Publishing: Barron's Education Series. May 1st, 2001.
Synopsis: Unlike most books about the Constitution, this book does not talk about the history of the document itself. Instead, this book teaches students about the actual document itself. It explains what the document actually does and how it protects and affects people today. Kids will find out how the Constitution allows for the three branches of our federal government: executive, judicial and and legislative. The book then goes on to discuss the different rights that Americans have because of the document, including the right to vote and the freedom of speech and press. The book concludes by explaining to readers that some rights are not controlled by the federal government, but are actually left up to the States themselves.
This book is set up as an informational text and the author uses clear and simple language so that the reader has no difficulty with understanding. The pictures are red white and blue in color and mimic that of a cartoon, making this informational text more exciting for more readers.
I really enjoyed this book because I could see my future students enjoying it. This book does an excellent job of putting information in a clear and concise way that is not only easy to read but a lot of fun. I think having informational books that are easy to read while also being fun to read is very important and this book knocks it out of the park.
I would definitely use this book in my future classroom for a lesson on the constitution. I would also add some projects along to go with it, such as having my students work together as a class to create a classroom constitution that I would laminate and have all of my students sign. I would also like to have my students work in groups to makeup a song to remember what rights the constitution gives us. I would then have each group present their song to the class.
In searching for additional web links to help, I found an awesome webpage that talks all about the constitution including activities as well as coloring pages and it is even set up by age group. To view this webpage, click here: http://www.usconstitution.net/constkids4.html
I also found this fun U.S. Constitution map that can be a fun way to help teach the constitution and the video can be viewed below:
Publishing: Bantam, Reprint Edition. June 1st, 1993.
Synopsis: The diary of Anne Frank begins when a little girl named Anne received a diary from her parents on her 13th birthday. She names her diary Kitty and at first writes things that normal 13 year old girls would write about even today: daily events, thoughts school grades, and boys. But within a months time all of that changes. Anne Frank lived during Hitler's rule, a time when when living in Germany-occupied Holland as a Jew meant living in constant fear. When Anne's older sister Margo got called before authorities, meaning almost certainly that she would be sent to a concentration camp, Anne's family decided to go into hiding in a small hidden section of Anne's father's workplace they called the secret annex. This secret annex was hidden by a movable staircase, and would be the Frank family's home for the next two years, as well as home to another family called the van Daans and their son Peter as well as an old dentist by the name of Mr. Dussell. They are forced to live in a cramped space being silent almost all the time, and being shocked by the gun fire at night. While in the annex, Anne continues her education by reading and listening to the radio. Her one friend proves to be her trusted diary. Throughout her diary entries, Anne discusses the things she is learning as well as a budding friendship between herself and Peter van Daan. Eventually her tone changes to excitement when she hears that the war is almost over. She then loses this sense of optimism as the war rolls on. Anne Frank begins to feel more and more lonely in the annex and she feels as though no one likes her in the annex. She begins to feel angry toward her family and the other members of the annex only to feel guilty about her angry feelings. This is where the diary ends, shortly after which Anne's family is discovered by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps.
This book is very interesting in that it is an autobiography in the form of a diary. The author Anne writes in a way in which her tone always comes out clear. It is interesting to see her tone progression throughout the diary starting from a happy content tone, to a fearful nervous tone, to an optimistic tone and finally to a sad and angry tone. The rollercoaster of emotion that comes through in Anne's writing makes this story unique and interesting to read.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I am interested in history in general but particularly interested in the holocaust. I think its amazing in the most terrible way possible that the murder of six million people could be allowed to go on for the amount of time that it did. Reading Anne Frank's diary gives amazingly invaluable insight into what life was like as a jewish person during the holocaust and Anne's writing is so eloquent and revealing that it makes for an insightful and riveting read.
In using this book to teach, I would definitely use this book along with a unit on the holocaust and what it meant to be a Jewish person during this time. I would also definitely do a novel study with this book and I found a sample one on another teacher's blog that can be found here: http://annefranknovelstudy.blogspot.com
I also found a well done book trailer for Anne Frank's diary that can be viewed below:
Publishing: Holiday House, Reprint Edition. March 1st, 2012.
Synopsis: This is an informational book for small children all about lady bugs. The author Gail Gibbons provides facts about the life of a lady bug, including facts about where they live, what they eat, and how they benefit humans. At the end of the book the author also provides a list of websites from which the reader can go to to learn more information about ladybugs.
The language in this book is very simple and is written in a way that children can understand. In addition, the illustrations in this book are very large and vibrant in color making the information of the ladybug much more exciting and fun to read.
After flipping through this book, I of course knew it would be an excellent idea to do a lesson on lady bugs. I also thought as an interdisciplinary activity I could discuss with my students the difference between fact and opinion. I could write two sentences on the boar about lady bugs, the first being a fact from the book and a second being one that I made up. Then I could continue with this pattern and ask my students to come up and circle the fact and put a start next to the opinion. Also, I was thinking it would be a cute activity if I used construction paper to have my students assemble their own lady bugs. I would then have them work on their typing skills by taking them to the computer lab so that they could type out a list of new facts that they learned about ladybugs. I then would have them glue their fact sheet to the bottom of the lady bug and I would then hang the lady bugs up in the hallway on a bulletin board.
In searching for supplementary resources to add to my potential lesson, I found a really cute webpage done by National Geographic Kids with everything you would ever want to know about ladybugs including interesting facts. This page can be accessed here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/ladybug/
Publishing: Guinness World Records. September 9th, 2014.
Synopsis: This book is a list of hundreds of world records from all different sorts of categories, including records about animals, technology, the human body, transportation speed, and almost anything you can think of. Each record comes with statistics about the winning record holder as well as a picture of it as well.
This book is special in that each page has a different record held that is discussed in a bullet point statistical fashion. This book has a scientific feel and comes with beautiful clear pictures that really enhance the information on each page.
I really enjoy the Guinness World Records book and have grown up reading them. I really enjoy learning new strange and interesting facts and this book never fails to amaze me with all of it's crazy records. I think this book would be perfect for a student in one of the older elementary grades to browse because children are so curious and love to learn new and out there things and this book truly delivers.
In general I was thinking of simply having a book like this in my classroom so that I have a sure fire way to get a student excited about reading if they are reluctant at first. However, while flipping through the facts, I thought of a potential way to use this book directly in the classroom. I could have students pick a number out of a hat. Whichever number they pick out, they will have to create a World Record poster with information all about whichever record holder is on the page number they drew. It will be their job to put their information in a concise and attractive format as well as to search the internet for additional information on the record holder. Then my class would have a world record holder day in which my students would each present their posters to the class.
In addition, while browsing the Guinness Book of World Records page, I found a spot where you can read about setting a record. I think it would be fun to try and get my students to find an obscure record and try to break it to get our name in the next record book.
In order to learn more about the Guinness Book of World Records, you can visit their website located here: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com
Synopsis: Shorty and his family, along with thousands of Japanese Americans, are sent to an internment
camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fighting the heat and dust of the desert, Shorty and his
father decide to build a baseball diamond and form a league in order to boost the spirits of the
internees. Shorty quickly learns that he is playing not only to win, but to gain dignity and
self-respect as well.
The illustrations done in Baseball Saved Us are done in dark colors that make the reader get the idea that the pictures are from a long time ago. This is probably a good strategy used by the illustrator because this is a historically based book. The distinct colors make the book stand out from others.
I thought this book was an excellent book in that it incorporated history in a way that would keep students interested and engaged, which can sometimes be difficult to do. I also really enjoyed this book because the topic is very unique from any other I have heard before.
I would definitely use this book as an introduction into a lesson on life for Japanese Americans during World War II as well as a discussion on internment camps. I also found a website with a lesson plan complete with various creative writing prompts, vocabulary activities, as well as interdisciplinary connections with social studies and math. This website is awesome and I would definitely use it when creating a lesson using this book. The website can be accessed here: https://www.leeandlow.com/images/pdfs/baseball.pdf
To learn more about the author, you can look at his website located here: http://kenmochizuki.com
Publishing: Amistad, Reprint Edition. December 27th, 2011.
Synopsis: The story of One Crazy Summer begins when one summer, three sisters from New York travel to Oakland, California to live with their mother who abandoned them as babies. Delphine is the oldest sister who acts as the mother to her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern. They arrive in California only to realize their mother is nothing like they could have ever imagined. Instead of doing fun mother daughter activities all summer their mother sends them to a day camp run by a radical group called the Black Panthers. The girls learn from a woman names Sister Mukumbu about all of the positive things that The Black Panthers do for the community such as feeding hungry children. After one of The Black Panther members gets shot by the police, the girls are told that they will be participating in a rally to get the founder Huey Newton out of prison. After returning from a day trip to San Francisco, the girls come home to find their mother being arrested. Cecile says she has no daughters to the police officer so the girls pretend to be neighbors. The time comes for the rally and the sisters read one of their mothers poems that they found in the kitchen. The sisters see their mother has been released from jail at the rally and they go home with her. Their mother reveals to them that she lost her mother at age 11 and that she has had a rough life ever since, trying to explain why she left them as babies. The next day the girls return home to New York after finally getting a hug from their mother.
The author Rita Williams-Garcia writes in a way that is clear, concise and direct in a way that is easy to follow. The author also has a way of writing that is subtle yet impactful and therefore sets her apart from other authors from whose works I have read.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because I love any sort of story about discovery. Over the course of this One Crazy Summer, the girls learn so much not only about who their mom is, but also about whats going on in the world as well as who they are as people. I find books like this to be extremely interesting because I love to watch the transformation from the characters in the beginning to the characters at the end of the book.
While reading this book, I thought a lot about using this story to introduce a lesson on African American's fight for civil rights during the 1960s. I would definitely use this book to start a conversation and then a lesson on this topic and what was going on during this time. I would then have my students work in groups to present on different popular names that played a major role during this time period, such as The Black Panthers or Rosa Parks. I would then have them create a power point presentation to share with the class. Another activity to go along with this story that I thought of was using poetry like Cecile did in the book to share knowledge gained on the African American Civil Rights movement. I would then have my students create a "poetry café" in which each student would present their poem and the class would snap their approval afterwards.
Title: My Secret War: The World War II Diary of Madeline Beck
Author: Mary Pope Osborne
Publishing: Findaway World. August 1st, 2009.
Synopsis: This book tells the story of a young girl named Madeline Beck who is living with her mother in a Long Island boarding house until her father; a Lieutenant- commander returns home from war. Madeline has a hard time adjusting to her new surroundings without her dad around and making friends until her classmate and crush Johnny Vecchio learns that Maddie's father is in the Navy. The two then decide to make a a student club to support the war effort by selling war bonds, gathering scrap metal and used books, and making first aid kits. One night Maddie decides to take a walk on the beach and sees and overhears two men discussing something in hushed tones with very heavy accents. This causes Maddie to become suspicious enough to contact the FBI and in turn leads to the arrest of four Nazi agents. Just when things are going well from young Maddie, her mother receives a telegram stating that her father has been injured. The mother daughter duo pack up and move to San Francisco where he will be hospitalized. The book ends on a happy note when Maddie is reunited with her father.
This book is written in a unique way in that it is written from the perspective of a young girl during the times of World War II. In addition, the book is written in a series of diary entries that make reading it feel like you get real insight into the fictitious character that is Madeline Beck. This diary format approach to writing makes this book unique from others in the historical fiction genre.
This was my absolute favorite book growing up and I have read this book atlas ten times. I fell in love with the character and remember thinking how cool it was that even though we come from different times and circumstances, I still could relate to how she was feeling. This book does an excellent job of giving the reader an excellent feel of what is was like to grow up as a young girl during World War II and I believe that it makes this an excellent book.
I could definitely see myself using this book in my future classroom as a supplement to learning about World War II as well as a segway into creative writing. I could use this book to bring up lessons about ways that children were able to help in the war effort, as well as what occurred during World War II and why. I also thought it would be cool if while the students were reading Madeline Beck's journal, the students kept their own journal of their daily lives for a whole month. That way the students could connect with Madeline Beck and practice their writing skills.
In looking online for further resources, I discovered a unit plan with various lesson and activity ideas that would go along with the book. The website for this unit plan can be accessed here: http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/units/my_secret_war.shtml
In using this book to create a World War II lesson, I found a website which had all the information you need to know about World War II written specifically for students, which would be helpful for lessons. You can find the website here: http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/war/
To learn more about the author, you can go to her website by following this link: http://marypopeosborne.com
