June 7, 2006: Read a Good Movie

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Take the list of books in today's Mini Page and ask family members and friends to tell you which ones they've read. Then ask if they have seen the movie version of the books. Ask them to tell you which they liked better and why. Which books were the most popular? Which movies were the most popular? Why did people like one version more than the other?

2. Select seven books discussed in today's Mini Page. Write the titles on a piece of paper. Next to each title, write the name of a family member or friend who might like that book. Share your list with your family members and friends.

3. Find a newspaper story that you think would make a good book. Write a paragraph describing the story. Then write what might happen next in the story --in other words, give it a new ending. Write several sentences explaining why you think the story would also make a good movie.

4. Which of the authors in today¹s Mini Page (a) were teachers at some point in their lives, (b) had many different careers in their lives, (c) wrote stories based on their own lives, and (d) wrote stories about situations in real life?

5. Several of the books in today's Mini Page are about real life in different time periods: "Sounder," "Little Women," "The Story of Ruby Bridges" and "Sarah, Plain and Tall." Read one of these books to see what you can learn about that time period. Use these questions to guide your thinking:

• What was everyday life like for people in the story?
• What were their homes like?
• How did they cook and clean?
• How did they dress?
• What kind of jobs did people have?
• What was happening in the country at that time?
• How were their lives different from your life today?

Write a paragraph comparing the lives of the characters and your life.

This week's standards:

• Students comprehend and respond to a variety of images and text.
• Students identify forms and elements of literature. (Language Arts: Reading)
  
  

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)