Addy Learns a Lesson by Connie Porter (Historical fiction &Chapter book)

Addy is a courageous, smart, and strong African American girl who grew up during the Civil War time. Her and her mother just traveled to Philadelphia where they were starting their new life as free slaves. Addy had imagined that being free was going to be exhilarating, but it wasn't like she imagined. When Addy started school she met, Sarah, an African American girl that taught her about school, the big city, and friendship, and Harriet, a popular and smart African American girl who lived the fancy life Addy dreamed about. Sarah and Harriet didn't like each other, but Addy wanted them to be friends so they all could be friends together.  Because Harriet was rich and popular, Addy hung out with Harriet more than Sarah. Later, Addy began to realize that Harriet wasn't a true friend and she apologized to Sarah for being a horrible friend to her. Addy and Sarah became the best of friends again.

After reading this book, I would have the students to compare and contrast school in those days to now. I would  have them write down four words that would describe how they would feel if they living in Addy, Sarah, or Harriet's shoes and explain why they chose those words.

Benito's Goal by Margarita Gonzalez-Jensen and Anne Kaske (Multicultural)

Benito is a boy that loves to play soccer with his friends Gina, Tuan, and Larisa. They've been best friends for three years; since they join the Cub's soccer team . One day on the bus, Benito told his friends some awesome news, he was asked to join the Tiger's soccer team and quit playing for the Cubs. His friends realized they were going to lose their friend,  but they supported him anyway. After a while Benito began to get so caught up with his new friends and winning, that he forgot about his old friends. During one of Benito's games, he decided to take a risky move and steal the ball from his opponent; he hurt his leg. His new friends ditched him and focused on winning the game while his old and true friends checked up on him. After that game Benito realized who his true friends were and learned to never turn his back on them again. 

NO IMAGE

I would use this book to teach about respect and knowing the characteristics of a good friend. Showing respect to your classmates is something that is needed in school and I want my students to learn that respect is necessary in school as well as outside school.

The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen (Multicultural)

There was princess named Djeow Seow who was the youngest and smallest daughter of the Emperor. She was hardly ever noticed or thought of because she was so small and so she spent most of her day playing with her kite. Her brothers and sisters on the other hand were bigger and stronger than her, so they were looked at as rising suns and midnight moons in their father's eyes. One night the emperor was taking captive and no one saw it except Djeow, and she knew where they took him. To save her father she patiently weaved a long, strong rope of her hair and attached it to the end of the kite in hopes of saving her father. After everything Djeow did for her father, he finally recognizes her worth. 

I would read this book for fun. I would have to students to build their own kites out of the materials given to them and once their done, we'll going to go outside and try them out.

To incorporate technology, I would take pictures of each student with their kite as well as them playing outside. I would upload the pictures to Prezi.com and have the students type one or two sentences about their kite under their individual pictures. Once we've finished, we'll have each student present their kite on the power-point to the class using the smart board.

http://prezi.com/ag1f65okzbzf/the-princesses-and-princes-with-their-kites/

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter (Biography)

Sandy Koufax was a Jewish lefty baseball pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He pitched with is left hand for 6 years. When he first began playing for the Dodgers, he didn't play much because he was a rookie and rookies were known to lose. Koufax was a quiet guy and he kept to himself most of the time, so he never really had any friends. After a season of playing baseball, he decided to leave, but by next season everything changed. He began to pitch like never before; he was known as the strike out machine. After six years of baseball, Koufax decides to retire because his arm was giving him trouble so had to make a choice. 

I would use this book to discuss with the class why this is considered a non-fiction book. We would then go into depth of the characteristics of a non-fiction book and compare it the characteristics of a non-fiction book.

Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Historical Fiction)

A doll named Sally is telling the story of "living" in slavery with a little girl named Lindy, and her family from her perspective. Lindy's mother, Miz Rachel, using rags stitched Sally together and gave her to Lindy to play with. Lindy loved Sally so much that she took her everywhere. One night, Miz Rachel woke Lindy up so they could run away to freedom. On the way to freedom, they met up with Lindy's father and stayed at an old white couple's place to eat and rest.  Not to much later, they had to leave in a hurry because the slave owners where coming after them, but Sally was left behind. After days went by, another family with a little girl name Willa, came to stay with the old couple. She picked up Sally and changed her name to Belinda, and they became best friends.

After reading this book we would discuss how they felt, how they would've felt if they were in Sally's, Lindy's, or Miz Rachel's shoes. This would also help introduce a lesson on slavery compare it to modern day times.

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes (Biography)

Barry, a young man that went through times of sadness and joy. He was sad because he wasn't able to see his dad as much as he wanted, seeing people who were homeless, and being torn with who he was. He was happy when he played basketball with his friends, or got to see and talk to his father, but he still felt sad when he saw people struggling; the yearning to want to help them and change the world. The one thing that kept him going was hope. Hope continued to encourage him and push him into the powerful and world changing man he is today, Barack Obama. With hope and the support of people that believed in him, he is now president of the United States of America; Hope equals "Yes We Can!"

I would read this book to the students and have them to describe what "hope" meant to them. They would then draw a picture to represent their idea of "hope" and around the picture things or people that give them hope.

Seven Brave Women by Betsy Hearne (Historical Fiction & Chapter)

"History should be her story too.." The seven brave women in this story were talked about through their granddaughter. She wanted to pass the history of her grandmothers down to the next generation, and show how these women were brave even though they never fought in the wars that were taking place during their time of living. These women where brave women because of the things they endured. The granddaughter ended the story stating that she wasn't a women yet, but she was going to make history just like her grandmothers. 

Before I read this book, I would show the student's the pictures and have them make analyze the pictures, make inferences, and predictions on what was going to happen next for each page; this is to help develop these skills when they're on their own reading a text. This would also be a fun way to help students understand the use of illustrations and how they can be used in various ways when reading.