Story Pyramids - Tuck Everlasting and The Devil's Arithmetic

Two of my reading groups finished their novels just before the break.  The first group finished Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit and the second group finished The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen.  After finishing, we do a lesson on story structure.  I use the basic pyramid that you can find all over.

Story Pyramid

I have them take notes in their Reading Notebooks first, then have them create their own story pyramids using their novels.  It is expected that they combine the parts of the story with citations from the book.  I also ask them to use images with each part of their pyramid. I give them a copy of this rubric:

Story Pyramid Rubric

Some of them turn out really wonderful.  Here is one from Tuck Everlasting...

Tuck Everlasting Story Pyramid

 And here are three from The Devil's Arithmetic...

Devil's Arithmetic Story Pyramid 1

Devil's Arithmetic Story Pyramid 2

Devil's Arithmetic Story Pyramid 3

Tuck Everlasting Foldable - Reviewing for tests

So on top of working with visual notetaking, the kids are always preparing for their weekly novel quizzes.  This week was Tuck Everlasting for chapters 19 through the epilogue.  Lots to remember.  We used a standard foldable and some visual note taking to review the main events and some vocabulary.  I just HAD to share this one.

Tuck Everlasting Foldable Organizer

I use these a lot the day before a quiz.  I give them guidelines about the topic of each box and then they use all of their resources from the week to fill each area with as much detail as possible.  Then they get taped into their Reading Response Notebooks as a reference that can be used to study for the final test.

Visual Notetaking Part Two: Student Check-in

So I decided to grab a few interactive notebooks to see how some of the kids were doing with their visual note taking.  We have started out pretty basic, but some of them have really done a great job putting their own ideas, doodles, and personality into it.  Here are a few examples from our "genre" notes.

I am pretty darn impressed!

Visual Notetaking - 6th grade style

So, we are halfway (or so) through the year and most of my students are pros at notetaking.  They keep 3 notebooks covering 5 subjects and notes can get a little boring for them.  I began introducing Visual Notetaking to the ones who are ready to move on and put their own personality into their notes.  Austin Kleon is awesome at introducing some basics that are do-able for my kids.  Check out his website http://www.austinkleon.com/visual-note-taking/  and books.  Another great resource is Sunni Brown.  This is a hot trend in business right now, so a google image search will result in a boatload of great pics.

This week we are just covering the basics of fiction and non-fiction genres.  Basic notes and vocabulary so I thought it would be a good week to spice it up.  This is what one group started with yesterday...

Stay tuned for more as the week progresses...