Author: swages

Turtles in Paradise

By Jennifer L.Holm

Blog Reference: http://teachingstarstudents.blogspot.com/2012/06/4th-grade-chapter-books-set-in-florida.html

113.16 (B(8)) Social Studies Grade 5

The student understands the location and patterns of settlement and the geographic factors that influence where people live.

113.16 (B(9))

The student understands how people adapt to and modify their environment.

Summary:

The story is set in 1935 in Key West, Florida. The main character in this novel is a young 11 year old girl who is called Turtle. She has to move to Key West to live with her relatives while her mother gets her life together. The protagonist has been through a lot of obstacles in her upbringing and has a very skeptical view on life. The time period of the book is the Great Depression, where many people are struggling during that time. The book uses a lot of cultural references to that area in that time period, and it is written from Turtle’s perspective.

I believe that because this chapter book is written from the protagonists perspective a good strategy that could be utilized would be the letter writing strategy. I think that I would even tailor this strategy so that the students write a letter to Turtle. I know that the students would benefit from having to write a letter to her because she is the same age as them; so it would be as though they are talking to a peer from a different time period. My intention for using this strategy with this book would be to have students critically think about how to communicate with the protagonist in this book who may or may not be experiencing similar life situations and feelings as the students in my classroom.

Aileen Fisher

Aileen Fisher has over 100 award winning books. She had a passion for Children’s literature, and was quoted as saying “My first and chief love in writing is writing children’s verse.” She has written a variety of books in a number of different genres that have to do with seasons, nature, animals, celebrations, famous people, and biblical stories. She was raised in a small town in Michigan, but moved to Boulder, CO when she was an adult and lived there the rest of her adult life where she wrote most of her books. As the author of several books of different genres, Aileen Fisher’s work can be applied to many different lessons in the classroom. One such lesson, can involve a read aloud of one of her poems about the seasons when introducing the seasons to a Kindergarten class. Another such lesson, could incorporate a poem or book about a animal and its characteristics to a 1st grade class. Many of her books can be applied to several different content areas and TEKS; consequently, the variety of her writings are very useful in the classroom because they are adaptable to the different lessons taught throughout the school year. Aileen Fisher also uses “writerly techniques” such as imagery, personification, metaphors, and similies within most of her writings, which are important lessons in early childhood literacy.

Ready Set School

By Jacquelyn Mitchard

I selected “Ready, Set, School” because I felt that it could apply really well to an elementary classroom experience. This book would probably be best for Kindergarteners or First Graders. It is a cute story about a raccoons fear of leaving his parents for the very first time. It approaches the topic of the first day of school and the fear that comes with leaving parents behind. Within the story there are also tidbits and fun facts about raccoons. I think that this book would be very beneficial in a teacher’s classroom library because it is a fun book full of lively pictures and the exciting tale of a young raccoon’s adventures, but educational as well.

Here is a Snippet of “Ready, Set, School:”

“Deep inside his trout-shaped sleeping bag, Rory was hiding from his parents. ‘Rory!’ his mama and papa called, as they seached every crevice in their hollow-tree home to find him. ‘Hey, little bandit! Time to go to Aunt Ramona’s house!’
Rory didn’t move a whisker, even when he heard his papa clambering up the branches to Rory’s room.
‘Rory!’ Papa called. ‘I know you’re up there somewhere! You’ll miss the apple and sardine pie your aunt is making just for you! The moon’s coming up! Your cousins are going to go play in the dark without you!’
As you know, raccoons stay awake all night. During the dark they work and play.
But Rory just crossed his paws and snuggled down deeper into his sleeping bag. His favorite goldfish pajamas were packed inside, along with his ‘Rocket Raccoon’ comic book. Everything was ready for Ror’s sleepover- except Rory!
Just then, he heard a soft voice say, ‘I see a little round lump in that sleeping bag.'”