What I Like About Me!

Title: What I Like About Me!

Author: Allia Zobel-Nolan

Summary: This book is about children who each tell the reader something they like about themselves-they wear braces, they have curly hair, to even having big feet. The illustrations are great and there are all sorts of pop-outs, pull tabs, and touchy items in the pictures, that make the book so much fun to read.

Reflection: I love this book because it teaches students that everyone is different and special in our very own way. In addition, it helps with issues of self-esteem which is a very important topic and needs to be talked about.

Lessons/Curriculum: There is so much that can be done with this book. The last line of the book poses a question to the reader, “and what do you like about you?” with an actual aluminum mirror so you can look at yourself. Teachers can use this question to start teaching about self-esteem and have students do self-portraits, including writing about themselves and what makes them so special. In addition, another creative idea might be to instead of having students write about themselves, they write about someone else in their class and why they feel that person is special. This way self-esteem is not only taught about, but social skills (ex. classroom community) as well.

Social Justice Curriculum: Stages 1 and 2 are strongly addressed because students are learning to love and respect themselves while at the same time for others too.

Links: http://www.amazon.com/What-I-Like-About-Me/dp/0794407633

The People Could Fly

Title: The People Could Fly
Author: Virginia Hamilton
Illustrators: Leo and Diane Dillon

Summary: .
"The People Could Fly," is a fantasy tale that tells of how some enslaved Africans had wings and could fly. In order for them to escape the abuses of slavery, they began to sing some ancient African magic words. This allowed their bodies to lift into the sky and fly away to freedom.
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Activities:
This would be a great book to use for Social Studies. Lessons could be taught on how the Africans were taken from their homeland and put on slave ships and brought to new lands as slaves. I also think that this book could be used for a performance in Drama. I would have students create costumes with wings, and have them re-enact the story. .
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Social Justice Education:
This book covers all 5 areas of social justice. Students can learn to love and accept themselves and their roots, while others can respect their differences. Students will learn the forms of oppression of slavery and racism, and how they can use books like this to create non-violent social change. Additionally, students can take social action to protect people's rights.

When Marian Sang, The True Recital of Marian Anderson
By: Pam Muñoz Ryan, Brian Selznick

Summary:
This book tells the story of Marian Anderson, a very talented singer. The story begins when she is a gifted child, travels with her as she is faced with racism and concludes as she makes history by being the first black person ever to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House.

How I would use this:
I would use this book in TWO ways. THE FIRST is to have a discussion about racism and prejudice. Marian is not allowed to enter music school because of the color of her skin. Is that fair? Also, she is only recognized as being ‘worthy’ later because of her beautiful singing voice. Shouldn’t every one be equal, not only if they have special talents, but just because they are human beings? THE SECOND is to discuss ways in which people fight what they believe to be unfair. In the book it seems as if Marian quietly waits until the world accepts her. Other people, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, campaign for her. What are they ways in which people fight for social justice, and what are the pros and cons of each method?

Websites:
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=105
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9801E4DC1738F93AA35751C0A9659C8B63
http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit292/lesson1.html

Social Justice Education:
This book deals with all steps of social justice education and can lend itself to the fifth stage. Students can select a social justice issue that they would like to combat and also select a method that they have studied that they would like to use to fight it.

*Posted for: Valerie Bracco*

Weslandia

Title: Weslandia
By: Paul Fleischman

Summary:
This is a very funny story about a very creative boy who just doesn't quite fit in at school or at home. Wesley, the main character, is an outcast from the civilization around him so he decides to devote his summer to a wonderful project- creating a new civilization. He starts his project by planting his own staple food crop. Soon his seeds turn into a magical world. Wesley moves into this beautiful new civilization and survives on the fruits and veggies produced by the seeds that he planted. Using all natural products from his garden Wesley is able to weave himself new clothes, ones that are much cooler and more comfortable then the jeans and t-shirts everyone else is wearing. Soon all the children that used to make fun of him are curious about Wesley's "summer project" and want to see what his civilization is all about. Wesley realizes that his civilization would benefit from the help of others and he invites his schoolmates in. The other students also gain an appreciation for Wesley and admire and praise him for his talent and creativeness.

Lesson Ideas:
There are many topics that could be taught as a follow up to this read aloud. This could be the start of a fiction writing unit where students can create there own "civilizations". The unit could be _____landia and the students names would go on the line. They could use this book to help them get idea's about a creating a land where they can chose what clothes they wear, what language they speak, what food they eat, etc. This book could also be used in a unit about planting. For younger grades studying the life cycle of plants they could talk about the stages that the plants in the book went through and all the different purposes that the plants served. This book could also be used on a unit about the importance of being yourself, and how it's okay to be different. Students learn from Wesley that it's okay to embrace your differences and not follow what everyone else is doing. This book can also be used for a lesson where you want students to notice change in a character over time. In the beginning of the book Wesley is sad, and depressed because he has no friends and doesn't fit in, and by the end of the book Wesley comes out of his shell and has a much improved morale.

Links:
www.ginnyhoover.com/5thGradeSixTraitsLessons.doc
http://web.syr.edu/~jjvizthu/weslandia.htm

Social Justice:
1. Self love and acceptance
2. Respect for others
Touches on #3. Issues of Social Justice- bullying