Trapped

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. How does snow form, and what are some different types of snow?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt challenges students to learn about the theme of The Power of Nature at the beginning of the unit. The novel takes place in intense, snowy conditions. Students can begin with what they know about snow and then study the resources here to learn more. If time allows, the class can brainstorm questions they still have about snow and research answers. This extension might be more meaningful if it is conducted in the middle of reading the novel. This activity could provide background knowledge for the before reading activity, and students might return to their research as they complete the after reading activity.

• This 2-minute video from Discovery Place Science explains the difference between snow and other types of precipitation.
• “Science of Snow” from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder includes information on how snow forms, different types of storms, forecasting, and more.

Short Activity

If you and your friends were trapped inside the school in a snowstorm, what are the five most important items you would hope to have with you? Discuss with your group and come to a consensus.

Teaching Suggestion: The characters in the novel very quickly find themselves trapped together in the school as feet of snow fall. It might be helpful as a warmup to do a four corners activity. In each corner, you could post an item. Students could stand by the item they believe to be most important in an emergency. Students could then share their reasons. Working on this activity provides opportunities for students to practice strong listening and speaking skills. Before shifting into the primary activity, it might be helpful to remind students of discussion norms. This discussion could work well in small groups, but an alternative or extension could be for students to journal independently and then have a whole-group discussion. Later during the reading, the class might pause and identify the items that have proven most important to the characters.

• “Winter Storm Preparedness & Blizzard Safety” from the American Red Cross offers tips to stay safe in a winter storm.
• This resource from the National Weather Service includes numerous visuals and links to sub-categories about winter storm safety.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

How do people label themselves and each other in middle and high school? How do the labels affect people in positive and negative ways?

Teaching Suggestion: As they survive together, the characters learn that Labels Don’t Define People. This prompt could begin as a journal with the opportunity to share in pairs or small groups. Given the possible personal nature of the topic, students might opt out of sharing. This question could evolve into a chance to grow community in the classroom and/or larger school. Students might take action individually or together to try to stop categorizing and stereotyping others. During reading, the class could return to this question and discuss how the characters would answer it.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with artistic or musical learning styles, it might be helpful to have students incorporate art or music in their response. They might sketch their ideas, create a graphic cartoon, include photographs in their response, write a song, analyze music that applies, or create a video.