Content Area: Language Arts

Grades: 2, 3, 4

Invitation

How does one make book reports exciting and innovative? By combining story elements with technology, students can become enthusiastic about analyzing a story and creating a final product. By using the ClarisWorks slide show template for a book report, students are encouraged to develop higher level thinking skills as they present information about their novels.

Tools

Computers, ClarisWorks software--ClarisWorks assistant: presentation/ fun style for kids; Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne, paper outline of slide show.

Learning Environment/Situations

This unit occurs in the classroom and the computer lab.The unit requires 5 days to introduce and fill in the outline of the slide show on paper, 5 days to enter and revise the content in the computer lab, and 1 day to view the slide shows.

Interactions

The teacher shows the class an example of a slide show book report on the classroom computer. She introduces them to the slide show paper outline. Students use class time as well as homework assignments to complete portions of the outline. The teacher monitors completion of each portion and assists students with editing their work. After completion of the paper outline, the class goes to the computer lab to enter their information in the Claris Works assistant (presentation/fun style for kids), which is a book report outline. Upon completion of the book reports, the class will view each others' slide shows on the large overhead projector screen. Students may choose to read their own information or the teacher may read it aloud for them.

Standards (Texas Essential knowledge and Skills)

The students produce summaries of a text, represent text information in different ways, respond to a story in ways that reflect understanding, support interpretations with examples drawn from text, understand and identify literary terms such as title, author, and illustrator, analyze characters, demonstrate learning through a display, and use available technology for writing.

Tasks

Following the completion of Mummies in the Morning, the class discusses the story elements and completes the slide show outline. The students revise and edit their writing, enter it onto the computer, and view their final products.

Assessment

A rubric may be used to assess the slide shows. The teacher bases the rubric on content (clarity and ability to support positions), grammar, mechanics, and final product appearance.