Make a time line of the events in the life of the main character.

 There are many benefits to using a timeline as a way of responding to literature:

• Readers create timelines to help them follow the plot.
• Readers use timelines to help them understand the conflicts faced by the characters
• Readers can also benefit from slowing down their reading and retelling what has happened. If your students are reading complex chapter books, you can teach them to retell each chapter separately and then link those retellings together to retell the whole book.

Sample timeline and book used:

Entire timeline of the book Esperanza Rising, following Esperanza experiences throughout the book according to the harvest vegetation of the season.

Zooming in on an entry.

Ideas for lessons using timelines:

Unit of Study: Response to Literature

Title of Minilesson: Readers Create Timelines to Help them Follow the Plot

Intention: To have students sequence events in history and within their text.

Connection: “We have been looking at the details in our texts to help us figure out our time periods. Today, we will be creating timelines to help us follow the plot. Since our books are taking place during a historical period, our timelines will have to take that into account.”

Teaching: Introduce the timeline graphic organizers to the class. On a chart or overhead projector, fill out a timeline with events from a historical period familiar to the students. 

Active Engagement: With assistance from the class, fill out another chart for events in a narrative that the students are familiar with.

Link: You may have students fill out a Timeline Chart for the historical events of their time period and/or simply the events of the book. Students can work in groups or individually and then share their work with a partner.

Share: After students complete their individual or partner work, they can share with the class. The class as a whole can create one timeline for the historical events and one timeline for the plot events so far. These can be kept as classroom charts to assist with later discussions.

This form may be copied for single classroom use. 2003 by Lucy Calkins and Beth Neville, from Resources for Primary Writing, Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Yearlong

Curriculum, Lucy Calkins, Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH.

Lesson Developed by D75 Literacy Coaches. May be copied for single classroom use.

Forms for Creating Timelines

excerpt from:  http://donnayoung.org/history/timeline.htm

Choose the format(s) that you like best and print on heavy paper. If you wish to color code your timeline, print on heavy colored paper. Although the files are shown as horizontal, rotate them to suit your timeline book.

To Use/Choices:

• Write the dates on the printed timeline forms as you use them.
• Place them in a 3-ring notebook, or after the book is completed have them comb-bound.
• Seek or draw figures from history to use on the forms. (:::Some purchase timeline figures, some cut them from old books, some find figures on the internet, some draw figures, some use captions without figures.:::)
• Write captions on images or on plain paper. If timelines are white, write captions directly on forms. If printed on dark colored paper, write captions with gel pens. Purchased resource: History Through the Ages - Timeline Figures
• Use rubber cement to glue figures to forms. (Rubber cement preferred because of its neatness, disliked because of its smell. Read warning label on rubber cement.) OR print figures on full-sized sticky paper. Avery makes that product.
• Use the timeline resources list below to find concurrent events or research them at your library. Form TL2 is especially good for recording concurrent events. Suggested headings for concurrent events: Politics (list wars, leaders, political policies), Literature/Arts (list plays, literature, arts (paintings, sculptures, etc), architecture, and music including advances in said topics),Religion, Philosophy, Education, Daily Life (list events regarding religious rulers, births and deaths, etc, things of daily life, - plagues, things that improved life or worsened it, etc), Science, Technology (list advances in all sciences, including scientists (birth and deaths) inventions, scientific books, etc.) Recommended Reference Book: The Timetables of History

Forms for Making 3-Ring Notebook Timelines

TL-1

TL-2

TL-3

TL-4

TL-5

TL-6

TL-7

The outline below is a general suggestion on how you could date your timeline templates. Remember that you do not have to date them until you are about to use them.

For older students this is a great idea:


Character Evolution Timeline:

• Students take quotes from their book, and infer how is the character feeling from the beginning of the story to the end.

The story used in this sample is "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros.

Make a “Wanted” poster for one of the main characters in a story.

Getting students to communicate articulately about what they read is not always a simple task.  There are many reading response activities that teachers can use in order to get students to demonstrate their knowledge and comprehension of the book that they have read.  Most of the ideas that are presented in this blog include ideas that can be completed in small groups or individually and tend to be open-ended so that the students have the opportunity to be expressive of their learning.  Some of the information in my blog will include information from other websites that I found of great use in identifying different ways to respond to literature.  I hope you enjoy and find the information useful!

 -Saray Whittaker

When introducing a new form of response to your students, I find it important to make sure that you:

• Have a finished product to demonstrate to the students so that they could generate some ideas of how to create one for themselves.
• Use a shared short story, or a quick read aloud, along with the final product, so that they can fully understand what is being asked of them, and what questions they will need to ask themselves when completing their response to literature. 

My Sample and Read-Aloud:

How to do a Wanted Poster

Written by: Kellie Hayden • Edited by: SForsyth 

Updated May 18, 2011 • Related Guides: Internet

A wanted poster can showcase the literary term antagonist along with a story, novel or play. Making one can be fun and a great way to showcase a character from a novel.

Wanted Poster for Novel, Story, or Play

Creating a wanted poster is a creative way that you can analyze a character in a novel or story. For example, you can easily create wanted posters for characters in the story Curious George, the novel The Crucible or the play The Ring of General Macias. The wanted poster is a versatile project that can be used for many assignments at just about any grade level.

Teachers may ask you to make a wanted poster for a lesson where students complete different assignments or where students read at different levels. A rubric is included with this article to help you see how to be successful in this activity.

Antagonist Review

In order for you to create a wanted poster, there has to be a "bad guy" or an antagonist in the story, novel or play. An antagonist works against the protagonist or the hero. This person is also sometimes called the villain and will sometimes deceive or frustrate the hero.

The character that you choose for the wanted poster does not necessarily have to have committed a crime in the story. The character selected for the wanted poster needs to do something that was very negative towards another character in the story, novel, or play.

Wanted Poster Template

www.webcrawler.com

Find more sources/options for Wanted Poster Template

Ads by Google

Wanted Poster Steps

The following are the directions to help you to create your wanted poster for a character in a story, novel or play.

Step 1: Select a character. Write the name of the character on notebook paper and begin a list of items to write on the wanted poster.

Research Character

Step 2: Search the text and find if there were any alias used in the novel for the character.

Step 3: Make a physical description of the character and include any outstanding or distinguishing traits about a character. For example, you should list the following: height, weight, sex, hair color, eye color, scars, clothing, nationality, etc.

Step 4: Describe why the character is "wanted." What terrible thing did the character do? Is the character hiding? Is the character with another character? Is the character "armed and dangerous"?

Step 5: What is the character like? What does the character like to do? What skills or hobbies does the character have?

Step 6: Write where the character was last seen.

Making & Assessing the Wanted Poster

You can make your wanted posters on the computer or you can use a large piece of construction paper. For the included directions, the you will be using a large piece of construction paper. A sample template for the wanted poster is available.

Materials Needed: Construction paper, markers, scissors, colored pencils, glue sticks, old magazines, computer, printer, computer generated titles or clip art

Step 7: You need a picture of your character. The picture can come from old magazines. You need to select a model or person who looks like the character. Or, you can search the Internet for a picture or photo.

Step 8: You need to put together all of the parts of the wanted poster:

• The words "Help Wanted" need to go at the top of the poster in big and bold letters.
• The name of the character need to be written below in bold letters as well. If you found an alias, please write that too.
• The picture of the character needs to be glued neatly in the center.
• You can type or neatly write the physical description. The words "physical description" should be written in bold letters before the description.
• Write or type why the character is wanted. You can write the word "crime" before the description.
• Write or type any special skills or hobbies the character has.
• Write or type where the character was last seen.

Assess Wanted Poster

Teachers will usually grade the wanted poster on the content of the poster as well as the appearance. Many teachers will use a rubric. Criteria for a rubric are as follows: accuracy, detail in content, writing conventions, neatness, use of color, and creativity.

Sample Rubric for Wanted Poster

4

• Content provides enough description and is accurate
• Very few writing convention errors
• Titles, description and picture are neatly written, placed and cut
• Color and creativity make the poster attractive and interesting

3

• Content mostly provides enough description and is mostly accurate
• A few writing convention errors
• Titles, description and picture are mostly neatly written, placed and cut
• Color and creativity mostly make the poster attractive and interesting

2

• Content somewhat provides enough description and is somewhat accurate
• Some writing convention errors
• Titles, description and picture are somewhat neatly written, placed and cut
• Color and creativity somewhat make the poster attractive and interesting

1

• Content does not provide enough description and is not accurate
• Many writing convention errors
• Titles, description and picture are not neatly written, placed and cut
• Color and creativity do not make the poster attractive or interesting

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/homework-tips/articles/83413.aspx#ixzz1WFCjXhdF