Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalacian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan

Copyright 2010

Published by Roaring Brook Press

Lexile Level: AD710L

Grade Level: 2 to 6

Ballet, Masterpiece, Collaboration, Determination, Serendipity, Art

          This picture book will delight your students and show them what the product of good collaboration is.  This is the story of choreographer,  Martha Graham, composer, Aaron Copland,  and set designer, Isamu Noguchi and how they worked together to compile Appalacian Spring, the famous ballet.  Students will be amazed and motivated by the hard work that it took these three people to create such a wonderful masterpiece.  Great book to use as a read aloud!

Teachers, here are some suggestions for activities and resources that go along with this novel:

Key Vocabulary:

• angular, ballet, choreographer, composure, gesture, collaboration, melody

After Reading Activity:

• Students can watch the dance, Appalacian Spring, looks like and connect it to the reading.  Talk as a class about collaboration and cooperation. What ways did these people

  cooperate to make this artwork? Do you always like to work with other people to get things done? Describe a time when you worked with a team or group. What can be hard about working together? What can be good about working together?

Writing Activity:

• Prior to reading, have your students work in small groups in order to create a story or a poem.  They will see the difficulties of working in groups as well as the pros of working together.  Ask students how collaborating with one another helped them in their writing and creating of their stories or poems.

Web Resources:

• Here is a link to the video so that students can see the actual dance that was made!
• Visit the author's website to read about the authors, about the book, and find almost a dozen blogs, articles, and activities!

Greenberg, J., Jordan, S., & Floca, B. (2010). Ballet for Martha: making Appalachian Spring. New York: RB/Flash Point.



Coraline

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Copyright 2002

Published by HarperCollins Children's Books

Lexile Measure: 740L

Grade Level: 4

Supernatural, Fear, Honor, Survival, Family

Teachers, here are some suggestions for activities and resources that go along with this novel:

Key Vocabulary:

• apprehensive, distorted, peradventure, petulantly, derelict, plasticine, miser, acrid, vigorously, pell-mell, ululating, momentum, dilapidated

After Reading Activity:

• Using this comic strip creator, have students recreate their favorite scene of the story.  This will help them sequence events and recall events from the story to aid comprehension.

Writing Activity:

• When students have finished reading the novel, play the movie for them and have them keep an organizer of similarities and differences that they see in the novel and movie.  Afterwards they can write comparing and contrasting the two.

Web Resources:

• Here is a discussion guide to support reading for Coraline.  It provides a summary, booktalk, and discussion questions for during the reading.
• Use this website so that students can explore Coraline's world!

Gaiman, N., & McKean, D. (2002). Coraline. New York: HarperCollins.

Rules

Rules by Cynthia Lord     

Copyright 2006

Published by Scholastic Press

Lexile Measuer: 780L

Grade: 4 and 5

Friendship, Normalcy, Life, Love, Understanding, Rules, Compassion, Diversity

Teachers, here are some suggestions for activities and resources that go along with this novel:

Key Vocabulary:

• communication, conversation,occupational, therapy, connection, interaction, nonverbal, relationship, verbal

Before Reading Activity:

• Students can fill out the K and W sections of a KWL chart, inserting what they know about autism and what they would like to know.  After reading, they can fill out the L column with what new information they have learned about autism.

During Reading Activity:

• Create and update a Voki throughout the reading in order to keep track of the character's relationships and connections to one another.

After Reading, Writing Activity:

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  Have students describe the top five words or phrases they would want in a “communication book” and explain why they chose these particular words and/or phrases.

Web Resources:

• Here is a discussion guide for the novel, Rules.  It provides questions for before, during, and after the reading, as well as author information, novels to compare and contrast, and similar websites.
• Here is a webquest for the novel.  It provides a project for students to complete after reading the novel regarding the rules that Catherine writes.

Lord, C. (2006). Rules. New York: Scholastic Press.

The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Copyright 2003
Published by Scholastic Inc.
Lexile Measure: 670L
Grade Level: 4-5

Forgiveness, Light, Love, Soup

The Tale of Despereaux ("being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread") is the tale of a brave little mouse out to save the princess from a horrible rat foe, Roscuro.  Despereaux sacrifices the reputation of his family and his own safety to complete his destiny and come to the rescue of his true love, like a true knight would. This adventure novel will be sure to hold the attention of all of your students for a read-aloud!

Teachers, here are some suggestions for activities and resources that go along with this novel:

Key Vocabulary:

• adieu, chiaroscuro, empathy, furlough, perfidy, portentous, remorse

Before Reading Activity:

• Students can research medieval themes such as chivalry, knights, princesses, castles, and dungeons because many of these topics are seen throughout the reading.

During Reading Activity:

• Students can create character maps for each section of the novel.  Then at the end they can compare and contrast the characters Despereaux, Chiaroscuro, and Miggery Sow.

After Reading Activity:

• When students are finished reading the novel have them watch the movie of The Tale of Despereaux and compare and contrast what they have read to what they see.

Web Resources:

• Here are some discussion questions for students to ponder while reading the novel.
• Here is a 20 page, field tested teacher's guide with teaching strategies from each section of the book!

"The world is dark,

and light is precious.

Come closer, dear reader.

You must trust me.

I am telling you a story."

DiCamillo, K., & Ering, T. B. (2003). The tale of Despereaux: being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread. Cambridge : Candlewick Press.

Bud, Not Buddy

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Copyright 1999
Published by Yearling
Lexile Measure: 950L
Grade: 6

Comedy, Adventure, Depression, Woop, Sloop, Zoop

Bud, Not Buddy is the tale of a boy in search of his father.  Bud never met his father, but believes that when his mother died, she left him clues, including flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band.  He believes that the clues will lead him to his father.    Christopher Paul Curtis's book will leave your students laughing and seeing how Bud forms relationships that change his life.

Teachers, here are some suggestions for activities and resources that go along with this novel:

Key Vocabulary:

• depression, commence, devastator, Hooverville, locamotive, shantytown, knickers, moldering, exaggerate, snaggletooth, copasetic, prodigy

Before Reading Activity:

• Have students research causes of the Great Depression and organizations that helped people who were affected.  What organizations today help people in need?

During Reading Activity:

• Students can make a scrap book to track all of Bud's adventures.

After Reading Activity:

• Have students create a comic strip of their favorite scene of the novel using this Comic Strip Creator.

Web Resources:

• check out these discussion questions that go along with the novel!
• Look here for a list of activities that go along with the book!

Curtis, C. P. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York: Delacorte Press.

Everything for a Dog

Everything for a Dog by Ann M. Martin
Copyright 2009
Published by Feiwal and Friends
Lexile Measure: 890
Grade: 6

Dog, Boy, Tragedy, Friendship, Family

Everything for a Dog is a story of desire and tragedy from multiple perspectives.  This is a great book to teach perspective with! The three main characters are Bone (a dog), Charlie, and Henry.  Ann M. Martin develops resilient characters who provide insight into into the hardships of each of their lives.  The characters' stories intersect and leave the reader yearning for more.  This is a great book for your dog-lovers, or anyone that has ever had or wanted a dog!

Teachers, here are some suggestions for activities and resources that go along with this novel:

Key Vocabulary:

• ambled, coax, swiveled, tentatively, predator, tantalizing, exuberant 

Before Reading Activity:

• This book is written through the voices of three narrators, which give multiple perspectives for students to have to follow. This might be their first encounter with different perspectives in one book, so it is important that they are aware of the structure of the text. Explain to students that there can be multiple narrators in a single book.  Have each student write a paragraph about recess in their journals, so that they can compare how each of their perspectives of the same event are different.

During Reading:

• Create a character web so that students can more easily follow the characters as their lives intersect. 

After Reading:

• Give students a writing prompt for their journals such as this one: "In the book, all Henry wanted was a dog.  Have you ever wanted something so much that you would do anything for it? Write a persuasive letter to a parent or guardian, convincing them to let you have what you want."

 Web Resources:

• Have students create a Voki! Voki is an online tool that students can use to create an avatar of a character in a book.  This gives the students the opportunity to be creative and use their knowledge of the characters to create them themselves!
• Create a Story! Use this scholastic tool, from Scholastic's Flashlight Readers, to choose a scene, character, and a story starter.  Students can create up to five scenes to complete their stories!

Martin, A. M. (2009). Everything for a dog. New York : Feiwel and Friends.

Number the Stars

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Copyright 1989
Published by Laurel Leaf
Lexile Measure: 670L
Grade: 5

Courage, Secrets, Family, Friends, War

Number the Stars is the story of Annemarie Johansen, a 10 year old girl living in Copenhagel in 1943.  It is a great historical fiction novel to teach children about the Nazi's relocation of the Jews in Copenhagen.  It deals with bravery and one's ability to put the welfare of others before themselves.  It is a very child appropriate account of the threat that the Nazi's put on the Jewish community in Copenhagen.  This would be a great novel for students to read independently and then deal with collaboratively.

Key Vocabulary:

Star of David, swastika, Nazi, rationed, typhus, disdainfully, relocate, sabotage, tentatively, specter, tantalize

Teachers, here are some suggestions for activities and resources that go along with this novel:

Before reading:

• Read The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark and lead a class discussion about what it means to be a brave citizen.
• SL.5.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
During reading:
• BLOG! Students can use BLOG sites, such as blogspot.com in order to share their feelings about the book.  The characters in this novel demonstrate many acts of bravery and loyalty, which will provoke a reaction from students.  Have them use technology to share their reactions with their peers and parents!
• W.5.6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.
After reading:
• Students can read Little Red Riding Hood and create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Annemarie to Little Red Riding Hood. 
• RL.5.3. Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
Web Resources:
• Discussion Questions: This link will provide you with discussion questions for your students to ponder while reading this novel.
• Study Guide: This link will provide you with an in depth study guide and activity ideas for before reading, active reading, responding.
Lowry, Lois. Number the stars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1989. Print.