Mary Amato

Writing with Humor, Heart, & Grit

One Book One School: Edgar!

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Imagine all the kids and teachers in a school reading the same book. Eli Whitney Elementary School in Ohio chose Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook for their “One Book, One School” celebration.

Even before the book title was announced, the program involved a creative twist. To play with the mystery format, the media specialist Rebecca Gilhuly and staff gave students seven clues and the students had to solve them to figure out what book the school would be reading.

 

After the reveal, the students were given copies of the book as well as a Crime Investigation Notebook and instructions on how to use it like Edgar to figure out not only the mystery in my story, but also a new mystery that Ms. Gilhuly created.

Every week for four weeks the school had trivia questions and students who completed all questions correct they were put into a raffle to win another book written by me. The students had a blast investigating, interviewing, and trying to solve the mysteries. At the conclusion of the book students were encouraged to hand in their notebooks for a score and the opportunity to have a Skype session with me.

 

 

For a culminating activity, the High School Honors Forensics students will be coming to the school for a day. They will have six stations set up that students will cycle through. Some of the stations are fingerprinting, hair samples, deductive reasoning, DNA analysis.

Thanks so much to Ms. Gilhuly and the staff and students of Eli Whitney ES for celebrating books and for creating such a community of readers.

Creative School Encourages Reading with One Book One School

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Edgar Allan final coverMunson (OH) Elementary School chose Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook for every student and staff member to read for the 2015 One Book One School project.

The staff pitched in to build excitement before and during the big read. The book is about a thief who steals objects from a 5th grade classroom and leaves clues to the mystery in the form of poems. Edgar Allan, one of the students, keeps his own investigation notebook in order to collect clues.

For three days before the “big reveal” principal Louise Henry dressed up like a detective and visited each classroom with a clue (in the form of a poem) about something to do with the book. Each student was given a mini blank notebook.

Here is a description from Louise Henry of more ways this innovative school created excitement to read.

  • On the following Monday, each class got a clue which led them to their bag of Edgar Allan books hidden somewhere in the school. The teacher read the first chapter and then they were on their own to read two chapters a night from then on.
  • We created a willow tree (which is in the book) in the library, and kids were selected from their rooms to be able to go and read under the tree.
  • Because “a poem is a gift” in the book, we wrapped empty boxes, gave one to each classroom and they wrote and sent poems to other classrooms on two different days.
  • We created a poetry bulletin board for student poems to be displayed.
  • When students read the “ice cream with whipped cream” chapter, we served that for dessert at lunch.
  • We had trivia Tuesdays and Thursdays where students answered questions from the book.
  • Teachers had a resource packet with resources from www.maryamato.com, activities about empathy, etc., to use as they liked.
  • We created the setting of the book in the lobby of the school (that changed as the book progressed). The kids loved to check out the desk to see what had changed overnight.
  • The final activity was Skyping with the author! Each grade level met in the library for a 20 minute session. “It was the perfect way to wrap up the book.”

Poetry Writing Activities

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Try these poetry writing activities based on Mr. Crew’s lessons in Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook by Mary Amato

Metaphor Poem

When Kip doesn’t understand how to create a metaphor, Destiny says, “Thinks of candy…then think of something else that’s really fun, like a party. Then squash the two things together: Candy is a party in my mouth.” (p. 16) Choose a subject for a poem (a noun is easiest), and then try to write a metaphor poem about the subject.

Riddle Poem

Pretend that you are something else and try writing a riddle poem, like Edgar does when he writes his pencil poem (p. 48) and his nose poem (p. 52). It doesn’t have to rhyme. You might start with “I am…” but don’t reveal exactly who you are so that your classmates can guess when you read it aloud.

Rhythmic Poem

Think of a rhythm in your head (such as Da Dum Da Dum Da Dum) and try writing a poem with that rhythm (p. 78).

Confessional Poem

Imagine that you are a thief and you have stolen something. Write a poem, confessing your crime.

Parody

A parody is a literary work in which the style of another author is imitated for comic effect. Choose one of the poems that the thief leaves (p. 3, p. 66, p. 98, and p.199) and find the original, famous poem upon which Mary Amato based her parody. Then, choose a famous poem or song and try writing your own parody.

Graphic Design Activity:

Mr. Crew loves poetry and drinks Tennyson Tea. Create a 3-D box for Tennyson Tea that uses both poetic words and images to entice the customer to buy it.

Humor, Heart, & Grit

I give voice to the funny, sad, messy, and wondrous stories of life, especially the stories of children and young adults. My mission: each book has humor, heart, and grit. If you are a teen and/or you're looking for info about my books and music for older readers, please check out my www.thrumsociety.com site.
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