Literature-based resources for your students include a variety of activities in each Bookfolio to enable them to work independently or in collaborative groups.  The activities are designed to ensure more opportunities for them to work on projects or activities that match their interests and/or learning modalities in responding to literature, such as reading, writing, researching, dramatizing, drawing and speaking.  Many of the activities direct the students to use references in the library.  These references should include both offline and online references that are available in the classroom or the library. None of the activities require students to go online; this is dependent on each school's policy regarding the use of the Internet.  

The student-directed activities for each title in the Core Collection include the following:

Independent Activities: There are six independent activities in each Bookfolio.  In general, the sequence of activities takes students from an exploration of the text to a connection to other curriculum areas.  For example, the beginning activities may invite students to revisit the text to explore significant literary elements, such as plot, theme, character, and/or setting, or to examine a particular event.  These would be followed by activities that are designed to have students go beyond the text, such as comparing one book to another in the same genre or two books by the same author.  Where relevant, some activities are designed to link students to related topics in other curriculum areas, such as social studies or science.  You can assign an activity to an individual student or to a group of students, each of whom will  work on the same activity independently, or you may choose to have students work on one activity in a group, such as a literature circle.  These are class and instructional management decisions that belong to the classroom teacher.  To assist you in the selection process, each activity includes the learning modality and the activity's objective.  Also included on each activity page in the PDF format is an area for comments.  This can be used for assessment, additional directions, parent comment, and/or numerous other functions.

Group Activities: The six group activities in each Bookfolio are similar in design and scope to the independent activities but require two or more students to work in cooperative groups.  These activities ask the student to work with a bookmate(s), any other student(s) who has read the book at any time.  The teacher or student can select a bookmate.  In  general, the sequence of the first five activities takes the bookmates from working together to explore a writer's style or a literary element to connections in science or social studies.  The last activity, "Let's Talk About...," consists of 5-12 "big idea" questions that go beyond literal recall to encourage students to use the higher order thinking skills, such as inferring author's intent and speculating on story ambiguities.  These questions can be used as a basis for a group discussion led by the teacher or a group leader.  Again, these are decisions that are made by you to reflect your own unique management style and preference.  

Multiple-choice Questions:  This section, titled "How Well Do You Remember?",  consists of 20 multiple-choice questions that check students' literal comprehension and ability to recall story details.  Students can complete these off-line using the response form that is provided in the Bookforms section in the Teacher Center, under Miscellaneous Bookforms.    

Vocabulary Starter:   This section is included as a starter vocabulary list.  A Vocabulary Starter bookform is included in the Bookforms section of the Teacher Center.  Students should be encouraged to collect other words that interest them or are important to the story, and record them with their meanings for inclusion in their own vocabulary journal.  

About the Author and Award-winning Books by the Author: Where available, information about the author can be accessed by clicking on the author's name at the beginning of each Bookfolio.  Also included in this section are the award-winning books written by the author.  More emphasis is placed in the activities that focus on the author's style or biographical information when it is pertinent to the title.  Links to author sites are included in this section.  Many of these sites bring another dimension to the reader's experience and should be incorporated with the other book-related activities.

Book Review Forms: Book review forms are included in the Teacher Center Bookforms for students to critique or report on the books they read.  These are written off-line, and can be kept in a special location in the classroom or in a Book Review Folio for other students to read.  You may choose to submit a book review for our collection, so that other students may read them.