Posts tagged ‘journalism’
131. Apple Country by Denise Willi
Retell: A look into the history of apple-growing in the United States.
Topics: apples, orchards, colonists, Johnny Appleseed, farmers, packing plants, processing plants
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Content-Area, Journalism
Reading Skills: determining importance, synthesis, monitoring for sense
My Thoughts: This is a great book for teaching students how to effectively read and synthesize text features. There are many text features within the book: a flowchart, an interview, a table, a map, illustrations with captions, etc. It’s a particularly nice read aloud for New York 4th graders because it ties in natural resources of New York State and Colonial history.
28. The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeanette Winter
Retell: This is the true story of Alia Muhammad Baker. During U.S. air raids in 2003, Baker managed to hide and save over 30,000 books from destruction.
Topics: libraries, Iraq, heroism, action, war, books, community
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Content-Area Reading and Writing, Journalism
Tribes: mutual respect, personal best
Reading Skills: prediction, questioning
Writing Skills: using dashes
My Thoughts: Stories like this one restores my faith in humanity. Alia Muhammad Baker’s story is a great one to share with kids, many whom don’t even know that the U.S. is involved in two wars at the moment. Her story was originally published back in 2003 in the The New York Times. Reading The Librarian of Basra in conjunction with the The New York Times article could be a great way to emphasize the role of a journalist to bring to light stories that would otherwise go unnoticed. I plan on reading this at the beginning of the year to reiterate the importance of reading.
Click her to read Shaila K. Dewan’s 2003 New York Times article about Alia Muhammad Baker
Teachable Texts 