Project Overview
Welcome
to Spice It up a Notch with Nutmeg, a collaborative
project for teachers and their students in grades 4 through 8. The project supports classroom teachers to utilize
the Nutmeg Book Award program in a way that addresses Connecticut’s
Standards through an authentic, engaging, online project.
The project
is designed for student work to be showcased on the World Wide Web
and for teachers to share their ideas with colleagues.
This project:
-
Promotes discourse as
a way to build knowledge and understanding
- Encourages
student voice through persuasive writing and dialogue
- Requires
students to defend/support a position citing evidence
- Requires
students to use a rubric to develop and evaluate a product for submission
- Includes
research-based effective teaching strategies
- Helps
prepare students for the new
literacy skills required by information and communication technologies
such as participating in online discussion boards, blogs, and monitored
chats.
Project Requirements
Classrooms
will read and respond to selected Nutmeg books
through literature discussion groups,
literature circles or book clubs and complete the Nutmeg
Book Comparison Matrix. Students can participate in online literature
discussions, blogs, and chats with other classrooms about the Nutmeg
books they are reading. Individual students, groups, or classes can
create an oral, written, or visual product
or performance designed to persuade others to vote for their selected
Nutmeg book (optional).
Teachers
will be asked to submit the following to the website:
- Summary
of how the project was implemented in the classroom
- Instructional
resources or lessons used during project that you'd be willing to
share
-
Persuasive Products or Performances
or other student work products that were done as a response to Nutmeg
Books
Project Timeline
This timeline is flexible. We realize that due to the late start
of this project, getting the materials before voting in January will
be challenging. We will continue to host discussions online and post
materials through to June 2007.
By
January 20, 2006-
Register for Project
Please
e-mail the following information to sblc@eastconn.org
- Your
name
- e-mail
address
- School
name and town
- Grade
Level
You
will receive a confirmation e-mail with additional participation information.
November-June
2007- Read, discuss and respond to Nutmeg books.
By
December 23, 2006- Work on Persuasive Pieces to Showcase on Website
(optional): Individual students, groups, or classrooms use
the Persuasive Product/Performance Rubric
to develop and evaluate product or
performance for submission.
By
December
23, 2006- Submit
Products/Performances for Publication on Website (Materials
will be continue to be accepted and posted after this date. The deadline
is for those classrooms that wish to post their persuasive pieces
for the voting deadline of January 31st)
Materials
need to be e-mailed to sblc@eastconn.org for publication. Work will be posted by January 11, 2007 and will remain online
to be used as a resource.
January
2007-June 2007 - Continue to read and discuss the Nutmeg books in
class and online at any time during the rest of the year. The
Discussion Boards, blogs, and scheduled chats will continue as long
as there are participants. Work will continue to be accepted up to
June 1st.
January
11 - 31, 2007- Visit the Participation
Showcase to consider everyone’s opinions before voting.
By January
31, 2007- Readers vote in their school or public library
for their favorite book to determine the Nutmeg winner.
February
2007- The winning title for the Award is announced on the
Nutmeg Children's
Book Award website.
Suggested Activities
- Create
literature discussion groups based on interest
or student needs.
- Build
background knowledge before reading the books by learning more about
the concepts and topics addressed in the books.
- Support
deep understanding of texts by providing students with tools
for effective discussions.
- Use
the online discussion boards
to provide students with an authentic context for literature response.
- Use
the
Nutmeg Comparison Matrix to organize, compare, and discuss elements
and responses to the Nutmeg books.
- Choose
from the suggested formats to create
an oral, written, or visual product designed to persuade others
to vote for the selected Nutmeg books.
Obtaining Multiple Copies of Books
- Share book sets with
other teachers at your grade level in your school and perhaps neighboring
schools
- Use bonus points from
your students' book orders to buy book sets
- Work with your school
and public libraries to gather multiple copies
- Obtain grants through
your Parent/Teacher/Student Association to buy books
This
project is hosted by EASTCONN's
Standards Based Learning Center
