Use these two activities to activate and/or build prior knowledge before your class tackles Mt. Everest!
I teach in Florida and my kids have very little knowledge of mountain climbing--the skills and equipment necessary, the dangers involved, or even an appreciation of the desire to take on such a feat.
I developed the Anticipation Guide to have a little fun and to start building familiarity with some key terms. Students are to guess the answers to ten true/false statements about key terminology (i.e., The Hillary Step is a dance that was popular in the 1950s.) The prediction paragraphs they wrote were wonderful--not because they were accurate, but because they were fun. We really enjoyed this introductory activity and as we encountered the real Hillary Step and other topics, the lightbulbs in their brains started shining a little brighter.
We did the second activity the next day. This one required a little more thought on their part, and after watching the video, my Florida kids had more than enough schema to build on as we began reading the actual text. You could certainly do this without the video--or with a different video. See the preview for more information and my suggestions on how to use this activity in your classroom.
This is the second year I have taught this book to my remedial reading students; however, it was the first time I used these two lessons. I really believe my students enjoyed it more and understood it better because of these introductory activities. Thanks for checking out this lesson. If you do decide to buy, please leave feedback and let me know what you thought about the lesson. I’m always looking for ways to improve and would like to know how the lesson worked for you.