The New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.
Throughout the story, we focused on several things. There is some tricky vocabulary in this book, so we decided to highlight one word per chapter to really hone in on. Also, we learned that good readers identify the characters, setting, problem, and main events in the story as they read. Next, towards the last part of the story we identified the turning point. This is also known as the climax of the plot.
Finally, as our culminating project, we decided to incorporate a little social media (of course!). We discussed how people tend to take photos of important events in their lives. Since we had identified important events in Salva's life, why not illustrate them, as if they were photos!? And what better way to share photos than with Instagram!? No, we didn't really use Instagram...but I had this really fun template that the 6th graders could pretend with. They did an awesome job demonstrating their understanding by their detailed illustrations, and comments from characters. Below are just SOME of the amazing examples:
Again, I am so proud of these 6th graders. They truly give their best effort and I can easily tell by the quality of their work! Great job, Smart Ones! Keep it up!
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