What book are you reading?

The Book Report Form is for when you finish a book, but for now, tell us what book you have started! What book have you chosen to read in June?

Post in the comments below.

Catching Fire - after you finish

Questions from Scholastic, Inc., the publisher of the books

• What is the meaning of the title? How many different ways can you identify the theme of “catching fire” in this volume?

Comparing The Hunger Games and Catching Fire:

• Discuss the differences between the Games in the first volume and the second—the training sessions, the interviews, the set-up of the Arena, the strategies that Katniss and Peeta use. How is each of them changed by the time they spend in the Arena?

• What are the forces that contribute to the rebellion in Catching Fire? Were they already starting to happen in The Hunger Games? What clues can you find in the books about the rebellion?

• Why are all citizens of Panem required to watch the Hunger Games on television? How does this affect the people? Why haven’t they rebelled earlier against the brutality of the Games? Discuss the effect of television and reality TV in your own life.

• What are your predictions for the third volume in the series?

• Compare the society in Panem (the government, its tight control on the population, and the growing rebellion) to others that you have studied or encountered in books or films. Consider historical and contemporary nations as well as fictional worlds. What does Panem have in common with these cultures, and how does it differ? What can we learn about our own world from studying and reading about historical and fictional societies?

Parts of an Essay

1. Introduction
• Hook: an interesting beginning
• Background information: What book is this? What is it about?
• THESIS: What is your essay about?
2. Body Paragraph 1: What is the first support piece for your thesis? That will be the main idea of this paragraph.
• Topic Sentence:  State it in one sentence the main point of this paragraph and how it connects to your thesis.
• 2-3 examples or reasons
• Concluding sentence
3. Body Paragraph 2: What is the second support piece for your thesis? That will be the main idea of this paragraph.
• Topic Sentence: State it in one sentence the main point of this paragraph and how it connects to your thesis.
• 2-3 examples or reasons
• Concluding sentence
4. Body Paragraph 3: What is the third support piece for your thesis? That will be the main idea of this paragraph.
• Topic Sentence:  State it in one sentence the main point of this paragraph and how it connects to your thesis.
• 2-3 examples or reasons
• Concluding sentence
5. Conclusion
• Restate the thesis
• Summarize main points
• Significance: So what?

Essay-Writing Steps

1. Brainstorm!!! Never start writing an essay until you get some ideas!!!
2. Formulate your thesis statement.  – the most important sentence in your essay!
3. Make an outline – collect your ideas and organize them.
4. Make sure that all of your main ideas/points in your essay support your thesis statement. This is what teachers, TOEFL scorers and college instructor look for.
5. Start to write your essay! – some people write the body first and then write the introduction and the conclusion. Others write the whole essay from beginning to end. Do what you feel most comfortable with.
6. Revise. You might change your thesis statement, or rearrange your paragraphs. Write again. 
7. Edit. Only after revising and re-writing, check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. 
8. Publish. Make a beautiful final draft to submit to a teacher, program, or share with friends. 

Revised and edited essays will be published on this blog.

This list was taken from a training led by ELFs Chris Meoli and Sarah Carter.

Thesis Statement

The thesis is the most important sentence of your essay. It tells the reader what your argument is, and why. It should give the reader an idea about what the rest of the essay will be about.

For a five-paragraph essay, here is one good formula for a thesis:

1 sentence with 3 parts: Claim, Reasoning and Occasion.

Steps to creating your thesis:

1. Make a claim - your claim is your opinion or argument - what is your idea, specifically?

2. Support your claim with 3 reasons. 3 facts to explain why your claim is correct. (If you are writing an essay about a book, these supports need to be from the text.) Usually, before the support, you’ll see words about cause, like because/by/through.

3. Add an occasion - it sets the stage for the argument, explaining to the reader what the issue is or showing the reader why he or she should be interested in the argument. It usually starts with a word like Despite/If/While/In/When. The occasion comes first, but we write it last, because we have to know what the claim and support are going to be before we can write a really good occasion.

 

EXAMPLES of theses in this format:

This format and the following examples were taken from the Breakthrough Cambridge writing curriculum.

Kyle Recommends

I highly suggest reading a book at the same time with one of your friends; we have two copies of many of our new books, and more than that of some!


Here are some of the books in the American Corner that I have really enjoyed reading:
(links go to Amazon.com if you want to read a plot summary or other people's reviews of the book)


New Books! behind the tables on the long wall

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Hatchet by Gary Pulsen

A Series of Unfortunate Events by LEmony Snicket

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Holes by Louis Sachar

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babitt

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (x6)

Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi

Tale of Desperaux by Kate Di Camillo*

Dear America: A Journey to theNew World by Kathryn Lasky

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne (also on Kindle)

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White*

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Many books by Judy Blume

*we have a movie of this book!

Books in the Fiction section on the back wall:

Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner 

Harry Potter (1-7) by J.K. Rowling*

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Percy Jackson & theOlympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Watsons Go to Birmingham,1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

Very Advanced/Classic:

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

If you want to read with others, here are some books that we have many copies of:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (x5)

The Adventures of HuckleberryFinn by Mark Twain  (x16)

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (x10)

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (x10)

Catching Fire, Chapters 1-8

Chapter 1:

• How is this like the beginning of The Hunger Games? What has changed since then and what is the same?

Chapter 2:

• What is so horrible about President Snow's visit? How is he different from what you expect? 

Chapter 3:

• Who does Katniss decide to tell about the visit with President Snow? Do you agree with her decision?

Chapter 4:

• Katniss makes a very emotional speech in District 11. Everyone in the crowd then makes the sign of District 12 - why do they do this?  It "fills her with dread" - why? 

Chapter 5:

• Why is Peeta so angry? Should Katniss have told him more earlier?

Chapter 6:

• What is so disgusting about Capitol party traditions?
• What does the new Head Gamemaker show Katniss?

Chapter 7:

• Gale and Katniss argue about what they should do after they hear that there is an uprising in District 8. Whose side would you be on: Gale's or Katniss's? Why?

Chapter 8:

• What do we learn about Katniss's feelings for Gale and for Peeta? Is it more clear or more confused?