Well, my current project is a large one. One of my favorite books to read with my 8th graders was "October Sky" by Homer Hickam. It's a 27 chapter book (epilogue included), 428 pages, jam packed with a whole lot of goodness. Homer Hickam tells his story of growing up in a coal mining town, becoming obsessed with the space race, and how he decided to join it. He embodies hard work, determination, and perseverance. If you want something bad enough, you have to work your butt off to get it.
Not only is the message behind this book a great one for our youth, but the story line is heart breaking, hilarious, and easily relatable. It's a fun one to teach.
So what am I working on?
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| After using this book for 5 years it has seen better days! |
A teacher packet including vocabulary lessons for each chapter, chapter comprehension questions, journaling/discussion suggestions for each chapter, a research project/presentation, & vocabulary instruction - all focused on a student's ability to use their background knowledge to aid in comprehension (research project), context clues (vocabulary), and illustrating their understanding of the text, making connections, comparing and contrasting (book to movie).
This book took approximately 9 weeks to finish and was totally worth every minute. Now if only I could convince myself of that as I try and compile all my work into one document. ;)
Stay tuned because this is, in my opinion, worth the wait.
