints for a Successful Trailer
Making a trailer on Adobe Spark
Out of My Mind Book Trailer
Hunger Games Book Trailer
|
|
Non-Fiction Writing Challenge: Burning Question Essay/ Thematic Analysis Essay
This project is a 5-paragraph, non-fiction essay in which you will analyze the central theme of your novel. We were supposed to write this essay after working on Literature Circles; it would be good to practice this writing if you feel up to it, because you will write a thematic analysis essay (or as we usually call it in 7th grade "Burning Question" essay) when you wrap up your 8th grade Book Club with Mrs. Rounds and Mrs. Heinicke. I would usually lead you through this paper, step by step, with your Literature Circle group. I think you could do this though! Think HERO ESSAY but with quotes from the novel! You can always share or visit office hours for help too!
Here is how you should proceed:
- As you read, identify and track the main themes the author is trying to convey. Try to determine which is THE MOST central or important to the overall story.
- Now, post-it note moments, quotes, part of the plot that support the CENTRAL THEME you've identified. You will use the post-it notes to prove your thesis statement and build your body paragraphs.
-NOW it's time to write. This is almost like working on the Hero paper, EXCEPT NOW you are using quotes from the book as evidence in your body paragraphs. AND instead of saying, "My mom is my hero and here's why......", you're basically saying, "Yeah, I know author's weave multiple themes or messages into books. This theme I identified is the most important and here's why."
You'd follow the formula for a 5-paragraph essay (Intro, Body 1, Body 2, Body 3, Conclusion) and follow our recipe to build your body paragraphs (claim, context, quote, explain/so what).
Here is the link to the Burning Question page we would have used to write the paper.
Using ideas from our HERO ESSAY would help you too!
A lot of the material is repeated below, but you can check out the link just in case.
I read the book Milkweed by Jerri Spinelli and you'll find a sample intro, body, and conclusion paragraph.
This project is a 5-paragraph, non-fiction essay in which you will analyze the central theme of your novel. We were supposed to write this essay after working on Literature Circles; it would be good to practice this writing if you feel up to it, because you will write a thematic analysis essay (or as we usually call it in 7th grade "Burning Question" essay) when you wrap up your 8th grade Book Club with Mrs. Rounds and Mrs. Heinicke. I would usually lead you through this paper, step by step, with your Literature Circle group. I think you could do this though! Think HERO ESSAY but with quotes from the novel! You can always share or visit office hours for help too!
Here is how you should proceed:
- As you read, identify and track the main themes the author is trying to convey. Try to determine which is THE MOST central or important to the overall story.
- Now, post-it note moments, quotes, part of the plot that support the CENTRAL THEME you've identified. You will use the post-it notes to prove your thesis statement and build your body paragraphs.
-NOW it's time to write. This is almost like working on the Hero paper, EXCEPT NOW you are using quotes from the book as evidence in your body paragraphs. AND instead of saying, "My mom is my hero and here's why......", you're basically saying, "Yeah, I know author's weave multiple themes or messages into books. This theme I identified is the most important and here's why."
You'd follow the formula for a 5-paragraph essay (Intro, Body 1, Body 2, Body 3, Conclusion) and follow our recipe to build your body paragraphs (claim, context, quote, explain/so what).
Here is the link to the Burning Question page we would have used to write the paper.
Using ideas from our HERO ESSAY would help you too!
A lot of the material is repeated below, but you can check out the link just in case.
I read the book Milkweed by Jerri Spinelli and you'll find a sample intro, body, and conclusion paragraph.