Teacher’s Guide for

Jazmin’s Notebook by Nikki Grimes

Pre-reading:

Where do you go when you want to get your thoughts together? What do you do when you want to be sure there is a way to preserve a memory?

Prediction Guide:

Make educated guesses at to what might happen after each section in the story. Remember that being “right” isn’t important. (After all, what fun would reading be if you always new the ending!) These questions will help guide your comprehension and help you to make educated guesses about a character based on clues.

After reading the notebook entry described, stop and answer the questions before continuing to the next section.

After June 10

1. Which people described so far in the novel will Jazmin keep in her life? What makes you think so?
2. How will Jazmin “treat each thing as if it’s gossamer, or mist,” in her daily life?

After September 21

1. What do you think CeCe will do if Jazmin tells her about Miss Lillian Wise’s recommendations?
2. Who will Jazmin turn to the next time she needs advice about college?

After October 20

1. Do you think Destinee or Jazmin will ever return to Carlton’s apartment? Will they ever skip school again? What makes you think so or not?
2. Do you think Jazmin would like a babysitting job? Why or why not?

After November 11

1. Do you think Brenda will ever intimidate Jazmin again?
2. Who is Jazmin turning out to be most like, her mother, father or sister? What makes you think so?
3. Will Jazmin ever go see her mother? Why or why not?

After January 29

1. Look into Jazmin’s future. What do you see in ten years? In twenty?

Comprehension Guide/ Quiz Questions

Knowledge:

1. List at least five characters from Jazmin’s Notebook, and explain their relationship to her.
2. Describe Jazmin in your own words.

Comprehension:

1. Explain how Jazmin came to live with her sister.
2. Describe what happened at the poker game.

Application:

1. Select three short excerpts from Jazmin’s Notebook that you think best describe her as a person.
2. List details that let you know the story takes place in the 1960’s.
3. Then, explain how things are the same and different from that time until now.

Analyze:

1. Define the following poetic terms: personification, simile, metaphor, alliteration, assonance.
2. Choose two of Jazmin’s poems to analyze. Find examples of at least three of the poetic elements listed above.

Synthesize:

1. How would you have handled the situation at Carlton’s apartment? What did you learn from Jazmin’s experience?
2. Pretend Jazmin is your pen pal. Write her a letter that takes place after your favorite section of the book.

Evaluation:

1. Which poem is your favorite? Why?
2. Which scene do you think best reveals Jazmin’s true character? Why?

Multiple Intelligence Projects for

Jazmin’s Notebook by Nikki Grimes

Verbal/ Linguistic

Keep a journal/notebook for at least ten days like Jazmin. Write at least two poems during that time. Privacy can be maintained by folding the notebook pages in half lengthwise. But, pages will still be counted (at the students desk, so they KNOW a teacher hasn’t peeked!) for the grade. Warning: you may become addicted!

Logical/ Mathematical:

Fill out the story pyramid about Jazmin. (On separate page)

-or-

Create a timeline of Jazmin’s life on banner paper. Be sure to include all major events. The line does not have to be straight! It can move from high points in her life written near the top, to low points near the bottom.

Visual/ Spatial

Choose your favorite poem from Jazmin’s Notebook (or use one from your own notebook) and create a collage to create a poster for your room. Any materials are appropriate (well, as long as they meet the school code!) and creativity is encouraged.

Body/ Kinesthetic

In groups of two or three students (though the poker scene could use more) act out the scenes from Jazmin’s Notebook. You can adlib but stay true to the characters in the story.

Musical/ Rhythmic

Jazmin’s life is influenced by the music around her. Research and write a brief pamphlet about one of the musical artists mentioned in the story: Charlie Parker, Smokey Robinson, Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye Miriam Makeba, or B.B. King.

Interpersonal:

Empathy is defined as: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.

Jazmin develops her sense of empathy throughout the story even though she has (in some ways) been dealt a pretty slim hand of cards in her life. With her extraordinary gifts she is able, in the end, to see her mom this way:

“The state mental institution Mom is in resembles a penitentiary, which seems about right. Her mental illness is a kind of prison, her mind a place where she keeps hurtful thoughts and feelings locked away.”

Write a journal about empathy and Jazmin’s journey to it. Write about yourself, if you want to. Or, don’t. But, explain how Jazmin is able to reach this point in her story and what we can all learn from her.

Intrapersonal:

 

Jazmin says: “ These words, these notes are gonna be my photographs of me. Of who I am, and what I do, and what my life is like. Here. Now.”

Write a letter to yourself with just the same purpose. Try to capture like a photograph, exactly who you are at this moment in time. Then, seal the letter in an envelope and don’t open it for at least a couple of years. You’ll be surprised by how much you’ve changed. And, how much you haven’t. Like Jazmin said, “ I was born with clenched fists.” Maybe you were too.

Story Pyramid for

Jazmin’s Notebook by Nikki Grimes

Jazmin’s Story Pyramid

In the blank lines above, write the information for the following:

1. Jazmin’s full name

2. Two words that describe Jazmin.

3. Three words to describe where she lives.

4. Four words that describe her roles in life: ex. sister

5. Five words describing the main conflict in Jazmin’s life

6. Six adjectives describing how Jazmin handles the events in the story.  (ex. bravely)

7. Seven verbs describing what Jazmin does in the story

8. Eight words describing the ending.

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