Summary Page: Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is a novel compiled of diary entries by Moose Flannigan, a twelve-year-old boy, dating from Friday, January 4, 1935 to Wednesday, June 12, 1935. In the book, Moose and his family move to Alcatraz, the federal penitentiary, after Moose's father gets offered a job as an electrician and a guard. They move there primarily because Moose's sister Natalie has Autism and Moose's parents desperately want her to be accepted into the Esther P. Marinoff School. The lower rent cost on the island as compared to in San Francisco would help in getting Natalie accepted into the school. Due to Natalie's condition, she requires much of her family's attention. Moose's mother gives this attention to Natalie in abundance, sometimes straining Moose's relationship with her. Throughout the book Moose struggles with balancing and coming to terms with his own needs and wants and those of his sister. Although Moose is very negative about the move to Alcatraz at first, he becomes more positive about the change as time passes and he becomes more self-less and willing to sacrifice his own interests for those of his sister. In the end of the book, Piper, the trouble-making daughter of the warden, convinces Moose to write Al Capone a letter and ask him to help get Natalie into the Esther P. Marinoff School. Moose and his family soon receive word that Natalie is to be the first patient admitted to the Esther P. Marinoff School for older children. This novel would be good for students because it provides teachers with the opportunity to teach many important lessons that are relevant to the lives of young-adults. These lessons include accepting others with differences as exemplified by the way the other children on the island accept Natalie. Another valuable lesson the book teaches young adults is the influence peer pressure can have on their actions as exemplified when Piper Williams, the warden's daughter, convinces Moose and other children on the island to participate in a money-making business scheme at school that breaks several of her own father's rules. Moose, Piper, and the other children involved got into trouble with the warden and Moose consequently greatly disappoints his father. Finally, the book teaches students the importance and value of self-sacrifice for the greater good when Moose sacrifices some of his needs and desires in order to help his mother take care of Natalie. This book is great for teachers because it allows them to address these important subjects and lessons in a manner accessible to students. I only see one thing to caution teachers about: near the end of the book, Moose finds out that sometimes when he has taken Natalie on walks around the island and has left her alone for a short while, a convict has made contact with her and gotten to know her. When Moose initially discovers this he worries that the convict has molested Natalie in some way. Although Moose's worries are not explicitly voiced and addressed, there are many implications that students would pick up on. However, the manner in which the author addresses these issues is not vulgar or insensitive.   Reading Activities (compiled by Nicole Austin) |During Reading|After Reading| Before Connections: “Alcatraz: A Definitive History.” Alcatraz History. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/mainpg.htm>. http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/mainpg.htm This is a fairly comprehensive website about the history of the 29 years in which Alcatraz was a federal penitentiary. The website includes a list of famous inmates, escape attempts, an Alcatraz Island diagram, a cell house diagram, the daily routine of the inmates, the rules and regulations on Alcatraz, a photo gallery, and more. This website will help students understand more about the geography and layout on Alcatraz, what kinds of inmates were housed on Alcatraz, and what life on Alcatraz would have been like for Moose Flannigan and his family.   “Al Capone Does My Shirts.” Gennifer Choldenko. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.choldenko.com/books/alcapone/synopsis.html>. http://www.choldenko.com/books/alcapone/synopsis.html This website includes information on Al Capone Does My Shirts and also basic information about Gennifer Choldenko, author of the novel. The information that can be found on her personal website includes a list of her books, a “Kids Only” segment, a link for teachers to use, an “About Gennifer” link and more. Becoming familiar with the author's history and browsing the site will help students prepare to read Al Capone Does My Shirts . The website provides information on the book and provides links to other websites as well.   “Al Capone Museum.” 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.alcaponemuseum.com>. http://www.alcaponemuseum.com This website is dedicated to information about Al Capone. The links on the website include information about Al Capone's incarceration on Alcatraz Island, a timeline of significant events in Al Capone's life, a biographical sketch of Al Capone, Pictures of Al Capone, Information about Al Capone's wife and family life, information on other mobsters with whom Capone was involved, information about infamous murders carried out by Capone such as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and more. This website would help students understand Al Capone Does My Shirts because much of the plot focuses on the notorious gangster and many schemes planned by Piper involve Al Capone's notoriety.   “Autism Fact Sheet.” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm>. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm This website gives information about autism, a developmental disorder. It provides extensive information about autism such as: what autism is, what common signs of autism are, how autism is diagnosed, what causes autism, what role inheritance plays in autism, how autism is treated, what research is being done on autism, plus more. This website will be beneficial to students because it will help them understand Natalie Flannigan's mental condition in Al Capone Does My Shirts .   Al Capone Does My Shirts Comprehensive Website Cioccio, Judy and Rosemary Greco. “Al Capone Does My Shirts.” Cal U. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.cup.edu/education/aam/index.jsp?pageId=1580830010421154202681722>. http://www.cup.edu/education/aam/index.jsp?pageId=1580830010421154202681722 This website provides an extensive lesson plan (which will take approximately two to three days) that will help introduce students to Al Capone Does My Shirts . Some of the objectives include that the students will be able to identify unique geographical differences of Alcatraz, determine reasons for the imprisonment of convicts by brainstorming ideas, recognize how children can adapt to their environment, and more. This will help students prepare to read Al Capone Does My Shirts because the lesson will provide students with an opportunity to discuss many themes and plot points in the novel. This plan also provides students with a historical and geographical context for the book.   “Dealing With Peer Pressure.” Kids Health. “Dealing With Peer Pressure.” 27 Jan. 2008 <http://kidshealth.org/kid/emotion/peer_pressure.html>. http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/peer_pressure.html This website is designed to help kids to avoid giving in to negative peer pressure. The website first defines what peer pressure, discusses the reasons why kids give in to peer pressure, teaches kids how to walk away from peer pressure, and explains that peer pressure is not always bad and can have a positive effect if kids are good examples to each other. This website will help students prepare to read Al Capone Does My Shirts because peer pressure is something that Moose Flannigan is confronted with by Piper, the Warden's daughter. This website will help students relate the book to their own lives.   “Famous Cases: Alphonse Capone, a.k.a. Al, Scarface.” FBI History. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/capone/capone.htm>. http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/capone/capone.htm This website provides a detailed description of Al Capone's biographical history and the events that led to his becoming a mob gangster. The website also discusses Capone's major offenses such as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and details his court appearances and time in jail. This website would help students because it gives a fairly short, but descriptive, account of the major events in Al Capone's life. Students will be better able to understand the plot points concerning Al Capone in Al Capone Does My Shirts by gaining knowledge of his crimes and mob involvement.   Hart, Melissa. “Individuals and Families in a Diverse Society: Autism and the Family.” 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.ont-autism.uoguelph.ca/autism-effects-family.html>. http://www.ont-autism.uoguelph.ca/autism-effects-family.html This website provides general information about the definition, characteristics, and causes on autism. It also provides specific information about “The Effects of Autism on the Family” and discusses adjustments a family makes when a child has autism, communication in a family with an autistic child, sibling awareness and interaction with autistic children, family outings, and family support and service. This website will benefit students because it will help them understand Moose Flannigan's relationship with his sister Natalie and his struggle to adjust to their new life in Alcatraz and to Natalie's specific needs.   The Background of “The Rock” “History and Culture.” Alcatraz Island. NPS.gov. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://nps.gov/alcatraz>. http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz This government website provides information about the history and culture of Alcatraz Island along with access to maps of Alcatraz. In addition, the “History and Culture” section of the website provides specific information on people, places, and collections from Alcatraz Island. This website will help students to learn more about the conditions and people on Alcatraz while Moose Flannigan and his family lived there. This website would also help teach students the importance of knowing in detail the setting of a novel in order to better understand the characters and plot events.   Moving and Adjusting to New Circumstances “When Families Move: Helping Children Adjust.” NYU Child Study Center: Giving Children Back Their Childhood. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/when_families_move_helping_children_adjust>. http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/when_families_move_helping_children_adjust This website gives tips to parents to help their children adjust to moving to a new house or area. The website lists things parents should do before, during, and after the moving process to help their children adjust to their new surroundings well. According to the website, before the move, parents should concentrate on timing the move well, talk about the decision with their children, and allow the children to visit their new home and town as soon as possible. After the move the website states parents should encourage their children to invite friends from the old home town to visit and should encourage their children to become involved in community groups such as clubs or sports. This website will help students relate to Moose Flannigan's struggle in Al Capone Does My Shirts as he adjusts to a new home, a new city, and a new school.   During Connections: “Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.” Teacher Time Savers. 1 Feb. 2008 <http://www.teachertimesavers.com/Al%20Capone%20Pages.pdf>. http://www.teachertimesavers.com/Al%20Capone%20Pages.pdf This website contains a variety of teaching resources to use for students during reading Al Capone Does My Shirts . These activities include vocabulary lists, discussion questions, grammar and punctuation activities, research activities, and an activity analyzing the elements of the novel, discussing specific literary devices the author uses. This website would be beneficial to students because it provides a variety of activities to supplement the reading of Al Capone Does My Shirts . Because students will be provided a variety of activities, they will not find the activities too repetitious or boring.   Allred, Tiffanie. “Peer Pressure.” UEN. 1 Feb. 2008 <http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=406>. http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=406 This website provides a lesson plan for teachers to teach students to recognize the influence that positive and negative peer pressure can have on their decisions. As part of the object lesson, students are asked to guess the number of candies (such as M&Ms) in a jar, working first alone, then in groups of two, then in groups of four, then in groups of eight, and finally in groups equaling half of the class. After submitting their estimations, students are asked to answer questions pertaining to the influence that their peers had on their estimation of the number of candies in the jar. This exercise will be beneficial to help the students understand the kinds of feelings Moose Flannigan has in Al Capone Does My Shirts when he feels pressured by Piper to break the rules. They will be able to personally connect to Moose.   Austin, Nicole. “Accepting Differences in Others.” 2 Feb. 2008. In this lesson I would have students respond on paper to the question, “what do you do and how do you treat someone who is different than you are when you first meet them?” I would tell them that no answer is “wrong” and would ask them to answer completely honestly. I would then begin a classroom discussion by asking students some kinds of differences they see when they encounter new people. We would then discuss the importance of accepting and respecting differences in others, whether they are big or small. I would then relate our discussion to Natalie Flannigan's condition in Al Capone Does My Shirts and exemplify that the other kids on the island, such as Theresa, Annie, and Jimmy, were able to become close friends with Natalie because they were able to look beyond her obvious differences. This activity would be beneficial to students because it would help them become better people and personally connect to the book.   Austin, Nicole. “It's Okay to be Different.” 1 Feb. 2008. In this lesson plan I would have each student free-write about a time when they felt excluded by or self-conscious around their peers because they felt “different” in some way or another. I would specifically ask students not to put their names on the paper. I would then ask students to fold up their pieces of paper in half and then half again and put them in a small box that would be passed around the room. Then I would read some of the responses to the class (everything would be anonymous, of course). By doing this exercise, students will come to understand that everyone experiences feeling unaccepted and “different” and that it is normal to have those feelings. This will help students connect to Natalie Flannigan's situation in Al Capone Does My Shirts because they will realize that everyone has insecurities and fears of being viewed as “different,” although their differences may not be as evident as Natalie's are.   Austin, Nicole. “Sacrificing for the Greater Good.” 2 Feb. 2008. In this lesson plan/activity, I would have students write down one thing (material object or something else – such as time) they would be willing to give up for a good grade in a class. I would then continue to ask them similar questions, making the sacrifices more and more difficult but for more and more honorable reasons. I would tell students that no answer is wrong and would ask them to be completely honest. I would then explain that, like Moose Flannigan in Al Capone Does My Shirts , sometimes they may be called upon to sacrifice something important to them for the greater good. This activity would be beneficial to the students because it would help them connect to Moose's sacrifice in the book when he gives up playing baseball to help his mom. It would also help them think about their own lives and the things that they would be willing to sacrifice for the greater good.   Bulbeck, Helen. “Al Capone Does My Shirts: Teacher's Booklet.” 1 Feb. 2008 <http://www.longman.co.uk/secondary/english/nll_Tsupport/pdfs/AlCaponeDoesMyShirts.pdf>. http://www.longman.co.uk/secondary/english/nll_Tsupport/pdfs/AlCaponeDoesMyShirts.pdf This website is a great resource for the teaching of Al Capone Does My Shirts ! It includes a very detailed section on “teaching and learning aims to secure progression in learning, rather than progression through the pages.” This section has been divided up into individual parts dealing with which chapters are to be read, which features of the text are to be explored in those chapters, what the learning goals for those chapters would be, and suggestions for the approaches to teaching. The other part of the website contains twenty sample worksheets to give to students. This website would be greatly beneficial to teachers because it provides a wide variety of student-activities to choose from and helpful tips for teachers to use while teaching the novel.   Hunt, Thomas. “The American Mafia: Chronology – Section III.” 2 Feb. 2008 <http://www.onewal.com/maf-chr3.html>. http://www.onewal.com/maf-chr3.html This website provides a chronology of significant events in American Mob culture from 1920 to 1931 and includes the mobsters involved with each event. Unsurprisingly, there are many references to Al Capone and the many “events” he was involved in. By learning about the mob culture of the twenties, students will be able to understand more about the historical context of the events and references in Al Capone Does My Shirts . Furthermore, this website will benefit students because it will open up the opportunity to discuss gang culture in their own lives as compared to the gang culture of the twenties.   “Literature Circle Questions.” Scholastic. 1 Feb. 2008 <http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoesmyshirts_q.pdf>. http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoesmyshirts_q.pdf This website provides discussion questions for students to think about, discuss, and answer while reading Al Capone Does My Shirts. The website also lists suggested activities that teachers could have students do including doing research on Al Capone or another famous criminal mentioned in the novel and doing research on Autism to better understand the character of Natalie Flannigan and her behavior in the novel. This website would be beneficial to use during the reading of Al Capone Does My Shirts because it provides though-provoking questions for students to consider and lists helpful activities to help students understand the novel better.   “Teaching Guide: You and Your Values.” Good Character. 1 Feb. 2008 <http://www.goodcharacter.com/BCBC/Values.html>. http://www.goodcharacter.com/BCBC/Values.html This website provides a great lesson plan for teachers of grades five through nine to teach students the importance of being themselves, knowing their values and learning to stay true to them, respecting themselves, making their own choices instead of going along with the crowd, and thinking about goals important to them and acting accordingly. The website discusses how to be yourself and how to know your own values. The website contains discussion questions, student activities, and writing activities to help students learn to be themselves and learn to stand up for their own values. This lesson plan will be helpful for students who are reading Al Capone Does My Shirts because it will teach them that having differences is okay and it is okay to be themselves, just like it was okay for Moose and Natalie Flannigan to be themselves in the story.   “Travel Brochures: Highlighting the Setting of a Story.” Read-Write-Think. 1 Feb. 2008 <http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=961>. http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=961 This website provides a lesson plan designed to help students learn how to create a travel brochure based on geographical information in a text they are reading. The lesson plan objectives include teaching students what makes a good, informative travel brochure, having students critically analyze details from a story they have read like Al Capone Does My Shirts , and having students create a travel brochure that “incorporates research skills and text details.” This activity would be beneficial for students because it would provide them a creative way to show their understanding of the geographical descriptions and details of Alcatraz in the story.   After Connections: Austin, Nicole. “A Day in the Life of Moose.” 11 Feb. 2008. In this writing assignment, students will be asked to pretend to be Moose Flannigan and make a journal entry for a date after Wednesday, June 12, 1935 (the date of the last journal entry in the book). Students will be asked to describe Moose's feelings on living on Alcatraz, how he feels about his parents (in particular about his mother), how he feels about moving, how he feels about Piper, and especially how he feels about Natalie, her condition, their relationship, and her acceptance into the Esther P. Marinoff school for older children. This assignment would benefit students because it would allow them to creatively express what they learned from reading Al Capone Does My Shirts and how well they comprehended the book's major plot points and events. This activity would benefit teachers because it would serve as a creative way to assess students' comprehension of the novel.   Austin, Nicole. “Being Different is Great!” 11 Feb. 2008. The idea of accepting others that are different will be reinforced in this activity. Students will be asked to write a letter to Natalie Flannigan from Al Capone Does My Shirts pretending to be Theresa, Jimmy, Annie, or another person on the island who personally knows Natalie. In the letter the students will be asked to describe to Natalie how much she means to them and how glad they were that they were able to get to know her and spend time with her. This activity would benefit students because it would reinforce previous lessons geared toward teaching students to accept differences in others.   Austin, Nicole. “‘Charades' and Al Capone Does My Shirts .” 21 Feb. 2008 This activity would incorporate the game of “Charades” and Al Capone Does My Shirts to assist students in comprehending and describing important plot events from the book. In this activity, I would divide students into either groups of three or four, would pass around a sign-up sheet listing a sufficient number of important plot events from Al Capone Does My Shirts . I would then ask each group to sign-up to act out one plot event in front of the class silently, like in Charades. The other groups would then be asked to raise their hands when they think they know which event is being acted out. This activity would be beneficial to students because it would allow them to creatively showcase their knowledge of the events of the book and it would be beneficial to teachers because it would provide them with a way to measure how well their students have comprehended the major events of the book.   Austin, Nicole. “Now What Exactly Happened in Al Capone Does My Shirts ?” 10 Feb.2008. In this activity, I would divide students into groups of four and give each group a plastic bag with ten strips of paper inside. On each of the strips of paper, I would have typed one of the major plot events from Al Capone Does My Shirts . I would then ask students to put the ten strips of paper into chronological order, based upon the order of events from the book. This activity would help students because they it would concretely remind them of the order to the book in a creative, fun way. After they finished putting the strips of paper in order, I would correct any groups that had mistakes in their ordering and then ask each group to examine the sequence of events in the novel and how one event must take place in order for another one to occur.   Austin, Nicole. “Poster Board Collage of Al Capone Does My Shirts .” 19 Feb. 2008. This assignment would consist of having students cut and paste pictures, words, and other items that remind them of Al Capone Does My Shirts from magazines to form a small collage of events, people, and places key to the plot and setting of the novel. Students would also be allowed to create their own visual items to include on the collage (rather than simply cutting and pasting items from a magazine). Students would be asked to provide at least five pictures that represent key plot points from the novel, five pictures representing key characters from the novel, and five pictures representing the setting of the novel. This assignment would be beneficial to students and teachers because it would provide the students with a creative outlet to showcase their knowledge of the plot, characters, and setting of Al Capone Does My Shirts and it would allow teachers to have a sense of how well the students comprehended the key parts of the novel.   Austin, Nicole. “Reviewing Al Capone Does My Shirts .” 1 Feb 2008. This exercise would be used in conjunction with the connection that contains the review of Al Capone Does My Shirts by Norah Piehl. After the students finish reading Norah Piehl's review and reflecting on the viewpoints and opinions she expresses in the review, they will have the opportunity to write their own short review of the novel. This would be beneficial to students and to the teacher because it would give students the opportunity to express their feelings and opinions and about the novel while simultaneously showing to the teacher a sense of the students' comprehension, knowledge, and understanding of the key characters and plot events in the novel.   Austin, Nicole. “Understanding the Importance of Setting.” 11 Feb. 2008. Upon completing Al Capone Does My Shirts , students will list on a sheet of paper the importance setting played in the novel's progression and plot. Students will then write their own short stories, setting their stories in a fairly unusual, unique, or exotic setting. This will benefit students because it will allow them to demonstrate their knowledge of the importance of setting to a book's plot and it will benefit teachers because it will allow them to assess whether or not students grasp the key concept of setting to plot through reading Al Capone Does My Shirts and completing the corresponding activities.   “Literature Unit: Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.” EdHelper. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://edhelper.com/books/Al_Capone_Does_My_Shirts.htm>. http://edhelper.com/books/Al_Capone_Does_My_Shirts.htm This website is a great resource for teaching Al Capone Does My Shirts . It includes book report forms, extended activities, and quiz and writing prompts and vocabulary for individual sections in the book (broken down by chapters). This website will benefit teachers and students because it provides a variety of activities such as spelling and vocabulary review worksheets, crossword puzzles, word searches, vocabulary quizzes, and discussion questions.   Moehler, Katherine. “ELA: ‘Al Capone Does My Shirts Comprehension Questions.'” 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.quia.com/quiz/940362.html>. http://www.quia.com/quiz/940362.html This website provides a comprehension quiz for students to complete upon finishing Al Capone Does My Shirts. This resource will benefit teachers because it will help them gage how well they taught the book and how well their students understood the major plot points and themes of the books. Also, this resource will be helpful to students because it will motivate them read the book, follow along in group discussion, and complete other related activities in order to prepare for the quiz. Furthermore, it will allow them to show their teacher the hard work they've done in reading and understanding the book.   Piehl, Norah. “Review: Al Capone Does My Shirts.” Kidsreads.com. 1 Feb 2008 <http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/0399238611.asp>. http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/0399238611.asp This website contains a short review of Al Capone Does My Shirts by Norah Piehl. Reading the review would be beneficial for students because it would prompt them to ponder and discuss more about what they thought about the novel and what kinds of lessons they learned from it. By analyzing and considering Norah Piehl's point of view, they will be able to more confidently formulate their own opinion on the novel.   READING ACTIVITIES (compiled by Kyle Christensen)   " Alcatraz Island ." NPS.Gov . 12 Jan. 2008. US National Park Service. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz/>. This is the National Parks Service's official site for Alcatraz Island . Here you will find numerous pictures, videos, artifacts, and accounts related to Alcatraz Island . Though there are not a whole lot of teacher helps, this page would be very good for creating lessons where students study the historical background of Alcatraz Island . An activity could also be created where students would spend a class period in a computer lab researching different inmates, from a list found on this page, who spent time on Alcatraz Island .   Esslinger, Michael. "Alcatraz: a Difinitive History." Alcatrazhistory.Com . 12 Mar. 2000. Oceanview Publishing Company. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/mainpg.htm>. A wonderful site with numerous great, and very accurate, historical facts and media related to Alcatraz and its history. A lesson could be created from this site where students create a timeline of the history of Alcatraz . Such a classroom timeline could be created by using a class wiki.   Friedman, Amanda. "Understanding+Autism." www.nickjr.com/teachers . 2006. Nick News, Viacom Intl. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.nickjr.com/teachers/lesson_plans/understanding_autism.jhtml?_template=print>. This is another great site with a lesson plan for teachers of grades 5-9 about Autism. Very easy to follow with some great activities and assignments. The lesson does, however, require showing a clip from Nick News, so you might want to clear it with the school prior to using this lesson.   "Gennifer Choldenko." Bloomsbury.Com . 2008. Bloomsbury Publishing, London . 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.bloomsbury.com/childrens/microsite.asp?id=289&section=3>. Gives a short summary of the author, many questions and answers about the author, short extracts from the book, and a letter from the author to the readers about why she wrote the book. This could be included in a great lesson about creative writing or investigating the context of a book.   "History Files - Al Capone." Chicagohs . 1999. Chicago Historical Society. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.chicagohs.org/history/capone.html>. This is a great site with pictures and artifacts from the life and history of Al Capone. This could be used to create a lesson about Al Capone, Mob crime, and reasons why the prison was built. This would give great insight to the students while reading about Moose's encounters with Al Capone. There are also great possibilities for quiz creation etc.   Long, Jerri. "Children of Alcatraz ." Pleasanton Weekly Online . 02 Dec. 2005. Embarcadero Publishing. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/morgue/2005/2005_12_02.alcatraz2.shtml>. This article is a great article related to the children of Alcatraz . It would be very easy to create a lesson plan that talks about the true historical stories of children who lived on Alcatraz Island . This lesson plan would be designed to give context to the book and why the children are there to begin with.   "Mr. Miami Beach ." People and Events Al Capone . 2000. PBS; an American Experience. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/miami/peopleevents/pande01.html>. This is a great site with a PBS documentary about Al Capone and Alcatraz . It also has a section with teacher lesson plan materials etc. Most of the lesson plans are created as history lessons, but could be used in an English situation to create context for the book.   Murphy, Clair R. "Children of Alcatraz : Growing Up on 'the Rock'" www.clairerudolfmurphy.com . 2006. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.clairerudolfmurphy.com/content/blogcategory/31/29/>. This website is actually talking about a book written by the website author (as far as I can tell). It does, however, have some great excerpts from stories written by some of the actual kids that spent time on 'the rock.' It also has a really great bibliography of other books related to the kids who lived on Alcatraz Island . Lessons could be easily created where students could break up into groups and investigate and compare the different accounts of the children who lived on ‘the rock.'   Nicole, Joanna , Jen , Rachael , Ashok , and Jenna . "Autism." 2002. ThinkQuest USA. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0213520/autismhome.htm>. This is another great site with basic facts about Autism. This would be a great resource to create a worksheet from, to have students go to the computer lab to fill out. The worksheet would be created to help have the students understand autism and it's relation to the book.   "Science Ambassador Lesson Plans." www.cdc.gov . 22 Dec. 2005. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 28 Jan. 2008 <http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/folicacid/ambassador_pgm/lessonplans_autism.htm>. This site is a find! It is a site created by the Center for Disease control and Prevention that has created specific Middle and High School lesson plans for teaching students about Autism. The lesson plans seem a little more "science class" oriented, but would also be applicable to English classes, especially related to this book. Video's, etc. included.   "Al Capone Does My Shirts." Edhelper.Com . 4 Feb. 2008 <http://www.edhelper.com/books/Al_Capone_Does_My_Shirts.htm>. This website has a number of useful supplemental materials for teaching the book 'Al Capone does My Shirts.' It is not a site that has any lesson plans or particular ideas, but is more designed to give quizzes, crossword puzzles, word searches, and similar activities related to the book. The resources listed on this page are separated into chapters, which makes this site very useful. It's possible that you may have to pay to access the resources on this page.   Brown, Linda S. "Al Capone Does My Shirts." www.state.lib.la.us . LSU. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://www.state.lib.la.us/empowerlibrary/AL%20CAPONE%20DOES%20MY%20SHIRTS.pdf>. An idea that stands out on this website is the idea to have students write a newspaper ad for a job at Alcatraz . It specifically recommends them writing an ad for a job in the laundry, but I believe the idea could be taken further to include other possible jobs on the island. The purpose of this activity is to have students examine what the text tells them about the conditions of the job at Alcatraz and communicate their understanding by creating a piece of personal work that takes this understanding further.   Christensen, Kyle. Making the Book Into a Movie Activity . 2008. This activity is an opportunity for group work in the classroom. The original idea is for students to take a chapter or section of their choice in the book and work in partners to make it into a movie. Due to the limited access to video-recorders, however, it can be modified so that the groups simply act out a portion of the book in a play-like manner. The reason why this is a good activity, is because there are many different aspects of this story that would make turning it into a play very interesting: Al Capone, Children living in a prison, Alcatraz , Autism. This activity would be best done after having some other activities where students gain some background information about the topics and themes that come up in the book. It is really a synthesis activity.   Cuip.Uchicago.Edu . NIEU Chicago Teacher's Center. 4 Feb. 2008 <cuip.uchicago.edu/schools/gearup/chicago/archive/yal/units/al/school/lesson.doc>. This website has a great lesson plan that includes an awesome activity where the students work together in groups to "explore the factors that make businesses, like the laundry scheme dreamed up by Piper in 'Al Capone Does My Shirts,' worthwhile." In this activity, students will create a business plans based on the laundry scheme and determine if it is a profitable endeavor. The activity will take approximately three weeks (15 days) and can be done in conjunction with other activities. The Activity is designed to help the students not only in their language arts abilities, but also in Math, Social Studies, and technology.   Ellison, Joy. "Literary Bookmarks." Teachers.Net Lesson Bank . 28 Jan. 2008. Pickens Middle School , Pickens , USA . 4 Feb. 2002 <http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/4087.html>. Here you can find an entire lesson plan that is designed to take up about 45 minutes of time. It is a lesson that could work for any book, but is specifically useful in "Al Capone Does My Shirts," especially toward the chapters of 10-12. Basically, what the lesson outlines is an activity where students will read a chapter of the book together and work to make connections to their personal lives. They would do this by both discussion and personal response.   "Literary Circle Questions." Scholastic.Com . 2007. Scholastic. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoesmyshirts_q.pdf>. Scholastic has a third idea for an activity related to 'Al Capone does My Shirts,' which is to go to the computer lab, do some research on autism, and create posters explaining their findings. This activity could be done at any point in the book, and could involve any number of aspects of autism (i.e. symptoms, treatment, living with a child who has autism, etc.) It would help the students to not only understand better what is going on in the book with relation to Moose's sister Natalie, but also help them to visualize what they are reading and make assumptions and conclusions related to their own personal lives.   " Literature Circle Questions (Teacher and Student)." Scholastic.Com . 2007. Scholastic. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoesmyshirts_q.pdf> and <http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoes_t.pdf>. On these sites you can find literary circle questions. Such questions can be used for great class discussion related to multiple chapters in the book 'Al Capone does My Shirts.'   " Literature Circle Questions." Scholastic.Com . 2007. Scholastic. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoesmyshirts_q.pdf>. Here is a great idea for an activity of creating a time-line. As I see it, this activity could go two directions: First, you could make a time-line of the events of the story, following Moose's experience on Alcatraz as we watch him meet new people and go to new places. This could be done all throughout the reading of the book as an activity that lasts about 5-10 minutes a day, or at the end of the book. The second way that this could go would be to make a time-line of the life of Al Capone or another inmate that lived in Alcatraz . As the students get to know the inmates Moose meets throughout the story, they can create a time-line of their lives. This would help them to take the issues of the story and apply them to real life.   " Literature Circle Questions." Scholastic.Com . 2007. Scholastic. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/alcaponedoesmyshirts_q.pdf>. Another possible activity that Scholastic recommends is to have students write a letter thanking Al Capone. In the book, it is believed that it is due to Al Capone that Moose's sister Natalie was admitted into the school for autistic kids. The idea of this activity is to write him a letter thanking him for his help. I would recommend having the students do this activity more than once while reading the book, choosing specific times when there are surprise turns of events. They would then be able to see how judgments might be wrong depending on the information that we have.   NCTE. "Travel Brochures: Highlighting the Setting of a Story." www.readwritethink.org . 2007. National Counsel of Teachers of English. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=961>. This resource is one that outlines a long term student activity that helps students to understand setting. It outlines 4-5 lessons worth of activities each related to a student created "travel brochure." The first session of this activity asks the student to examine professional travel brochures and explain why they are effective. The next three sessions ask the student to get into the text and evaluate the setting. The final two sessions ask the students to create a travel brochure where they try to entice students to travel to the setting of the book.   "Al Capone Does My Shirts." Al Capone Does My Shirts: a Movie in the Making . Hoboken , New Jersey . 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.hoboken.k12.nj.us/facultysites/ckillen/al_capone_does_my_shirts.htm> This website gives a couple of good ideas for after activities. First is to create a class web-page related to the other activities that the students have done related to the book. Another activity is to write a class play that can be performed related to the book. This gives you the chance to not only talk about the differences between novel writing and script writing, but it also makes talking about setting, plot, characters, genre, sound, etc. possible.   "Al Capone Does My Shirts Discussion Guide." www.scholastic.com . 2008. Scholastic. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10810>. On this page you will find a discussion guide for the book. This discussion guide could be used many ways, but I see it as something that could easily be used as a great format for an open-ended review or test of the student's comprehension of the happenings of the book. If I were teaching the course I would use these questions as guides for classroom discussion while the students are reading the book, and then again use the questions, or similar re-written ones, as a end of the book test.   "Al Capone Does My Shirts Literature Unit." Edhelper.Com . 11 Feb. 2008 <http://edhelper.com/books/Al_Capone_Does_My_Shirts.htm>. On this site you will find some great resources for supplemental materials throughout the book, but also has some review materials for after students have read the book. It also has some test possibilities.   "Al Capone Pages." www.teachertimesavers.com . 2005. Teacher TimeSavers. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.teachertimesavers.com/Al%20Capone%20Pages.pdf>. This site does not have any specific lesson plans, but has a number of class and personal worksheets, activities and activity cards related to the book. There are also Vocabulary quizzes related to the book. While each of these resources is useful throughout the process of teaching the novel, they are also very useful, collectively, to help summarize and review the different parts of the novel.   Brown, Linda S. "Al Capone Does My Shirts." 2007. LSU. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.state.lib.la.us/empowerlibrary/AL%20CAPONE%20DOES%20MY%20SHIRTS.pdf>. At the top of page three on this .pdf document is a great activity to help students learn about "historical fiction." Basically, what the activity does is has the students, first, look at the historical background of the book; found on the cover talking about the author. Once they have determined the historical background, then they will re-read the opening paragraph of the book and "determine the influence of setting on characters" of historical fiction novels (this could be done, really, at any point during the book).   Brown, Linda S. "Al Capone Does My Shirts." 2007. LSU. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.state.lib.la.us/empowerlibrary/AL%20CAPONE%20DOES%20MY%20SHIRTS.pdf>. Another great activity can be found on this webpage. Again at the top of page 3 there is an activity that helps students examine the difference between characters of fiction and non-fiction. Previous to doing this activity it would be good to have the students investigate the life of Al Capone from a "non-fictional" sense (i.e. doing research into what he was like historically). After they have done that and had them read the book, then you can have them compare the Al Capone that they met through research and the one that was portrayed in the book.   Bulbeck, Helen. "Al Capone Does My Shirts: Teacher Booklet." Longman Co. UK . 2006. Pearson Education. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.longman.co.uk/secondary/english/nll_Tsupport/pdfs/AlCaponeDoesMyShirts.pdf>. All materials on this site are copyrighted and will require authorization to reproduce. This resource is great, however, because it goes through the book, in sections, and addresses "features to explore while reading," "Learning Targets," and "Activities" related to that section of reading. At the end, there are resources for learning about plot and reviewing the other things learned throughout the other sections of the reading. It also has recommendations for a group related to a dramatic presentation of the book.   Moehler, Ms. "Al Capone Does My Shirts Comprehension Questions." www.quia.com. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.quia.com/quiz/940362.html>. This is a great idea for teachers to use "as is" or to use as a template for their own on-line quiz. Basically the teacher has created, using an on-line quiz creation utility, an end-of-the-book comprehension quiz for her students. This resource could be used in many different ways throughout the reading of this book, especially if your classroom is technologically oriented.   "Read Write Think - All Lessons." www.readwritethink.org . 2007. NCTE. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/index.asp?grade=3&strand=0&engagement=0&display.x=28&display.y=11>. The possibilities with this page are endless. One activity that I found on this page that I think could easily be applied to this book would be for the students, after having completely or partially read the book, to choose a character from the book that they would like to "become." Once they have chosen a character they would then go to the internet and compile a list of "accurate, powerful adjectives" that describe the character they have chosen. When they come back with the class they would need to support their choices of these adjectives with citations from the book.   "Read Write Think - All Lessons." www.readwritethink.org . 2007. NCTE. 11 Feb. 2008 <http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/index.asp?grade=3&strand=0&engagement=0&display.x=28&display.y=11>. Another great idea found on this website is to have the students write a "letter to the editor" of the book. In this activity they would assume the role of a character from the book and their job would be to write a letter to the editor of the book with concerns as to how they were represented in the text. The idea behind this activity would be to show, first, how there are different types of writing (i.e. novel writing, editorial writing, etc.), second, that in writing there are biases, third, that we as readers can assume the roles of the characters of a novel, and fourth, that we can take the understanding that we have of life and pit it against the arguments that are made in what we read and "talk back" if needed.