Posts tagged ‘appreciations/no put-downs’
147. Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela S. Turner
Retell: Everyday Hachiko accompanies his owner, Dr. Ueno to Shibuya Station and patiently awaits his return. When Dr. Ueno doesn’t return one day Hachiko continues to wait at the station…for ten years.
Topics: dogs, Japan, loss, loyalty, Tokyo
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Memoir
Tribes: mutual respect, appreciations/no put downs
Habits of Mind: persistence
Writing Skills: using imagery, describing setting details
My Thoughts: A colleague of mine gave me this book as a gift knowing my connection with Japan. I taught in Japan for three years. Last summer when I visited Japan again I took a trip to Shibuya Station and learned about the story of Hachiko.
I’m not sure if I’d be able to read this book out loud to my class without crying, or making someone else cry. It’s such a beautiful book though. I can see using this as a mentor text for showing how writers describe the setting. Many of my students have difficulty describing anything but the weather. This text shows how a writer takes time to describe the ‘action’ of the setting–the movement of the crowd, the clothes the people are wearing, etc.
138. Jose! Born to Dance by Susanna Reich
Retell: This is the story of Jose Limon, who left his family to move to New York. Frustrated by his poor artistic talent he fell in love with dance and worked to become a famous dancer and choreographer.
Topics: dance, war, family, Mexico, immigration, art, music, English, Spanish, death, New York, California
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Social Issues
Tribes: personal best, appreciations/no put-downs, mutual respect
Habits of Mind: persisting
Reading Skills: synthesis, monitoring for sense, envisionment
Writing Skills: using sound effects, zooming in on a small moment
My Thoughts: This text has multiple teaching purposes. It’s a great text for introducing or reinforcing the habit of mind–persistence. There are many moments in the story when Jose persists. He struggles to learn English but persists despite his cruel classmates. He is determined to become a dancer and shows persistence each day during rehearsal despite sore, aching muscles. During the read aloud we can hope that students understand that successful people, no matter what their focus, work hard and persist, even when they face adversity.
136. Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
Retell: This is the biography of Cesar Chavez, the leader of the National Farm Workers Association who worked to organize farm workers to rally together and fight for better pay and working conditions.
Topics: family, Cesar Chavez, conflict, drought, California, farming, Spanish, migrant workers, unions, La Causa, strikes, protests, boycotts, farm workers
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Social Issues
Tribes: personal best, mutual respect, appreciations/no put-downs
Habits of Mind: persisting
Reading Skills: inference, interpretation, determining importance, synthesis, empathy
My Thoughts: Back when I taught in California this was required reading–in the Bay Area Cesar Chavez’s birthday is a school holiday. This book could fit into different types of text sets. For example, you could include this book when teaching a unit on the labor unit. You could also choose to read this book as a companion text to Esperanza Rising.
128. Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp
Retell: An English and pictorial translation of a Mohawk message of thanksgiving.
Topics: Mother Earth, appreciation, peace, Iroquois, nature, thanksgiving
Tribes: appreciations/no put-downs
Reading Skills: monitoring for sense, interpretation
My Thoughts: This book is a wonderful November read aloud. I like reading this book before students head off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Since this message comes from the Mohawk, it compliments the 4th grade unit on Native Americans of New York State. Before reading this you may want to ask students to jot down what they are thankful for. While reading the book they can pay attention to what the Mohawks are thankful for as shown in the address. After reading, students can add to their lists and discuss what they learned about the Mohawk people.
127. The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants by Priscilla Turner
Retell: The snooty vowels and the rough and tumble consonants have never gotten along with each other. After a few letters begin to fight with each other, war breaks out between the vowels and the consonants. When chaos, in the form of squiggly lines, rolls into town the vowels and consonants must work together to defeat it.
Topics: letters, vowels, consonants, war, cooperation, fighting, cliques, power
Units of Study: Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: appreciations/no put-downs
Habits of Mind: thinking interdependently
Reading Skills: interpretation
My Thoughts: When I previewed this text I assumed I was going to learn about how vowel sounds are really strong and influence other vowel sounds. In reality this book is not really about letters at all–it’s about class and cooperation between the classes. The vowels represent the upper class–there are few of them and they are snooty. The consonants represent the lower-middle class– the undignified commoners. They distrust each other, go to war and then eventually must learn how to work together. I can see reading this in my class in order to have a discussion about cliques within the class and within the grade. It could be read again when we study industrialization and analyze the struggles between the rich and the poor.
126. Strong to the Hoop by John Coy
Retell: James has always wanted to play basketball on the main court. Knowing that he’s too young and too small, he practices on the side court. One day a player gets injured and he volunteers to play. Though he misses shots and fouls other players, he gains his courage and ends up winning the game.
Topics: basketball, courage, playground, body image, boys
Units of Study: Realistic Fiction, Personal Narrative
Tribes: personal best, appreciations/no put-downs
Reading Skills: envisionment, inference
Writing Skills: incorporating similes, alliteration, using commas to list action, balancing internal thinking, action and dialogue
My Thoughts: This book was hiding on my read aloud shelf in my classroom. I forgot all about it and now I’m kicking myself for not reading it to my class during our recent Realistic Fiction unit. This is a fantastic small moment mentor text. The events of the story are few: a boy practices, enters a game, struggles, and wins. However through a balance of internal thinking, small action and dialogue, the author creates a suspenseful, meaningful story.
110. Peppe the Lamplighter by Elisa Bartone
Retell: Peppe and his family live in a tenement on Mulberry Street. Though he is just a boy, he must find work to help support his family. After several attempts, he finally finds a job as a lamplighter. His Papa imagines a better world for him in America. He becomes upset with Peppe for taking such a menial job. Though he loves his job, Peppe decides to take a break from it one evening in an effort to please his father. Later that evening both Peppe and his father discover that being the lamplighter isn’t such a bad deal after all
Topics: tenements, New York, child labor, lamplighters, family, perspectives, work
Units of Study: Historical Fiction, Social Issues, Talking and Writing about Texts
Tribes: appreciations/no put-downs
Reading Skills: inference, envisionment, interpretation
Writing Skills: using the ‘rule of three’, angling a story
My Thoughts: What I love about this text, is that it’s short, but inspires the reader to do a lot of good thinking. It’s a fabulous text for Reading and Writing Workshop as well as Social Studies. Using the illustrations, students can envision what New York tenement life was like during the 1800s. Though my students are currently writing Realistic Fiction, I’m planning on reading a section of this book tomorrow to a small group of students. I’m going to teach them how authors often incorporate the ‘rule of three’ when crafting stories (“The Three Little Pigs”, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”). In the beginning of the story, Peppe attempts to find a job. The author could have chosen to describe the effort in a figurative way. Instead, she decided to give three examples of where he looked for work: the butcher, the bar, and the candy maker.
96. Jim and the Beanstalk by Raymond Briggs
Retell: Jim discovers a mysterious vine outside of his window one day. He follows it up and up and encounters a giant. This giant however is not very ferocious. He has lost his sight, his teeth and his hair. With Jim’s help the giant acquires glasses, dentures and a wig.
Topics: curiosity, measurement, fairy tales, act of kindness
Units of Study: Fantasy, Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: mutual respect, appreciations/no put-downs
Habits of Mind: striving for accuracy and precision
Reading Skills: monitoring for sense, prediction, interpretation
Writing Skills: incorporating the rule of three
My Thoughts: This can be filed under “stories with a twist”. (See The Paper Bag Princess post). This is a spoof/sequel to the story, “Jack and the Beanstalk”. In this story, the main character is nice to the giant, drastically changing the moral of the story. It would be interesting to plan a mini read aloud where you read twisted fairy tales. With older kids, it may be great to use twisted fairy tales to work on interpretation. Students could examine questions such as: How does the moral of the story change when the characters act differently? Why do you think the author chose to rewrite the famous fairy tale? What was he/she trying to teach?