Are you still in school this week? I am! I needed a reading activity that would force students to activate good reading and writing skills while they were operating on pre-holiday attention span and reduced effort. I'm not kidding myself-- getting quality work from students this week is next to impossible!
If you are in the same boat as I am, grab this CHARACTER GIFTS ACTIVITY. Students think about a favorite book character and choose a gift that they would give to that book character. There is a brainstorming page and a page for their final idea. Students write an explanation defending their gift choice and include a drawing.
The example above is a gift for the character, Shirley, in the novel In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Betty Bao Lord. The student chose to give the girl, Shirley, a baseball trading card of her favorite player, Jackie Robinson. To explain this gift choice, the student activated lots of knowledge about the character and events from the story. The activity can be adapted for older and younger students.
Wishing everyone happy holidays!
Caitlin
TheRoomMom
