[LIT] Novel projects

[khonyx at aol.com]

Caroline,



Although these are written specifically for Number the Stars, they can be modified to be generic for pretty much any book.  I'm just cutting and pasting off of my directions sheet, so it may have some other strange stuff attached.



1.  Newspaper: Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter and the time is a few weeks after the end of World War II.  You have just learned about the heroic efforts of the Danish people to save their Jewish population from the Nazis, the Johansen family in particular.  Write an article for your newspaper describing those efforts and how the Danes accomplished their goals.  (Typed- Arial 14)

 

2.  Comic Book:  Create a comic book telling the story of the Rosen family’s escape to Sweden.  Begin with Annemarie and Ellen’s stop by the soldiers and continue through to the end of the war.  (4 large sheets drawing paper, folded in half, 6 boxes per page.)

 

3.  Autobiography:  Choose one of the characters in Number the Stars.  Pretend that you are the character and write an autobiography of your life, focusing on the war years. (Typed- Arial 14)

 

4.  Scrapbook:  Create Annemarie’s scrapbook for the war years.  Think of what things a 7-14 year old might find important and what happened in Annemarie’s life.  You may create newspaper articles, pictures, artifacts, obituaries, maps, letters, paper dolls, postcards, receipts, tickets…anything that Annemarie might save from her life.)  Make sure you attach a description to each artifact describing its importance.  (Oaktag and black paper)

 

5.  Poetry Anthology:  Create a booklet of poems on characters and themes from Number the Stars.  Try different types of poems such as unrhymed, rhymed, diamante, haiku, no acrostics.  (Oaktag and paper, poems must be typed)  


 Hope this helps...



Karen Onyx
Carusi Middle School


-----Original Message-----
From: Caroline Mooney <cmooney at charter.net>
To: lit at literacyworkshop.org
Sent: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 2:02 pm
Subject: [LIT] Novel projects



my husband is at work, and my children are visiting their grandparents, so you 
re hearing a lot from me for now. in fact, i'm using these two weeks to plan 
ut next years' lessons. 
besides teaching the ga standards for reading, i'd like to include word work, 
hich we've already discussed, reading strategies (fountas and pinnell are my 
eros--as is nanci atwell) , writing (mostly responses to lit.), book clubs, and 
ovel projects (for independent reading). 
my students have to read a min. of 20 min. a day for homework. it took a year 
nd a half to figure out how to somewhat ensure accountability. i check out 
lass sets of novels, students check out a book and read in and out of class. 
hey have to read a certain number of pages per week, which i check weekly. this 
ets me know they are reading at home and in class. this year, our school got a 
ookroom, and we'll have even more choice. By the way, dalton public school 
dps) is integrating literacy collaborative at the elem. and middle school 
evel. at the middle school level, i really like it. 
to assess my students' independent and group reading, i'd like to create 
ifferent book projects, where they can choose among various tasks 
differentiated instruction, which dps is focusing on this coming year). if 
nyone is willing to share their novel projects with me, i'd be so thankful. i'd 
ike to come up with a generic project to fit practically any novel. so i'll be 
icking and choosing. be sure to put your name on the project, so i can give you 
redit when i write my best seller and speak at conferences:)  Seriously, if you 
an send them via word attachments, that would help. 
seriously, in august, i begin my specialist degree in curriculum and 
nstruction, so i'll be very busy. any help you experts out there can give me 
ould be greatly appreciated. i've only taught for 2 years, so i'm still at the 
tage where each year seems like the first. you probably know what i mean:)  
caroline
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