Simple at Home Literacy Activity - Book to Movie
Simple at Home Literacy Activity - Book to Movie
The beauty of this activity is it works for any age! So many great pieces of literature have been turned into movies right from picture books to the modern stories to classic literature.
Read a book. Watch the movie. Compare and contrast & let the learning begin!
This site here lists some to get you thinking: Books that have been turned into movies. https://youthlitreviews.com/2013/05/27/50-great-movies-based-childrens-books-plus-15-movies-for-teens/
Select something with your child. You can read it to them, they can read it themselves or you can read it together. Choose whatever works for you. You can order the books from a site like Amazon if you'd like the physical book, or sites like Audible have free audio books available during school closures. You can find more on Audible here - https://resourcebank.ca/courses/audible-free-for-kids
Below are some suggestions for discussion questions to guide you along...
PreMovie Questions
(from https://teachingmadepractical.com/compare-and-contrast-a-book-and-movie-activities/)
• What do you think your favorite part of the movie will be, and why?
• What do you think the main characters will look like/act like?
• What do you think the main setting will look like? Will it be messy, small, bright, noisy, beautiful, spooky, cold, colorful, etc?
• What parts of the book do you think will be cut out of the movie?
• What should be added to the movie to make it better than the book?
• Which do you think you will enjoy more – the book or the movie? Why?
• What was your favorite scene in the book? Would you be upset if this scene was changed in the movie?
• What parts of the book will be difficult to portray in the movie? For example, how should the movie portray what a character is thinking?
PostMovie Questions
(From https://teachingmadepractical.com/compare-and-contrast-a-book-and-movie-activities/)
• Which did you enjoy more – the book or the movie? Why?
• Did the main characters look and act like you expected? Why or why not?
• Did the main setting look like you expected? Why or why not?
• Think about the scenes that the movie changed so that they were different from the book. What scenes do you wish hadn’t been changed? What scenes were better because of the change?
• What parts of the book did the movie leave out? What scenes were added to the movie that weren’t in the book? Were these changes good or bad, and why?
• What are some other differences between the book and the movie?
• What stayed the same in both the book and the movie?
• Whose point of view do you agree with more – the author of the book or the director of the movie?
Activity Examples
This activity is from Read, Write, Think and students can design a DVD cover for the movie. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/cover-cover-comparing-books-1098.html
Compare what was better in the book and what was better in the movie in a graphic organizer. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1098/BookMovieComp.pdf
Design a Movie Poster, create a fake Facebook Account for a Character, Rewrite the Ending, Create a Board Game, or select another activity from this site - https://shakespeareforeveryone.weebly.com/after-the-play.html
Older students can write an essay comparing and contrasting the movies. This can help https://marcolee1994.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/compare-and-contrast-essay/ and this can create a map to use as an outline http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/compare-contrast-30066.html