Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Lexile Measure: 570L

Age Range: 14-17

Bibliographic Information: Rowell, R. (2015). Carry on. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

#1 New York Times bestselling author. Named “Best Book of 2015” by Time Magazine, School Library Journal, Barnes & Noble, and NPR.

Summary: Carry On is a fantasy novel that transports the reader into a world of magic. Simon Snow, the Chosen One, must defeat the evil Humdrum, who is trying to destroy the magical world in the United Kingdom. The novel takes place during Simon’s final year at Watford School of Magicks. During the absence of his roommate and arch nemesis, Baz, Simon receives a message from a ghost, urging him to find the ghost’s killer. Simon believes that the ghost was seeking Baz, who is not at school. At first, Simon believes that Baz is plotting against the Mage, the leader of the magical world, hence his absence from school. However, Baz was actually kidnapped by troll-like numpties. When Simon tells Baz about the ghost, Baz is deeply troubled and determined to find his mother’s killer. Simon, Baz, and two other friends, Penelope and Agatha, join together to solve the murder of Baz’s mother. The story is filled with adventure, romance, and whole lot of monsters.

Learning Activity:

Readers will see the different characters in the novel face unique challenges. These challenges will force the characters to develop in certain ways. Students will read Carry On and use conflict to show how the author develops characterization. Students will focus on one character and create a literary timeline of how the character changes throughout the novel.

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

Objective:

1. Students will consider the feelings of a character of their choosing and how their reactions to conflict help develop them into a stronger character throughout the book (A).
2. Students will use background knowledge of literary devices such as conflict and characterization (K).
3. Students will map out their character’s development on a literary timeline. This timeline will show how the character has evolved throughout the novel by using critical thinking skills and inference (S).

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Lexile Level: 530

Genre: Fiction

Summary: American Born Chinese tells a story of three seemingly unrelated characters whose stories come together with an unexpected twist! This story speaks to anyone struggling to find acceptance. Jin Wang is the only Chinese American student at his new school. He is bullied, picked on, and lonely. He feels isolated and excluded and finds his feels parallel the Chinese myth of Monkey King, who wants to find acceptance among immortals. The third character is Danny, the all-American, blond-haired, blue-eyed high schooler who is tormented by the annual visit of his Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. When Jin falls in love at his high school, all three stories come together for a heartbreaking and honest conclusion.

Standards:

CCSS:ELA-Literacy.RL.7.6 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text

CCSS: ELA-Literacy.RL.7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text

CCSS: ELA-Literacy.RL. 7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).

Goal: Students will be answer the questions: Why do stereotypes exist? Are they ever accurate? Can a stereotype be positive? Are there connections between stereotypes and racism?

Objectives: Students will collaborate with others to compare their own understanding of cultural traditions and values using the text American Born Chinese.

Outcome: The students will be able to identify and share with the class different stereotypes present in the text and show how the characters resolved conflicts from these stereotypes.

Harry Potter Series By J.K. Rowling

https://www.google.com/search?q=harry+potter+series&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0s6jFppTYAhXQSN8KHWvFCdsQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1280&bih=893#imgrc=aVcppjAvgN_xAM:  

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter . Scholastic, 1998.

Lexile 880L

Grade Level 5-7

Book Review Video Click Here

Bone Tall Tales by Jeff Smith with Tom Sniegoski

Bone Tall Tales

by Jeff Smith with Tom Sniegoski

Picture1 https://www.google.com/search?q=bone+tall+tales&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbp9uonJTYAhVjmuAKHfdtBGsQ_AUICygC&biw=1280&bih=893#imgrc=1GutejO-wmSJyM:

Picture 2

https://www.google.com/search?q=bone+tall+tales&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbp9uonJTYAhVjmuAKHfdtBGsQ_AUICygC&biw=1280&bih=893#imgrc=giAUQqJ_2jzvIM:

Lexile Level GN560L

Grade Level 5-7

Genre Graphic Novel/Folklore

Activity Idea Tie into American Folklore and have the students create their own “Tall tale.”

Using a storyboard maker https://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboard-creator  Students will make their own Tall tales about their life.

Materials

Bone Tall Tales by Jeff Smith with Tom Sniegoski

Graphic Organizer Click Here

Website Click Here to create storyboard

Learning Objectives

Students will be using a graphic novel as inspiration for creating their own folklore story.

Students will write a folklore story that ties into American Folklore by using a graphic organizer.

Students will use their folklore story and create a comic strip to depict a portion of their story with a max of 10 cells and a minimum of 7.

Students will use an online storyboard to create their comic strip.

Learning Goals

Students create a storyboard using an online animation generator.

Students will use the graphic organizer to create the story.

Learning Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5

Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6

Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

AASL 2.1.2

Organize knowledge so that it is useful.

AASL 2.1.4

Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information.

AASL 4.1.3

Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.

Note: This is a unit project that would go with other folklore readings. This would be the last reading that would tie into the storyboard assignment of the student creating their own comic strip.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Gregor the Overlander

by Suzanne Collins

https://swlothian.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/gregor-the-overlander-cover-2.jpg (Left Picture) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoa5jWOS4k10r3rgVtf_eOBs3GGjkTWhumQH24NsbHjQ23c5S463sM4q0Wz33v_FrmgCvhGwoabk-i-4XjJxNJlP3jxpZcM834stOqgWIJakNwtKwvEJiK6GaCLdxoAOX0oab_UFcqygAS/s1600/01+Gregor+The+Overlander.jpg (Right Picture)

MLA - Collins, Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander. New York, Scholastic, 2003.

Lexile Level: 690L


Selling Tool: We know what lives above us in the sky, but have you ever wondered what is below? Join Gregor on an epic adventure down below the surface!


Lesson Activity Question:


Learning Standards: IFC Grade 5 Standard 1 – Using information to build understanding.


Learning Goals: Students will write his or her opinions of themes throughout book and use evidence to back up ideas.


Learning Objective: Student will write different themes in a book and follow up with evidence in paragraph form citing source.


Learning Outcomes: Students will learn and understand how to express thoughts in paragraph form using evidence to support thoughts.

J. Edgar Hoover: Controversial FBI Director - Tanya Beers

Tanya Beers

IST571: Children's Literature Lit Kit

Book: J. Edgar Hoover: Controversial FBI Director by Kevin Cunningham

Lesson Plan and Selling Tool:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CK8lZVnWGYj0SXOI0WHYUxCnIVjPncxIr2iA5HytdlU/edit 

Tanya Beers

IST571: J. Edgar Hoover: Controversial FBI Director by Kevin Cunningham

Title: J. Edgar Hoover: Controversial FBI Director

Author:  Kevin Cunningham

Lexile Level: 990L

Grade Level: 5th – 7th grade

Age Range: 10 to 12 years

ISBN #: 0756509971

J. Edgar Hoover was once the director of the FBI who had great power and used it to his advantage, 
often garnering controversy in the process. This book details Mr. Hoover’s life, background, and 
his contributions to the FBI, both positive and negative.

Lesson for 6th  graders:

Students will have a PowerPoint presentation lesson about the FBI (who they are and what they 
do). They will then read J. Edgar Hoover: Controversial FBI Director by Kevin Cunningham.

Students will also read the article from the website below and use it as a reference in their writing: 
“J. Edgar Hoover”, http://www.history.com/topics/j-edgar-hoover.

The writing assignment that the students will have with this lesson is to write a 3-4 page paper 
about the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover’s background and his involvement in the FBI using the 
assigned reading and the assigned article as references. Students should also include how 
they feel about the conclusions they came to in their research about J. Edgar Hoover and 
the FBI.

After the assignment is submitted, students will engage in this learning activity:

“Fingerprinting Science Activity for Kids” where students will create their own fingerprints 
and study the different patterns. *Activity is from this site and is the only part of this lesson 
that I did not create myself: https://www.kcedventures.com/blog/fingerprint-science-for-kids.

Learning Standards:

Common Core Reading Standards for Informational Text Grades 6-12 (Grade 6).

6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences 
drawn from the text.

6.2. Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide
a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

6.3. Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and 
elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).

6.7 Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively)
as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

6.9. Compare and contrast one author’s presentation of events with that of another 
(e.g., a memoir written by and a biography on the same person).

a. Use their experience and their knowledge of language and logic, as well as culture, 
to think analytically, address problems creatively, and advocate persuasively.

Learning Goal:

Students will create a paper integrating all they have learned about J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will describe what the FBI is, who J. Edgar Hoover is and what they do through
a research paper (Psychomotor).

2. Students will detail, through a research paper, how they feel about the FBI and J. Edgar 
Hoover’s job within the FBI in order to think about how a person’s conscience is an aspect 
of decisions they make in their job when those decisions affect other people as well as themselves. 
(Affective and Cognitive)

Learning Outcome:

Students will examine, in written form, their opinions about the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, and 
many aspects of working for the FBI.

Works Cited:

Cunningham, Kevin. J. Edgar Hoover: Controversial FBI Director. Compass Point Books, 2005.

Fisher, Jacquie. (2003). Fingerprinting Science Activity for Kids. Retrieved from  

 https://www.kcedventures.com/blog/fingerprint-science-for-kids.

Foner, Eric and Garraty, John A.  “J. Edgar Hoover”. The Reader’s Companion to American 
History, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1991, http://www.history.com/topics/
j-edgar-hoover.  The History Channel, 2017. Accessed 15 December 2017.

New York State Department of Education. (2011). New York State P-12 Common Core Learning 
Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. Retrieved from https://www.engageny.org/
resource/new-york-state-p-12-common-core-learning-standards-for-english-language-arts-and-literacy.

 

Selling Tool: Sample of J. Edgar Hoover’s work:

From: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/152066924888261121