by Suzanne Collins Published by Scholastic Press ISBN: 978-0439023481 384 pages I am a little late to The Hunger Games party, but finally was able to read it. Reading a book that already has such a huge and loyal following is a little like going on a trip to a place you've heard lots about while trying to decide if it's really for you. I wasn't disappointed though. Set in the future of what was once North America, The Hunger Games follows the main character Katniss Everdeen. We learn that society has self-destructed and what remains is a country known as Panem, 12 districts and an all-powerful Capitol city. As punishment for a failed rebellion, the Capitol has instituted the Hunger Games, a no-holds-bar battle to the death masked as entertainment. To add insult, the competitors are children between the ages of 12 and 18, chosen by a random draw and forced to fight for their lives, while their families must watch from home. The games are the worst of reality television, pagentry, manipulation, punishment, and reward wrapped into one. Each competitor or "tribute" wants to win, because it means his or her own survival, but winning also means killing the other tributes who might have been your friends if they had not been thrown into the arena with you. Katniss is a complex character. At sixteen, she is the provider for her family. After her father's death in a mining accident and her mother's resulting depression, Katniss does what she must to keep her family alive. She strays out of the boundaries of District 12 to hunt, an activity punishable by death if she's caught. She learns to trade some of her catch for other essentials to keep her family from starving. The harshness of Katniss life forces her to guard her emotions. Life under the Capitol's control has taught her to hold her tongue to avoid bringing retribution to her family. Once selected for the games, the rules change. Although she hates the Capitol and sees the Hunger Games for what they really are, punishment for the districts' rebellion 70 years ago, she has to play along for the sake of her family and her district. As most people are aware, there's a lot of violence in this book. The tributes endure brutal attacks from each other and must survive the whims of the Gamemakers, those in the Capitol responsible for keeping the Hunger Games entertaining. I found myself wincing more than once while reading. This is a book I would recommend for my mature middle grades readers who aren't overly squeamish. The Hunger Games is a great book full of intrigue and action. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in the series. |
Glogster is an awesome site I discovered last summer and immediately could think of dozens of ways to use it. Think of all the poster projects you have assigned in the past. What if those posters could be shrunk down and saved on the computer? What if those posters could be interactive? What if those posters could be shared with others outside of your classroom? That's Glogster in a nutshell. Part of our sixth grade curriculum involves a study of the Underground Railroad. We read Virginia Hamilton's excellent mystery The House of Dies Drear in English class and in Social Studies they study the Underground Railroad and a brief history of slavery in the US. Our unit culminates with an overnight trip to the Joy Outdoor Education program in Clarksville, Ohio where we participate in their living history Underground Railroad simulation. As a preface to beginning this unit, I have always done a brief research activity with the kids about some notable names related to the Underground Railroad and slavery debate. Each student is randomly given a person's name and they must find out biographical information and his or her view on slavery. This year, I redesigned the project to have my students create a glog about the person they were assigned. They were to imagine it was the year 1851 and a runaway slave appeared at the door. What would they do? In their glogs, they needed to include:
I created a sample glog for them and using Glogster's "Projects" feature (available for EDU Premium accounts), students were able to create their own glogs based off of my template.
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I am a middle school English teacher integrating literacy & technology and building awesome readers. Archives
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