Tales From The Haunted Mansion is a collection of spooky stories. During this flexible schedule course, students will study and discuss the novel. In addition to reading the book, students will review key language arts concepts such as summarization, character analysis, settings, symbolism, themes, and writing styles. This is a flexible schedule course, so there are no live meetings. Students have the ability to study the novel, and submit assignments over the course of four weeks. 

The book, Tales From the Haunted Mansion Volume 1 The Fearsome Foursome is transcribed by John Esposito, as told by the mansion librarian Amicus Arcane, with illustrations by Kelley Jones. This book is published by Disney Press with a publication date of July 19, 2016. The ISBN number is: 978-1-4847-1329-7. The book consists of 240 pages and is appropriate for an age range of 9-12 years. 

The description from the back of the book is as follows (Esposito, 2016):
"Welcome, foolish mortals to the lonesome library of the Haunted Mansion. In this bone-chilling book, you will read the terrifying tales of the Fearsome Foursome--four kids who try to out-scare each other with frightening fictions of their own. But just wait until they hear my spooky stories. Who am I? I am Amicus Arcane, your librarian and host. Your Ghost Host. So read on...if you dare!" 

Methodology: Students will be provided with a course syllabus that contains step by step instructions for completing the class. Each week, the students will view a recorded presentation that incorporates multiple modalities (text, video, audio, etc.).  The handouts for the presentation will be made available for you to print (printing is optional). After viewing the presentation, students will respond to discussion posts in the classroom that are related to the weekly topic. Students will engage in on-topic discussions with their instructor and/or peers by using the discussion board(s). Students will be offered the opportunity to ask questions, as well as opportunities to further explore the material through brief weekly assignments. These assignments will also provide students an opportunity to improve their writing and/or presentation skills. 

This course studies the novel chapter by chapter. Each week, students will be asked to provide a summary of the assigned reading. At the end of the course, students will submit a book report for the novel. 

Week One: Chapters 1-3
Topics Discussed: Chapter summaries, character analysis, plot summary, settings.

Week Two: Chapters 4-6
Topics Discussed: Chapter summaries, characters, symbols & symbolism, settings, themes.

Week Three: Chapters 7-9
Topics Discussed: Chapter summaries, favorite quote from the reading, styles, settings, characters. 

Week Four: Chapters 10-12 plus Hereafter Thoughts & Biographies
Topics Discussed: Chapter summaries, favorite quote, characters, settings, and a book report. 

Learner Time: This is a flexible schedule course so there are 0 live minutes per week in class. Students will spend approximately 0-1 hours per week viewing recordings, and an estimate of 0-1 hours per week outside of class to complete assignments.