Laura+S.

Laura Stout/Heinke

1. Out of my Mind 2. Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

3.Sharon M Draper

4. 2010

5. This book is about an 11 year old girl with cerebral palsy. She begins the book by telling us a bit about what her life has been so far: her struggles, thoughts, family dynamics, school dynamics. The setting isn’t told, but I believe this was approximately 10-20-ish years ago because she discusses the beginning of inclusion. The main character begins to take classes with her peers and gains the use of a devise that helps her to communicate. Her classmates and teachers soon understand that her handicap is only physical and she is very intelligent. She gets to participate in a fact competition with the use of her devise, but struggles with her peers not wanting to be seen with her on their team.

6. What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? I liked that the story was told from the young girl’s perspective. She continually states “words have always swirled around me like snowflakes-each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.” I enjoyed that I could hear what others in the story couldn’t. I was not a fan of the tone of the book. Most stories that you read have an uprising tone towards the second half of the book. This book started off with you feeling sorry for this girl, continued to tell you

7. _Research cerebral palsy. Find 2 parts in the story where the main character’s action are appropriate for her disability. -How do others view the main character externally and internally? _How does the main character view herself externally and internally?

Comprehension Activity:

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Laura Stout/Heinke

1.Micheal Vey: prisoner of cell 25

2.Genre: (Adventure-Survival or Mystery) (1 pt)

3.Richard Paul Evans

4.2011

5.Micheal is a young boy who possesses the ability to run electricity through his body. He is capable of this because when he was born there was an experiment at the hospital that went array and gave him these powers. A man has been looking for him for a long time to do experiments with him to test his powers. He ends up kidnapping Micheal’s mother and friend. Micheal then comes after them.

6. Plot Micheal’s attitude about his ability through the book and the changes that happen. Find evidence in the story to support your beliefs.
 * Research what would happen to someone if electricity was traveling in their body such as Micheal had.
 * What traits did the author use as a writer that made this book a success. Tell why you believe people like this book and site evidence from the text.

Comprehension Activity: (15 pts).

The main character in my story is Micheal Vey.

Artifact #1 – a cell I chose this because...Micheal is contained in a cell because he tries to save his friends and mother, but will not conform to hurting people with his powers. He would rather stay in the cell.

Artifact #2 – itunes gift card I chose this because...Micheal’s mother is kidnapped while helping him choose this gift for his girlfriend. This artifact signifies a change in the dramatic elements of the story.

Artifact #3 - hospital I chose this because...a hospital gives him his powers, but (ironically) a man from a hospital is trying to capture him. The hospital signifies both positive and negative events in his life.

Artifact #4 -locker I chose this because...Micheal accidentally shows his power to a girl, who becomes his friend in the story, because of bullying and trying to put him into a locker. The locker symbolizes the bullying that sends Micheal over the edge.

Artifact #5 - house I chose this because...Micheal is a “homebody” because of his power and trying to hide it. His house symbolizes his withdrawal from society because of differences.

Laura Stout/Heinke

1. Sweetblood: A Vampire Novel

2. Genre: Fantasy

3. Pete Hautman (my chosen author)

4. 2003

5. This story begins with Lucy Szabo beginning her high school year. She has diabetes and becuase of having to deal with this feels that she is out of place with her friends. She thinks that they do not understand how her life is different becuase of dealing this disease daily. She begins to read vampire novels becuase she connects their differences with humans to her differences with her friends. After realizing this connect that she feels, she dives into the online word of those that believe that they are vampires. On these websites they believe that people that have diabetes today would have been vampires long ago but because of modern medicine they are thought of as weak diabetics instead of strong vampires. She meets a man online and begins to get very close to him. Becuase he thinks that he is a vampire there comes some danger.

6. What did you like about the book? What did you dislike?

I liked Hautman's idea on connecting vampires and diabetics. Obviously (at least I believe) that vampires do not exist, but it's kind of fun to read a book and pretend that they do. It's very interesting that he connected those two types of people to explain why vampires are not around today. I disliked the length of the book. I wish that the danger that Lucy ran into with Draco would have been more intense. I like to be "on my toes" while reading the climax of a text.

7. Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

a. This is fantasy activity so you can have a bit of fun with this question. Make a connection between another fantasy monster (bigfoot, wearwolfs, etc.) and a disorder that some people have today. This connection must explain why we don't see these fantasy monsters around today.

b. In this story Lucy leans on vampirism to solve her depression associated with her disability. Think of some other ways that Lucy could have cooped with this disorder and explain why you think this way of cooping would have been better.

c. Rewrite an ending to Sweetblood. Think about what may happen if Draco was a vampire.

Comprehension Activity:

Girl Gets Kidnapped by Man who believes he is a vampire

We hear about kidnappings more than we would like. Most kidknapping have to deal with losing custedy of a child or mental illness. This story bit different than what we unfortunatly are used to hearing. What are the connects between teenagers, diabetes, and vampires? That what we had to peice together.

Lucy Szabo is your typical, everyday teenager. She struggles with finding out who she is, especially with handling diabetes. Accoring to Mrs. Szabo, Lucy cooped with having diabetes by "keeping it to herself". "She was always so quite about her personal thoughts. We would have family dinners every night and my husband and I would try to talk with her about what was going on at school and with her friends. Lucy would always have vague answers: good, fine, ok. I blame myself; maybe I could have tried harder to connect with her." Mrs. Szabo states.

Lucy herself stated that she had been reading alot of books with vampires in them. Friends at school state that she had become absorbed with them to the point that they felt like she was falling away from them. Lucy states that with this fasination she began to look on the internet as well. "I found a website that seemed innocent. You can find chatrooms online that present new friends. It is easier to have friends that only know your thoughts and don't have connections with people in your life." Lucy tells us.

Late Saturday night, her biggest fears came true. A man from the website, Draco, came to her home. Draco felt that they had a connection that only vampires could have. Where Lucy took this as innocent, Draco took it as extremely serious. We couldn't go into specifics just yet about what did indeed happen in her home. It has not been released to the public, but we are told that Lucy is safe and is considering other forms of therapy.

(I left the ending a bit vague becuase I didn't want to give away the ending. I thought that this was a creative way to not give it away.)

Laura Stout


 * 1) Book title: The Obsidian Blade
 * 2) Genre: Science Fiction


 * 1) Author: Pete Hautman (choice author)


 * 1) Date of Publication: 2012

Tucker notices his father next to a shimmering disk. Suddenly his father disappears. Tucker is haunted by the question….what happened? Before he knows it his father is coming up the road with a young girl that Tucker doesn’t recognize. His father will not tell his family where this girl came from or why she is staying with them. His father continues disappearing and starts losing his faith. Tucker’s mother also begins acting very strange. Suddenly his family disappears and Tucker has to use the disk to help save them.
 * 1) Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending!


 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (3 pts.)

I read the back cover to learn a bit about the author. He stated that this is the book he wished existed in the world…which is exactly the phrase that I use with students when we are writing fiction. He states that this book mixes: sci-fi, adventure, the past and the present, the future, and a mind-bending mystery all in one.

I also liked the questions that it arose. At one point in the story they talk about 9-11 and how they go back in time and could possibly do something to help people or prevent what happened. It really starts to make you think deep about what you are willing to do and at what personal cost.


 * 1) Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. (6 pts)
 * 2) Find another book that is a hybrid genre. Find parts in the story that can become supporting evidence to prove aspects of multiple genres.
 * 3) If you could go back in time with an obsidian blade, where would you go and why?
 * 4) If you could go back to a time of disaster and save someone by putting yourself at risk, would you? List the positives and negatives of doing so.

Comprehension Assignment

Write a description of one character from the story. Then find four quotes from the story that support your description of the character. Make sure to cite the page numbers for each quote.

My character would be the main character Tucker. Tucker is your everyday “normal” boy. He is somewhat disbelieving, especially when many unusual actions start to happen. His father is a reverend, which you would think would affect his personality. He seems to neither rebel against his father nor want to follow in his footsteps. He is brave, a true family man, and a good friend. He is hopeful and compassionate.

Quote 1: page 21 Tucker is a bit upset about his father disappearing, and reappearing with a mysterious girl. Instead of being upset with the young girl, he looks her in the face and states: “Are you okay?” This shows that he is compassionate.

Quote 2: p 39 Tucker mother has just been diagnosed with RAD (rapid-onset autism-like disorder). His father is extremely upset and cannot cope with it well, but Tucker just looks at her and smiles saying “It’s okay. She has had good days before.” This shows that he is positive and has that glimmer of hope.

Quote 3: p41 Many characters start to be haunted by some of the occurrences centered around the obsidian blade. Tucker is in utter disbelief; he just wants his normal life to continue. He states, “ If there really were ghosts, everyone would see them. Dad would see them too.”

Quote 4: p117 Tucker is at the world trade centers on 9-11. He is thinking about others, not himself and states, “ Maybe we are here for a reason? Maybe we can do something? Warn everyone to get out?

1. Between Shades of Grey

2. Genre: Historical Fiction

3. Ruta Sepetys

4. 2011

5. Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (4 pts.)

The main character in the story is Lina; she is 15 years old. The story begins with Lina hearing a knock on the door. Her mother answers the door and her entire family (minus her father who is missing) are taken into Russian custody. They bring them to multiple work camps; her family is sold over and over again only staying alive becuase her mother can speak multiple languages and help the soldiers. Meanwhile, Lina is risking everything to write notes and drawings to her father and hide them along the way, hoping that he will eventually find her family and free them from their prison.

6. What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (4 pts).

I have always liked teaching historical fiction. I find that it is the perfect way to connect to social studies and when students are interested in a topic or care about the characters they are more likely to remember details about history. I also like liking it with writing. WIth historical fiction, prewriting research has to take place. It is good for students to see what authors (the pros) do before writing. With regards to the story itself, I really enjoyed the drama.This book kept you on your seat the entire way through.

7. Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.(6 pts)

1. Choose a historical event in history.Write your own story about what a person living during this time would have endured.

2. What if the ending would have changed?What if her Dad had come to save her?Write to tell how the ending would have changed.

3. Imagine what her letters may have looked.Draw/label 5 of her pictures to show events in sequence from the text.

project:

Booktalk:

Title: Author: Read Aloud Pages:

Web Link to Book Talk:

@http://youtu.be/5idaGkjNWzk

THis is the book __How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous__ by Georgia Bragg and illustrated by Kevin O'Malley.

Name__


 * 1) How They Croaked: the awful ends of the awfully Famous (1 pt.)


 * 1) Genre: non-fiction (1pt)


 * 1) Author: Georgia Bragg (1 pt.)


 * 1) Date of Publication: 2011 (1 pt.)

This book is divided into sections focused on different famous people throughout time (the most recent being 20 years ago). Each section begins by giving us some background on each person and then walking us through how they passed. Before going on the next person, the chapter will give you facts about that person and the topics that were brought up in their section. Most of the people have passed from something that wouldn’t be an issue today.
 * 1) Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (4 pts.)


 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (4 pts).

I liked how I could compare modern medicine with medicine from long ago. I thought that it was so interesting how medical “experts” thought. I disliked how they stopped with those that had passed 20 or more years ago. I would have liked to see more modern people brought up.


 * 1) Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. (6 pts)


 * Research a famous person that had a young passing from long ago and write it in a way that mirrors Bragg.
 * Think of an influential person from today. How would life be different for us if they would have had an early passing?
 * What else would you have added into each section? Include an excerpt from a section you would have added in from one of the people.

Comprehension Activity: None this week. Take a break. Post the answers to the above questions on the wiki as usual.


 * 1) On the Day that I Died (1 pt.)


 * 1) Genre: short stories(1pt)


 * 1) Author: Candace fleming (1 pt.)


 * 1) Date of Publication: 2012 (1 pt.)


 * 1) Summary:

-This story begins with a ghost story of a boy traveling by a cemetery who picks up a hitchhiker. After he drops her off, he discovers that she has left her shoes in his car and wasn’t alive. He goes to drop her shoes off at her grave and lands face-to-face with multiple ghosts wanting to tell their stories to him. One by one they get their chance.


 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (4 pts.).

I loved the beginning. I think that I heard a ghost story like this before and the connection hooked me immediately. Plus the mysteriousness of ghosts plotting to be heard is very curious. I loved how each story could be translated into a lesson. The book doesn’t have to be read as a whole. I really did not dislike any parts of this story.

8. How can you see this book being used in the curriculum? For what grade level would it be most appropriate? Give a specific example of how you as a teacher might use the book as part of the taught curriculum. What specifically would you use it to teach and what would you have students do with it? (7 pts.)
 * 1) Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. To his week, I want you to write questions strictly //for discussion// here – not project ideas (you’ll see why below). (6 pts)
 * 2) Which story is most realistic and why?
 * 3) Why would the ghosts want their stories to be heard?
 * 4) How did this plan to trick this boy come together?

-I see this as a connection to writing. I could see students being assigned to write their own ghost story. -I believe that this book could be appropriate for 7,8,9 grade. -I would use this book to teach writing strong beginnings to stories. I would have students read the first chapter, analyze what the author did to hook us into reading the rest, and finally have them imitate this beginning for a new story.