Launch Activity
To start off my literature circle unit, I will have a class discussion about emotions and the different moods we go through. I will have the students discuss in pairs what causes different emotions such as excitement, joy, despair, hurt, fearful, and so on. I think the students will be more apt to discuss the emotions they have had in the past if they are in partners instead of a whole class setting.
Then I will have the students study the front cover of the novel. The class will brainstorm the different reasons Judy Moody might be in a bad mood, not a good mood. We will complete a K-W-L chart as a class. The "Knowledge" part of the chart will be the reasons the class brainstormed that causes people to be in a "bad" mood. The "Want To Know" part of the chart is what the students want to know about Judy Moody and her constant mood swings. Then, if they wish, students can share with the class a few of the events they discussed in partners that put them in a "bad" mood. The "Learn" part of the chart will be the reasons they learned that put their classmates in a no good, terrible, bad mood.