Showing posts with label Informational Text. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Informational Text. Show all posts
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Thanksgiving is...
Author: Gail Gibbons, 2004, Scholastic
Thanksgiving is... is a great informational text. The reader first learns the history of Thanksgiving celebrations around the world, then the book culminates with the traditional American Thanksgiving. I learned that President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving, but it was changed by President Franklin Roosevelt to be the fourth Thursday in November, beginning in 1939. Traditions, such as decorations, family gatherings, and of course, the food, are covered throughout the book. I really liked the simple, yet colorful, illustrations. They do not detract from the message conveyed by the author, but they are a helpful addition to the reading. Not only is this a great informational text, it is also a powerful teacher of culture. Children (and adults) who read this book will think of their own traditions and how those traditions have changed over the years. I was unaware of some traditions mentioned in the book, such as sending Thanksgiving cards and flowers. In my family, we send Christmas cards, but not Thanksgiving cards. I would categorize this as not only a book of information, but also a book of history.
Skittles Riddles
Author: Barbara Barbieri McGrath, 2000, Scholastic
Illustrator: Roger Glass
Why are Skittles Original Bite Size Candies always happy?
BECAUSE THEY'RE NEVER BLUE! :)
What's not to love about Skittles? These delicious fruit chews are a favorite of many Americans, including both children and adults. Now, teachers can use this popular candy to teach math! In the book Skittles Riddles, children learn addition, subtraction, and fractions using Skittles. This idea is great for a group activity, but make sure to give students a fresh set of Skittles after they have handled them. Hershey's also makes a book about their famous chocolate bars and math, so take your pick. I remember using this book when I was in school, and I'm sure it will never go out of style. After all, who doesn't like to mix food and math?
Illustrator: Roger Glass
Why are Skittles Original Bite Size Candies always happy?
BECAUSE THEY'RE NEVER BLUE! :)
What's not to love about Skittles? These delicious fruit chews are a favorite of many Americans, including both children and adults. Now, teachers can use this popular candy to teach math! In the book Skittles Riddles, children learn addition, subtraction, and fractions using Skittles. This idea is great for a group activity, but make sure to give students a fresh set of Skittles after they have handled them. Hershey's also makes a book about their famous chocolate bars and math, so take your pick. I remember using this book when I was in school, and I'm sure it will never go out of style. After all, who doesn't like to mix food and math?
Punctuation Celebration
Author: Elsa Knight Bruno, 2009, Scholastic
Illustrator: Jenny Whitehead
Punctuation Celebration is a good literature source to use when teaching students about grammar. In today's "text lingo," people often neglect punctuation, and that spills over into formal and professional writing. This book takes each punctuation mark and uses it in a rhyme. There are colorful illustrations that correspond with the rhymes, and the final page of the book puts everything together. When I was young, I loved School House Rock, and I can still remember some of the chants, songs, and rhymes. That, along with literature such as this book, gives children a way of remembering some of the nuances of the difficult English language. Overall, I thought this book did a fantastic job of using writing to teach proper punctuation.
Illustrator: Jenny Whitehead
Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens
Author: Cindy Neuschwander, 2009, Scholastic
Illustrator: Wayne Geehan
Want to learn a way to teach your students how to group numbers in sets of 10? Look no further than this modern tale of a medieval noble who groups party guests in order to count them. In Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens, Sir Cumference and his wife, Lady Di of Ameter, throw a surprise party for King Arthur. So many people arrive (9,000+) that the hosts have no idea how to count them for lunch! They finally figure out how to arrange the guests in groups of 10, 100, and 1000. This makes their counting much easier and more accurate than a very good guess.
I thought this book was a good teaching tool for the math concept of grouping. We all know some children who have difficulty understanding how numbers fit together to make bigger numbers, and I thought the illustrations in this book helped tremendously. The story line was funny, and the pictures added humor to the text. I was a little confused at first why a book with a character named "Sir Cumference" dealt with grouping, and I would have thought circles would have had a prominent role in the story. Regardless, this book is a fun way to teach a necessary math concept.
Illustrator: Wayne Geehan
Want to learn a way to teach your students how to group numbers in sets of 10? Look no further than this modern tale of a medieval noble who groups party guests in order to count them. In Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens, Sir Cumference and his wife, Lady Di of Ameter, throw a surprise party for King Arthur. So many people arrive (9,000+) that the hosts have no idea how to count them for lunch! They finally figure out how to arrange the guests in groups of 10, 100, and 1000. This makes their counting much easier and more accurate than a very good guess. I thought this book was a good teaching tool for the math concept of grouping. We all know some children who have difficulty understanding how numbers fit together to make bigger numbers, and I thought the illustrations in this book helped tremendously. The story line was funny, and the pictures added humor to the text. I was a little confused at first why a book with a character named "Sir Cumference" dealt with grouping, and I would have thought circles would have had a prominent role in the story. Regardless, this book is a fun way to teach a necessary math concept.
Liliuokalani: The Last Queen of Hawaii
Author: John MacGregor, 2009, Scholastic
Illustrator: Pamela Johnson
On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States of America. Today, tourists from all over the world bask in the beauty of Hawaii's tropical climate, but many do not know the turbulent history of this tiny island. Hawaii was an independent royal kingdom until Americans forced their way in to make money off the sugar crop. Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarch to sit on the Hawaiian throne, watched her nation slip from power throughout her lifetime. It was a sad day when she stepped off the throne and was arrested in her own palace. There was no way of stopping the Americans from annexing the Hawaiian nation; therefore, she avoided war by peacefully surrendering.
This book by John MacGregor gives a realistic view of Queen Liliuokalani's life. She was raised in a life of privilege, and she had every right to become queen of Hawaii. She served as queen from 1891-1893, but this time period was wrought with turbulence. Children will find this book to be very informative in many aspects. It not only details the queen's life, but also the events surrounding her acension to and surrender of the throne. Hawaiian vocabulary words, history, and other tidbits of information are included throughout the book. I really liked that the information was presented in a simple and concise manner. This would be a wonderful text to use as a resource for classroom study.
Illustrator: Pamela Johnson
On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States of America. Today, tourists from all over the world bask in the beauty of Hawaii's tropical climate, but many do not know the turbulent history of this tiny island. Hawaii was an independent royal kingdom until Americans forced their way in to make money off the sugar crop. Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarch to sit on the Hawaiian throne, watched her nation slip from power throughout her lifetime. It was a sad day when she stepped off the throne and was arrested in her own palace. There was no way of stopping the Americans from annexing the Hawaiian nation; therefore, she avoided war by peacefully surrendering.This book by John MacGregor gives a realistic view of Queen Liliuokalani's life. She was raised in a life of privilege, and she had every right to become queen of Hawaii. She served as queen from 1891-1893, but this time period was wrought with turbulence. Children will find this book to be very informative in many aspects. It not only details the queen's life, but also the events surrounding her acension to and surrender of the throne. Hawaiian vocabulary words, history, and other tidbits of information are included throughout the book. I really liked that the information was presented in a simple and concise manner. This would be a wonderful text to use as a resource for classroom study.
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