7 Literature
Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde
"Pay It Forward is a moving, uplifting novel about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts his teacher’s challenge to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world. Trevor’s idea is simple: do a good deed for three people, and instead of asking them to return the favor, ask them to “pay it forward” to three others who need help. He envisions a vast movement of kindness and goodwill spreading across the world. Trevor’s actions change his community forever." - Barnes and Noble overview
Best Books for Young Adults, 2001, American Library Association |
Nonfiction text structure
Students will be distinguishing between what is important and what is not in nonfiction text, such as textbooks, news articles, advertisements, websites, and email, letters, biographies, recipes, and how-to guides.
Comprehending material is only one part of reading nonfiction. Students also need to learn how to summarize, draw conclusions, and evaluating an author's purpose and point of view. |
Figurative and Poetic Language
Small Group Novels
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick
Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren't allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn't go to school. Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes, so she fought for her right to be educated. On October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause. She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school. No one expected her to survive. Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner (2014). In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, which has been reimagined specifically for a younger audience and includes exclusive photos and material, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world -- and did. Malala's powerful story will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles and the possibility that one person -- one young person -- can inspire change in her community and beyond. - Book description Anne Frank Award for Moral Courage, January 2012 Mother Teresa Awards for Social Justice, November 2012 Rome Prize for Peace and Humanitarian Action, December 2012 One of Time's "100 Most Influential People in the World", April 2013 Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International |
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
This edition is the powerful story of four African-American female mathematicians at NASA who helped achieve some of the greatest moments in our space program. Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts into space. This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who lived through the Civil Rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country. - Barnes and Noble summary 2018 Amelia Bloomer List: Middle Grade, Nonfiction NSTA Best STEM Books 2018 |
Refugee by Alan Gratz
Josef is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . .
Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America . . . Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe . . . All three kids go on journeys in search of refuge. All will face danger, but there is always the hope of tomorrow. This action-packed novel tackles topics both timely and timeless: courage, survival, and the quest for home. - Barnes and Noble overview 2018 Sydney Taylor Award Winner National Jewish Book Award YALSA 2018 Best Fiction for Young Adults 2017 Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award Winner Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Historical Books of 2017 Chicago Public Library Kids Best Fiction for Older Readers 2017 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights Honor 2017 Global Read Aloud Book for 2018 Notable Book for a Global Society 2018 Illinois Rebecca Caudill Book Award Winner 2020 |
"Rain, Rain, Go Away" By Isaac Asimov
Story Arc/ Plot Diagram
Common Types of Conflict
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
"The Lady or the Tiger?" By Frank Stockton
In this classic tale, students will have to predict how the story ends. Will the princess send the handsome young man toward the tiger to face his death or into marriage with a beautiful woman? Will love or jealousy win in this internal conflict?
Matters of justice are also discussed. Is the king's method of handing out sentences of guilt or innocence fair? What is a just way determine the fate of another? |
Independent Reading Project
Reading is a vital way to learn information, and it can be a source of enjoyment. In addition to reading together in class, I would like students to do some independent reading. Ideally, I would love for them to be able to do a great deal of reading, but I know that life keeps all of us busy, and sometimes we cannot always fit in as much as we would like. They should try to fit in a little reading daily.
The reading for the project should be at the student's ability level, and various genre should be chosen. What is genre? Genre is the category that the book falls under: biography/ autobiography, historical fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, drama, science fiction, realistic fiction, mystery, etc... Students should challenge themselves to read a different genre each quarter. Each quarter, students will present a book in a different way. Quarter 1 will be an oral presentation. For example, the student might dress up as a character and tell "their" story. Another choice is to present with Google Slides to illustrate the talk. Unpack a suitcase or treasure box and describe the objects inside as they relate to the story. Give a book talk or put on a puppet show. The options are as varied as is imagination. Quarter 2 will be a written project — but not a standard “book report” or book summary. Create a mini newspaper, writing articles about the major events of the story. Become one of the characters and write a series of journal entries that hit the high points. Become an interviewer and construct questions to ask one of the characters; then have the character answer them. Write a letter to the author or to one of the characters. Quarter 3 will focus on technology. A Google Slides presentation, a live TV/radio report of a breaking event from the novel followed by backstory, a movie short, book trailer, or an animated cartoon are just a few of the options. (Before spending a great deal of time on a project, please run it by Ms. Ketcham first.) CHANGE! Quarter 4 is a one-on-one with the teacher, preceded by three online written assignments. The one-on-one will be scheduled once the third assignment has been turned in. Don’t wait until the last day! Projects are due approximately one week before the end of the quarter. Please ask questions and do not wait until the last minute to complete this assignment. Stay on top of the reading so that there's time to put your project together. Goal: enjoy reading and then share those great books.
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Active Participation
A Sampling of News from around the Country
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Resource Links
• Champaign Public Library http://champaign.org
• Urbana Public Library urbanafreelibrary.org/
• Digital Public Library of America http://www.dp.la
• Internet Public Library Kidspace http://ipl.org/div/kidspace
IPL is an exhaustive roundup of educational links, complete with a homework help section.
• InfoPlease http://www.infoplease.com/
Online encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and almanac
• Fact Monster http://factmonster.com
Flash cards, multiplication tables, history timelines, biographies of U.S. presidents
• Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/
• Urbana Public Library urbanafreelibrary.org/
• Digital Public Library of America http://www.dp.la
• Internet Public Library Kidspace http://ipl.org/div/kidspace
IPL is an exhaustive roundup of educational links, complete with a homework help section.
• InfoPlease http://www.infoplease.com/
Online encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and almanac
• Fact Monster http://factmonster.com
Flash cards, multiplication tables, history timelines, biographies of U.S. presidents
• Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/
- C-Span Classroom http://www.c-spanclassroom.org