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I had a teacher ask me to help find some resources for them to use this month while they were exploring the history of Marian Anderson. I wanted to give the students more of an experience with her than just reading a biography, so I started searching.
I was able to find video clips of her Lincoln Memorial performance that I didn’t know existed. This will help to put that into context with the time, the location, and to be able to hear her voice as well as see her face. I think it will help students make a personal connection to this event.
Did you know that over 75,000 people attended this concert and millions listened in on the radio? What an impact this must have made, especially with Eleanor Roosevelt helping set it up after Constitution Hall would not let her perform due to her race. I also came across several song recordings, interview recordings, and photo galleries from various sources that could be used in a larger unit.
A study of Marian Anderson can fit into units on music, opera, NAACP, Eleanor Roosevelt, segregation, and many other topics.
If you were doing one of the units listed above, you might be able to use these books from Big Universe Learning:
Someone recently asked me for ideas for a lesson on similes. I like to use picture books to introduce topics, and I think picture books work well with similes.
I came to Big Universe to see if there might be any possibilities. I did an advanced search for figurative language and got this result: Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch.
I read through the book and found that even though I liked the book, it was not exactly what I was looking for right now. Instead of just closing the book and moving to another resource site, I decided to look at other books by the publisher of this book (you can do that simply by clicking on the name of the publisher ).
As I looked through the long list of books, I started noticing several that I have written about before, read with my daughter, and told other teachers about. Here are a few of the ones that I noticed:
Here is a description shared on the Big Universe Learning site by Charlesbridge Publishing:
Charlesbridge publishes high-quality books for children, with a goal of creating lifelong readers and lifelong learners. Our books encourage reading and discovery in the classroom, library, and home. We believe that books for children should offer accurate information, promote a positive worldview, and embrace a child’s innate sense of wonder and fun. To this end, we continually strive to seek new voices, new visions, and new directions in children’s literature.
I think that is a great message from a publishing company. If you would like more information about Charlesbridge, check out their website:
http://www.charlesbridge.com/ and the many books they have here on Big Universe Learning!
I recently came across this image and really like the way it explains the pieces of Balanced Literacy.
I have written several blog posts in the past concerning Balanced Literacy and Big Universe Learning:
My daughter is in Kindergarten and has been coming home the last few days telling me that they are having trouble with Lily because she is not behaving. I started trying to figure out who she was talking about …
There is not a Lily in her class ..
There is not a Lily in her dance class …
There is not a Lily in her daycare class …
So I had no idea who she was talking about … until I looked at the class newsletter yesterday ..
Lily is one of the bears they have been watching by logging in to view a “Den Cam” (that would be a web cam focused on the den of the bears). The North American Bear Center offers 3 Live Den Cams:
- Lily & Faith
- Jewel
- Honey & Lucky
Based on the detailed descriptions we are getting at home, I can only imagine how excited those students are when they see the bears moving and just being bears. Wouldn’t that be a great opportunity to focus on details and descriptive writing? What if each student pretended to be one of the bears? I am sure we could bring in drawing of the bear and surroundings.
Even though my daughter is in Kindergarten, I think about the many grade levels that could use something like this to look at animals, adaptations, environments, habitats.
Check out these books available on Big Universe (fiction and nonfiction):
As we approach a day designated to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. I wanted to share some books designed to help students learn about this great man in history and his beliefs.
On Big Universe Learning, I found the Martin Luther King, Jr. Graphic Biography. I had not encountered that type of book before. I previously wrote a blog post describing some characteristics of graphic novel, so I was interested to read a graphic biography.
Here is the description of the book and collection from the Big Universe Learning site:
Fast-paced and easy-to-read, these softcover 32-page graphic biographies teach students about historical figures: those who lead us into new territory, pursued scientific discoveries; battled injustice and prejudice; and broke down creative and artistic barriers. These biographies offer a variety of rich primary and secondary source material to support teaching to standards.
Using the graphics, students can activate prior knowledge—bridge what they already know with what they have yet to learn. Graphically illustrated biographies also teach inference skills, character development, dialogue, transitions, and drawing conclusions. Graphic biographies in the classroom provide an intervention with proven success for the struggling reader.
From Teacher Created Materials on Big Universe, the Martin Luther King, Jr, book highlights another aspect of his beliefs:
Martin Luther King Jr. grew up knowing that there needed to be a change in the way that African Americans were treated, and he held a dream from the time he was a young boy that he would help make that change happen. Unlike most of the activists in the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was committed to nonviolence.
Another book you can find on Big Universe Learning, Martin Luther King Jr.: A life of fairness is from the People of Character collection from Bellwether Publishers:
Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed about a day when people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. This book introduces young readers to a man who fully believed in fairness.
These books may share the same subject, but they present the information in various ways for different purposes.
Our family recently went to the zoo and got to feed the giraffes. We have been to places before where we got to hold buckets to feed the giraffes, but this time we got to hold banana pieces in our hands for the giraffes to eat. My little one says the giraffe spit her banana out because he did not like it (She actually pulled her hand back when the giraffe’s tongue got close to touching her).
Based on our recent experience and the fact her favorite animal right now is the giraffe, I think that topic could provide a good “literacy hook” right now.
She has been drawing pictures of giraffes recently, so maybe now it is time for her to do some writing to go along with those pictures. I don’t have to ask her to write a lot … just words and phrases to start with. Hopefully those small steps will lead to longer writings in the future.
I think another way to encourage her writing about these pictures is to have books about giraffes available to read and look at. A nice blend of fiction and nonfiction should work well to show the importance of both facts and descriptive language.
Lucky for me that Big Universe Learning has some great books for us to start with:
- Critters up Close! ~ Giraffes from ZooBooks provides simple ways to describe the various actions of these magnificent animals (and my daughter in Kindergarten can read most of it on her own … build some confidence).
- The Giraffe who was Afraid of Heights from Sylvan Dell is a great story about overcoming fears, but it also has some fun facts and puzzles included. (This story is also available in Spanish.)
- ‘Twas the Day Before Zoo Day from Sylvan Dell is about things not going exactly according to plan and might be another fun one to include, especially since there are drooling giraffes!
I think that as both a parent and teacher, I can use the experiences children have to encourage and support literacy development.
image source
When I think about my favorite types of books to read, I have to admit that ones falling into the fantasy category are not the ones that immediately come to mind.
While reading Diana Mitchell’s book, Children’s Literature: An invitation to the world, I came across some really interesting information about fantasy books:
By providing literature that stretches the imagination, we can perhaps help children retain their curiosity, keeping their minds flexible so that they’ll be willing to stretch out and grab concepts that seem just out of reach.
Imagination is the key ingredient to this genre. By appealing to our imagination, fantasy can help …
- fuel hope
- deal with questions about the universe
- empower us to become what we wish to be
- learn about and understand people
- live vicariously and have special experiences
- reveal truths about life
- make life more interesting
By freeing the imagination. fantasy can help children face reality with more creativity and spontaneity of thought. Stimulating and unleashing the imagination is an important part of children’s education, and the use of fantasy can engage them in the very serious work of releasing the imagination.
Big Universe Learning has a Fairy Tales & Fantasy category containing over 100 books. That is a lot of potential to encourage imaginative thinking …
image source
Do you know what time of year it is?
In one of their daily wonders, Wonderopolis looks ways people celebrate the winter holidays in Wonder of the Day #78:
Come December each year, people of different faiths and cultures celebrate the winter holidays in many different ways.
Wonderopolis shares a little bit of information about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Advent. That information could be used to build a bit of background knowledge before reading a book about that holiday or about winter holidays. That information could also be shared as a place to find other information after reading a book about the topic. Looking for ways they are the same and ways they are different is something that even Kindergarten children work on, so this could be good material for practicing that as well.
They even share an activity you can do no matter what holiday you celebrate since it involves candles which play a role in the celebration of each of them: create your own candles by recycling bits of broken crayons.
Big Universe also has books on the various winter holidays:
image source
This week I came across a book on Big Universe that I had never seen before (which is not hard to do since there are so many books here). I wanted to find something new to read with my daughter, so I clicked on the SHARE tab to see the books recently added. In the Language Arts section, one cover illustration caught my attention …
At first glance, the name of the book did not seem to match the picture. What would you think would be on the cover of a picture book named The Patch?
The first thing that pops to my mind is a pirate.
Do you know what is on the cover of the book named The Patch?
A pink ballerina!!!
I think this somewhat odd combination of title and picture might provide interesting ideas when used for a class brainstorming session and discussion.
Some questions that pop to mind:
- Why do you think the author or illustrator chose to do this? (motivation, metacognition)
- How do/could these things connect? (critical thinking)
- What do you think this book will be about? (prediction)
- Which do you think is more important … the title or the cover illustration? Why? (text elements)
Even though the combination of the title and the cover illustration distracted me a bit at first, I did continue to read and found a great story that teaches an important lesson.
I am not going to share too much about
The Patch since I think you should go read it too!
December 7th is a day that stands out in US History. Do you know why? Do your students know?
On Big Universe Learning, I found World War II by Lisa Zamosky and Wendy Conklin. This book is one of the Primary Source Readers from Teacher Created Materials Publishing. This book starts off talking about December 7, 1941 (that is actually the beginning of the first sentence) in a section called ” Secret Missions and Superbombs.” This book contains great pictures, captions, news articles, famous leaders, symbols, and extra information to help answer questions and fill in the gaps. You could work on lots of nonfiction characteristics using this book as well.
Here are some great resources that could be used along with this book:
- From PBS: Freedom: A History of US: Pearl Harbor is part of the excellent PBS site based on Joy Hakim’s A History of US,this focuses on the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the ramifications of the attack. You can access primary sources andphotographs to bring this part of American history come alive.
- From The War Times Journal: Pearl Harbor Animated Maps presents animated Pearl Harbor maps that provide an overview of the areas that were attacked and the actual action that took place.
- From Scholastic: Relive the Experience Pearl Harbor includes an eyewitness account, timeline, glossary, related web links, and even a teacher’s guide.
- From ThinkQuest: The Pearl Harbor Story shares a very detailed description of the events leading up to the war, the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the outcome. Be sure to check the interactive map and the survivor and eye witness accounts. The site also provides great animated photos.
- From Calisphere: Pearl Harbor includes a broad selection of images featuring Japanese-Americans during World War II can be found on this site by Calisphere. By clicking on individual images you’ll find high quality photographs and image information.
- From Scholastic: Our America: World War II is a way to learn about World War II and the American home front through diaries, interviews with those lived through these times, and writing about what you’ve learned.
- From EDSITEment: Turning the Tide in the Pacific 1941-1943 includes activity sheets, student resources, and media, (This from the We The People program: We the People is an NEH program designed to encourage and enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history, culture, and democratic principles. )
- From National Geographic Education: A Date That Will Live in Infamy includes the article and vocabulary. There are also links for further exploration (audio, video, interactives, websites) Grades 5-12
- From National Geographic Society: Remembering Pearl Harbor ~ Multimedia Map and Time Line includes articles, images, audio, and places for more information.
- From National Geographic Expeditions: The Legacy of Pearl Harbor includes lesson plan and related links. Grades 3-5
- From ReadWriteThink: Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese in 1941 includes event description, classroom activity/questions, websites, and related resources. This activity really caught my attention:
- On December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy” in the words of President Franklin Roosevelt, many Americans were called upon to act as
heroes. Countless Americans gave their lives in defense of our country and its citizens in Pearl Harbor. Similarly, the surprise attacks on
America on September 11, 2001, called for heroic acts of selflessness from ordinary citizens, as well as firemen, police, military personnel,
and other government workers. Ask students to compare these two events using the interactive Venn Diagram. How are they alike? How are they different?How did each event change American citizens’ perspectives on war and the need for war? How did the two different Presidents of the United States
react? What was different about the media coverage?
