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Out of My Mind
Last updated Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Author: Sharon M. Draper
Date of Publication: 2010
ISBN: 141697170X
Grade Level: 5th (GLCs: Click here for grade level guidelines.)
Date(s) Used: Jun. 2023
Synopsis:
Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school - but no one knows it. Most people - her teachers and doctors included - don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.
Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind - that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.
| Discussion topics for before reading: |
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Do you like to read?
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What's more important to you, words or images?
Vocabulary:
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Cerebral Palsy: a disability that affects the muscles
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wobble: move unsteadily from side to side
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melody: a sequence of notes, music, a song
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absorb: take in or soak up
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photographic memory: the ability to remember visual images with great detail
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diagnosis: name/identification of an illness
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| Discussion topics for during/after reading: |
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What does Melody wish people would notice about her aside from her wheelchair?
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What are two things Melody really loves?
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What is something that Melody finds really frustrating?
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What would you find most frustrating about being in Melody's experience?
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What kind of narrator is Melody/what's her personality like?
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Why is Melody a fitting name for the main character?
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| Craft ideas: |
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Check our craft ideas on Pinterest!
https://www.pinterest.com/readingtokids/june-2023-friendship-fun/
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Lemonade with your name/a favorite word.
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On the first page of OUT OF MY MIND, Melody says this about words: "From the time I was really little—maybe just a few months old—words were like sweet, liquid gifts, and I drank them like lemonade. I could almost taste them. They made my jumbled thoughts and feelings have substance."
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Craft a cup of lemonade for summer on paper or 3D using stiff paper and maybe a straw! Make sure to include one (or more!) of your favorite words in/on it: perhaps you can put your name on it and if your name has a meaning, what the word means. Your word/name could go on the straw, on a lemon slice, etc.
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If it's for Father's Day, you could include your name as suggested or your Dad's name/Dad/one of your dad's favorite words!
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| Special activities: |
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Discuss your favorite words and how important words are to you.
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Discuss your name and what it means!
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Discuss how to bring awareness about inclusion of disabilities and disabled students to your school.
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What is one thing your school or classroom could do to improve accessibility for all students (physical accessibility like a ramp or other kinds of accessibility like ASL interpreters, different modes of getting information like watching and listening)?
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*Note: These craft ideas are just suggestions.
You can use them, but you don't have to use them.
You can expand upon them, or add your own twist.
Remember, though, that the focus of your time should
not be on the development and execution of a craft;
the focus should be on the read-aloud and the
enjoyment of the book!
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