In pairs look at a book.
There is time to read 2 books during this unit for direct instruction in the English Class. The Social Studies teacher has time to include one novel length book but they are leaning towards using nonfiction tradebooks (or life stories).
The U.S. prior to WWII:
Bud Not Buddy
Walking on Air
Homefront During WWII:
A Boy at War
Art of Keeping Cool
Summer of My German Soldier
Eyes of the Emperor
The War in Europe:
Number the Stars
No Pretty Pictures
Escaping into the Night
The War in Asia:
My Brother, My Sister, and I
Year of Impossible Goodbyes
When My Name Was Keoko
The War in Australia/NZ
The Divine Wind
The Legend of Buddy Bush
Let Me Go
with contemporary time (time travel):
The Devil's Arithmetic
if i should die before i wake
Ann Frank and Me
Will you have everyone read the same books and do the same activities? Or will you use literature circles and group projects? Or what? You can't decide everything in this one meeting but perhaps you can take a look at the books and brainstorm possible activities.
What books will you include?
|What activities will you include?|
Report Back to whole class
2. Discuss possible extensions. You are using this book or books in the classroom so what next? What projects or activities would really enhance the reading of the book?
3. Creating a classroom museum:
Next: Imagine walking into a museum depicting the setting and time in which the story takes place. What would this museum include?Asian Front
You are going to design a classroom museum about the time period depicted in these novels
Place all of your artifacts
on your table. As a group make two lists (10 minutes)
1. Items (artifacts, models....), maps, related books that you might include in this museum. Create a list of items and a rough draft of how you might arrange them in the classroom.
2. Second task is to come up with language arts related activities that might be integrated into the museum -- letters, diaries of characters from the novel... create a newspaper from the time... write an introduction to the time period (non-fiction writing)... an audio guide (on tape) to the items in the museum with period music in the background...
Now imagine your students creating this museum.
National Geographic: Pearl Harbor http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/
Write down two questions about any of the historical fiction
novels read for the past two weeks. What do you want to know
about these books that you did not learn?
5. Survey of the literature
Create a timeline of some exemplars of historical fiction
For the books at your table write down
- the time period covered in the novel
- focus of the book
Questions to examine as we move through the timeline:
- How does an author write authentically about prehistoric times?
- Importance of having multiple books on a subject/time period.
- Period pieces vs. historical figures and events
- Dear America Books
- How contemporary can you get and still consider a book to be historical fiction?
Discuss the following questions:1. What might be the benefits and limitations of using historical fiction as part of the social studies curriculum?
2. Discuss the benefits of using one book for a whole class read vs. a set of related books which students choose from?
Whole class discussion:What have you liked and disliked about the historical fiction novels you have read? What stood out for you? Did you enjoy reading these books? How do you think children will respond to these books?
- Jennifer Armstrong: Armstrong provides tips for becoming a writer; and a biography in the form of a personal scrapbook. She encourages email. http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com/
- Christopher Paul Curtis: This website was created by the publisher, and contains information about the author and his books. http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/authors/curtis.html
- Karen Cushman: Cushman's site includes a biography, information about her books, an interview, classroom ideas, and a section for kids to submit short reviews. http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/author/cushman/index.html
- Random House has an indepth webpage for Patricia Reilly Giff which includes an excellent teacher's guide for Lily's Crossing, a realaudio message from the author, a prereading activity, thematic and interdisciplinary connections, and related books. http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/authors/giff.html
- Kathleen Duey: This author of many American Diaries books has included biographical information, a page for teachers, and a page for kids. She asserts that all emails are answered (though it can take time). http://www.kathleenduey.com/
- Jennifer Holm: This website provides interesting information about where the author gets her ideas. She plans to include an interactive map of May's home on the Nasal river. http://www.crowdedfire.com/may/
- Janet Taylor Lisle: The author of The Art of Keeping Cool asks readers to leave opinions, and critiques. http://www.janettaylorlisle.com/
- Linda Sue Parks: On her site Parks provides the transcript of an interview, Q&A, and ideas on reading and writing. She also encourages readers to leave messages on her messageboard. http://www.lindasuepark.com/
- Bridge to Terebithia: the Official Katherine Paterson Website: Paterson has an extensive biography, a description of each book, a schedule of events and appearances, and most useful a long section of questions and answers. http://www.terabithia.com/lee.index.htm
- Gary Paulsen: Paulsen has authored so many novels including some outstanding historical fiction like NightJohn. This cool site holds with extensive information, including Reader Guides and Teacher Guides for many of his books. There is also information on sending snail mail to Paulsen. Includes an ultimate survival situation contest. http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/
- Pam Munoz Ryan: The author of Esperenza Rising provides advice for writers, biographical information, interviews, information about her books, frequently asked questions, and activities. http://www.PamMunozRyan.com
- Mildred Taylor Teacher Resource Guide: A collection of links to sources on the internet related to Mildred Taylor and her books. http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/taylor.htm
Activities Using the World Wide Web
- Catherine Called Birdy Cyberguide: A nicely designed site from Houghton Mifflin focused on the novel by Karen Cushman. http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/author/cushman/index.html
- DoHistory Homepage: An excellent project making connections between primary source documents and fiction. http://www.dohistory.org
- Fourth graders at the John Ward School created this book project on Number the Stars. http://hammer.ne.mediaone.net/number_stars/stars.html
- Jacob Have I Loved: America Memories Fellow Program a project designed by Kathy Isaacs. Photographs from "America From the Great Depression to World War II" a section of American Memory are used to provide visual images which can introduce and extend exploration of Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson, a novel about jealousy set on an island in the Chesapeake Bay in the early 1940s. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson99/jacob/intro.html
- Lesson Plan on The Civil War is a well developed unit plan on the Civil War created by Small Planet Communications. The site includes a genre study, a recommended booklist, links to primary documents, and a step-by-step template for students to create their own websites. Great resources are provided for integrating literature with archival information, music, writing, and history. http://www.smplanet.com/civilwar/civilwar.html
- Peacebound Trains : This site contains a beautiful online picture book written by Haemi Balgassi and illustrated by Chris Soenpiet. http://korea50.army.mil/peacebound/index.html
- Take a Hike with Henry Activity: Henry Hikes to Fitchburg is based on Waldenwritten by Henry David Thoreau http://www.cyberbee.com/henryhikes/henry.html
- Visions in the Dust is another project utilizing the archival sources from American Memory to connect with the novel Out of the Dust. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson99/dust/intro.html
Sources on the World Wide Web
- Integrating World History and Literature: A thematic guide on Carol Hurst's Website http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/history/history.html
- The Internet School Library Media Center historical fiction page: Wonderful collection of annotated links to resources on the internet. http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/historical.htm
- Ms. Woodring's Humanities Historical Fiction List Short reviews written by children. Reviews are divided by time period (with a very liberal notion of what constitutes historical fiction). http://www.ih.k12.oh.us/ms/woodring/hfsite/masterbl.htm
- Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award: Information on this award and its recipients. http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/odell.html
- U.S. History and Children's Literature: A thematic guide on Carol Hurst's Website http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/ushistory/ushistory.html
Additional Online Readings on Historical Fiction
- "Doing the Decades" by James Brewbaker in The Alan Review http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring99/brewbaker.html
- "Fiction Illuminating the Past" by Monica Edinger http://teacher.scholastic.com/fieldtrp/childlit/historic.htm
- "Foregrounding Women in History in Children's and Young Adult Books" by Kay E. Vandergrift. Primarily a booklist. http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/femchild.html
- "Historical Fiction Criticism & Evaluation" By Brenda Hoffman. http://raven.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/histfic.htm
- "Historical Fiction or Fictionalized History?" Problems for Writers of Historical Novels for Young Adults by Joanne Brown in The Alan Review http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/fall98/brown.html
- "Lyddie and Oliver: Instructional Framework for Linking Historical Fiction to the Classics" by Janis Harmon in The Alan Review Winter 1998 Volume 25, Number 2 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter98/harmon.html
- "Rewriting History" By Anne Scott MacLeod Teacher Magazine, April 1998 http://www.edweek.org/tm/vol-09/07hist.h09
- "Why & How I Teach with Historical Fiction" By Tarry Lindquist on Scholastic's Website http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/instructor/social1.htm
Not doing this Fall Semester!!
Webquest Brainstorming: (20 minutes)
One of the class project we still have to be introduced to in this class is the webquest related to one of the novels being read. I want to introduce this concept while we are still on this genre in part because historical fiction is so suited to the concept but also so you can begin to think about which novel to use when creating the webquest.
You can work in group on this project but of course I will expect the projects to be more elaborate and more perfected if you are working in a group.
All webquests should be turned in on disk.
You can also choose to fix up or elaborate an already existing webquest (one that was created for this class in the past). All of the former webquests have elements that could certainly be improved upon, and many of the links are expired. If you choose to do this you need to submit a copy of the original (as a print out) and the updated version on disk)
Any webquest should have the following elements (with teacher resources being optional if they are already included in the resources section).
See the sample
Bud Not Buddy
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources
Evaluation | Teacher Resources
Look at some of the webquests that have been done in the past.
As you think of a novel you might be interested in working with (does not have to be historical fiction) come write your novel and name on the board and we'll see if anyone else is interested in working with you on this. If you already have a group or an idea you would like to work with on your own raise your hand and I will come talk to you about the potential.
Author chats Scholastic
Today we are going to work with and evaluate the idea of doing an extension activity when conducting literature circles in the classroom.
Literature resource network
- Using the storyquilt handouts first complete (as a group) the "border" handout.
- Then fill in numbers 1 and 2 on the "Quilt square" handout.
- Create a draft of your quilt square