Schema: sea, setting Questions to activate background knowledge: Can you think of another time in history where a group of people have been treated unfairly because of the color of their skin? Can you imagine being taken away from your family because of your ethnicity? Why is the title so far from the sea when [...]
Schema: civil wars, traveling alone, the title which is a phrase from the U. S. National Anthem Before beginning, read the guide produced by the publisher which provides a background for understanding: Author’s purpose: The author takes us into the world of a refugee and helps refugee’s to see that they are not alone. POV: [...]
“To heal a sorrowing heart, give something that is dear to your own.” from the Note from Kimeli Naiyomah at the end of the book. Schema: cows, feeling sorrow for someone’s pain Text-to-self connection: remembering or hearing about September 11, 2001; being kind to others; feeling the emotion of something being “sweet and sad” because [...]
Schema: favorite colors, pastas, princesses Text-to-Text Connections: books with a mischievous fairy or sprite. The term “hudgin” is not very common so “hobgoblin or sprite” might be a better term to use in explaining what it is. Text-to-text connection: “glass slipper” for Cinderella, locked in tower-other princess stories such as Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel. The [...]
Schema: wild birds Read the note at the back of the book so the students can understand the problem better before you begin the book. Text-to-self connections: doing a project with a sibling, feeling sorry for the birds, seeing problems that wild birds cause What city animals help keep the balance of nature in our [...]
Book Talk Schema: 4th grade, parents fighting, science fair projects, friends moving away Would you ever think to dig up a dead pet to use its bones for a science fair project? How about realizing your parents have secretly given a pet away and told you it ran away? These things support Camille’s realization that [...]
Anne of Green Gables meets the animal version of Swiss Family Robinson in this coming of age novel that incorporates a realistic plot about a young girl, McKenna, who is passed from foster home to foster home seeking love while trying to find her place in the world. She believes she is related to the [...]
Schema: Marines, miracles Text-to-Text Connection: Heroic Afghan Dog Reunited With a U.S. Soldier Author’s purpose: The author is sharing his journey with Nubs because it is a miracle that he was able to get the dog from there back to his home in San Diego. Because Nubs did not give up on finding Major Dennis, [...]
Schema: sticks, playing with sticks Text-to-Text Connections: Over in the Meadow, an old rhyme about the animals in a meadow; the rhyme goes something like, “over in the meadow in the sand and the sun lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one…” See the lyrics Also a connection with the Gingerbread Man [...]
Schema: origami, making a wish Author’s Purpose: to share the experience of learning about Christmas in Japan. Mental Images: The mother describes the lights and trees in California to her son. Organizational Strategy: Flashback: the book begins with the narrator telling the reader that he had not been back to the pond since he was [...]
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