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How can we solve the mystery of the stolen Vermeer?
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Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

1. become familiar with the novel “Chasing Vermeer” by Blue Balliett.

2. investigate ways they can read this novel on their own. (Students may elect to read this book as an option to our lesson. Some suggestions would be to visit the public & school libraries, bookstores, online excerpts, & sharing with fellow students.

3.  listen to teacher read aloud of book jacket and Chapter 1 as motivation into our unit of study on the artist Vermeer.

4. appreciate this novel as a mystery genre, where the lead characters are students like themselves, involved in a series of strange and puzzling events to recover a lost “Vermeer” painting.

 

Time Required: Day 3. One 40-minute period

 

Advanced Preparation:

1. Preview & read “Chasing Vermeer” by Blue Balliett.

2. Read online reviews of the book.

“A Da Vinci Code for tweens” – Newsweek

“Suspenseful, exciting, charming and even unexpectedly moving” – The New York Times Book Review

“Exciting…mixes mystery, puzzles, possibilities and art.” – Booklist, starred review

3. Research web sites about the book.

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http://scholastic.com/titles/chasingvermeer/index.htm

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http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/tradebooks/editor/lszabla_may2004.htm

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http://suzyred.com/2005vermeer.html

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http://adifferentplace.org/vermeer.htm

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http://the-trades.com/column.php?columnid=2508

 

Materials: Mini Lesson Read Aloud: Book jacket & Chapter 1. -  “Chasing Vermeer” by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist

 

Vocabulary: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/flashlightreaders/tguide/vermeer/vocabulary.htm

 

Procedure: Day 3: Teacher reads aloud to students, “Chasing Vermeer” by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist

Upon completion of the read-aloud, students will respond to the following during class discussions:

  1. What do you think the characters in this book will get to know about the artist Vermeer?

  2. What can you learn from this book that you might have not known before?

  3. After hearing an excerpt from this book would you like to read it?  Why?  Why not?

  4. Why would anyone want to steal a Vermeer painting?

  5. Would you like to learn more about Vermeer and play detective along with Calder and Petra?

 

Homework/Evaluation: Students will be given a homework assignment to read and explore this novel.  They will then be asked to write a book review to share what they have discovered and learned with fellow classmates.  Teacher will host a “book club tea party” (during student’s lunch period) to reward these students for their extra effort as well as to listen and learn from each other and help prepare for their presentations in class.

 

Book Review

MYRA S. BARNES INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL 24

Rosemarie O’Neill, Principal  

 

Chasing Vermeer

 

CHASING VERMEER by BLUE BALLIETT: BOOK REVIEW

Mrs. L. Langsner, Art Teacher

 

“Chasing Vermeer is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art.” 

If you like a good book filled with wacky characters you will enjoy Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett. The book is illustrated by Brett Helquist and the illustrations hold clues to solving the mystery.

 

Qualities of an Effective Book Review:

“A book review, a genre that exists in the real world, invites students to discover their passions and prejudices as readers and teach others what they find in a book so engagingly that others will want to look for it too.”

  1. First-person voice: semiformal, between a book report and a letter in a reading journal.
  2. A plot summary that doesn’t reveal too much (i.e., the ending) and tells just enough for a reader to decide if it’s the kind of book he or she likes; and invitation or hint of things to come.
  3. Quotes from the book that reveal character, plot, or theme.
  4. A brief description of the main characters.
  5. Where and when the story is set.
  6. What genre it is.
  7. Descriptions of good things the author did (e.g., flashbacks, realistic details, fast pace, hopeful ending, etc.)
  8. A description of the problem or theme.
  9. How the book fits in a larger context – political, historical, social.
  10. A suggestion of who would like the book and why.

                                                                                                                      

Possible Leads for a Book Review:

Plot synopsis:

This book is about _________________________________________________________________or

This book tells the story of ____________________________________________________________

Synopsis of the problem or theme:

This book is a powerful look at _________________________________________________________

Identification of the main character and his or her problem:

Calder never knew that________________________________________________________________

Invitation to the reader to engage with the topic:

Imagine a story about _______________________and you’ve got ____________________________

 

Art Connections:

1. While looking for something Calder thought might be art, he uncovered a box his grandmother had    given him.  Discuss the significance of this box.

2. What was Petra’s Halloween costume?  What did it have to do with Vermeer and this story?

3. Ms. Hussey was talking to her class and mentioned the 1990 art theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. How is this important to the story?

Math Connections:

Calder carries around pentominoes in his pocket.  What are these and what do they have to do with the  story?

 

 

Warner Bros. Pictures have bought the rights to Scholastic's best-selling children's' book Chasing Vermeer.

Author Blue Balliett's first children's book is Chasing Vermeer. The sequel, The Wright 3, will be available in April 2006.

For more information on Blue Balliett, read this transcript from the Scholastic Visiting Author Series


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