Name ________________________________________ Date________________

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Teachers: Here are some discussion and activity ideas to use as you study this novel -

- For upper elementary and middle school students, this book is an excellent choice to use for shared reading. Shared reading incorporates reading the book aloud to your students as they follow along in their own book. You will discover many discussion opportunities of which to take advantage during this process.

- Jeffrey Lionel Magee�s parents died in a terrible accident when he was 3. He went to live with his aunt and uncle, but their house was not a home. At 11 years of age he ran away from them to find a home where he felt he belonged. The tales of his experiences become a legend to those who tell it.

- This book explores many themes that can promote valuable discussions and writing opportunities. Themes include homelessness, the concept of �home�, bullying and racism.

- In this story, Jeffrey (Maniac) is faced with the puzzling dilemma that the town of Two Mills is being clearly segregated between whites and blacks (West End and East End of town). He does not understand this difference and his lack of understanding makes his story even more compelling. You may wish to integrate this book with a study of racism in the United States in the mid to late 20th century.

- Jeffrey is faced with bullying by John McNab, a member of the gang, the Cobras, and Mars Bars, a tough kid from the East End of town. This can easily prompt a discussion and /or lesson on bullying.

- The differentiated activities included in this unit are meant to be used as a culminating activity after the book has been read. To support students, you may wish to present the activity sheet before you read and allow students to preview and choose possible activities they might wish to complete. You may also wish to assign any of the activities to the whole class. Either way, by allowing students to read the activity sheet before they read, you will give students a purpose for taking notes (sticky notes work well) while they read. This is especially true for activities where specific evidence from the text must be cited.

Name ________________________________________ Date________________

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Pre - Writing Activity

What is the difference between a house and a home? How can a home be important to a person? What makes your home special and important to you? Write an essay about your home. Describe your home; who lives there and how it feels to have a place to call home. Include both topic and concluding paragraphs.

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Name ________________________________________ Date________________

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Differentiated Activities

Complete any combination of the following activities for a total of 50 points. Check off each activity you wish to complete. When you finish it, check it off again. To earn the maximum points, see the attached rubric.

My Choices

Activity Point Maximum

Completed

CREATE A TIMELINE of the story with illustrations for at least 8 events from the story. 10

WRITE A NEW LAST CHAPTER, changing the end of the story. How would your ending be different? 10

LIST at least 6 different places Jeffery (Maniac) called home. Describe each one and explain how each one was different, yet offered him the comfort for which he yearned . Name at least one way Maniac made each place his personal home.

20

DESIGN and DRAW A MAP, showing what you think the town of Two Mills would look like. Include and label important streets by name, the places Jeffrey called home and any other important places in the story.

20

COMPARE AND CONTRAST 3 of the important characters in the story. Using the Venn diagram, cite evidence in the book to show at least 2 traits for each character.

20

ILLUSTRATE and DESCRIBE your dream home. What would it look like? Who would live there? In writing, compare and contrast it to Maniac�s home at the end of the story.

10

RESEARCH knots. Using various types of rope, experiment to CONSTRUCT a knot that is difficult to untie. Name your knot. As with Cobbles Knot, challenge others to untie it.

20

WRITE A PARAGRAPH explaining what you think is an important theme of Maniac Magee and tell why. Include supporting details from the story.

20

Name ________________________________________ Date________________

Maniac Mageeby Jerry Spinelli

DIFFERENTIATED ACTIVITY RUBRIC (One rubric will be completed for each student activity choice.)

Activity Choice: __________________________ Point Value: _______

ACTIVITY SCORE

10 POINTS 1 3 4 5 20 POINTS 2 6 8 10 Overall understanding of topic

Student showed little understanding of topic.

Student showed some understanding of topic.

Student showed understanding of topic.

Student showed complete understanding of topic and was able to infer or elaborate.

/5 or 10

Neatness and Quality of work

Activity was not completed neatly and showed little quality.

Some of activity was completed neatly and showed some quality.

Most of activity was completed neatly and with quality.

Activity was completed neatly, with quality and creativity.

/5 or 10

Total Activity Score: _____

Name ________________________________________ Date________________Maniac Magee

by Jerry Spinelli DIFFERENTIATED ACTIVITY RUBRIC

TALLY

ACTIVITY CHOICE ACTIVITY

POINT VALUE TOTAL POINTS

EARNED

TOTAL ACTIVITY POINTS TALLY:

FINAL GRADE: __________________________

Name ________________________________________ Date________________Maniac Magee

by Jerry Spinelli Venn Diagram

Using this tri-Venn diagram, compare 3 characters in the story. Cite evidence in the story to show at least 2 traits of each character. Are there traits that the characters have in common? Or is each character�s personality completely different?

_______________________ _______________________ Character�s Name Character�s Name

__________________________ Character�s Name

Name ________________________________________ Date________________

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

TIMELINE

Chronologically complete the timeline, listing a brief description of the 8 events in the novel that you feel are most important to the development of the story.

Name Date

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Author

# of Pages

Main Characters

Setting

Wow! I just read about a great person! I couldn't believe some of the things Maniac Magee did! Here are a few of them:

One of the parts I liked best in the book was:

One of the parts of this story I liked least was when:

This is a scene from the book that I would like to see on TV:

The problem that Maniac Magee faced in this book was:

His problem was solved this way:

I would rate this book:

Best Ever

Very Good

Average

Below Average

Worst Ever

The reason I would rate it this way is:

Name: _________________ Date: ____________________________

Maniac Magee Word Search

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Maniac Magee Word Search

y f w i f w k l m o u r n e r z x r p f e l p o l h p m x gd p o f o n q p a n d e m o n i u m j n u x w b a y m q h mo m z p w j u g f g d t q x q q g u j c n u w o l b c p x ui i d x d q y q f u z g h o v i d q b h x j z p l w m e f ze d g a u n t l e t f x x d c i z c w a e y e u e p m n p xw o l h h v j i f h x k f j t f b m n o n m d n r d z w h cr c w e y r q b r l g h p d o j n z i t c y m g g e r v a xg r n l e f e a t s w k t b n y y y d i o x x e y r l g n tx n f o f p j c d e c s t a t i c p w c i d t n e o e l t ol g x g r i z z l e d l m n q h t i h o q z q t v z t e o qv g w b u c h t v z y d y b b i q y z u c i o f h e v g m ed c i z j r g h q n i g s u f f i c e v c r g u o b m e w rt q d u m b f o u n d e d o r f u v t r e s t l e t k n p dl h d u j t v e v c q j c r j t x v j t x k m o x v i d g ru e f c n c g d t p t w l p r v u o i u k f o f c e u d t bz d g o b l e t s b d b w h v y t p v j h g h f j y o i o ym r e p e r t o i r e f j a u d p f l i n c h e d g p m k pi r c w b n d b h f k p z n z b o j r t e s t i m o n y d fm n b z c p x z c n n l b l k y g o y g h l p e h y z c c mz p e i w p t x i v f v m v x f i n i c k y z q b v f j e g

User-created with abctools® for home and classroom use only.Graphics and format ©2000-2011 abcteach® Maniac Magee Word ... May not be sold/redistributed without permission

www.abcteach.com