Westing Game Character Chart

If you are reading The Westing Game or any other book with a large number of characters to keep track of, a large, wall-sized character chart may be just right for your students.

One of my favorite books to teach (obviously) is The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.  You may have seen my other posts on the wanted posters or the way I use interactive notebooks to teach the book.  Because there are 16 characters, the kids always have trouble getting started and keeping them straight.  Then, as we progress through the book we are always trying to figure out who is the most mysterious character or who would have had a reason to kill Sam Westing.  We keep 4 x 4 charts in our interactive notebooks four times throughout the book where we keep track of what we learned about each character in those particular set of chapters.  We also keep a large interactive character chart in the classroom.  Each time we do a character chart, I also have students get into groups of three and I randomly assign them a character to report on.  They write all that they know on the sticky note that I give them in bullet points. Then, they stick them up on the wall for everyone to see.

Westing Game Character Chart

It becomes a giant reference wall. Each set of chapters has its own color of sticky note. It is especially popular when the students are making their Wanted Posters and are trying to gather as much information for their posters as they can.  It is also helpful when they are studying for their quizzes and final test.

If you are interested in getting the whole book unit check it out here.

Westing Game Book Unit

I have already read The Westing Game with one of my reading groups and I am about to start it again with another group.  My students do all of their novel study and reading response work in a composition book.  When the book is done, they have a complete study guide including comprehension, vocabulary, and any graphic organizers.  Each week we work on several chapters and there is a quiz every Friday on those chapters.  When they finish the book, they use all of their accumulated work to study for a final test.  Here is how I attack this complicated book with so many characters to keep track of...

     Character Charts-  We do one of these 4 times throughout the book.  Any new, interesting, or suspicious info goes on these.

Westing Game Character Chart - ch. 24-end

We also have a large character chart on the wall.  It is made out of 16 pieces of black 9x12 construction paper and each character gets their own piece.  We use sticky notes to add information about each character as we go on this interactive wall organizer.

     Comprehension Questions- these are done weekly for each set of chapters.

Westing Game comprehension ch. 19-23

They glue the questions on the top of the page and then answer underneath.  They must restate the question in the answer as well as provide details and/or evidence from the book.

     Vocabulary- this is also done each week in one of these advance organizers.

Westing Game Vocabulary ch. 14-18

Take a look at my post on vocabulary to see exactly what I expect the kids to do.

     Suspicious Characters Chart- students choose 3 characters that seem suspicious to them towards the middle of the book.  This gets them thinking about our big project.

The one big project that I do for this book is a wanted poster.  You can see those in my Westing Game Wanted Posters post.  Prior to that we start with this organizer first.

If you would like to download the whole book unit, I do have it available if you click my link here.

Westing Game Wanted Posters

We have been working on wanted posters for The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin with one of my reading groups.  They are perfect for this book because there are 16 characters to choose from and they decide who they think would be responsible for the murder.  I use the following rubric and directions.

Here are some examples from last year....

Berthe Crow Wanted Poster

James Hoo Wanted Poster

If you would like to see more activities for The Westing Game, please see my post on the book unit for my classroom here.  And here are a few more examples from this year...

UPDATE (Jan. 19, 2013)!!!  Everytime the kids do this project, there are new posters that are my favorites.  They get better every time!  Here are a few of my recent faves...

Berthe Crow Wanted Poster

Berthe Crow Wanted Poster