Create Your Own Book Idea
Materials: writing paper and drawing paper, pencils, colored pencils for drawing
- Talk about the title of the story and point out the use of alliteration.
- Briefly discuss a summary of the story.
- Give each student a piece of writing paper.
- Instruct each student to come up with a title (using alliteration) that they would give their own mystery story and write that title at the top of their paper.
- Next, have students brainstorm a story to go with their title. Encourage them to think up names of characters, decide on what type of mystery might be involved, and come up with a solution to the mystery. Have them write a 5-8 sentence summary of their story on their paper under the title.
- Now, give students drawing paper.
- Instruct students to design a book cover for their mystery story. Book covers should include:
- Title and author
- A picture that will get a reader's attention
- A 1-2 sentence hook to get readers interested in reading that story
- Finally, let each student share their story ideas and book covers with the class.
Story Map
Materials: drawing paper, colored pencils
- Begin with a brief review of the story. What was the plot? How would you describe beginning, middle, and end? Who were the characters? What made the story interesting?
- Next, put students into groups of 2-3.
- Give each group drawing paper and colored pencils.
- Instruct each group to fold their paper into thirds (demonstrate to make this step easier).
- On the front of their paper, have students label the three sections:
- Title and Author
- Characters
- Setting
- On the back of their paper, have students label the three sections:
- Introduction
- Problem (Mystery)
- Solution
- Now, allow time for the groups to work on their story maps. Encourage use of both words and pictures to make the final product visually interesting.
- When finished, let each group share their work with the class.
Invite An Author to Your School
Materials: writing paper or access to a computer for writing
- Begin by talking about how Dink decided to invite his favorite author to visit his school.
- Ask students to think about some of their own favorite authors. Help students along by mentioning the names of authors that have been read in class.
- Make a list on the board of the authors that are mentioned (you might also want to make note of the book(s) written by each author).
- Next, give each student writing paper or access to a computer or writing.
- Instruct students to select a favorite author and compose a letter to that author. Each letter must:
- Explain why that author is a favorite author.
- Give some information about the student and the school.
- Invite the author to visit the school.
- Include information that will help to persuade that author to visit the school.
- When finished, have each student read their letter aloud to the class. Allow for class discussion as needed.
Draw a Map of Your Town
Materials: drawing paper, colored pencils
- Begin by looking back at the map of Green Lawn shown at the beginning of the book. Point out different areas on the map including major venues and different places important to the story.
- Put students into groups of 2-3 (try to be sure all members of any given group are from the same city/town).
- Give each group drawing paper and colored pencils.
- Instruct each group to create a map of their own town similar to the map of Green Lawn in the book. Encourage use of color to make the map even more interesting.
- When finished, let each group share their maps with the class. Also allow each group to compare their map with other maps of the same city/town.
