IMPORTANCE OF SETTING in LITERATURE
Project for Freak the Mighty
Coleman/Fanning/Creagh
You will be creating a piece of informational text that shows the features of tenement
housing, like that in which Iggy and Loretta Lee lived in Freak the Mighty.
You will use your notes from the packet on the history of tenement housing, as well as
the description of modern-day tenement housing (or “projects”) from Freak the Mighty.
This piece of information text should have some of the text features that we studied in
Guided Reading when we looked at the informational sections of the King Arthur book.
Those features included:
 Photographs or Drawings
 Captions
 Headings
 Short pieces of text with interesting or important information
 Varying size and style of font for different features (bold, italics, capitals, etc.)
*You will create a page that looks like the informational text from King Arthur, but
which contains information about tenement housing.
*You will use the text features listed in bullets above.
HOW DO I GET THIS DONE?
1) Take notes about the history of tenement housing in your reader’s notebook.
Highlight information in your notes that you believe is still applicable to
modern-day tenement housing (interesting or important facts).
2) View photographs to get a mental picture of what tenement housing did, and in
some cases, still does, look like.
3) Re-read p. 64 of Freak the Mighty to see how author Rodman Philbrick describes
the tenement housing in which Iggy and Loretta live.
4) Sketch a drawing of the Iggy and Loretta’s tenement housing—the way you see it
in your mind after you’ve done the reading.
5) Label parts of your drawing with captions.
6) GO BACK to the information you highlighted about tenement housing.
7) Determine where this information should be placed in and around your drawing.
PUT THE INFORMATION IN YOUR OWN WORDS to write short pieces of
informational text to accompany your drawing.
8) Create headings for your short pieces of text.
You will be assessed on the following:
READING STANDARD 2: READ AND UNDERSTAND LITERATURE
REPRESENTATIVE OF VARIOUS SOCIETIES, ERAS, AND
IDEAS
Use literary features to deepen understanding
to deepen understanding
 You have a drawing of tenement housing, labeled with captions, and colored.
M
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P
NM
You have headings for the short pieces of text and you have varied font sizes and
styles for the various pieces in the diagram.
M
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NM
You have short pieces of text with important information on tenement housing
that is in your own words.
M
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P
P
NM
Your project is done neatly, is visually appealing, and is easy to read.
M
P
NM
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Uses text structure and text features to comprehend nonfiction.
Utilizes the full range of reader’s tools* to quickly locate necessary information
and make meaning.
Identifies the organization of text in nonfiction and represents in graphic organizer or
diagram (pictures, captions, diagrams, illustrations with labels, maps, charts)
P=
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NM=
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Utilizes only a partial range of reader’s tools to quickly locate necessary information and
make meaning
Attempts to use text structure and text features to comprehend nonfiction
Attempt to represent organized text in graphic organizer or diagram
Does not use reader’s tools to quickly locate information and make meaning
Does not use text structure and text features to comprehend nonfiction
Does not effectively represent organized text in graphic organizer or diagram