LitART's CHOICES provides secondary education after school programs with a fun and dynamic nonfiction curriculum. One way to ensure that students get the most out of this active, hand-on material is to use a reading strategy that guarantees the students' involvement. Liar is a fun activity that does just that!

Staff says, "I have a confession to make.  I'm a terrible liar, but I want to get better. Please follow along while I read. Whenever I lie I want you to say, 'liar.' Tell me what I said, and then tell me what I should have said."

1. Staff reads as the students follow along with their photocopies.

2. Staff intentionally makes mistakes as they read.

3. Students say "liar" whenever the staff makes a mistake.

4. Students offer the correct answer.

Extension: Once the students get how the game works trade out the staff for a student who will be the new liar.

Connecting language to objects is an important part of any literacy program. Students need a fun, easy game that sets up the ground rules in a way that makes it so the students don't realize that they're learning. They're too busy having fun! The idea of this activity is that students try to recall objects that were displayed on the table.

1. Ahead of time, collect seven to ten objects.

2. Arrange the objects on the table.

3. Lay fabric on or place a box over the objects.

4. Gather the students around the table and uncover the objects.

5. Allow the students to study the scene for one minute.

6. Recover the objects.

7. Give the students one minute to talk about what they saw.

8. Ask the students to name the objects and where they went.

9. Use the dry erase board to list the objects, make sketches or notes about the scene.

10. Compare the students' version with the original scene.

One of the most vital components to any effective literacy program is a bridge between student's lives and the text.  Research shows that students get more comprehension out of a story if they can relate to its events.  The best way to see that this happens is to draw connection between the story and something that happened in the students' lives. 

1. Bring index cards and pencils.

2. Write the proverb, idiom, or rhyming riddle on the board.

3. Use RGRS to explore its meaning.

4. Ask students to copy down the expression.

5. Invite them to think of a way it relates to their own life.

6. Give the students two minutes to discuss these events before they begin to write.

7. If students are working with partners or small groups, continue to allow discussion while they write.

8. Use a Sharing Strategy. 

Idioms, proverbs, and rhyming riddles allow students to build on their English fluency and comprehension. One technique that allows them to develop their understanding is to have them draw a cartoon strip based on the Daily Expression.

1. Write the Daily Expression on the board.

2. Read it aloud to students.

3. Discuss the Daily Expression so that students have some sense of its meaning.  

4. Invite students to copy the expression on the top of their sheets of paper.

5. Tell students that their task is to create a cartoon strip that shows and includes the expression. The cartoon may emphasize the literal meaning or the correct expression. Students decide! 

6. Use a Sharing Strategy once the students have finished!

LitART puts a lot of value in idioms, proverbs, and rhyming riddles.  Phrases such as these provide countless ESL benefits and learning opportunities. But due to their nature they also have their own unique hurdles. Understanding every word of "a watched pot never boils" doesn't clue you into the actual meaning.

Sometimes a straight out explanation clears up any lack of understanding. Other instances, such as a migrant program with a high ESL population, new techniques are needed to get the point across. For times like these only one technique will do—pantomime!

1. Write the expression on the board.

2. Read the expression aloud to students.

3. Discuss the expression so that students have some sense of its meaning.

4. Give students 30 seconds to think of a way they could conduct a pantomime or improvisational performance that suggests, defines or incorporates the example (slightly more time if students are working with partners or small groups).

5. Allow students to involve another person in their performance, if necessary.

6. Invite a student or group to make one word per form. The performance should last no more then one minute.

7. Following the performance, engage students in a discussion and help them see how the performance reflected the example.

8. Allow other students or groups to perform, and repeat.

Recreation is no time to sit back, not for staff, or students. This is a perfect time to develop the students' observation and listening skills. Better yet, you can do it while having a fun time!

1. Randomly choose one student to be the dog.

2. The dog sits blindfolded with its back to the group.

3. The bone is placed behind the dog.

4. Players start behind a line and must try to sneak up and steal the bone without being heard.

5. If the dog hears something nearby he or she barks.

6. If the dog barks while a player has the bone then that player is out for the round.

7. If the dog barks three times without catching a criminal choose a new dog. 

CHOICES offers a daily Word Collection designed to develop students' vocabulary. The Word Collection selects three words from the Overview and Biography, which the staff writes up on the board.  

A strategy that's often used in this scenario is to leave the space beside this word blank. 

1. When the word is encountered in the text the staff has the students discuss possible meanings in pairs or small groups
2. After 10 seconds the staff collects up to seven possible definitions.
3. Staff should emphasize likely meanings based on inferences from the context, i.e. can they catch the meaning from the context.
4. Have the class decide which definition is the most likely, and then reveal the definition from the Word Collection provided! 

It's the age old question: what did you learn at school today? This question can be applied to the after school program as well, but often gets overridden by the ever pressing need to complete the students' homework. As vital as this component is, it sometimes waylays the equally, if not more crucial, need to provide students' with enrichment activities not found in the regular school day.

LitART CHOICES provides staff and students with a Daily Concept.  It neatly summarizes the enrichment segment into a simple, memorable quote or idea that the students can take back home with them. For example, at the end of the day, after reading the Overview and Biography sections on Surrealism and Salvador Dali, staff writes "surrealism creates art based on the artist's perception of the world." It's direct and to the point, and students can tell their parents when they step through the front door. Carrying out CHOICES ensures that students learn 192 new concepts in a year!

Students in secondary education require a multifaceted approach for their academic development. In addition to a continued exposure to quality, award winning works of fiction, students also need, and desire, to explore real life events. 

LitART CHOICES, provides students and staff with nonfiction, educational enrichment materials centering on six subjects: math, science, writing, fine arts, performing arts, and sports. 

CHOICES features:

•  24 Biographies, Overviews, and Activities, each month. For example, students learning about gravity in the Overview, read about Isaac Newton in the Biography, and then drop objects from different heights to measure the rate of descent in the Activity. Over the course of a year students get exposed to 192 learning opportunities!

Sometimes it's difficult to get the students to stop talking, and to start writing. One way around this is to let the students have their conversations—on the page!

1. Divide the students into pairs.

2. Each pair gets one writing tool, and paper.

3. Emphasize that there will be no talking during this period.

4. Students communicate in pairs by writing messages.

5. If students have trouble getting started, suggest a question and response structure.

6. Limit the writing time to five minutes.

7. Use a sharing strategy to have the pairs share their writings with each other.