Ahh...summer. The time to
tackle major projects (moving), reflect upon last year's lessons
(blogging), and take time to relax (pinterest and reading). I've been
alternating being productive by reading to prepare for literature
circles next year with life tasks and copious amounts of Netflix.
Rick Riordan is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
Since I've read the Percy Jackson series, The Lost Hero, and The Son of Neptune, my next logical book was the Mark of Athena.
Picking up right where The Son of Neptune left off, Percy, Jason, and company must now safely and quickly blend the Greek and Roman camps together by heading to the homeland. Of course, nothing is easy for the prophecy of seven.
Coming in around fifty pages, this is one of my longest teacher guides ever...but considering the book is close to 600 pages, it makes sense! You can snag both the teacher guide and chronological order sort here!
August 18th is Percy Jackson's birthday and that calls for a celebration! So bust out some blue cupcakes and head on over to my TpT store for 15% off all Percy (and co) products. Teacher guides, sorts, and chronological order sorts are included for The Lightning Thief, the Sea of Monsters, the Titan's Curse, the Battle of the Labryinth, the Last Olympian, the Lost Hero, the Son of Neptune, the Mark of Athena, the Red Pyramid, the Throne of Fire, and The Serpent's Shadow!
When I was younger, I was obsessed with Ancient Egypt. From mummies to scarabs to Nefertiti, I simply couldn't get enough. I was giddy with excitement when I discovered that one of my favorite authors, Rick Riordan, has a trilogy based on ancient Egypt.
I was fortunate enough to get to read The Red Pyramid with a small group in May but we ran out of time for the sequels...which naturally found their way onto my summer reading list!
I am pleased to announce two new teacher guides with matching chronological order sorts are now available on TpT!
The first is The Throne of Fire, the second in the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan.
In this much anticipated sequel, Carter and Sadie Kane are off to save the world again before ancient Egyptian gods and monsters destroy it. By blending witty commentary with a fast paced story line and amusing characters, Riordan doesn't disappoint! I can't wait to dive into The Serpent's Shadow next!
This novel guide is 31 pages and includes vocabulary, homework ideas, and comprehension questions (with answers) for each chapter! Extension ideas are also included.
To accompany this novel, I created a chronological order sort where students must put 26 events from the novel in order. This helps students analyze how events build upon one another in the novel and how the author reveals the plot via characters. (RL 5.5) An answer key is included to alleviate arguments and this can be used as a summative assessment for comprehension or a collaborative center for students while the teacher pulls small groups.
Since I loved The Throne of Fire so much, The Serpent's Shadow was a natural next choice.
Things are worse than ever for the Kanes, with Apophis rising and a crafty magician to keep track of! Rick Riordan does a wonderful job at wrapping up this trilogy while imbedding subtle hints at the world of Greek mythology.
Snag the teacher's guide and the chronological order sort now!
I also created a "who am I" game with 25 characters from the trilogy. Students guess the character based on the given clues. I also included an answer key.
I was on such a role with analyzing characters that I also made this sort:
Students can independently or collaboratively sort the terms (smaller cards) into the characters that are being described (larger cards). Snag it here!
Happy reading :)
I'm pleased to announce some new chronological order sorts are available on TpT! (I now have 120 posted products, all of which have been classroom tested with my own group of fifth graders.)
Since I just finished some new novels with my small groups, I decided to make them chronological order sorts as a quick check for their comprehension. By placing the events from the novels back into chronological order, they are examining how these events and chapters build upon one another. (CCSS RL 5.5).
I have created new sorts for the following novels:
Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero
Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid
Gennifer Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts
Lemony Snicket's Who Could That Be At This Hour?
Pam Pollack and Meg Beviso's Who Was Steve Jobs?
Suzanne Collin's Mockingjay
Tom Angleberger's The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
These products are available here and great for small groups!
One of my small groups decided to read The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan and they are absolutely loving it so far. I'm enjoying the subtle nods to the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, which only add an additional layer of complexity. I'd love for some of my small groups to read both Riordan's Greek and Egyptian gods books, then contrast the two parallel universes...but that was probably something I should have started in October if I wanted them to be successful. Perhaps next year :)
I'm in the process of reading it as well and creating my teacher guide, which will hopefully be done by the end of the month. Of course, it's being revised as we go since I'm developing it with my group of students, but it will be available on TpT once I'm done.
In the mean time, I found this great resource from Barnes & Noble, snag for free here!
One of the strategies I've been trying with my small reading groups is "somebody wanted but so". I create a chart with those categories and we collaboratively fill in the boxes. It's a very guided approach to summarizing and my students are having a lot of fun with it.
Example: (the Lost Hero)
Piper (somebody) wanted to rescue her dad and stay loyal to her friends but she was worried how she could do both so she told Jason and Leo about her problem and they decided to help her.
I also found this on pinterest:
I like that it adds the "then" category for students to explain how the problem was solved. This teacher suggests using post-its and I think that would be a great way to introduce the concept, but I wouldn't necessarily use it every time.
As I previously wrote about, the time has come when I have extra homework for my small groups. Granted, this homework is to read the novels with them, so that doesn't really feel like much work.
I just finished this great read:
I really enjoyed it. I loved the Percy Jackson series and this in no way a disappointment. I'm eager to read the next few in the series and love the way the author blends Greek and Roman mythology with a compelling story line! I also loved the subtle hints at the Percy Jackson series for fans but if you haven't read that series, you are still able to love this one.
While reading, I took diligent notes on vocabulary words and comprehension questions. I turned these into a teacher's guide, which you can snag here on TpT. I've included everything I will use to do this novel with my own small group. Coming in at just over 50 pages, this may be my longest teacher guide yet (except for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire since that book is a few hundred pages longer then this novel).
I also included a free preview of my product, which you can also download here
.
Happy reading!
(On a side note, I can't wait to start The Son of Neptune!)
