Reader’s Journal

Journal Set Up• Date Book Title Book Author• Prompt• Your response

• September 8, 2015 The Pigman by Paul Zindel• I’m noticing….• I’m noticing that it is weird that Mr. Pignati gives the kids wine

and trusts them so much. I think it might be Mr. Pignati that gets John and Lorraine in trouble. Mr. P. seems too nice, something’s up. I am feeling skeptical and uneasy. His fascination with the zoo seems unusual, too.

Prompt 1

•I’m noticing….

Prompt 2

•I feel a connection to the story because…

Prompt 3

•I wish I could tell the author….

Prompt 4

•The story reminds me of the time…

Prompt 5

•If a character from your story could meet a character from another book, who would that character be and why?

Prompt 6

•The author must have been in a _______ mood when he was writing because in the story the following actions took place _____________________.

Prompt 7

•Sketch a significant artifact from your story.

Prompt 8

•An important decision a character in my book had to make was…

Prompt 9

•The story’s setting is ___________ .

It would be crazy if the setting was changed to ______________because________________

Prompt 10

•I am disappointed the author ……

Prompt 11• Draw and fill in the chain reaction based on events in your

book

Cause/Event

Led to

Cause/Event Cause/Event

Led to

Prompt 12

•Identify a line in your book where the author included a detail that you could HEAR.

Prompt 13

•Identify a line in your book where the author included a detail that you could TOUCH/FEEL.

Prompt 14 My Book’s Setting

Time Place

Economic Condition Cultural Influence

Prompt 15

•Sketch the most important aspect of the setting of your book.

Prompt 16

•Honestly, my book is (circle one)

Too HardToo EasyJust Right

Because…..

Prompt 17•Would it be cheap or expensive to turn

your book into a movie? Circle your answer.• List 5 reasons why it could be made

cheaply or expensively.• 1.• 2.• 3.• 4.• 5.

Prompt 18

• If your book was turned into a video game…•What would the title be?•How would the players play?•How do you know if you won?

Prompt 19

•What character in your book would make the best action figure? •Who would buy it? Boys? Girls? •What ages?

Prompt 20

•Create an ad for the action figure or video game described in Prompt 18 or 19. It needs to include descriptive words, pictures, and a catchy slogan.

Prompt 21

•List 5 words the author uses instead of “said”.

Prompt 22

•An important decision a character in my book had to make was…

Prompt 23Static Character Dynamic Character

Character’s name Character’s name

Why he/she is a static character… Why he/she in a dynamic character…

Prompt 24

Character

Trait

MotivationTrait

Motivation

Prompt 25

•A feeling that changed or was confirmed in me by reading this book was…..

Prompt 26

Put an X on the line that matches your feelings about the mood of your book and cite a reason below.

Lighthearted MacabreWhimsical Gut-wrenching

I feel this because………….

Prompt 27• Skim your book and find 4 4-syllable words. List them broken

up by syllable and put an accent mark on the stressed syllable. If you can’t hear the stressed syllable – use a dictionary.

Example : Excellently = Ex’-cell-ent-ly

1.

2.

3.

4.

Prompt 28• Search your book for 6 adverbs. 3 How and 2 extent

(intensifiers) and 1 other ( where or when). LABEL EACH with the question it answers.

• 1.• 2.• 3.• 4.• 5.• 6

Prompt 29• Find and copy 2 sentences that use commas that are NOT part

of dialog.

Examples:

Jonas’ father, wearing his nurturing uniform, entered the little room. ( Appositive )

Today flesh is all the same, and what you saw were the red tones. ( Compound sentence)

Prompt 30

• Draw a picture of the main character of your book. ON the character, write one story detail that show indirect characterization. On the outside of the picture, write 3 direct characterization words.

Prompt 31• Survey the books being read by others in our class. Write the

titles of 6 in the boxes. What generalization can you make about the kind of literature 7th grade students like to read.

Generalization:

Prompt 32

The author must have been in a _______ mood when he was writing because the events in the book are things like…

Prompt 33

•Sketch an artifact from your story.

Prompt 34•Re-title your book.

•Why did you pick this title?

•Would the new title make your book more marketable? Why?

Prompt 35

• Copy a line from your book that shows an emotion that your character is feeling.

• Under the line that you copied, write the emotion that it shows

• You may use one of the colorful orange paper to help pinpoint the exact feeling.

Prompt 36• Copy 5 sentences that contain prepositional phrases. Circle the

prepositions.• 1.

• 2.

• 3.

• 4.

• 5

Prompt 37• What events are happening on the page you are reading right

now? (Describe in a sentence or two)

• In your opinion….

• Are the events moving the plot forward ? Y/N• Developing a character? Y/N• Building suspense? Y/N• Describing a situation? Y/N

Prompt 38

•At this point in the story, is the main character’s actions showing maturity or immaturity?

•Cite one story detail to support your opinion.

Prompt 39

• The most appropriate gift the main character in your book could receive would be _____________________

because ___________________________?

Prompt 40• Which character in your book do you respect?

• List 3 traits or actions that make them worthy of your respect.• 1.• 2.• 3.

Prompt 41

• Look back on all of the books you have included in this journal.•What quality do they all have in

common? •What do you have in common with

these books?

Prompt 42• Think of the books you gave up on this year. List one.

• Pretend that you bought it on Amazon and were asked to do a product review. Fill in the number of stars you would give it and underneath give a detailed reason why.

Prompt 43

• How did you like Reader’s Response Journals compared to AR or reading logs?

• What should be added or changed on the BINGO sheet? Were there books you like to read, but found they didn’t fit a category?

• Independent reading is important, how should students track their reading ? AR? Logs? Readers’ Journal? Other ( tell me)

• In your opinion, should Wordwise Wednesday be replaced with vocabulary lists/ quizzes?