Explore the element of plot using the work of Cynthia Rylant. First, select a title appropriate to the grade level of your class. Ask your school librarian for a list of Rylant's titles from which you or your students may choose.

Have students work as a class on one book, or in small groups or individually on selected titles. Students can then use the ReadWriteThink Plot Diagram to map the plot of the selected story. Finally, invite students to create original literary works using the plot diagrams.

• Younger students can adapt the story into a picture book by creating illustrations depicting the elements of plot.
  
  
• Older students can rewrite the story by changing a plot element, such as the climax or resolution.

New technologies have made it easier than ever for people to get the news. This is in stark contrast to previous centuries, when there were fewer news sources and it could take days or even months for important news to travel long distances. Have students brainstorm a list of modern news sources, such as newspapers, radio, the Internet, television, e-mail, or text messaging. Next, have students brainstorm a list of news sources from previous centuries, such as telegrams or the town crier.

Arrange the class in small groups and assign each group one of these news sources to research. Students should find out when and where the method was first used, when people stopped using it, and so on. Then have students work together using the ReadWriteThink Interactive Timeline to create a visual timeline showing the evolution of the news over time. See also the Timeline Tool page for information and activity ideas.

In The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, Curtis examines America's stuggle for civil rights, through the eyes of a family that gets caught up in the turmoil of 1963. Have your students explore a civil rights issue by writing poetry, using the Acrostic Poems interactive. First, as a class, brainstorm a list of civil rights issues, notable figures, places, and events from American history. Examples could include Birmingham, Martin Luther King, Jr., segregation, and Rosa Parks. Then have students use the Acrostic Poems interactive to create their poems.

If you do not have access to the Internet, students can create acrostic poems without using the interactive. First, have each student select a topic for his or her poem. Next, ask them to brainstorm a list of key words that describe or remind them of their topic. Then have students use the list of words they generated to help them write their poems.

Celebrate Get Caught Reading Month with a reading-related service project. Try one of these activities with your students:

• Plan an intergenerational reading day. Invite seniors to visit your school, or arrange a trip for your students to a local senior center. Have students select books to read to adults, and invite adults to share a favorite story with students. Extend an ongoing invitation to guest readers, perhaps on a monthly basis.
  
  
• Organize a book drive to collect new or nearly new books to supplement your classroom or school library, or to donate to families or a local children's hospital.

Be sure to have a camera on hand to "catch your students reading" on film throughout the month. You can also have students organize a community "Get Caught Reading" campaign by taking photos of members of their families and community figures (firefighters, grocers, local police officers, etc.) caught reading, and creating a school display.

American film and theater have many examples of musical works that have been adapted from a novel or other non-musical version. Explore the effects of music on a story by examining one example with your class.

• First, brainstorm a list of such works, which could include examples such as A Christmas Carol, Les Misérables, and numerous Disney films.
• Next, after reading a story, novel, or play (or viewing a non-musical version on film), have students view the musical version.
• Then, have students discuss the differences they observed between the two versions of the story. Were the characters, setting, and main events the same? In the musical version, what role did song lyrics play in telling the story? Do both versions seem equally dramatic (or funny, or sad, etc.)? Which version do students prefer? Why?
• Finally, have students select a text that you've read in class. They should imagine that they are a songwriter working on a musical adaptation of the story. They can work alone or in groups to write lyrics to one song. They can use the tune to a song they know or compose their own music. Students should be able to explain how this song would help tell the story and which character or characters sing the song. Students can perform their songs for the class or use the interactive CD/DVD Cover Creator to design a cover for the soundtrack. More tips are available for use with this tool.

Choose complementary Reading Rainbow selections to explore a topic using fiction and nonfiction.

For example, Ruth Heller's Chickens Aren't the Only Ones and Patricia Polacco's Rechenka's Eggs both explore the subject of animals that lay eggs. On the topic of dinosaurs, you'll find William Joyce's Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo and Aliki's Digging up Dinosaurs. After reading both books, your students can compare the selections using the interactive Venn Diagram.

Have students work individually or in small groups to write a poem, song, article, journal entry, or comic strip about the same topic. When all the pieces are completed, compile them in a book or create a bulletin board display.

Have your class work as a whole and in small groups to create a class "100th Day" book. First, have students break into small groups to brainstorm a list of possible topics for the book. Some possibilities include:

• 100 poems
• 100 ways to improve the Earth (our school, etc.)
• 100 people who changed history

Each group should nominate one idea to be considered by the whole class. Have the class vote on their favorite topic, brainstorm specific ideas, and then create a book based on this topic. Proudly display your book in your classroom or school library!

Taking inspiration from August Wilson's epic cycle of ten plays, each set in a different era and together representing a broad portrait of life in a particular community, work with a school or local librarian to gather a number of print and digital resources about the history of your community. Challenge students to find an event or theme that can serve as the focal point for a story set in each decade. Have the class work together to use the Timeline Tool to create a decade-by-decade record of the community's history. Then, have small groups choose one of the events/decades to develop into a play using the Drama Map as a guide.

Students who read Tim O’Brien’s stories, particularly The Things They Carried, are intrigued by his flexible literary concept of “truth.” He suggests that the truth of fiction, as revealed by a story, can be more true than what actually happened. After reading O’Brien’s story “A True War Story” from The Things They Carried, have students choose a powerful event from their own lives. Using the Timeline Tool, have them map out the events from real life. Then, with the emotional impact of the full story in mind, encourage them to create a fictional version that remains true to the facts of real life but moves toward O’Brien’s notion of the “story truth.”

Using background information on Pedro Albizu Campos as an example, invite students to investigate the complicated histories of figures from throughout the world associated with nationalist movement.  These movements, often related to histories of colonization, assert the interests of one's own nation as separate from the interests of other nations or the larger interests of all nations.  Prominent nationalist figures include

• Pedro Albizu Campos (Puerto Rico)

• Simón Bolívar (South America)

• Miguel Hidalgo (Mexico)

• Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

• Nelson Mandela (South Africa)

• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (India)

• Michael Collins (Ireland)

Let students or groups of students choose a figure from this list, or another nationalist figure of their choice.  Students can conduct research through print and Internet sources and share their findings with their peers using the Bio-Cube student interactive.