Monday, February 27, 2012

Book of the Month Assignments

I was looking for a way to encourage the kids to read more without giving them a lot of writing assignments.  I wanted to make reading fun.  So, I came up with 12 assignments for them to do, one for each month.  The goal is for each student to read at least one book (on their reading level) each month, then complete the project to present to the class at the end.  Here's the assignment schedule I gave my class this year:


September: Poster, Due October 4, 2011.

                        For your book of the month project this month you are to make a poster to promote your book.  Your poster must be at least the size of a 8x11 piece of paper, but no bigger than a full size poster board.  On your poster, you must include the title of the book, the author’s name, and your own name.  (The book title and author must be on the front of the poster.)  Be creative!  You may draw pictures, print out pictures from the Internet, cut pictures out of magazines, etc; however, you may not use pictures from a movie or TV show.  You may NOT copy the original cover of the book.  This project will be graded on neatness, creativity, and following the directions. 


October: Write Yourself Into the Story,  Due November 1, 2011.

                        For this month’s project, you will need to choose your favorite part of the book        and write yourself into it!  You may not copy the wording of the book, put it into your   own words and add yourself to the action!  Your story must be at least 2 pages   (handwritten and double-spaced, or 1 page typed in 12 font double-spaced.)   


November: Character Interview, Due December 1, 2011

                        At the beginning of the month I will hand out a questionnaire which will need to       be filled out.  You must pretend you are interviewing your favorite character from your book and answer the questions as you imagine they would.  Every question must be answered whether the answer is specifically stated in the book or not.


December: No project.  Parent’s signature needed to confirm the book was read completely.


January: Commercial, Due February 1, 2012

                        This month, your assignment is to create a TV commercial encouraging people to read your book.  Each student will be given a scheduled time on either February 1, 2, or 3rd to act out his commercial in front of the class.  Your commercial must state the book title, author, and give a general idea of the book’s plot, it may not be longer than 1 minute.  You may use up to 2 other students as actors in your commercial; however, you may not plan your commercial during class time.  You may use props and posters in your commercial.  This project should be similar to a movie trailer and will be graded based heavily on creativity.


February: Epilogue, Due March 1, 2012

                        An epilogue is an extra chapter at the end of a book that gives you a little   bit of information about what happened to the characters after the “happily ever after.”  The assignment this month is to write your own  epilogue for the end of your story.  What do you think happened to your characters after the story ended?  Write about it!  Your epilogue must be at least 2 pages (handwritten and double-spaced, or 1 page typed in 12 font double-spaced.)                      


March: Book Cover, Due April 3, 2012

                        You will be creating your own book cover to go on your book.  You may   NOT copy the original cover in any way.  The front of the cover must include the   title of the book and the author’s name.  The back of the cover must give a brief introduction to the story, try to get people interested in reading it.  On the inside flaps you must include biographical information about the author and yourself. 


April: Cooking, Due May 1, 2012

                        For this month you must cook something your characters ate sometime during the course of the story.  To receive credit for the assignment you must turn the recipe you used, a picture of you cooking, and a brief explanation as to how the recipe goes with the story.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Bulletin Boards

I love bulletin boards!  Here are some of the ones I've made that are my favorites!

This is usually my last bulletin board of the year.  I use some of my favorite class pictures enlarged to 8x10 so they stand out better.

The background of this is real newspaper.  It looks amazing and is easy to get for free!

I have to give credit for the idea for this one to my brother Ben.  I used to draw the Hot Cheetos guy for our bus signs and Ben suggested I use it for my first bulletin board in student teaching.  He also gave me the verse.  The flames are made out of tissue paper.  I colored the tips red and crumpled the bottom edges to make it 3D.

This is my favorite board of all time, also made for student teaching.  I used a real stick and string for the fishing pole and tied a G.I.Joe to the end of the string.  I used straight pins under the arms of the action figure to get it to stay on the board.  The fins of the fish are tissue paper to give them the nice translucent look.


Mario Kart: Race for Good Grades




This is a contest I have running all year.  I found a map of my favorite Mario Kart track, copied it onto contruction paper, then divided the track into about 60 spaces (like a game board.)  On orientation night, at the beginning of the school year, I give every student a paper with all the Mario Kart characters on it.  I ask them to number their top three so no one ends up with the same car.  Once I have a car for each student I write their names on them and have them laminated.  I tried gluing a thumbtack to the back to make them easy to move, but the glue I used didn't stick to the tack well so I ended up taping it.  This track I put up on the bottom of my calendar bullentin board. 



How it works:
       After every test and quiz the karts get moved.  They move 3 spaces for a 100%, 2 spaces for an A, and 1 space for a B.  Everytime they pass the finish line to complete a lap they get a sticker on their cart.  At then end of the year, to celebrate everyone's hard work, we have an ice cream party.  They get one scoop of ice cream for every sticker on their kart.