Chapter 10 makes me sad because the end of this great novel is so near. Sigh.

Students do the pre-reading discussion questions using the cube template included in the Teacher’s Guide. I made one class set of cubes the first time that I taught this novel, and I save it in a box with all the other reusable activities that I made for the novel. Students needed to write down each of the questions that they create and turn them in.

Before reading Chapter 10

I asked some of the questions that were handed in to the class.

We did the Line up! activity from the Teacher’s Guide. Again, I recommend printing out one set and laminating it to use year after year.

I asked the students, “¿Qué va a ocurrir en el Capítulo 10? Haz una predicción”. We discussed their answers.

Chapter 10 read aloud

I read the chapter aloud to the students, as dramatically as humanly possible, trying my hardest to build suspense and clarify meaning as we read.

After reading our final chapter, we discussed the after-reading questions. Then, Students completed a Story Elements Glove for the book (on paper), and then they used their glove to write a summary of the novel (writing assessment). We discussed what each student considered to be the climax and what the resolution was, since the book leaves with a bit of a cliff-hanger.

Culminating activity for El nuevo Houdini: keep it simple!

Finally, each kid illustrated their favorite scene from the book and shared it with their classmates with the inside/outside circle format. I also recorded each student talking about their drawing and used it as a speaking assessment.

The Teacher’s Guide has a lot of other great ideas for end-of-the-book culminating activities, so if you haven’t bought it by now….do it!!

I received express, written consent from the publisher to share the materials that I created for this novel in this blog post. I am not compensated in any way by the author or publisher for writing this post.

More resources for teaching El nuevo Houdini

Pre-reading: Houdini Rope Escape

Using novels in class:

3 replies on “El Nuevo Houdini, Chapter 10”

  1. About the speaking activity you mentioned: Do most of your students actually take this activity seriously and work at it? Mine generally rush through and seem to give little thought about what they are doing. Days we do inside/outside circles or other activities to tell stories I feel are really a complete waste. Any hints? Also, I’m curious about how you record for a speaking assessment. I’ve used Google voice/cell phones, which is pretty chaotic, partially due to spotty cell phone reception in the building. Do use use Michigan CLEAR resources for this? (we don’t have microphones in the computer lab anyway…)

    Reply

    1. I have used the inside out circle activity quite a bit with a lot of success. I do explain my expectations depending on what we are practicing, but lots of details if it was the activity above. I also include myself in the inside out circle activity to hear how it is going. And, if they are not meeting my expectations, I stop and let students know what is missing.
      Or, I use a bell. At the bell, I select a name of a person who must speak whatever it is that we are practicing.
      Hope that helps.

      Reply
  2. Pingback: Houdini Rope Escape, Movie Talk - The Comprehensible Classroom

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