Win a Catching Fire Teaching Unit and $20 to Spend on TPT!

It's another giveaway to celebrate just 10 days until Catching Fire!

This time you could win $20 to spend in my TPT store...

...AND a Catching Fire Teaching Unit digital download. 

Plus, I'll throw in my new Catching Fire: Movie vs. the Novel pack!

Enter below! 

This is open to TEACHERS (or student teachers) ONLY. The giveaway is open to all teachers internationally and your prizes will be emailed to you. 

Contest ends Saturday, Nov. 16th at midnight.

Winners will be announced Sunday, November 17th. 

May the odds be ever in your favor! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How to Host a Non-Violent Class Hunger Games

If your students are anything like mine, one of the first things they ask me is if we get to have a class simulation of the Games while we read The Hunger Games Trilogy. Even after they find out that I don't allow a recreation of the Games because it would defeat the purpose of the novels, they continue to ask me EVERY SINGLE DAY if they can "fight" each other with toy weapons, or wrestling matches, or air-soft guns. I just shake my head.

I've always been adamant about stressing the theme of non-violence throughout the unit. But...they are typical students who want an excuse to "goof around" in class. And I do like to give them opportunities to get up, move around, have fun...but learn something while they're doing it. Nothing is learned by giving them fake weapons and simulating a "Hunger Games" activity. Or at least not what I want them to learn.

You know your students want to compete in some way, but how can you give them that thrill of competition in a non-violent way?

How about trying one of these ideas:

-Food Drive competition: It literally IS the Hunger Games.

-The Academic Games: Use trivia questions from the novel; ask each student a question. If they answer correctly, they stay in the game. If they get it wrong, they're out. Last one standing is the victor.

-The Spelling Tracker Jacker: Not quite the same ring as a spelling bee, but like the "Academic Games," students would spell words from the novel to compete. Imagine throwing them off with Suzanne Collins' spelling of "muttations." Bahahaha...(that's my evil President Snow laugh, by the way).

-The Training Games: For those who still need that physical challenge, focus on training skills where students compete against one another in various physical challenges that test their agility, speed, accuracy, and endurance.

-The Sponsorship Challenge: Have students work in groups to create marketing campaigns for the Tributes from the novel(s). The can create an entire campaign, including a TV ad-spot, billboard, podcast, and more. Students can vote for the tribute they would sponsor based on the campaigns.

-Surviving the Games: Create a series of survival challenges for teams of students. These can include activities like knot-tying, plant and insect identification, shelter building, and more. As an alternative to survival skills, try group challenges that allow students to rely on one another to complete. Using these team-building activities allow for collaboration and bonding between your students.

In my next post, I will share the activities I used with my classes and show you how you can implement them into your curriculum.

Make sure you follow me so you know when I post next!

Last Day for Back to School SALE!

Today is the LAST day to take advantage of the 20% off discount in my teacher store! My lessons and resources are marked 10% off, plus you get an additional 10% off if you use the code B1T1S at check out. Stock up on all your novel units, activities, poetry presentations, and--of course--Hunger Games-related materials!

Try these Trilogy resources that are included in either my Catching Fire or Mockingjay units (not included in The Hunger Games unit):

CHARACTER PLAYLIST ACTIVITY

COMPARE/CONTRAST WRITING PROMPT

HUNGER GAMES ARENA BOARD GAME ACTIVITY - This is included on the CD Hunger Games unit, but not in the digital download

Sale ends tonight at MIDNIGHT!

Purchase The Hunger Games Teaching Unit Now for Only $14.99

Time is running out to get my Hunger Games Teaching Unit for just $14.99.My unit is aligned with the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts and has well over 300 pages of materials.

For the past three years that I've been selling it, I have increased the amount of materials in the unit, only increasing the price once. Anyone who has already purchased it can get a FREE updated download at any time on their TeachersPayTeachers account.  I've always believed that the materials should be affordable for teachers and still feel that the new price of $16.99 is a bargain for what you get inside the zipped file.

I've taught the novel four times to seven different groups of students, ranging from very low reading levels to honors students; my materials are highly differentiated, with a mixture of comprehension and recall questions/activities with higher-level thought-provoking activities and questions. 

So what does the digital download include? Listed below are all the files you will receive in your digital downloaded Hunger Games Unit:

Handouts/Activities/Organizers:
1. Student Survival Pack: this file contains all the character, vocab, theme, setting, symbols, and discussion questions needed for the students in a single handout. (Answer key is in a separate document.) (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

2. Character Organizer & key (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

3. Introduction activity (author videos/responses) & key (PDF)

4. Setting, Theme, and Symbolism organizers with chapter summaries & key (PDF)

5. Class Reaping Activity (PDF)

6. Vocabulary organizer with definitions & crosswords & key (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

7. Facebook Character Sketch activity (PDF embedded in the survival guide)

8. Character Olympics activity (PDF)

9. Advertising project/activity (PDF)

10. List of project ideas & rubric (PDF)

11. EBay Symbolism or Vocab Activity (PDF)

12.  Food Symbolism activity & key (PDF)

13. Puzzles, Mazes, and Word search activities & key (PDF)

14. Meaning of Panem activity & key (PDF)

Assessments:
15. Discussion questions for chapters 1-27 & key (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

16.  Figurative Language Practice & key (PDF)

17. Quotes from the novel trivia game & activity/quiz (PDF)

18. Chapter 1 Test & key (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

19. Chapters 1-27 Check Quizzes & key (with Map of Panem activity) (PDF & Microsoft Word)

20. Part 1 Test & key (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

21. Part 2 Test & key (with student activity) (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

22. Alternative Part 2 Test & key (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

23. Final exam & key with Vocabulary Final Exam & key (PDF & Microsoft Word Doc)

Teacher's Files:
24. Teacher's Guide (includes all answers to items in Student Survival Pack, Meanings of Names for Characters, Rec. Order of Lessons, and Learning Standards) (PDF)

25. Hunger Games Themed Bookmarks (PDF)

26. Four Review PowerPoint Presentations for Part 1 and Final Exam (in 3 parts). (Microsoft PowerPoint-PPT)


Yes, you get ALL of these files in ONE download! If you were to purchase them separately, it would cost much more than $14.99 (or $16.99 soon). 

The Hunger Games Teaching Unit CD contains even more files (plus offers almost all of the files in Microsoft Word, Pages, and PDF). It includes the Introduction Powerpoint Presentation and Visual Aides to the Novel, as well. You can purchase that at the low price of $30. I do not intend to raise the price of the CD.

I guarantee you won't find another Hunger Games Unit as comprehensive as mine. Just check my feedback from teachers if you need further convincing. Not only is my unit the #1 best seller of thousands of lessons on the TeachersPayTeachers site, it is also the highest rated product!

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.