#1785. A Novel Ending/ Closure Activity

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Jun 1 07:02:16 PDT 2000 by Lisa Frase (lisa'slessons@quixnet.net).
elementary, Texas
Materials Required: 2 sheets blank paper, glue, scissors, colored pencils
Activity Time: 2 days, or homework time
Concepts Taught: Summarization, Plot Structure, Reading Response

Objective: The learner will summarize a story.
The learner will identify the plot structure of
a story.
The learner will create a symbol that represents
the essence of the story.
The learner will respond to the story.

Teacher's Note: This activity is intended to be used at the end of a novel study (or story). The above objectives should have already been taught and practiced prior to the completion of this activity. This is a closure activity.

Student Preparation: Give each student two sheets of blank computer paper. Tell the students to fold each sheet of paper hotdog style. Have the students glue one side of each of the two sheets together. Next, tell students to fold their hotdog in half. When this is done, their paper should be approximately 4 x 3. Now tell students to cut up
the center fold on each side of the hotdog. Be sure that they don't cut the center that is glued together. They should have a cover page that flips up. They should be able to open the booklet to page 2 and 3, and flip up each page. They should be able to close the booklet and flip up the back cover. This is a flip book.

Activity:
Front cover: Write the name of the book, author's name,
and student name. Illustrate the front
cover.
Flip up the front cover: Write a short 3 sentence
summary of the book. "In the
beginning... Next... Last."
Open the booklet to cover page 1: Write the words,
"SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION" on the
cover. Tell students to draw
a symbol that represents the
book in some way. Encourage
students to not use the obvious,
such as a hatchet in the book
"Hatchet." Instead they might
choose "a fire."
Flip the second cover page: Tell students to write the
name of the symbol and explain
why they chose it. For example:
"FIRE - I chose fire because
without fire, Brian might not
have been able to survive. He
discovered fire the way man may
have first discovered fire."
Cover page 3: Tell the students to write the word
"PLOT" on cover page 3.
Flip cover page 3: Tell students to draw out a stair
plot to show "conflict, complication,
climax and resolution." Climax should be
the highest point of the stairs.
Students should briefly tell each of the
plot elements within the "stairs."
Back cover page: Tell students to write the words,
"PERSONAL RESPONSE" on the back cover
page.
Flip the back cover page: Tell students to write a para-
graph explaining their personal response
to the story.

*Students may color and illustrate their flip books.

Assessment: Create a rubric that meets your expectations
based on the ability level of your students. I suggest that
you assign 25 points to each part of the flip book.