Aurora+Means+Dawn-Reinforcing+Activity

//Aurora Means Dawn- Reinforcing Activity//

As a pre-reading activity, have students use the picture on the cover, the title, and the context of the earlier lessons to predict what the book will be about. Take a few minutes to allow some students to share their ideas and predictions. Then read the book out loud.
 * Questioning**

After listening to the novel read aloud, students should respond to the following questions in their journals. The questions should center around conflicts that the Sheldons faced that led them from Connecticut to Ohio as well as things they encountered once they made it to Aurora. Students may also add any questions or comments that they had about the story. Here are a few sample questions for students to answer:
 * Why did the Sheldons leave Connecticut for Aurora?
 * Who did the land in Aurora belong to?
 * How did the Sheldons feel upon arriving in Ohio?
 * Why hadn't anyone settled in Aurora before the Sheldons?
 * How will the Sheldons make it on their own in Aurora?
 * Why didn't the Sheldons move to Hudson, where a community had already been established?

Students should be given about 20 minutes to answer the questions. Once students have finished writing, the teacher should place students into small groups and ask them to discuss what they have written. In doing so, students will be able discuss their learning with their peers as well as form answers to some of the questions that they posed. Group discussion should last for about 10 minutes before the class is called together as a whole for a large discussion.

The teacher should initiate the discussion by going over the questions that all students were required to answer. Next, students should be asked to share their questions and comments about the book with the entire class. The teacher should record questions posed by students and the answers that they form together on the white board for all to see.

The teacher should explain to students that some questions are answered explicitly within the text and this is a perfect place to return to the text and re-read certain passages. Other questions are not answered explicitly, and are typically more thought provoking questions that lead to great class discussion and brainstorming. Since students don't really know "explicit" and "implicit" questions, possibly separate the two different types of questions and tell the students that for the first four they should look in the book, and for the last two they need to apply the knowledge that that have about the reading.