I love doing projects to culminate my students’ learning, but sometimes I find myself scrambling for new ideas.  Enter Novel Capsules.  For this project – think Time Capsule meets reading.  Or science.  Or social studies – or whatever subject you want!  The great thing about this idea is that it is versatile.

I used this to culminate our reading of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  The students had to choose 10 objects that represented the novel.

If you’re using this for a subject other than reading, have students choose 10 things that relate to the subject you are studying!

They listed them on this handout, along with the reason why that object was chosen.

Differentiation Opportunity:  Some students may be able to go a more symbolic route (a dollar bill will represent greediness) while others may work on plot comprehension by choosing literal items (rope because climbing the rigging was a huge event in the novel)

I assigned this as an out of school project, and the students spent one week gathering their materials.   We did spend one day going on a “Charlotte Doyle Scavenger Hunt” where we walked around the school looking for items to add to our Novel Capsules.

When all of the items were gathered, students chose a container for their capsule. They could use anything – a cardboard box or even a cleaned out spaghetti sauce jar!  They decorated the outside to represent the novel.  One student turned his box into the ship that is the setting for the novel, while another girl made her container look like an actual book.

novelcapsule
I LOVED how this student chose a Captain America figurine to symbolize justice, which was a huge theme we focused on.

Finally, we place all of the items in the boxes and get ready to share.  I had students set their filled capsules on their desks, and then we went around and took turns diving through their capsules.  Students loved feeling like they were finding buried treasure.

For a bonus, I had students label each item in the other capsules and try to guess why it was included.  It was interesting when two different purposes were found for one object!

Visit my TpT store to see my Novel Collage product, which offers three final projects (including the Novel Capsule) in one document!