*I will collect your reading logs every Tuesday.
Extra Credit
Reading an Accelerated Reader title and taking the test will earn you UP TO 5 extra credit points on your reading log grade.
*Once a quarter, you will be responsible for creating a book sharing project. I will give you a list of options from which to choose. It will also be posted on the bulletin board and on this web site.
*I will post a sign-up sheet where you can sign up for the Friday on which you would like to present.
*THESE ARE INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS--NO EXCEPTIONS!
Book Sharing Projects
3rd Quarter
- Video taping scenes: Choose a favorite scene to enact for a video performance.
 | Choose a scene from the book.
| Write a script for the chosen scene.
| Find props and costumes.
| Begin the video with the title and author of the book.
| Gather friends to play characters in your video.
| Tape | |
2. And Now a Word From Our Sponsor: Television commercials use many different techniques to get their messages across to their viewers. But they all have one goal in common: to sell their products or ideas. Endorsements by famous persons, offers of free gifts, outrageous claims or promises, show-stopping sets, and flashy photography are some ways advertisers try to persuade the unsuspecting public that their lives cannot go on until they buy the product advertised.
Pretend you are the sponsor who is responsible for producing a
commercial about this book. Find out everything you can about
successful commercial techniques.
| Write a TV or radio commercial for your book.
| Present your commercial to the class in a style compatible with TV
or radio ads. | |
| Feel free to use props or sound effects. |
3. Wanted: One Invention: An author often uses a very basic formula when writing a book: invent some characters, develop problem, solve the problem, and then tie up all the loose ends.
The handling of the problem is of critical importance to the book. Plots, subplots, and counterplots are written into the story to aid in the explanation of the problem and to heighten the interest level in the book. Some authors go on for pages and pages as they explain and expound on a now very complex issue.
Where man belabored, pontificated, and elaborated, a machine could have solved the problem in a snap! If the main character had just found a machine that could have instantaneously relieved him of his dilemma. The book would have been so much easier to write (and read).
| Invent a machine that could have helped a character in your book. |
| Draw a diagram or create a model of your machine.
| Make sure to have parts, not just buttons, that would be useful.
| In writing, explain how it could have been of use to your chosen
character.
| | |
Book Sharing Projects
4th Quarter
1. One Hundred Years Ago: Our modern lifestyle is often taken for granted. Almost every material aspect of our lives did not exist one hundred years ago. This we tend to forget.
In conjunction with this thought is the promise that nearly everything we have or use today is the successor of an idea from the past, or an improvement on an older, now outdated mode.
Predate your book by one hundred years. Show how the book
would change because of the time warp you've put it in.
2. Power Point Presentation: Using a Power Point slide show as a tool, tell us about your book.
| First slide: Title, author, your name, graphic
| Second slide: Setting
| Third slide: Main characters
| Fourth slide: Theme
| Fifth slide: Internal conflict
| Sixth slide: External conflict
| Seventh slide: Resolution
| Eighth slide: Recommendation/review | |
3. This Week's Pick of Programs: It might be a safe prediction that the TV Guide is the most carefully read publication in he home. By the end of the week, the worn, dog-eared pages, the missing cover, and the Dr. Pepper stains on the Saturday page are sure evidence of its use and popularity.
The TV Guide is organized to give its readers a day-by-day schedule of each channel's programs and synopses of their plots. In one or two quick sentences, the highlights of each show are explained--the purpose being to pique the viewer's interest.
| Pretend your book is to be turned into a TV show.
| Each chapter will be one episode.
| Prepare the TV Guide entry that will appear for every show. Write
your synopses in true syndicated TV Guide style.
| Design a cover for your "TV Guide."
| Write a featured article that relates to your book.
| Write a "Cheers and Jeers" section that relates to your
book. | |
Create a crossword puzzle that relates to your book.
4. The Road to Success--A Readable Resume: As the job market gets tighter, personal interviews with each applicant for a certain position become increasingly more difficult to schedule and to manage. More and more, employers are relying on prospective employees' resumes to supply them with that critical "first impression." Indeed, the résumé's importance has skyrocketed in the past few years.
| Choose a character from your book. |
| Based on that character's experience, knowledge, and personal
characteristics, decide for which jobs he or she would be best suited.
| Write a resume for the character. See sample.
| Resume must be typed. | |