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THE WRITING PAGE

OCTOBER 7TH, 1966 It was on this day that the American poet and writer Sherman Alexie was born in Wellpinit, Washington. A Native American, Sherman was born on a Spokane Indian Reservation and narrates tales of his experiences living there. Receiving much critical acclaim, his book, "The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" won the 2009 Peter Pan Award, and he has won numerous other awards for both his fiction and poetry, including the National Book Award.

GREAT BOOK TITLES WEB TREK:
[ *see links below*]
Here's an absolutely superb way to promote reading in your classroom - at least we think so! Students will be reading synopses of numerous books and following clues to find authors, titles, and plots in this Web Trek for grades 3-8. An answer key and some great extension activities are provided.

THE TWO MINUTE BOOK REPORT:
Two minutes and two minutes only - those are the parameters for these speedy book reviews. With a bit of practice your students might become addicted, and want even more book reviews! Try to make it at least a weekly event - a Friday Feature? The 2nd minute has to be devoted to a selected oral reading from the book, so make sure students choose well and practice until they get used to selecting the right amount of material to fill those 60 seconds.

CREATE A CHARACTER SCRAPBOOK:
In order to build a character profile with this online and interactive feature, students will first enter the name of their novels and selected characters. They will enter text for ten things they know about the chosen character, and then have a chance to create an illustrated portrait as well by selecting a variety of features. It would be interesting to take the same character and see how different students interpret him or her.

READING A BOOK IN A DAY:
It's always a problem: the canon of literature available, compared to the time you have available to teach a limited number of books. What to do? Why, rip those books apart of course! Am I kidding? Not at all! Find out how your class can tackle "a book a day" by ripping them apart - delightful!

COMPREHENSION RESPONSE CARDS:
Try these comprehension cards for your shared or guided reading sessions in 5th or 6th grade, where coded cards provide an approachable means of making sure that every student understands the reading selection, responding either by holding up cards, or by writing in literature journals.

LITERATURE GUIDES:
[LINK2] [LINK3]
Several selections are included, where you'll find student activities to accompany each title. An overview, writing topics, and exploration activities are included. The 2nd link covers middle school titles, with the 3rd link above providing resources for high school selections.

CHARACTER TRADING CARDS:
Step-by-step, students follow an interactive process to fill in details for their character trading cards. The filled-in cards would make a great literature bulletin board display, or students can include them in their reading response journals.

MORE IDEAS THAN YOU'LL EVER USE FOR BOOK REPORTS:
[LINK2] [LINK3]
Gotta love lists like these; they make for some pretty creative experiences with your reading titles. Now see what your students can do with them!