by Pam Olsen
pam.olsen@cox.net

Grade Level: 3-9

Content Area: Language Arts

• Students will learn about the Nebraska Golden Sower Award.
• Students will use the jigsaw method to read one or more chapters of a Golden Sower book.
• Students will use a handheld computer with a variety of software to read eBooks, take notes, draw concept maps and portraits, and create quizzes.
• Students will work cooperatively in a group setting.
• Students will share information with group members and other class members.

Procedures

1. At the beginning of the school year, students will review information about the Golden Sower Award, the Nebraska children’s choice reading program, by using Palm Reader software on the handheld computer to read the Golden Sower Award eBook and take notes. In small groups, students will discuss their notes. Each group will think of one or two questions to ask the rest of the class about this eBook.
2. Students will be given the goal of reading three (3) of the necessary four (4) Golden Sower Award nominated titles required for students to vote for their favorite book. The classroom teacher will choose one (1) title from the list to read aloud some time before April 15, the voting deadline.
3. Students will use the handheld computer’s To Do List to enter all Golden Sower titles for their particular grade level into a category labeled with the student’s first name and GS K-3, GS 4-6 or GS 6-9. Students will check off each title they read or listen to over the course of the school year.
4. Students will visit the Golden Sower Award Web site at http://www.state.ne.us/home/NLA/golden/sower.htm to read reviews of the books and decide which books interest them, making any notes in the To Do List.
5. Ask each student to rank the Golden Sower titles from 1-4 in the To Do List, with 1 being the book he/she would most like to read. Students should give the least interesting titles a rank of 5, leaving the title the teacher will read aloud unranked. Students will beam their list to the teacher.
6. The teacher will review the lists and place students in groups of 6-8 depending on the number of chapters in the book. Several copies of each Golden Sower book should be available to accommodate several groups reading different books at the same time.
7. Students will list the members of their group and selected book title in To Do List Notes.
8. The teacher will use PrizeWheel software to randomly select the chapter(s) each group member will read from the designated Golden Sower title.
9. Students will read their assigned chapters and use FreeWrite software to take notes on the reading. In addition to notes, they will write at least one significant quote from the assigned chapter(s) and 2-4 short answer questions.
10. Once the chapters have been read, students will review literary genres by reading the Genre eBook and determine the genre(s) of the selected title. Members of the group must agree on the genre(s).
11. Students will beam their FreeWrite files to each group member, who will read notes, quotes and questions for each of the book’s chapters.
12. After reading all of the files, group members will do one of the following activities on the handheld using the appropriate software. Additional credit will be given for each additional activity.
    1. Create a quiz combining all of the short answer questions or quotes using Quizzler software and beam it to a group member for review.
    2. Create a concept map of an important event using PiCoMap or Diagrams? software and beam it to a group member for review.
    3. Create the portrait of a main character using MatchWho software and write a descriptive paragraph using FreeWrite. Beam the description to a group member who will try to recreate the portrait using MatchWho. Compare the portraits.
13. Repeat this plan as desired.
14. Students can take the quizzes and try to duplicate the MatchWho portraits as they read other Golden Sower titles independently.