Dusting in Love by Max Dann. Working on characters

We have just finished reading the above pictured humorous class novel by Max Dann and have been working hard on adjectives in readiness to do some in depth character studies. Students will be working in pairs or groups of three, depending on whether they have a major or minor character in the novel. Many students already have composed lists of words relating to the characters. We will be focusing on Thesaurus, Dusting, Gilbert, Grotty, Max, Phoebe, Millicent, and Mr Lord. Today students were exposed to about forty adjectives and had to draft up a sentence for each one, trying to use compound sentences. They then chose what they believed to be their best fifteen sentences to publish. Here are a few examples which were completed with no teacher corrections:

Students are now working in groups of three or four  on the following activities. The Plasticine figurines will be used later in the animations unit which will focus on two of Max Dann's books, Dusting in Love and Going Bananas. These books offer rich opportunities for students to study character development. There is a display up the front of the room for students to refer to.

Each group must produce:

An in depth character study, making reference to specific actions, statements and deeds in the novel to support their statements about the character.

A large wanted picture of their character stating what they are wanted for.

A cartoon strip or story board showing one scene or aspect of the story line

A Plasticine figurine, no taller than 10 cm. A design must be handed in before the group receives the materials.