Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Alcatraz News”

In this activity, students will create an article for the Alcatraz newspaper detailing events and people in the novel.

Al Capone Does My Shirts is a historical novel set in the 1930s, while Al Capone is in the Alcatraz prison. Create a newspaper article about noteworthy events that occur in the novel. Use the characters in the novel to create interviews of eyewitness accounts. Then, create a digital copy of your newspaper article complete with pictures and captions for your news story. Use the details below to assist in the development of your article.

• Select a noteworthy event in the book to report on in the local newspaper.
• Identify the characters you would like to interview about the event.
• Select pictures and research backstories to use in the article.
• Draft your article with a headline, and revise after peer review.
• Don’t forget to name your paper!

Share your news article with the class; as you describe your article, compare the article to the description of the event(s) in the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: You may want to encourage students to use events such as Mrs.