2010 Summer Reading

Hey young historians!  I hope summer is flying by, and you are getting geared up for 8th grade American history.  You get to read two books this summer for American history.  The first one, Nothing but the Truth by Avi, is a quick read that will introduce you to the concept of perspective – we do a lot of that in class!  You do not have an assignment for this book.

The second book is your choice from my class Shelfari page.  All of the books deal with the American military, and you can select any one from the list.  Once you have read the book, your assignment is to complete an online review using ONE of the four activities listed below.  Once you have completed the assignment, send the finished project link to me and I will assemble everyone’s review for future use.

In order to complete the project, you will need to sign up for the online platform that you select.  Remember to only post your first name and last initial, do not put up any photo of yourself, save your work often, and contact me with any questions!

Glogster Advertisement – Glogster is an awesome platform that allows you to create on interactive poster.  For this assignment, make a glog advertising your summer reading book.  Your glog should have an attractive background, a catch phrase to describe the book, a paragraph review of your book, images that help tell the story of your book, a signature quote or two from the book, and brief descriptions of the main characters. If you want, you can include links to the subject of the book or some real reviews! Once you are done, publish the glog and send me the link.

Voicethread Commercial – You have probably played with voicethread in class before, but if not, it’s a cool way to combine images, video, text, and audio.  For this assignment, make a voicethread commercial for your summer reading book.  Your advertisement should have an audio introduction and overview of the book, some signature quotes from the book that help sell the book, and images (and video if you can) that help tell the story for the book. If you want, you can include links to the subject of the book or some real reviews! Once you are done, publish the glog, make it so everyone can view it, and send me the link.

Xrtranormal Conversation - Every play around with xtranormal?  You will want to once you give it a try.  In this assignment, you will make a dialogue between two readers who have read your summer reading book.  In the dialogue, each speaker will discuss their opinion of the book, including specific scenes, quotes and characters that support their opinion. Try to add some gestures and scene changes to spice up the conversation. Once you are done, publish the movie (it may take a while) and send me the finished link.

Weebly Website Review – Making a website is pretty simple now, and weebly is an easy way to create them quickly and effectively.  In this assignment, make a one page website reviewing your summer reading book.  The website should have a review or the book, some of the great lines or quotes from the book, images that set the stage for the book, and links to historical topics found in the book. Once you are done, publish the website and send me the link.