Posts tagged ‘trade’
109. Encounter by Jane Yolen
Retell: An account of Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of the Americas told from the point of view of a Taino boy.
Topics: Christopher Columbus, explorers, gold, Taino, trade, slaves
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Historical Fiction, Content-Area
Tribes: mutual respect
Reading Skills: interpretation, envisionment, inference
Writing Skills: using figurative language
My Thoughts: Yesterday was Columbus Day and to celebrate, here is one of my favorite Columbus Day read alouds. Since the story is told from the perspective of a child, students will be able to relate to how powerless the boy feels. He warns his people not to trust the “strange creatures” that were “spat out of the canoes”, but no one listens to him. This is a fantastic text for teaching inference. Yolen takes great care not to use terms that would have been foreign to the Taino people. Readers must constantly infer what the boy is describing. For example, Yolen describes beards as “hair growing like bushes on their chins”. When Columbus claims the island for Spain she describes how people “knelt before their chief and pushed sticks into the sand”. It’s important to model how readers constantly consult the illustration while reading the text in order to construct meaning.
42. River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River by Hudson Talbott
Retell: A beautifully illustrated history of the Hudson River.
Topics: Hudson River, New York, Native Americans, Henry Hudson, dreamers, Dutch, explorers, British, American Revolution, Robert Fulton, Erie Canal, trade, Hudson River School Painters, Industrial Revolution, environment, Franny Reese, pollution, immigration
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Social Issues, Content Area
Tribes: mutual respect
Reading Skills: envisionment, determining importance, questioning, synthesis
Writing Skills: including expository text features
My Thoughts: My eyes grew wide when I spotted this book in Barnes and Noble this afternoon. This book is treasure for New York 4th grade teachers who will be embarking on a year-long study of New York history. A timeline painted in the shape of the Hudson River winds throughout the book noting historic events including: the American Revolution, the commercial success of Fulton’s steamboat, the opening of the Erie Canal, and the Scenic Hudson Decision. I think I may read this book in September when we discuss what we will be learning in Social Studies this year. When we get to a new unit, I think I’ll reread corresponding sections of River of Dreams. Talbott also highlights writers and artists who were inspired by the Hudson River such as Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper and the Hudson River School Painters. This is a great book to use when discussing trade and industry. There is a beautiful painting in the book that shows the Hudson River bursting with steamboats and schooners–“America’s first superhighway.” I like how the story includes the environmental impact of industrial pollution and the story ends with a strong message–it’s up to us to protect the beauty of this river.
Teachable Texts 