Discussion Director

    Today your job is to be the discussion director.  You will come up with questions that the group will discuss about this part of the book. Be sure to form questions about parts of the reading that you feel are important.  Be able to tell the group WHY you feel this way.   You will come up with:
 

• 1 Character Goal
• 1 Cause/Effect
• 1 Mood
• 2 MC/ EOG

What mood does the author want to create in the chapter 8 (The Blizzard) ?

Answer:  The author wants the reader to be scared and worried about the children.  They have left the schoolhouse and are trying to find their way home.  They cannot see anything becasue of the snow and wind.  They are all cold and scared.  The reader is worried that some of the children not make it home.
 

Passage Picker

    Today your job is to be the Passage Picker.  You will pick important passages from the pages we have read.  You will tell the group why you feel this passage is important and help the group discuss it.  For this section choose 4 passages from the following reasons:

• informative
• interesting
• step by step
• descriptive
• historical

Character Sketcher

Today your job is character sketcher.  Your job is to find interesting traits about a character from this section of reading.  You will find 3 words that describe the character.  For each word, or trait, you will give the proof, or example (including page and paragraph). Next, you will tell one of your character's goals, or what the character wants to do in this section. Then you will find one of the character's problems in the section and tell the solution or possible solution to the problem. Finally, you will illustrate your character.

Your character today is:  Laura
 
 

Word Wizard

    Your job today is word wizard.  You will take the four words given and look them up in the reading.  Then look up the word in the dictionary. Using the context clues from the reading write down, in your own words, the definition of the word.  Write down the correct part of speech.  Next either write down a question and answer about the word for your group to answer or a sentence using your word wizard word.  Finally, make your Word Wizard card.

entryway   p. 40 par. 1
rapped  p. 43 par. 2
blizzard p. 46  par. 5
plighted  p. 61  par. 4
 
 

Investigator

Your job today is investigator.  You dig up some background information on the Osage Indians.  The idea is to find one bit of information or material that helps your group understand the book better.  Specific things to look for are:

1)  What is a blizzard?
2)  Where do blizzards occur?
3)  What were some of the activites people did during blizzards to keep busy?
4)  Why were blizzards especially bad during the time of School Days?

Ways to gather information:

• the introduction, preface, or "about the author" section of your book
• library books and magazines
• on-line computer search (the Internet)
• encyclopedia
• look at videos about the topic
• other novels, nonfiction, or textbooks that you've read

http://members.aol.com/hurctrack/public/text/blizzards/

http://www.cln.org/themes/blizzards.html

http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/3805/events/Bliz.htm

http://www.discovery.com/area/history/dustbowl/dustbowl1.1.html