Missing May

A Letter to the Author-MG

The author has a great webiste that has information that students would enjoy knowing about her. She has pictures of herself as a little girl, and she also has pictures of her pets. The website is user-friendly and attractive for students. They will truly enjoy getting to know the author better.  The website allows you to find out about her childhood. The website has so much to offer so please go look for yourself. After the students have looked at her website, they can write a letter to her. She has provided several addresses on the website.

www.cynthiarylant.com

 

Using Technology with Missing May.

I feel that our book, Missing May, would be a great way for a teacher to incorporate a research project into the classroom.  The studnets could strictly use the internet as a way to find out more information on the book - such as more about the town the book is based in, more about the place that May, Cletus and Ob go to, more about gardens and what type of garden May had had due to the general weather where they lived, etc.  In doing a project such as this, a teacher could integrate the subjects of Language Arts and Social studies.  Here are some Language Arts QCC's that could be met in doing a project such as this:

62	Topic: Reference/Study Standard: Locates information using the appropriate reference resources.

63	Topic: Reference/Study Standard: Lists sources from which information is gathered, including author, title, publisher/ producer, place of publication, and copyright date.

64	Topic: Reference/Study Standard: Uses research process by: -choosing topic -formulating questions -identifying key words -selecting sources -skimming -paraphrasing -note taking -organizing -presenting.

Inspiration-Ch.7-8-SBC

Students reading Missing May could easily complete a technology activity on such software programs as Inspiration. While studying character traits I would ask students to use the three main characters in the book (Summer, Ob, and Cletus) to complete a web that showed each of these characters traits. Students would create a large circle in the middle titled Missing May characters (or something of that sort). From there they would create three more circles each containing the names of the three main characters. They would then create and fill in other circles containing character traits. Students would be encouraged to use their books while creating their webs to give examples of why they believe that character holds that particular trait.