Friday, September 26, 2014

Alice in Wonderland: Close Reading Guide


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

Close Reading Guide


By 
Lisa Robles



        Alice was first published in 1865 and most found the novel to be utter
nonsense. However, the illustrations provided by John Tenniel garnered
praise.

     Over time, people have come to appreciate it for it's logic play and is
considered a prime example of the literary nonsense genre. Today it a classic.

     Personally I've always loved the book and when a colleague suggested I
decorate my classroom with Alice, I was intrigued. Here are some images
from my classroom.




     Of course I wanted to read the novel aloud to my students but I wanted to
go even deeper. I decided to create a close reading guide so that we could go
deeper with the literature.  Alice was chosen as a text exemplar by the CCSS for fourth and fifth grades.



     This 45-page close reading guide has an outline of the components of
authentic literacy and what it looks like in the classroom. I formatted the guide as follows. There are possible focus questions for each and every chapter as the
story progresses. It also includes explicit gradual release of responsibility
formatted lessons sprinkled throughout. I included a close reading sheet for
each of the explicit lessons. I also included the common core standards. At
the end, there is a blank sheet for planning and to use with close reading of
different chapters as well as a rubric for scoring the close reading. This isn't a
bunch of worksheets as I don't teach that way. This is for going deep with the
literature!

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