LESSON PLAN: Differentiated Freshman Summer Reading Project

[Alice McLoughlin Doro]

All students are required to read at least one novel from the summer reading list posted on the Downers Grove South website. These novels offer a variety of genres to engage different student's interests. Differentiation in the classroom is essential in order to reach all students. The Summer Reading Project offers different choices for all the students to accomplish their goal. The Summer Reading Project also focuses on meeting many Illinois State Standards through different modalities. The students will read, write, use technology, design & present their projects.

Essential questions

1. How did you as a reader relate to one of the characters in the book? What did it remind you of? How are you similar or different?
2. What other connections can you make with this book?
3. Would you recommend this book to a peer? Why? Why not?
4. How does Part B of this assignment represent the novel you read?

Objectives

1. Students will be able to expand vocabulary.
2. Students will be able to analyze overall themes and relate reading with prior knowledge.
3. Students will read age appropriate material and increase fluency/accuracy.
4. Students will summarize text and make connections.
5. Students will develop their passion for reading for enjoyment.

Core & Supplemental texts

1. Student selected novel from the summer reading list.
2. Websites: csd99.org; www.comiclife.com, www.bistrips.com, or www.makebeliefscomix.com;www.inspirationcom or http://www.mywebspiration.com;

21st Century Skills: 

1. Reason Effectively/Communicating
2. Use Technology
3. Make Connections
4. Solve Problems

Illinois State Social Studies Standards

1. 1.B.4a Preview reading materials, clarify meaning, analyze overall themes and coherence, and relate reading with information from other sources.
2. 1.B.4b Analyze, interpret and compare a variety of texts for purpose, structure, content, detail and effect.
3. 1.B.4c Read age-appropriate material with fluency and accuracy.
4. 1.C.4a Use questions and predictions to guide reading.
5. 1.C.4b Explain and justify an interpretation of a text.
6. 1.C.4d summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material.
7. 2.B.4a Critique ideas and impressions generated by oral, visual, written and electronic materials.
8. 3.A.4 Use standard English to edit documents for clarity, subject/verb agreement, adverb and adjective agreement and verb tense; proofread for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation; and ensure that documents are formatted in final form for submission.
9. 3.C.4b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences.
10. 5.a.4b Design and present a project using various formats from multiple sources.

Final Assessment:

Students will write four paragraphs including a plot summary, connection, recommendation, and explanation of project. Students will present their project to the class by giving an informal speech talking about the novel they chose to read and the project they created.

If you're interested in reading about what other people do at MC POP with summer reading, check out - Question: Summer Reading?

[Marcy Prager]

Alice,
I love the sites you posted! Making comics either with photos, or with make believe pictures, would be great for second graders to explain aspects of culture in Social Studies or an experiment in Science, etc. I just made a comic on comic life and it was so easy! For second graders, older buddies can help type.
And students can talk about books using these comics as well.
Thank you so much for this information!!!!