Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Muggie Maggie

Third grade holds a very important rite of passage for students...cursive!  My students didn't really need anything to get them excited to learn cursive but if yours do, this book is sure to fit the bill.  Muggie Maggie, by Beverly Cleary, is about a girl named Maggie who refuses to learn cursive.  Instead of getting upset, her teacher gets creative.  She begins having Maggie deliver messages to other teachers and the principal.  Maggie peeks at the messages but can't read them because they are in cursive.  She does recognize one word however, her own name!  This encourages her to finally learn cursive and her teacher is so proud.  Of course, I use this book to introduce cursive.  Also, I would use this book to compare a character from the beginning to the end of the book.  A venn diagram would be a good tool to use for this activity.  Finally, this story is all about communication so letter writing instruction would fit nicely.

This is another short book that would be perfect for the beginning of third grade.  I think your students will identify with Maggie and the struggle she has with learning cursive.  This book is a great motivator to jump right it and work hard on learning cursive!

Extra Resources:

Comprehension and Vocab Lessons - http://www.gardenofpraise.com/thirdgr.htm

A wide variety of lesson ideas - http://www.teachnet-lab.org/miami/2002/bvazquez2/Muggie%20Maggie%20-%20Index.htm

Gooney Bird Greene

You will love Gooney Bird Greene from the moment you meet her!  This book by Lois Lowry is about a very spirited girl who is new to school.  She loves to be the center of attention and is thrilled when the students want to hear stories about her.  She says she will tell "absolutely true" stories.  The stories include how she got her name, how she came from China on a flying carpet, and how she directed a symphony orchestra.  These seem like strange, fantastical stories but they always end up being real.  The carpet was flying because it fell out of the back of their station wagon and she "directed" the orchestra by telling them directions to the Town Hall Auditorium.  I would use this book to teach about good storytelling. Which is what Gooney's class is learning about and she helps teach them with her wonderful stories.  I would also talk about homophones, such as "directing" and recommend the book Eight Ate: A Feast of Homonym Riddles by Marvin Terban to go along with it.

This book would be great for second or third grade.  It has seven chapters so it is not too long.  This would be a great beginning of third grade read aloud.  There are three other Gooney Bird books so be sure to share those titles with your students.

Extra Resources:

Book guide with questions and activities - http://www.merrybee.info/ba/gooney.html

edHelper's resources (must be a member) - http://edhelper.com/books/Gooney_Bird_Greene.htm

Wikispaces resources - questions for reading and journal prompts - https://desmoinesgtk-5.wikispaces.com/file/view/Gooney+Bird+Greene.doc

Monday, December 13, 2010

Knights of the Kitchen Table

This book is the first in the Time Warp Trio series by Jon Scieszka.  I have read and enjoyed many of them and my students have enjoyed this one as a read aloud.  Knights of the Kitchen Table begins with Joe receiving a birthday present from his uncle, the magician.  It is a book, but not just any book.  It's The Book.  As the boys look at it, green mist starts to swirl around and they are transported back to the time of King Arthur and Merlin.  The boys must fight a knight and help the kingdom get rid of a dragon and a giant before they can find The Book and find their way home.

It is a short book that you could probably finish in ten sessions or less.  The writing is great and is guaranteed to make your students laugh out loud!  Specifically, the description of the giant is wonderful and would be great to use to teach snapshot writing or descriptions.  You could read that section to your students and have them draw a picture of what it describes.  You could also have them draw their own giant and write a description.  Mix up the pictures and have the other students match the written description to the picture.

These books are so amusing and wonderful for geting students interested in history.  I've also used Sam Samurai in my literature groups.  One great feature of this series is that it's not too hard to read them out of order, each has it's own plot and can be enjoyed independently.  I hope you introduce your students to this trio of funny boys!

Extra Resources:

Time Warp Trio site for the Cartoon - http://www.timewarptrio.com/
It includes games and teaching guides.

Lesson Plans/Study Guides for many Jon Scieszka books - http://litplans.com/authors/Jon_Scieszka.html

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Hanukkah, Christmas in Mexico, and Kwanzaa

Finding books to teach students about the holidays is like finding gold to me!  With help from my teaching partners, I get to send my students on a "Holidays Around the World" tour during the last week before break.  We each take a holiday to teach about and rotate our students through every one.  I usually teach about Hanukkah so I have two books to share for that holiday.  I've also included one very touching book for Mexican Christmas and one for Kwanzaa.

My first Hanukkah book is the book that I use to teach the story and miracle of Hanukkah.  It is called On Hanukkah by Cathy Goldberg Fishman.  It weaves together a story of a modern family celebrating Hanukkah and learning about the Jewish people losing their temple, winning it back, and the miracle of the oil.  It explains Hanukkah vocabulary very well and has beautiful pictures to enhance the story.

The second Hanukkah book that I like to share with my students is The Magic Dreidels by Eric A. Kimmel.  In this book, a boy named Jacob is playing with his dreidel at the well when it falls in.  A goblin who lives in the well offers him a magic dreidel to replace it.  He says it will spin out latkes (potato pancakes).  He races to take it home but first meets Fruma Sarah.  She learns the secret of the dreidel and replaces it with an ordinary one so she can keep it.  Jacob realizes that his dreidel doesn't work so he goes back to the goblin.  The goblin gives him a new dreidel that spins out Hanukkah gelt (money).  However, before he can get home, Fruma Sarah switches the dreidel again.  When Jacob discovers that his dreidel no longer works, again he returns to the goblin who has realized that Fruma Sarah is keeping it for herself.  He gives Jacob a new dreidel for Fruma Sarah to spin which releases fleas that bite her until she returns the magic dreidels.  The story ends with Jacob's family sharing the wealth from the two dreidels with the whole neighborhood.  This story is very exciting and would be great to use for sequencing events.

One of my favorite holiday books to share is The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola.  This is a touching story of the Christmas flower, the poinsettia.  Lucida and her mama are given the honor of making the blanket for Baby Jesus in the Christmas procession.  However, her mother falls ill and Lucida is unable to finish it on her own.  She doesn't want to go to the Christmas procession because she has nothing to offer to Baby Jesus.  An old woman sees her watching from the shadows and tells her that Baby Jesus would love any gift she has to offer so Lucida picks an armful of weeds as her gift.  The people are shocked that that she is bringing weeds into the church but after she prays the weeds bloom into beautiful flowers.  Her simple gift has become beautiful.  This story teaches the lesson that it is not the gift that is important, but the spirit of giving.

Finally, I like to read Seven Candles for Kwanzaa by Andrea Davis Pinkney to teach my students about Kwanzaa.  This is an informational book that teaches about the background of Kwanzaa and the seven principles.  I especially like the pronunciation guide for each Swahili word that is included within the text.  

I hope you consider sharing these wonderful books with your students during the holiday season.  My students have always enjoyed them!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Happy Holidays!

Holiday picture books are so popular in my classroom.  Of course I have a large selection of Christmas books but I also like to incorporate other cultures in our holiday studies.  I am sharing some of my favorite Christmas books and a few cultural books as well.

My favorite Christmas picture books list starts with Merry Un-Christmas by Mike Reiss.  It's the story of Noelle who lives in Christmas City where it is Christmas every day of the year except one, Un-Christmas Day.  Noelle is extremely bored with Christmas and can't wait until it is Un-Christmas Day so she can go to school and do all the things we think of as normal.  The message of the story is that Christmas is special because it comes only one time a year.  This book would be a great starting point to discuss what makes Christmas special and a good introduction to one of my favorite writing projects for the holidays.  Students write a recipe for their perfect Christmas.  They include measurements (1 Christmas Tree, 8 strands of lights, 3 cups of fun, etc.) and tell how to combine them to create their perfect Christmas.

Another wonderful Christmas picture book is Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera.  It is about a girl named Sophie who is very curious about where her Auntie Claus goes every year from Halloween until New Year's Day.  She stows away and travels with Auntie Claus, winding up at the North Pole.  She is mistaken for an elf and is told to go get the BB and G list (bad boys and girls) for Santa.  She finds her brother's name on the list and imagines how sad he will be to get no presents.  She erases his name but there is still a gap so she makes a sacrifice for her brother: she writes her own name instead.  This is a wonderful book to teach the true meaning of the Christmas holiday, giving.  Look for the sequels, Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas and Auntie Claus, Home for the Holidays.

My last Christmas book pick is The Longest Christmas List Ever by Gregg and Evan Spiridellis.  It begins on Christmas morning with a boy named Trevor who opens his presents, throws them aside, and starts on his Christmas list for next year.  He spends all year adding more and more to the list and finally goes to the post office to mail it, only to find out it would take six trillion dollars to mail it to Santa!  He goes home dejected, realizing that he asked for too much and now he would get nothing.  He wakes up on Christmas to a special present and realizes that "it takes love - not toys - to bring Christmas cheer".  This is another great book to teach the meaning of Christmas.  It is also written in couplets so it would be a great book to inspire poetry.

Stay tuned for my cultural holiday book picks!

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Fairy-Tale Detectives

This book is the first in The Sisters Grimm series.  The premise of the series is that fairy tale characters are real and they are all stuck living in a town called Ferryport Landing.  They get into all sorts of mischief and the Grimm family (descendants of the Brothers Grimm) help out.  There is a central plot to all of the books so I would recommend reading them in order.

The Fairy-Tale Detectives opens with sisters Sabrina and Daphne moving from one foster home to another after their parents mysteriously disappear.  They are on their way to live with their grandmother which is concerning because their father told them that she had died before they were born.  As soon as they arrive they realize that the town isn't everything it seems and start to meet very interesting "everafters" or fairy tale characters including Snow White, the three little pigs, Prince Charming, and the Big Bad Wolf.  They must battle a giant to save their grandmother and the town.  My students enjoyed this book so much that they requested that I read all of the series to them!

Since this is such an involved plot I decided that we would practice summarizing.  Each day that we read, we add to a summary on large chart paper.  When we complete the story, we will revise our summary, making sure we have only the important events in the story.  It is a very lengthy book so we are still in the middle of reading it.  This would also be a great book to talk about vocabulary as there are many interesting and new words.  Many times the meaning is even in the story as Daphne, the younger sister, asks what words mean very often!

These books are so exciting and fun.  I really hope you give them a try!

Extra Resources:

The Sisters Grim webpage - It includes summaries of all the books in the series, a game, and a teaching guide. http://sistersgrimm.com/newsite/index.html

Scholastic's page with discussion questions and activites http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10919&type=Book&typeId=4678

More activities (jeopardy game, group presentation) http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/80175.aspx

Monday, November 22, 2010

Reader Beware!

One of the best tips I could give anyone looking for a read aloud is to read the book yourself before you read it to your students.  In following my own advice I have found some books that I just couldn't bring myself to read to my students.  They are actually great books, just not right in my opinion.  I did want to share them with you all because you may want to stay away from them or you may want to read them yourself and decide!

The first is The Deadlies: Felix Takes the Stage by Kathryn Lasky.  This book is about a family of brown recluse spiders and how they need to find a new home after Felix causes an accident in the philharmonic hall where they live.  They go on to meet many new spider friends and end up in the perfect place to live.  This book was wonderful and it would be great to have students make a web (pun intended!) of what they learn about spiders while listening to it.  There is so much information and I think students would really enjoy learning about spiders through this fun story.  The reason I chose not to read it is only because of a swear word that appears when a spider is yelling at her husband on page 84.  I could have easily skipped over it and read the book anyway but my students have been really interested in checking out my read aloud books after I've read them.  I just didn't feel comfortable with it.  If you are interested, I would suggest reading the book.  I did enjoy it.

The other book I'd like to warn you about is Nightmare at the Book Fair by Dan Gutman.  It is about a boy who helps out in his school book fair and gets knocked out by a crate of books.  He then has exciting dreams weaving in and out of every genre of stories you can think of: horror, science fiction, humor, mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, etc.  I was so excited while reading this book.  I couldn't wait to read this and discuss all the genres with my students...until I came to the fantasy chapter.  It talked about mead a little, which I could have been ok with, but then the main character meets a transgendered person who turns out to be his mother.  I just felt this was too much for my third graders to hear about.  I was thinking that maybe some middle school children would enjoy reading this book for fun.  If you are a fifth grade teacher, you may want to read it and decide if it could be appropriate for you.  As I said, the genre examples are amazing!