Looking for a middle grade science fiction series? Kenneth Oppel’s Bloom trilogy is one your students will not want to put down. The first book in the series, Bloom will pull in your most reluctant readers and keep them coming back for more!
Auguste and Owen read Bloom in their book club and loved the way Kenneth Oppel created suspense by ending each chapter with a cliffhanger. They decided to create a Twitter page using Jamboard where they could “tweet” at the end of each chapter. This was a great activity and forced the boys to sum up the chapters with a few words or phrases. It also allowed them to use their voice by adding humor and creativity to their tweets.
Twitter Feed for each chapter of Bloom
Teacher Thoughts:
When the boys finished, they were determined to share their excitement about “Bloom” with their classmates. Having complete trust in these students, I told them to create something on their own. The result is the book trailer in the link below. They used google slides, and spent hours figuring out how to make it “just right.” Their only regret was that they did not have time to add music. It reminded me that when we give students choice, the engagement level goes way up!
When you click on the link below, you will need to click on the bottom left arrow to start the book trailer. (The students are obviously more tech savvy than their teacher)
Student Thoughts:
https://padlet.com/kcoons8/777t4wnet8loqvz8
This is the perfect mentor text for teaching your students how to build tension/suspense in their writing. Kenneth Oppel’s writing had us hooked from page one until the very end. The boys said this is their new favorite book!
