2004 -
2005
The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle: Solving a Mystery of Ancient Egypt
Claudia Logan
Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2002
42 pages
SUMMARY:
Will (a fictionalized character) accompanies his father on a 1925 expedition to Giza, Egypt, led by world-famous Egyptologist Dr. George Reisner.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki
The Egyptian News by Scott Steedman
Into the Mummy’s Tomb by Nicholas Reeves
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Mummies and Pyramids by Will Osborne
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
English Language Arts:
Write about the burial customs of today and compare them with the customs of ancient Egypt.
Suppose you were on the dig with Will. What would you write in your journal that he didn’t write in his?
Social Studies:
Discuss and research archeology. Use a see-through laundry bag to illustrate the layering effect—what goes down first comes out last.
Research Ancient Egypt, pyramid building, Egyptian mythology, and other topics of Egyptology.
Math:
Build a scale model of a pyramid.
Science:
Research mummification.
WEB SITES:
The Pyramids: Design and
Construction
Culture Focus: Pyramids of Egypt
BOOKTALK:
Few of us have gotten to visit the great pyramids of Egypt, but we have seen and read many stories about the magnificence of ancient Egyptian pyramids. None of us has had the opportunity to explore any of the pyramids. In THE 5,000-YEAR-OLD PUZZLE by Claudia Logan you become part of a tomb expedition. You travel with young Will Hunt in search of a hidden tomb. If you find it, what will be in it? Will it contain treasures like those in the tomb found just a few years earlier—King Tut’s tomb? To get a first hand feel for what an archeological dig might be like, read THE 5,000-YEAR-OLD PUZZLE by Claudia Logan.
Prepared by Daniel
R. Beach
Because of Anya
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Simon & Schuster Books for Young
Readers, 2002
114 pages
SUMMARY:
Anya Seaver’s hair has fallen out because of
alopecia areata, and she wears a wig to school so the other kids won’t
know. She agonizes that the wig will
come off and everyone will see her bald head.
One day the dreaded event happens, and Anya’s classmate, Keely,
realizes she wants to help Anya feel comfortable coming back to class and getting
on with her life.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
The Girl with 500 Middle Names by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Kathy’s Hats: A Story of Hope by Trudy Krisher
Secret Magic by Zeno Zeplin
A Cool Moonlight by Angela Johnson
My Worst Friend by P.J. Petersen
Run for It by Robert Hirschfeld
The Year My Mother Was Bald by Ann Speltz
Wings by Christopher Myers
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Imagine you just found out you have alopecia areata. Write a poem describing your feelings. Write a story that shows how you might deal with your disease.
Someone in your class has alopecia areata or is different from the rest of the class in some way (has another disease, doesn’t speak English, etc.). Write a paragraph on ways you and your classmates can make that person welcome or how you can help that person.
Science/Health:
Prepare a report on alopecia areata or another autoimmune disorder (lupus,
multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma,
psoriasis, Grave’s disease, etc.)
Check into current research for a cure.
WEB SITES:
National Alopecia Areata Foundation
BOOKTALK:
How would you feel if your hair started falling out for no reason? What do you do? Do you wear a wig to hide it from everyone at school? Do you tell your class? Ten-year-old Anya, who has alopecia areata, chooses to wear a wig so no one will know her hair has fallen out, but “popular” Stef realizes it’s a wig and tries to get Keely to give it a tug to test it. For once, Keely refuses to do what Stef wants and realizes Anya needs help, particularly after the wig accidentally comes off in gym one day. Anya is mortified and doesn’t want to come back to school. Read this book to find out how Anya and her family begin to cope with Anya’s disorder and what surprising thing Keely does to help.
Prepared by: Leigh
Ann Bryant
A Boy at War
Harry Mazer
Simon & Schuster, 2001
128 pages
SUMMARY:
While fishing with his friends off
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
The Last
The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins by Walter Dean Myers
Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes
Soldier X by Don L. Wulffson
Under a War-Torn Sky by L.M. Elliott
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Social Studies:
Use with the U.S. History curriculum for World War II. Using a world map of the time, map the first
attacks by the Japanese during December 1941 and January 1942. Then ask the students, “If you were
Admiral Yamamoto, what would you have attacked first? Why?”
Discuss why it was important that the Japanese attack
Language Arts:
Use this as a starting point for journal writing on the
subject of war and how the students would react if they found themselves in a
situation like this. After reading this
book, ask the students to brainstorm what happened to Adam and his family when
they returned to
WEB SITES:
Harry Mazer's
Family Literacy Author Residency
United States' Navy's USS Arizona
National Park Service - U.S.S. Arizona
The
Attack on Pearl Harbor from the History Channel
BOOKTALK:
It’s a sunny morning in early December. You’re fishing with your buddies in
Prepared by: Becky James
Kate Banks
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002
150 pages
SUMMARY:
Ten-year-old Dillon Dillon cannot understand why his “smart” and “nice” parents have given him a first name that is the same as the last. When they begin their summer vacation at the lake, Dillon is given a red rowboat with his double name printed on the side. After all these years, Dillon is courageous enough to ask why he has a double name. After his parents shocking answer, he spends most of the summer on an island where he becomes fascinated by a pair of loons who build a nest in his sneaker.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
Tides by V. M. Caldwell
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose Lewis
Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay
The Hand and the Key by John Neufeld
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Discuss
the parallels between the loons and Dillon and his real parents.
Science:
Put
the students in groups to research loons. Research topics could include,
habitat, mating, parenting and food supply.
Encourage students to use a variety of sources.
Social Studies:
Ask
your students to look on the Internet for a map of
Counseling:
During
group counseling, the students could discuss family secrets and how keeping
secrets within a family can cause family relationships to become strained. Ask them if Dillon’s parents were right
to keep his adoption a secret. Why or
why not?
WEB SITES:
Resources for Students of
New Hampshire
BOOKTALK:
Have
you ever kept a secret for a long time?
Dillon’s parents and his older brother have a secret. One summer at their cottage on the lake,
Dillon finds out the secret. At first he
is devastated by the news. He spends the
remainder of the summer rowing his boat out to an island and interacting with a
pair of loons. After a while, he develops a special relationship with
them. The loons build a nest in his
sneaker and lay an egg. They seem to
communicate with him and help him with his quest for self-discovery. Read this dreamlike book to find out the
secret and the parallels between Dillon and the loons.
Prepared by: Alleene Holland
The Gold-Threaded Dress
Carolyn Marsden
Candlewick Press, 2002
73 pages
SUMMARY:
Fourth
grader Oy, a Thai-American student new to school, struggles to fit in with the
popular girls at school. When a picture of Oy in her beautiful gold-threaded
dress is knocked from her backpack when the leader of the popular girls jostles
her, the trouble begins. The ringleader, Liliandra, applies enormous
peer-pressure until Oy agrees to smuggle the special ceremonial dress to school
and allow the other girls to try it on.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester
Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry
Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen
The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Social Studies:
How diversity is part of
the American experience.
Guidance:
Teasing and bullying are
issues in every school. Discuss caring and respect and how these important
attributes contribute to friendship.
WEB SITES:
BOOKTALK:
We have all wanted things
that weren’t good for us and we’ve been willing to take chances
with important things and people to reach these inappropriate goals. So, we can
all understand how Oy feels and how the beautiful dress becomes a means to
being accepted. In this charming story, we see how we are all alike in some
ways even though we are all so unique and different. It encourages us to value
our differences and learn how to deal with others who don’t. It helps us
see who and what is really important.
Prepared by: Marcia
S. Russo
Halfway to the Sky
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Dell Yearling, 2003, c2002
166 pages
SUMMARY:
After the death of her
brother and her parents’ divorce, twelve-year-old Katadhin runs away to
hike the entire 2,163-mile
IF YOU LIKED THIS
BOOK, TRY…
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
My Side of the
Mountain by Jean Craighead George
The Far Side of the
Mountain by Jean Craighead George
The Talking Earth by Jean Craighead George
The Homecoming Cynthia Voigt
Dear Mr. Henshaw by
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Find and read several
Appalachian folktales. Compare and
contrast them with similar tales from other cultures. For instance, you could read Paul O.
Zelinsky’s Swamp Angel and compare it to a Jack tale or another
tale of a hero who defeats an animal protagonist.
Social Studies:
Research the
History:
Research how
Counseling:
Write about how divorce impacts families.
Film Connection:
Watch any of the Tom
Davenport Brothers Grimm films (such as Ashpet, Jack and the Dentist’s
Daughter, or Mutzmag) to get a better idea of the Appalachian
setting. Discuss how the Appalachian
setting influences the story.
WEB SITES:
Book
Nuts: A Club Where Kids Can Talk About the Books They Like To Read
KidsHealth:
A Kid’s Guide to Divorce
Activities for
Teaching Appalachian Folktales
BOOKTALK:
Have you ever wanted to run away from home? Katadhin (Dani for short) decides after her
brother’s death from muscular dystrophy and her parents’ divorce
that it’s time for her to hit the trail—and not just any
trail—the
Prepared by:
Michelle H. Martin
Handel, Who Knew What He Liked
written by M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Candlewick Press, 2001
48 pages
SUMMARY:
George Frideric Handel knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up and no one was going to stop him. Handel wanted to be a musician; his father thought Handel would never make enough money as a musician and forbade any musical lessons. Handel fought for what he wanted and did whatever it took to get it—including sneaking a clavichord to his room past his father!
This beautifully illustrated book is the story of the boy who would grow up to compose the Messiah. The reader learns about Handel’s disappointments and accomplishments as well as interesting tidbits about the musical pieces he composed. Many pages include footnotes of sorts that describe in more detail musical terms and instruments mentioned in Handel’s story. Also included is a chronology of Handel’s life, a discography, and suggestions for further reading.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
Bravo! Brava! A Night
at the Opera: Behind the Scenes, with Composers, Cast, and Crew by Anne Siberell
George Handel by Mike Venezia
Handel and the Famous Sword
Swallower of Halle by Bryna Stevens, illustrated by Ruth Tietjen Councell
Messiah by George Frideric
Handel, paintings by Barry Moser
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Music:
Read to students when
evaluating/learning about works such as the Messiah
Use to help students
relate to music history and culture.
Use to introduce students
to musical instruments and terms.
Social Studies:
Read to students when
studying this time period.
Allow students to listen
to works by Handel after you read the book aloud.
Read to students during a
discussion about careers.
English/Language Arts:
Read to students during a
lesson on biographies. Have them write and illustrate an autobiography about
what they would like to be when they grow up.
Information Literacy:
Have students do research
about Handel using DISCUS after they read the book. Can find information about
Handel using databases such as Kids
InfoBits, Biography Resource Center,
and New Book of Knowledge.
WEB SITES:
Classics for Kids
BOOKTALK:
Do
you know EXACTLY want you want to be when you grow up? George Handel did--he
wanted to be a musician, but his father said that musicians don't make money
and that he should think of something else to do...something respectable like
medicine (like his dad, who was a doctor). Handel wasn't having any of
that---he did everything he could to become a musician, including sneaking
musical instruments into his house.
Handel
grew up to compose many famous operas and he created one of the
most famous musical pieces ever, the Messiah.
This piece is very famous and I bet you hear it EVERY Christmas.
If
you know what you like or if you want to know more about how Handel was able to
become what he wanted against all odds, read Handel, Who Knew What He Liked by M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Keven
Hawkes.
Prepared by:
Valerie Byrd
The House in the Mail
Rosemary and Tom Wells
Viking, 2002
32 pages
SUMMARY:
In 1927, Emily describes the ordering, arrival, and assembly
of a mail-order house for her growing family.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
Language of the Doves by: Rosemary Wells
The Streets of Gold by: Rosemary Wells
Mary on Horseback by: Rosemary Wells
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Social Studies:
Life in the late 1920’s
Housing & Architecture
WEB SITES:
The World of Rosemary Wells
Explore! Architecture for Kids
BOOKTALK:
Have you ever ordered something from a catalog? Was it hard to wait for it to get to your house? In this story Emily Cartwright and her family order a new house from Sears, Roebuck & Company. They are very excited about all of the new and modern features of the house, but there is a lot of hard work ahead of them to get it ready to move into.
Prepared by: Jana
Wood
Betty Hicks
Roaring Brooks Press, 2002
133 pages
SUMMARY:
Nick has to adjust to a life without his mother, who has passed away, and learn how to accept his new stepmother and dorky stepbrother. As if this isn’t enough, he is trying to make the basketball team’s first string by competing with a basketball wizard who doesn’t necessarily believe in the honor code. One day he smells something that reminds him of ham and realizes that it’s him. Things get worse before they ever get better, and Nick’s new life is an adventure in more ways than one.
IF YOU LIKED THIS
BOOK, TRY…
Animal House and Iz by Betty Hicks
My Mother Got Married and Other Disasters by Barbara Park
The Memory String by Eve Bunting
Mister and Me by Kimberly Holt Willis
Falling Into Place by Stephanie Green
The In-Between Days by Eve Bunting
I Hate Weddings by P. J. Petersen
Tall Tales: Six Amazing Basketball Dreams by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Research King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Have students choose one of the popular characters of this particular time and describe him or her to the class.
Compare and contrast Nick
and Dwayne.
Explain the process Nick
goes through in order to change his thinking about his stepbrother.
Social Studies:
Draw a timeline of Michael Jordan’s life from birth to present, focusing on his basketball career.
Draw a map of
Math:
Draw a pie graph of the number of points Michael Jordan scored during his high school, his college, and his professional basketball career.
Science:
Find a picture of a Venus fly trap. What other plants, if any, are related to this plant? What do they like to eat?
Physical Education:
Explain the rules of basketball, including important points such as scoring, fouling, laying up, dribbling, passing, etc.
Play a game of HORSE.
Art:
Draw a coat of arms for Nick.
Draw a picture of
Dwayne’s room using the description on pages 98-99.
WEB SITES:
King
Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table
Michael Jordan
Official Website
BOOKTALK:
“Nick has a lot of
changes going on in his life. All he
wants to do is make the 6th grade basketball team. Well, actually everyone makes the team. Nick wants to be a starter. It looks doubtful, though, as
Keane, Nancy.
“Betty Hicks’ I Smell Like
Ham.” Nancy Keane’s Booktalks—Quick and Simple. c. 2004.
http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/hicks_i.htm
(
Prepared by: Kitt Lisenby
King’s Mountain
G. Clifton Wisler
HarperCollins, 2002
154 pages
SUMMARY:
Fourteen-year-old Frank leaves his mountain home in
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
Thunder on the
The Drummer Boy of
Red Cap by G. Clifton Wisler
Who Comes to King’s Mountain? by John Louis Beatty
Guns for General
Washington: A Story of the American Revolution by
The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart by Kristiana Gregory
The Journal of William Thomas Emerson, a Revolutionary War Patriot by Barry Denenberg
The Keeping Room by Anna Myers
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Use this book to teach the writing of personal narratives. Focus on emotions and perceptions of sights, smells and sounds. Also ask “What would you do in this situation?”
Social Studies:
Use this book to teach map skills by getting a map of the
Use this book to supplement the
Use this book to supplement the U.S. History curriculum by plotting the major battles of the Revolutionary War in all 13 colonies. Try to assign a value of the importance of each one for the Patriots in winning the Revolutionary War.
WEB SITES:
National Park Service: Kings Mountain
The
American Revolution
The Battle of
King's Mountain, 7 October 1780
BOOKTALK:
The American Revolution.
We’ve all heard about it. Usually
we think of
Prepared by: Becky
James
Lumber
Natalie
Kinsey-Warnock
HarperCollins
Publishers, 2002
87 pages
SUMMARY:
Ruby wants to be a teacher, but after her father’s death in a logging accident she must quit school to care for her ten brothers and sisters, until a chance meeting with a lonely, old blind woman transforms her life.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
Silver Dollar Girl by Katherine Ayers
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill
Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Describe what luxuries,
machines, and conveniences were not available in the 1920’s.
Create a message in
Braille.
Math:
Create a garden to feed a
family of 13. Determine the cost, size,
and a list of supplies.
History:
Describe the change from
the one-room schoolhouse to a school system of 12 separate grade levels.
Science:
Study the habitat of the
gray jay.
Pop different types of
popcorn and compare the outcomes.
Physical Education:
Compete in bag races and
three-legged races.
Music:
On the recorder, play
“Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “She’ll Be Coming Round the
Mountain”.
Art:
Draw a lumber camp
bunkhouse.
Draw the habitat of a
gray jay.
Guidance:
Write a sympathy note to
Ruby.
WEB
SITES:
BOOKTALK:
Imagine being the oldest
of eleven children. Your father is a
logger, and your mother takes care of the family. You are a smart daughter who spends her time
teaching the others to read and write.
Even your father learns how to write his name because you teach so
well. One day another logger, Jim, comes
to tell all of you that your father has drowned in an accident. Now you’re never get to finish school,
much less become a teacher. Your mother
is forced to move to town and take in washing just so you and your brothers and
sisters have food and a roof over your head.
Life is so frustrating. What will
you do?
Prepared by: Celeste R. Stone
Mr. Lincoln’s Way
Patricia Polacco
Philomel Books, 2001
unpaged
SUMMARY:
Mr.
Lincoln is the coolest principal ever! He wears cool clothes and has a cool
smile. He knows how to do everything from jumping rope to leading nature walks.
All the kids love him…except for Eugene Esterhouse. And
IF YOU LIKED THIS
BOOK, TRY…
My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston
Good Luck Mrs. K! by Louise Borden
Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Thank you, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill
A Fine,
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Guidance:
Discuss caring and respect and how these
important attributes contribute to friendship.
Social Studies:
Discuss how people’s attitudes can
lead to problems such as
Language Arts:
Have students write a
story on one of the following topics:
bullying, intolerance, a favorite teacher, a special interest that makes
them happy, or about time spent with a grandparent.
WEB SITES:
BOOKTALK:
As teachers or students
at some point will we run into a student who is stuck in a very angry place?
This anger can reveal itself in bullying and intolerant behavior toward others.
Prepared by: Marcia
S. Russo
Richard Easton
Clarion Books, 2002
155 pages
SUMMARY:
The setting for the story
is a hundred years ago in a
IF YOU LIKED THIS
BOOK, TRY:
Growing Up In Coal
Country by Susan Bartoletti
Home At Last and Hope In My Heart by Kathryn Lasky
Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter For Workers Rights by Judith Pinkerton Josephson
The Gold-Threaded
Dress by Carolyn Marsden
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Social Studies: Discuss
immigration and problems immigrants face fitting into new cultural and work
situations. Compare and contrast
historical and today’s experiences.
Farm life in the 1890s and compare to today’s farming.
Science: Discuss
formation of coal and its mining process.
Discuss health and safety issues related to coal mining.
Language Arts: Writing
assignment about friendship and the problems with making new friends when you
move to a new location and/or among culturally different people.
WEB SITES:
Ellis Island Immigration Museum
BOOKTALK:
What does it mean to be a “real American?” Eleven-year-old Nathan McClelland thinks he knows until all his neighbors sell their farms to the coal company and move away. Nathan doesn’t like the Italian immigrants who’ve moved in to work in the mines—that is, until he meets Arturo. Nathan works on making Arturo into his idea of a real American and is shocked when he discovers that Arturo doesn’t want to be Nathan’s kind of American. Read this book to find out how both boys become “real Americans.”
Prepared by Leigh
Ann Bryant, Nancy Bull, Mary Hall, Daniel Beach
Ruby Holler
Sharon Creech
HarperCollins, 2002
310 pages
SUMMARY: Thirteen-year-old twins Dallas and
IF YOU LIKED THIS
BOOK, TRY…
Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech
Bloomability by Sharon Creech
Dear Mom, Get Me Out of Here! by Ellen Conford
Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
Sun & Spoon by Kevin Henkes
Daddy’s Climbing Tree by C.S. Adler
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Social Studies:
Examine the lives of
orphans riding the orphan trains to the American West between 1854 and
1929. Possible non-fiction titles to
use: Children
of the Orphan Trains by Holly Littlefield (Carolrhoda, 2001); We Rode the Orphan Trains by Andrea
Warren (Houghton, 2001).
Language Arts:
Choose another fiction book about
orphans to compare and contrast with Ruby
Holler. Focus on the relationships
of the characters in the books.
Writing/Art:
Create your own
“magical, mysterious place.”
What would it look and feel like?
Describe it with lots of details and imagery.
WEB SITES:
Sharon Creech's Home Page
Interview with
Sharon Creech
Using Children’s
Literature to Teach About the Orphan Trains
BOOKTALK:
Thirteen
year old twins, Dallas and
Prepared by: Jan Faile
Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
Andrea Warren
HarperCollins, 2001
146 pages
SUMMARY:
Andrea Warren offers a
compelling but difficult recounting of the years that Jack Mandelbaum spent in
the Nazi death camps as a child. Like
many other Jews, Jack lost many family members and watched many others around
him die at the hands of the Nazis. Some
died in the gas chambers, some he watched shot at point-blank range, and others
he saw worked, beaten and starved to death.
But through Jack’s positive outlook on life, his strong spirit in
the midst of hardship, and many strokes of good luck at the right times, he
survived to tell of his ordeal, hoping to help others understand the atrocities
that took place during the Holocaust . . . so that it will never happen again.
IF YOU LIKED THIS
BOOK, TRY…
After the Holocaust by Howard Greenfield
Anne Frank: The Diary
of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Devil’s
Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The Final Journey by Gudrun Pausewang
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Smoke and Ashes: The
Story of the Holocaust by Barbara
Rogasky
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Go to the Children of the
Holocaust web site, choose a child’s story to read, and compare and
contrast this child’s experience of the Holocaust with that of a
fictional protagonist from a Holocaust novel you read.
Film Connection:
Watch the film Life is
Beautiful and write about the sense of hope that Jack Mandelbaum has
as compared to the sense of hope that the father in the film instills in his
son while in the concentration camp.
History:
Go to the Teachers’
Guide to the Holocaust web site and take several of the “virtual
tours” of concentration camps to get a better sense of what Jack
Mandelbaum of Surviving Hitler experienced.
Field Trip:
Visit one of the Holocaust Museums (literally or virtually on the web) and discuss the implications of prejudice and hatred.
WEB SITES:
A Teachers’ Guide to the
Holocaust
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
(features a special section for teachers)
C.A.N.D.L.E.S. Holocaust Museum
(dedicated to the children of the Holocaust)
BOOKTALK:
Growing up with a rather
idyllic childhood in a close, loving family with a mother whom he adored and
wealth enough for his family to live an easy life, Jack Mandelbaum had no idea
of what World War II and Hitler’s invasion of
Prepared by: Michelle H. Martin
Bonnie Graves
Dutton Children’s Books, 2002
70 pages
Summary:
After he agrees to help his best friend’s older sister watch a toddler, fifth-grader Joel learned quite a lot in just one afternoon and so stops worrying about passing his upcoming test in Emergency Preparedness.
If You Liked This BOOK, TRY…
The Best Worst Day by: Bonnie Graves
Mystery of the Tooth
Gremlin by: Bonnie Graves
No Copycats Allowed by: Bonnie Graves
You’re a Brave
Man Julius Zimmerman by: Claudia
Mills
Jenny Archer to the
Rescue by: Ellen Conford
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Health:
First aid topics
Babysitting and
responsibility
WEB SITES:
Bonnie
Graves - Children's Literature Network
A Guide to the Business of
Babysitting - University of Illinois Extension
Children's Safety
Zone Guide for Babysitters - L.A. Fire Department
BOOKTALK:
Imagine that you're a
fifth grade boy. What's one of the LAST things you'd ever want to
do? Babysit! Yet that's just what Joel is stuck doing - babysitting
for a toddler whose nickname is "Trouble". Ice cream mess all
over the kitchen, no diapers for a diaper change, a baby screaming "Opah,
Opah!" - These are some of the babysitting emergencies
Joel encounters. And to top it all off, Joel's best friend decides
to videotape the whole fiasco! Read Taking Care of Trouble to see
how Joel manages to make the best of a hilarious situation.
Prepared by: Jana Wood
To Fly: the Story of the Wright Brothers
Wendie Old
Clarion Books, 2002
48 pages
SUMMARY:
The Wright Brothers worked together in many endeavors, particularly solving problems of aerodynamics to allow them to get a machine into the air.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
My Brothers’ Flying Machine: Wilbur, Orville, and Me by Jane Yolen
Taking Flight: The Story of the Wright Brothers by Stephen Krensky
First to Fly: How Wilbur & Orville Wright Invented the Airplane by Peter Busby.
Mercedes
and the Chocolate Pilot: A True Story of the
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Social Studies:
Research the Outer Banks area of
Locate
Research the Doolittle Flyers.
Math:
Check Internet airline sites to create flight itineraries. Calculate flight times and distances.
Use measurements to build a scale model of Flyer.
English Language Arts:
Pretend you are Wilbur or Orville Wright. Create diary entries for December 1903. Then read the Wrights’ diary entries.
What would you have written in the telegram to home?
Read a book describing some alternative form of air transportation. Discuss the advantages/disadvantages of air travel versus shuttle travel, rocket travel, helicopter travel, or futuristic travel. Write comparisons or draw pictures illustrating them.
Science:
Construct paper airplanes and test fly them. Record the results. Make adjustments and try flying again.
WEB SITES:
First Flight Centennial
Official Web Site
Wright
Brothers National Memorial: Site of the First Controlled Powered Flight
US Centennial of Flight Home Page
BOOKTALK:
For years Wilbur and Orville Wright watched birds, trying to figure out a way that man could do what they did. Before the boys were teenagers, they were flying fanatics. Their father had given them a toy helicopter, and they wanted to know how it worked. For years the brothers worked to control flight. They worked as printers and then as bicycle repairmen. They tinkered, twisted, turned, pushed, and pulled. The glider they built worked well, but how could they control it. Read TO FLY by Wendie Old to learn more about Wilbur and Orville and their quest to fly.
Prepared by: Daniel
R. Beach
Uncle Daddy
Ralph Fletcher
Henry Holt and Company, copyright 2001
113 pages
SUMMARY:
His father abandoned
River and his mother six-years prior to the time of the story. During the four years since,
IF YOU
LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
It's Not the End of the World by Judy Blume
Father Figure by Richard Peck
Blister by Susan Richards Shreve
I’m Sorry, Almira Ann by Jane Kurtz
Millicent's Gift by Ann Rinaldi
The Not-Just-Anybody Family by Betsy
Byars
Ramona and her Father by
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Social Studies: Explore attitudes about aging.
As a class service
activity, visit older people in a retirement home.
Interview older family
members as to what was popular or current during that person’s youth.
Guidance: Explore the issues of divorce.
Have the guidance counselor visit the class to discuss aspects of divorce and family.
Language Arts:
Have students write down
their interview with the older family member.
Have students write down
their feelings about aging people in relation to their health, thinking abilities
and issues involved with their care taking.
WEB SITES:
PBS
Kids
Blended
families
BOOKTALK:
Imagine the issues
surrounding the discovery of an adoptee’s biological parent. The surging emotions of joy, fear, and guilt
would leave any adult in a confused state.
River too goes thru these emotions but without the maturity of the
adult. Uncle Daddy deals
unusually with the return of a father that has been absent for six years.
During these intervening years, River has had the strong, mature guidance of a
great uncle. Now during a crisis, the
natural father displays his new strengths to support the family and gains new
emotional connections. The result is a
new, stronger, blended family.
Prepared by: Edith Ley
Andrew Clements
Simon & Schuster, 2002
190 pages
SUMMARY:
New student Mark
Chelmsley seems to have everything money can buy, except the respect of his new
science teacher, Mr. Maxwell. The fifth
grade’s annual camping trip in the woods tests Mark’s survival
skills and his ability to relate to a teacher who seems out to get him.
IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, TRY…
School Story by Andrew Clements
The Landry News by Andrew Clements
The Janitor’s
Boy by Andrew Clements
Frindle by Andreew Clements
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS:
Language Arts:
Have students identify the
different conflict themes, such as man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man vs.
himself.
Compare and contrast the
field trip Mark participates in with the field trips you have taken.