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Name___________________ACE Teacher_____________"Minecraft, Now Publishing Sensation”By Hillel ItalieSept. 07, 2014NEW YORK — Like millions of parents, Aaron Sacharow welcomes those moments when his son — 7-year-old Tyler — takes a break from video games and picks up a book instead.He will even settle for the book being a guide to "Minecraft," a game that's sold more than 50 million copies since it was originally released in 2011. ?"I don't want to say it tricks them into reading," says Sacharow, an IT project manager based in Miramar, Florida. "But there are books kids are reading for schools and books that they hopefully like in their free time. And if 'Minecraft' books are a motivation to read, that's a good thing, right? At the very least, they're developing skills, reading skills."Since last November, "Minecraft" has spun off into one of publishing's most successful franchises with a series of compact, illustrated books, priced under $10. Three authorized guides — "Minecraft: Essential Handbook," "Minecraft: Redstone Handbook" and "Minecraft: Construction Handbook" — have already sold more than 6 million copies combined, through a combination of store sales and purchases made through clubs and school fairs, according to Scholastic Inc. The publisher plans "Minecraft: Combat Handbook" for late September and a boxed set for October."We first heard from kids themselves about 'Minecraft,' and we started watching a lot of YouTube videos to see what the buzz was about," said Debra Dorfman, Scholastic's vice president and publisher for licensing."Kids, parents and teachers were all saying 'Minecraft' was good for you. Kids are given free rein to play, build and watch YouTube videos of other people playing. Teachers were talking about the educational aspects of creative thinking, geometry, geology and problem solving so parents were agreeing to let them play for hours at a time."Kira Porton, store manager of A Children's Place Bookstore in Portland, Oregon, says the guides could well become as popular as such top-selling series as "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and "Percy Jackson." Knowing little about "Minecraft" herself, she had initially ordered just a few copies of the guides and found herself repeatedly asking for more."They're in the process of just exploding," Porton says. "What's amazing is that we usually have to personally recommend books for them to sell that well. These books just fly off the shelf without our having to say anything.""Minecraft" is set in a procedurally generated blocky world whose trees, terrain and bodies of water can be mined for resources to build things like shelters, tools and armor to protect players from the zombies, skeletons and creepers who come out at night. The calculatedly simple mix of survival gameplay and Lego-like digital construction has captured the imagination of players who've recreated landmarks like Walt Disney World, the White House and Westeros from "Game of Thrones" across the game's sprawling virtual landscape.The minimalist indie game was originally released by creator Markus "Notch" Persson almost three years ago and went on to become a phenomenon. The game, which costs $6.99 for an app and $26.95 for the current PC version, has earned honors from the Independent Games Festival and the Game Developers Choice Awards. Besides the Scholastic guides, "Minecraft" also has inspired at least 10 self-published novels and hundreds of fan fiction stories.A senior editor for books at , Chris Schluep notes that other game-related releases have succeeded. Last year, "The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia" was a surprise best seller (published, fittingly, by Dark Horse Books). He also cited books tied to "Halo" and "World of Warcraft.""They're immersive worlds," Schluep says. "People throw around terms like 'transmedia' and 'ecosystem,' and this is a situation where it really works, where people really want to know more about it and go into other media."At the Brandywine Wallace Elementary School in Pennsylvania, second-grade teacher Elizabeth H. Madarang learned of the "Minecraft" games because her students kept referring to them in their weekly writing reports. Earlier this year, she ordered the first "Minecraft" manual offered by Scholastic. Her students have since formed a book club."I definitely see 'Minecraft' manuals encouraging students to read," Madarang says. "Not only are they reading text, they are studying and analyzing the manuals. They use critical reading and analytical skills then apply their new learning to their 'Minecraft' games."“Teacher Guide”Reading & Writing Focus: ?What is the Author’s Purpose for writing this article?Day 1 (20-30 minutes) ?First Read! Before reading, have students # the paragraphs in the text. Identify the Title and Author. Make predictions about the article. What will it be about?Students “cold read” the text, highlighting in yellow any words or phrases that impede their ability to understand the text.Discussion: At tables, students share out highlighted words or phrases. ?Students attempt to clarify for each other, then Teacher can clarify more challenging parts of the text that students have highlighted (Students/Teacher annotate clarifications, writing synonyms or explanations next to the highlighted words or phrases).Day 2 (20-30 minutes)Read with a Purpose! ?Students answer the short multiple choice question. The author most likely wrote this text to persuade the reader to read books about Minecraft and gaminginform the reader about the benefits of reading books about Minecraft and gamingentertain the reader by sharing information on books about Minecraft and gamingDiscussion: Share out student answer choices about the Author’s Purpose for writing the article. ?Have students re-read the text underlining (with a pencil!) evidence to support the answer they chose for the Author’s Purpose for writing the article... ?A), B), or C). ?Students should draw arrows from what they have underlined to the margins and explain their thinking.Day 3 (20-30 minutes)Write with a Purpose!Students write a paragraph explaining the Author’s Purpose for writing the article “Minecraft, Now Publishing Sensation”.Students write their claim statement (topic sentence). They will use the multiple choice answer they selected to formulate their topic sentence. ?Students will add evidence from the text to support their topic sentence. Students should add in their own thinking in support of the evidence they found in the text. Students should conclude by restating the author’s purpose for writing the article.“Student Guide”Reading & Writing Focus: ?What is the Author’s Purpose for writing this article?Day 1 (20-30 minutes) ?First Cold Read! You will read the article titled “Minecraft, Now Publishing Sensation”.STEP 1: ?Before reading, number the paragraphs in the text. Identify the Title and Author. ?Make predictions about the article. What will it be about?STEP 2) ?Read the text and highlight in yellow any words or phrases that impede your ability to understand the text.STEP 3) ?Discussion: At your table, share out the words or phrases you highlighted. ?Clarify for each other, then ask the Teacher to clarify more challenging parts of the text. As you clarify, annotate your clarifications by writing synonyms or explanations next to the words or phrases you highlighted in yellow.Day 2 (20-30 minutes)Read with a Purpose! ?STEP 1) Answer the multiple choice question. The author most likely wrote this text to persuade the reader to read books about Minecraft and gaminginform the reader about the benefits of reading books about Minecraft and gamingentertain the reader by sharing information on books about Minecraft and gamingSTEP 2) ?Discussion: At your table, share out your answer choice as to the the Author’s Purpose for writing the article. ?Share results with the entire class. Discuss your reasoning for the answer to the question. STEP 3) ?Re-read the text and underline (with a pencil!) evidence to support the answer you chose for the Author’s Purpose for writing the article. ?STEP 4) ?Draw arrows from what you underlined to the margins and explain your thinking about what you underlined.Day 3 & 4 if needed (20-30 minutes)Write with a Purpose! You will write a paragraph explaining the Author’s Purpose for writing the article “Minecraft, Now Publishing Sensation”.Begin your paragraph by stating the title of the text and the author.“Minecraft, Now Publishing Sensation,” was written by Hillel Italie, on September 7th, 2014.Write your claim statement (topic sentence). Use the multiple choice answer you chose to formulate your topic sentence. The authors purpose for writing this text was to A), B), or C)Include evidence from the text to support your topic sentence. You can cite direct quote from the text or paraphrase information you found.In paragraph ____, Italie states, “evidence from the text that you underlined.”Furthermore, Italie explains that… paraphrase evidence from the text that you underlined.Add your own thinking and commentaries in support of the evidence you found in the text. This clearly shows that ...explain your own thinking!Students should conclude by restating the author’s purpose for writing the article.To conclude, it is evident that the author was trying to A), B), or C).Use the following lines to draft your Justification paragraph.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ................
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