Self-Directed Book Study

You may choose any book from our classroom library or a different one that interests you. You will be given time to read in class each day and to do some book response assignments.

By the final day of class you must have done 2 of the options below and have them posted to your blog.

1. Write a letter to the main character and the character's reply.
    
2. Write a different ending for the book.
    
3. Pretend you are a talk show host and interview the main character.
    
4. Create a travel brochure for the setting of the story or scrapbook pages about key characters.
    
5. Create a book jacket, including illustrations, an enticing synopsis, author bio, and favorable reviews.
    
6. Summarize the book into a comic or story aimed for younger students or your classmates.
    
7. Write a news article about an important event from the book.
    
8. Write about the decisions you would make if you were the main character in the book.
    
9. Dramatize a scene from the story with other students or using puppets.
    
10. Post a book review on Share What You're Reading.
     
11. Chose two characters from the story and write a conversation they might have.
     
12. Write a letter or email to a close friend recommending the book you have just read.
     
13. Make a list of new, unusual, or interesting words or phrases found in your book.
     
14. Prepare a television commercial about your book. Act out the commercial for your classmates.
     
15. Write ten chat room-style questions that could be used to start an online discussion about the book. Or, write ten questions that test other students' understanding of the story. (Make sure you provide a list of answers.)
     
16. Explain why you think this book will or will not be read 100 years from now. Support your opinion by stating specific events in the story.
     
17. Discuss one particular episode in the story that you remember most. Describe why you think it remains so clear to you.
     
18. Write a letter/email to the author of your book. Address it to the publisher and mail it. Or, see if the author has a Web site and email it.
     
19. Write a ballad or song about the characters and events in your story. Set the words to the music of a popular song and sing it to the class.
     
20. Give a dramatic reading of a scene in the book to your classmates.
     
21. Describe in detail three characters from the story. List reasons why you would or wouldn't want to get to know these people.
     
22. Design a poster or new book cover depicting the climax of the story.
     
23. Write an acrostic poem about the book using the letters in the title of the book or the name of a character or author.
     
24. Draw a classroom mural depicting a major scene(s) from the book.
     
25. After reading an informational book, make a scrapbook about the topics.

Dancing Papa Lalo

Answer the two questions by providing evidence and details from the story.

1) When Harry finds Papa Lalo dead in his chair, how is his reaction different from the first time when Papa Lalo was just asleep? What does this tell us about how their relationship has changed?

2) What do you think was Harry's reason for burning Papa Lalo's suit?

Just Like Family

In the story "The Other Son" author David Rice introduced us to a Mexican American family who had a live-in maid named Catalina. Throughout the story we saw many examples of how Catalina was more than just a maid. She considered them family and they did the same.

You have your choice of two writing assignments for this blog posting:

1) Describe somebody in your life that you would describe as an aunt, uncle or cousin who really is not. Explain why you consider them to be family.


2) Describe details from the story that show us evidence that Catalina and the family consider her to be part of the family.

The Shrine of Don Pedrito Jaramillo

"Sugar Cane Fire" - I Am Poetry

Now that we've read "Sugar Cane Fire" by David Rice, I'd like you to pretend that you are one of the characters from the story and write a poem using the site below.

You could decide to be Romero, Veronica or Annette.

http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/iampoem.htm

When you have finished, copy and paste the poem into a blog posting. Then, I would like you to read your classmates poems and leave a comment for at least three classmates.