Motivate your students to read with FREE activities sponsored by Recorded Books!
 

Dear Reader,

Do you struggle to motivate your students to read? This special edition of The Mailbox® e-newsletter, sponsored by Recorded Books, features FREE sample activities to use with three engaging titles from Dr. Janet Allen’s Plugged-in to Nonfiction. Plus we’ve included free audiobook excerpts that you can use right away. (Simply click on the cover or link to listen online or right-click and choose “save as” to download the excerpt.) Pair the print books with the audio recordings to increase fluency and comprehension. Then use these activities with your students to encourage class discussion and peer-supported learning.

Enjoy!
Karen Brudnak
Newsletter Editor

PS: Be sure to visit http://www.pluggedintononfiction.com now for sample lessons, sample audio, and more!

Science

Horrible Science: Angry Animals
by Nick Arnold

Before reading the book, share this quote from the author with your students: “If you think you can stomach the sick side of science, then read on as we go on the hunt for the cruelest animal of them all.”

Ask your students to think about the meaning of the word cruel (willfully or knowingly causing pain or distress to others). Then give them a list of ten animals and ask them to rate the animals on a scale from 1 to 10—with 1 being the most cruel and 10 being the least cruel. Finally, ask them to write a sentence for each one, stating the reason for their rating.

Writing

Abraham Lincoln: The Life of America’s Sixteenth President
by Gary Jeffrey and Kate Petty

Using the format of a graphic novel, have your students write an autobiographical piece about one important or meaningful event from their lives. Make sure they include at least one caption for every picture. If they don’t want to draw, they can use photographs, magazine cutouts, or clip art to illustrate the event.

Use the following score rubric:

3 points:
 Autobiographical piece is rich with illustrations and captions that support the illustrations. Writing is complete with a beginning, middle, and end.
2 points: Autobiographical piece has some illustrations and captions that mostly support the illustrations. Writing is mostly complete. There was an attempt at a beginning, middle, and end.
1 point: Autobiographical piece has few or no illustrations. The captions do not support the illustrations. Writing is incomplete. There is no evidence of a beginning, middle, and end.

Vocabulary

On the Halfpipe With... Tony Hawk
 by Matt Christopher

Before your students begin reading the book, ask them to look at the title. Then tell them to try to predict words they think they will see in the text. For example, based on the title students might start off by saying they would expect to read the word skateboard in this book. Their lists will grow from there!

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