One of the things that I did was have students create their own dictionary as Kevin gave to Max in the story. They had to have each letter of the alphabet represented at least once, cover page with a catchy title, and they had to illustrate their pages. I encouraged both traditional words and silly definitions. They kids loved making this and I even had a number of students create it the same way Kevin did. Good Luck!
Ginny White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On Sep 18, 2006, at 6:17 PM, Chris Booker wrote: > I'm getting ready to do this novel with my 7th grade Resource Reading > class. I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas and/or materials > they would be willing to share with a new teacher! > Chris, I'll have to look at my stuff at school, but I have used this as a class novel. I love it (and its sequel) and so did my kids. I will see what I have, but the one of the things we did that was very effective was this: Freak has a condition whose name I now can't remember and Max is SLD. I had my kids each find 10 facts about each of these conditions. They met in groups of 3 and compared their notes, paring them down to what they considered the most important 10 facts they thought of interest to kids their age and worded appropriately for peers; then as a class each group presented their conclusions and we discussed the 10 or so facts we thought most important. We then created a bookmark with SLD facts on one side and Freak's condition on the other. When anyone checked the book out from the library, they received this laminated bookmark. It was a neat exercise in providing a real product. It also provided a safe way to discuss learning disabilities, myths, misunderstandings, and facts. The kids also thoroughly enjoyed the movie (compare and contrast) following reading. Another fun exercise is to create a dictionary similiar to Freak's in the back of the book. I think I actually ordered some packaged materials to take things from (I never do it totally their way). I'll look thru what I have at school and see if there's anything else good. I would suggest you check out Rodman Philbrick's website if you haven't already. Ginny White Fernandina Beach (FL) Middle School _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. --------------------------------- Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small Business. _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
