Welcome to our Novel Study home page. Here you will find information and documents that you will need to finish your class novel study. First you will need to set up a new page for your novel study. Go up to the blue bar at the top and choose 'Pages'. Click 'Add Page and call it Novel Study. If you can add another page linked to that one called Novel Study Blogs (remember it has to be a blog page) that will be easier to organize your work. Save and edit your changes. Now you will have a place to collect all of your work related to your novel study.
We will be reading novels in groups for this unit, but you will each be doing your own work for the study. I will attach a number of worksheets that you have to complete to this page and you can open them, use them to answer the questions, save it to you computer and then attach the file to your website. All of this novel study will be done online - and hopefully we'll be able to have some online discussions, too.
Please be patient with this novel study - it is our first time doing it all online and there are going to be difficulties and glitches - but we will work them out together and make this (hopefully) the best novel study yet! If you have a problem, try to come up with a solution and pass it by me to see if it will work. And remember - if you are struggling - you are probably not alone - someone else is probably having the same struggle - so let's talk about it and work through it.
Here are the 'must haves' for this novel study:
1) A title page - we usually do this on paper - yikes! You can still do it on paper and I can scan it in and send it to you - or you can choose a program like Comic Life or Tux Paint, create your own title page on the computer and save it to your website. Remember - each title page needs to have a frame (1 mark), a title (2 marks - include the title of the book you are reading and the author's name), your name (1 mark), the date (1 mark - March, 2014 is fine) and pictures (worth 5 marks for neatness, creativity and how well they are tied to the novel).
2) Pre-reading activities - there are two worksheets to be completed before you start reading your book. Each of these activities should be answered using a blog post. Label one 'predictions' and the other 'my new novel.' The sheets you will need are are located here:
We will be reading novels in groups for this unit, but you will each be doing your own work for the study. I will attach a number of worksheets that you have to complete to this page and you can open them, use them to answer the questions, save it to you computer and then attach the file to your website. All of this novel study will be done online - and hopefully we'll be able to have some online discussions, too.
Please be patient with this novel study - it is our first time doing it all online and there are going to be difficulties and glitches - but we will work them out together and make this (hopefully) the best novel study yet! If you have a problem, try to come up with a solution and pass it by me to see if it will work. And remember - if you are struggling - you are probably not alone - someone else is probably having the same struggle - so let's talk about it and work through it.
Here are the 'must haves' for this novel study:
1) A title page - we usually do this on paper - yikes! You can still do it on paper and I can scan it in and send it to you - or you can choose a program like Comic Life or Tux Paint, create your own title page on the computer and save it to your website. Remember - each title page needs to have a frame (1 mark), a title (2 marks - include the title of the book you are reading and the author's name), your name (1 mark), the date (1 mark - March, 2014 is fine) and pictures (worth 5 marks for neatness, creativity and how well they are tied to the novel).
2) Pre-reading activities - there are two worksheets to be completed before you start reading your book. Each of these activities should be answered using a blog post. Label one 'predictions' and the other 'my new novel.' The sheets you will need are are located here:
novel_study_predictions.docx | |
File Size: | 11 kb |
File Type: | docx |
novel_study_my_new_novel.docx | |
File Size: | 11 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Remember - you also have to meet with your group before starting to read to determine how many pages you will need to read each day or week in order to keep up with our schedule.
3) Questions - these questions are to ensure that you are reading your book and understanding what you read. They are comprehension questions that can relate to any book, but they require you to do some deeper level thinking. They are not just yes or no answers and they should be answered in short paragraphs. PLEASE NOTE: you only need to choose three questions from each topic (3 questions x 6 topics = 18 answers). Answer these questions in a word document and then upload it to your website under your Novel Study tab.
3) Questions - these questions are to ensure that you are reading your book and understanding what you read. They are comprehension questions that can relate to any book, but they require you to do some deeper level thinking. They are not just yes or no answers and they should be answered in short paragraphs. PLEASE NOTE: you only need to choose three questions from each topic (3 questions x 6 topics = 18 answers). Answer these questions in a word document and then upload it to your website under your Novel Study tab.
novel_study_blooms_questions_generic.docx | |
File Size: | 18 kb |
File Type: | docx |
4) Reading Responses - Every three chapters of the book, you need to stop and do a reading response. This can be done as a blog post (titled 'Reading Response - Chapters 1-3' and 'Reading Response - Chapters 4-6' and so on). In these responses you need to summarize what happened in the chapters, major events that have occurred, new characters or settings that have been introduced and any thoughts or predictions you have about the story so far. The number of posts will be different for each group because it depends on how many chapters you have in your book, but you need to do a reading response for every three chapters!
5) Literature Circle Discussion Reviews - Every week you will meet with your group to have a discussion about your book and answer some questions. After you meet you will be required to submit a blog post about your discussion in which you answer the question posed for that week.
6) Character Review - This can be done as a word document and uploaded to your website. In this activity you need to choose one character in your book and write a short report (1 page, double spaced, 11 point font) on how they changed or developed throughout the story. You might think about how they changed their minds on a specific topic or issue, how they grew and matured as the story went on, what happened to them and how they reacted or what lesson they learned in the story. You can include a short description of what they look like, but mostly this will be about how they grew or changed over the course of the story.
7) After reading activities - There are two activities to be completed after you finish the book - the are titled 'Book Review' and 'Book Advertisement' and they can be completed as blog posts. The files you will need to help you through these activities are found here:
5) Literature Circle Discussion Reviews - Every week you will meet with your group to have a discussion about your book and answer some questions. After you meet you will be required to submit a blog post about your discussion in which you answer the question posed for that week.
6) Character Review - This can be done as a word document and uploaded to your website. In this activity you need to choose one character in your book and write a short report (1 page, double spaced, 11 point font) on how they changed or developed throughout the story. You might think about how they changed their minds on a specific topic or issue, how they grew and matured as the story went on, what happened to them and how they reacted or what lesson they learned in the story. You can include a short description of what they look like, but mostly this will be about how they grew or changed over the course of the story.
7) After reading activities - There are two activities to be completed after you finish the book - the are titled 'Book Review' and 'Book Advertisement' and they can be completed as blog posts. The files you will need to help you through these activities are found here:
novel_study_book_review.docx | |
File Size: | 11 kb |
File Type: | docx |
novel_study_advertisement.docx | |
File Size: | 11 kb |
File Type: | docx |
TRACKING OF POINTS!!!!
For each activity that you complete - you will be earning points. To complete your novel study you will need to earn a minimum of 500 points. ***Note - there will be a prize for the top three earners of points.
Here is how the points system works:
Each blog post = 25 points
Title page = 10 points
Each pre-reading activity (there are two) = 10 points
Your questions = 5 points each (there are 18 questions at 5 points each = 90 points!!)
Each reading response = 10 points
Each Literature Discussion review = 25 points
Your Character Review = 10 points
Each after-reading activity (there are two) = 10 points
It should be no problem for your to achieve 500 points, but you have to track it. You will need to copy the following Excel file onto your computer. It will add up your points automatically - but you'll have to remember to record your points. Keep track of your points as you earn them and once you have finished your novel study, save the file and upload it to your website. I will take the totals and tally up who has the most points. Good luck!!
For each activity that you complete - you will be earning points. To complete your novel study you will need to earn a minimum of 500 points. ***Note - there will be a prize for the top three earners of points.
Here is how the points system works:
Each blog post = 25 points
Title page = 10 points
Each pre-reading activity (there are two) = 10 points
Your questions = 5 points each (there are 18 questions at 5 points each = 90 points!!)
Each reading response = 10 points
Each Literature Discussion review = 25 points
Your Character Review = 10 points
Each after-reading activity (there are two) = 10 points
It should be no problem for your to achieve 500 points, but you have to track it. You will need to copy the following Excel file onto your computer. It will add up your points automatically - but you'll have to remember to record your points. Keep track of your points as you earn them and once you have finished your novel study, save the file and upload it to your website. I will take the totals and tally up who has the most points. Good luck!!
novel_study_tracking_sheet.xlsx | |
File Size: | 9 kb |
File Type: | xlsx |