Vocabulary Activity #3

Swat the Board

This is a fun game in which students are divided into two teams. One person from each team stands at the board with a fly swatter in hand. 

On the board, all the vocabulary words are written irregularly across the whole board.

The teacher gives one clue. The clue could be the definition, a sentence with the word blanked out, synonyms, or antonyms of the word. After the clue is given, students race to see which one can figure out the clue and slap the correct word first.

Student teams can keep track of points to keep it more competitive and engaging. This fun game not only helps students review vocabulary but helps them learn it more deeply through synonyms, antonyms, and example sentences.

Now that you've mastered the vocab, let's do some Before Reading Activities----------->

What to Read Next?

Suggestions for your Next Read

Other Works by this Author:

• Between the Lines 
• A Companion Novel to Bronx Masquerade
• The Road to Paris
• Jazmin's Notebook
• Dark Sons
• Planet Middle School

Books About Race/Ethnicity:

• The Skin I'm In, Sharon Flake
• Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan
• Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan
• Chu Ju's House, Gloria Whelan
• Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis
• Monster, Walter Dean Myers
• Autobiography of My Dead Brother, Walter Dean Myers
• Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man
• The Hate You Give, Angie Thomas
• Copper Sun, Sharon Draper
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Christopher Paul Curtis
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexie
• The Color Purple, Alice Walker
• Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson

The Text

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes.

For this unit, we'll be studying Nikki Grime's Bronx Masquerade.

This novel is a wonderful portrayal of many different perspectives. Each chapter told by a different student in Mr. Ward's (a happy coincidence), English class. While learning about the Harlem Renaissance and studying the poetry of the period, the students find new ways to represent themselves through their own poetry.

While reading this novel, we'll also delve into poetry concepts such as figurative language, imagery, etc. We'll look up some poems by Mr. Langston Hughes who is referenced frequently within the text.

Lastly, we're going to focus on the theme of dreams. Why do we make plans for the future? How do you overcome your fear to chase your dreams? What does the future look like to you? Do some people have an easier path to accomplishing their dreams? We'll work to answer these questions and more, just as the characters do.

To find out more about the author of our novel check out this post here! You could also check out her very own website, popular quotes from the text (like the one below), or the readability of this text. 

After Reading Activity #1

Philosophical Chairs

Philosophical Chairs is an activity or game that we're going to use to debate some of the ideas and concepts from this text. Remeber at the beginning of this novel, before we began reading when we discussed some big ideas during the learning stations? (If you don't remember you can click here!)

We're going to use some of those questions, along with some new more text-specific ones.

After Reading Activity #2

RAFT Writing Letter

Pretend that the school administration has threatened to pull the plug on Open Mike Fridays, believing it is not contributing to the new focus on standards of learning and is a waste of time. Your job is to either defend the practice of Open Mike Fridays or voice your agreement with the school's choice.

After Reading Activity #3

Character Venn Diagrams

As we've learned, this novel is the coming of age of 18 different students. Each student grows and changes over the course of the book, taking off their masks and morphing into their true selves. In this activity, we'll be looking at how two characters are alike and different after you've learned all there is about them.

After Reading Activity #4

Directing the Novel

Now that we've finished the book, let's move from reader to director! Your role is to imagine yourself as a big time movie director. Your job is to make Bronx Masquerade into a movie. To do so, you should consider the following questions:

During Reading Activity #1

QtA Note Taking

QtA stands for Question the Author. Have you ever been told that you shouldn't question those in charge, adults, or authority? Well in this form of note taking, I want you to do the exact opposite. Question EVERYTHING! Great readers ask the author questions to dig for a deeper understanding of the text. 

 (Basically, I want you to be as judgemental as Crookshanks here.)

References

References

Danley, G. (Educator) & Dickey, Jeremiah (Director). (n.d.) Become a slam poet in five steps. TedEd. Retrieved from https://ed.ted.com/lessons/become-a-slam-poet-in-five-steps-gayle-danley#review

Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it. New York: Stenhouse Publishers.

Grimes, N. (2002). Bronx Masquerade. New York: Speak, Penguin Group.


Hughes, L. (1990). Harlem from Collected Poems. Random House Inc. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46548/harlem

Simmons, A. (5 April 2016). Literature's Emotional Lessons. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/educating-teenagers-emotions-through-literature/476790/

Vacca, J., Vacca, R., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content Area Reading: Literacy and learning across the curriuculm (11th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Before Reading Activity #1

Discussion Stations:

This Pre-Reading Activity is great to introduce topics that will be explored in the text as well as the students' preconceived notions about them.

It help taps into their prior-knowledge, while giving students ideas on what the text might be about. 

For this activity, students would be split up into groups of about 4 or 5 depending on class size. Each station has a different focus for discussion. The categories for discussion include argue for or against, explain, describe, or would you rather? Students move from station to station in their groups, picking one task card from the stack to read and discuss.

Here are the task cards we'll be using for Bronx Masquerade:

Vocabulary Activity #2

Fill in the Blank

In this activity, we'll be practicing making meaning of words from context clues! Context clues help us determine the meaning of unknown words, they can appear within the same sentence as the challenging word or in the sentence that precedes or follows it.

There are four types of common context clues:

1. Repeat Clues: the author uses a synonym of the difficult term to help the reader define it.
2. Contrast Clues: the author uses an antonym to show the reader what the difficult term does not mean.
3. Definition Clues: the author defines the word for the reader within the same text.
4. Example Clues: the author gives different examples to help the reader understand the difficult term.

As a reader, you can also make meaning from unknown words by looking for prefixes, suffixes, root words, and the general content of the text you're reading.

To practice using context clues, we're going to use our important vocabulary from chapters 1-3 (which can be found here). I will give you a sentence from the text that is missing one word. Using the context clues surrounding the sentence, you will deduct which word is missing!