2.26.2011

Mainstay Productions Releases Katniss and Peeta Cave Scene

From The Hunger Games Examiner.



  Mainstay Productions gives The Hunger Games fans something to relish as we wait for Lionsgate to release any news (like who will portray the characters!) for "The Hunger Games" movie, to be released March 23, 2012.

Even though this scene from the cave (where Peeta describes when he first fell in love with Katniss) is only a screen test of the actor's chemistry for an action movie, it still helps visualize the scene in the cave that gave me goosebumps when I read it! The actor playing Peeta is British, but still has that sweetness we'd expect from Peeta. What do you think, fans?

You can also view their Katniss and Rue scene here, if you are one of the few who haven't seen it yet. I, myself, did not feel so strongly either way, except that I was mad the story didn't follow the book (Glimmer would have been dead by this scene and Rue has dark skin, hair, and eyes rather than blond). But if it was just a screen test for those actors to play in a different movie like the Katniss and Peeta cave scene, I completely understand.

Either way, Mainstay is giving us fans something to see, at least! :)

Sara Gundell writes more in The Hunger Games Examiner here.

A Huge THANK YOU to the 2,000+ Teachers...

...Who have purchased my digital download Hunger Games Teaching Unit!

Yesterday I sold my 2,000th unit on the TeachersPayTeachers website! I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who have purchased my materials and also to Paul Edelman, founder and CEO of the TeachersPayTeachers website. Without Paul's persistence, determination, and of course his support of all the teachers, this would never have been possible.

This is a website that Edelman, a former NYC teacher, founded because he believed teachers not only deserved affordable lessons written by other teachers (who have first-hand knowledge of what works in the classroom), but that we should be rewarded for our hard work, as well.

It's a win-win situation. Most of us design a majority of our own handouts and even write supplements to the text and materials in our classes. We aren't reimbursed for creating these materials, which usually are created at home rather than school, and often in the summertime or over holiday breaks. We do this additional unpaid work because many of the publishers' materials just don't fit our classes and/or students. And if we are teaching a newer novel like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the resources are limited, so we have no choice but to create our own materials if we want to teach it.

Teaching a novel unit takes time. A lot of time. It's not as simple as just coming up with a list of questions for students. You have to introduce the novel and get the students to buy into the reading. You have to discuss the setting: time and place, the narrator and point of view, the main characters. You need to go over words they may not know. You have to engage them in some sort of activity to motivate them to want to read on and you must assess their learning: do they understand the plot? the theme? the symbolism? the figurative language used? the motivations of different characters? the author's purpose?  the connections to their own lives?

It is a daunting task. Which is why in the past I hesitated to teach new novels. I have a family; I'm married to a coach. On top of that, I teach high school English. I can barely find time grade papers, let alone write a novel unit!  But The Hunger Games changed everything for me. I knew it was a book my students would love, so it was worth the sacrifice. I started writing lessons and making handouts in August of 2009.  I continued on to write two more units to complete the trilogy, finishing Catching Fire in April 2010 and Mockingjay in December. (I must admit it took me the longest because there is so much to talk about in Mockingjay!) My students have loved reading all three books in class and my mind still runs on overtime thinking of different things I can do with the next group I teach.

Needless to say, I never dreamed it would be possible that over 2,000 teachers would be using my unit in their classrooms and that it would be the #1 best-seller of all-time on the TeachersPayTeachers website within a year of posting it. I think it speaks volumes what a wonderful novel this is to teach. Suzanne Collins has been able to appeal to so many of us with her brilliant writing. If I ever get the opportunity to meet her I don't think I'd be able to thank her enough for writing this series. Not many writers can appeal to so many levels of readers and on so many levels!

And again, I want to thank all of you teachers who are teaching The Hunger Games in your classrooms. Even if you've never purchased any of my products or used any of my free activities, I still thank you for introducing this novel to your students. You are encouraging a love for reading in all your students.

By the way, to stay up-to-date with my latest products and free downloads, Follow Me on my TpT page, Facebook Page, and you can find me on Twitter: @MrsOrman.

2.21.2011

Hunger Games Projects Encourage Creativity

Hunger Games Katniss Caricature
Creative activities will enhance student learning.


Giving a final exam and/or chapter quizzes over a novel is usually an essential tool to assess whether students grasped the main concept and can identify important character decisions and actions relating to the theme. It's also one way to tell whether the students actually read the book or paid attention to the read-aloud.

But supplementing the test/quizzes with an end-of-the-novel creative project is an excellent way to allow your more "hands-on" learners to succeed. It also inspires creativity--an essential component in critical thinking and problem solving that today's kids seem to be lacking.

I offer a Hunger Games project lesson that includes over 40 different ideas here. It's a mix of both creative and research-based projects to appeal to all types of learners.  You can designate a few ideas for students to choose from, or give them free reign.  I also include grading rubrics to help you assess their final product.  These projects can be used while reading Catching Fire and Mockingjay, as well. However, I do have a more specific list of projects for Mockingjay here and Catching Fire project ideas are included in the discussion questions lesson here.

In my classes the most popular choice by the boys was creating their own Capitol muttations. For a quick assignment, have students visit an animal mash-up site such as: http://www.hemmy.net/2006/08/29/photoshop-animal-hybrids-galore/ and choose a few of the hybrids as muttations. Then allow them to write how the Capitol would use these creatures as weapons against the tributes and district citizens. Here is a free activity with printable handouts: Create Capitol Mutts Activity

Many of the girls preferred creating word puzzles, quizzes, and trivia games for their projects.  Many online sites offer free puzzle making programs for student use, such as Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker Page.

The great thing about these projects is that they can be used for many novels or lessons in not only English class, but in history, science, and even math class. Of course, teachers would have to make a few adjustments to personalize it, but the concept would be the same. 

Examples of projects from my students and other teachers who had great success using my unit activities 
for The Hunger Games:

Capitol-Created Muttations (Using iWork's Pages):
Created by one of my freshman this fall.
Hunger Games projects
Character traits artwork from student "QKC"
Hunger Games More Creative Projects

Map of the Arena from Jackson Abbau:
Hunger Games map of arena


Map of the arena from a student in Mrs. Amy Cobb's class:

The next two are from Mrs. Lenzi Hart's language arts class:


Below - This is a work in progress by three boys I had in class last year. 
 They started their own 3-dimensional depiction of the arena in their industrial arts class as a woods project. Believe me, this is huge! It was the last week of school last year and they had just begun painting the inside and securing rocks inside with caulk for the cave. They did all this during studyhall, then decided perhaps they needed to study for finals. I'm hoping they'll finish it before they graduate or allow another group to finish it. :)
 Work in Progress! 
Three-dimensional depiction of the arena.

The Hunger Games Book Talk Visual Aide (Using Comic Life):
The Hunger Games Board Game
Hunger Games Board Game Activity

eBay Listing for Katniss's bow and arrow used during her private training session:
(This is a lesson that can be used to teach symbolism in the novel)

The Hunger Games eBay Creative Activity Project

Word cloud using the lyrics to the Meadow song Katniss sung to Rue 
(in addition, students can create their own song or record themselves singing this song):
The Meadow Song Word Cloud - www.hungergameslessons.com


South Park-style character depictions (also displayed in picture of Katniss, top of page):

Rue The Hunger Games Creative Caricature

FREE Creative Activities for The Hunger Games Trilogy

Teachers: In the comment section, add a link to your students' projects or email them to me and I will add them to this page.


2.19.2011

O Captain, My Captain: Whitman's Tribute to Lincoln


To celebrate President's Day in your English/language arts or history classroom, why not have a reading of Walt Whitman's poem "O Captain, My Captain"?  You can listen to an audio version here: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/O_Captain!_My_Captain!

Written in 1865 as a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln, it's an excellent poem to not only discuss the impact of both Lincoln's presidency and death, but the metaphorical references within the poem. For example, Lincoln is the Captain of the ship (which represents the United States). The speaker in the poem passionately asks the Captain to stand and hear the bugle and shouts from the crowd, all in his honor. But sadly, he knows the Captain can't as he is "fallen cold and dead."

The speaker tells of the rough "voyage" they went through, but now it is over and "the prize we sought is won." The journey, of course, is symbolic of the civil war. Upholding the Union is the prize won. But Lincoln's shocking assassination makes the celebration bittersweet.

I offer a free download of the poem in a wordle word art print, along with a student handout and teacher's guide, here: Whitman's "O Captain, My Captain" Word Art

One way to "hook" your students or to get them to buy into poetry (or any literature) is to find popular culture references to it. If they know and realize that their favorite TV characters or celebrities appreciate/know the work, then perhaps it's not so bad after all. For this exercise,  I tell them that I understand that poetry from the 1800's can seem pointless, but there must be something to it if the creators of "Family Guy" were willing to feature it. ("Family Guy" and "The Simpsons" seem to be quite convincing, especially to the boys, who also seem to be more reluctant to embrace poetry.)

Here are some modern references to "O Captain, My Captain" (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Captain!_My_Captain!)
Full House - Uncle Jesse has difficulty reciting"O Captain, My Captain" in episode 6 of season 6.
Dead Poets Society - Mr. Keating, played by Robin Williams in the 1989 movie, tells his students they can call him Mr. Keating, or if they are more daring, "Captain, My Captain."
Family Guy - In episode 2 of season 4, Brian teaches English at Chris's school and the boys perform a reading of "O Captain, My Captain" in a parody of Dead poet's Society.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Times_at_Buddy_Cianci_Jr._High
How I Met Your Mother - Barney stands on his desk referencing the poem in another "Dead Poets Society" parody in episode 3 of season 5.

A flurry of casting rumors has ’The Hunger Games’ fandom buzzing - National The Hunger Games | Examiner.com

Sara Gundell of the The Hunger Games Examiner breaks down all the latest information about The Hunger Games movie news:
A flurry of casting rumors has ’The Hunger Games’ fandom buzzing - National The Hunger Games | Examiner.com

2.17.2011

Thursday Round Up #5 - Great Lessons!


 Check out this week's Thursday Round Up to see great lessons that are marked down for three days only. The Teacher 2 Teacher blog is collaboration of great teachers, interesting articles, and a links to excellent products.

You'll find many President's Day activities this week. You can also check out my FREE prints for Walt Whitman's "O Captain, My Captain," which is a reference to Abraham Lincoln. Use it as a prompt for students to write what they think the poet's message was about the death of their "Captain."

2.16.2011

Scholastic Giving Away a Hunger Games iPod Touch

Scholastic's official blog.


Don't miss out on the opportunity to win an iPod Touch from Scholastic. To celebrate the upcoming movie, the members of Scholastic's official blog are asking for your input on what you most anticipate seeing in The Hunger Games movie. Write your comment here and don't forget to include your email so they can contact you if you win!

This is a great mini-writing assignment opportunity for teachers. Ask students to write their top three scenes from the novel that they can't wait to see in the movie and why those scenes are important. Then have them narrow it down to just one or two scenes. They could read their responses to the class for feedback before posting on the website.

Another learning activity is to have students read all the responses on the website and tally the different scenes. Which one is most popular? To incorporate a little math, have them create a chart with the top 10 most popular anticipated scenes. Then have them put the data into a pie graph.

Teachers: Scholastic offers many free lessons and printables for all subject areas and even at the high school level. Check out their TeacherShare resources here, where teachers across the nation share their ideas.

2.13.2011

This Week's FREE Lesson Downloads!


Happy Valentine's Day! 
This week's free lesson downloads includes my Create a Caricature activity with an example of Rue and Katniss and Rachel Lynette's Hunger Games "Would You Rather" questions, which are fun thought-provoking questions to use with your students after reading The Hunger Games.  

She also created a fun game called Panem to Panem, modeled after the popular Apples to Apples® game. My students & I tried it out this week and had a lot of fun playing it!


Check out all the freebies for this week here: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/10-FREE-Downloads--What-makes-a-good-teacher-.html?soid=1102126629145&aid=jfem3-yOom0

2.05.2011

Inspire Creativity with Hunger Games Valentines

Novel Novice's Hunger Games Valentines

As Valentine's Day quickly approaches, why not have your students create unique Valentine cards, inspired by The Hunger Games or their favorite novel? This brilliant idea came from Novel Novice's excellent Hunger Games-inspired Valentines! (Check them out by clicking on the link.)


Use it as a class activity or assign as an enrichment project. Have your students create a Valentine that one character might send to another character, or use a quote from the literature in the design. This can work well during a poetry unit, as well; have students write short love poems on index cards and decorate them as Valentines.

You can find more of Novel Novice's literary Valentines here: http://novelnovice.com/features/downloads/valentines/ or here for younger students: http://www.mrsp.com/Activities.aspx.



And because I can rarely resist the temptation to do anything creative, here's one I created, Haymitch-inspired:
 
And another more generic one: 
 
Here they are in printable pages to cut & hand out. Works best if printed on card stock:




2.04.2011

Newly Updated Hunger Games Unit - Digital Download

If you purchased my Hunger Games unit (the digital download) in the past, go to the teacherspayteachers website and click on "Manage My Account." There you will have a message that you can re-download my newly updated Hunger Games unit for free. I added the discussion questions, some new vocabulary puzzles, and updated my theme, setting, and symbolism file. If you open the "Read Me" file first, you will see a table of contents to all the files included and many helpful links (see photo).

I also updated the individual products (vocabulary and theme/setting/symbolism), so if you purchased those you can go to your account page and download the updated files for free, as well.

To stay updated, follow my tweets on Twitter. You can find me here: @MrsOrman
Thanks for being great customers & don't forget to register to win free magnets & a bookmark in my giveaway. May the odds be ever in your favor!

2.02.2011

FREE Giveaway for My 500th Hunger Games CD Sale!

CONGRATULATIONS TO TEACHER LAURIE FROM ONTARIO, CANADA WHO PURCHASED MY 500TH  HUNGER GAMES TEACHING UNIT CD TONIGHT! She is the recipient of lots of goodies: Hunger Games-themed magnets, the beaded bookmark shown on the left, and lots of Hunger Games-themed pencils.

And thanks to ALL my customers & all the Hunger Games fans who participated in the giveaway. You are all the greatest!  I am sure I will have more giveaways in the future since it was a lot of fun making the items & reading all the great responses! :)

I still have a few magnets left for those Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and Trilogy 3-pack purchases (and bookmark), so don't miss out on those!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED: I am nearing the sale of my 500th Hunger Games Teaching Unit CD; so to celebrate I am giving away some free gifts!  Not only will that person receive the unit and a free pencil and bookmark, I will also include two of my Hunger Games-themed white-board magnets and a beaded Hunger Games bookmark. In addition, I'll include extra pencils that you can use for class prizes or keep for yourself! I will announce the winner/500th customer on this site. And since I don't want to forget all those wonderful customers who already purchased my Hunger Games CD Unit, I am going to be including a Catching Fire or Mockingjay themed magnet for the next five purchases of either unit. And the next three purchases of the three-pack will receive a beaded bookmark and magnet!  (This begins now, which is 3:45 p.m. Central time on 2-2-11.) Many customers have taken advantage of this opportunity, but I still have more to give away! And YES--even if you live in Canada or outside the U.S. and purchase directly through me via PayPal, you are still eligible!!  :)
I haven't figured out how to thank my customers of my digital unit since we aren't provided with anything but their user names. But I have currently sold over 1,800 digital units and would love to have some sort of a giveaway. If you have any suggestions, post them below!

Thank you to everyone who participated & the excellent responses as to why you love The Hunger Games!

CONGRATULATIONS  to Jessica Rodriguez, who is the winner of the Hunger Games fan giveaway!  Jessica--I will ship your bookmark & magnets tomorrow morning!  

I had my son pull a number out of a bowl to choose the winner. But since I had so many great responses, I decided to have him pick a runner-up who will also receive a magnet, and that person is Toria!  Congrats, Jessica & Toria!  You should receive your packages by the end of the week. :)


Below are samples of the magnets you could get FREE with purchase:


2.01.2011

sqworl | TPT Sellers Network Blogs

This is an excellent collection of blogs from teachers in all areas and at all levels who are willing to share their knowledge and resources with you! Check them out! :)
sqworl | TPT Sellers Network Blogs
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