Visualize Setting While students read the novel The Hunger Games, encourage visualization of the setting by asking them to create maps of locations found within the novel. Once the novel is completed, ask them to revisit their maps, have them explain at which part of the story meaning became clarified, and make corrections as needed.
- All of Panem
- District 12
- The Arena
Radio Interview As students read, ask them to accumulate a list of questions they would ask the main characters from the novel. After a cluster of chapters have been read, draw names from the class and ask those students to assume the identities of characters from the novel. Ask one student to assume the role of disc jockey. Have student ‘listeners’ call into the radio show to interview main characters by raising their hands and asking their questions. Students portraying characters should be aware of character motivations and actions before participating in the activity.
Advertising Panem Products Students will make a series of billboards for products created in Capitol City and used by Hunger Games participants. Before completing this activity, students should brainstorm a list of items which might be used in Capitol City or in the arena. They can use poster-sized paper or simply add their ads on card stock. Students should provide a picture of the product, an explanation of what it does, and include a catchy phrase to promote their product. For more advertising ideas, have students browse through magazine ads.
Write a Sensory Emotion Poem Students will first brainstorm the many emotions Katniss experiences along with the incidents which inspire the emotional reaction. Choose one emotion for the poem. In the first few lines of the poem, associate the emotion with the five senses. The last line of the poem will include a metaphor of the emotion. Challenge students to add more than one stanza to their poems. Another idea is to use the poem to summarize Katniss’s emotions from the beginning, middle, and end of the novel, each emotion through a different stanza. This activity will encourage creative thought while motivating students to think critically about the novel.
Title (Emotion)
(Line 1) (Emotion) is (color)
(Line 2) What does the emotion taste like?
(Line 3) What does the emotion smell like?
(Line 4) What does the emotion feel like?
(Line 5) What does the emotion sound like?
(Line 6) What does the emotion look like?
(Line 7) (Emotion) is _____________(include a metaphor)
EXAMPLE:
Frustration is brown.
It tastes like burnt oatmeal
and smells like the pages between an ancient book.
It feels like choking and gasping for air in a smoke-filled room
and sounds like the drone of locusts on a summer’s day.
It looks like the fingernail dents in the palm of my hand.
Frustration is an empty well at the edge of a desert.
