Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts
By: Gennifer Choldenko

Resources:

Gennifer Choldenko’s Web Site
http://www.choldenko.com
This website includes a Scholastic Literature Circle Guide with curriculum-related activities and comprehension questions.

This website has a lot of good discussion questions and accompanying text citations that probe topics such as Moose's feelings, Natalie's behavior, relating to Moose's situation, and character growth.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10810_type=Book_typeId=4286

This PDF has tons of lesson ideas for pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading, with accompanying assessments and worksheets.
http://www.longman.co.uk/secondary/english/nll_Tsupport/pdfs/AlCaponeDoesMyShirts.pdf

Scholastic Literature Circle Guide
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoes_t.pdf
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoesmyshirts_g.pdf
These websites provide author background and activities/questions for discussion.

Additional Lesson Ideas:

Natalie has what would now be diagnosed as autism, so an investigation into what autism is and how it affects both autistic individuals and their families would be a good lesson idea. Students can apply their knowledge of autism to Natalie and see which characteristics she exhibits and decide whether or not she fits the diagnosis.

Students can do research on Alcatraz and/or Al Capone. They can then create some form of report (taking into consideration different kinds of texts and their purposes)