Activities/Resources supporting Specific Titles/Series

CMIS: Activities/Resources supporting Specific Titles/Series

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Early to Middle Childhood

Early to Late Adolescence

Charlotte's Web [MC]
Flat Stanley [EC-MC]
Harry Potter Series [MC-EA]
Horrendo's Curse [MC]
Koala Lou [EC]
Lily Quench Series [MC]
Possum Magic [EC-MC]
The Roman Mysteries Series [MC-EA]
The Very Hungry Caterpillar [EC]

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents [EA]
The Arrival [EA-LA]
Boys of Blood and Bone
[EA-LA]
Diary of Anne Frank [EA-LA]
The Fat Man [EA-LA]
Feed [EA-LA]
Frankenstein [LA]
Freak the Mighty [EA]
Hatchet [EA]
His Dark Materials Series [EA-LA]
Holes [EA]
To Kill a Mockingbird [LA]
The Kite Rider [EA-LA]
Lockie Leonard Series [EA]
The Lord of the Rings [EA-LA]
Market Blues [EA]
Out of the Dust [EA]
Requiem for a Beast Requiem for a Beast [LA]
The Quentaris Chronicles Series [EA]
Tales o f the Otori Series [EA-LA]
Wuthering Heights [LARequiem for a Beast]

Find Teachers' Notes & Reading Guides

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. (Winner Carnegie Award 2001).

Terry Pratchett Meets the Brothers Grimm: A Unit of Work for The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Trevor Agnew, in The Literature Base, Volume 16, Issue 3 , August 2005. p. 4-20. Although readers from 10 to adults can enjoy this novel, this challenging unit of work is aimed at students in Early Adolescence. The activities encourage critical and higher-order thinking and promote discussion on a range of ethical and moral issues. They involve students in an examination of the writing style, characters, plot , intertextuality and word play and introduce them to parody and satire and to the concepts of utopia and dystopia.
CMIS Review
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents [On the Annotated Pratchett website, which contains annotations, information and quotes.]
Interview with Terry Pratchett [Terry Pratchett discusses his novel The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents]
Terry Pratchett Books
HarperCollins Publisher site, which contains a biography, news, information about Discworld and the Discworld series plus information about terry's YA and children's books, message board.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan
- Shaun Tan's The Arrival [Special feature article in Fiction Focus Vol. 21 No. 1 2007 available as pdf]
- CMIS Review
- Shaun Tan's website
- For further information about Shaun Tan browse the CMIS author section.

Boys of Blood and Bone by David Metzenthen
- Truth and Dare [article by Michelle Hamer in The Age 11/01/04 about Metzenthen's novel]

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

Charlotte's WebQuest
Developed by an American teacher this WebQuest is an online unit rather than a webQuest. It involves students in reading & discussing this classic story, making comparisons between the fictional characters and real animals and showing this on a Venn Diagram, completing vocabulary and maths activities based on the book
Charlotte's Web
Teacher's Notes on Scholastic USA.

Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank [Personal account]
- Anne Frank the Writer [Early to Late Adolescence. About Anne's writing beyond her diary.]

Feed by M.T. Anderson

CMIS Review
Feed [Early to Late Adolescence. Science fiction unit based on this novel. On UK Booktrusted site, access through Creative Teaching Creative Reading section, click on Resources for teachers & scan page]

The Fat Man by Maurice Gee
- The Fat Man: Unit Plan [Early to Late Adolescence]

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
- Flat Stanley Project [Collaborative Project Early to Middle Childhood]

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
- Frankenstein WebQuest [Late Adolescence. Listed on Tom March's Best WebQuests site.]

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
- Teaching Guide to Freak the Mighty [Available on Rodman Philbrick's website the teaching notes include a plot summary, interesting questions to think about & discuss, challenging activities and information about the author.]
- Reading and Writing Workshop: Freak the Mighty [On the ReadWriteThink site the objectives of this unit are for students to: make predictions, make personal connections, demonstrate comprehension of the novel, choose and use appropriate voice in their writing, recognise and create examples of metaphor and hyperbole, increase written and spoken vocabulary.]

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone [Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence]
- Harry Potter [Publisher 's site]

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Hatchet [Teacher CyberGuide]

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- Dust & Daemons [Late Adolescence & Teacher reference. A sophisticated and lenghty review by Michael Chabon]
- Philip Pullman [Focus on Fiction author information contains several links with information about Pullman & his work]

Holes by Louis Sachar
- The Hole Truth -ThinkQuest Unit [Student-Created Units of Work]
- Louis Sachar on Holes
- A Reading Guide to Holes [Scholastic Homework Hub]
- Official website of Holes, the movie (2003). [Look at the section called 'Educators Dig Deeper!']

Horrendo's Curse by Anna Fienberg. Illustrated by Kim Gamble
- Horrendo's Curse [Middle Childhood. Activities created by Barbara Braxton. Students complete tasks on 10 islands to develop English and ICT outcomes.]

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean

The Kite Rider [Creative project on UK Booktrusted site. Click on Free resources for teachers under Creative Teaching Creative Reading heading then click on view themed units.]

Koala Lou by Mem Fox
- Koala Lou [Early Childhood. Activities created by Barbara Braxton to develop English and Health & Physical Education outcomes & Olympics topics]

Lily Quench Series by Natalie Jane Prior
- Lily Quench's Internet Hideout [Middle Childhood. Information about author, illustrator, Lily's adventures, friends, fors, teacher's notes]

Lockie Leonard Series by Tim Winton
- CMIS Review
- Lockie Leonard Lives [EA. Reading, Speaking & Writing activities created by Barbara Braxton]
- Author Information

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Tolkien Society [International organisation based in UK, includes Teacher's section]
- J.R.R. Tolkien [Early to Late Adolescence]
- The Tolkien Timeline [Chronological list of Tolkien's life, career & scholarly pursuits]
- Beyond the Movie [supports the movies, includes author information & mythological & cultural influences etc]

Market Blues by Kirsty Murray
- Market Blues [Integrated Unit for Early Adolescence]

Out of The Dust by Karen Hesse
- The Dust Bowl [Integrated Unit]
- Out of the Dust [Discussion Guide]
- Out of the Dust [WebQuest]

Possum Magic by Mem Fox. Illustrated by Julie Vivas
- Possum Magic Book Rap [Begins 3 May 2004. NSW Dept Education & Training]
- Possum Magic library activity notes [Australian Library and Information Association for Library and Information Week 24-30 May 2004]
- Possum Magic [Unit developed by Barbara Braxton for Early to Middle Childhood, on Read Around Australia site]

The Quentaris Chronicles Series. Various authors
- The Quentaris Chronicles [Early Adolescence. Author infomation map, puzzles, newsletter]

The Roman Mysteries Series by Caroline Lawrence
- The Roman Mysteries [website for Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence. Infomation about author, books & characters]

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- To Kill a Mockingbird: Growing up in the 1930s
  [Early to Late Adolescence]

Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn
- The Otori.com [US Publisher's Site. As well as the usual information about the author and the novel this site contains an audio clip of a nightingale floor (in FAQ); a Bulletin Board for readers to join to discuss the novel; and a challenge.]
- Across the Nightingale Floor [UK site. Provides a fascinating insight into the writing of the novel. Lian Hearn describes her process, explains how the world of the Otori evolved and why she chose to write in a 'spare, elliptical and suggestive style'.]

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar Unit Plan
  An integrated English/Science unit for Early Childhood, on the NZ English Online site.Using observations, experiences and close reading, students describe the life cycle of a butterfly and visually present and retell the story. (Recounts)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- Wuthering Heights WebQuest [[Late Adolescence. Can be modified for almost any novel. Students work in groups to rewrite part of the story in a more modern setting, as a scene in a play. Involves character analysis, researching historical setting, costume design, choosing appropriate dialogue.]