One Book Activities

Activities for Involving Everyone in Reading THE BIG BURN
What Ronan's Students, Teachers, and Community Members Did

	Guest Speakers: The school pulled in smokejumpers, the local fire department, and tribal and state forest ecologists. These experts brought equipment, vehicles, photos, and worked with small groups of students.
	Author Visit: Jeanette visited the school and talked with students. She also did a book signing.
	Guided Reading, Discussion & Reflection: Students had time to read during their homeroom at school with teachers and other students. They also worked on activities in their literacy classes. Students each had a journal in which to track their thoughts.
	Lunchtime Gatherings for Discussion: Parents and community members were invited (food was provided) to get together and think and talk about the book over lunch. Discussion questions about issues from the story were placed on the tables with markers, and during the gathering people were invited to contribute their thoughts (on the original question or comments other had already written). This was done on an early release day.
	Connect to Other Curricular Areas: Science teachers used trunks from the Museum of Natural History to tie issues from the text to their curriculum.
	Teacher & Staff Book Groups/'Discussion: Opportunities were arranged for adults to get together and talk about the book as well. Some of this was done during staff development time.
	Displays in the school: The book was on display in many forms around the school building. There was fire equipment, gear & clothing in display cases, photo displays with copies of the text on walls, and student-created displays like "lines to remember" posters where they'd collected their favorite passages from the book in the hallways.
	Community Dinner/Book Discussion: For a culminating event the school hosted a barbeque for the whole community. On hand were city and tribal fire engines, Smokey the Bear and Woodsy the Owl, and a smokejumper who showed how to use a parachute. Over 500 people attended.

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