Mockingjay Movie Casting News

I've been enjoying the numerous casting announcements for "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2" movies. So many characters from books never seem to make it to the big screen in their movie adaptations, but it seems like many of the new characters in Mockingjay will. *SPOILER ALERT* The following has spoilers if you have yet to read Mockingjay.

Those who have been cast are:
From District 13
President Coin (Julianne Moore), Boggs (Mahershala Ali), Leeg 1 & 2 (Kim & Misty Ormiston), Homes (Omid Abtahi), Mitchell (Joe Chrest), and Lt. Jackson (Michelle Forbes). Update: Commander Lyme is listed as a District 13 leader rather than District 2 leader, according to Entertainment Weekly.

From Various Districts
Commander Paylor from District 8 (Patina Miller), Commander Lyme - a former victor from District 2 (Lily Rabe Gwendoline Christie) see update above, Annie Cresta from District 4 (Stef Dawson)

Capitol Citizens
The film crew: Cressida (Natalie Dormer), Messalla (Evan Ross), Castor (Wes Chatham), and Pollux (Elden Henson) UPDATE: Tigris will be played by Eugenie Bondurant

The Star Squad 451 is just missing two members for casting: Mitchell (the oldest member of the squadron) and Jackson (the second-in-command to Boggs). Who do you think would best fit those roles? Or do you think they will be left out? UPDATE: All members of the Star Squad have been cast. Joe Chrest will be playing Mitchell and Michelle Forbes will be playing Lt. Jackson. 

However, according to Entertainment Weekly, Commander Lyme is listed as a "District 13 Leader" rather than a District 2 leader. So...will she be part of the Star Squad? Or will she train Katniss and Johanna (in place of York)? What do you think?

Other characters from Mockingjay that have not been cast include Fulvia Cardew (Plutarch's assistant who comes up with the "We Remember" propos), York (she trained Katniss and Johanna in D13 to prepare them for war), Tigris (the former Capitol stylist who helps the remaining Star Squad members penetrate Snow's mansion) update--Tigris is played by Eugenie Bondurant, Eddy (the adorable boy from District 8 that tugs at Katniss's heart), Dr. Aurelius (Katniss's doctor who testifies on her behalf during her trial).

Other minor characters from both Catching Fire and Mockingjay include Hazelle Hawthorne and children Rory, Vick, and Posy (Gale's mom and siblings); Delly Cartwright (D12 survivor and truly nice person Peeta was friends with); Lavinia and Darius (red-headed Avoxes, Darius being a former D12 Peacekeeper); Leevy and Thom (D12 citizens who helped Gale after his whipping and appear in Mockingjay); Dalton (the cattle rancher from D10 and refugee to D13); and of course Greasy Sae and her granddaughter, though perhaps the older lady in "The Hunger Games" movie is Greasy Sae and she'll make a reappearance in "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay."

Are there any that would disappoint you if they weren't cast? Please leave a comment and share!

Classroom Connections: Ask your students who they would cast for each part and why.

Need to brush up on your Mockingjay characters? Check out my Mockingjay character cut-up activity; the hands-on activity is great for interactive notebooks & reading journals!






Photo credits: Images used in graphics from Lions Gate Entertainment®. Graphics by Tracee Orman of Hunger Games Lessons.

#BannedBooksWeek Activities & Freebies

How are you celebrating your freedom to read this week? If you need ideas, there are several sites you can visit to incorporate Banned Books Week into your class discussions.

The official Banned Books Week website, in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), offers resources for teachers, such as their anti-censorship website (with additional links/help), and their comprehensive list of challenged titles since 2004.

• Using the list, read the titles to your class. (Do not reveal that the books have been challenged.) While you do this, have students copy the titles of the books they have read. After you've gone through the list, reveal that all of those books have been banned or challenged in recent years. Begin a discussion about book banning and why parents (and others, though most of the challenges come from parents) object to the material.

• Have your students host a Virtual Read-Out. Record them reading a challenged/banned book and post to the site.

• Show this video of books that have been banned or challenged in the past year, then have a discussion with your students, asking them:
    - Which books surprised you the most?
    - Which books have you read?
    - Would a book banning increase your desire to read said book?
    (Video courtesy of Plainfield Public Library)

• Download these FREE bookmarks and distribute to your students:
    - "I Read Banned Books" Bookmarks
    - President Snow's Panem Bookmarks
    - I Love Harry Potter Bookmarks (The Harry Potter series is on the frequently banned or challenged lists each year)

For more information and ideas, check out my previous posts for Banned Books Week here and on my other blog:
Defending Your Choice to Teach The Hunger Games
Twilight? The Hunger Games? The Top 10 Challenged Books... (with Activities)
The Best Banned Book Pinterest Boards to Follow
The Best Book Boards to Follow on Pinterest
The Best Young Adult Book Boards to Follow on Pinterest
Banned Books Week 2012 (with Activities)
Celebrate Your Freedom to Read

Catching Fire Soundtrack Release: Atlas by Coldplay

When Taylor Swift released an early gift to Hunger Games fans in the form of her "Safe and Sound" single for the soundtrack, I was ecstatic. I absolutely loved the song instantly and felt it embodied the mood and many events from the novel. 

Atlas Image SOURCE.

When Coldplay's "Atlas" was released for the Catching Fire movie soundtrack, I have to admit I wasn't thrilled with the song. It just doesn't feel right. I'm not opposed to a depressing, slow song, but this one is a snoozer. There's nothing special about it or anything that gives me goosebumps. 

Needless to say, there's always a lesson to be learned, right? So, have your students listen to it as they follow the lyrics. Then ask them:

1. Which event(s) from the novel do the lyrics seem to embody? Why?

2. What kind of mood is created? Do you think the mood created is influenced more by the tone of the music or the tone of the lyrics? Explain.

3. Think about the title of the song. How does that fit with the rest of the lyrics? How does it relate to Catching Fire? Does it seem fitting? Why/why not?

4. Do you think the song fits Catching Fire? Why/why not?

I'd love to hear your feedback on the song. Please comment below.

This post is part of Classroom Connections:

Using #GrammarFails to Hook Students in English Class

Whenever I come across an error in spelling, grammar, mechanics, or usage in public, I cringe. It's one thing to see it on students' papers, but when businesses and other professionals make these mistakes...well, shouldn't they know better?

Showing your students these real-world mistakes (and having them correct them AND go out and find their own examples) strengthens our argument that English class IS important (because who hasn't heard the moans and groans from students about having to take English EVERY year?).

I keep a Pinterest Grammar Errors board (but it covers all kinds of errors) and I also have a presentation on TpT that can be shown to your class any time (just skip the back-to-school introduction and go straight to the 70+ slides with examples).

Here are some favorites I just came across from The Grammar Gendarme:

Hide yo' aunts...

{And what is up with that huge number one?}

I'm going to the firth floor, please. 

And this eCard would be the first image featured on FASEBUK.

>>  *separate  <<

How can one make so many errors in one post? 

This one just makes me laugh out loud. :) 

Because being killed to life wouldn't be as newsworthy.

You know those students who just ignore those red squiggley lines in their document and go ahead and hit "Print" anyway? Ya. This is their future. At Wal-Mart.

Mmmmm...doesn't crap sound delicious?

See loads more of this crap here:

Using Humor to Demonstrate the Importance of English Class: Real World #GrammarFails 

My "Grammar Errors" Pinterest Board

Back to School Sale for Teachers

I don't know about you, but waiting for "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" movie feels like torture. As a distraction I worked on several big new products this summer. One of them that I think you will love is a bundle of bell ringers and exit slips:

I took some of my favorite activities I've used with my students and created some new ones to form this gigantic 175+ page resource with ready-made bell-ringer/exit slips that you just need to print, cut, & use. You don't have to have a projector to use them and because I like to save paper, each slip only uses 1/4 of a page (see Facebook status page below). They are large enough for students to write on, and small enough that aren't wasting any paper. To conserve year after year, laminate them and have students either type their responses or record them in a journal or reader's notebook.

An added bonus: each activity is aligned to at least one Common Core State Standard for English Language Arts, History and Social Studies, and/or Science and Technical Subjects. The standard(s) are listed on the bottom of each activity, so students can use their checklists to record the date they practiced that particular skill.

Above, I condensed my popular Facebook status activity into a quick and easy format. Use them to gauge student comprehension after reading a chapter (in ANY class) or to review from the previous day. You'll quickly find out who is keeping up and understanding the material and who is struggling (or slacking).

I chose to include the most popular activities from my classes, such as my Playlist activity, #Hashtags Vocabulary and Reading activity, Y U No guy (Socratic questioning strategy), and What's Hot? / What's Not? activity. They are versatile enough to use any time for quick assessments, icebreakers, reviews, surveys, and more. Students also love that they aren't long. Oftentimes, I've found they actually write more using these than traditional worksheets. 

Another product I haven't uploaded yet but HOPE to by the end of the sale (mine ends Tuesday at midnight) is my Catching Fire Visual Aids and Writing Prompts presentation. I'm adding many higher-level questions and new pictures to my previous version (which was only available on CD), but it's taking me longer because I want to secure permissions for all the images I include. Here's a sneak peek at one of the pages:

And I announced at the beginning of the summer I was discontinuing my CD sales, so I'm slowly uploading activities that were only available on CD previously. Here's one I just uploaded last week:

Hunger Games Review Game Bundle: I always offered my Jeopardy® style games, but only two rounds. Here you get an extra round, PLUS one review game that is specifically to help review for my Part One test. It is completely editable, so you can adjust the questions to suit your needs!

Stay tuned for more updates and don't forget to take advantage of the great sale at TeachersPayTeachers. Happy back-to-school!

Hosting Non-Violent Hunger Games Activities, Part 2

Previously, I blogged about competitive activities for your students that stay true to the theme of non-violence in The Hunger Games Trilogy. In this post, I'd like to share how I have facilitated our class activities.

For several years I have hosted a Class Reaping and Training challenge. We reap every student in the class for the positions of Tributes, Mentors, Escorts, and Stylists for each District. Those who were not reaped become the Gamemakers. This is done after we complete chapter two (or three).

The Groups
The Gamemakers form their own group and they are in charge of planning, creating, and facilitating the training stations, and scoring the tributes during the challenges.

The other students are grouped by District. They work together to create a marketing campaign for their tribute. They come up with slogans, outfits, tokens, posters, and 30-second ads to try to gain sponsorship for their District Tributes.

How Scores Are Determined
The Tributes (and their team) have three categories for scoring: Intelligence, Sponsorship, and Physical Skills.

Intelligence
After the reaping, we don't do very much planning for this project until after the Games begin in the novel. In the meantime, however, I keep track of how students performed on quizzes and other major assignments. Those who score well earn "Panem" cash. I don't hand out the Panem cash until later, though (many are likely to lose it if you pass it out before they can use it). They can use the Panem cash to sponsor Tributes (this comes later).

Students earned "Panem" cash by scoring well on quizzes/tests, getting sponsors for their District, and completing tasks in class. Students could also earn them by donating food to a local food pantry.

Rather than rewarding individuals, you could average the scores for each District and the Gamemakers and have overall team scores (not to go in the grade book, but to earn Panem cash). This will build team unity and those who are stronger in the group may cheer their classmates on and even help them study.

Throughout the novel, have a place on your board where you record each group's average score. This keeps their competitive spirit strong. Rate the group with the highest average a "12" and the group with the lowest average a "1." (If you have more than 12 groups in one class, you can adjust the numbers). This is the first of their three training scores.

Sponsorship
Once we begin reading Part 3 of the novel (and some years I've started sooner, depending on my time constraints), I give students time in class to work with their groups for their marketing campaign. You can download a free advertising/marketing campaign lesson {HERE}.

After students have their marketing materials made, we display the posters in the room and show their videos. I give every student 5 Panem dollars to use to "sponsor" the Tribute with the best campaign based on the marketing materials. This is also when I give the students/groups who earned extra Panem cash their additional dollars to use to vote.

The Gamemakers keep track of the votes (though I always check to make sure there's no padding of anyone's coffers, so to speak). They tally how many dollars each Tribute earned. The Tributes with the most dollars scores a 12 (one boy and one girl), then the Gamemakers go through all the rest and rate them based on the amount they earned. The Tributes who earned the least score a 1.

Physical Skills
The Gamemakers create physical challenges for the Tributes to compete. However, every year when we do this, we will have the rest of the students just watch. This past year I gave more students extra jobs (we were also short on Gamemakers because I had a really small group of sophomores). The next time I do this, I am going to require the Gamemakers to come up with group challenges, so the District members work as a team. That way all of the students are actively engaged.

Students have had some pretty creative challenges over the years: camouflage the orange backpack, the "cornucopia" sprint, and even a "fireball" dodge ball game where the Tributes could not touch the ball (not even to catch it) or they were burned. The Tribute who lasted the longest achieved the highest training score.

Training Scores
The Gamemakers averaged the three separate training scores together to crown the overall victor.

Panem Cash
This past spring I tried something new with the Panem cash each District earned. I divided it up (and I also granted the Gamemakers cash, as well) and let students spend their earned money in the Capitol General Store. The store was only open on the last day of school and students came in during lunch to shop. (I made sure that every student had cash to spend in the General Store.)

Items I had in the store included The Hunger Games themed folders, notebooks, novels, magnets, bookmarks, and more. Many of these prizes I purchased at a discount or earned from Scholastic with Bonus Points from their book club. Then I had a bunch of Target 1Spot finds, like picture frames, puzzles, pens/pencils. And candy is always a hit.

The benefits of Scholastic Book Clubs: earning bonus points to get The Hunger Games items! Students could use their "Panem" cash to purchase the items.

The Capitol Healing Stick (a.k.a chapstick)

These sold out! They were a hit with the girls. :)

I've been teaching the novel since 2009, so I've had a lot of time to try different things (some activities work with some students, some don't). And I'll probably mix things up again this year with my new group of sophomores. ;)

If you want to host a reaping/training, but need more structure, I have a priced resource you can download, found {HERE}. I'll be updating it soon to include a few new things I incorporated this year.

Have a great school year!