NAME: #: READING WORKSHOP WHAT DO I DO WHEN I FINISH A BOOK? CONFERENCE FORMS FOR FICTION AND NON-FICTION BOOKS BOOK PROJECTS WRITTEN RESPONSES, ORAL PRESENTATIONS AND ART AND MEDIA PROJECTS 1
Narrative Book Conference Form Title of Book: Author: Book 1. Tell what the story was about in three or four sentences. 2. Where and when did the story take place? 3. Who were the main characters? Tell how the author did or did not make them seem real. 4. Tell how the title fit with the story. 5. Did the events in the story seem believable to you? Give an example of an event that seemed like real life and tell why. 6. Tell about your favorite part of the story and explain how it kept your interest. 7. What is something new that you learned from reading this book? 8. What new or interesting words have you learned after reading this book? Name and define at least three or four. 9. What, if any, parts of this book confused you? Tell what they were and why they were confusing. 2 (Continued on next page)
Author 1. Have you read any other books by this author? Yes or No. What are the titles? 2. Did you like this book as well or not as much as other books by this author? Tell why (If this is the only book you have read by this author, skip this question). Genre 1. What genre was your book? Strategies 1. What strategies did you use to pick out this book to read? 2. What strategies helped you read this book? (Think of the strategies we have learned about in reading class.) Connections 1. What are some feelings you had while reading this book? 2. Name something (a book, movie, TV show, or experience) that reminded you of your own life in this book. Recommendations 1. Would you recommend this book to another person? Who? Why? 3
Informational Book Conference Form Title of Book: Author: Book 1. Tell in three or four sentences what this book is about. 2. Tell what you think the author s reason was for writing this book. 3. Did the book have a lot of pictures, charts, graphs, maps, drawings, or diagrams? Tell how any of these things helped or did not help you understand the book. 4. Describe a part of the book that you found to be very interesting. 5. Describe a part of the book that you found boring or confusing. 6. Tell about something new you learned from reading this book that you did not know about before. Author 1. Have you read any other books by this author? Yes or no. What title(s)? 2. What other books have you read on this subject? (Continued on next page) 4
Strategies 1. What strategies did you use to pick out this book? 2. What strategies helped you read this book? (Think of strategies we have learned about in reading class.) Connections 1. Name some things from your own life that you thought about as you read this book. 2. Name another book, movie, TV program or experience that this book reminded you of. Recommendations 1. Would you recommend this book to another person? Who? Why? 5
Written Responses: Book Projects 1. Create a personal dictionary of new words you encounter while reading this book. 2. Write your own personal ending to the book, perhaps rearranging or changing the final outcome. 3. Write an original poem based on the book. 4. Summarize your book in 50 words or less. 5. Compose a 15-word telegram about your book to share with someone else. 6. Write up a publisher s blurb that you personally would include on a book jacket for your selection. 7. Write a letter to the author of the book giving your personal evaluation. Be certain that you support your comments with direct references to the book. 8. Write a review of your book which you would print in a newspaper. Be sure to include information which will make others want to read it. 9. Write one detailed paragraph about your favorite character in the book. 10. Write one detailed paragraph about your favorite event in the book. (Continued on next page) 6
11. Read another book by the same author. Prepare a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two selections. 12. Pretend you are a famous press reporter and have been asked to interview one of the characters in your book. Prepare ten questions you would ask. 13. Write ten or more questions that you would ask another reader after she has read the book. 14. Write a pretend letter to a character in the book. Tell him/her how different or similar his/her life from yours. 15. Write a real letter to the author of the book. Send the letter in care of the publisher. Tell the author what you liked about the book. 16. Write a letter to a friend and try to persuade him or her to read the book you just read. 7
Oral Responses: 1. Prepare and present a compare-contrast speech between your book and the movie version of it which has been produced. 2. Pretend you are a book. Advertise your contents and try to sell yourself to prospective readers. 3. Read aloud an interesting or suspenseful passage from your book. Be sure to stop at a strategic point (no more than two pages.) 4. Tell about the life of the author of your book and any background information which you can locate regarding the writing of this selection, as well as other works by the author. 5. Pretend you are a book salesperson for the publishing house that published your book. Prepare a sales talk to convince bookstores, libraries, book club members, or individual readers that your book is worth the investment. 6. Retell the main events of your book to the class with the aid of any visual props. 7. Tell about one character in the book. Tell why he or she is such an interesting person. 8. Prepare a monologue (a talk) by one of the characters in the story. Begin with My name is. 8 (Continued on next page)
9. Prepare to guide the class through reading a section of the book or a poem. Use a part that has beautiful language. Practice before you read to the class. Either type copies for the class to look off of, or make a PowerPoint, Prezi, or Google Slide. 10. Retell one of the following parts of your book: a. The funniest part b. The most exciting c. The most interesting d. The saddest part 11. Give a radio broadcast about the book. 12. Memorize and recite a paragraph from your book that describes one of the characters. 13. Present an advertisement or commercial for the book you have read. 14. Pretend you are one of the characters in the book. Write a letter to another character in the book. 9
Art Media Responses 1. Create a poster which expresses your response to the book. You might want to represent your favorite character, favorite scene, the mood in which the book puts you, or the message you think the author was sharing. 2. Create a playlist of music that would express the main character or book in some way. Be ready to explain your music selections. 3. Dress dolls or wooden spoon puppets in the costumes you think the characters in your book would wear. 4. Create a cartoon-comic strip about your book. You may want to limit it to one specific scene or event. Use color. 5. Create your own puppets representing the characters in your selection and present the story through these puppets. 6. Create a logo which is representative of your book. 7. Prepare a slide show or power point presentation to complement your selection. You might want to mark passages to read aloud while you present your slides to an audience. Be sure to include the narrative elements. 8. Create a mural depicting an extremely emotional scene in your book. 10 (Continued on next page)
9. Create a series of original illustrations for your book. You many have a selection which has never been previously illustrated or you may want to try your hand at a series of illustrations different from those already in your work. 10. Create a collage to express the content of your book to others. 11. Create a detailed, labeled map of the setting in your selection for use by other readers when they read the book. Have someone else critique your interpretation. 12. Create a board game based on information you learned in reading your book. 13. Make a miniature stage setting or a diorama of your book, which describes a scene in the book. Use a shoebox or any materials you would like. Make the objects and people in the scene out of clay, cardboard, pipe cleaners, papier-mâché, or any other appropriate material. 14. Be ready to give a book talk sketching something from the book as you talk. 15. Make a mural showing scenes from different books you have read. 16. Bring some things to class that were important in your book. Tell how and why they were important. Example: a glass shoe in Cinderella. 11 (Continued on next page)
17. Make an object which is important in the book you have just read. Tell the class why it is important in the story. 18. Make a mobile representing five or six of the characters in the book. 19. If this book doesn t have a book jacket, make one for it. Be sure to put a picture on it and all the necessary information. Include title and author. 20. Make a picture of one scene in the book. Underneath it put the title and author and two or three questions about the scene. You may use crayon, chalk, charcoal, tempera, watercolor, or a collage of materials. 21. Make a time-line of the story. Use main events rather than dates. Draw pictures to illustrate the main events. 22. Make a map of where the characters went in the story. Put labels on the map to tell what happened at each place. 12