Stories are magical, for both the young and old. Here you can find book reviews for specific age groups, topics, or learning experiences. There are also booklists and lesson ideas for educators, librarians, and families.
Black History should be recognized year round, however, since 1915, what started out as a single week to honor the contributions and trials and tribulations of Black people has turned into a month in February to do so. There is a yearly theme on which to focus and this year's theme is on "Black Resistance." There are a number of books that feature Black heroes who pushed against society's repression. We have also have stories of the joy and pride in Black people's lives that should be celebrated and shared with young people.
I hope that these ideas below spark an idea that works with these stories or the books in your class, home or library collection:
Music:Sing a Song (Lift Every Voice and Sing--the Black National Anthem written in honor of President Lincoln's birthday in 1900)
Teaching ideas: Choose a Black person from history, research them to find out how they are a CHANGE maker and design a slide, collage, video, song, acrostic poem or artifact that represents them and their accomplishments.
Pick a Black person from history whom you admire. What qualities did they have and how did that help them and the world?
As the first month of the new year begins, I am reminded of how quickly time passes. Planning ahead is one of my major efforts to better capture special observances and opportunities for community partnerships for the last half of the school year. Here are the events and dates on my radar as I plan for library units, lessons, speakers, etc.
What are you looking forward to celebrating and what do you do? Comment below!
September 15 - October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month and although we need to share Latinx voices all year round, this is the month that we can bring all of their books together in one place and celebrate. Over the years I have done school-wide books and other times we focus on author studies for each grade level:
Prior the read aloud teach students how to say donkey in sign language. share that the author and illustrator, Anuska Allepuz is originally from Spain, and have them predict what the donkey eats that turns it green.
After reading, go over the difference between fiction and nonfiction. What do they think this book is and why?
Have the students choose a food for the donkey to eat and color their donkey the color of that food. Students can also write the food and color on the template.
Before reading Moon Rope by Lois Ehlert, share that folktales often have a lesson and that this story is from Peru. Review the animals that they will encounter in the story and have them act out the motions of the animals while they listen.
After the story give each child a page with pictures from the book. For example, here is one I provide:
Ask them to cut out the pictures and arrange them in order. They can number them or tape them to a piece of yarn for the full "Moon Rope" retelling experience.
Feel the Beat by Marilyn Singer and Let's Dance! by Valerie Bolling feature dances from Latin and South America. Feel the Beat has a CD that comes with it, so students can listen to the poem with music. Let's Dance can be read then students can get up and dance to Latinx music. If you have shakers and maracas it's even better!
Mango, Abuela, and Me by Meg Medina and Angela Dominguez is perfect for making predictions and having students discuss all of the ways someone who speaks another language could feel.
Students share the words that they know in Spanish and learn the sign language for parrot. before listening to the story. During the reading I like to share a prop of a suitcase with a snapshot and red feather like Abuela shares with Mia. Students like to handle the objects after they hear the story. Once the read aloud is complete, students can discuss the ways that language pushed the characters apart and how they were brought together.
As an extension of the book, students can make their own parrots out of paper or other STEM building materials.
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales is a beautiful story to share with students. I ask students what it is like to move to another country. Students discuss the wide range of feelings an immigrant could have. Prior to reading the book we listen to Morales give background on her story and what her drawings symbolize.
After listening to the story, students brainstorm what gives them their identity. Then they write a bio poem on a template provided by the teacher. You can get it HERE.
All the Way to Havana is a special picture book by Margarita Engle and Mike Curato. Students get to learn about Cuba by listening to the author's note about how prior to 1959 there was a car ban in the country.
As the book is read, it's really a poem, so the students can chant the sounds they hear. After reading the story students can build a car of their design using the materials in their STEM bins. When they are finished they can walk around and look at each other's creations. TeachingBooks.Net also has an audio clip of Curato explaining how he went about creating the illustrations for the story.
4th-5th Grades
Students may recognize the skulls or caleveras from the movie Coco and associate it with The Day of the Dead. Ask the students how it became so popular and invite them to listen to biography picture book, Funny Bones by Duncan Tonatiuh. I give students a biography graphic organizer to use to write their notes and sketch their images.
Students can listen to Tonatuih on TeachingBooks.Net explain his process for creating the illustrations.
After reading the story students can try to make their own calaveras out of paper plates. HERE are the directions.
Other books by Duncan Tonatiuh that I like to share are Separate is Never Equal and Dear Primo:
Frida, a picture book by Jonah Winter and Ana Juan, is a beautifully told and illustrated story about artist, Frida Kahlo. Since I use this book with older readers I like to use the idea found on Common Sense Media called, Queen of the Selfies. Prior to reading the story I ask students to define what a selfie is, what makes them like or dislike one and how long they think selfies have been around.
Then I ask them what they know about Frida Kahlo:
We look at her self-portraits and try to guess what her life was like:
We read the book aloud and go back to her paintings to find clues to what she endured:
Finally, students are challenged to create a self-portrait using Frida's style of including important feelings, objects, and symbols. We use the app PicCollage on our iPads to do this. Here is my example:
Gary Soto's book of poetry, Neighborhood Odes is excellent for this age group. Prior to reading the poems, students brainstorm ideas from their neighborhood, family, friends, or objects they own.
I share that in Neighborhood Odes, Gary Soto focuses on these categories. I challenge the students to try to match up the titles of the poems and the papel picado cutout-illustrations based on clues.
Then I show them Soto's news story about the museum that opened in his honor:
We read one of his poems, "Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes" and students underline the parts that stand out to them. They pick something from their brainstormed list and write an ode or a story about that idea.
As an extension we read his poem, "Oranges" that was made into a short film. After we read it, we watch the video and compare and contrast it to the poem.
If students want to read a picture book by Soto, I recommend Too Many Tamales:
Shannon McClintock-Miller has created a Choice Board for students to explore, as well. If you have more titles you suggest please leave them in the comments!
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