09-+10+After+Reading+Activities

For each activity students will be put into groups of 3-5 people.


 * 1. Brainstorming:** each group will be given one word, the name of a person, the name of a place, or a vocabulary word. They will have 1 minute to write down everything they can think of about their word/name/place. After the minute is up we will see which team was able to come up with the most information.


 * 2. Story board:** each group will be assigned a chapter or a story. They will create a short story board about what happened in the chapter.


 * 3. Group discussions**: each group member will be given a specific topic. They are to combine their topics, through discussion, to determine which event their topic relates to. Once they have finished this they will write down the information they have gathered, (what was the main event, how did each team member's topic relate to it, etc.) and present it to the class.


 * 4. Cyber Guides**: in groups, students can search the Net for virtual tours based on the content they have been studying (WW II, Anne Frank, Propaganda, etc.)


 * 5. Letter for a Vet:** each student will be given the name a war Veteran. They will have the opportunity to write to the Veteran and ask them questions, or tell them what they learned about war during our lesson. This would be a wonderful opportunity for the students to make a real-life connection to the content they have been learning in class.


 * 6. Group Research:** each group will be in charge of researching one character from the WW II lesson. They have a plethora to choose from, including Anne Frank and those we read about in her story. Since this is a quick in-class activity they will create a graphic organizer with all the information about their character. They can make it as creative as they want. They must have at least two bits of information from each student in the group.


 * 7. Problem-Solution Chart:** each group will make two lists regarding the information they have learned about WW II and Anne Frank. It will basically be the cause of an event in one column, and and in the second column will have the effect the cause had on the people during that time. This will help them be able to relate to what the people were going through during WW II.


 * 8. Venn-Diagram:** each group will create their own Venn diagram (similar to the one found here: http://www.readingquest.org/pdf/venn_var.pdf). They will compare WW I and WW II.


 * 9. Role Play:** each group will decide on a particular story or event they liked during the WW II lesson and will re-enact it in front of the class using accurate historic information that they found in the textbook, heard about during class, or received from other credible sources.


 * 10. Debate:** each group will be given a specific topic. they are to divide their group in half. Each half will choose to defend the decisions of one group or another and debate whether their side made the correct choice or not. An example might be: the bombing of Pearl Harbor; one side of the team would take on the American perspective, the other would take on the Japanese perspective. They will have their debate at the front of the class.


 * Because I want everyone to be able to participate in each activity we will have several class periods to complete to complete these tasks. There will be sign-up sheets so that we can keep track of when each group accomplishes an activity.**