Thursday, March 3, 2011

Washington (Nonfiction)


By: Christine Webster, part of the From Sea to Shining Sea series

The state of Washington is a beautiful state located in the Northwestern part of the United State. This book has tons of good information about the state, its landscapes, its history, state government and even recent facts. 

“About 4,000 years ago, before European explorers came, there were many Native Americans living in Washington. About 70 tribes occupied the land. “ Page 18


I love that these books come in a series, so each state has a book with tons of information. I would use these books to help my students explore other states. Each student would pick a state and create an informational brochure. This is a great way to allow my students to be creative and take responsibility for selecting the information from the book that they deem appropriate. Once all the brochures are done I would have each student present an interesting fact about their state.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Rapunzel (Fairytale)

By: Stephanie Peters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kp2O1w_OK8
^link to youtube video

This traditional fairytale written in a graphic novel form is great for integrating theatre into the classroom. Because the way graphic novels are written, similar to comics with shots from scene to scene, the students can perform their favorite parts of the story. I know there is also a Snow White graphic novel, which would be great to use as well for some variety. In 3rd grade students learn about types of fiction so this activity, would be great to introduce folk/fairytales, integrate technology with some flip cameras and incorporate theatre in the classroom.

Science Verse (Science Fiction)


By: Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

Mr. Newton, the science teacher, says

“You know, if you listen closely enough, you can hear the poetry of science in everything.”

After that, the main character, a boy in Mr. Newton’s class, is zapped with a curse of the science verse. He begins to hear everything as a science poem. The young boy hears poems about the water cycle, dinosaurs, the food chain and as his day goes by everything turns into a poem. He feels like he will never escape the curse, until suddenly he wakes up, is still in science class, and is cursed of the Science Verse.

I would use this book to connect science and language arts. If I was starting a unit on poetry in language arts I could use this book as a fun and creative example. Also, the poems are about a variety of science topics such as evolution, the water cycle, matter and animal food chains. 

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Secret of Saying Thanks (Realistic Fiction)


By: Douglas Wood

The author writes about secrets found in the world along side a day with a young girl. From sunrise to sunset, Douglas Wood points out elements in nature that we may take for granted.

I would read this book before Thanksgiving and have the students write about things that they are thankful for. The illustrations in this book are delicately and softly drawn expressing genuine emotion and thankfulness. I would integrate arts in my classroom and have students express what they are thankful for through watercolors as well.

Nine Days to Christmas (Folk)


By: Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida

Ceci is a little girl from Mexico who is looking forward to her posada-a special Christmas party. Over the nine days before Ceci’s party she waits anxiously as things are being prepared for her posada. Ceci has a favorite doll named Gabina that she takes around over the nine days. Ceci picks a star piñata that is filled with fruit and broken during her posada. At first, Ceci is sad that her piñata is broken but then finds a star in the sky that she has never seen before and believes that her piñata is now a real star in the sky.

I like this book because it shows some traditional Mexico preparations for Christmas. The illustrations are extremely detailed and I like how the illustrator uses the colors to focus on certain characters or elements. I would use this book before Christmas to discuss other cultures and the character Ceci, would be a good character to get the students to connect their personal emotions and make predictions about.

The 39 Clues-Book #2-One False Note (Modern Fantasy)

By: Gordon Korman

Amy and Dan Cahill are on a mission to find 39 clues that are connected to the power that their family has. A few weeks ago Amy and Dan were lonely orphans, living with Aunt Beatrice. After their grandmother, Grace, passed away they started on this race to find the 39 clues to their family’s power. They head to Vienna with a coded piece of music to find other clues on their chance. Other family members, cousins from Russia or Uncles from Asia are also trying to find all the clues so Amy and Dan must successfully avoid their adversaries.

First, I would try and find the first chapter book to the series because I would want to read that one to introduce the book to my students. Because it is a series, my students would have the opportunity to read more about the story and I think it would be interesting to see which students decided to read more books from this series. This book is also a great interactive book, there are cards and online games to play at <www.the39clues.com>. 

Friday, February 25, 2011

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (Folk)


By: John Steptoe

Mufaro has two beautiful daughters; Nyasha and Manyara. Nyasha is gentle and kind and Manyara is harsh and selfish.  The king wants to choose a wife so both Nyasha and Manyara travel to see the king.  Along the way to the king, Nyasha shows her kind character. Manyara arrives first and is frightened by a snake, but Nyasha remembers the snake from her garden. The snake transforms in front of Nyasha and she is pronounced queen.

This book is similar to a Cinderella story. I would use this book as a read aloud to go along with the Sootface, the Ojibwa story. We would discuss the cultural differences, as well as the universal theme “good always prevails bad”. Also, I could use this picture book to start a lesson about Zimbabwe/Africa in social studies.