Angel Child, Dragon Child Draw a Map Showing Where U

Megan Bucher

Trade Books

Title of book: Angel Child, Dragon Child

Author’s name: Michele Maria Surat, pictures by Vo-Dinh Mai

Genre: multi-cultural

Number of pages: 35

Synopsis: Ut has just moved to America from Vietnam. She has come with her father and siblings, but not her mother. Her mother could not afford to move with her family. A boy keeps picking on Ut at school by making fun of what she wears and how she talks. The principle sees them fighting one day and tells the boy to write a story about Ut. He discovers that her mother is still in Vietnam and comes up with a plan to get her to America.

Activity: Students will draw a map as a class showing where America andVietnam are. Then as a class they will think of possible routes the family in the story may have taken to get to American and draw them on the map.

Source of idea:

Title of Book: Chicken Sunday

Author: Patricia Polacco

Genre: multi-cultural

Number of Pages: 29

Synopsis: The girl in the story has African American neighbors-two brothers and a grandma, Miss Eula. She goes to church with them sometimes and they usually eat lunch together afterwards. They often walk past a hat shop and there is a hat there that Miss Eula really likes. The three children want to get it for her, but do not know how to get the money to buy it. They go to the hat shop to ask the angry owner about doing odd jobs for money. They end up making Pysanky eggs and selling them. Their efforts impress the owner so much that he gives the children the hat to give to their grandmother free of charge.

Activity: Students will write their own stories about a time when they did something nice for someone. Whether they have helped their moms around the house, given someone a gift, or was nice to the new kid at school, they should describe what they did and how it made them feel.

Source of Idea: Original

Title of book: Very Last First Time

Author’s name: Jan Andrews, illustrated by Ian Wallace

Genre: multi-cultural

Number of Pages: 29

Synopsis of story: Eva is and Inuit who often walks on the bottom of the sea with her mother to gather mussels. Today is her first day doing it by herself. She is anxious and excited about collecting mussels all by herself. After her pan is full of mussels, she goes exploring but she drops her candle and is left alone in the darkness. She makes her way back to her mussel pan and the hole where her mother is waiting to pull her back up. Even though she was scared for a while, she decides that she likes walking on the sea bottom alone.

Activity: Have students compare the agriculture of Canada and the United States by drawing a map of the two countries and labeling them. Have them research what kinds of crops and animals live in different parts of the countries. Also have them discuss why they think those crops and animals are raised there.

Source of idea: original

Title of book: Lon Po Po

Author’s name: Ed Young

Genre: multi-cultural

Number of pages: 28

Synopsis of story: Three Chinese children, Shang, Tao, and Paotze are left alone one evening when their mother goes to see their grandmother. She tells her children to shut and lock the door at dusk. Just before dusk, a wolf disguised as their grandmother knocks on the door and asks to be let inside. The oldest child, Shang, realizes that the visitor is not their grandmother and tricks the wolf into letting them go outside and climb a tree for gingko nuts. Once outside, the children trick the wolf like the wolf tricked them.

Activity: Students will make a Venn diagram comparing this story to Little Red Riding Hood. They will be split into groups of 2-4, depending on the class size, and make their Venn diagrams out of construction paper and markers. Similarities include a wolf disguised as a grandmother and a child figuring out that the grandmother is actually a wolf. In Lon Po Po there are three children, not one, and the children climb a tree to escape and trick the wolf. In Little Red Riding Hood, there is only one little girl and Riding Hood does not climb a tree to escape from the wolf. Once finished, the diagrams will be displayed on the front board to compare.

Source:

Title: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

Author’s name: Verna Aardema, pictures by Beatriz Vidal

Genre: multi-cultural

Number of pages: 36

Synopsis of story: One year in the Kapiti Plain there was a drought. The grass was turning brown and all of the animals were hungry and dry. Ki-pat was a herdsman who looked over his herd of cows. One day and eagle dropped a feather, which Ki-pat attached to a stick to make an arrow. With that arrow and a bow, Ki-pat shot a raincloud to loosen the rain. Once it rained and everything was nourished, Ki-pat got a wife and had a son who now watches the herd and makes it rain.

Activity: Students will make a t-chart comparing the climates of Africa and America. They should note when each continent’s wet and dry seasons are, how much rain each continent gets every year, and which parts of each continent are the wettest and driest.

Title of book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Author’s name: Laura Joffe Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

Genre: fantasy

Number of pages: 28

Synopsis of story: If you give a mouse a cookie, you won’t just give him a cookie. Unlike a dog or cat when you give them a treat, a mouse will ask for much more than just that. He will ask for a glass of milk with a straw. Then he will need a napkin. Next he will want to take a nap, and on and on. And just when you think there is nothing more the mouse can ask for, he’ll ask for a cookie.

Activity: Students will make a mouse puppet out of a lunch bag and construction paper. The shapes for the mouse’s head, ears, and overalls will be outlined on construction paper to make it easier for students to cut out. His nose, eyes, and whiskers will already be cut out. Students will need to paste all of the “mouse parts” onto a brown lunch sack. Once all of the students have constructed their mice, have students retell the story using their puppets.

Source:

Title of book: Corduroy

Author’s name: Don Freeman

Genre: fantasy

Number of pages: 32

Synopsis of story: Corduroy is a bear who lives in a department store. Every day people come and buy other toys, but not him. One day a little girl begs her mother to let her buy Corduroy, but her mother won’t let her because he is missing a button. That night Corduroy searches the store for his lost button. The security guard finds him and takes him back to his shelf. The little girl comes back the next day and buys corduroy. Not only does she give him a home, but she also gives him a new button.

Activity: Students will color pre-drawn scenes from the book and cut them out.Then they will put them in order of the story and glue them onto a larger piece of paper. Underneath each scene, the students will write what is happening.

Title of book: Berlioz the Bear

Author’s name: Jan Brett

Genre: fantasy

Number of pages: 30

Synopsis of story: Berlioz the bear and his orchestra are playing in the village for a grand ball. They are on their way into town when their wagon gets stuck in a hole. The donkey pulling the wagon will not budge. Several different animals come along and try to help pull the wagon out of the hole. Each animal that comes by is bigger than the last. Finally a bee comes out of Berlioz’s bass and stings the donkey. The orchestra makes it to the ball just in time.

Activity: Students will make a mobile of the wagon and everything that tried to get the wagon unstuck. The pictures will be pre-made so all the students need to do is color the pictures, cut them out, and attach them in the following way: the top of the mobile will be the wagon with the donkey holding the musicians, below that will be the animals in the order they appeared (rooster, cat, schnauzer, goat, plow horse, ox), and finally on the bottom will be the bee.

Source: original idea

Title of book: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears

Author’s name: Verna Aardema, pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon

Genre: fantasy

Number of pages: 27

Synopsis of story: A mosquito was buzzing in an iguana’s ear, but the iguana did not care to hear what the mosquito was saying so he put two sticks in his ears. When the iguana didn’t say hello to his friend the snake, the snake thought the iguana was up to something, so he snuck down in a rabbit hole. This scared the rabbits and other animals saw them and thought something was wrong. All of this commotion killed a mother owl’s baby. The owl was the one who woke the sun each day, but with the death of her baby she decided not to wake the sun anymore. This upset the animals in the jungle, so they all got together and figured out what really happened. So when mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears to see if they are still mad at them, they get squished!

Activity: Have students put on a skit re-enacting the story.But add a red bird character that talks about inferences. The students who play the character of the red bird will stop the skit to make an inference after each new animal is introduced.

Source:

Title of book: The Foot Book

Author’s name: Dr. Seuss

Genre: fantasy

Number of pages: 27

Synopsis of story: This story looks at all different kinds of feet. There are fuzzy feet and sick feet. Feet come in different colors and sizes. Some critters have two feet and some have twenty-four feet. There are left and right feet. Feet can go up, down, and all around.

Activity: Have the class create their own foot book. Students will paint their feet and press their foot prints onto pieces of paper. Then they will measure their feet to see how long and wide each of their feet are. Once each student has made their foot prints and measurements, put all of the pages together to make your own class foot book. Once the book is together, read the book and compare everyone’s feet.

Source:

Title of Book: A Little Excitement

Author’s Name: Marc Harshman

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Number of Pages: 28

Synopsis of Story: It had been a long winter. Sledding and snowball fights were fun, but it was time for something else exciting to happen. When the boy in the story tells his grandmother his wish for something more exciting to happen, she warns him to be careful what he wishes for. That very night the stove overheated the chimney was spitting fire! The whole family ran outside to try and keep the house from catching fire. The little boy asked for excitement and definitely got it!

Activity: Talk to students about proper fire safety regulations for the school. Then ask students to go home and talk to their parents about what they would need to do in case of a fire. Have students make a list of steps to take in case of a fire. Come back together as a class and discuss what different families in different housing areas do if a fire happens.

Source of Activity: original

Title of Book: Miss Rumphius

Author’s Name: Barbara Cooney

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Number of Pages: 28

Synopsis of Story: Alice loved listening to her grandfather tell stories. She said when she grew up she wanted to travel to far away places and live by the sea just like he did. He asked her to do one more thing along with those things—he told her to do something to make the world more beautiful. When she grew up, she traveled to far away places and lived by the sea, but she still did not know what she could do to make the world more beautiful. Then after a long winter, her favorite flower-lupines-bloomed and she wished she could plant more of them, but she was too old. She took a walk one day and noticed there were lupines growing on the other side of the hill. Then she realized what she could do to make the world more beautiful.

Activity: Discuss philanthropy with the class. Then tell students to do one random act of kindness or something to help someone or something else as many times they can in a week. After a week, have the students come back to class with a report about what they did, how it made them feel, and how it made the other people feel.

Source of Activity:

Title of Book: Night Tree

Author’s Name: Eve Bunting

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Number of Pages: 28

Synopsis of Story: Every Christmas Eve, the family goes out to the woods to find their Christmas tree. It’s dark and cold, but the family is bundled up and excited about going. Once the family finds their tree, they decorate it with popcorn strings, balls of sunflower seeds, bread crumbs, and apples. Then they sit down on a blanket to drink hot chocolate and sing Christmas songs. Once they are back at home, they talk about what Christmas dinner is like for the animals in the forest.

Activity: Students will each choose a different forest animal to learn about. They will find out what they eat, where they live, etc. They will need to pay special attention to what animals do to survive in winter conditions. Once they have that information, they will make an acrostic poem about that animal and how it survives in the winter.

Source of Activity: and partly original

Title of Book: Mirette on the High Wire

Author’s Name: Emily Arnold McCully

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Number of Pages: 29

Synopsis of Story: Mirette lives in Paris, France and helps her mother at their boardinghouse. One day a retired high-wire walker came to stay at the boardinghouse. When Mirette went outside to take sheets down off the clothes line, she saw the man wire walking. She begged him to teach her how to do it, but he would not at first because it was too dangerous. She began teaching herself and when he saw the potential she had, he helped coach her. She wanted to travel with him, but he did not want to take her. He first had to make a grand return to the high-wire and when he did he almost could not do it. But Mirette came to his rescue and helped him across the wire.

Activity: Line up sturdy boxes/crates for students to walk across. Have them record how easy/difficult it was. Then have them walk across a balance beam in the gym. They should record their feelings and talk about how much more difficult it was to walk on it. Lastly, set up a rope that is low to the ground, but above ground. With supervision, have students try to walk across the rope. Students should document why they think it was easier for some students to walk across the rope, beam, and boxes and harder for others. Make sure they discuss gravity and balance.

Source of Activity: and partly original

Title of Book: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

Author’s Name: Mem Fox

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Number of Pages: 28

Synopsis of Story: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge was a young boy who lived next door to an old people’s home. He knew everyone there, but his favorite person was Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper because she had four names like he did. His parents sympathized for her, though, because she had lost her memory. Wilfrid asked his parents and some of the people at the old people’s home what a memory was. With all of the answers they gave him, he collected objects to represent each description and gave them to Nancy to help her remember.

Activity: The class will take a field trip to a retirement home. Each student will be paired with a resident and ask them what a memory is to them. They should also ask the residents to share a favorite memory with the student. They can also talk about different kinds of memories, like funny memories and sad memories, and then share them. The class can come back together then and share what they learned with each other and write about their experience in their journals.