Appendix [C]: Additional Activities
The following activities can be used anytime throughout the book. Activities are successful when matched to students' interest level.
Activity 1 Scene illustration: Think of your favorite scene from the book. Write a paragraph explaining why this was your favorite scene. In addition, draw a picture of how you imagine that scene would look. Try to include as much detail as possible about all the characters involved and the surrounding scenery.
Activity 2 Postcard activity: Pretending you are a character in the book, write a postcard to another character from the book. In the postcard, you should ask that character a question about his or her actions or behavior. Then pass your postcard to another student in class, who will write a reply to your postcard in the voice of that other character.
Activity 3 Character diagram: On a separate sheet of paper, draw five boxes. Label each box with the name of one member of the Wills family: Mr. Wills, Mrs. Wills, Grandma, Darcy, and Jamee. In each box, do the following:
a. Write two facts that you've learned about that person.
b. Write two descriptive words that seem right for that person.
c. Identify one or two key quotations from the story that helps illustrate each person's personality.
Activity 4 Twenty-Five-Word Summary: Pair a student with a partner. Ask each student to write a summary using exactly 25 words. Have each student read his or her summary to his or her partner. Next, the task is to rewrite the 25-word summary using both partners' elements. You can't just use one person's summary. Highlight the text in the new summary that belonged to one person in one color, and the other person's text in another color. Now, share your summary with the rest of the class.
Activity 5 Ticket out the Door: Students must give the teacher feedback in written format in order to leave the class. The ticket should frame the work done in class and establish a purpose for the upcoming class. The teacher stands at the door to collect the tickets. The important thing for the teacher to remember is that the work should be used immediately to generate the lesson, answer questions, or frame the concepts to be explored.
Items that can be placed on the "ticket" can vary. Ticket ideas include:
One question I still have is…
One connection I would like to share…
My prediction is…
I am confused about…
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