Unit%20on%20Mrs.%20Frisby%20and%20the%20Rats%20of%20NIMH,%20Racso%20and%20the%20Rats%20of%20NIMH,%20and%20R-T,%20Margaret%20and%20the%20Rats%20of%20NIMH%20Noelle%20Wauer%20Spring%202005

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Unit on Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Racso
and the Rats of NIMH, and R-T, Margaret and the
Rats of NIMHNoelle WauerSpring 2005
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Reason why

• I chose to do this project partially because I
  really wanted to read the second and third book
  because I enjoyed the first one so much.
• I have always enjoyed series of books so I
  thought I could begin reading different series so
  I would know which ones I can recommend to my
  students in the future.
• I also thought it would be interesting to
  incorporate the books into part of a unit, that
  is at least partially planned.

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Background Information

• This project will take place after the
  class/reading group reads all three of the books
• Each student will be able to choose which project
  they would like to do and will also be able to
  suggest one if they have a different idea that
  they would rather do

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Background Information

• During this unit we will read all three of the
  Rats of NIMH books and will work on many
  different projects along the way
• This project is just covering the final project
  that students will be asked to complete

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Background Information

• This unit will focus a lot on comparing and
  contrasting, especially between the three books
• We will also compare the writing styles between
  Robert C. OBrien (Robert Leslie Conly) and his
  daughter Jane Leslie Conly
• In this unit we will also talk about making
  predictions, both within each book and across
  different books

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Final Projects

• Predict which rats died in the explosion in
  the first book and then write a reaction to who
  actually died
• This project will give students an opportunity to
  make a prediction while reading the first book
  and then write a reaction to what actually
  happened after reading the second book.
• The reaction will most likely be pretty personal
  because the students will have hopefully formed
  attachments to the characters so they will be
  worried/relieved about who died. This type of
  ending leaves the reader wanting to read the
  second book to see what happened.

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Final Projects

• Create a timeline across all three of the books
• This timeline would be easiest/most efficient if
  it was made while the student was reading through
  all of the books so this project would have to be
  decided on before we started reading
• Creating a timeline will give students some sense
  of the order all of the events took place in the
  book
• The student should try their best to place the
  dates in some type of time order and should also
  include short descriptions for each activity
• This will project will also show me which events
  stood out and were most important to the student

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Final Projects

• Write a paper on the roles humans play in each
  book (compare/contrast)
• Humans play many different roles in each of the
  books so it would be interesting to see how
  students conceptualize those roles
• The difference in roles is most noticeable
  between the first book and the third book in the
  first book humans were not looked upon as being
  very kind to the rats and in the third book the
  rats form a very strong relationship with two
  young kids

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Final Projects

• Write a paper that compares the way different
  characters are portrayed from book to book
• Some of the characters really change over the
  course of the three books so it would be
  interesting if students picked two or three
  characters and wrote about how they are the same
  or different in each of the books
• Racso is one of the characters who changes the
  most between the second book and the third book

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Final Projects

• Research the two authors lives and either make a
  timeline of their lives or write a paper about
  them
• This may be interesting to students especially
  since the two authors are related.
• It may be interesting to find out how much
  influence Robert had on Janes writing style. I
  found one quote from her where she talks about
  how her dad always told her to eliminate
  unnecessary description (which he did very well).

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Final Projects

• Write a paper comparing the difficulties that the
  rats face across the three books
• The rats face many different difficulties in each
  of the books so it would be interesting to pick
  two or three from each book and write about how
  they are different/same and why they believe the
  author chose to use those situations.

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Conclusion

• I wanted to create this unit as a way for
  students to be introduced to series of books
• I included many different choices for final
  projects because I want students to be really
  interested and put their full effort into
  whatever project they choose